I want to congratulate JD at Get Rich Slowly on making the next big move that many bloggers aspire to – the title of full-time professional blogger. Yes, JD is quitting his job at the box factory and will become a professional blogger.
JD started Get Rich Slowly 18 months ago and has seen the site grow from a handful of readers to over 30,000 RSS readers. The blog now generates $5,000 per month in revenue, which is enough to cover JD’s living expenses. However, JD isn’t diving head first into his new full-time position. Instead, he plans to transition from full-time job to full-time blogger over a one year period.
Beginning 01 January 2008, my Tuesdays will be spent working on Get Rich Slowly.
Beginning April 1st, I’ll drop Thursdays at the box factory.
On July 1st, Mondays will be spent writing.
Next October, I’ll be down to only Wednesdays at the day job.
Finally, on 01 January 2009, I will be an official real-life full-time blogger.
I personally feel that taking a year to transition is a mistake but he is “Get Rich Slowly” so I can understand why he wants to become pro-blogger slowly. I wish JD the best of luck.
When Should You Quit Your Day Job?
I get asked this question a lot. My recommendation is to wait until your Internet income matches your full time job income. Once it hits that level, tell your boss to take this job and shove it (only if you don’t like him). Some people would recommend you keep both job and blog and make twice as much. However, those people don’t see the big picture. If you can match your full time job income with part time blogging, imagine how much you can make if you work at it full time.
My friend Greg Morgan quit his $80,000 a year job at Yellow Pages when his Internet income matched his job income. His Net income isn’t at $160K yet but it’ll be there soon enough. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t have a job to tie you down.
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{ 97 comments }
Congrats to JD! How does he manage to have 20,000+ subscribers and have less earnings and alexa ranking compared to you?
Most probably because he is not pre-selling stuff like John does or is not as evil as John
Well this is just a guess as I have not read JD’s blog, but i certainly will.
Congrats to JD.
Though I read John’s blog for inspiration, I don’t practice evil at my own site. I leave that for John!
My site is straight-forward personal finance advice. I try to mix in some entrepreneurship now and then, but mostly it’s boring stuff like finding the best bank accounts or maxing out IRAs or how to save money when buying a car. Like I say, it’s boring, but a lot of people have questions, just like me, so I try to help find answers.
Lately I’ve been wondering how much I could make if I were evil like John, though.
p.s. Thanks, John!
If it’s a personal finance website . . . the type of sponsors that want to advertise on his site are in a highly competitive market that have much higher ad rates than the type of sponsors that advertise on John’s site . . . JD was fortunate enough to find a demographic that has high paying sponsors and i’m assuming if you want to do what JD did and work from home, you’ll have to find a niche with high paying sponsors as well – i.e. mortgage, health and personal finance are the highest that I can think of right away
I quit my day job once i made enough to cover what it was paying. Which was $1500 a month. Now I’m upto almost $6,000 last month and i’m surviving nicely!
So it can be done! Well done.
Go for it man.
I wouldn’t mind quitting my day job either
Congratulations =D
This evil thing is a reccuring theme haha. We should all just become evil and start an evil revolution full of evil people and we’d do evil things all day long just cause that’s what evil people do.
Isn’t that what we are doing?
Hay I want to get there but not slowly. I love the fast Evil
way
Why not? I thought there was only one way, fast Evil way.
Congratulations!
Wowow good stuff! Congrats.. that’s inspirational stats right there!
Hopefully I’ll be in the position of quiting my job soon…
congrats to the fella…
18 months is pretty good to be at $5k a month.
Yeah it’s nice pocket money if anything.
I quit my job a year ago, not to blog full time, but to pursue other ventures full time. I only blog for fun. But John is right, it is amazing what you can accomplish without a job holding you back.
I love how in the 00′s, we’re all saying that its the job that holds us back haha.
Yup, now I see a “job” as slavery to some boss at a company. Before I got a job, everyone told me to get one, now, I hate the term “job”. (except for the other “jobs”….)
