Blogging can be incredibly exciting but not everyone should start a blog.
A blog has the ability to generate income for you, improve your writing and your storytelling skills, and provide a platform for you to connect with like-minded individuals on the internet.
Before you jump into blogging though, there are a few things you should know. It’s not all sunshine and roses.
Below are the top 10 reasons why you shouldn’t start a blog.
1. You’ll Spend Too Much Time on the Internet
Once you start blogging, you’ll find that your free time slowly disappears.
You’ll pass on your favorite pastimes in order to get a new post up.. because it’s been 14 days since you last posted.. which is basically 15 years in the blogging world.
Your posture will become crappier than it already is.
Most of your days and nights will be spent googling how to do stuff on your blog.
Your friends and family will know not to bother you when you’re in blog mode, which is all the time.
In essence, blogging is far more time-consuming than most people expect. While you can treat it as a hobby or a side hustle, it can naturally grow into something much bigger and require more effort and time than you had initially thought.
2. You’ll Spend Too Much Money on Coffee
Great blog posts cannot be accomplished without coffee.
Your daily fluid intake will become 80% coffee, 20% water. Water only when you run out of coffee.
You will start posting pictures of your coffee on all of your social media accounts.
You will find pretty stock photos with pictures of coffee and use them regularly.
You’ll comment on and like other bloggers’ photos with coffee because you totally get it.
We’re all drinking coffee.
3. You’ll Meet Weird Internet Strangers
After a few posts, you realize that no one is reading your blog.
You start to comment on other blogs in your niche so that people know you exist.
Those bloggers then return the favor and comment on your blog.
Over time, this symbiotic relationship develops and you’ve made a new blog friend.
You promote each other’s content, you may Skype, or even meet in person.
It seems strange but you enjoy this tribe of random blog strangers. There is no one else who really “gets it” like this group.
It doesn’t take long for your blogger buddies to get to know you very well because you share so much information online. Plus, it’s easy to chat with fellow bloggers since you’re all doing the same thing: blogging!
And more than likely the blogger friends you meet online will be blogging about the same topics that you’re blogging about, which means you will always have new and interesting topics to discuss with them.
So, be prepared to meet weird internet strangers when you start a blog, and then be prepared for these strangers to turn into acquaintances and eventually friends.
4. You’ll Get Crazy Ideas that Will Change Your Life
You’ll get these crazy ideas from reading other people’s blogs and then you’ll actually put them into action.
You’ll do these incredible things such as paying off $90k of debt or selling your car.
Why? Because you have readers now and you can’t let them down.
Your blog holds you accountable for meeting your goals.
And when you achieve your goals, you’ll get a boost such as more readers, greater promotion, etc.
Whether it’s paying off debt or getting in shape, you now have a responsibility AND an incentive to crush your goals.
It’s pretty freaking amazing.
Blogging has the potential to completely change your mindset on a variety of topics, which means it has the potential to flip your lifestyle upside down.
Your life will change though and maybe you don’t want that.
5. Your Crazy Ideas Might Change Someone Else’s Life
Scarier, your crazy ideas might change someone else’s life.
You’ll post stuff on your blog and it may actually influence people to go out and do something.
Through the power of just your words, you may have the ability to dramatically impact someone’s career trajectory or financial outlook. Heck, you may be able to influence the lives of hundreds or even thousands of people you’ve never actually met in person.
I don’t know if you’re ready for that responsibility.
You’re not an expert and suddenly you’re posting like you’re an expert and people are actually listening you.
What is wrong with them? 😉
6. You’ll Overshare Your Personal Life
Instead of telling your hairdresser all of your problems, you’re now documenting them in a 1,000+ word blog post and blasting it all over social media.
If you’re a financial blogger, people now know exactly how much money you’ve made or lost, your net worth, and your income.
If you’re a fitness blogger, people have seen pictures of you at your best but also at your worse. OMG progress pictures. So embarrassing and yet so effective.
There are no secrets on the internet.
Oddly, the more you blog, the more likely it is that your readers and fellow bloggers actually know more details about your life than even your family and close real-life friends.
7. You’ll Use Social Media More Than a Teenager
You may have sworn that you’ll never use Twitter but next thing you know you find yourself tweeting more than Justin Bieber.
How else can you talk to your blog friends in real time? It’s not enough to comment on each other’s posts, you need to chat about your day as it unfolds.
You also need to comment on each other’s pictures of coffee. Always coffee.
Basically, you’ll use social media (whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or some other platform) far more than you expected to simply because it’s the best way to connect with people online.
Even if you start your blog with no social media presence, it’s only a matter of time before bloggers and readers alike both start to question why you aren’t on a specific social media platform. Thus, down the rabbit hole you will go.
8. You’ll Prefer Comments to Compliments
Remember how great it feels when someone compliments you? You don’t need that validation anymore.
What you really need them to do is comment on the bottom of your blog post and share it on Facebook. Bonus if they actually read your post!
In all seriousness, it’s the best feeling in the world when someone comments on your blog, especially in the beginning. Comments are the first proof you have that people are actually reading what you’re writing.
You put so much time into writing that blog post, it’s great to know it actually resonated with someone.
Plus, a simple comment can blossom into a full-blown conversation and eventually a connection with someone out there on the internet. Most internet friendships and relationships start with just a single comment.
9. You Might Become Internet Famous
You probably won’t become internet famous, but you might.
If you write helpful, entertaining, and unique content, people might start to really like your blog.
They may feel like they know you and start referring to you by your first name, even though they don’t know you at all.
This hasn’t happened to me yet, but I know many bloggers who have passed the tipping point and are now internet famous.
And just to clarify – I realize I don’t know them.
