This guest post is by Jon Morrow of Smart Blogger (formerly Boost Blog Traffic)
After all, that’s the dream, right?
Forget the mansions and limousines and other trappings of Hollywood-style wealth. Sure, it would be nice, but for the most part, we bloggers are simpler souls with much kinder dreams.
We want to quit our jobs, spend more time with our families, and finally have time to write. We want the freedom to work when we want, where we want. We want our writing to help people, to inspire them, to change them from the inside out.
It’s a modest dream, a dream that deserves to come true, and yet a part of you might be wondering…
Will it?
Do you really have what it takes to be a professional blogger, or are you just being dumb? Is it realistic to make enough money from this to quit your job, or is that just silly? Can you really expect people to fall in love with what you write, or is that just wishful thinking?
Sure, it’s fun to dream about your blog taking off and changing your life, but sometimes you wonder if it’s just that: a dream. This is the real world, and in the real world, dreams don’t really come true.
Right?
Well, let me tell you a little story…
How I quit my job
In April of 2006, I was hit by a car going 85 miles an hour.
I didn’t see him coming, and I don’t remember much about the accident, but I do remember being pulled out of my minivan with my shirt on fire. The front end of the van was torn off, gasoline was everywhere, and my legs were broken in 14 places.
For the next three months, I had nothing to do but endure the pain and think about my life. I thought about my childhood. I thought about my dreams. I thought about my career.
And overall, I decided I didn’t like the way things were going.
So I quit.
I sold everything I owned. I stopped paying most of my bills. I turned in my letter of resignation, worked my two weeks, and then disappeared without saying goodbye.
Hearing about my insanity, a friend called and asked me, “Well, what are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know,” I told him. “Maybe start a blog.”
And so that’s what I did.
For the next three months, I didn’t just tinker around with blogging. I dedicated myself to it. I started work at 8 AM in the morning, and I kept going until 11 PM at night. I didn’t watch television. I didn’t see my friends. From morning till night, I was writing, reading, and connecting with other bloggers. Nothing else.
Within a month, I had On Moneymaking off the ground, and within two months, it was getting 2,000 visitors a day and Performancing nominated it for the best business/money blog of the year. A couple of months after that, Brian Clark asked me to become the Associate Editor of Copyblogger, and so I sold On Moneymaking for five figures and went to work at one of the most popular blogs at the world.
And amazingly, that’s just the beginning of the story.
How I moved to paradise
Have you ever woken up one day and realized you secretly despise everything about where you live?
The weather is horrible. Your neighbors are jerks. You don’t like inviting anyone to your home, because it’s always a wreck, and you’re ashamed of how it looks.
Well, that’s exactly what happened to me in January of 2009. I was sitting in my pathetic apartment, wrapped up in blankets to keep warm, trying to get some work done on the computer, when it struck me how monumentally stupid it was.
I was a full-time blogger, for God’s sakes. I could do my work from anywhere in the world. Why on Earth was I living in this hellhole?
The only problem was I had no idea where I wanted to go, but a couple of weeks later, the telephone rang, and it was an old friend who had retired to Mazatlan, Mexico. As usual, he was calling to gloat about the weather and the food and the general superiority of the Mexican lifestyle, but instead of just suffering through it this time, I stopped him and said, “No, don’t tell me any more. I’m moving there.”
“What? When?” he stammered.
“I don’t know exactly when,” I told him, “but I’m starting right now.”
Two months later, I took a one-week trip to scout it out and look for places to live. When I got back, I started selling all of my stuff, packing the rest of it into storage, and saying goodbye to friends. Almost one year to the day after our phone call, I hopped in the car and drove just shy of 3,000 miles to my new beachfront condo in the finest resort in Mazatlan.
As I write this, I’m sitting on my balcony with my laptop, watching (no kidding) dolphins jumping out in the Pacific. It’s a sunny day, there’s a nice breeze, and I’m thinking about ordering a piña colada from the restaurant downstairs.
Lucky me, right?
Well, what might surprise you is I left out a piece of the story. It’s the part where I have a fatal disease, I can’t move from the neck down, and yet I essentially get paid to help people. Let’s talk about that part next.
How I get paid to change the world
You know what’s funny?
The worst part about having a disease like SMA isn’t how everyone treats you like a charity case. It’s not the frustration, anger, or depression. It’s not even the inability to reach over and pinch a cute girl’s butt when you want to (although that’s pretty bad).
