Lessons Learned from One Year of Blogging

It is hard to believe that I have reached the one-year anniversary of The Motivated M.D.  The past year has been a whirlwind for me, and the blog is no exception.  Granted, I spent a year or more writing prior to committing to this website’s creation, but the actual platform itself is one year old!  I have been following so many physician and personal finance blogs for years now.  Some of my favorite posts revolve around their blogging milestones.  From using writing as a therapeutic outlet to the creation of substantial income, I always found these posts motivational.  I am pleased to offer up my own motivation with this post.  Here I share a few thoughts and lessons learned from one year of blogging.  I hope you enjoy it!

Lesson 1: Passive income is not always ‘passive’

OK, let’s cut to the chase here.  I think it is important to acknowledge that sometimes passive income is not exactly passive.  Blogging is actually a lot of work.  As much as I love writing, it is still time occupying.  As a physician working in academic medicine, a father, and a husband; adding blogging to that list has caused some growing pains. 

Now I do not want to give the impression that these challenges are insurmountable.  To this day I find writing wildly therapeutic (more on that later), however once you commit your audience to a certain content cadence, there becomes an expectation.  For me, the best that I could hold myself to was a weekly blog post.  Oftentimes, when I would foresee a busy month ahead, I would work to write an additional blog post during the week to have as backup.  This was enjoyable, but did add an extra layer of complexity to my already busy schedule. 

I was initially confused because I took up blogging to create passive income, however it seemed quite active!  Yet, I enjoyed writing and I understood that the more content I produced, the sooner I would see traffic…so I worked hard to maintain my content schedule.  However, the purpose was to also not overwhelm my already demanding life.  Thus, periodically I would find myself stepping away for a week if I was busy.  I had to force myself to understand that taking a break is appropriate, and sometimes necessary.  The idea of a side hustle was to be productive with my free time, not to ruin it.  I had to be at peace with taking a break when other obligations needed my attention. 

Lesson 2: Understand the time commitment

As I have alluded to above, there is a time commitment that comes with committing to a side hustle.  For me, I chose to pursue blogging.  It seemed like a perfect marriage of my interests and time availability.  However, there is still a time commitment that comes with content creation and editing.  There is a learning curve as well to website creation and maintenance.  Let me describe my routine and then I will talk numbers. 

Brainstorming ideas

On any given week, I expect myself to fully create, edit, and publish a new blog post.  On any given weekend or Monday, I will typically start a post.  I keep a running list on my phone of working titles and ideas.  Once I have committed to an idea, I will block off time for brainstorming.  This often takes the form of creating subheadings or titles that will help address necessary topics I plan to discuss.  After I have a framework for the post, I create the document and start writing.  If research is involved, I often do this prior to writing.

Writing

Writing tends to be the easy part.  This is where I get to literally put my thoughts to text.  My mind is constantly inundated with thoughts and ideas.  Getting to write these down is therapeutic for me.  From various resources, I have reached the conclusion that long form blog posts (i.e., 2,000-3,000 words) tend to rank higher on Google.  Therefore, I work to type out at least 2,000 words or more.  You can double check me, but rarely do I have a post shorter than that. 

Editing

Once I have a draft of the blog post completed, I then take to editing.  My editing process is quite simple.  I re-read the article in its entirety first and make changes as needed.  As a physician, my logic and reasoning are (mostly) sufficient, but my grammar is… lacking.  Because of this, after I do my own editing, I copy and paste the article into editing software to help me catch other mistakes. 

Publication

Once the article has been edited and proofread, I then upload it to WordPress.  All that remains is the garnish.  Adding some photos, appropriately spacing the text, and publicizing it on social media rounds out the remaining work needed to see my work to completion.

Total time

On average, this occupies about 4-5 hours a week; more if I plan on writing a second article.  This time is usually averaged out over multiple days of the week, so about 1 to 1.5 hours a day until Friday.  Statistically my highest volume of traffic is on Saturdays, therefore I work to publish on Friday or Saturday morning.  Understand the time commitment.

Lesson 3: Great things take time

Like so many other things in life, creating a side hustle that will be fulfilling and profitable will take time and patience.  Take me for instance, at the time of this article’s publication I will have been writing for one year.  I have yet to receive a check from Google Adsense (have to reach $100.00 before they will pay).  Further, any income that has allowed me to break even on this endeavor has been sporadic and unexpected. 

Any side hustle, blogging included, requires an exponential portion of the work to be in place before you can begin to reap the rewards.  What is important to understand is that each time I create valuable content, I essentially ‘plant a potentially profitable seed.’  My hope is that over time, one or more of these ‘seeds’ will grow into an article that drives traffic.  With traffic comes views as well as publicity.  The more seeds you plant, the more chances you have of offering value to a new individual.  The more value you offer, the more opportunity you have to profit from it. 

