Are you sick and tired of trying so hard to get out of debt?
Feel like getting out of debt is going to take a lifetime?
Then let me show you how you can blog your way out of debt!
Grab yourself a cup of tea and a biscuit (or a few!) because this post shows you EXACTLY how you can get out of debt with your own blog!
In this post, I will cover:
- What initial costs are involved
- How writing off those costs actually saves you $1,000 in taxes
- A profitable strategy to make money with your blog
- A realistic calculation to pay off $200K+ in only a few years
- How to get started today
- Resources to get out of debt faster
*** Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.
Click here for the full disclosure statement ***
Initial costs
To get started, a blog doesn’t actually costs very much which surprises a lot of people. They think that you need to spend thousands of dollars which couldn’t be farther from the truth.
The two investments that I recommend you get started with at a minimum is hosting and a theme. Hosting is where the files of your website is kept and the theme is a template for the design and layout of your blog.
You can get started for less than $5 a month for hosting through Bluehost who has been recommended by WordPress since 2005. And the price for a theme can vary anywhere from $45-$100. Personally, I chose to go with Bluchic because of their 24/7 support, video tutorials, regular updates and more.
Yes, you could get a free website. However, no successful blogger will recommend getting started this way. Some of the reasons are you don’t own the content, your site could go down, hidden fees, slow loading times and you are stuck on that platform forever, etc, etc, etc. For more detailed information, you can check out 33 reasons why having a “free website” is a bad idea from WP Beginner.
So, you really only need about $150 to start your own blog on the right foot. If you need to ‘find the money”, check out my post on how to save money on everyday things.
Using write offs to save on taxes
When you blog as a business, aka to make money, you can write off your expenses. This includes not only your blogging expenses but also things such as your mortgage/rent, cellphone, electric bill, internet expenses and more.
You can check out my post on how to save $1,000 in taxes every year for a more detailed breakdown.
Basically, if you spend $150 to start a blog today, you can actually save $1,000 in taxes every year!
That means that you get to keep $1,000 in your pocket
instead of having to pay it to the tax man.
Monetize your blog
There are a lot of ways to monetize your blog such as affiliate links, pay per click advertising, ad space, selling your services and products, etc.
For simplicity, I am focusing on an ebook and mediavine ad income. The reason is because they are the easiest to make assumptions and projections about within a realistic view.
An ebook, will initially take some time to create. However, once it’s done and marketed properly, you basically have your own money printing press. Now, we’re not talking about a high cost ebook, just a simple $27 that is targeted to your readers based on what you choose to blog about.
From my research, Mediavine is a very popular network for bloggers to get into. They do require that you have 25,000 sessions before you can apply so it will take time to build. You could choose to use a different ad agency while you are growing your blog. But again, in this example, I wanted to keep it somewhat simple and the projections are more accurate when you know how much you will make.
Ebook
In this example, let’s assume that you make nothing for your first year. If you are like me, a non-techie and have to learn EVERYTHING to do with blogging. So, I am dedicating my first year to learning and growing my blog with no intention of income. Of course, if I do earn something, it will be a bonus.
| YEAR 2 | YEAR 3 | YEAR 4 | YEAR 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JAN | 1 | 20 | 84 | 196 |
| FEB | 2 | 24 | 92 | 208 |
| MAR | 3 | 28 | 100 | 220 |
| APR | 4 | 32 | 108 | 232 |
| MAY | 5 | 36 | 116 | 244 |
| JUNE | 6 | 40 | 124 | 256 |
| JULY | 8 | 46 | 134 | 271 |
| AUG | 10 | 52 | 144 | 286 |
| SEPT | 12 | 58 | 154 | 301 |
| OCT | 14 | 64 | 164 | 316 |
| NOV | 16 | 70 | 174 | 331 |
| DEC | 18 | 76 | 184 | 346 |
| @ $27 | @ $27 | @ $37 | @ $47 | |
| $2,673 | $14,742 | $58,386 | $118,659 |
The yearly breakdown
This first year gives me time to get clear on who my readers are and what they want. You don’t want to spend time on something that no one has any interest in! And to maybe give it away for FREE for a few months in exchange for testimonials.
