Blogging freedom comes in many sizes and shapes.
It means different things to different people.
One person’s freedom could be another person’s imprisonment.
There are two things I hear most from bloggers searching for freedom.
They want blogging to give them financial freedom.
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And they want it to give them the freedom of time.
Blogging gives you financial freedom
Blogging can give you the freedom to earn unlimited income.
Yet, you want to do it on your own terms.
You want to be your own boss.
That means, you want to build your own business.
And you want the freedom to build a business around something you love.
Blogging gives you the freedom of time
Blogging gives you a chance to do what you want, when you want.
No more working on other people’s schedules.
You can make your own schedule.
And you can take vacations or travel anytime you want.
Here are 16 Bloggers Who Make Enough Money to Travel the World in Style.
Blogging gives you the freedom to use your time as you choose.
How blogging gives you freedom
Whatever kind of freedom you’re look for, blogging can help you get it.
But it doesn’t just happen when you get a domain name and publish your first blog post.
Freedom doesn’t mean freedom from effort, but freedom to focus your effort on the right things.
What is blogging freedom?
Blogging gives you freedom to make your own choices.
Work at what you love
People always say they want to work at what they love.
Is that you?
Are you one of the few people who actually gets to do what you want?
Or better yet… gets to do what you love?
We often hear about that from musicians, writers, athletes, performers and others.
They say they are so lucky to be doing what they love.
Are you that lucky?
Do you get to work every day at something you love?
Or do you just work to pay the bills, even though you may not like your job at all?
What is your passion?
As a blogger, you don’t drag yourself into work just to labor mindlessly at something your “boss” tells you to do.
Instead, every day you get to work at something you love.
Like Ryan Biddulph gets to do on his blog, Blogging from Paradise.
And like Lisa Sicard does on her blog, Inspire to Thrive.
Or like Moss Clement does on his blog, Moss Media.
And these are just a few examples of bloggers who have the freedom to do what they love every single day.
You can enjoy that same freedom.
Just choose the niche you want to blog in and get to work.
- Travel?
- Health?
- Marketing?
- Self-improvement?
Whatever you are most passionate about, you get to choose.
But then, you do have to work.
Blogging requires effort.
Blogging gives you the freedom to do what is right
In order to gain the freedom blogging can offer, you need to make your blog work.
Even though you may love what you’re blogging about day in and day out, if you have no readers or income or any measurable success… your blogging days won’t last for long.
But wait.
So you might complain, “I thought you said blogging is a way to freedom.”
True.
But don’t get confused.
Freedom doesn’t mean you can just do anything you want, anytime you want.
What it does mean, is that you are given the freedom to choose what to do.
But your choice depends on your ability to do what works.
You have to do the “right things” in order for your blog to work.
And you have to do them consistently, every single day.
It’s not like you don’t have to do anything and success will come your way automatically.
But you can choose the things you will do.
You get to decide what niche to blog in.
And who your audience will be.
You can choose to write a long blog post, or a short one.
And sure, you pick the titles and topics.
Want to add video?
It’s your choice.
Everything is your choice.
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But blogging freedom does not mean freedom from responsibility or hard work.
And it doesn’t mean there are no rules.
So here’s what I consider to be the 3 most important rules for enjoying blogging freedom.
Do what you DON’T want to do
What is it you do not want to do in your blogging business?
Now, think of what makes you most uncomfortable.
Or, what you think you are “just not good at.”
Well, if those are the right things to do, then you have to do them.
You just have to do them.
But notice, I said if they are “right things” to do.
So you have to know what is key to making your blog successful.
The good news is… blogging freedom means you can choose to do those things.
But it does not mean that you can just do the stuff you like, have fun and ignore critical things that you are uncomfortable with.
Do the right things
Your job as a blogger is to figure out what those “right things” are for your business.
Maybe that’s the first uncomfortable challenge you have to own up to.
Figure it out.
Map it out.
If you can’t do it, hire a blogging coach to help you.
One way or another, you must have some kind of blueprint to work from.
Then you have to commit to doing all the right things.
