Pros & cons of being a lifestyle blogger

Advantages

Being your own boss

Last year, I said to a supervisor,

“I don’t need to level up, because I’m already a boss outside this job.”

And I’ve since realized she completely glossed over that, ’cause I’d said affiliate marketing would create conflicts of interest I wasn’t interested in pursuing if I became a manager.

Running a blog alongside a full-time job is like having a full-time job and a part-time job or two full-time jobs, depending on how you blog.

Except, unlike a second job, you are the boss — so you have full ownership of your work and the tasks you do.

…unfortunately, this doubles as a blogging disadvantage. 😅

Building long-term revenue assets

Unlike at a job, where I earn one hour’s worth of pay from an hour of work only once, published content continues earning indefinitely as long as I maintain the asset at least once a year.

A 2021 post racks in ~$1-5/mo. every month. Same with a 2024 post. A January 2026 post is earning $1/mo. and will likely hit $5/mo. by next year.

That’s excluding affiliate links, which remain assets as long as the affiliate content remains relevant.

Collectively, the blog/business becomes an indefinite asset library.

It’s a different setup from the typical work-40-hour-weeks-until-you-can-retire, in that you don’t prioritize work over living your life before you’re older.

What our predominantly able-bodied society gets wrong about disability is that anyone can become disabled at any time. Anyone not disabled right now is pre-disabled. It’s a “when” — not an “if”.

Connecting with people from all over the world

Literally, my most favorite part of being a blogger is connecting with people all over the world.

I think I’d be a totally different person if I wasn’t friends with Georgie and Lou. Kassy taught me how creativity could be soft and pretty.

Rachael Kay Albers taught me how to burn bridges and build something new — as a marketing campaign. 🙃

While fewer readers comment posts these days, I love when they do and it turns into a conversation. It’s rare, and I miss it, because I genuinely enjoyed chatting with other bloggers back in the day about their lives and their blogs.

Flexible work & schedule freedom

I can work anywhere as long as I have high-speed WiFi.

Blogging also gives me schedule freedom, meaning I’m not tied to a specific schedule due to my blog unless I decide to host an event.

Schedule freedom is the most priceless benefit to working for myself that I discovered myself incapable of giving up. This is also what causes traditional employees to criticize me most, because they presume no set work schedule = not working.

Or there’s jealousy over not having to schedule my entire life around when I’m working. 🤷‍♀️ I’m not a mind reader.

Passive income

Anytime I mention passive income as a blogging advantage, someone conflates it with “lazy income”.

Once content has been created, it can become a long-term asset. I don’t have to constantly create new posts, because I can promote the ones I have.

Digital products are made once and sold indefinitely, as long as they’re not tied to a year or specific trend.

Being able to step away from my blog without risking baseline revenue means a chronic illness flare won’t wipe out my income — that’s the goal. Traditional jobs, you rely on having a bank of vacation and sick days.

Traditional self-employment, where revenue relies on your active labor, depends on savings.

Passive income relies on evergreen revenue streams and systems.

The Blogger Card

Anyone with a blog who knows how to strategically play The Blogger Card™ is dangerous to those they have to play The Blogger Card™ against.

There’s a difference between bloggers with do-you-know-who-I-am energy and the bloggers like myself who say, “I’m a blogger/content creator,” and witness people gloss over the fact.

(I’ve learned to say I’m an indie media publisher, ’cause this isn’t a casual hobby for me.)

Like, I’m not one for superficial titles built off social hierarchies, but I know how society perceives bloggers and content creators.

We’re dangerous because we know when we’re sitting on something juicy — and we know how valuable a juicy experience is on the internet.

Bloggers turn their experiences into content. Content = valuable asset.

And anyone who’s ever had a glimpse into the world of content creator sponsorships knows valuable assets can be itemized into dollar signs.

I’ve played The Blogger Card™ once, after presenting my humility and professional skills to no avail. I learned that my biggest asset is my blog — and it’s also my biggest leverage.