Then, in Year 2 you launch your ebook for $27 and you start making 1 sale in Jan, 2 in Feb, 3 in Mar and so on. After 6 months, you improve your landing page and start selling a little more each month.
By the end of Year 2, you have sold a total of 99 ebooks at $27 for a total of $2,673.
In Year 3, you continue to improve your sales, and they are now increasing from 20 to 24 to 28. After another 6 months, people are writing reviews of your ebook so your sales increase again in June.
In Year 3, you sell a total of 546 ebooks at $27 for a total Year 3 income of $14,742.
Now, you are in Year 4 and you’ve had time to add to your ebook, make it even easier for your readers, given them more value, etc. So, you increase the price to $37 and your monthly sales continue to increase slowly over time as you continue to promote it.
Year 4, you sell 1578 (a record number) of ebooks at $37 and earning of $58,386 for Year 4.
Year 5, you decide that sales are going well, you are now known as an expert and your readers love what you have to offer. You again increase the price to $47 and your sales continue to increase each month incrementally.
In Year 5, you are shocked to see you made a total of 3207 ebook sales at $47 for total Year 5 income of $118,659.
Add it all up and the total income for
all 5 years is a whopping $194,460!!!
And that’s not all
Overtime, you will be attracting thousands of viewers to your blog. Once you hit 25,000 sessions, you can apply and earn about $800 a month.
However, since I prefer to be conservative, let’s say you only earn about $600 a month and it takes you a year to get that many sessions. I’m also going to assume that it only increases by $100 a month after each year passes.
That means that you will earn the following:
| Per Month | Per Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Year 2 | $600 | $7,200 |
| Year 3 | $700 | $8,400 |
| Year 4 | $800 | $9,600 |
| Year 5 | $900 | $10,800 |
You would earn $36,000 in 5 years, for having readers on your blog!
Words of wisdom
I want to be clear, it’s not easy having a blog. It takes work and dedication but the rewards accumulate over time and literally ANYONE can do it!
I made these projections with a realistic view in mind. Essentially, it is my own personal growth plan for cocochicliving. The initial investment of $150 is a super low cost to start a business. Besides, even if I don’t hit all of these projections during those 5 years, it’s still:
MORE MONEY THAN I HAVE RIGHT NOW!
This is for you if:
- You’re fed up with the question of “how to get out of debt?”
- You’re stubborn (like me) and will find time to put in the effort
- Want to have a personal money making machine
- Are committed to ongoing learning in order to be successful
- You see the value of building your own blogging business
This is NOT for you if:
- You want a get rich quick scheme
- Think you will make money right away
- Are waiting to have more time, money or energy (you have to make it happen!)
- Think there’s too much to learn
- Don’t want a long term commitment (ha!)
Get Started
If you are ready, then you can check what website name is available below with Bluehost. For me, this was one of the funnest things when I started. It’s a popular platform for bloggers because you get:
- Started for less than $5 a month
- 24/7 guidance and technical support (that I used myself)
- One click WordPress installation
- Automatic WordPress updates
- A free domain name for 12 a year (this is your website name $15 value)
- A free SSL certificate for security purposes
- Blue Flash (phone call with a trained rep to set up your account, walk through the dashboard and help pick and install plug-ins)
Get out of debt resources
Look, I get it, to get out of debt is NOT easy. I’ve been there and it’s an extremely stressful subject. Yet, there are strategies to get out of debt faster than blindly paying what you can each month. See my related posts below to learn more.
Related content you may also be interest in:
How to start a blog for less than $5 a month (step by step guide)
7 major reasons you should buy a WordPress theme
8 biggest mistakes I made my first 3 months blogging
#1 strategy to pay off debt fast
A surefire way to save interest on credit card debt