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.
Leave a Reply
Hi Michelle ,
How necesssary is filing a business license when first starting out ? Did u have to file one right away or can we wait till we start seeing income ?
Thanks
I cannot give legal/tax advice as it could set me up for lawsuits.
Hi Michelle.
Thanks for doing this, I love that you are so accessible to your readers.
I get so motivated every time I pull up your site, especially seeing your humble beginnings on your financial reports and it still blows my mind how blogging can be such a lucrative career.
What motivates you and keeps you motivated? The money, duh, ha! But besides that.
What were your biggest hurdles starting out and how did you overcome your fears? If you had any…
You and your sister inspire me so much. Thanks for everything you do to help your blogging family 🙂
Thank you!
My life and the business that I love keeps me motivated 🙂
Hey Michelle!
I know we’ve communicated back and forth a few times and I just wanted to say thanks for always being so helpful. I’ve taken your course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing and thoroughly enjoyed it. I love following you and I’m really working on growing and trying to take off my own blog. I’ve grow my Pinterest followers to around 800 in two months. Your course and the tips included in your course from Create & Go have really helped a lot, so I wanted to say thank you again.
Is it possible for me to remain anonymous on my blog and still be taken seriously / professionally? I’m not really comfortable putting myself out there completely. Right now, I just go by my first initial. I’ve seen some other bloggers who’ve had some success do the same. I’m still willing to talk about my financial situation, I just would prefer to keep some privacy. What are your thoughts? Do I need to have a picture of myself with my full name? Or can I keep myself private?
Thanks again! 🙂
Yep, I was anonymous for a few years and I know others who are as well.
Hello! I just found your blog and I’m dumbfounded at your success.
Now I know you have a lot of these to go through, but if you have the time, could you give me some advice?
I’m a 27-year-old college student who currently has $31,000 of student loan debt and counting. I have 2 years to go until I get a bachelors degree in Computer Science. My debt is really freaking me out, and I was wondering what you’d suggest as some good passive income or where I should start to do my own blog (if that’s even possible, I mean, I have no skills yet haha). Also, any advice on how to get my debt down while going to school would be great. My college is located in a very small town with next to zero jobs! My main goal is to make a living on passive income so I can pursue my passions as you have done. 🙂
Thanks!
Finding ways to make extra money sounds like would be key for you. Whether that is passive income, a business, or a side job – you have tons of options. I recommend seeing which one you are most interested in.
I think I’d be most interested in passive income since Computer Science and engineering takes up a lot of my time. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Michelle,
Thank you for doing this. I am in a real quandary here in that I can not figure out what I want to do for a part time work from home job. I don’t think I can do phone jobs since I have a Southern accent and also I tried doing one last year. I was not successful at all. Next I tried an editing job which didn’t work either. Here are some more I tried web search evaluator,
surveys, VIPkid, and ask wonder.
I am an artist, web site www. mayparker.c om, but want something different as a break from art and to make a little money too.
My background is that I was a computer programmer for over 40 years and then I retired. I miss not working as being an artist is pretty solitary occupation. I can type and use WORD and EXCEL as well have general office skills. I have also done volunteer work. I am not very much of a ‘people person’ in other words somewhat of an introvert. Additionally, I have a B.S. degree in Business Administration. Many years ago I started and ran my own business and I don’t care to do that again.
I would appreciate some suggestions on what kind of work I should pursue.
Thank you, May
I recommend starting here -https://fund-rise.live/extra-income%3C/p%3E
Only you can figure out which is the best job for you 🙂
Thank you
Hey Michelle,
I have a blog I am working to launch to provide content that is house related since we just recently flipped our first house, staged it and I have a love for farmhouse interior design. Do you think all of these home related topics would appeal to the same audience? Thanks so much for doing this!
Dorcas Wood
I don’t see why not? 🙂
Hi Michelle!
My husband and I would like to sell our home because we still owe ten more years on it, but we would like to retire before that time is up. We could sell the home and then just get a small condo and pay it off. We could then sock a significant amount away each month to save for retirement in seven years. My question to you is, what is the best way to invest that money to avoid the most taxes? I know if I invest in American Funds, I will have to pay taxes each year on what it makes. What are your investment suggestions in this case? We would probably be able to save around $3,000 each month or maybe even more on good months.
Thanks!
Cathy
This is something that I am not an expert in, as I’ve never done this. I think a CPA who specializes in this would be your best bet.
