What does entrepreneurship look like to you? Does it look like a teen starting a blog about vintage fashion? How about a retired senior blogging about their gardening adventures?
While it may be a break from the traditional idea of entrepreneurship, bloggers, especially in today’s massive online community, can grow into flourishing entrepreneurs with the right kind of skills and dedication. You can find many examples of successful bloggers, and you might even enjoy reading them yourself. However, if you’re still hesitant about taking the entrepreneurial plunge, it’s worth considering some these ideas and tips:
Read: How to Make a Website in 2018 – Step by Step Guide
What Could Your Career as an Entrepreneur Look Like?
Assuming you already have the base idea of your blog in mind (a photography blog, a sports blog, a pop culture blog, etc.), now is the time to start asking yourself what your entrepreneurial career as a blogger might look like: Is this something you want to do part-time or full-time? Do you plan on writing, creating, and maintaining your blog by yourself? How many people, if any, do you envision hiring to help you with your blog? How will you pay yourself?
By answering these kinds of questions first, you can guide the overall direction of your entrepreneur goals. It’ll take some research, especially if you decide to go with a particular niche, but reading about the business as it is now, can further help you distinguish your blog’s tone, content, and look. It can also help you make your blog stand apart from the rest. By seeing what already exists, you can decide what you and your blog are going to bring to your readers.
It’s also going to be important to learn the ropes of advertising and marketing. Most bloggers make their money from including ads on their site, reviewing products, or linking to promotional sites within their content. However, before you can get ads, you’ll need a significant amount of followers. That’s where improving your SEO and advertising yourself becomes important. The internet is vast and seemingly endless, so how are you going to be the needle in the haystack? Promoting your blog, just as you would with a typical new business, is important for getting more people to interact with your blog.
With all of that in mind, it can seem overwhelming trying to get your blog off the ground, and moreover, turning your blog into something profitable. As experts at Arizona State University aptly put it when it comes to starting your own business, “At first, entrepreneurs may have to do everything themselves, including taking on all the executive roles typically done by multiple people at a larger organization. While autonomy is often the biggest draw for being your own boss, you must have a broad set of professional skills and know the fundamentals of business to be successful.” However, it’s essential to remember that you’ve got a unique perspective that you’re bringing to the table and securing all those important factors will just further help you achieve success.
Age Is Just a Number
One of the (many) great benefits of starting a blog as part of your new entrepreneur journey is the accessibility. Rather than purchasing a commercial space, office supplies, desks, and more you really only need a functioning computer and maybe a decent camera.
This is why blogging can be an appealing, albeit often overlooked, option for retirees and older adults during the “second-act” of life. Moreover, pursuing a new hobby or business adventure after retirement can help older adults stay mentally, physically, and socially engaged. The entrepreneuring stakes are also pretty low when it comes to blogging as a retiree (you’ve already got your retirement income!). It’s also notable that most older adults have a plethora of experience and wisdom to pass on, meaning they can make a blog as unique as they are.
As an older adult, you can give home repair advice, cooking advice (share those family recipes!), and even share your general experiences as a retiree. By utilizing such a distinct voice and experience, it will help your blog stand out and be applicable to a wide range of audiences — from new mothers to fellow retirees.
Inspiration for Future Generations
Students are another age group with a special perspective that is worth sharing with readers. Of course, most students are occupied with succeeding in school rather than their next business adventure. However, involving students with your blog or helping them to start their own, is a great way to teach them how to manage a business, inspire creativity, and learn important skills for their own future careers.
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Furthermore, students who have access to the internet and find ways to contribute to it, have an easier time “[keeping] up with information that might not make it into textbooks, or that might become outdated by the time it is published in a traditional format. Having access to this information empowers students to take charge of their education, and the research backs that up. Test scores from low-income students increased by 30% after they were given access to Internet-capable devices. Other studies showed that discipline issues decreased when students were able to use technology to help with their studies.” Moreover, blogging gives them access to a community of readers and fellow bloggers that can further help them pursue their goals.
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While it is certainly important to keep kids safe online, allowing them some freedom to dabble in the realm of entrepreneurship through blogging will give them some valuable life lessons they can continue using well into their adult life.
Read: Best strategies for being a more more effective blogger!
Starting and running a blog can certainly be challenging, but it also presents a lot of opportunities, all while creating something you’re passionate about. Whenever you decide to take the blogging plunge, focusing on your goals an entrepreneur can help keep you motivated, productive, and hopefully excited to start work each day. Good luck!