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With interest in remote work and the online world rising, more and more people are asking the question: “Should I start a blog?”
Over the last few years, while loads of people claim that no one reads blogs anymore, in reality blogging is now more popular than ever. Aside from that, it is now easier than ever to earn good money from blogging, making it not just a form of self-expression but a viable online business model as well.
In fact, my partner Tom and I now make more money from our travel blog compared to our old jobs as a teacher and an engineer….COMBINED!
In this article, not only will I answer that question but I will also lay out concrete reasons why you should start a blog now showing you that profiting from your passions is easier than you think.
Curious to find out how? Keep reading below!
Should I Start a Blog?
Life is busy and that’s just a fact. With work, kids, school, and the million other things going on around you, it can be hard to stay on top of responsibilities and find adequate downtime.
But even then, you can’t help but wonder if you should throw a blog into the mix.
You’ve possibly heard through the grapevine that blogging is dead and that no one reads them anymore, but is this really true?
Actually, in 2019, more than 500 million blogs existed on the internet… and that number only continues to grow. Blogging has experienced a 12% increase since 2015, showing that blogs are still going strong, not dying.
If you want to learn more about the state of the blogging industry today, be sure to check out our article: Is Blogging Dead?
Growth aside, blogging is alluring for many reasons.
For starters, it’s impossible to ignore the bloggers all over your Instagram feeds living their dream lives somewhere far off and beautiful. And it’s also tempting because of the people you see earning an income from sharing their recipes or simply offering advice – people just like you!
Blogging has literally allowed thousands of people to make money from something they are passionate about which is something I absolutely love.
Despite having a huge money-making potential, some people just want a creative outlet for their hobby, a place to blog for fun, while others start a blog as a budding business opportunity.
And while these motivations differ tremendously, there’s no actual right (or wrong) reason to start a blog.
So if the question of whether you should start a blog is dancing around in your head, the answer is probably yes… especially if you have this unshakable feeling that this could be the right path to take.
After all, what do you really have to lose?
8 Great Reasons to Start a Blog in 2021
You’ll quickly find that there are so many reasons to start a blog that can apply to just about anyone, anywhere.
Here are just 8 of the most common reasons people start blogs, but this list is non-exhaustive and just scratches the surface of the many motivations behind blogging.
1. You Are Passionate About a Topic
The most common reason people pursue blogging is to write about a topic they’re passionate about. Taking a subject that you know and love dearly and starting a blog around it is a great way to channel your passions into a productive medium!
In fact, this is how most hobby blogs start.
Whether it’s home gardening, knitting for teens, worldwide cruises, or any other topic under the sun, if you have a passion for it, you can start a blog with your subject at centerstage.
When I quit my job as a school principal, I took off with a backpack to travel around the world. I had spent years saving up and truly had the trip of a lifetime.
The only problem? I never wanted it to end.
I was (and still am!) so passionate about traveling, I couldn’t imagine going back to sitting in an office and working a regular job. I wanted to stay abroad, continue to discover new cultures, keep trying new foods, meet new people, and build a life centered around travel.
So my partner Tom and I took our immense passion for travel and channeled it into starting our travel blog, Adventure In You.
Since AIY’s inception, our entire lives have been focused around what we both love the most: travel.
Not only do we get to live life anywhere we want in the world, but we write about travel, we talk about travel, we teach others about travel. We took our passion, turned it into a blog, and then made it our life!
Passion is half of the battle (the other half is the actual blogging work), so if you have a topic that you’re wildly enthusiastic about, you can be well on your way to starting a blog that brings you joy!
2. You Have Unique Life Experiences, Knowledge, or Expertise to Share with Others
Besides just being passionate about something, maybe you’ve had an experience that was life-changing or knowledge that sets you apart from the rest of the crowd. That’s more than enough reason to start a blog!
Perhaps you lived in a campervan in New Zealand, or spent your life studying economics. Maybe you have style tips for working moms or makeup advice for students. Maybe you turned your life around and lost 100 pounds.
No matter what your unique skill or experience is, don’t count it out.
Take the popular finance blogger Millennial Money Man, for example. Bobby (the man running the show) started his blog as a way to help other millennials be smart with their money, pay off debts, and “live their best financial lives”.
He had the unique experience of paying off $40,000 of debt in just 18 months and wanted to show others that they can do the same!
Using his knowledge, Bobby publishes articles to help his readers overcome financial strains by teaching them to employ the same techniques he used.
From the unique perspective of a millennial “financial advisor” (if you will), Bobby is well set up to use his own life experiences, knowledge, and expertise to help people in a similar position as he was once in.
What are you uniquely skilled at or experienced in?
With billions of Google searches every day, you can bet there are people out there looking for advice in exactly your area of expertise.