No, the worst part is the freakin’ bills. The doctors. The medication. The nurses.
I added it all up, and the total cost of keeping me alive in the US was $127,000 a year. That’s not rent. That’s not food. That’s just medical expenses.
Granted, I didn’t actually have to pay all that. I had private insurance, Medicaid, other government aid programs, but all that support comes at a price: they control you. The government allotted me only $700 a month to live on, and I had to spend every single cent above that on medical expenses, or they would cut me off.
So for years, that’s what I did. If I made $5,000 one month, I set aside $700 for living expenses, and I spent the other $4,300 on medical bills. Nothing was left. Ever.
And eventually, I got sick of it.
I wanted to make money without having to worry about losing my healthcare. I wanted to take care of my family, instead of them always having to take care of me. I wanted to actually live somewhere nice, not some ratty little apartment built for folks below the poverty line.
The only problem was, it just wasn’t possible for me in US. No matter how I played with the numbers, I couldn’t make it work. So, I did something crazy:
I quit Medicaid. I moved to Mexico. I stopped worrying about myself at all and started a business based on one simple idea:
Helping people.
I found up-and-coming writers who wanted a mentor, and I trained them. I found businesses who wanted to cash in on social media, and I developed their strategy. I found bloggers who wanted more traffic, and I created a course on how to get it.
In exchange, they paid me what they could. Some folks gave me $50 an hour and others $300 an hour, but I treated them all the same, and I dedicated myself to making their dreams a reality.
The results?
Within two months, I was making so much money so fast PayPal shut down my account under suspicions of fraudulent activity. Today, not only am I making more than enough to take care of myself, but a couple of months ago, I got uppity and bought my father a car.
Do you understand how precious that is? For a guy who can’t move from the neck down to buy his father a car?
And the best part is, I’m not making money blogging doing mindless drudgery. I’m changing people’s lives.
Every day, I get emails from readers who say my posts have changed their thinking. Every day, I get emails from students who say my advice has changed their writing. Every day, I get emails from clients who say my strategies have changed the way they do business.
I can’t really believe it. Normally, a guy like me would be wasting away in a nursing home somewhere, watching television and waiting to die, but here I am speaking into a microphone and essentially getting paid to change the world. If my fingers worked, I’d pinch myself.
And here’s the thing:
I don’t want it for just me. I want it for you too.
The reason I told you this whole story wasn’t just to brag but also to convince you of one incontrovertible point:
YOU CAN DO THIS!
You want to quit your job and become a professional blogger?
You can.
You want to travel around the world, living life to its fullest?
You can.
You want to dedicate your every hour to helping people and making the world a better place?
You can.
Because listen … I know it’s horribly cliché, but if I can quit my job, risk the government carting me off to a nursing home because I can’t afford my own healthcare, convince my poor mother to abandon her career and drive my crippled butt 3,000 miles to a foreign country, and then make enough money to support myself, my mother, my father, and an entire nursing staff using nothing but my voice, then what can you accomplish if you really set your mind to it?
My guess: pretty much anything.
No, it won’t be easy. At some point, I guarantee you’ll want to quit. I guarantee people will treat you like you’re insane. I guarantee you’ll cry yourself to sleep, wondering if you made a horrible mistake.
But never stop believing in yourself. The world is full of naysayers, all of them eager to shout you down at the slightest indication you might transcend mediocrity, but the greatest sin you can commit is to yourself become one of them. Our job isn’t to join that group, but to silence it, to accomplish things so great and unimaginable that its members are too awed to speak.
You can do it.
I believe in you.
So get started.
Right freaking now.
Jon Morrow is Associate Editor of Copyblogger. If you’d like to learn more about what it really takes to become a popular blogger, check out his free videos on guest blogging.
This is my favorite post for 2011. It’s official.
I never knew you were paralyzed from the neck down. This is epic.
I’m going to be thinking about this for weeks to come.
Thanks so much Jon.
You’ve changed my life, once again.
Inspirational story, good luck for the future buddy…
David Edwards
what a life story!
I think will story this article to my friends back in Indonesia where people much skeptic about making life with blogging.
I owe you lifetime, jon. My appreciate for your life strength!
I couldn’t agree more – most favorite post of 2011. Actually, most favorite article I have ever read – EVER! Jon, there are no words to express how much of an inspiration you are. Thank you. You have no idea how much my husband and I needed to read this today. Just yesterday we had a serious ‘let’s get down to business and change our lives’ talk. And then this article hits the web. Again, thank you.