10. You Might Make Some Money
Wait, what’s so bad about this one? Actually nothing. The potential to make money on your blog is a huge perk that comes along with regularly putting words out into the internet.
I didn’t make money blogging for years but have recently taken Michelle Schroeder’s Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course and made my first dollar on the blog.
Some people are critical about making money on your blog but those of us who put hours and hours into our blogs know that it helps us scale.
As long as you’re still writing good content and helping people, it’s OK in my book.
Also, generating income from a blog simply makes you want to blog more and publish even more high quality content on a consistent basis.
So Should I Start A Blog?
If I haven’t convinced you and you still want to start a blog, I guess you can create a blog on Bluehost. Everyone else seems to be doing it (or everyone else is a Bluehost affiliate, hard to tell).
Beware though. Once you pop, you can’t stop.
What are your top reasons NOT to start a blog?
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I resonated with all 10 of those points, yet I am still blogging two years later.
Don’t start a blog if you’re not willing to do it with zero readers. Everyone starts at zero, and it’s a long journey to your first 1,000 readers.
It’s a lot like building wealth, you have to be in it for the long game. Your first $100,000 in net worth will be the hardest and take the longest.
Cheers,
Dom
Great advice, Dom! I have a few blogs from years prior that I abandoned because I never made it over that critical hump!
Starting a blog is a terrible return on investment. Probably only 1% of blogs succeed at making any money at all. And the ones that do are bringing in maybe a few thousand dollars a year for the first couple years. After a few years of extreme energy exertion, you might have enough of a following to make a living. If you go back and calculate your hourly rate from all that work, maybe you’re making half of what you could at a regular job and thats if you’re in the 1%. It’s a heck of a lot more fun to try though.
Very true but even failed blogs can lead to money from other sources! My first blog I started five years ago failed to monetize but did get me a great internship which parlayed to a career in tech.
I’ve been a blog reader for a couple of years now and I’ve seen blogs come and go. I just started my personal finance blog. It’s really painful in the beginning (by first world standards), and I don’t recommend it if the person isn’t willing to deal with growing pains.
Blogging isn’t instant gratification and I think that’s why so many people quit.
Totally agree. I am a blog quitter myself!
I love your humor in this post and congratulations on your first dollar. I can’t wait to launch my blog and use Michelle’s strategy to monetize. ?
Thank you! It’s the best feeling!
This was such a fun read! I love these types of articles where you’ve got a constant smile on your face, saying “Yes! exactly!” because every point is 100% true and oh so relate-able.
… well, except I don’t drink coffee at all, I’m still in the club right? 😉
Jasmin
Your lack of coffee drinking is a super power!! And glad you read it as a humorous piece. I intended it to be sort of a poke at blogging, not serious!
This was great Julie! I could relate to all of the points. It’s so true that the beginning is hard and it’s very easy to quit. I think the big success will come to those who continue to see it through for years ( which is like decades in Internet time). With you all the way with affiliate income. Nothing beats getting an email that says you’ve made money.
Glad you can resonate! Yes those emails are the best 🙂 $
I could relate to this 100%!! I love comments, even if someone just left a “thanks” I would love that person.
I also love putting in the hours to my blog because it’s so much fun. It’s different from the mundane and routine activities that I do and that gets more exciting every day!
Totally agree. My blog excites me! Pat Flynn’s podcast opening line nails it – your 9 to 5 makes you a living but your 5 to 9 makes you alive – I love it!
Great post. So true. I’m shutting down my blog right now 😉
Glad you liked it! Don’t shut down your blog. I regret giving up on my other blogs!
#preach #morepreach #nobutseriouslypreach This was hilarious, because as I was reading I was thinking to myself, “Yep, I spend waaaayyy too much time in front of my computer.” “Yep, I will now have heart palpitations and the pulse of a shrew due to my caffeine intake.” “Yep, I everything that happens to me MUST become a blog post.”
This was awesome, funny, and most importantly, SCARY ACCURATE! Great post!
I’m glad you thought it was a funny post! At first, I think people were taking it seriously ahah 🙂
I loved Dominic’s comment! So many people think that success happens overnight! It takes so long to really build a readership! I also find that now more than ever more people are less likely to comment but to share on social media instead. There are sometimes where my posts don’t get much engagement, but instead I get tons of emails regarding the subject matter. You really have to learn with being okay with minimal traffic and minimal readership and work like you’re Beyonce.
Thanks for the encouragement! It can be hard when you see the traffic other bloggers get to stay motivated!
This post totally just inspired me to start blogging again and I sat down and cranked out a new post – first in 6 months! I’m going to try for 1 post per week. I care less about traffic and use blogging more as a personal way to decompress after intense work travel – but hopefully it will get a few readers. I like the angle of Millennial Boss. I am trying to target newly affluent Millennials (the number is growing!) with my blog. I worked so hard to save from nothing and I am excited to share my experiences and the freedom that saving has brought me. Thanks for the motivation to start writing again.
Glad this post could fire you up to write one yourself! Can’t wait to check out your site. Love that you nabbed the millennial money domain name.
The article has been written with insane humor to specifically turn the mindset of people who might be finding reasons to not to start blog. I’m a blogger and thinking of writing something similar which is why I researched a bit on Google and got landed here. I loved reading it. Hats off!!
I’ve been thinking of having and setting my own blog. But I really am in doubt for so many reasons–one is, will I be able to deliver? And I’m convincing myself that this is just a temporary want, that’s why I clicked on this blog post. I want to be discouraged. But i’m so surprised that after I’ve read this, I became more excited. I’m scared of starting a blog 🙁
I have been blogging since 2009, but in 2014 I just couldn’t do it. how can I constantly write even in bad mood?