By Derek, on December 2nd, 2016%  I’m sure that you’ve had the thought. On the drive in to work on a cold Monday morning after scraping ice off your windshield, you dream about quitting your job and doing something else. Something that allows you more freedom to live life as you want to. This is a guest post written by Jon from Money Smart Guides, a personal finance blog that helps readers build wealth and invest for their future. I was in your shoes. Back in 2010 I was as low as you could go. I hated my job. In fact, I don’t even think the word hate describes just how much I disliked my job. I used up all of my paid vacation and wished I could buy more. I even considered taking unpaid days off. Being miserable for the rest of my life was not an option I wanted to pursue. It was at that time I started blogging on the side. I had no dream of making this my career or anything like that. I was just hoping to make some extra money from it. This money, along with money from other side . . . → Read More: How Side Hustles Allowed Me to Quit the Rat Race By Derek, on November 18th, 2016%  A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a detailed post about starting a website for only $24 through iPage. A few of you took me up on this offer. You learned how to: come up with a kick-butt domain name, sign up through iPage to make your page live, and get started with WordPress for free so you could turn your site into a thing of beauty. And that’s where I left a few of you hanging…. oops. My bad. But now it’s time to take the next step! It’s time to make your blog look awesome so people will want to keep coming back (and in turn, make you some money)! If you didn’t yet start your site, but you always intended to, it’s not too late! Use these step-by-step instructions and click the banner below, and you’ll have your site started in 15 minutes or less. Then, come back to this post and learn how to beautify it. How to Make Your Blog Look Awesome When I walked you through the sign-up and started my new page, even I was amazed at how ugly the initial site . . . → Read More: 2 Simple Steps to Make Your Blog Look Awesome (and actually make some money!) By Derek, on October 10th, 2016%  I used to write blog posts that said, “Want to make money? Then start a blog!”….not very helpful. I’d constantly get questions like: “How do I go about choosing a site name?” “What web host should I choose?” “How do I actually set up the site?” Heck, sometimes I’d even get questions about whether they should start a free blog vs. paying for hosting (FYI, if you’re serious about making money with your blog, I strongly suggest paying for hosting)! Instead of continuing to field these questions one by one, I finally decided to write this complete step by step guide to start a WordPress blog on iPage. Right here, right now. How to Start a WordPress Blog on iPage This post may contain affiliate links I started this website through iPage back in 2010 and have consistently earned $10,000+ a year because of it (some years close to $30,000!!). I made all this money not because I was an expert blogger (heck I’m not even a great writer!), but I have an undeniable passion around teaching people to ditch their debt and get wealthy! Apparently, this passion has . . . → Read More: How to Start a WordPress Blog on iPage For $24 – Life And My Finances By Derek, on June 15th, 2016%  I’ve been blogging since 2006, but it wasn’t until 2015 that I discovered a growing market for people who want to make extra money as a freelance writer. My background is in banking and financial coaching. The more I blogged about personal finance (including my own debt-free story), the more I realized it resonated with people. The same thing happened when I became a mom three years ago and started blogging about parenting and diapers and sleep deprivation. That clicked with moms. If you have an area or two in which you have a great deal of insight or experience, you have a command of the English language, and you’re willing to put in some hard work, you could make extra money as a freelance writer. Since transitioning from a hobby blogger to a freelancer, I’ve been featured on The Huffington Post, The Penny Hoarder, Rockstar Finance, The Dollar Stretcher, LifeHack, Scary Mommy, and more. I typically earn $40 to $100 per post or $20 to $50 per hour. I’ll show you how in this article. Why Make Extra Money as a Freelance Writer? Flexible hours Good pay Work . . . → Read More: How to Make Extra Money As a Freelance Writer By Derek, on April 6th, 2016%  Since we’re in the process of finishing off the first quarter of 2016, many businesses are currently looking over financials. My team and I are also in this process and I can’t help but get a bit nostalgic. I started with absolutely no money and found a way to use my business’ own revenue to reinvest and grow it into what is today. I’ve also managed to do this without getting myself into debt. It hasn’t always been easy and I’ve definitely made mistakes, but it’s all been worth it. Bootstrap Your Business Without Going Broke I’m not the only one who has taken the bootstrapping route. Many small business owners – particularly if they are running online businesses with low overhead – are also taking this route. Since it’s not easy (or even sometimes necessary) to acquire investors and debt is a four letter word, bootstrapping is the way to go for many people. While it takes a bit longer and there’s definitely risk involved, you can bootstrap your business without going broke. Get strategic about where you invest money. One thing I’ve learned is to be extremely . . . → Read More: How to Bootstrap Your Business Without Going Broke By Derek, on October 26th, 2015%  I had no writing experience, no marketing experience, and I had absolutely no idea how to build a webpage… BUT, at