Victoria Sully from Lylia Rose  is the ultimate #mumboss. Not only is she a mum of two but she also writes for 4 blogs and makes a living as a fulltime blogger.

Victoria’s blogs cover many topics, but I wanted to talk about her main passion, money! Self-employment, working from home and making money from your side hustle can be a minefield, so today’s interview should give us an interesting insight into making money and how to stay sane with a busy career.

I am extremely excited to have Victoria as my guest in the “Mindset for Business” series.

Q.1 Hi Victoria, thank you so much for taking the time out to talk to me today. Over the last few weeks I have really started to research money saving tips and how to be better with my finances, so interviewing you has come at the perfect time for me. What made you decide to blog about money?

Victoria:

It all just happened quite naturally and really made sense.  I’d began to make money from my blog so I started writing blog posts to share how I was making money as well as income reports to show how much I was making. 

Once I started making money blogging I also researched other ways to make money online and started a few online side hustles.  I was so excited to be finding all these different ways to make money that I just had to share them on my blog to let others know too!

Around the same time I started saving money too.  I’ve always been a spender, but suddenly being self-employed changed the way I looked at money and saving became really important to me. 

Making money and saving money became a big part of my life so it was an obvious topic for me to focus on and something I am really passionate about. 

I find it’s always easiest to write about the topics you are most passionate about as you’ll never run out of blog post ideas and you’ll enjoy writing them.

 Q.2 When did you go self-employed and what were your biggest obstacles at the start?

Victoria: 

I went self-employed with blogging in May 2017, so two years ago.  I’d decided in the January to concentrate on making a full-time living online as I’d already been making enough money for a few months, but I waited until the May to quit my employed job as I wanted to be sure.

I had no idea if the income I’d been making for a few months online was just a fluke or whether it was sustainable.  I didn’t want to dive right into self-employment and then suddenly have no income.

After around 6-8 months of making a full-time living I took the plunge and went fully self-employed.

I think that was probably the biggest obstacle for me – not knowing how much I’ll make each month and not having a regular set income each month.  It’s a scary feeling, but it also makes me determined to hustle each month as I have to find paid work for the blog or else I won’t make a living!

 Q.3 What advice would you give to fellow bloggers who want to start making money from their blog?

Victoria:

Be prepared to be patient.  If you are a new blogger then you cannot expect to start making money right away.  I regularly have messages from people with brand new blogs asking how they can make a full-time living.  It doesn’t happen overnight and can take years to get to this point.

Some bloggers are knowledgeable in SEO or have a really specific niche and are successful very quickly, but in my experience it takes a few years of building a blog to get the metrics to earn money whether that’s through brand collaborations, sponsored blog posts or ad revenue.

As a guide, from my own experience, my 6 year old blog makes £1500-2000 per month, my two years old blogs make £150-200 each per month and my 6 month old blog makes £0-60 per month. 

This isn’t everyone’s experience, but it’s a good idea and shows that it takes time to build up a blog.

My advice would be:

• Write something you are really passionate about so you enjoy blogging and don’t get bored.
• Have a clear ‘work with me’ page or at least a contact page on your website with a clear way of contacting you.  Include an email address even if you have a contact form as some companies prefer to email directly and not use a form.
• Network with other bloggers and learn from one another.  The Facebook blogging groups are so invaluable – ask questions, learn the latest ‘blogging news’, get inspiration and even find paid blog opportunities.
• Learn some basic SEO so your blog is discoverable by search engines and increase your domain authority score.
• Search Google for blogging networks and sign up to them all.
• Check the #bloggerswanted and #bloggerrequest feeds daily on Twitter to find blog opportunities.

 Q.4 Writing for 4 blogs must be demanding. How do you prioritise your work load?

Victoria:

Any paid work is always prioritised depending on the date it is due or the order I receive it.  I then also try to write my own blog posts a few times a week for my oldest blog and at least one post a month for my other three blogs.  I usually write much more than this though!

Paid work and emails are always my priority and then writing my own blog posts comes after this.

There’s also a stack of admin work that comes with running blogs as a business from sourcing paid work, applying for blogging assignments, receiving and replying to emails from PRs/SEO agencies/brands, invoicing, bookkeeping, marketing, running social media accounts and more.

It’s definitely a lot to squeeze into one day and I usually work every day and night to keep on top of it all.

 Q.5 How do you personally de-stress after a busy day/week?

Victoria:

I find it really hard to switch off and relax as I’m always thinking of ideas and new blog posts I want to write or a different way to market my blog or find paid work.  I’m totally obsessed with my blog.

I do two things to de-stress.  I go to the gym and run on the treadmill or do steps on the stair climber.  I put headphones in with loud music and find something to distract me on the TV with subtitles.  This is probably the only time in the week that I totally distract my brain and stop thinking about blogging.  I try my best to go each day.

The second thing is to go for a long walk in the countryside.  I’m lucky to live on the very edge of the city and I can take the fields to get to Tesco or the gym, or I can disappear down public footpaths, bridle paths and up hills.  I always find this a great way to relax, get some fresh air, enjoy nature and also I find it sparks inspiration if I need some.  I came back from a one hour walk this week with three blog post titles!

 Q.6 Lastly, what are your goals for the rest of 2019?

Victoria:

My blogging goals are to try and build up my three newer blogs so I can make more money from them.  I hope to fill them with a lot more content, especially my newest blog as it’s only six months old with a handful of blog posts.

Overall I really just hope I can continue to do what I do as I really enjoy it!

Wow what a great amount of information you have provided my readers with, and I’m sure that it will be helpful for anyone looking to make a living working from home too.

You can follow Victoria’s other blogs below

https://healthyvix.com/ – Healthy Living

https://wood-create.com/ – Home & Garden

https://travelvixta.com/– Travel