The woman who quit her day job to blog

November 3rd, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

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quit your day job

I have a treat for you today and that is an interview with Caroline Middlebrook. you might not have heard of her, but she is fast becoming a top blogger. What makes her story special is she has just quit her day job to blog full time. I was first alerted to Caroline through Yaro Starak’s blog who spoke about commenting as a viable way to get traffic and featured Caroline as a great example.

Interview with Caroline Middlebrook

Thanks for agreeing to this interview Caroline, I appreciate your time. The reason I asked for this interview was primarily because I noticed you had given up your day job to become a pro blogger. Then I read some more of the blog and thought your posts were excellent, especially your posts on Twitter. What inspired me was the fact that you left your day job with no real plan, just a deep desire to live life on your own terms?

Hi Steve,

No thank *you* for the opportunity to talk about myself some more lol

1. You are a relatively new blogger, what made you want to blog?

I’ve always loved to write so blogging comes naturally to me. I also knew that there must be a ton of people out there that are sick and tired of their day jobs and would love to quit to make money online. I hope to inspire people with my story and I knew it would be far more credible if I started right rom the beginning when I am just starting out and not making any money.

You hear so many stories of these millionaires online and that’s very nice but it doesn’t help the little guy who can’t resonate with that kind of success. I want to illustrate a real story, without the fluff and the hype.

2. What prompted you to give up the 9 – 5 job?

I have always been a dreamer and I always need something to look forward to. When I was at University I dreamed about working as a programmer as I had done many years before and I did that. But about six months into the job I started dreaming again and looking at where my life would be another 5 or 10 years down the track and I couldn’t see anything different. I realised that I wanted more.

I love software development but I don’t want to write software for other people. I want to use my talents for my own ideas. I don’t want to be tied down to somebody else’s schedule having to ask permission to take a day off work or feel guilty for taking a sick day or something. Plus you know, in a day job your income is capped at a ceiling. When you have your own business there is no limit to your potential earnings. At the end of the day I am a free spirit and I am just miserable if I don’t have the freedom to explore my own ideas.

3. Are you happier since giving up the job, if so why?

Oh my god YES, soooo much happier. I do miss the guys I used to work with but I am loving what I’m doing right now and I’m starting to see potential for what I can do in the future.

4. what would you say are the pros and cons of living life on your own terms?

Well the biggest downside right now is that I have no income so I am literally eating into my equity as each month passes. That’s kind of painful but of course I’m confident that the situation will not last. Another downside is that if I am sick or something and I can’t work then I suffer. The freedom though makes it all worthwhile. I love being able to do just what I want, when I want to. I spend a couple of hours in my pyjamas before I get dressed

I love knowing that any success I have is all mine. Of course you have to be motivated to work for yourself - it’s not for everybody. You don’t know how much money you’re going to earn from one month to the next and that can be both good and bad. It’s exciting checking stats and things as long as they are good but of course it can be discouraging if not. When you have a standard day job there’s no doubt, you know what you earn and that’s it.

5. Reading your blog I notice you do other self employed work, can you tell us a bit more about this?

Well my background is in programming. I am not doing any software at the moment but I have some plans for that further down the line. Right now I have one small niche site which I am just starting. This is very simply monetized with Adsense and affiliates. I’m trying out using article marketing to drive traffic to it. To help with that I’m writing a piece of software called ArticleMasher that mashes up several articles to make some more. That’s the main work I’m doing right now.

6. What are your goals for the blog?

Right at this moment, I have a goal to hit 450 subscribers by the end of November and I’d like to monetize it this month and start generating a little advertising revenue. Long term, obviously I’d like a large readership - who wouldn’t? I’d love to be a well known name in the Internet Marketing industry. I think it helps being a woman because we’re outnumbered so we stick out a bit

7. I notice you are getting some attention from the blog, Yaro Starak has written a post about you, and your subscriber numbers are increasing every day, how does this feel being a relative newbie?

It’s fantastic! When I saw that post from yaro I was literally shaking. I phoned my other half and said “ooh guess who blogged about me!!”. Sounds silly, but I really respect Yaro so it was nice to see that post. I love seeing all the numbers go up every month and the best part is when people comment or email to say that I’ve inspired them.

8. How is the monetisation of the blog going?

It’s exactly on target at $0 :p Seriously, I have not tried to monetize it yet. I deliberately wanted to avoid that during the early months while I built up the readership and gained a little exposure. I feel the time is right and I don’t think it would annoy anybody if I don’t overdo it.