And, yes, that means you even have to do those things you don’t want to do.
Blogging freedom doesn’t give you the benefit of picking and choosing what you like to do.
You’ve got to do it all.
If there are things you just can’t do, then you have to hire someone to do it for you.
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Or, you have to use a software or service to accomplish it.
You have the freedom to decide what is most critical to get done.
And you have the freedom to decide how you will make it happen.
But it must get done.
Whether it’s doing statistical analysis of your blog, or getting video integrated into your blogging, running Facebook Ads… whatever you understand to be critical to your particular blogging business…
If you don’t do it personally, you have to supervise the people you hire, or manage the software or service you are using.
At the end of the day, it is your responsibility.
You must get it done.
And you must get it all done.
That will always include doing stuff you just don’t want to do, that you absolutely hate doing, and that you just don’t know the first thing about.
Do those things you don’t want to do, FIRST
As you begin each new day in your world of blogging freedom, guess what you have to do FIRST.
That’s right… the thing you would much rather do LAST.
Why’s that?
Because if you save them for last, they’ll probably go undone.
Who ever does every single thing they set out to do each day?
Most of us have a few things left to do when the lights go down.
And those are usually the things we never really wanted to do anyway.
It’s much nicer to say, “it’s been a long day, I’ll do that thing I hate to do tomorrow.”
And when tomorrow comes, that thing you hate doing gets put last on the list again.
I know bloggers who run their business this way and literally never do the things they don’t like.
The biggest blogging stumble
It’s very, very common for a blogger to tell me things like this.
“I know how important it is for me to write an ebook.”
“How important,” I ask, “on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most important thing you can do to help grow your business?”
Answer: “I’d say 8 or 9”
Question: “So, have you started it?”
Answer: “Oh sure.”
Question: “When?”
Answer: “I actually got it going about 8 months ago.”
Question: “So where are you at with that now?”
Answer: “Oh, I don’t know. I just never had the time for it. I guess I should get started on that again. Maybe next month.”
Results of the stumble
You see what’s happening here.
The funny thing is, that as we discuss what things have been getting done, they’re usually things that have far less importance.
But they’re fun, inspiring, new.
So, they get done.
The “hard stuff” gets left undone.
Why?
Because it never takes first priority.
And not just first priority as an abstract idea.
But first priority on your actual to-do list… today… this morning… right now!
Surviving the stumble
You see, when you do that thing you hate doing first, it feels like a big victory.
You’ve succeeded at doing something you hate, or that you’ve convinced yourself that you’re incapable of doing.
Now, for the rest of the day, you are in victory mode.
Things are going great.
You’ve got a spring in your step.
But keep putting that thing off, then all day long you live in dread and fear of having to still do that thing.
It drains your energy.
You find excuses to start slowing things down.
And you become a master of procrastination.
But you don’t have to get stuck there.
Blogging freedom allows you to choose to do the tough stuff first.
Put it behind you and move on to things you’re better at.
Things you enjoy more.
NEVER take a day off
Blogging freedom means doing the right thing.
It also means doing it consistently.
You have the freedom to build a momentum that moves your business forward.
But momentum, by definition, is something that picks up steam, not loses it.
And if you do the right thing, every day, you get in the habit of always doing something to build your business.
If you do the tough stuff, the things you don’t want to do, first… each and every day… you build a habit of succeeding instead of procrastinating and failing.
But in order to build that momentum, you must do it every day.
Bloggers ask me, “Can’t I take a day off?”
Sure, you can.
If you want to make it that much harder to get things rolling forward again the day after.
You see, the more distance you put between your goals and your efforts to achieve them, the harder they become to attain.
Ask any athlete.
Do you think a gold medal figure skater takes days off?
Not many.
Ask anybody that excels at anything.
They will always tell you the same thing.
Every day is a new day to improve at what they love doing.
They don’t take days off any more than I’d think of taking a day off from drinking coffee (or whatever it is that you really look forward to.)
That’s the attitude that builds success.
And blogging gives you the freedom to do that.
So how about you?