Wow, all I can say is WOW! I launched my business back in January of this year, have been exploring the LA/NYC bicoastal life, I speak to students, try to help as many people as I can and at times, hope it will all pay off. After reading your story, I am confident it will. I truly appreciate your post–it sounds like there have been a lot of sacrifices you have made, obvious obstacles that you have turned into ammunition to live your dream life and here you are, reaping the well deserved benefits. What insight do you have when the going gets a little tough? When the work/life balance seems to be a little off kilter? I would love your input. Thanks again for spreading some much needed inspiration today. As a matter of fact, I am posting to my blog tomorrow!!!! http://www.thejaclynofalltrades.blogspot.com Move out of the way writers block, the Jaclyn of All Trades is now recharged thanks to Jon.
Inspirational!! And well written. I’ve tried (like-wise) but lack that talent in my own writing capability. But I’ll ‘soldier-on’ and continue to do so in the days, months and years ahead. I love reading this story!! :)
http://seekingalpha.com/user/36191/profile
LC
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If this doesn’t encourage people to get out of their crap jobs, away from the houses they hate, the weather that brings them down, and the drudgery of their daily life, nothing ever will. Great post.
Very inspiring. Thanks for your story and this post.
Wonderful.
This is incredibly moving. Anyone who reads this is compelled to *get* moving.
Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for sharing this story.
It is tremendously inspiring how you have made the most of technology to empower not just your life, but also those of others.
This IS one of the best inspirational blog posts I have read in a long, long time. THANK YOU!
Man, you are amazing. Yet, in your situation your still willing to help others.
Just like everyone else – best post I’ve seen in awhile!
Zach
what an inspiration! perhaps you should think about some charities as well. that should get you going even more.
This is a great story. Made my day.
I really feel very sorry for your accident but to be frank it was the turning point of your life and you did such a great thing.
Your post is really a great inspiration for those pople who are thinking to live their life in an internet lifestyle. People were just looking at your success and want ot be the same but knowing about your past life they should imagine themselves at your place and think about the devotions that you have done to be the successful.
Wow, very inspirational post.
Jon – what an amazingly inspirational post! I’m blown away and THANK YOU for your honest and pure experience you’ve been so brave to pursue. You blaze a trail and shine a light for us all to follow!!
I am totally awed by this post. I had no idea that you could not move from the neck down (well maybe I did read it once – but it didn’t sink in till now!). I was already in awe by your writing and commitment to help others but I had no idea at what cost it was for you. This is so over the top inspiring I can’t even think how to describe it. I’m scratching my head and thinking – there is just nothing that can top this.
Presently I am taking your Guest Blogging course – and in one part of this program you give a session on “Finding Your Mission.” Every week is good (which is putting it mildly) but that week was the wake-up for me – and now I feel like I’ve just been rocketed forth into another galaxy of challenge and possibility in finding my own mission.
There is a lot to get from this post and probably we all will come away with something a bit different – but to me what it says is this. No matter who you are on the outside – the essence of your worth is from the inside. My nephew just had an accident in which he broke both of his heels, followed a week later by a major seizure and I was feeling so helpless for him – but you have shot that pity party all to pieces.
No matter who you were yesterday – the real power is in who you are today.
I don’t know if this totally fits with your post – but both of my parents suffered from dementia. It was going to the Alzheimer unit that I found the essence of humanity at its core. They may not have known who they once were – but who they were at the moment was still very beautiful and loving.
You have helped me to look at others – with greater compassion and wonder.
We achieve great things by being ourselves. Whoever that self is.
Who you are Jon is so amazing. It shines forth as powerful and vibrant as if you were one of the of the greatest Olympic athletes of all time. You may not be able to move yourself but you are moving everyone else! You are moving mountains with your words, your mission, and your passion. I think it is only beginning to be heard.
Very inspirational words. However I don’t belive that anyone can do what you did just by pure willpower, you say that you succeeded despite your obsticles, I would say you succeeded thanks to them. Thanks to the hardship you have experienced you have aquired the deep thoughts and shaped your mind to realize what’s most important in this life.
No one can be truly inspirational without experience true suffering and the harder the suffering the more it will either make you give up or pull out that amazing/crazy person inside you.
