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Coping with Unemployment: Blogging is NOT the Answer Print
Wednesday, 9th May 2007 (by J.D.)This article is about Career, Real-Life
Lazy Man wrote to me yesterday with a crisis from one of his readers.
I received this very distressing letter today:
“Hi Lazy man, tell me how do you create a blog to get help to pay my bills. I was recently layed off work because of budget cuts with a non profit organizations that I was working for and I just purchased a home, and would like to keep it. I have been applying for job but have not be successful just yet need some help. Thanks.”
Obviously blogging for your home is probably not going to work — though it’s the kind of thing that newspapers could pick up and people could rally around. I wrote back to her and went through the economics of blogging. Short answer was that even if you were really, really good, it pays pennies an hour for probably the first year. Do you have any advice?
There are two issues that must be addressed here: dispelling the notion that blogging is a quick path to wealth, and finding productive solutions to unemployment.
Blogging is not a path to quick riches
Unless you’re John Chow, blogging is no way to get rich quickly. It’s no way to generate immediate cash for bills. Income is uncertain and variable.
I am, at last, earning a decent income, but it’s only because I spend every spare hour sitting in front of a computer. I don’t have kids. I have an understanding wife who believes in this project. I’m working harder than I ever have in my life. Though the short-term financial rewards are minimal, I consider this labor an investment in the future.
I made $13,752.12 (before taxes) during the first twelve months of Get Rich Slowly. I expect to make about $30,000 in the coming year. This is not peanuts. However, it’s not great pay either. I spend several hours every day reading books, searching web sites, and exchanging e-mail. And I write. I spend more time each week working on this site than I do at my day job.
I believe Get Rich Slowly is an atypical example. More normal, I think, are the results at my other blogs. My six-year-old personal site gets about 1100 visitors each day. It earns me an average of $120/month. I also run several minor blogs. They earn me about $20/month combined.
Payment for blog income is generally delayed weeks or months. If I earn $20 from Google ads today, I will not see that money until the end of June. If I earn $20 from FeedBurner ads, I won’t see that money until the beginning of September.
Do not start a blog expecting it to pay your bills. Blogging can be an excellent way to make money from a hobby, a way to earn supplementary income. But blogging will not make you rich.
Coping with unemployment
What should Lazy Man’s correspondent do? There aren’t any quick fixes. If I were in her position, I would:
- Cut expenses to the bone: no cable television, no high-speed internet, no extra phones. I’d take public transportation when possible.
- Take a job at a grocery store or a restaurant or someplace else with low qualifications. (Actually, I might try to get two jobs.) This is a stop-gap measure to bring in some small income while continuing to look for better work.
- Seek the advice of a career counselor.
- Tap my social network. I’d let my friends and family now about my situation. I’d even contact people at other companies and organizations with whom I’d had regular contact at my previous job.
- Attend job fairs, scour want ads. Sign up at Yahoo! Jobs, Career Builder, and Monster.
- Contact my creditors and explain the situation.
- When I found a new job, I would be certain to bolster my emergency fund.
The University of Florida has an excellent guide explaining what to do if you lose our job, and The Simple Living Network just published a small piece on how to survive a layoff.
I’ve never experienced unemployment myself, but I have friends who’ve been through it. Those I’ve seen make a successful recovery are the ones who did not panic, and who took every opportunity they could find. Have you been in a similar situation? How did you cope? How did you meet your financial obligations?
Update: There are some great comments below. One of the best tips is to get work through a temporary agency. This is an excellent recommendation.
May 9th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
I agree. You also won’t make good money with a blog if that’s the only reason you’re doing it. You’ve got to enjoy writing and what you’re writing about. Then, maybe the money will come.
-limeade
May 9th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Well said. Blogging won’t be the answer. Try to plan ahead financially and cut back on what is not essential. I wish you the best in landing a new job.
May 9th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
[...]Get Rich Slowly says blogging is not a quick path to wealth.[...]
May 9th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
[...] link [...]
May 9th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Thanks for tackling this J.D. I’ll be spending at least a couple of days on this topic next week.
May 9th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
You also won’t make good money blogging if you can’t write for crap. Reading that letter made my brain itch.
May 9th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I run a popular and highly regarded hobby website; I get about 400 unique visitors a day, not bad for the very tightly focused niche I cater to. That site makes me about $100 a month…and this is a high dollar demographic.
I don’t try to grab every last penny, but my point is that making money via a web site where you hope ads carry the day…well, the odds are against you. I imagine J.D.’s $30K a year puts him in the top one or two % of all blogs, income-wise, and it’s well-earned.
As to unemployment, the only way to approach it is to look at getting a job as your full-time occupation. It’s hard, depressing work, and with gas costing as much as it does these days, it’s pricey, too. It’s easy to relax a bit if you qualify for state benefits, thinking you’ll get to it soon. But those benefits run out quicker than you think.