Leave me a comment below.
Let me know what freedom you get from blogging.
-Donna
PS: Take a moment to share this article on your social sites, too.
Thanks so much!
Twitter: vishwa328
January 17, 2021 at 4:05 am #
Hello Donna,
Blogging has really changed my life. Blogging is the only way that you can earn from your passion and by helping others. there is nothing better than this. Apart from it blogging gives you the opportunity to connect with various people across the globe. There is no rush of a 9 to 5 job. Ryan, Lisa, are some of the best examples of blogging. Glad that they are also my best blogging friends. Thanks so much for this awesome post.
Regards,
Vishwajeet Kumar
Vishwajeet Kumar recently posted..1 Big Blogger Challenge: Who Do You Trust?
Hi Vishwajeet,
Blogging does have a way of changing our lives. It is so true that its the only way to earn from your passion. Helping others and making blogging buddies along the way can lead to wonderful relationships.
-Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..Best Cloud Storage for Bloggers in 2021
Twitter: ravishingravism
January 15, 2021 at 11:24 am #
Hi Donna,
Blogging can bring freedom or make you a slave. It depends upon you how you treat the blogging business. If you do it for the sake of money and chasing money days and nights, then you will feel like a puppet who dances for dollars.
But if you do it for passion and want to achieve more than just money, you will get the freedom that most of the world wishes.
Thanks for sharing!
Gaurav Kumar Joshi recently posted..How to Restore Social Media Reputation
Very true Gaurav,
It is so apparent for those who are in it to make money. They don’t give any good content, but blog on and on with offers. Don’t get me wrong…it is ok 20% of the time to blog about an offer. But 80% must be good content for others to learn.
-Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..Best Cloud Storage for Bloggers in 2021
I happened to stumble upon this article and found it absolutely worth every minute spent reading. You have efficiently explained what actually freedom is and yeah best part which must be appreciated is “Do those things you don’t want to do, FIRST”. That hit differently and yes procrastination is the thief of time. Your blog is really amazing and inspiring. Keep up the great work.
Hi,
Glad you stumbled upon this article. Indeed, I find doing the things you don’t want to do first is what I call “Eating the Frog.” It gives you freedom to fly through the day after its done.
Thank you for visiting,
-Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..How blogging gives you freedom
Hey Donna! I love this and how perfect is your timing regarding FREEDOM! I agree blogging can provide many types of FREEDOM. I returned to blogging after 3 years so I could achieve some of that freedom. Not financial, but emotional freedom. Freedom to share what’s on my mind and get it off my chest. Blogging allows me and many others to accomplish that. It’s therapeautic, just like having animals in your life. If you’re not blogging for financial freedom or to build a business, still no reason not to blog. We all have a voice and need to express it. Blogging can be a very good way to do so.
Hope all is well with you, my friend. You’re in my thoughts!
Hi Bren,
I see where you are coming from and know that it is so great to be able to write and get things off your chest. It sure is therapeutic when you do that.
I blog for business and it has been kind to me. I like to be able to show other bloggers and marketers tips and tricks they can use to further their journey.
-Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..Best Cloud Storage for Bloggers in 2021
Twitter: dabasblog
January 6, 2021 at 4:09 am #
Hi Donna,
Absolutely, Blogging gives more freedom than anything else. And this freedom is not just limited to money and time, in fact, it gives peace of mind to us which makes us do something that we love to do. The examples in your article are indeed related to blogging freedom.
Regards,
-Nitin Dabas
Nitin Dabas recently posted.. 30+ Infographics Submission Sites List to Increase Your Reach
Hi Nitin,
Blogging is so great and so much fun to do. That’s the core of it..having fun. Excited to share information with others to help them in the blogging and/or marketing field. Its a great feeling when you are helping people every day.
-Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..How does your blog solve problems
Hi Donna!
What a timely post this was for me. Just last week, I handed off the day-to-day management of my eCommerce companies because they provided the exact opposite of freedom – as they grew, they took more and more control over my life and quite honestly, left me quite miserable at times.
