Top Ten Ways Personal Finance Blogging has Helped Me |
26 Comments |
10. I make money from advertising. Let’s get this obvious one out of the way. I do make some money and it’s almost to the point where it might start to match that of a part-time minimum wage job. However, I won’t be quitting my day job any time soon.
9. Running this blog is a hobby that makes me money. Not too many people can say that their hobby makes them money. I’ve had a lot of hobbies in the past and almost all of them ended up costing me money.
8. I force myself to practice what I preach. I have had a 401K to roll over for some time and I’m really starting to get it done. Unfortunately it’s not a quick and easy thing to do, but without this blog, I would have probably forgotten it long ago.
7. I’ve committed to something and I’ve followed it through. This is extremely rare for me. I’ve started so many things only to find that they didn’t provide lasting enjoyment to me. I believe that blogging is different as I always have new people commenting about new things. Even after a year of writing, it hasn’t gotten stale.
6. I’m learning about how to run a business. Even though I consider Lazy Man and Money a hobby, since it brings in money, I have to treat it as a business. Some of the skills I’m learning are bookkeeping, negotiating (with advertisers), dealing with deadlines (something I’m particularly bad at in my day job), and marketing.
5. I’m becoming a better writer. I cringe when I go back and read some of my early posts - some of them are very poorly written.
4. I’m getting better at networking. I’m a terrible networker in the real world. I have so much to learn. However, I talk with many bloggers fairly regularly and this network has helped me reach more readers and bring in more advertising dollars.
3. Learn about aspects of the web that I normally don’t deal with. As a software engineer, I know a thing or two (and that’s about all) about how the web works. However at my day job, I just write code to match the spec that the project manager brings me. By creating Lazy Man and Money, I’ve learned quite a bit about Search Engine Optimization, Google’s indexing algorithms, how to monetize a website, and site design. In short, I’m the product manager, project manager, and engineer.
2. I share what I’ve learned about personal finance. This has given me a sense of personal satisfaction.
1. I learn about personal finance. Writing about personal finances means that I have to read about what others have to say on the topic. It also means that I have to be accountable for what I say. This is a major driver for me to try to say at least reasonable well researched material. Readers, like you, are also ready to help out if I have a question or point out if I could be doing something better.
Now that you’ve read my top ten, check out how Personal Financing Blogging has helped these bloggers:
Here is another isolated tip from the below comments I liked:
- Everyday Finance - It’s driven me to research alternative investment strategies.
If you are a personal finance blogger, let me know how blogging has helped you. If you:
- Write a post on the subject and let me know… (or)
- Just tell me via the comment or e-mail
I’ll add to the list and link back to you.
This post deals with: ... and focuses on:Blogging
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September 7th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Very good summary. For me as well the best way to learn something is to share it with other people.
August 22nd, 2008 at 11:32 am
I discovered personal finance blogs when I was searching for information about self-employed income. When I realized that most of the blogs were already very mature and were either heavily focused on debt reduction or already had significant wealth built up, I decided to start my own blog to force myself to learn about personal finances.
Id say I most identify with #1 and #2 as I started my blog to learn about personal finance and I hope others can benefit from my situation.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:46 am
[...] interested on some of my slightly older (and more raw) articles. Specifically, I’d recommend what I’ve learned by blogging and, if you are interested in giving blogging a try yourself, Advice for New Personal Finance [...]
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I like the idea of creating a blog about a hobby you are passionate about. Then part of the expenses involved with the hobby then become tax deductible business expenses. I was just talking to a guy who is a golfer that takes 3-4 golfing trips a year. I imagine golfing keywords are pretty high paying keywords.Advertisers for something like that surely would not be that difficult to find.
June 7th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
So far, I’d have to say that I love how much I am learning about “Web 2.0″ - I still consider myself young but all the 2.0 stuff makes me feel much older:) PLurK? Is it really necessary?:)
I was amazed when I began to make some php changes that worked, so that I could change my own php code… that was a great feeling!
January 17th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
[...] Man has a good post on the top ten ways that blogging about personal finance issues has helped him and it got me thinking about the very [...]