The Problogging Mindset – Living The Dream

Last week, I mentioned that I am going to start giving some tips on how to run your blog like a business that can bring in full time income. While many will tell you that it is not possible and a pipe dream to make money online through blogging, I am here to tell you that it is not only possible…but you can do it…if you get into blogging with the correct mindset.

I was having a conversation with Michael over at Vitaminisgood.com over the weekend about branding and social media. Over the course of our conversation, the topic came up of my post on 6 Figure Blogging – Is it still possible for new bloggers? where I introduced this idea of publishing tips on the web to becoming a full-time income blogger. As we dove into the depths of full time blogging, we started thinking about why so many blogs fail to ever make a significant income online.

The Beginning Blogger Trap

Blogging is extremely cheap to get into. For less than 100 bucks, you can be up and running with a professional looking blog that is generating as much content as you want to produce. Due to this low level of entry capital, there are a lot of bloggers that go into this new venture with the following thought.

I am going to try this blogging thing out. If it doesn’t do anything…it didn’t really cost me anything, but – hopefully – it at least makes me a little bit of money on the side.

What they aren’t telling you out loud is that this new blogger is secretly wishing they can make a full-time income from blogging, but they are entering in this new online business with the take it or leave it mentality.

You are going to FAIL to ever make a full-time income online if you have this mindset with your blog. You might get lucky. You might have a bolt of lightning hit you on the top of the head and deliver a massive amount of traffic out of the blue that makes your blog the hottest thing on the web since Facebook. But…you would be in the top .005% of bloggers and since you weren’t that into it to begin with…you have zero clue on how to turn that massive amount of traffic into dollars.

The beginning blogger trap is getting into the mindset that your blog is a take it or leave it venture. For probloggers, most of them got into their blogging with a much different mindset. They started from day one with a long term goal that was going to be achieved one way or another…problogging status and making a full-time income online. This was not a pipe dream or a side thought. It was a goal that was going to be accomplished by treating their blog like a business from day 1. Then…through a massive amount of effort and testing what works, they work with time to create a business that generates income with their blog.

This was not a side project that they hoped would maybe make some money someday. This was a mission to create a different life by creating monetary value with their content.

Most Bloggers Will Not Succeed

The harsh truth is that most bloggers will never see that kind of income online and it is not for the reason that you would think.

There are a lot of people that get into blogging for money that do not have the discipline to own and operate a successful business. If everyone was able to generate their own income, we would never have any employees. Creating and running your own business takes sacrifices and dedication that the majority of the people out there are not willing to take.

If you are the kind of person that just wants to turn their brain off of anything business related at 5 pm and never look back, owning your own business is probably not for you. While many bloggers tell you that they only work 2 hours a day and generate full-time income, the reality is that they only spend 2 hours a day generating content on their blogs. The rest of the time, blogging is on their mind and that doesn’t turn off at 5 pm. If an idea hits them at 11 pm…they go to work and make their idea successful. They are not sitting in front of the TV wasting their night away…they are producing a successful business through their actions.

Does this mean that you are not capable of turning your blog into a business? Absolutely not. Everyone is capable…what you have to figure out for yourself is if you are willing to take those steps and sacrifices to get to your goal.

I talk a lot about how anything that is worth having doesn’t come without sacrifice and your mindset controls your outcomes, so you have to ask yourself…are you will to take these beginning sacrifices to achieve your goals, or are you going to find the excuses?

Blogging Doesn’t Have To Be About Money

The flip side to this entire conversation is that blogging does not have to be about money and making a living online. Blogging can be a hobby that you share with family and friends. Blogging can be something that you do at night just because you like to write. There is a lot of focus in the blogging world about making money and living the dot com lifestyle, but the reality is that dream is not for everyone. If you want to start a blog and just have some fun with it, that is completely up to you and you should rock it with as much passion as you want to. Everyone needs a hobby and blogging can be your outlet for your thoughts.

The idea here is to have your goals set from the beginning and set out to achieve those goals. If you honestly want to take a stab at making a significant income online through your blog, you need to start thinking about how you are going to achieve that goal today. You need to forget about side income. Side income from your blog is not what you want. You want full-time income so that needs to be your goal and it can not be a take it or leave it situation. You have to attack this goal and make the reality your own. If you keep the take it or leave it mentality with your blog, you are going to end up leaving it when you hit the first hard spot in your quest. Then – like many others – you will be telling other beginning bloggers why it is not possible to make a full time income online.

The truth…because of the mentality you brought to the game…you never had chance to begin with…