If possible, get part-time or full-time stop-gap work that will allow you mornings or afternoons free so you can still keep appointments for “real” jobs.
Be open to lateral, moves, too. Think how your professional experience might be beneficial to a job outside of your industry, and keep your eyes peeled.
May 9th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
I make about $100 an hour from blogging now, but it’s taken me a year to work up to this level. I make a lot more per hour from my consulting business, although has more admin/sales time that goes unpaid.
It makes way more sense to pick up a side job while you look for work. Or to try to pick up some consulting contracts. Blogging takes a while to pick up speed.
May 9th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
I totally agree that blogging isn’t the way to get rich but it’s an excellent way to find a new job, especially if your employment requires you to write/think. You’re essentially doing the interview for the hiring agent since they know your capabilities from what you’ve posted.
I know from personal experience. I just got a freelance writing job and the interview was basically: Here’s what we need. Do you want the job? I just added a line on my about page that I was looking for work, and they e-mailed me. Although, I also did considerable marketing/networking that probably lead the hiring person to my blog.
May 9th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
As a full time self-publisher, I can totally agree with JD. I’ve been at it for nearly 8 years now, squeezing my blogging time around my jobs, children, school, etc. Only in the last couple of years have I been able to do this full time, and at a salary which is a fraction of what I was earning in the software industry.
If you really want to make a living from blogging, keep your day job and work on the blogs in your spare time. If you find you’ve got a talent for it, the readership is growing, and the revenue is coming in, you’ll be able to see a day when you can transition to it full time.
But never, never quit your job until you’ve got stable revenue sources. Time is on your side if you can blog away and still keep your day job.
May 9th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Ditto to Tetsuo! That lady needs a firm grasp of English grammar before she starts to think about blogging professionally.
On topic though…. Strangely enough, just this week I received a check from Commission Junction (cj.com) for about $70. I guess people are clicking the MyFICO links on my site after all! I had given up checking on it after the first few weeks gave no returns at all, so this came clear out of the blue! My Google earnings are still in the sub-$10 range.
May 10th, 2007 at 12:55 am
What can I tell you? This is something that is understandable given all the hype out there about blogging.
If anything, I think it is a testament to the really weak level of journalism exhibited by the main stream press. Stories are shallow and the average reader is bound to get mis-informed.
May 10th, 2007 at 1:52 am
Can someone explain the draw of John Chow’s blog? When I had it as one of my feeds a few months back, it seemed that virtually all of his posts were about his own blog and how much money he makes off of it. The idea of going to a blog to read about that blog’s success while contributing very little real content was silly to me and I no longer visit. Is there content that I’m missing?
May 10th, 2007 at 4:03 am
I think the answer to lazy mans readers question starts with create a time machine.
With respect to keeping your home, if you’re in the position of being unable to pay all your bills, you probably want to prioritise taxes and mortgages above everything else, even if that means they send in the bailiffs.
May 10th, 2007 at 4:22 am
I agree 100 percent, find all that you can do for income until something better comes along. My husband lost his job due to a medical condition a few years ago and thanks to an emergency fund, me working as much as I could, and unemployment we survived it! And YES DO NOT PANIC!! It doesn’t last forever. And when one door closes another always opens. You just have to keep plugging away and know that there will be positve things that will come your way.
Now my husband has a great job with less stress, better pay, and is rewarded and recognized for what a great employee he is. Our medical bills are paid off (about $7,500.-) and we are back to funding our emergency account. And back on track for funding early retirement.
Love your website - thanks for all the info your provide!!
May 10th, 2007 at 5:14 am
Very good advice. The road to a monetarily successful blog is long.
May 10th, 2007 at 6:33 am
[...] Coping with Unemployment [...]
May 10th, 2007 at 8:08 am
I’ve been laid off twice in the past two years. Here’s what you do:
1. Apply for unemployment. But remember you can’t have a job while you’re on unemployment - not even a part time one delivering pizzas. If you choose unemployment, maximize the time by applying for as many jobs as possible, networking, going to interviews. Do EVERYTHING you can.
2. Even if you take my advice in #1. You might still be unemployed when the benefits run out. I applied to 100 jobs and went on a ton of interviews. It might sound cliche - but it simply wasn’t meant to be. I was living in DC at the time and I ended up moving back to NC (where, incidentally I switched careers to something I love, met my husband, and am doing well).
3. Sign up with a temp agency. The jobs you get are worth it. It could turn in to full time work. Or at least you’ll make contacts that could help with networking. At the very very least - you’re making $
4. Try to get deferred payments on your bills. I don’t know about mortgages, but for car loans and student loans this is possible.
