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Hello lovely people, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I wanted to start this week with a BANG, so I decided to interview one of my favorite bloggers, Ling, the creator of Finsavvy Panda!
I wanted to share Ling’s story because she is truly an inspiration when it comes to being a successful blogger.
In less than 2 years, she went from making $700/month to $7000/month and she doesn’t plan on stopping there!
Keep reading to learn more about Ling, Finsavvy Panda, & how she was able to quit her 9-5 to live a more purposeful life!
If you are interested in starting your own, check out my article that will show you the steps to create a blog.
1. Tell me your story. When did you start blogging & why?
Hello, my name is Ling and I started my blog Finsavvy Panda over a year and half ago.
It’s a personal finance and lifestyle blog where I write mostly about money saving tips, money making ideas, and ways to reach financial independence.
Before I learned about the term “blogging”, I actually had no idea that people could make money online. I always thought that the traditional day job was the only way to earn a full-time income.
For about 8 years, I was working in the financial and banking sector and I realized that none of those roles were a right fit for me. That’s when I started looking for other ways to earn money because I hated all of my jobs!
I can’t remember exactly how this happened but I came across Eden’s blog, Mint Notion. I’m a big fan of her blog and I really enjoy reading her posts. A few of her posts are about personal finance and that’s when I started having ideas!
I’ve always talked about finance and money with my friends and family because they come to me for advice. So, I thought it would be nice to start a blog and share my experience and view to help others.
This all happened during the time I was looking for ways to try something outside of my 9-5 role.
I initially started the blog hoping I could make an extra few hundred dollars per month since I was searching for ways to earn additional income so I can become financially free one day.
2. What do you enjoy most about blogging?
I enjoy interacting and responding to my readers.
It makes me really happy when someone e-mails me to say they are inspired by my story or that I was helpful. The fact that I could do something to change someone’s life while being able to earn an income is amazing!
I thought I’d mention that starting a blog and making money does not consist of just writing blog posts all the time (this is a misconception). There are a gazillion of other things to do!
A few of those gazillion things that I really enjoy doing is learning about affiliate marketing strategies and making pins for Pinterest. I love testing and trying new things to see what works and what doesn’t work.
So on top of creating helpful content, what I also enjoy about blogging is learning about blogging!
3. How did you go from making about $700/month to about $7,000/month from your blog?
I think deep inside I was hoping I could eventually earn a full-time income with my blog one day because of the crazy stories I hear.
I had (still have) A LOT of self-doubts and honestly didn’t know what to expect.
So, I just treated my blog as a hobby (like something I really enjoy doing on the side) because I don’t perform well when there’s pressure.
Mind you, I still put in a lot of effort and I think I was able to do that because I genuinely enjoyed learning about how to build a blog during my spare time. It was something that I was willing to wake up to do every morning before going to work. I was really excited about it!
And despite the crickets and barely seeing any results, I kept going and going.
Trust me, I was extremely sad and it felt hopeless when I was earning close to $0!
Thinking back, I was extremely stubborn and did NOT want to believe that making money with a blog is impossible.
I knew that complaining and being a Negative Nancy wasn’t going to get me anywhere.
My stubbornness and persistence made it happen and that’s when I started earning a few hundred dollars. That suddenly turned into a few thousand and now several of thousands per month.
With the help with Michelle’s e-course, Making Sense of Affilaite Marketing, along with other blogging resources, I was able to increase my income while my traffic was growing.
The reason why I was able to grow my traffic is because I focused my time learning how to use Pinterest.
Long story short, I invested in a few blogging resources and I also invested my time into learning and testing.
4. What’s your best money tip?
To balance between saving money, spending money, making money, and living your best life.
I’m NOT extreme when it comes to saving money, earning money, and spending money. I like keeping a good balance.
Life is short and you don’t know when it will end, so spend money today on things that truly make you happy – live the moment!
But you don’t know how long you will live, so you also need to save some today because your future self will thank you later – save and invest for the future!
Soooo, live the moment while saving some for the future!
5. How do you write amazing content that performs well?
If I had to be honest, I don’t think I have the best content and it’s something I’m trying to improve on.
When I first started my blog, I had no idea what “amazing” or “epic” content meant, so I just wrote whatever was in my head – huge mistake!
Over time, as I wrote more and read more blogs, I started to get a better idea of how amazing content performs well.
Here’s what I learned.
Amazing content is one thing, but performing well is another.
You can have amazing content but doesn’t perform well because no one can find you.
On the other hand, you could have not-so-great content but it can perform well because you managed to get it in front of people’s eyes.
With that said, I now try to help my audience by giving what they want (i.e. answering their questions), but at the same time, I also try to optimize it with certain keywords so people could find me.
