I have always been a big fan of Reddit’s Ask Me Anything threads, and then recently, I saw that Steve published an Ask Me Anything on his blog. I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to decide to do one of these. But, here it is, and I hope you think it’s going to be as fun as I do!
Ask Me Anything is literally that – you can ask me anything. If you’re struggling to figure out what to ask, here are a few of the topics you may want to know more about:
- Personal finance
- Blogging
- My life
- Travel
- RVing
- Being location independent
- Business
- Making extra money
- How much candy I eat on a daily basis
- My favorite TV show
- Questions about my dogs
And so on, and so on.
Seriously, ask me anything in the comments below, and I will take the time to answer every single one. Of course, please nothing inappropriate or creepy. I’ll let you be the judge of what is creepy, I guess, haha!
All right, go for it, ask away!
P.S. If you’re looking to see all of the comments and questions, make sure to hit “Older Comments” or “Newer Comments” below. The comments break apart in pages once there are over 50 comments.
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Hi Michelle,
Thanks for all of the great ideas and very, very helpful tools you’ve provided. My question is related to taking that first step. I’ve done all of the technical stuff (domain, wordpress, content, etc.) but I just can’t get myself to post and put myself out there. I guess I’m kind of an introvert. Can you suggest something that will push me out there? Thanks!
Just press publish!
Seriously, this is a problem so many new bloggers have. You just have to do it.
Hi Michelle!
Michele is my middle name with just one ‘l’
I was curious as an ex financial analyst what is your advice on dealing with a windfall.
My cousin who is quite investment savvy said 75% invest 25% buy stuff go on vacation etc.
Mutual funds look good – I’d really adore something income producing so I could just live off the interest as they say in the movies, lol.
Love to hear your thoughts,
Thanks for doing this 😀
Anastasia
I think it just depends on the specific person. Personally, I wouldn’t designate an specific percentage amount towards spending – I’d want to save as much as I can and think about what I truly need in life.
I was just wondering, what do you do with all your money? Judging from your posts, you bring in almost $1 million a year. Do you invest your money for retirement? Give it to charity? And by the way, yes, I think you deserve every penny you make.
“And by the way, yes, I think you deserve every penny you make.”
Thank you for your last sentence – I appreciate it!
We invest a majority of our earnings. We’re still pretty frugal despite our earnings.
Hi Michelle,
I came across your blog a year ago, I was streaming through Pinterest, and this was my first initial attempt with blogging. I mean I got a domain ready and everything, got someone on fiverr to help with installing a theme as well as proofread my about page.
But then, the fear crept in and doubt because it seem like there was so much added information you needed to know then just getting your wordpress installed
Question 1: I am round 2 attempt with blogging (gonna give a shot again) with starting my blog…should I go ahead and start writing content prior to getting theme going?
2. I can’t afford high expensive themes any suggestion for cheap themes..and where to get a header ( I mean have in mind how I want it to look)
3. Who are were your muses, when you started blogging ( ofc you are my list)? I am huge fan of chris gullibeau and like the structure of his blog
4. For beginners, what is essential or what should I be focusing on or need mail chimp….yoastseo, etc..what template do I need 1 2 3
5. There is so much information for bloggers what should be really looking for?
6. Last, I am not the best writer and feel that confidence stems off of it..inner critic in the mind…any advice on how one should combat that?
Thank you
1) I would try to do both at the same time.
2) I like Weaver or there are affordable designs listed at the end of my tutorial for less than $50 – http://fund-rise.live/2014/08/how-to-start-a-wordpress-blog-on-bluehost.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
3) I started blogging entirely as a hobby, so I don’t know if I really had any muses. I was just doing it for fun.
4) Growing your email list, networking with others, guest posting, being active on social media, etc.
5) High quality content
6) I think most bloggers feel this way. Just have to start publishing 🙂
Did you have any fears leaving a full-time job. Did you have a plan or did you jump head first with no strategic plan. How would you advise others contemplating making a similar move.
Yes, I definitely had a plan and I had lots of fears leaving my day job. I talked about it a lot here on my blog – to summarize, it was really tough!
My biggest tip would be to build your business on the side if you can, and build up an emergency fund.
Hello, been a follower for some time now! Great stuff! With all the free time and extra income your lifestyle provides, what do you do for others? Like as in hands on giving back to the community. Are you on any boards for non-profits or do you volunteer for any activities. Fund raise for charities or children’s hospitals. Any organizations that u head, that promote a cause, or idea? I’m just trying to get financially independent so that I can create time, money and resources to give back. Was just wondering if this lifestyle has enabled you to do more giving back?
I give back to the community, yes 🙂
I don’t have a ton of free time, like you said, but I’m hoping to change that in the future.
Doesn’t she give back enough by helping thousands of people all around the world with their financial state? Not only that, she’s not running for president. She does enough by helping thousands of people on her blog for free. Her tax contribtuation alone is more than most people’s yearly tax income for 10 years. And she says in several of her blog posts that she spends 70+ hours a week on her blog.
Is there someone or some service to read my blog post to make sure they are good enough to publish? I have a blog, I’ve read a ton of material on starting a blog and writing and it’s like I’m frozen!