5. Accept a job that pays less than what you were making. You may think you deserve more. Your experience might be incredible. But if you hold out for your expectations - it may cost you more in the long run.
May 10th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Is there such thing as Employment Insurance in the states? If so, EI should be able to hold you over until you find a new job providing that you reduce expenses.
FT
May 10th, 2007 at 8:32 am
There is employment insurance, but where I am we call it, oddly enough, “unemployment.” As in, if you get laid off you can go on unemployment. You are generally not eligible if you quit your job. It does not pay anything like what you were making at a real job. You are *lucky* to get 1/3 to 1/2. I have been laid off a few times and so have many friends (dot coms!), so I know this from personal experience.
I’m sure that the person was not thinking of making money by selling advertising for a blog, writing a useful blog, and making money from affiliate things like ebay auction links and amazon links. I am sure they were thinking of the kind of site where you just say you need money and then people might donate if you get lucky. This kind of thing: http://tinyurl.com/2bg47k The general public would think of that kind of web site as a blog, even if it isn’t.
May 10th, 2007 at 8:44 am
Thanks JD for describing what it takes to keep this excellent blog going. You are still more proof (how much do people need?) that success requires lots and lots of hard work.
May 10th, 2007 at 9:08 am
I second the temp agency recommendation. I’m a huge advocate of this route to employment. All of my best full-time jobs started out as temp assignments, and my temping resulted in several other permanent offers besides. It’s an opportunity to try a job on for size before you commit to it, and if you treat your assignments like your real job, act like a professional and do good work, in my experience that often results in a full-time job offer.
My current job, which I’ve been in for a year and doesn’t appear to be in any danger of going away any time soon, began as a temp assignment. The best thing about it is that I interviewed for this job and another job through a different temp agency on the same day, and both companies wanted to hire me on a temp-to-hire basis. My second choice offered higher pay, so when I mentioned this to the first temp agency, they negotiated an even higher pay scale for me with my first choice.
Aside from being able to try different jobs until you find the right fit, most temp agencies also offer health benefits, and if an assignment ends and the agency fails to match you with new work after two weeks, you still qualify for unemployment benefits. But you can sign up for several, ultimately having a whole team of agents doing your job hunting for you. Really, I’m surprised this doesn’t get suggested more often.
May 10th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Tapping your social and professional network is the most important part of any job search. Forget the classifieds, it’s your friends and former coworkers who will help you find a new job.
May 10th, 2007 at 10:46 am
RE comments on US unemployment insurance:
The amount you get is bare subsistence, and it is hinged to your pre-layoff salary. When I was laid off I qualified for the full amount possible, which was a whopping $400 every two weeks BEFORE TAXES (which was less than 1/5th my income.
For somebody making salary near the median salary ($30K-ish), you aren’t going to qualify for $400. You’ll qualify for probably around $250-300 every two weeks.
You can choose not to withhold taxes while collecting unemployment, but when you file for taxes during the year don’t fear! Your unemployment insurance is reported to the IRS, and you’ll have to claim it as earned income on your tax return, so one way or the other you’ll pay your standard tax rate for your tax bracket on those funds.
Also, you can only collect for 6 months, at which time you have to specially qualify for up to another 6 months (at least in my state). And you do have to be actively looking for work to collect.
Unemployment insurance is better than nothing, but really sucks.
DB
May 10th, 2007 at 11:00 am
My advice is don’t start a blog to pay your bills. Do it because you love it. The ROR is very low on a blog and it takes TIME to make it grow, which is usually a problem for people with a short-term cash crunch.
Now is an excellent time to have been laid off because college kids are graduating etc. Short time places like Starbucks are hiring left and right. That’s a much better way to get cashflow back to positive in the short term while you are looking for a steady job. I should know. I quit a job and took a bunch of waitressing shifts and covered extra day shifts during the week on my weekend job to cover the cash crunch.
I blog because I love it, not because I want to make enough money to make it a full-time job. It helps to have it, but in no way does it cover the mortgage. (Heck, take on a summer renter, that’s a much better idea than blogging!)
May 10th, 2007 at 11:15 am
I just went through this 5 months ago. The above recomendations are all good.
I would also suggest talking to and sending your resume to many different recruiters. My 1st job (out of college) and 2nd job (after being laid off) were both found by recruiters. They have temp and contractor jobs (which could both go perm), and permanent jobs. Recruiters have monetary interest in finding you a good job, and they have lots of contacts & experience.
Also make sure you jump through all the hoops to get any severence package from your old job. I filled out my paperwork promptly to avoid any issues. Some people never do this for whatever reason and loose their severence. I found another job as quick as possible so that I was working AND getting my severence. I did not want to take a unpaid “vacation”. Dual incomes allowed me to turn a bad thing into a good thing. I also learned the lesson of a solid emergency account.