Congratulations to JD. I can’t wait until I can quit my job and strictly work on the computer.
bloggin is still a hobbie for me. damn need to blog more!
type faster, faster, damn it!
Congratulations indeed, Congratulations to anybody who makes it online.
Hey the world is a big place. Every space for everyone to carve their own little nichie
I’m going to start mine on flying pigmy possums soon…
JD’s blog is amazing. This guy is really dedicated and tremendous insight. I think he can monetize the blog more without up-selling stuff. When I’m at 30K subscribers I am soo becoming a full time blogger
Very nice. Thats stickin it to the machine trying to keep the man, or woman down.
Haha… cool, stick it to the MAN or WOMAN!
Great inspiration to all of us!
Congrats to JD!
congratulations! I can’t wait until I can do the same
Congratulations. Most people would love to be in your shoes.
Instead of seeing your online income matching your current job’s income, isn’t it better to wait to see if it can be sustained over the long run? What if you make $5000 this month but only $2500 the next? If you don’t have an egg nest to cover that loss, you be screwed.
I think Roth is smart to wait. If he’s not in a hurry, he’ll be able to evaluate whether his online income remains constant and stable from month to month and whether it truly enjoys a business model that can be sustained over the long haul.
That’s a really good point – it’s still amazing to see that a living can be made off it. If you told me all this a couple of years back, I would have laughed.
It depends… if you think there’s a chance, and you don’t have much to lose by not doing it, then it’s a good idea to jump ship… Not everyone would do that… but I might. I just wouldn’t get a mortgage with it though.
Very smart to wait IMO. He is doing it well.
Quitting my job over a year ago was the best thing I have ever done. I highly recommend it to everyone!
Quite inspirational, but all blogs are trying to make money now, so it isn’t as easy as it used to be.
-Mike
Well-planned move with adequate checks and balances. Especially if one has kids, might become reluctant taking the risk. I would rather say, quit your daytime job only if your online income sustains over the baseline level at least six months or one year. Else, very much encouraging post.
Congrats JD.
yea with a family to support you have to be a bit more careful.
October was the first month I actually made more in my online ventures than in salary, but I’m not even close to considering leaving my full-time job. Sustainability is key – doing it one month is great, but until I’ve got at least 6-12 months of sustained income at this rate, I’m keeping the day job.
Very wise decision… and what’s to say you can’t continue making your online venture better? Double stream of income yeah baby!!
I checked out Get Rich Slowly for the first time because of this post and it seems like that blog could easily make two or three times as much as it is now with better monetization.
I think with him dedicating his full-time attention to it he will see his earnings accelerate considerably… and hopefully be able to loosen the purse strings a little bit and enjoy having more free time.
He probably commented on John Chow so many times to get 30,000 RSS sbuscribers ehh?
Offhand, I was checking out this article in my feed reader when I saw one of the ads, it said Buy Page Ranks? John Chow, is this true? Can bloggers buy Page Ranks? Why? What’s the point if it doesn’t relate to click thru rates on ads?
Buy PR? Possibly talking about buying a text link to increase PR…
Great advice John, finding that jumpoff point is tough and everyone has to decide when (or if) its time but when that time comes hesitating will only lead to a belly flop… dive in hard, or don’t, I agree.
I wanted to add a little more… if you DO jump into pro blogger status keep your eyes open for other opportunities. Your blog won’t be the only internet idea you come accross. My blog for example is only the latest in a series of ventures and it’s important to at least keep an eye out for other possibilities.
Great advice I think. Enjoy the ride that comes from the success but keep your eye on how you can leverage your current success onto bigger and better things.
wow,
very inspiring..
i am also looking for that moment to quit my job..slowly..
Most big blogs with huge subscribers don’t provide much content now. It’s mainly the little ones that provide all the supplies to the big guns.
-Mike
I don’t agree
Good luck to JD.
I never even had an offline job
i am still sourcing for a full time job online, i will surely quite my day job if i can make $5k/mth.