As I sit here and type this article out, I recognize that I may have to continue writing at this pace for another few years before I see the traffic necessary to actually create impactful income.  However, I am patient, and the writing is enjoyable.  I am motivated by my internal fervor to create something truly beneficial to anyone willing to visit The Motivated M.D.  The wait is entirely worth it to me. 

Lesson 4: Keep it interesting

You can see why this is a great segue.  Much of what I have described above involves continued work, unpaid, for years.  If you plan on pursuing blogging, or any side hustle for that matter, it is important that you enjoy it!  That may seem simple…it’s not. 

I have published roughly 60 blog posts on my site at this point (more if you count guest posts) and it is vital that you enjoy the process.  From coming up with ideas, to the act of writing, I love every portion of it.  When I finalize a work and hit ‘publish’ I feel a sense of achievement.  I genuinely get excited that an individual may come across my work and find it potentially helpful or intriguing. 

When I think about other side hustles, including flipping homes, real estate investing, creating an online course or product, all of these seem to require large upfront investments (monetarily or other) to reap rewards later.  I have often thought about creating a low-cost e-book that congregates all of my thoughts on personal finance into one concise read, but that will take time.  So, no matter what you pursue, make sure that your chosen ‘hustle’ will keep you wanting more.  If blogging was something I selected strictly for the income…I would have quit a long time ago. 

Lesson 5: Writing is therapeutic

Fortunately for me…I haven’t quit.  And why not, you ask?  Well because writing has impacted my life in more ways than monetarily (clearly).  When I took up writing with a focus on the personal finance niche, I felt a little ridiculous.  What could I possibly have to say that hasn’t already been said?  From established sites like The White Coat Investor, Physician on FIRE, Financial Samurai, Mr. Money Mustache, and more, how could I possibly compete?  Beyond that, how could I create something even remotely original?  It seems like I was setting myself up for failure. 

But then I started to write…and the more I wrote, the more I had to say.  It became an enjoyable cycle.  I would write, and as I wrote I would discover ideas on other topics.  The more I researched these topics, the more I would discover ideas and aspects of personal finance that I felt the need to explore.  This journey was enjoyable and always kept me eager to return to my keyboard.

Writing helped more than me…

Honestly, writing as an outlet for my financial anxiety was healthy for my marriage as well.  My wife is nothing less than a saint for putting up with my idiosyncrasies.  Since we started our journey of debt elimination and financial education, I have become…quite obsessed.  I spend a significant portion of my time reviewing our finances and brainstorming possibilities, thoughts, and pursuits.  My wife became my springboard for new ideas or worries.  Literally everyday I would have a new comment or concern about our financial footing and how I thought we should proceed.  She was open and involved, but my obsession became incessant.  As such, I knew it wasn’t healthy for me to bombard her with the intricacies of our finances…so I turned to writing.

I share all of this to say that sometimes passions can be burdensome too, on yourself or others.  For me, having the opportunity to couple my side hustle with my passion seemed the healthiest option.  Enter blogging.

Lesson 6: There is an educational component to all endeavors

The last lesson I will comment on is the educational aspect of pursuing a side hustle.  There is a quote I commonly use in my writing that comes from Randy Pausch of ‘The Last Lecture.’  In all of his wisdom, he states that ‘experience is what you get, when you don’t get what you were looking for.’  I absolutely adore that quote. 

With all things in life, if all you get is experience and education, then you still gain immensely.  For me, the act of blogging serves so many purposes.  Writing in-and-of itself helps me continue to hone my literary craft.  Further, the act of researching any of my ideas supplies an endless stream of education as well.  Exploring the inner workings of real estate investing or how other bloggers built empires is both fascinating and instructive. 

Some of the information I gain I share with you all in the form of published posts.  Other times, that information serves no other purpose than to point me onward.  The act of trying anything for the first time can provide you with a new experience, if nothing else.  For me, each article I publish feels like a new experience.  If you too are interested in exploring a side hustle, or starting a blog, I recommend it for the educational aspect alone!

Take home points

It is still hard to believe that I have been creating content for over a year now.  From investing to blog creation, the more I write, the more I discover about myself.  If anything, I find therapy in the process.  It took a while for me to find a comfortable cadence while juggling my career and family.  However, I seem to have discovered a routine that both allows me to continue to publish while still finding benefit and value in the process. 

I am not sure what the future holds for the coming year.  The optimist in me sees higher traffic, more tailored content, the creation of a potential e-book, and further collaboration with others in the blogosphere.  No matter what, I promise you that I will continue to publish as often as I can.  For now, this weekly pace seems to be sustainable.  I have found that blogging and content creation has found the perfect place in my life, and I don’t see it going away anytime soon.  As always…

Stay motivated!

The Motivated M.D.

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