I also quit my job, went to south-korea and start working for a non-profit organization. Here I am, now working on a new project, that is suppose to give me the freedom to live wherever i want, do whatever i want. My friends say I am crazy, but in my opinion, they haven’t suffered enough to make that jump. They didn’t hate life enough, instead they endure it and party away the boredom. I hated my life enough to do this, I suffered enough to feel compassion to those who really are in need of my help, rather than cooperations. Have no idea if I will succeed or not, but it doesn’t matter, I will regret nothing. However, if I never hated my life, I would be filled with regrets if I fail.
Jon,
Thank you.
Your personal story is aligned with your professional journey as well. It inspires awe, fascination.
However, when I read the title of this post, I was like: “Wow, this guy is probably smoking a crack pipe.”
Let me guess: he suffers from delusions of grandeur and probably has a Napolean’s complex.
Jokes aside, though, your actual story became clear to me once I finished reading your article here.
Then it dawned on me: this guy ain’t kidding and he’s the real deal. He makes sense.
A lot of people like you move to Mexico and other developing countries. Why not? The cost of living is more economical and the weather is great. You can hire people to help out with running errands and household chores for peanuts. The food is great and the scenery is awesome. Unbeatable.
It is great to know you could make this transition. It also seems to me that things have happened in your life because you were at the right place at the right time. Sort of like–serendipity. There were a few events that carried you forward: the phone call, the accident, quitting your job, starting a blog–stepping stones to where you find yourself at the moment. It is inspiring to read such accounts. Cheerio.
Thanks for the inspiration – just what I needed at this time of the morning! I’ll be sending this post to everyone who tells me being a writer will get me nowhere…
What an inspiring story! Thank you so much for sharing. I applaud you for going after your dream and not giving up. The crying yourself to sleep, wondering if you made a horrible mistake is definitely something I’ve been going through lately, your inspiring story is bookmarked.
Welcome to Mexico, we need more people like you around here :)
Was just sent a link to this blog post by a good friend of mine, he titled his email “Holy crap this is an inspiring story” … well, it sure was! Many thanks for sharing this with us, honestly the best article I have read in a long time :D
A splendid article and a very inspiring story. Thanks Jon for sharing it with us.
You are freaking amazing! I’m wondering why I’m still a slave of companies while I read what you have achieved with only your (great) mind and voice!
I’m going to work right now!
Hi Jon
Thank you for this. This has gone in my “heroes” folder, along with all the material about my idol, James Holman (a blind adventurer who made a circuit of the world in the early 18th century, alone and on foot. He’s incredible. Look him up). Whenever I start to think this craziness is impossible, that everything I’ve created is for nothing, I will remember this, and I will know I am wrong.
Thank you.
Steff
Not only what an inspiration, but what a reality check! Thank you for shouting from the mountain tops that everyone can contribute! The lie of dependence is that you can’t, you are stuck with what you can get. Not true! Thank you for giving us all a reminder once again. :-)
Hi there Jonathan,
Wow, you are so truly inspirational! I appreciate your perseverance and your willingness in helping people. Wow and wow. That car accident truly changed your life and turned out for the good. I’ve learned three very important lessons from your story — Be still and think. Help people in need. Never give up.
You inspire me.
Best Regards,
Gloson
very inspirational. thanks so much for sharing your story.
Wow. This made me cry – and not the sad parts about your accident or your illness either.
Thanks, you just kicked me up the butt.
Jon, this quote resonated with me like you wouldn’t believe:
“The world is full of naysayers, all of them eager to shout you down at the slightest indication you might transcend mediocrity, but the greatest sin you can commit is to yourself become one of them.”
You just summed up my world view in a remarkably elegant way.
Thanks for this post.
Jon – thank you.
I was just having a whiny bout of BSP (Blogger’s Self-Pity)…and then I read this.
Your kick-ass, kick-up-the-ass posts just cannot be beaten.
Thank you for reminding us just how irritating, ungrateful and unhelpful self-pity is, whilst showing us what’s at stake for those who persist.
Sod mediocrity – let’s be OUTSTANDING.
All we need is my new, Jon Morrow-inspired mantra:
JFDI
Just Freakin’ DO It.
Thank you.
It’s amazing,truly moved.One of the best post I’ve ever read.Thanks for sharing it with us.
Jon,
I share so many of your goals – especially the change the world part. This is one of the most inspirational stories I have ever read. You rock. Thank you.
Hi Jon,
One accident change you life!!!! very nice post, i love to share this post who want to start a blog, so they will get some inspiration from you and understand that blogging is not simple as they think we need to win the heart and trust of readers then only we can make good amount of money by doing blog
Thanks for sharing your experience
John
I’ve had similar experiences, Jon, so I also know the power of deciding and choosing to think, “I can do it.”