I second that.
I dream about this on a daily basis.
Then dream away!! Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. As Nanny De Marco said… if you dream… duh-reaaamm out lowwdd~!
I’m looking forward to doing the same thing!!!
funny how people wait until they meet their day job income. for me, half was good enough. i was out of there three months ago. i’m still struggling, but it’s worth it:-)
Good for you Johnny Card, that you can afford to follow your dream, but a lot of people simply cannot afford to. To be able to meet their day job earning is a minimum i think, and anything over that would be a bonus.
well
some people inherit problems before start thinking on making money you know….
Congrat.
I wish to jump out from my full-time job too and prusue my dream. The move is very hard to make now.
Your time is bound to come. Be patient and keep blogging if that is what you want to do full time after you jump off from the job!
Quiting my job to pursue a dream is not all about money.
I quit my job as a software engineer with an electronic burn-in company who’s technology is space tech. My salary was MYR1,700 with MYR8 petrol allowance (that’s 554.274 US Dollar in today exchange rate) and (+USD100 food allowance per week when I’m on overseas assignment ).
I love the net & the world infact I quit my job after only earning 2nd month $155+ ,1st mth USD50 . I believe my dreams will come true in travelling n sx. I was online the 1st time on net back in 1994 in a telco co where my friends work.
Infact the net was an copy concept of WAN back in the old days of 1992 when Novell was the norm & king in networking. I was working as a computer operator in big corp after graduating from computer college , a freshie to gain exp. It has leased line, routers and a mailbox server. I dial-up modems to retrieved data from 12 states branch and admin the networks with personal IM and a loud sPEAKER asking users to log-off the restart the networks.
Also I am the original Hip-Hop in 199? when George Soros speculate on the Asian currency and the economic bubble burst. I was in depression jobless n in puppy love with a taiwanese snoppy88 for 2 yrs, drunk n nasty playing sony ps violent games such as St.Fighter so they did me in as a music category and Wu Tang capture the essence.
Anyway I got better and proceed on with Life and it couldn’t get worse n better.
I see brands such as ebay goes up, a wannabe Cameron Diaz to a movie star and others to the net coffins.
So that’s who I am.
HotelBookingPro.com: Your Home Away From Home. Worldwide Hotels,Flights,Car Rentals & Last Minute Deals Reservation Booking Engine in the era of blogging and videoing for now.
Signing off Andy ur Travel Buddy – come visit me in Penang,M’sia anything thing is possible these days with DREAMS
Chen Ch’ng Sh’ng – Tan Kheng Hin when we was playing fakers in the era of virtual reality when even photos or real names won’t be used. Anyway I don’t really bother about that these days.
Live and let live, and my new favourite quote “You can’t copyright God” YHWH.
Man, that must have taken some courage to write. Well done and keep at it. You have the gumption for sure!
Well, he just got another reader. I’m a bit of a spendaholic too.
That’s so true. The salaries in Asian countries are so freakin’ low, there’s more chance for people in Asia to quit their jobs. I used to work in Korea and get paid $30K a year but that’s working Monday through SATURDAY! Can you believe it? It sucks to go to work on Saturdays although now I work monday through sunday…at least I don’t have to take public transit to work.
well john you deserve appreciation from all of your followers, including me.get rich slowly is my goal too.
Congrats JD
USD5000 is a lot of money man , go full time you can tripple the money for sure.
Very sensible way to quit the day time job – over a period of one year.
John’s advise also is very practical and sensible except for that nice touch “tell him to shove it”.
I think this means to quit your full time job when the opportunity cost of blogging full time is less than the opportunity cost of working full time.
Well done. Can cover living expenses from 5,000$….
I fully enjoy reading about more success stories, so good luck to every one that decides to become a pioneer in this industry.
Carpe diem.