Starting a blog allows you to share your unique knowledge and experience with the world!
By sharing your own personal experiences, tips and tricks, as well as any information that others may find useful on your blog, you stand a really solid chance at helping someone out.
For us, blogs that are built around providing VALUE for others are the ones that become the most successful. When trying to think of what to blog about, ask yourself the questions…”what problem can I help solve for others?”
3. You Want to Inspire Others
If you’re looking to inspire others, blogging is a really great way to reach an audience, spread a message, and help other people. Blogs can be a huge point of inspiration in just about every area of life!
Do you have a story to tell about overcoming hardship and reaching success? A tale about going from a cluttered mom to an organized neat freak? A narrative regarding turning your life around?
Marie Forleo has built not only a blog but also an entire brand around her mission of inspiring others to “become the person you most want to be”.
She uses her stance as an eternal optimist and entrepreneur to help others reach their full potential. Forleo inspires her readers with heaps of resources, and touches on topics like body positivity, sparking creativity, benefits of waking up early, and so much more.
Regardless of the topic, you can inspire people through blogging in dozens of ways.
It may seem trivial but starting a blog may inspire someone else and help them in ways you may never know. Maybe a struggling mom visits your blog and finds a favorite recipe for her kids, or someone who’s always wanted to get fit tries your workouts and gets hooked.
Whether it’s helping them change their lives for the better, become more productive people, learn a skill they never thought they’d master, or just generally assisting other people through writing, this is all within arms reach with a blog.
If you’re looking for a reason to start a blog, inspiring and helping other people can be at the top of your list!
For me, coming from the Philippines which is very much still a traditional society, as soon as you graduate college, there is an expectation for you to get a job, get married, and have kids.
I chose the complete opposite path and opted to quit my job and finally pursue my big dream of traveling around the world. I remember the first email I got from a fellow Filipina who said my blog gave her the courage to deviate from what society expected her to do.
I definitely shed a few tears after I read that!
4. You Love Writing
One of the best reasons to start a blog (and among the most simple) is you just love to write. If you love to write and create engaging written content, a blog is an obvious answer!
Take your writing, channel it around a topic, and publish it online. Not only does this give you a creative outlet to get your writing fix, but it has the chance to build into something much bigger.
The thing about blogging is you really do have to love to write in order to sustain one. Bloggers are self-motivated and able to push themselves to write new articles on a regular basis because this is something that they love to do.
You may not be the best writer in the world but that’s totally okay! The thing is…writing, just like everything is a skill. The more you practice and do it, the better you become!
The only thing that matters is that you love writing and are willing to stick with it to develop and grow your blog.
5. Blogging CAN be Profitable
It’s no myth that you can actually make real money from blogging.
Sure, it may start off slow, but blogging can generate a huge chunk of change, making it a profitable side hustle with the potential to turn into a full-time business!
When Tom and I first started Adventure In You, we had no clue how to make money from our blog. Although we struggled initially, what we quickly learned is that there are so many ways that you can actually generate an income from blogging.
Not only generate an income, but a great one at that!
Every blogger has their preferred monetization method but we wanted to create a business that did not require us to sit on our desks all day long which is why we transformed our blog into an Affiliate Machine that earns money 24/7.
Today, we consistently earn 5 figures a month from our travel blog. So yes, blogging can absolutely be profitable.
In fact, we’re not alone in this!
According to a 2019 professional content creator survey, 39.3% of respondents reported earning between $500 and $1,999 each month.
Even more astounding, 16.4% of professional content creators bring in $2,000 to $4,999 every month!
But what’s most surprising is that there are still 20.4% of content creators who make between $5,000 and $15,000+ per month, with the highest bracket (more than $15,000) containing 5% of survey respondents.
Now that’s pretty cool considering all the perks that blogging can provide…like the fact that I can work in my pajamas!
When most people think of starting a blog, this is generally the piece that they’re most interested in, and it’s no wonder why.
Successful bloggers boast dream lifestyles all over the globe, existing on their own terms and making money from something they’re passionate about.
Who wouldn’t want to start a blog?
And the best part of all of this is you don’t even need millions or hundreds of thousands of people reading your blog to earn an income. You just need the right traffic coming to your blog… traffic that’s interested in what you’re promoting or selling.
That said, while blogging can certainly be profitable, it’s by no means a get-rich-quick scheme.
It takes time for blogging to become a money-making venture and it doesn’t happen overnight. But we teach our students in our Blogging Fast Lane course that it’s all about strategy and the Compound Effect.
Earning an income from your blog takes the right strategy, dedication and lots of hard work and you won’t see the results right away. Instead, the work that you put into creating an income from your blog will compound and eventually prove to you that your efforts were not in vain.
