Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

Left Thumb Blogger Begins Her Journey to Six-Figure Blogging

A couple of weeks ago I pre-ordered ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett. The very next day I received a Twitter message from Chris that I had won copy of their book. Wow! I didn’t know I had even entered a contest. Is that a message from the universe or what?! (I will be giving away one copy at a later date.)

Reading Darren’s story about how he went from a hobby blogger to a six-figure problogger in three years gave me goosebumps!

I yet again laughed at what an employment counselor once told me: Blogging is a passing fad. Well, perhaps it is a fad, but, until it fully passes, I know I can create an income from blogging. It may not be a six-figure income; I’d be quite content with a decent five-figure income.

With blogging as an income source, it erases all of the barriers I, a person with a physical disability, faced when searching for a job. With blogging, my typing speed and inability to answer phones – requirements for many jobs I applied for – don’t matter. With blogging, I don’t need to deal will transportation or the accessibility (lack thereof) of the workplace. I can work from the comforts of home, on my own schedule, doing what I love to do: writing and connecting with people from around the world. With blogging, technology has finally caught up to me and given me something else I can do, and with stories like Darren’s and Chris’s, I now have a goal to strive for.

I dove into ProBlogger, skimming the first few chapters that introduced blogging and explained how to set one up. Then came the good parts: blog writing, earning strategies, promotion and marketing. The ideas began flowing – not a book to read before falling asleep! A notebook on hand while reading is a must.

Both Darren and Chris point out, several times throughout the book, that problogging is not a get-rich-fast scheme; that it takes consistent hard work, countless late nights, some trial and error, and a bit of luck. None of which is new to me.

To go as far as I can with blogging, I need to learn, to absorb, as much as I can about the medium, the technology, the community-building, and the promotion strategies. Much of these can be learned online and from the still few books on blogging. But, there comes a point when nothing beats being in an actual room full of bloggers, exchanging ideas, strategies and lessons learned face-to-face.

The ultimate event for such experience is SOBCon – a conference for Successful and Outstanding Bloggers, founded by blogger extraordinaire Liz Strauss and held in Chicago in May. Touted as Biz School for Bloggers, attendees are guaranteed to leave with a Business Action Plan that can be immediately executed for measurable success. A plan for becoming a better and more effective blogger sounds good to me!

Unfortunately, SOBcon wasn’t in the budget this year. However, SOBCon09 definitely can be! A year to raise $2000+ – that is definitely doable! This is where I would like to request your support. I am not asking for charity. That isn’t my style. What I am asking for is, if you enjoy the posts on this blog, if you find value in what you read here, please consider buying me a coffee (link at the bottom of the post ) or a copy of my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself.

Together, we can make this happen. I look forward to meeting many of you in Chicago next May.

Thank you.