Ask Me Anything

Almost two years 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…

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Last Updated: June 5, 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.

Almost two years 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

    Hey Michelle,

    I applaud you for staying focused in your side hustle blogging journey. I know it was tough, but you set a great example for others that they too can achieve great results if they stay focused. How did you feel after you earned your 1st million in $ gUaP $ from blogging? What did you do to celebrate? 🙂

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      I don’t think I did anything to celebrate, haha! I love what I do so everyday feels pretty great 🙂

  2. Sayan@prosmartrepreneur.com

    Hi Michelle, I just wanted to know that do have any plans on starting a Youtube vlog channel/video making for your life or your blog?

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      I’ve thought about it in the past, but realistically I don’t see that happening any time soon.

  3. David @ Dads and Dollar$

    You’ve mentioned how much time people spend (on average) per week watching TV and using social media. How difficult was it, at first, to develop the self-discipline to get away from all that when you were building your business…and do you have pointers for those of us who are easily distracted now?

    Ooh, look, something shiny!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      For us, simply getting rid of cable and Netflix helped us to cut down. We now have Netflix again but don’t watch it a ton. I also have deleted most social media apps from my phone, so that helps me from the endless scrolling that I used to do.

    2. Chrissy @ Eat Sleep Breathe FI

      Thanks for doing this Michelle! You’re so generous with sharing your knowledge. 🥰

      My question: Do you have advice for how to produce good content more quickly?

      I want all my content to be well-written, properly-researched, and high-quality. Problem is, that takes a lot of time!

      How I do achieve the quality goals without each post taking forever to write?!

      1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

        My top tip is to hire an editor 🙂

  4. Sam Narzary

    If you are to start all over again, how would you do it?

    What would you focus on and what would you avoid doing?

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      I started completely as a hobby, so it’s hard to say what I would do differently because I didn’t have any goals with my blog for around the first year.

      One thing, though, is that I would start on Wordpress right away, instead of Blogspot. That was my main error!

  5. Ana

    Hi, Michelle. Some people say that it’s too late to start a blogging business. What is your opinion on that? Thanks!

  6. Classicallycrystal

    Michelle I would really love to know how you got like your first 500 pageviews? I struggle getting traffic and I read all these income and traffic reports but everyone somehow seems to start out at 2,000 pageview (or more) a month. I get like 1 page view a day… But I love your blog and read all you post and can not wait till I actually start getting traffic so I can purchase your affiliate marketing course!

  7. Megan

    I just want to first say that I think you are the inspiration for a lot of people to become bloggers, save money, learn about affiliate marketing and so much more. You have definitely impacted me and i have been following you for a while. Ultimately I think being able to travel full time and photograph the world would be the goal for me and my husband. When you first started traveling full time how did you plan and organize how you would travel? Did you have an itinerary or checklist on where you would be in certain times? Did you set a budget, if so how did you set your budget? What were the first few things to account for to be able to travel full time? I would love to know!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Thank you so much!

      One thing we’ve learned from traveling full-time for so many years is that it’s hard to plan everything really strictly, as things can change easily (something may break, a road may be closed, plans change naturally, etc.). So, we usually never planned anything more than a few weeks out. Most of the time, we planned things as we were driving to the next destination.

  8. Lydiah

    Hi Michelle,
    Thank you for this opportunity.
    I recently started my blog and am really struggling with putting up my email marketing and traffic, well cause they are so pricey…how can I make my blog succeed and start earning money?

    Lydiah from Kenya

  9. Penny

    How to make an extra immediate side income ( for people with chronic illness ) while working on my blog? Other than selling on ebay or craigslist. Thanks in advanced!

  10. Dorcas

    What traffic generation techniques do you feel have helped you generate the traffic you get? seo, Pinterest, google ads?

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      My traffic is diversified, so I get traffic from SEO, Pinterest, Facebook, email, and direct.

      I don’t think I’ve ever done Google ads, so no traffic has ever come from that.

      1. Dorcas

        Thanks Michelle!

  11. Eddie

    Is it more expensive to live on a boat than an RV?

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Boat, for sure.

  12. JOANN SCHERMERHORN

    My husband and I live in an apartment near my work. I sold my car and walk to work now. Our lease is going up and almost not worth living in. We are trying to find a house to rent nearby but nothing is available. We are wondering if it is more worthwhile to pay more in rent or pay less further away and buy a cheap car to commute. We live in Kansas City and public transportation is a joke. Plus, living on state border of Kansas and Missouri makes bus systems, etc difficult. Infastructure not set up like other cities. Any advice on houseing cost vs car ownership? Thanks!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      I think you’ll want to make a spreadsheet and compare the costs, including everything listed here – https://fund-rise.live/2019/06/tips-for-buying-a-new-car.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

      Then, compare the differences until you come to a happy conclusion.

  13. Leah Miller

    I have an active parenting blog but because I work full time, I feel that I never have enough time to do all of the things that are necessary to give my audience what they are looking for. Can you give me some tips as to what I should focus on to grow my business with my time constraints?

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      I think the key to making it work better for you is to 1) outsource and 2) automate.

      You should think about outsourcing tasks that take up a lot of your time but may not necessarily need you in order to get them done. And, also automate as much as you can, such as canned emails and social media.

    2. Amanda lynn

      I just went through a divorce Rachel and my ex has put me in jail kept my kid for me for year and taking my childhood home for me and is now actively alienating my child from me. I was hoping I could find some publications that would want to hear my story about parent alienation working for the FBI and the cops in until getting myself into so much trouble just trying to dig myself out from under a divorce. I would love a chance to write if you have any time please contact me I would be happy to contribute

  14. Patti

    I have struggled with building traffic for years and I am almost ready to give up. I think my weakness is learning the ins and outs of SEO. What is your best advice for learning SEO? What is the most important and impactful part of SEO that I must get a handle on? I’m so frustrated at this point, but I don’t want to be a failure.

  15. Brian Winch

    In your experience does a course convert or sell better than a book from a website?

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      I have never sold a book, just a course. Due to that, I can’t really answer this question. Possibly a book simply because it would be more affordable?