Money. We don’t like talking about it on-line do we? We want to believe that each of our Darling bloggers blogs for the love of it alone. That the rewards of the comments box are enough, and that she can live on virtual praise alone. But the truth is that monetization is the rose sprinkled pink elephant in many a happy bloggers room, because we are all too polite to sully our white-gloved fingers with the ugly dust that is any discussion of revenue… And yet all over the blogosphere, in the past month, speculation has been rife about how much we are earning from our blogs. Intense debate about whether we should be more open about how much we are earning is going on as I write and for what? So that we can establish our own place in the successful bloggers pecking order? So that we can copy ad-verbatim those who are making more money than us? Or merely so that we are truly aware of what is possible?
Where the Money Is.
Truth is, there is money out there. Lot’s of it. Oodles and boodles and billions of it. But for the most part blogging brings in buttons, hard-won, much appreciated buttons, but buttons all the same, and the ones who are making more, the ones who seem to be living the dream, have either been in it for the long haul, slogging their guts out behind the scenes or have sold their souls to write a million reviews of products they don’t care about. Because that is all there is: the only two routes to mega bucks here online: either write daily from the heart, build a community that cares what you have to say and create contents and products that fill a niche. Or don’t. Become a flashy saleswoman in a snazzy suit. Sell anything to anybody and keep your fingers crossed that the general masses will buy into you smily, glossy lies. There are authentic, and ahem, not so authentic blogs around every corner in the blogosphere and though I travel this virtual world, far and wide daily, not for a moment do I waste time wondering how much each bloggess is earning in whatever niche she happen to be writing, because the truth is I don’t care. I don’t care how much The Pioneer Woman is bringing in. I wish her all the success in the world. I don’t care how much my favorite blogger is earning (though I am keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that it is lots for her and her lovely families sake). I am not interested in how much the post woman in the little teeny post office around the corner makes annually. Couldn’t give a damn how much my best friend makes teaching the clarinet to school kids. I don’t know, and I don’t care because I want to be successful on my own terms: not on those set by some imaginary bloggers union. Not by channelling all my energy into keeping up with the blogging Jones’s. Nor by comparing my own, very individual efforts to those with any other woman on this planet, doing whatever she is doing, her way. Doing her own best.
Success Matters
But yes: success on my own terms matters not just because I am a single Mommy who needs to keep her babba in shoes and gluten-free pizza, but because for my own self-esteem I need to know that I am achieving something, that my efforts are not for nothing and that having made the initial financial sacrifice to do what I love, the darling universe has thanked me by providing all that I need to keep on keeping on. I want to know that my own tiny community is responsive to that which I put out there. That by whatever metrics I choose to analyse my success I am slowly but surely climbing the ladder to happiness. That my year after year, my Blogging Planner proves that BrocanteHome is better than it was the year before. So keeping on, keeping on I am. By my own terms I have a successful blog. BrocanteHome is as successful as I ever wanted it to be: gently successful without any media hoo har or opportunities to celebrate it, sought. I can’t compare myself to any other blogger out there because each and every one is doing something significantly different to me. Each one writes from a different viewpoint. From different circumstances. Some want world-wide fame while others, like me, gently pace their outpourings and rarely seek glory or massive financial compensation. So, in this sphere at least, I do not believe there is any point in comparison and the minute we try to compare, to set in stone guidelines for acceptable monetary compensation, we destroy the authenticity central to those blogs each one of us treasures, fire up the competition and make jealousy the emotion fuelling all kinds of bad manners on-line. And I for one think that we woman are already all to eager to make jealousy our leading light when true success lies in committing to that which we love and letting the rest of the world get on with the same. Because jealousy and competition are destructive. Bad manners are rife. There are mean girls out to get those they see doing well, but not before trying to steal a piece of their pie first then stabbing them in the back as they run away. It goes on daily. Playground tactics rule. Gang mentality sees the mean girls joining forces to go into battle against those they see as prettier, clever, or more fun and thus simultaneously less deserving of success and I truly believe any open discussion about monetary compensation on-line will only fuel these petty jealousies. We can’t all be the same. If we want to monetize our blogs we have to use ingenuity and imagination daily and we have to seek success on our terms. We have to do our own best. And we have to understand that our own best is all that ever matters.
Create your own Brocante Life Book, plan Christmas, set up routines and rituals or live life the BrocanteHome way with my guided workbooks and planners.
