The year was 2012. I had just hit rock bottom, and my whole world came crashing down around me. I was alone, terrified, and completely hopeless.
I had just left an abusive relationship (I left with nothing but my clothes and my car), closed up my salon, and declared bankruptcy. To say my life was in complete shambles is an understatement. The worst part? I was 52 years old, which for me, at that time, meant my life was over. How on earth was I going to recover from this mess I had created?
I had no answers, well, not at first.
Starting Over With Nothing
The first thing I had to do was find a job. With my tail between my legs, I went groveling back to my previous employer to see if I could get my old hairstyling job back. She was happy to have me return. I was just happy to have a job again, though not so thrilled to be going back.
I felt like I was taking a step back in life, and nothing would ever change.
I also had to find a place to live, find money to pay the first and last month’s rent, and then find household items to furnish said apartment (things like furniture, bedding, kitchen things, basically, everything).
It’s not easy to start over after 50. It’s embarrassing, scary, exhausting, humiliating, frustrating…need I go on? I just wanted to die. Everything was exhausting. Life was terrifying. I had never felt so alone and hopeless in my entire life.
And I was scared. Every day was a struggle to fight the nausea and anxiety. Every day I had to swallow my pride and face people. I felt like a complete failure and a loser.
People Really Do Want to Help
I put out a call on Facebook that I needed things, a lot of things, and money. I needed to let people know that I was down and out, bankrupt and broke, and I desperately needed help.
And people helped. People I haven’t spoken to in years came out of the woodwork to help. Within 2 weeks, I had an apartment, everything I needed to furnish it, and money to help get started on my new life.
People like to help.
My New Life Was About to Begin
Once settled in my new apartment, the healing journey began. I needed to take inventory of my life, go through it with a fine tooth comb, see where I went wrong, and formulate a plan to change it.
I couldn’t keep living and going the way I had been. It wasn’t working, and I was miserable. Though I was extremely grateful to my former employer for taking me back, it wasn’t a job I wanted to do anymore. It barely paid the bills and stressed me out day in and day out.
The hairstyling life wasn’t for me anymore. It no longer brought me joy, and at this stage of the game, I needed joy in my life more than anything.
A year into my healing journey, I was ready to start making some bold changes in my life. It was time for me to pull up my big girl panties. And I did. Big, bold, drastic changes. Changes that terrified me and excited me at the same time. I wanted a life of freedom, joy, and abundance.
I just wasn’t so sure that I was capable of achieving that, but I was prepared to do whatever it took to at least find out.
I Could Be a Writer
I had heard about freelance writing and blogging, but I knew little to nothing about them. It intrigued me. How do they do it? How on earth can you write and make money doing it? I was about to find out.
I Googled and absorbed as much information as I could about how to become a freelance writer. It couldn’t be that hard. I downloaded free “5-day courses on how to make money writing”. I read blogs and followed bloggers; you name it, I did it.
What experience did I have writing? Zero, zippo, zilch. I mean, if you count writing in my diary when I was a teenager and writing letters to ex-boyfriends who were behaving badly, then I had tons of experience.
Heck, I didn’t even graduate high school. But I loved to write.
I did have an old website, though. Surely that could help me a little, no?
My Dusty and Dead Website
I started a Feng Shui website back in 2010 and literally let it go as no one was interested in what I was writing about, not to mention I had no clue what the heck I was doing. I buried it in 2011 but kept the site. Crickets made it their home until I decided to give it a complete overhaul and use it as a personal healing space.
I wrote about my abusive relationships, all of them, my bankruptcy, and my failures; I wrote about everything. I started a Facebook page of the same name and shared my blogs (which were more like diary entries) on my page as well as inspirational quotes.
While this was growing and attracting an audience, I was merely only using it for personal growth and to help others heal. It was simply a hobby blog and was not monetized at all. I was still a hairstylist, and that was what paid the bills and put food on my table.
Little did I know at that time this site would be the catalyst for my new career.
So Many Rejections
I decided to give this freelance writing thing a try. I had nothing to lose.
I started writing self-help and personal development blogs and would submit them to high-authority sites. I wrote before and after work. I wrote a lot, and I wrote for free. During the first 6 months of doing this, I was rejected by all. That didn’t stop me. I kept at it.
I put in 8-10 hour days at the salon and 4 hours at home just writing and trying to break into freelance writing.
I knew someone would eventually accept a guest post from me, and someone finally did. At around the 7th month mark, one site accepted a post, then another did, and then another.
Never take no as a final answer.
The Pitch For a Job
After about a year of doing this, I got brave and asked one of the site owners for a job writing. He was very pleased with my work, and I was writing a lot for him. The first time I asked, he said no. I waited a couple of months and asked again. No again.
On the 3rd ask, he finally said yes and hired me as a part-time ghostwriter.
My freelance writing/blogging world had begun.
