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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I have tried several sites you suggested to only find out they were scams. Giving me the run around and taking my money while I did not earn one cent!!!!
I am still looking for work from home. I am a senior citizen on limited income.
Any that are true and work?
Gail
What sites were scams? I don’t share anything that is a scam so I am confused.
I have worked the past year online – getting a website up, starting a blog, and starting to make headway into earning extra money with your super helpful tips from your great blog. Over the last year though, I have noticed increased back pain, reduced eyesight (no joke! went to the eye doctor and needed contacts two perscriptions higher!), and the dreaded tech-neck (totally a thing, it turns out). I know you work long hours on your computer as well, how do you prevent your body turning into the consistancy of Jello – as mine rapidly is! Standing desk? Mandatory computer breaks? Thanks Michelle – your blog is great and you’ve been a great help to me 🙂
I actually haven’t noticed a big difference, but I also don’t sit at my laptop for long periods of time since I live in a van and a boat (I am constantly being interrupted since I don’t have a dedicated office, haha!). So, that may be what is helping me.
Hi Michelle!
Do you have a favorite program for handling/sorting all your incoming emails? Do you have strategies for managing/arching/deleting all your different incoming emails like filters/labels/rules/etc? Thanks!
My VA handles all of my “support” emails, and I answer all of the ad-related emails and emails from readers. Other than that, no real major strategies other than “canned” emails, since most of the emails I received are very similar.
When you first started blogging did you build your website by yourself or pay a company to do it? I’m getting quotes of $2000 to build and $100-200 to maintain per month. That seems really high to me. Also, the long hours on the computer, how do you deal with that so you don’t have neck and back pain? Thank you. I love your blog and emails.
I built it myself. It didn’t look good at all, though, haha.
Hi Michelle!
This is great, asking you a question. What’s the best advice you can give a new blogger like me, who wants to earn a six figure + income (by helping others with their money matters) and be financially free as one of my big goal? Thank you, Michelle! I’m so inspired by your real life story & dreams come true!
My very top tip would be to focus on high-quality content!
Thanks so much for doing this! I look up to you so much as a blogger – you are an inspiration! I’ve had my blog almost two years, and been serious about it for about a year. As others have mentioned, I cant seem to get more than a handful of views per day, no matter what I do – manual pinning, recreating pins, scheduling pins, etc. I’ve read your post on how you built the $1,000,000 blog, but are there any more specific tips you can give on how you got that traffic, or your viral pins? I know it is not the case, but sometimes it just seems to be luck of the draw on which blogs are blessed with a ton of traffic! You’re the best!
Aww thanks Sam!
My traffic is pretty well diversified, so that would be my top tip. Have you taken any blogging traffic courses? That would probably be super helpful for you.
When doing email marketing, how many times do people have to see an offer before they convert in your experience?
I honestly do very little tracking. I’m a bad blogger when it comes to that, haha.
Hi Michelle,
I have been following your blog for quite some time now and really want to start my own blog in the hopes of it becoming my full time job. I just had a couple questions before I get started though! I read a lot about how you don’t own your blog unless you are self hosted through wordpress. Could you maybe expand a bit on what all that means? I seem to get lost in a lot of the technical talk. Also, how do you drive traffic to your site and what is your primary source of income from your blog? I worry about the possibility of not making any money from it and want to give myself the best chance I can.
Thanks so much,
Danielle
It is hard to explain, so I simply just recommend that you do it and then it is just over with. You only have to set it up once 🙂
Your other two questions are answered here in detail 🙂 – https://fund-rise.live/2019/04/how-to-earn-money-blogging.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Hey Michelle! I’m curious as to who you’ve hired as contractors or “staff.” In other words, what have you chosen to outsource in your business vs what you’ve continued to be the primary on. We juggle several different things and I’m at a point that I’m wondering if a personal assistant or outsourcing certain parts of our set-up will serve us better/more efficiently. Thank you!
I have an editor, a virtual assistant, and someone who handles the technical side of the website. I also outsource different tasks such as graphic design.
Nice! Thank you. Is there a virtual assistant website/app/company you recommend? (If you haven’t blogged about that yet, I’d be interested :).
I have never used a website so I don’t really know what is good out there. Sorry!
Hi, my name is Ephraim and I am in South Africa. You are one of my greatest inspirations in starting blogging. I am not tech-savvy but I managed to set my blog with the help of my son. Would you kindly look at my blog and advise me on how I can improve. I am learning from your experience. my URL is, tribalmixsolutions.com/thesuccessfanatic.com.Also advise if I can be your affiliate marketer. THANKS.
Are you a student in the course? Students can become affiliates 🙂
Can you tell me how you have reliable internet while travelling?
We currently have AT&T for our phones and internet. We used to have both Verizon and AT&T, but we switched to just AT&T and have been really happy with it.
Even with that being said, sometimes our internet connection is not that great. This means I always try to work ahead as much as I can so that internet does not create any stress.
When in the Bahamas, I’ve found that the internet is MUCH much better than here in the US. I used MyIslandWifi while there – $75 for unlimited internet.
Hi Michelle,
I want to say that you are an inspiration to me as I work to start my own blog. I was wondering how much you invested in your blog at the beginning. For such things as hosting, website design, SEO, security, all the sites that require Premium access to get better features. I’ve heard you need to spend money to make money; I’m just not sure how much to budget for.
Thank you!
Lisa
I invested $0 in the beginning 🙂
Hi Michelle,
If you had to choose one thing, (a post, pin, category, product, etc.) what would you consider was your #1 breaking point of success? In other words, what made you sit back and think, wow, this is really going to work.
PS. I am VERY Impressed with your business and success rate. You are a huge inspiration and while its only behind screen, your online presence is truly admirable.
You have set the bar for online businesses everywhere. Keep it up!
– Cassandra
https://livinglikelola.com
High-quality content is what helped me the most, I believe.
Hi Michelle,
I really admire your blog and the success that you have from it. I am considering creating a course for my audience but I’m only in my second month and my pageviews are really low. Do you think a course would be helpful or a complete waste of time? Also, do you have any tips on how I can increase my traffic?
Thanks,
Brittanie
It all simply depends on how you market it, and the quality of it 🙂
I’ve had an online business for over 8 years now. My earnings lie between $1000-$2000 per month. I’m really interested in helping other people who want to set up a business similar to mine however I’m concerned that although I have 8 years of experience in my industry, I may be viewed as unqualified to teach/help others wishing to pursue a similar journey because of my relatively small earnings. What would you advise?
Maybe that should be your target, though? People who want to earn between $1,000-$2,000 a month from their online business?