I have some technical issues to get around - my theme is not really optimised for ads but I’ll either modify my theme (eek!) or buy a new one. Also, I’ve not really read up on monetization yet, I guess I’ll figure it out as I go along.

9. What tips would you give other bloggers on being a pro blogger?

I’m not a pro blogger by any means For that go ask Darren Rowse. I have grown the blog quite quickly though and the only thing I can think of is that I blog from the heart. I am telling my story, I’m revealing all the mistakes I am making. I’m not afraid to say, jeez look at all the time I’ve wasted. I’m not trying to be an authority on anything and I think that people like the story because it’s real.

But of course many people who are tying to be a ‘pro’ blogger are doing something very different for their blogs - they are not telling a personal story, but are positioning themselves as an authority in their niche and that is something I don’t really have experience with.

10. Finally, are there any blogs you read regularly, if so, what are they?

Yes, loads! Le me give you a top 10 in terms of how much value I get out of them

1) I Can Haz Cheezburger, http://icanhascheezburger.com/ makes me laugh every day!
2) Dosh Dosh, http://www.doshdosh.com/
3) Yaro Starak, http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/
4) ProBlogger, http://www.problogger.net/
5) WarriorBlog, http://honestknowledge.com/warriorblog/
6) 45n5, http://www.45n5.com/
7) Skelliewag, http://www.skelliewag.org/
John Chow, http://www.johnchow.com/
9) Copy Blogger, http://www.copyblogger.com/
10) Blogging Experiment, http://bloggingexperiment.com/

I read a lot more than these but they often surprise me in terms of the content they deliver.

Caroline
http://www.caroline-middlebrook.com/blog/

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Pingback by Apple Blog » The woman who quit her day job to blog on 3 November 2007:

[...] Change your thoughts to change your life added an interesting post on The woman who quit her day job to blogHere’s a small excerpt [IMG quit your day job] I have a treat for you today and that is an interview with Caroline Middlebrook. you might not have heard of her, but she is fast becoming a top blogger. What makes her story special is she has just quit her day job to blog full time. I was first alerted to Caroline through Yaro Starak’s blog who spoke about commenting as a viable way to get traffic and fetured caroline as a great example. Interview with Caroline Middlebrook Thanks for agreeing to this inter [...]

Comment by Javi on 3 November 2007:

This is great Steve! Caroline is my hero as of the moment and I’m really hoping that she succeeds.

Pingback by Iphone | Apple | Mac Blog » The woman who quit her day job to blog on 3 November 2007:

[...] Change your thoughts to change your life placed an interesting blog post on The woman who quit her day job to blogHere’s a brief overview [...]

Comment by Steven Aitchison on 3 November 2007:

Thanks Javi, I hope Caroline succeeds in her plans and I will be following her story.

Comment by Caroline Middlebrook on 3 November 2007:

Thanks again Steve for the opportunity

Comment by mirol on 3 November 2007:

Great story, and a helpful, personal blog to follow, with the doubts and triumphs, successes and changes of strategy.

Comment by Googlelady on 4 November 2007:

Hey Carolina,

I would like to wish you the best and the most important thing is to have faith in your blog

Comment by scruffythecat on 4 November 2007:

Found Caroline’s blog on Stumble today and have spent most of the day reading it. She is surely on the right track. I can’t wait to read more and begin to use the techniques she is applying. Thanks also for the tweet that brought me Steve’s blog. I’ll be adding this one to my blog list too!

Comment by Skellie on 4 November 2007:

Hey Caroline — you’re getting a little famous!

I think it’s great that you’ve decided to hold off advertising until you have an established readership. I see so many bloggers making the mistake of monetizing before they have any good-will to bounce off. You’ll make more money in the long-term if you have an established readership base (and they’ll certainly forgive you for advertising considering your goals!).

It’s flattering to be in your top 10, too

Comment by Armannd on 4 November 2007:

Caroline’s philosophy is certainly a healthy, working one; it is also inspiring for people who are employed, to see that *it is* possible to quit a stable job without dying two months after.

The reason I think she will become really successful: the action of quitting a stable job to start doing what you love resonates with a whole lot of people. There are tens if not hundred of thousands of individuals who would want to quit their job but they are too afraid to do it, so they “feed” (RSS included) on Caroline’s venture.

Caroline’s decision really is worth being applauded! Her strategy, even if it may have not been inspired by studying the psychological nature of man, is one of the best there are.