that point in time I WAS successfully digging my way out of debt and I wanted to teach everyone that they could kick their debt to the curb as well. I never dreamed that this little side venture would be profitable. After all, blogging is just what people did when they’re bored and had no life, RIGHT? Well, $75,000 later, I can attest that it certainly is NOT just a little side hobby. Blogging can provide an income for stay-at-home moms, dads, and can even earn enough to support both! In this post, I want to teach you that blogging is not only a means for an income, but with the proper discipline, it can also make you extremely wealthy. How to Start a Blog So how did I go from being absolutely clueless about webpages and blogs to building this beautiful site with headers, sidebars, and fabulously formatted content? No, I didn’t take a class, and I definitely didn’t pay anyone to do it for me (at that . . . → Read More: How I’ve Earned Over $75,000 With a Blog By Derek, on January 18th, 2015%  After 4+ years of owning this blog, I am finally treating it like a business…and it’s paying dividends. When I first started my blog, I was basically in it for the money. Sure, I liked to write about personal finance, but I really just wanted to make some bank through advertisements like everyone else out there on the world wide web. The Greedy History of Life And My Finances After about a year of blogging, it actually worked. I was earning upwards of $2,000-$3,000 a month with my website! But, with the methods I was using, my site was doomed to fail. Advertisers were coming out of the woodwork to pay for sponsored posts, text links, banner ads, and social media shout-outs. I accepted them all without regard. Casino ads, cash advance ads, payday loans – they all made it on my site for the right price. I’m obviously ashamed to say that, but don’t worry, I was punished for my greedy behavior. The Google giants decided they didn’t like the way I was running my site, and they downgraded my rank to zero (for those of you that . . . → Read More: The Crazy Good Results of Treating My Website Like a Business By Derek, on January 23rd, 2012%  [wp_campaign_1] Do you own your own blog, or maybe you’re considering buying one? Are you curious how much it’s worth? I know I’m always curious about my blog worth, but there are so many factors, and so many websites that give different answers, how can I really know? Estimates of My Blog’s Worth A couple of months ago, my site was earning an average of $1,500 a month or so and I was just curious how much it would be worth if I put it up for sale (don’t worry, I never planned on selling this site….unless it was worth a millions bucks or something…). Could I sell it for $5,000? $10,000? Maybe even $20,000? I honestly had no idea, so I took my question to Google. Sites That Calculate Your Site’s Value It turns out that there’s quite a few sites that try to estimate a blog’s value. Most of them just ask for your URL, and they spit out the value of your blog! Sounds simple…. until you visit more than one estimator. Take a look at the different estimates I got for my site. Website Worth – . . . → Read More: How Much Is Your Blog Worth? By Derek, on December 30th, 2011%  [wp_campaign_1] Are you a regular blogger? Did you start your blog from scratch and now you’re making a few hundred bucks each month? I have met quite a few bloggers that found themselves in this situation. Yes, they’ve brought their blog to a point where there’s a consistent income, but how can they make more money? If they start a brand new blog while running their current one, they’ll have to practically devote their life to their computer screen, because it takes time to build a new brand! The Benefits of Buying a Blog Buying a blog is often compared to a turn-key business. You buy the company, you are given the keys, and it’s already set up to make some money for you. All you have to do is “turn the key” and open the door. Here are the benefits of buying someone else’s blog: The site is already built – you just have to maintain the pages There are already many devoted readers The social media is all set up (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) The site is already registered and crawled by the major search engines It’s probably already . . . → Read More: Don’t Get Burned When Buying a Blog By Derek, on October 26th, 2011%  [wp_campaign_1] I think my family initially thought I was nuts when I first started my blog as a means of an additional income. I mean, how much could a website make without selling a product? Well, after a year of blogging, my income has grown from $5 a month to well over $1,000 each month (with spikes of $2,500+)! My blogging income has become everything that I hoped it would be and more. That’s why I’m encouraging you to start your own blog as a way to make more money! What Are You Passionate About? Luckily, I chose to write about a topic that I love: Finances! I have always been fascinated by this topic and find myself wanting to learn more about it each and every day! After blogging for a year, LifeAndMyFinances.com is still a pleasure to run. If I would have chosen a site based on searchability and competition, I probably would be running a site about some random topic like “Centurian Warriors”, even though I have no interest in it whatsoever… While this topic may be profitable, it would be tough to stick with because I . . . → Read More: Make More Money: Start Your Own Blog | Top Resources on this SiteAffiliate Disclaimer:We are a professional site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we recommend. We test each product thoroughly and give high marks to only the very best. We are independently owned and the opinions expressed here are our own. 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