Thanks for sharing your inspiring story and the reminder that we can do whatever we set our minds to.
All the best,
Christine Hueber
As the mother of a disabled child I stumbled across this post and couldn’t stop reading. You are truly an inspiration! Amazing!
Thank you.
Thank you. I quit my tenure track professorship this year. Yesterday was my last day. This post was sent to me by my partner/fiancé and this was the perfect gift this morning. I am empowering college students to be student-as-adult and consumers of their own productivity. Starting a call to empower them. My blogging as a TED fellow and my personal blog on my unique pedagogy and use of social media have gotten 6000-12000 hits since December 2010.
But I’ve been inconsistent about blogging. Not for lack of content. Your post was the inspirational reminder I need.
Thank you!!
Wow! Such an inspirational post Jon! I suppose that many people fail due to the fact that they are nor singleminded, and that they lack the focus required to make a blog fly. (or any venture for that matter)
And yes, if you crack it in blogging or web design or anything IT you can surely be based anywhere!
Strength to you in your blogging and health! Regards, Gabz
What an inspiring story! Probably one of the best posts I’ve ever read. I totally agree, you can do anything as long as you decide to do it and really work at it. I’m leaving tomorrow to teach an event for my blog readers and this is the perfect motivation I needed to hear today. Thanks!!
Thanks for the inspirational post. I already live in paradise, but unfortunately didn’t quit my job but was made redundant, and for changing the world…well let’s just say I would like to wake up the world. It’s been a long time since anyone has actually come out and said, I’m going to do what I like. There’s all this talk about finding your dream job, blah, blah, blah. But who actually does it. I’ve always written as a hobby, and before computers, you’re only chance was to get published in hard copy. Everyone likes to use life as an excuse. That doesn’t mean not working hard, but if your doing what you like, then it;s not really work, is it? Give people the information and let them do with it as they please and you’ll find that many will actually wake up to the shackled life they lead. Good luck my friend.
A great article. I decided to up sticks myself a few years back and break away from the norm. I set up a professional yacht delivery business, delivering other peoples yachts and boats to various places around the world. Suddenly it didn’t quite feel like work anymore. Waking up docked off shore in places like St Barts will do that to you.
Hello Jonathan,
That has to be not only the best, but also the most inspirational post I’ve read lately.
I’m going to use your story as motivation to achieve my goals and dreams.
Thanks for sharing your story.
John
Jon,
This is the most FREAKING INSPIRATIONAL, get off your butt, change your life, no EXCUSES post I’ve ever read!!!!!!
We really can do anything….it’s just up to each of us to decide we want to. Your story is amazing, and the lives you will inspire and change is limitless. Thank you for reminding all of us how really precious life is.
Look at that view. Ah, that looks nice. Might have to take you up on margaritas and laughing at seniors who’ve never heard of a blog. :)
I’m absolutely inspired this morning reading this, Jon. Thank you for giving your time and energy to helping myself and others with our dreams and plans. I appreciate you and think you’re awesome.
There’s nothing worse than doing mindless drudgery day in and day out. Ugh – been there, done that. The creative process of blogging mixed with helping people and changing lives is definitely what keeps it interesting and fun.
Hey Jon, fantastic post – not that I’d expect anything less of the Maestro himself!
Having had the privilege of taking your course and working with you in your coaching program, I know personally just how driven and dedicated you are to your success, and to the success of the people that you teach.
If anyone deserves it, it’s you, my friend!
WOW! This post just came in my email and I will be sending it to everyone I know. This is probably…no not probably.. It IS the most inspirational post I have read this year, if not longer.
I will be printing this out and putting it on my wall as a reminder of what can be done.
Jon, you rock!
Jon,
Thanks for sharing your story. Truly inspirational for life in general and stepping out and just going for it, no excuses & full throttle.
Brian
Wow! Unbelievable. Dreams do come true when you make things happen. I’m so happy to read this blog — this is something to think about. I believe that when a person is dedicated to he really wants to do, he can make things possible, just like you Jon.
Great post! No wonder you hit big! You are an inspiration to the budding bloggers out there. They should read this…
Hi Jon: Best blog post ever. Thanks. Len Sipes.
What an inspring post!! You are so right, we should never stop believing in ourselves!! Thank you for sharing your story!!
Wow that’s some story Jon. If that doesn’t motivate people then I don’t know what will!