On top of that, I try to include my personal touch – I think this gives it a unique twist. You’ll find that a lot of my posts have some sort of personal story to it.
6. What advice do you have for someone that wants to earn a full time income blogging?
You have to have a STRONG desire to learn about blogging.
You also need to be a self-starter!
On top of that, I always tell my readers to find a topic or niche that they genuinely have a strong interest in. If you don’t enjoy what you’re writing about, you may lose interest and give up.
At the same time, you need to know whether there’s a demand for your niche. Not impossible, but it would be very difficult to monetize if you chose a niche that no one really cares about.
At the end of the day, your blog needs to be able to solve your readers’ problems or offer some value.
You also need to have persistent and keep going regardless of not earning a single penny. That’s why it’s important to choose a topic you enjoy talking about. This may just give you more of a push even when you haven’t seen results yet.
One more thing I’d like to mention is that investing in a blogging education may help you get there faster. It’s not guaranteed but it can help.
The ultimate recipe is yourself having that drive within you to make it happen – you can’t blame course instructors or give excuses to why something didn’t work out.
Be positive and learn from your mistakes. If you haven’t seen any results yet, just keep going and trying new things until something clicks.
7. What sacrifices or hard decisions did you have to make to get you to where you’re at now?
Initially, I spent A LOT of time learning about blogging.
I would read on my way to work and back home from work. I would wake up early on the weekend to write a blog post.
But the really good thing is I actually genuinely enjoyed it! I was so into it that it didn’t feel like work at all. So, I wasn’t dreading anything. It felt very natural and I was SO interested and intrigued by the whole idea!
The hard part was deciding whether or not I should quit my job for this blog.
It was hard because I didn’t really treat my blog like a full business at that time. It felt more like a side hobby and I just didn’t know where it was heading.
I was scared of uncertainty and wasn’t sure if the grass is really greener on the other side.
Plus, I never really imagined becoming a “full-time blogger”. It’s an odd thing to tell my friends and family. Even I think it’s strange sometimes.
But seeing that it was making over $6,000 per month, I decided to give it a shot to go full-time. I knew that life was too short and I didn’t want to regret. Worst case scenario is I go back to work.
The great thing is that my blog is still alive, growing, and earning a full-time income, so going back to work has not crossed my mind yet! It’s been 5 months since I was self-employed.
We’ll see what happens… 🙂
8. If you could change anything from when you first started blogging, what would it be?
Two words: Google SEO.
Seriously, I regret not optimizing my blog posts earlier on. I had no idea what that meant or what I was doing. Like I said, I was writing off the top of my head.
Now, those posts are dead in the grave. I have to spend time writing brand new posts to rank on Google.
Although Pinterest may be a great source for beginners (and I highly recommend it), you may want to also spend some time on the side to learn how to optimize your blog posts for Google.
By using Pinterest to gain traffic now while optimizing your post for Google in the long term is working smart.
9. How do you maintain a good balance between work & life?
I still need to improve in this area.
Now that I’m self-employed, I need to find ways to motivate myself. It’s not like a 9-5 job where you have a set schedule.
To fix the problem, I use my blogging binder to write down my daily and weekly goals. This even includes writing what time I’ll be exercising for the day!
By writing things down, I’m able to wake up earlier and accomplish things on time rather than just doing them on the fly.
It’s also important to write down goals that are realistic. You don’t want to set goals that are too easy but at the same time, you don’t want to overload your plate.
I know I mentioned exercising earlier, but I want to bring this up again.
I think putting in 30 min to 1 hour each day to do something active is good for your body, mind, and soul. This actually helps me become less stressed, more productive, and achieve a better balance with my life.
Not to mention, exercising makes me feel happier too!
10. What is the #1 tip that you have for someone who wants to reach the same success as you?
Most bloggers give up because they see no results within their first 3 months to 1 year.
I felt that way too and I was extremely frustrated. But, right from the start, I told myself that I was going to give myself up to two years to learn about blogging.
I also told myself that I was going to keep going regardless – staying motivated while not seeing results is the hardest part!
I think the first and most important stage to get passed is a limited mindset.
“Limited” meaning thoughts that go like this:
- It’s impossible to make money blogging
- Bloggers who claim that they make money are lying or they just got lucky
- Only bloggers who started their blogs earlier are able to make money but it’s hard today
- I can’t get any traffic; it’s too hard
- I can’t make any money; it’s too hard
- Overall, blogging is hard and I don’t think I can do it
I blocked all of this limited thinking from my mind. Instead, I told myself that it IS possible to make money.
Even when I didn’t make a single penny, I still believed that making money online with a blog is possible.
Yes, I know results are NOT guaranteed, but I still tried my best and persisted.
Your mindset (how you think) and your persistence can go a long way!
What are your tips & tricks when it comes to blogging?
Xo, Emily Marie