Hey Michelle,
In a lot of your income and goal reports, you mention how you’d like to get ahead with posts. I’m trying to work out a system for myself that would work, and can’t fathom having posts waiting to be published… How did you figure out a system for yourself? And would you mind sharing a little of what that looks like. For example, are you outlining posts in batches and then filling them in. How do you work up to have a month of posts ready to go???
I’m not much of an analytical or system-based blogger. I write blog posts, hand them over to my editor, and then when she’s done, I simply schedule them 🙂
Hi Michelle,
I have a curated craft blog that is in the final stages of being launched..meaning I’m getting content together. I have a business Pinterest account with the same blog name which has not yet been completely optimized. There are 9 different craft boards with 3000 pins and 38k monthly views and 85 followers. Here’s my question…the blog name is thesimplelifestyle.com. When I first started out a year ago my topic was different and when I switched to crafts I just left it. Do I keep the name since I already have an established Pinterest account or do I change everything to something more appropriate such as The Crafters Digest before I launch the blog?I don’t want to go any further without some expert advice! Thanks in advance.
Hey Michelle!
I hope It’s okay to ask this. But, I am REALLY struggling to get people to click on my affiliate links. I feel as though I am not overly salesy or spammy and that I seem pretty relatable so I don’t understand what’s going on. Do you mind looking at one of my articles and giving me pointers? I provided several below but I don’t expect you to read (or skim over) more than one hah I just wanted to give you options.
It would mean a lot to me!
Also, I’ve taken your course several times and it’s been really helpful so far!!! But I feel like I’m missing something because I am not really making any sales yet. I’ll have to go over it again.
Anywho, thank you for being so generous with your advice and time. I really appreciate you doing this 🙂
Hello!
Some things:
1) Your display ads could be impacting your affiliate earnings, because it’s fighting for space for your reader. On affiliate posts, I usually simply turn off display ads.
2) What are your top posts? Are your readers interested in blogging?
3) Are you getting a lot of traffic to these posts?
Thank you Michelle! You really put things into perspective for me and your advice was very helpful 🙂 You rock!
Hi Michelle! I’m wondering if you promote your blog posts on instagram? Or is it better to post them on pinterest?
I don’t really talk about my blog much on my Instagram. I mainly just use it for travel inspiration 🙂
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for everything you do! I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind laying out the expenses that come with running a well-established blog like yours? We enjoy reading your past income reports and kind of just want to get an idea of what other behind the scene expenses we might not be thinking of (you totally do not have to include a monetary cost of the expense, just what the expense is).
P.S. We recently started a blog of our own and just finished your affiliate marketing course. It was AMAZING! So helpful. Thank you again 🙂
P.P.S. Your Instagram stories of you and your dog walking around the beach in the Bahamas is unreal.
Best,
Gina
You can see most of my expenses here 🙂
https://fund-rise.live/2017/09/the-products-and-services-i-use-to-make-a-successful-million-dollar-blog.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Thank you!!!
You mentioned that you have an editor? How do you go about finding one or how does it work? I don’t need one right now, but I’m just asking for my future self 🙂
Also, how many hours a week do you spend working on your blog now? I think I spend a good 40+ hours on top of a full-time job and I feel like I am not getting anything done. Just so much to do. Any suggestions?
My editor is my sister-in-law, so it was easy for me to find. There are tons of editors out there too, so you shouldn’t have any issue.
I spend anywhere from 0 to 100 hours a week on my blog. It all just depends 🙂
hi Michelle,
My name is Tiago and around 1 year ago I decided to work full time online: blogging, youtube, instagram, etc… I tried blogging, affiliate marketing, selling my own courses, nothing worked… I couldn’t sell 1 penny so far.
I talk about how to become a high-level international business executive, which was my job until I decided to work online, my website is compradoresdeelite.com if you want to take a look.
I would like to have your idea about what I could do to start making some revenue.
Thanks for your time
Best wishes
Tiago Bonetto
Are you getting traffic?
Hey Michelle
As a new blogger what should be my main traffic source. I’m Trying to wrap my head around social media ads or Pinterest and not sure. My niche is street wear and music. When I use social media ads it only drives traffic for the duration of the ad whereas I’m lookin for consistent daily traffic
It just depends on what you want to do. It could be email, guest posting, a podcast, social media, a Youtube channel, paid ads, etc.