He eventually hired me on as a full-time writer and had me manage his social media accounts, too. Thus, I was able to hang up my cutting shears and work online full-time.
Breaking Out to Do My Own Thing
Within 2 years, I had 2 full-time clients that I was writing and doing VA work for, I was earning a decent income, and life was falling into place perfectly. I was also still running my personal development site.
I learned how to grow traffic and was able to monetize it. One year later, I was able to resign from being a VA and a ghostwriter and officially became a full-time blogger for my own site.
To me, this was a success. But there’s more. So much more.
My Journey to Becoming a 6-Figure Blogger
It’s important to know that my journey to becoming a 6-figure blogger wasn’t easy and required a lot of work, patience, and growth on my part. Here are the 8 crucial steps I took to get to where I am today.
I have to tell you, I used to read a lot of blogs about how to become a 6-figure blogger, and it looked frustrating and impossible to me. I wasn’t so sure I had the skillset for it, but I was willing to see if I could do it.
The steps I am going to share are important. These are what got me to where I am today.
Have a Goal/Dream, and Don’t Give Up
It’s easy to say you want this or that, but you must be crystal clear on what exactly you do want. I had always envisioned being a 6-figure blogger even though I had no clue how I was going to pull it off or even if I could, but I was determined to at least try.
I wrote my goal on a whiteboard and looked at it every day. I never put it on the back burner; it was something I worked on day in and day out.
Believe in your dream
You Have to Learn Hard Things
Remember, I was a hairstylist. I had absolutely no experience in the online world. I had to learn everything from how to format a blog to backend techy geeky things. Yes, it was hard and frustrating, but I did it.
We don’t grow or reach our goals by staying the same with the same knowledge and mindset we have always had. Learning is exhausting and exciting at the same time. As a then 54-year-old woman, I had many challenges learning all the tech stuff that came with being a full-time blogger, but I never gave up.
You can do the hard things.
Connect With Successful Online Entrepreneurs
You’re not going to learn anything from someone who isn’t already where you want to be. You need to reach out, connect, and follow the big guns. They already know the path to success.
In the beginning, I followed the likes of Neil Patel and Pat Flynn, reading their blogs, listening to podcasts, and watching YouTube videos. I joined blogging Facebook groups, asked tons of questions, and absorbed as much information as my brain could hold.
You have to connect with the winners.
You Gotta Pay to Play
It took me a while to invest in my blogging business, but when I finally could, I bought courses to learn more, paid for subscriptions and plugins and bought anything else my website needed to succeed.
You won’t make it to 6 figures using free stuff. This is your business. Your career. You have to invest in it and show up like a boss. If you half-ass it, expect half-ass results.
Do some research and invest in tools that will help your business grow.
Be Prepared to Put in Long Hours in the Beginning
Remember I told you it won’t be easy? It won’t. You will have to work long, hard hours. You are the boss now. You are in charge of how much money your business makes and how much of a paycheque you take home at the end of the week.
It’s all up to you now.
There will be moments when you become frustrated, exhausted, hopeless, and feel like it’s all for naught. You will want to give up. Don’t
It will be so tempting to slack off or ‘settle’ for an average earning, but that’s not what we’re after. We are done with average.
Don’t slack off! Put in the hours.
Act Like a Professional
Remember, this is your job now. It’s up to you to make it or break it. No one is signing your weekly paycheques anymore but you. You get to decide how much money you make.
Wake up every day and head to your ‘office’ just like you are going to work because it is work. The only difference now is that everything depends on you. The earnings, the success or the failure. It’s all on your shoulders.
Act like a boss!
Ignore the Naysayers
Whatever you do, don’t look at friends and family for support. They are the least likely to support you because they just don’t understand what you’re doing. Many will try and talk you out of it. Your spouse may even tell you to go get a real job.
Don’t listen to any of them. You must stay true to your vision and focus on your long-term goal, which is to become a six-figure blogger (or heck, even a seven-figure blogger!).
This is why it’s so important to find good blogging groups and connect with like-minded people. Your support system is there.
Tune out the people who say you can’t do it.
Find a Good Mastermind Group
In tip #3, I advised you to connect with successful bloggers and entrepreneurs. Chances are, they are already in premium mastermind groups. Once your blog starts making decent money, find one. It took me a little over 4 years to find the group I’m in and be able to afford the monthly fee.
Was it worth it? You better believe it.
This mastermind group put me in the 6 figure blogger category. Before joining, I was in the mid to high 5 figures. This group put me right over the top.
Ask around and find a highly successful, supportive, and engaging mastermind group.
How Long it Takes Depends on You
It took me a little over 6 years to get to where I am today, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ve learned a lot, grown a lot, and now help other bloggers reach their goals.
My journey included many trials and challenges throughout those six years, but giving up was never an option for me.
Stay determined, stay focused, believe in yourself, and never give up on your dream. If I can do it, anyone can.
