My blogging journey started in a dramatic way, I couldn’t imagine one day I would quit my well-paying job and become a blogger. I graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and secured internship at a cement factory.
At first the job was exciting—I think you know the excitement that comes with having your first job. I worked for 6 months as an intern and later got a confirmation as a graduate trainee. My first salary was $600.
I worked for three months, enjoying every bit of the working environment until I got another boss. My first boss got a better job elsewhere and he had to leave. I didn’t expect what befell me afterwards.
After two months of working under the new boss, I realized he was pushy and not appreciating my work. I started getting bored with my work but I had no alternative since there were bills to be paid.
While relieving stress on Facebook—I used to be extremely active on Facebook—a friend suggested that I should become a blogger. That suggestion looked awkward to me, I couldn’t imagine degrading myself from being an engineer to being called a blogger. But after giving the suggestion some thought, I decided to create my own blog which I would use to share my personal experiences and professional skills. I bought hosting space from Bluehost for $42 per year and also created a free blog within the company.
At my work place, I used to create content over lunch time. I could come up with a story of what I experienced that day especially in relation to my work. At first nobody visited by blog but over time, I got a couple of visitors. I enjoyed posting because it relieved me from the pressure I faced at my workplace.
After one and half years of posting consistently, I developed deep passion for blogging. But I didn’t want those close to me to know that I was blogging, some of them associated blogging with gossipers—I kept it a secret. Initially, I didn’t earn any money from the blog though I was paying $42 yearly on hositng. I actually didn’t know how to make money from the blog.
After I realized that the blog was getting popular—it was getting more than 1,000 visitors per day—I decided to monetize from it. I noticed most bloggers were using AdSense, I joined too.
It took me 3 months to start earning from AdSense, my first income came in July 2013 and it was $153.20. Though the money wasn’t big as such, I was excited. There is a special feeling that comes when someone makes earns an extra cash through a side hustle.
In 2015 I was given the first leave since I joined the company. I got the best opportunity to promote my blog. By that time, I was earning $1200 per month, money sufficient enough to pay my bills and afford some luxury. I swore to spend the one month to on the blog until it got where I wanted. I was generating an average of $600 by then.
That one month, I averaged 7 articles per day and to my surprise, the traffic grew from a meagre 4,000 per day to nearly 20,000. My income grew to almost $2000.This was the first time my side hustle income surpassed what I earned from my full time job. Some thoughts started clashing inside me, I couldn’t settle because of thinking how to balance my work.
After one month, I resumed work. I don’t know why when someone has plan B becomes confident, tough and ready to quit –that’s the same feeling I had. I didn’t fear losing my job.
With time blogging took a larger piece of me until I got bored with my job. But there is one thing got me worried, “what will my parents say if they hear that I quit my job to focus on blogging?”. But being a man I am, I quit.
Since 2016 I have been working as a blogger, my income has risen to $20,000 per month.If you tell me to get employed by someone today, you will be in trouble.