You can learn more about our tried and tested strategies for turning a blog into a business by signing up for our free online training below.
6. You’ll Learn So Many New Skills
In today’s day and age, skill acquisition is the most important thing.
When starting a blog, you’ll quickly realize that there are a few online skills that you need to pick up in order to get your blog rolling and eventually build a business out of it.
At the center of it all, blogging is a great way to develop and improve your writing skills, but there are also a wide variety of other skills to learn like digital marketing, photo editing, social networking, time management, SEO and so much more.
Don’t let this intimidate you, but rather let it be a driving force to start a blog! Because along with a blog, you’ll get to develop all of these skills that will benefit you online and beyond.
When Tom and I started Adventure In You, believe me when I say we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. It was a learning curve for sure, but we really took the time to learn the skills we needed and were constantly striving to improve and grow.
We took courses and read books and practiced these skills over and over again by taking action based on what we learned.
Today, Tom and I have become experts in managing our time, writing compelling articles, marketing our blog, editing our photos, getting our content shared on social media, optimizing it to perform well on search engines, and a whole handful of other skills that have led to our travel blog’s success.
And the way we got so good at these skills? Through working on our blog.
To me, I find it insane that we both spend thousands of dollars on our degree (which we no longer use) and yet have gained a lifetime of skills that we can apply to any online business just from our blog.
7. Blogging is an Awesome Way to Meet New People
Blogging can seem like the most solitary activity in the world but it’s quite the contrary! There’s actually a giant blogging community out there that you can join, connecting you to other awesome bloggers throughout the world.
Let me just tell you, the blogging community is freaking awesome. It’s filled with so many supportive people who want to see you succeed.
There are online message boards, Facebook groups, and dedicated websites all with the aim of connecting bloggers with one another. You’ll find so many like-minded people here who are willing to help out or just become friends!
You’ll also find that there are lots of in-person community building for bloggers as well through events like conferences and get-togethers where bloggers are able to get to know each other face to face.
People in the blogging community are driven, motivated, and typically have lots of experience to share, making them a valuable resource to become friends with and learn from.
Fellow bloggers can help you sort out struggles, celebrate successes and become lifelong friends… Take it from us! Most of our friends today are bloggers as well.
Because we know how important community is, we’ve actually started and spent a lot of time growing our own Blogging Fast Lane community to connect our students to one another and show them that they’re not alone.
Our Fast Lane community is a place for celebration, collaboration, feedback and even goal setting to help keep each other accountable.
Whenever we have lots of our students in one place, we throw gatherings where we lounge around and eat pizza, watch movies and really get to know each other. We also have virtual coffee chats as a way to bring our community together.
Here’s a picture of our Fast Lane family hanging out in Thailand!
If you’re hesitant to start a blog because you feel like you’ll be alone on this journey, the blogging community exists to let you know that you’re not!
8. Blogging Can Change Your Life
Finally, blogging can honestly and truly change your life.
Before becoming bloggers, both Tom and I have 9-5 jobs. We were working long hours sitting in an office, doing the same thing day in and day out.
Life was fine, but not exciting by any means. We were both existing, but not really living.
But then we started our travel blog, Adventure In You, and realized that we could have complete freedom over our time!
It took a while to get rolling, but when Adventure In You started generating an income, we realized that we could live anywhere in the world, do anything we wanted to do, and start to chase our dreams full-heartedly.
Beyond that, Tom and I have built a business around doing what we love most and get to design our days to be filled with exactly what we want.
I know it sounds corny, but blogging really did change our life, and it can certainly change yours too.
When you start a blog and grow it into a full-blown business, it can change your life because you’ll have the complete freedom to choose what to actually do with your time. You’ll get to decide how to spend your life instead of having it predetermined by your career path or degree.
With a blog, you get the ultimate say in how you spend your days and what you build your life around… and what more could you ask for than that?
It takes dedication, commitment, and lots of hard work, but it will all pay off when you have passive income rolling in and you’re living the life you’ve always dreamed of (like we’re doing now!).
How to Start Profiting From Your Passions
If you take anything away from this article, it should be that blogging can truly allow you to profit from your passions.
And not just the money kind of profit!
Starting a blog can benefit you in tons of ways, from giving you an outlet to share something you’re passionate about, allowing you to connect and collaborate with others… and yes, even earn some money while you’re at it.
This is super exciting!
And best of all, it’s not that hard to get started.
Check out our article How to Start a Blog in Any Niche that lays out everything you need to do to get a blog of your own up and running.
Or if you’d like a more guided approach to getting your blog set up, sign up for our FREE Blogging Bootcamp where we teach you how to launch your blog in just 4 days!
And beyond that, the rest is in your hands! Whether you should start a blog or not is completely up to you… but in my opinion, the answer is yes, yes you should.
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