Blogging and other content-based businesses are such a wonderful business model for those that truly value freedom in life. With my eCommerce brands, I couldn’t spend a single day away without chaos ensuing. My network of affiliate sites, although neglected, are still thriving strong thanks to the work put in a long time ago. I agree that it’s best to keep the momentum going and continue putting work in every day though with blogging, the compound effect is definitely real here.
Looking forward to gaining some real freedom back this year!
– James McAllister
James McAllister recently posted..Your Company, Or Your Life?
Hi James,
Sometimes we set up a business like having a few e-commerce sites and it has a funny way of sucking up all your time and energy.
The content based business of blogging is a great business model. But it doesn’t end there (as you well know) – After writing content we have to spread the word. Its great having loyal readers that share your content too.
As for the affiliate marketing you have done, it is so great that you put in the work and its still working for you.
-Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..How does your blog solve problems
Twitter: MosClement
December 30, 2020 at 5:35 am #
Hi Donna,
I truly appreciate the shoutout; thank you so much. And while people may define freedom in various ways, blogging freedom is a simple concept that involves doing what you love on your own terms and making a decent living from it. I can’t add more meaning to it than you already have, which is why wannabe bloggers are encouraged to get on board and enjoy the freedom that comes with blogging.
I have always wanted to be a writer, and thank God I took the leap, and today, it’s all history.
Thank you for sharing!
Moss Clement recently posted..How to Convert Blog Readers to Leads in 11 Easy Ways
Hi Moss,
Doing what we love to do on our own terms isn’t work at all. Its having fun with the thing I love. As long as we have a marketing plan, one can make a decent living.
-Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..How does your blog solve problems
Twitter: ryanbiddulph
December 29, 2020 at 1:54 pm #
Donna, thanks so much for the shout out my friend. I am writing these words from the airport. Kelli and I are visiting family for New Year’s. Freedom. As you said, we all have different definitions of freedom but all humans simply want to be free.
Powerful point too about work; I simply have not taken a day off in 5 years. I love this gig but I take it seriously. I learned from many powerful human beings in business, sports and entertainment that if you want to live a movie-worthy life you need to put in a movie-worthy effort.
Ryan
Ryan Biddulph recently posted… 5 Habits of Pro Bloggers
Hi Ryan,
So there you are at the airport and doing exactly what you love to do. I too haven’t really taken a day off in years. If I go on vacation, I check in several times a day. I can enjoy being with people and stepping away for a moment to check in. Then I’m back to the party lol.
-Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..How does your blog solve problems
Twitter: Lisapatb
December 29, 2020 at 12:40 pm #
Donna, I love your definition of FREEDOM. I used to work for a company that I spent hours a day working on reports of what I did! Talk about a waste of time. Now, I get to do what I love and when I want to do it. Many days I start out at 3 or 4 a.m. That’s my most creative time of day to write and create original social media posts.
I still feel guilty when I break at noon for over an hour. But then I think, wait, I’ve already put in an 8 hour day! Most days I work 12 hours and even if and when we travel I work throughout it. Even from the snowmobile trail, there are times my hubby stops to help someone with their snowmobile and I’m on the phone or social media responding to things from the mountain in below 30 degrees. But to me – that is FREEDOM. And freedom is NEVER easy! It takes work to maintain your freedoms.
If I could go back in time, I probably would have started my business sooner but glad I did and it’s never too late to start something new.
Great topic Donna and thanks for the mention. I hope you have a nice week and new year coming up!
Lisa Sicard recently posted..Are Social Media Newsfeeds Dead in the Coming Year?
Hi Lisa,
I can just picture you in your snow mobile taking time out to do a little social media or responding to things. I know that feeling quite well (errr…not snow mobiling lol). I like to do my work in chunks throughout the day. If I want to do a little retail therapy and purchase a new bag or something, I can pause and check in for a few minutes.
Wow I can’t believe you start at 3 or 4 a.m. You sure are an early bird. But that’s the thing…we can chose anytime that suits us well to do our work and that’s Freedom.
-Donna
Donna Merrill recently posted..How does your blog solve problems