This post's overview:
Hi guys! Since I started writing more personal posts (given that we are sitting in the quarantine), here’s a post on why did I quit being a full-time blogger once again and my story about getting back to working full-time. Keep reading to find out why full-time blogging is not for everyone!
In October 2019, I decided to start blogging full-time again. It was a conscious decision and a very temporary one – I knew it wouldn’t last. I had short periods on working on this blog full-time two more times – in early 2017 and late 2017 when Tripsget was pretty much a baby. Even though I started it in early 2016, I didn’t take it seriously until early 2017, and it didn’t make any money until 2018 (Instagram did, though).
In 2019, Tripsget was doing well! It grew 25% year on year, and it started bringing a nice additional income. Not quite enough to live in London and not work, but enough to pay for some extra trips and new camera gear. I wasn’t planning to work on it full-time, though; however, my new employment didn’t work out. It was a startup, which didn’t know where it was heading. Two members of the same leadership team would tell two opposite things and as you can imagine, everything was very confusing. Add to that some unnecessary bureaucracy and a desire to change the entire product offering and company strategy in a whim (not mentioning office locations and people). I don’t know how did I last there for three months, that’s probably because of the fantastic and fun team. I still miss them, sometimes. So here goes the first reason.
Why did I quit being a full-time blogger
1 – Even though I’m introverted, I like being around people
I spend about eight months in total being a full-time travel blogger and a freelancer and all these months were very lonely. Unless you make blogger friends who live in the same city from day one, being a full-time blogger can be very frustrating. Some people love it – you have a “dream job”, full flexibility, no commute and no one to report into but yourself. However, that means that you don’t have an office (except for the sofa – the home office), colleagues and the fun office atmosphere. For me, that’s probably one of the main reasons why I don’t want to be a full-time blogger. I don’t network very well and meeting new people is hard for me. There are quite a few blogger events; however, meeting real friends would be nearly impossible there. Although I definitely know some people who managed to make good friends in the blogging community.
2 – Blog income isn’t very stable
Before you start getting any income from the blog, you will probably spend a couple of years generating content. I can count people who quit their job and created a sustainable and successful business in the first six months to a year on my fingers. Blogging is not that easy at all. Very few people start with a proper business and content plan, invest money in backlinks and build authority in their niche from day one. If people do that, it means, they probably have experience doing that for one of their past projects.
I’ve been blogging for over four years. Almost 3 of these years, I was taking blogging seriously. I started making money about 2 years ago when my traffic grew enough to quality for Mediavine so that I could serve their ads on my website.
However, I can’t say that I ever earned enough to be able to live in London. Unless you don’t pay rent and live in a very affordable place, blogging full-time might not be an option.
Then again, I don’t want to scare you, but sometimes Google algorithm updates happen. After a significant update in November 2019, the majority of travel bloggers have lost up to 60% of their traffic in one day. There isn’t much you can do after these things happen apart from changing and updating your old post and producing more content. During the coronavirus pandemic, most of the travel bloggers lost around 90% of their traffic and income, so as you can imagine, blogging can be risky, and blogging income isn’t very stable.
3 – The pressure of growing traffic and being better
Another reason why I don’t want to be a full-time blogger is the pressure. You might be wondering, what kind of pressure it is, so I will tell you right away. Even though the travel community is generally very kind, supportive and helpful, some things can be frustrating as well. One of them is the monthly success threads and monthly goal threads. While many people find these threads very motivating, I, on the contrary, get depressed. You will see so many great achievements there and quite a few boasts. However, if your traffic isn’t growing as expected and you haven’t landed any sponsorships, deals and press trips in a long while, you might get very very frustrated.
There is always a pressure of getting more followers, improving your traffic and becoming a blogging superstar; however, in real life, that doesn’t always happen. For me, the pressure is real.
4 – You need to be able to travel full-time as well
Once upon a time, Pepe and I wanted to find remote jobs and travel around the world. We were [almost] fresh graduates and failed to find remote jobs, so we ended up working in London offices, which, I must assure you, isn’t bad at all. London is one of my favourite cities on Earth and living here is honestly amazing. When you’re blogging full-time, however, it’s expected that you travel as much as possible. Ideally, you are always on the move. Maybe I’m too old for that, but at 27, I can’t see myself without a steady income, a house (even a rental one) and, generally, a home. Pepe doesn’t want to interrupt his career in software development either. I also don’t enjoy travelling alone and in 80% of times, don’t enjoy being alone on press trips either. Being a full-time blogger and travelling for 25 days a year doesn’t make much sense, does it?
5 – It’s not fun when it’s a job
The last (but not least) of the reasons for me not to be a full-time blogger is the fact that blogging can become a chore when you treat it like a job. My ultimate goal of starting this blog wasn’t making a lot of money with it. It was sharing our travel stories, helping people who have similar way of travel to find all the information they need for travel planning and express myself in writing, videography and photography. When I realise that according to my content plan, I need to write 35 posts in the next two months, my natural reaction is to slack. It’s hard to treat your blog as a business if you didn’t start it with that idea in mind.
However, if Tripsget grew a lot and would bring me a substantial amount of money every month, I would consider switching to a part-time job and working only a couple of days per week. Alternatively, I would maybe start my own business.
Summary of why did I quit being a full-time blogger
Alright, so these were the main reasons why did I quit being a full-time blogger. From not being able to travel full-time to the ever-increasing pressure on growing your blog stats, these were the main blockers for me. Would you like to be a full-time blogger? Let me know in the comments below!
Some of my other posts you might like:
Most Instagrammable places in London
I can relate to this. I find on the internet if there’s anyone feels frustrated with blogging and no one tells about that but you. Like you, I’m an introvert and feel all the same as you said. It’s a little frustrating now.