Once upon a time, a woman took a liking to me on the school playground and was kind enough to invite me to her home. Readers I wasn’t fussed. Here in front of me stood a “neat” woman. A woman so buttoned…
When Mark first left I bought "Wintering" by Kate Moses and sobbed over every word of the first chapter. A fictional account of the end of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes relationship, the fact that it is so beautifully written is enough…
Poor Martha Stewart. Will the torture never end? Rumour has it that a certain Mr Philip Galane’s latest novel is based around Martha’s ordeal in prison and her subsequent seduction of the public upon her release. Literary inspiration comes of course…
[dtbaker_banner text=”Links I Have Loved This Week” linkhref=”” type=”banner”] To Stay Married, Embrace Change Sometimes people feel betrayed by this change. They fell in love with one person, and when that person doesn’t seem familiar anymore, they decide he or she violated…
Ok, at the risk of sounding like Scrooge’s Wife, I don’t like Christmas cards. Send me a letter any time of the year, send me unexpected cards just because it’s Tuesday, but please no gruesome village scene on the kind of paper-thin…
Bless my dotty socks. Bless me and my crazy urge to bring harm upon myself. Bless my urge to dance all by myself and do myself a damage. On Boxing Day morning I was wandering up the stairs dancing to my own…
4 Comments
I’d have to say I pretty much agree with everything in this post. Frankly my dear, when it comes to bloggers back accounts, I don’t give a dern. That’s not what I read them for. However… I do think there is a place where some of these issues come up… Because some genres of blogs are now built all around telling other people how to “quit their day job” and “free themselves from tyranny” by building multiple streams of income from their blogs. “Buy my ebook and you will be rich and happy forever. Build your blog (ebook, community, etc) and the money will come. ” There is a lot of hype around it. It’s easy to buy in – I know. Sometimes these emotional messages and “kiss your day job goodbye” fantasies sweep me away. Because these peeps are advising others and implying that it is possible to make a living solely off their blog, I think that’s where the questions come in. If the person telling everyone else to go do it, and selling them a product to tell them how, is making a paltry sum themselves they are making money by telling people to do something they themselves haven’t succeeded at. I’m hardly leading the lynch mob on this and really don’t want anyone to post what they make. I just feel that there is a bit of an internet and social media gold rush going on and we all need to be careful not to let it sweep us away – realizing that some of the people making the money are making it by selling others on the dream.
“I got what you think, thanks for putting up. Woh I am cheerful to label this website finished google. Thanks For Share Impressive stuff about this world! » Blog Archive » Installing osCommerce.”
{"id":null,"mode":"form","open_style":"in_place","currency_code":"USD","currency_symbol":"$","currency_type":"decimal","blank_flag_url":"https:\/\/brocantehome.net\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/blank.gif","flag_sprite_url":"https:\/\/brocantehome.net\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/flags.png","default_amount":300,"top_media_type":"featured_image","featured_image_url":"http:\/\/brocantehome.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/tipjar-2.png","featured_embed":"","header_media":null,"file_download_attachment_data":null,"recurring_options_enabled":true,"recurring_options":{"never":{"selected":true,"after_output":"One time only"},"weekly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every week"},"monthly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every month"},"yearly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every year"}},"strings":{"current_user_email":"","current_user_name":"","link_text":"Leave a tip","complete_payment_button_error_text":"Check info and try again","payment_verb":"Pay","payment_request_label":"BrocanteHome","form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","general_server_error":"Something isn't working right at the moment. Please try again.","form_title":"BrocanteHome","form_subtitle":"Help Me to Keep BrocanteHome Online","currency_search_text":"Country or Currency here","other_payment_option":"Other payment option","manage_payments_button_text":"Manage your payments","thank_you_message":"Thank you so much: helping me keep Brocantehome online really means the world to me.","payment_confirmation_title":"BrocanteHome","receipt_title":"Your Receipt","print_receipt":"Print Receipt","email_receipt":"Email Receipt","email_receipt_sending":"Sending receipt...","email_receipt_success":"Email receipt successfully sent","email_receipt_failed":"Email receipt failed to send. Please try again.","receipt_payee":"Paid to","receipt_statement_descriptor":"This will show up on your statement as","receipt_date":"Date","receipt_transaction_id":"Transaction ID","receipt_transaction_amount":"Amount","refund_payer":"Refund from","login":"Log in to manage your payments","manage_payments":"Manage Payments","transactions_title":"Your Transactions","transaction_title":"Transaction Receipt","transaction_period":"Plan Period","arrangements_title":"Your Plans","arrangement_title":"Manage Plan","arrangement_details":"Plan Details","arrangement_id_title":"Plan ID","arrangement_payment_method_title":"Payment Method","arrangement_amount_title":"Plan Amount","arrangement_renewal_title":"Next renewal date","arrangement_action_cancel":"Cancel Plan","arrangement_action_cant_cancel":"Cancelling is currently not available.","arrangement_action_cancel_double":"Are you sure you'd like to cancel?","arrangement_cancelling":"Cancelling Plan...","arrangement_cancelled":"Plan Cancelled","arrangement_failed_to_cancel":"Failed to cancel plan","back_to_plans":"\u2190 Back to Plans","update_payment_method_verb":"Update","sca_auth_description":"Your have a pending renewal payment which requires authorization.","sca_auth_verb":"Authorize renewal payment","sca_authing_verb":"Authorizing payment","sca_authed_verb":"Payment successfully authorized!","sca_auth_failed":"Unable to authorize! Please try again.","login_button_text":"Log in","login_form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","uppercase_search":"Search","lowercase_search":"search","uppercase_page":"Page","lowercase_page":"page","uppercase_items":"Items","lowercase_items":"items","uppercase_per":"Per","lowercase_per":"per","uppercase_of":"Of","lowercase_of":"of","back":"Back to plans","zip_code_placeholder":"Zip\/Postal Code","download_file_button_text":"Download File","input_field_instructions":{"tip_amount":{"placeholder_text":"How much would you like to tip?","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How much would you like to tip? Choose any currency."