It affects you to the extent of losing faith in your dream. When your relatives and friends all think you are crazy for pursuing the path that you are taking or when society thinks 'this is what a real job or career looks like' then it may begin to affect how you feel about your dream.


I've wanted to abandon blogging several times ever since I started. I sometimes feel discouraged or just fed up because the growth is not enough or not up to the amount of work or energy put into it.

At this point, all the fears that other people expressed concerning my blogging career started to become my reality.

I begin to think to myself that they are right after all. I can't make a living out of blogging. But then I wonder how Linda Ikeji made millions from blogging.

She is my role model in the blogging domain. In my most crazy moments, I imagine myself as the next Linda Ikeji of Africa. I'm not even shy to share this. Strange.

Anyway, that's just to let you know how far I want to go as a blogger. I know every blogger will love that too.

Even with success as evident as hers in the blogging world, I still sometimes feel like I'm doing wrong by blogging. It's like I am wasting my time on this path that I have chosen. That one day I will regret this because it won't work out. And it might just be too late.

I sometimes feel like blogging is not a real job. 

The typical employee or entrepreneur wakes up every morning and goes to work. He/she returns home after putting in long hours of work and everyone sees that he or she is working. Everyone understands what he/she does or at least can understand when explained to them.

But when it comes to blogging, it doesn't happen like that. You work from home most of the time and no one sees you leave your house to work or any place like that every day. Probably no one even sees you working. No one even understands why you should be paid for sitting down to write articles all day. In fact, you are seen as a lazy youth or adult who wants to make easy money or use people's clicks to become rich.

It is tough to fight this mindset every day as a blogger and this makes me feel that I need a real job. One where everyone can see me working and applaud my efforts.

But I hate working for people. And I love blogging. I'll rather be working for my own dream than to work for someone else's.

What makes matters worse is that there is no income coming yet from blogging. And that's when everyone is right to ask you why you are still blogging. Some will bluntly tell you to go and get a real job. After all, blogging is not working out.

This post is not meant to show how difficult and time-consuming blogging is nor it is meant to justify how much blogging is a job. I just want to share my experience.

There are other career paths which suffer the same thing like art, comedy, YouTubing and the entertainment industry in general where your passion is never considered a job until you 'blow' or you have made it or received your first paycheck.

And honestly, they are right to think so because if it is a job then you have to be paid for it. So where is the money?

Will-I-Am of the former group Black Eyes Peas said during an interview that he used to tell people when he just started out in music that he was an artist who hasn't been paid yet and it was just a matter of time.

I am putting up the same attitude with my career but I must say it's hard. It's hard to not ask yourself if I am doing the right thing because there is no paycheck yet. It's not all about the paycheck. I just also want to make a living from my passion.

I even feel like it may never come. But I'm staying positive. Others have been successful with blogging and so will I. It's a matter of time.

The essential thing is to stay positive and work hard while dealing with the feeling that you are 'not doing anything for a living' meanwhile you are really working your a** off something you love.

Here they are:

1. Buy a domain name.
2. Have a niche.
3. Blog for your readers.

I realized that what is necessary for you to have a successful blog is blog traffic. And getting a domain name, having a niche or blogging for your readers doesn't bring lots of traffic to your blog automatically.

People who buy a domain name still struggle to bring traffic to their blogs every day. Those who have a niche don't automatically appear on search engines either. We all seek attention in the same ways.

If you want to start a blog, my advice is to start with a free domain like Blogger or WordPress to see if you really like blogging. Many people buy domain names only to realize later that blogging is not for them. While some of us let this advice make us feel less like bloggers for such a long time.

The only thing that changes is the appearance of the name of the blog. The content and all the rest remain the same unless you decide to change it as well. Not all blogs with domain names are successful. And there are bloggers on free platforms who are very professional and make money from their blogs.

So if you have the talent of blogging, don't limit yourself or feel you are not a professional blogger because you don't have a domain name (yet). Do it like you had one already.

When it comes to finding a niche and blogging for your readers, I will say that there are no rules. There are lots of nicheless blogs which are successful.

On the other hand, if a blogger doesn't like the content s/he is putting out there then that blog may not progress.

How you want to blog s totally up to you. Try your idea and make it work! the world needs innovation, diversity and people who make a difference in every aspect including blogging. people are looking for fresh content.

All beauty blogs have the same pattern, content and style. How different will your own beauty blog be? Won't you run out of content soon? Won't your readers get bored?

But if you decide to be yourself on your blog. And add a little of life, and other things related (or unrelated) to your topic you may be the beauty blogger with a difference. You will be easily recognized by your readers because of the extra knowledge you bring to the table.

If you want to blog about your life then go ahead. Those who are interested in reading will follow. If you make it interesting and fun your readers will come back for more.

Don't let these three tips make you not feel good enough and slow down your blogging journey. Keep getting better at what you do and let your intuition and experience direct your blogging. You may start with a nicheless blog but soon realise that you are actually interested in just one niche. That's alright. But just give yourself time to make the transition so that you know what works for you. Just like you may start blogging on a free domain to be certain you love blogging before you buy a domain name.

Also, you should blog about the topics that you love to talk about. It is important to blog for your readers as well but you need to love your content to give them the best. You will suck at blogging on a topic you don't love and even if that's the content readers want to see they won't be coming back to see the bad content you wrote for them.

You can start and build a good blogging career with what you have; your computer/phone, internet and your content on a free domain till you feel ripe to get one. Start with the topics you love and progress from there. Linda Ikeji built a fortune from a free domain blog on Blogger before she ever bought a domain name. Anything is possible in the blogosphere if you dare to make a difference. Don't limit yourself