It’s, like, the best and only card to play after exhausting all other options. Going public with a major story is not my cup of tea, honestly, and yeah — I’m saying this having posted about Creative Fabrica, Feedspot and Geode Health.

I only publicize an experience like this after trying everything else, because I realize other people need to be warned. But I also recognize most injustices are systemic and prefer not to unpack the entire thing if I don’t have to.

Like, I don’t have the vocabulary for all of that. But if I must, I also don’t need perfect articulation, for I’ve followers who will amplify and unpack it for me. 💁‍♀️

So a low audience/view count doesn’t matter so much as reach, professional network connections, and publicity potential do.

Online business owners have easy access to DIY PR resources, and I know how to create bingeable content. I studied Blue Babies Pink, Melissa Cassera, Rachael Kay Albers, and Scandal.

I’m autistic — this is what my brain does. I don’t give up when systemically oppressed — I develop special interests required for survival mode. Thinking otherwise is not “underestimation”, but a manifestation of the double empathy problem.

Disadvantages

High competition from saturation

There are over 500 million blogs, with millions of posts published every single day.

Which means your experiences and ideas are not that precious or new, your presentation of them [probably] is. I say “probably” because we’re in the age of bloggers generating content via LLMs instead of writing it themselves.

Oversaturation means there’s a market for your topic/industry, but it means you need a unique selling point to stand out.

Loads of unpaid work & delayed gratification

Blogging for passion and profit is not for the people accustomed to instant gratification. You’re unlikely to turn a profit prior to nurturing an audience, building trust, etc.

‘Cause blogging for profit is like a romantic pursuit. Without consistently showing up, demonstrating care and nurturing the relationship, you have nothing.

I can always tell when a new blogger won’t last by how they behave at the beginning. The impatient ones eager to grow their blogs and make money, who think blogging is primarily publishing posts, usually quit within 1-3 years.

Continuing to work on my blog requires effort even when I don’t want to or feel it doing anything.

Ongoing technical maintenance

Website, email and social media requires ongoing upkeep.

In the beginning, it’s a pain. Used to, content management systems like WordPress had to be updated manually instead of a click of a button.

Now, it’s more or less a default responsibility for me that doesn’t pain me too much. It’s like making my bed after I wake up — or cleaning my Swig Life mug.

Technology changes what marketing works

AI optimization (AIO) and generative engine optimization (GEO) is considered “the new search engine optimization (SEO)”.

SEO isn’t going anywhere, but it only matters now per the platform and your analytics.

In a way, bloggers have had to go backwards as far as marketing is concerned, since search traffic is harder to come by now. We have to work harder to gain and retain our traffic.

As a result, we may end up ahead of major companies in industries (e.g. retail) in regard to figuring out what works and how to create with audiences. This is one reason influencer marketing appeals to brands.

You’re your own boss.

I would not seek this path if employer settings were not consistently disappointing, for the worst part about it is being my own boss when the perks are sidelined by reality.

To be your own boss, you have to break up with the employee mindset.

Mindset BS really ughs me out, but the employee role/mindset/attitude/etc. is one that has to go.

Employees seek quick, consistent results for their labor, which do not make for great long-term business decisions.

Someone with an employee mindset looking at a $25 display ad baseline wants to know the hourly pay rate. If defaulting to 20-40/week, they’ll come out to less than $1/hr. and think blogging futile.

Ironically, they might also play Fetch games for hours on end, only to earn maybe $5-20/mo.

An entrepreneurial-minded blogger sees an 85¢ commission from three or less Amazon Associates links two weeks after adding them to a blog’s most popular posts and sees long-term potential. Two sales means they only need one more sale for a fully activated Amazon Associates account!

But being your own boss means growing and maturing.

What are the pros & cons of blogging for you?

P.S. What never to say to a blogger & how to write helpful blog posts.