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How much would you like to tip? Choose any currency."},"invalid_curency":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please choose a valid currency."}},"recurring":{"placeholder_text":"Recurring","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How often would you like to give this?"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"How often would you like to give this?"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How often would you like to give this?"}},"name":{"placeholder_text":"Name on Credit Card","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please enter the name on your card."}},"privacy_policy":{"terms_title":"Terms and conditions","terms_body":null,"terms_show_text":"View Terms","terms_hide_text":"Hide Terms","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."},"unchecked":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please agree to the terms."},"checked":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."}},"email":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"not_an_email_address":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Make sure you have entered a valid email address"}},"note_with_tip":{"placeholder_text":"Your note here...","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"not_empty_initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"saving":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Saving note..."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Note successfully saved!"},"error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to save note note at this time. Please try again."}},"email_for_login_code":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."}},"login_code":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."}},"stripe_all_in_one":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"success":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"invalid_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is not a valid credit card number."},"invalid_expiry_month":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration month is invalid."},"invalid_expiry_year":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is invalid."},"invalid_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is invalid."},"incorrect_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incorrect."},"incomplete_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incomplete."},"incomplete_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incomplete."},"incomplete_expiry":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration date is incomplete."},"incomplete_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code is incomplete."},"expired_card":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card has expired."},"incorrect_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incorrect."},"incorrect_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code failed validation."},"invalid_expiry_year_past":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is in the past"},"card_declined":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card was declined."},"missing":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"There is no card on a customer that is being charged."},"processing_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"An error occurred while processing the card."},"invalid_request_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to process this payment, please try again or use alternative method."},"invalid_sofort_country":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The billing country is not accepted by SOFORT. Please try another country."}}}},"fetched_oembed_html":false}
I’d have to say I pretty much agree with everything in this post. Frankly my dear, when it comes to bloggers back accounts, I don’t give a dern. That’s not what I read them for.
However… I do think there is a place where some of these issues come up… Because some genres of blogs are now built all around telling other people how to “quit their day job” and “free themselves from tyranny” by building multiple streams of income from their blogs. “Buy my ebook and you will be rich and happy forever. Build your blog (ebook, community, etc) and the money will come. ” There is a lot of hype around it. It’s easy to buy in – I know. Sometimes these emotional messages and “kiss your day job goodbye” fantasies sweep me away. Because these peeps are advising others and implying that it is possible to make a living solely off their blog, I think that’s where the questions come in. If the person telling everyone else to go do it, and selling them a product to tell them how, is making a paltry sum themselves they are making money by telling people to do something they themselves haven’t succeeded at. I’m hardly leading the lynch mob on this and really don’t want anyone to post what they make. I just feel that there is a bit of an internet and social media gold rush going on and we all need to be careful not to let it sweep us away – realizing that some of the people making the money are making it by selling others on the dream.
Good reading, gives even more for thinking about earnings… Thanks!
The ‘law of attraction’ if you’re familiar with that, actually says it all …you attract what you think.
“I got what you think, thanks for putting up. Woh I am cheerful to label this website finished google. Thanks For Share Impressive stuff about this world! » Blog Archive » Installing osCommerce.”