I'm not going to lie - I pinch myself every day that I am able to call this my job. It certainly didn't start out that way so let me tell you all about how I became a blogger.
When my eldest was born 15 years ago I decided to set up a blog. I've always loved writing a diary and I treated it as an online diary of sorts, written from my daughter's perspective. I did not expect anyone else to read it - it was just something to keep a record of these precious days with my daughter and to keep my mind busy after giving up a rewarding career in law to look after her full time.
Well, time went on and I found myself running short of time to update this blog and it eventually fell by the wayside. I dabbled in part time jobs working from home - legal research and making things to sell online, but I didn't really enjoy any of them.
When my son was born 8 years ago I decided to start writing another blog. Blogs were much bigger then and I had read many that I enjoyed. I also thought it would be a good way to advertise what I was selling online - mainly baby blankets and quilts on Etsy. I still had no idea that you could make money from writing a blog and a couple of years later when I was first approached with an offer to feature a product on my blog in exchange for money I was surprised to say the least!
Fast forward to today and I consider myself a professional blogger. I have three websites, this one, a vegan food blog and a lifestyle blog although only one currently makes a profit. I regularly make a profit of over £3000 a month (before tax) and I manage to fit in all my work around my four children which really is the dream. Yes, sometimes I have to work early in the mornings or late in the evenings and I am known for taking my laptop everywhere with me - I will work whenever I have a spare 10 minutes! But this is a small price to pay for the work life balance it has given me.
Over the next few years I hope to start making some money from the other two blogs, now that I have more time as my youngest will be in full time school next year.
So, if you are considering making a move into blogging as a career, don't worry about the market being saturated, come up with a unique idea and niche and go for it! Listen to blogging podcasts, join Food Blogger Pro and make sure to invest some capital at the start to make sure that you are learning and starting off in the right way. I'm always on Instagram if you would like to reach out and have a chat about setting up your own blog. There is more than enough space for all of us in this industry.