Comment by Maki on 4 November 2007:

Great interview Steven, thanks for picking Caroline.

This is the first interview of her that I’ve read and I definitely don’t think it’s the last…. she’s growing her blog pretty quickly and she’ll get a lot more interview requests soon enough.

Comment by Scott on 5 November 2007:

Steven, great job of picking a perfect interview subject to give readers inspiration, along with some well deserved coverage for Caroline.

I’ve been a fan/follower of Caroline’s from the start, her blog feed is a keystone in my daily reading list and I’m really rooting for her success.

Comment by etavitom on 5 November 2007:

wow… very cool posting! thanks for the inspiration and good luck.

Comment by Steven Aitchison on 5 November 2007:

Caroline, it was my pleasure, I really do wish you well and look forward to speaking to you in the future.

Mirol, Thanks for your comments.

Maki, We’ve all got a long way to go to reach Dosh Dosh levels but I believ Caroline has the resolve and the business sense to do it.

Scott, thanks for your comments, I’m sure she will get a lot more attention.

Etavitom, thanks for your comments.

Comment by Caroline Middlebrook on 5 November 2007:

Heh yes Maki is one of my hero’s lol :p

Comment by Blaine on 7 November 2007:

This is a very interesting and timely interview. I was just recently introduced to Caroline’s blog recently, and I’ve enjoyed reading more about her and about her blogging experience.

It’s also great to hear that she loves the new direction she’s taken! I’m looking forward to following along with her. Thanks for a great interview, Steven, and good luck Caroline!

Comment by Self Help Zone on 7 November 2007:

Hi Steven,

This is really a great interview… Thanks for visiting our site and even for your comment. Keep visiting for daily updates…..

Comment by Tina Su on 8 November 2007:

Great Post! Keep up the excellent word.

Love & Gratitude,
Tina
Think Simple. Be Decisive.
~ Productivity, Motivation & Happiness

Comment by Sean McGoldrick on 10 November 2007:

Good luck Caroline! I’m trying the same thing myself. I quit my job in October to give it a go. I made $80 last week which is my best week to date but like you I’m mostly living off my savings at the moment.

I’ll be keeping an eye on your progress and wishing you luck!

Pingback by So How Did I Double My Subscribers in a Week? | Caroline Middlebrook on 13 November 2007:

[...] he day after that, I was contacted by Steven Aitchison who had heard about me from Yaro’s plug and he wanted to interview me. This interview went up that same day and since then has brought me 149 additional visitors. [...]

Comment by What Sells Online! on 14 November 2007:

I think Caroline’s story is very inspirational, especially to new bloggers who are trying hard to beef up their web traffic. I’ve been following her blog for the past week, and would say that the content she puts into her site is excellent.

By quitting her job to focus on making a living online, Caroline shows determination, an essential attribute for success. The other thing that Caroline has is a plan. She planned for this, and ensured that she has enough savings to pay the bills while she builds her online business.

In the end, creating a blog to make money is just like starting a business. We need a short and long term plan, as well as good financial planning and budgeting. I think if more of us are as determined and strategic as Caroline, many bloggers can become rising stars like her.

Comment by What Sells Online! on 14 November 2007:

I think Caroline’s story is very inspirational, especially to new bloggers who are trying hard to beef up their web traffic. I’ve been following her blog for the past week, and would say that the content she puts into her site is excellent.

By quitting her job to focus on making a living online, Caroline shows determination, an essential attribute for success. The other thing that Caroline has is a plan. She planned for this, and ensured that she has enough savings to pay the bills while she builds her online business.

In the end, creating a blog to make money is just like starting a business. We need a short and long term plan, as well as good financial planning and budgeting. I think if more of us are as determined and strategic as Caroline, many bloggers can become rising stars like her.

Cheers! Samantha

Comment by Martin Saenz on 27 November 2007:

It’s good to hear these types of stories. I’m positive some money vehicle will come for Caroline out of this.

Martin
toolkitforsuccess

Pingback by Blogging helps to sell online. Read on and be inspired! at What Sells Online! on 11 April 2008:

[...] her steep rise in traffic to the posts she received from popular bloggers such as Yaro Starak and Steve Aitchison. Of course, the quality, her blog commenting strategies and also her Twitter [...]

Comment by John T. on 20 November 2008:

This is very interesting. I like how it seems like she made up her mind to do it and she just did it. I don’t know how she plans to make money, though.