I’d recommend hiring an editor or a proofreader 🙂
I bought your course Makinf Sense of Affiliate Marketing and have started my blog in Personal Development and the Law of Attraction. I have specifically been using Pinterest to advertise as I have a lot of engagement using Tailwaind. With all the engagement, I haven’t made a sale yet, how long did it take you to make your first affiliate sale and are there any more secrets to making a sale
Thanks
I didn’t start trying with affiliate marketing until probably a few years after I even started my blog, and I can’t really remember my first exact sale. Are you doing everything I teach in the course? How much traffic do you have?
I have already had a few freelance travel articles published. I would like to venture into blogging partly because it would be on my own schedule, wouldn’t have to send queries etc. If I post something on a blog, mine or guest blogging, is it a problem if I have already written something about that same topic elsewhere. Obviously, the article or blog would be different but it would be about the same place i.e. New York, trip to France etc ?
The same topic doesn’t matter, you just have to make sure it’s not the same article.
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions.
How did you settle on blogging about personal finance/saving money? Is that what you initially set out to write about it did you have other things you also blogged about and then just ended up in this niche?
What led you to making a course on affiliate marketing?
How did you beta test your affiliate marketing course?
Have you tried the Talenti ice cream? If so, what is your favorite flavor? If not, find it and try it.
1) My blog started entirely as a hobby and money is what I was struggling with at the time so it’s the path I took 🙂
2) I was constantly being asked to create one.
3) I did not beta test it.
4) Sea Salt Caramel 🙂
I started a blog about a year ago. It is a blog about mental health issues from a mother’s perspective. I recently stopped because I saw no way to monetize this. I love writing and have been published on other blogs and on PsychCentral, but right now I am discouraged. Am I correct that there really isn’t much I could do to make this successful and monetize it?
There are lots of ways to monetize and I think it would be possible – I don’t see why it wouldn’t be.
http://fund-rise.live/2016/03/how-to-make-money-with-a-blog.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
When you first started blogging, did the success start to somewhat fall into your lap before you began to “work hard” at it or did you decide to “work hard” at blogging before any real success showed up? I’m always interested by the bloggers that started out working hard and hitting the ground running vs. the ones who just did it for fun and then one day realized they were successful at it. And my version of success for this question is making the same as a good part-time job bringing home $1000 a month.
I started my blog entirely as a hobby so I approached it differently than the average new blogger. I think this helped me though because I wasn’t thinking MONEY in the beginning. I was just doing it for fun.
Can you comment on one of my blog posts?
When was the last time you did something for the first time and what was it?
Ha, that’s a tough question! I’m sure I do new things all the time but the last major new thing I did was hike Horseshoe Mountain which sits at almost 14,000 feet 🙂 I’ve hiked other mountains but this was my first time on Horseshoe.
Hey Michelle!
I just came across your blog the other day and was fascinated for several reasons. 1. I had an idea to create a blog in 2011 called “making sense of cents”… I struggle with execution if I don’t understand things 100% so I never did it. So naturally, I thought this was pretty amazing! Then to read that you’re making a viable income off of this blog… I thought to myself “Wow, I really need to do something rather than staying the acquisition of knowledge phase”.
Isn’t that funny?
I guess my question to you would be around my “niche”. Of course, I love all matters money and decided upon a blog named “wealthymatters.com”… Get it? Wealthy matters, it matters to be wealthy, then also… I’ll be covering matters of wealth. But… Of course, that domain was taken. I’m really stuck on having a .com domain. I seem to be stuck on the choosing an appropriate name. I don’t want to pidgin hole myself into a corner and get super specific, but then I keep hearing not to be too broad as well.
What are your thoughts on finding that perfect .com domain? When your dream domains are already taken lol. I did read through your blog making email course (thank you!) love them. I also love the finance one. I’m in both those email campaigns and really enjoyed your content.
What are your thoughts on being too broad or too specific? What are your thoughts on starting before you know “everything” about your topic of choice (mind is money, from debt to investing, to getting better raises at work to frugality). As well as… Starting before you know everything technically. I’ve gotten my bluehost and wordpress set up, but didn’t yet choose the domain.
Looking forward to hearing from you! And… Thanks for the opportunity to “ask you anything” in this thread. I love that idea! Also, what email client are you using as your CRM? I’ve heard of several, AWeber, MailChimp etc.
Also, I know that legally you need to provide an address for email clients, do you use your home address or is there a way to use some sort of cover address? I’m concerned about exposing that data to the world. Thoughts?
Thanks again!
-MA
Haha, that is funny! What a coincidence.
Domains are being bought up left and right so it can seem hard to find the perfect domain. They still exist, though, and you may just want to use your name as well 🙂
I blog about pretty much everything on my blog – I like being broad with my topics as I’ll never run out of things to talk about 🙂
I use Convertkit (here’s my affiliate link – http://fund-rise.live/convertkit%3C/a%3E%29%3C/p%3E
I use my home address, but I RV so I have no problem using that address because no one can find me there.
Hello Michelle! First, I want to say thanks for sharing a wealth of knowledge with us! I’m in the process of rebuilding my credit and in the heat a situation that would have impacted things a bit in contrast to the GRAVE mistake I made of trading my vehicle and not paying attention to the interest rate & interest that would be paid across the length of the loan. I recently just out of the blue, decided to add up what my payments would total over 72 months and I immediately felt sick because I will be paying approx. $40K for a car values at around $22k and that’s with an extended warranty and $4500 rolled in from my previous vehicle. Any suggestions because I really feel stuck at this point. $17k plus in interest alone….if you don’t mind, would you email as well with any pointers you can give.
Can you start paying off the car sooner so that you aren’t paying all of that interest?