Also, I had a typo: I didn’t “write off” the software as income, I REPORTED it as income. Sorry for that very important mistake – big diff!!!

xo
Jessica McFadden – A Parent in Silver Spring recently posted..Kid-Friendly Activities This August- In The Washington Post

I met with an incredible advisor who gave me a free copy of Quicken software to keep track of financials…that I promptly wrote off as income since it retailed for more than $50.

Anywho, a lot of this blog monetization stuff is new to me so I try and conduct business like a print freelance writer. I ask myself WWAD? – what would Anna Qunindlen and Amy Tan do? It usually works.

I also try and stay away from feeling like one of the working saloon girls on Bonanza who’s owned by a Madame and Little Joe has to come in and save. It’s better to just be one of the slightly skanky girls drinking at the bar.
Jessica McFadden – A Parent in Silver Spring recently posted..Kid-Friendly Activities This August- In The Washington Post

Terrific post.

I think this dynamic shift is also part of the reason of the raise of Dad blogs as well!
DaDa Rocks! recently posted..Its time to street surf with the Whiplash

YES! I never liked teaching the way I love what I do now. This is probably why it’s so hard to hear people complain about the work involved. If it’s not fun, scale it back, make it a hobby again, do what you need to do.

I also love what you say about people starting just to make money – I agree that I hope that doesn’t become the motivation for waves of people and that even if that’s what brought them here, that they find something else they love about it. Surely tons of people enter professions solely for the income they can earn, but I can’t imagine that being the best reason to start blogging!

And please let me know if they ever start paying people to camp. Add in swimming and sign me up

You make many good points. When I started it was a hobby with hobby hours, just for fun. The difference now would be the hours aren’t just hobby hours (a few here and there) or hobby dollars. I think this is why you hear mom bloggers saying they need to make money. When husbands see hours and hours online just for fun it makes sense why eyebrows would be raised. It also makes sense why moms would want to make money and turn their hobby into a profit. I love camping and if I could be paid to do a hobby and something I enjoy, I’d do it more often!

Like all things in life, there are shady people and crooks. There have always been shady deals online and offline – which is why we should all use our smarts and think before we sign up or just trust a “community”. I think it is great you’ve been able to stick to just selling ads and the Lifetime Moms advertising but you’ve also been smart enough to realize you had a market and created site warming parties for Twitter – advertising perhaps isn’t as necessary for your blog – you can justify your hours in other ways because you’re making an income in relation to blogging.

I’m all for monetizing a blog and when I realized I had a business I got smart and created and LLC and got insurance. It isn’t for everyone and because it is my business I dislike the idea of others thinking it is not enjoyable like when it was just a “hobby”. I feel lucky I like it enough that it doesn’t feel like work but like any business there are ethics and if I’m unethical – it will be disclosed because Karma is a bitch and the online world is ruthless! I just hope that every blog isn’t started just as a business with dollar signs in mind and if it is I hope that mom bloggers that do begin on this path love it like I do and if they do – they’ll be genuine, make money in the long run and have a loyal following and community of readers.

Thanks for this thought provoking post.
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