Not bad at all
Yup, I quit the 9 to 5 in septmeber, haven’t looked back since. If you are serious about your business you will quit your day job. Why? You don’t see kids in the minor leagues with a full time job, because it takes away their energy and focus. I dont think anyone can have a 9 to 5 job and run a business that competes with someone whose working on growing their business full time. Case closed. Either your too scared to quit or you will never be rich.
Thats a really positive post. Motivating too ..
Good to hear and grats!
While making money faster sounds more enticing; you’ve certainly proved your niche nicely.
Best of Luck!
I started the long journey and I am patient enough to take the road slowly
all those get rich in one day is ****
I wish i could. I am very excited to hear many bloggers can make much money from their blog. I have start my blog haryzat7.com. Many people says do you own passion and the money will come then. But that is not easy like that. I now realized it is not easy to build-up blog and get the traffic. I will try harder and want become like JD as well. Anyway congrats to you JD. Thanks a lot to John for inspired me…
well, patience is a virtue and until you reach your day job income, you should work twice as much anyway
Awesome Advice, just make sure your readers tread with caution.
I quite the day job probably 6-10 months before I really wanted to because it was getting me down being busy all the time. My approach was to save some money (3 months salary), cut as many monthly bills as possible to reduce outgoings and then just go for it. I’d spent 3 years building my online empire and in the 2 months I was doing it full time I probably doubled my previous income. I wouldn’t suggest anybody pack in their job without having something in place but as long as you’ve got some idea and are prepared to work hard then life tends to provide. I have the odd sleepless night (just cos we all want more than what we’ve already got right?) but no more so than if I was stuck working for some a$$ hole.
Sounds like a solid plan: put money away, then jump ship. But it takes a lot of discipline to do that… something a lot of folks don’t have…
Ah~~ it’s always my dreams to become a full-time blogger and not to suck up my boss’ arse..
I’ve been blogging for 1 year now and my last income was 2x of wat i earned in my last job
I hope to blog like you John Chow
This post is very inspirational! I could ‘live’ on $2000 a month and hopefully working for myself I only make myself more comfortable in time. Seeing how much many people make online, $2000 a month seems easy…well not easy, but you know what I mean.
If I could hit $10k/month I’d quit the day job… And the wife better not say she wants to quit, too… Then that number would have to go up again!
Well I am earning a littlle over 1K and am ready to take the risk. Quitting next month and hope to enjoy life then on.
Always impressive to see another blogger leave the work for and go full-time. Congrats to JD, and I cant wait till I join him. Good call on the gradual transition too – though working for the family business aids that tremendously. What other job would allow such a transition?
This is inspirational stuff.
One day…
that is pretty amazing.. and my friend Nick is going to be doing the same thing.. it will be cool to see how he does! but i know he will do well.. its more a question of just how succesful he’ll be!
Very inspiring post John but keep in mind you will have no health benefits or savings plan if you quit your day job. Obviously if you love blogging more then your job and are making more doing it you should consider dropping to PART TIME but not just quiting. At least leave on good terms if you decide to that way if something happens you have something to fall back on.
Your last statement on the topic couldn’t be more true. If I didn’t have a day job, I could post more, research during the day, promote more, etc. Damn job!
I missed the boat on this one.
Anyway, I like what he’s doing. I think he’s smart not to jump ship right away. It will allow him to continue to grow his site, without the worries of it dropping dead (not likely). And if it does, well, he has a fallback option.
Smart guy.
Yes congrats to JD. It shows “Freedom” from 9-5 can be done blogging. Hopefully there is room for a lot more people in the pro-blogging world
Ideally, I’d like to work on my websites and bartend. It’s what I love now, but the income is probably equal to one month of what JohnChow.com makes.
Focus a little more on the websites until the income starts to increase, and maybe I’ll be able to open my own bar.
I have no day job right now so maybe i’ll just go straight for the dream?
wow! congratulations to JD and good luck to those who are deciding whether to quit their day jobs and make blogging full time or not.
It’s a slow process, but with persistence you can achieve your dream…
Kenneth