On June the 10th, my blog turned 10, and I’m feeling very reflective.

Because when I was a guest mentor on a Twitter chat, I learned something important. A lot of peoples’ assumptions about what making money off blogging are misguided.

In fact, they assume that it boils down to one ultimatum: either you’re making millions off blogging, or you’re not really making money from it.

But when my blog turned 10, I learned something important: making money off blogging means something different for everyone

Some people want it to be their only income, and some are happy if it guarantees at least one of their bills is paid every month or adds an extra hundred (or thousand) to their income. However, the most important thing I learned before my blog turned 10 is just how normal it is for great accomplishments to be the results of years of hard work.

That’s exactly why I decided to show you what happened before my blog turned 10.

A huge disclaimer: my blog hasn’t made me a millionaire and it probably never will. But it is a key gateway to new professional relationships and new clients.  As a result, it continues to such an important tool for my business.

However, I wanted to be transparent about my blogging journey for one, simple reason:

What frustrates me the most are people who give up too quickly. Because attracting the right people takes time. So, it’s important to make the sacrifices necessary to work around this.

If you’re not meeting your income goals fast enough, you can find other sources of income. For example, if no one is reading your blog, you can easily find out what’s wrong. And if you’ve lost track of why you’re blogging, you can either stop blogging or adjust the focus of your content.

Most importantly, what stopped me from giving up before my blog turned 10 were the people I met along the way. With some of these people, their influences were large.

Because I was part of the drama club when I was in college, the people I met motivated me to just keep writing despite my shyness.

Yet the most important parts were the environments I was part of.

Although I still live in my hometown, I have been to plenty of other towns, cities, and countries as well. In addition to that, I take full advantage of the resources I had access to. When I was 16, I joined a writer’s group for teenagers, and I consider it to be the main reason why I didn’t switch schools, or give up on education.

When I was in college, I was within walking distance of a beautiful walking trail. I also travelled on my own by the time I was a teenager and rode my first aeroplane when I was just an elementary school kid.  In my adult life, I’m grateful to have a partner with as much wanderlust as I do. Because of all these things, I have a variety of reasons to keep creating despite the pressure to do something else.

If you approach your blog in a strategic enough way, you’ll form relationships that are equally as meaningful. Because it’s really just a matter of thinking of your blog as a lot more than just a hobby project, but something that proves that you’re the right person for…whatever you do.

And if you have no idea how to do that, you know exactly how you can reach me.

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Please add a comment below if you'd like to discuss this topic. – Rosie