Good luck!
May 10th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Even Chow isn’t a good example. It took him over a year before he started to make good money, and all he does is monetize.
Personally, I am hoping my blogging efforts build over time. It’d be a wonderful way to make a living. There are also tons of indirect financial benefits.
May 10th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
1. Apply for unemployment. But remember you can’t have a job while you’re on unemployment - not even a part time one delivering pizzas.
I’m not sure that is true of all states. I was laid off in Ohio and collecting unemployment and occassionally substitute taught. I had to report those earnings on my weekly sheet so my benefits were paid less that amount. All it did was extended my available benefits past the normally 6 months I was qualified to collect.
I just to discourage someone from thinking they cannot work at all and collect some unemployment benefits. Regardless it is best the reader explores all her options.
May 10th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
[...] I encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!The discussion yesterday about how to earn money when you’ve lost your job got me thinking about ways to earn extra income outside regular employment. None of these are quick [...]
May 10th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Hammers home the point of an emergency fund well, though the situation is unfortunate.
May 11th, 2007 at 12:33 am
I don’t make 1 cent from my blogs. I have faced long term unemployment and have used the social safety net. It took me years of poverty to stand up for my rights in the social safety net. It took me years of part time study to get the education I always knew I should have. It took me three years of two part time jobs to get full time work. I do grad school at the same time as full time work. I still have the social safety net. I recommend unionised work not low paying jobs if you are more than a few month unemployed. You may be learning about spending and money I am learning about me.
May 11th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
I have read that in general, yes you want to inform your bank if you have a layoff that threatens your mortgage, in the hopes that they can work with you to avoid foreclosure if in the end you can’t pay the mortgage.
However, I have also read that people with substantial equity in their home should think twice about notifying their bank of financial problems because given that equity, the bank is much more assured of not losing money if they foreclose - thus they have an incentive to NOT work with you. Since mortgage contracts often allow the bank to call the entire principal of the loan due immediately after a certain level of default, you can be pushed out of your house quickly if they should decide to do so.
May 12th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
[...] Coping with Unemployment [...]
May 13th, 2007 at 11:37 am
After being a victim of unemployment for two long stretches several years ago, I can completely relate to everything said here.
The one thing you have to watch for is what pay you get for a job and how it relates to your unemployment benefits.
If I am at home getting $550 every two weeks in unemployment and my only expenses are food/home type expenses and postage to mail resumes (for the ones I don’t send electronically), then is it really worth it to accept an $8 or $9 per hour job and add gasoline, car maintenance, etc to the bill and lose my unemployment, or hold out for a much better paying job? The othe part of that is (I am in a computer field that frequently pays 3 times that amount), what will my next employer think about me taking such a low paying position, even temporarily? In my case, I can live off my extended savings and convince my future employer that I have good planning skills and didn’t have to take whatever comes around just to put food on the table.
Next time you think about that temporary job, one should factor in transportation, clothing, and other expenses and then compare it to that unemployment check.
May 14th, 2007 at 5:18 am
[...] Coping With Unemployment: Blogging is NOT the Answer [...]
May 15th, 2007 at 6:55 am
[...] me a year of 2 hours a night (on average) to make what I make now. Consider this article on why Blogging is not the answer. Here are some reasons to be a personal finance blogger. And here is a little guide to being a [...]
May 27th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
[...] Roth’s advice to an employed person about Coping with Unemployment : Blogging is not the answer is a sound one. My take on this : Start a Blog when you are [...]
August 8th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
[...] on your website for income?” His answer, unsurprisingly, is NO. This is the same conclusion I reached in May, though Golb Guru’s answer is much more thorough than [...]
December 20th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
[...] bloggers recognize this and even go out of their way to spread the message that blogging is not the answer to coping with unemployment. Brip Blap pointed that blogging is “not a road to retiring at age [...]
November 10th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Hello….. The article is really nice and informative. I remember my first months blog earning was US $ 3.68 only. But i have not started blogging for income. I have started blogging because Financial Education is my passion. If you take everything from me than also i will continue blogging and teaching other people about money. This is my passion for financial literacy and blogging. I don’t do blogging for Money.
But yeah, please let me tell you here at this point that Blogging is an Investment of Time. You can invest either money or time or both. After all Investment is a game of Money and Time both…
Also let me tell you here that i believe that blogging is not the way of getting rich quick. But its of course fastest way to retire……. Because this Business is related to Industrial Age. You don’t have to wait up to the age of 65 years to retire. You can retire with blogging in your Eartly thirties if you want……….
Anyway…. Nice blog…. I have first time today seen your blog. You hjave done excellent job….. Keep writing more man……. i like your blog…….
Disclosure : I incidentally come to your Blog fro “The Simple Dollar” and “Lazy Man & Money” blogs……………….