Ask Me Anything

A little over one year ago, I published my first Ask Me Anything here on Making Sense of Cents. That went super well, so I decided to make it more of a regular thing! Ask Me Anything is literally that – you can ask me anything. If you’re struggling to figure out what to ask, here…

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Last Updated: May 24, 2023

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure for more info.

A little over one year ago, I published my first Ask Me Anything here on Making Sense of Cents. That went super well, so I decided to make it more of a regular thing!

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
  • Sailing
  • Being location independent
  • Business
  • Making extra money
  • 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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Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Author: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Hey! I’m Michelle Schroeder-Gardner and I am the founder of Making Sense of Cents. I’m passionate about all things personal finance, side hustles, making extra money, and online businesses. I have been featured in major publications such as Forbes, CNBC, Time, and Business Insider. Learn more here.

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  1. DNN

    “Ask me anything” is good for business my friend. Loving the fact that Michelle achieved “side hustle millionaire” status by “starting from the bottom like rapper Drake.” There is truth to your struggle and I respect that because you started from humble beginnings and worked your way to earning major $ gUaP $.

    [Ask me anything] is also good for business because you can use a freehand and create content at will without worrying about SEO and all that content marketing related stuff. I’m supporting you 100% all the way in your “side hustle millionaire blogging side hustle.” Keep doing what you’re doing my friend. 🙂

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thanks!

  2. Jeremy

    Hi Michelle,

    I emailed you so hoping you reply to that message as I went into more detail

    But for this comment section I just wondered if you have any resources/posts about staying the course and not giving up?
    Thanks

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Do you mean when it comes to blogging? Or something else?

      1. Jeremy

        Yeah, when it comes to blogging. I’ve been blogging for 6 months as a passion project and i have big big goals in the future. But i’ve been feeling discouraged of recent and know i cant give up. I want to see the light at the end of the tunnel which is sponsored posts, working with brands and really growing an audience but seems impossible currently as no one is reading.. so any advice on staying the course to eventually monetize and not giving up

        1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

          Do you enjoy blogging? Perhaps thinking about what you enjoy about it and creating a vision board would help.

  3. Karen

    I started my blog last year. I have almost 20 posts up, 230 email subscribers, a little over 300 followers on Instagram and decent following and engagements on fb. What is the best way and when do I start trying to monetize? I seriously want this to be my full time job. I have a faith based blog.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      You can start to monetize whenever you want, even now! 🙂

  4. Keyona Grant

    Hi Michelle,

    As I blogger I’m struggling with building an engaged audience. I’m still working on SEO but it hasn’t taken off of quite yet. There are times when I’ll have viral pins on Pinterest but nothing consistent. Before I can engage an audience, I need an actual audience. Any ideas of what I can do?

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Have you taken a course on Pinterest? Have you guest posted? Taken part in podcast interviews? Networked?

  5. Stacy Caprio

    How do you find the sponsored brands to advertise in your emails and blog posts?

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      I teach the exact steps here 🙂

      https://makingsenseofsponsoredposts.com

      Most actually find me, but I do teach exactly how to find them in that course, as I have reached out to quite a few brands in the past.

  6. Jellekia

    Hi! How can one make money from instagram?

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      I don’t really monetize my Instagram, but you can monetize it in many ways, such as with sponsored posts.

  7. Christine

    Hi Michelle,

    I have asked this question as a comment in your FB group but was wondering if you can delve into more how you spend your income. You talk a lot about your income and the different sources but I’m interested to know more about your expenses or do you just save or invest most of your income? Perhaps a blog post (if not already) on this? I’d love to hear! Thank you!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      We invest a lot of it. What is not invested is usually spent on the boat and traveling. Is that what you’re wondering?

  8. Akt

    Hi there, what were some of the things you did to get more traffic to your blog? Thank you

  9. Carlos

    Hi, Michelle. How are you? My question is this: At this time it is still profitable to start writing a blog? How much do you think I can win if I am located in South America? What topics would you recommend to start writing ?. I hope there are not many questions. Thanks for your answer.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Yes, it’s still a profitable time.

      2019 is a great time to start a blog.

      People were saying the same thing when I first started Making Sense of Cents – that people who started in 2011 were starting too late and that no one would ever be successful with it.

      However, that’s definitely not the case.

      The online world is still so new, and there are new ways to monetize and to grow that come up all the time.

      There is a lot of room for new bloggers, and there is plenty of room for growth well into the future. I believe that companies and advertisers are only recently starting to realize the value of online influencers, such as bloggers, which means that the blogging world will continue to grow well into the future and that opportunities for making money from a blog will continue to increase.

      More and more companies are starting to advertise with online influencers on their blogs, social media accounts, and more, and I expect this to just continue to grow well into the future. Whereas in the past, it was mainly celebrities that companies advertised with, but now, it is actually shifting to bloggers and other online influencers (such as Youtubers and Instagrammers!).

      The world is a huge place and the online world is just going to keep growing. Every blogger earns a living online in a slightly different way, and everyone has a different message and story. Plus, there are so many different ways to make money through a blog, and I expect this to keep growing.

      Of course, blogging is constantly evolving, and there are always new things to learn, which will probably always be the case for managing any business.

      So, if you are thinking about starting a blog, today is the day. Don’t let your fears hold you back any further!

  10. Gen

    Hi Michelle,
    When you started your blog for the first year after launching, how much time did you spend every week on average to work on it? How many posts did you publish per week?
    Thanks for all your inspiration and help!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      You can read a lot about my beginning here -https://fund-rise.live/2017/04/how-to-make-money-blogging-online.html%3C/p%3E

      I didn’t start my blog to make money blogging (I had no idea that blogs could make money, so I made lots of mistakes), so my beginning will be different from mosts (including yours).

      Even with that, I still worked on it around 20-30 hours a week, and sometimes over 40.

  11. Bailey

    Thanks Michelle! I’ve been having blogging blunders and wondering your thoughts if I should just invest more time into nurturing email list instead. It seems nobody really sees my blogs but have about 1,000 email readers. Do you think I should invest more time in emails than blog? Maybe a couple emails direct to a few posts? But I’ve gotten to the point after spending thousands of dollars on blogging and never making a cent, I don’t think I care to make money anymore lol!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Why not send your blog posts to your email subscribers?

  12. Thomas Holcomb

    Please me honest, do you really make that much money?

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Yes.

  13. Fernanda

    Hi, I’m interested in Making extra money. Thank you!

  14. Ashley

    Do you think someone could be as successful as you are in affiliate marketing in the beauty industry? I feel like the percentages are so low compared to personal finance and other niches.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Yes, for sure. Just because the percentages may be lower doesn’t really mean much.’

      Two words: repeat customers. You don’t really have that in the finance space because people aren’t buying the same financial software twice.

    2. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Personally, I also think the beauty industry would be a lot easier too!

      1. Ashley

        Thank you for giving me some encouragement! I bought your course a few weeks ago and can’t wait to start my journey!

        1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

          Enjoy!

  15. Renee A King

    Hi Michelle,

    I’ve been travel blogging for 10 years, mostly as a hobby but I want to make a living from it now after having lost my job. I’m cleaning up posts, updating everything, dealing with technical stuff like website speed, etc. I’m trying to lay the groundwork, but I need to figure out how to build traffic and use that traffic to earn money from affiliate marketing, etc. I just don’t really know where to start and could use some good advice moving forward.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Are you active on social media?