How did you make money while managing your blog and paying your bills?

Warriors!

Here's a riddle for elite warriors only:

Threads of positive, motivational topics claiming “focus on one thing” and “keep focused on one project to be successful with it” have been viral for sometime here on WF recently.

….And I get it. Don’t try doing 1000 things at once or you’ll crash and burn.

For the newbies that are constantly posting threads saying “Does IM really work?” and “I’m starting off with very little / no money”, this has brought up a curious question, as I've see an abundance of newly self-employed individuals wanting to live off their blog/project profits exclusively. (guilty as charged!).

And then, I see that there IS proof of very successful online entrepreneurs doing IM exclusively on these forums.

Elites, when you were just starting off in IM... realistically speaking... did you guys actually start off ONLY doing IM. Realistically speaking, most of us starting up have bills to pay as well... so its hard to see someone focused on IM alone to survive. IM is profitable especially if you’re focusing on one project/blog. Pumping out 2-4 QUALITY articles a day can be a time eater. That’s not including the social media work and marketing, making your own videos, graphic design that goes into this to suit yourself. Creating your own content.

I understand its hard work, and yes it seems very worthwhile to completely monetize one blog/project after the next in a niche that you expertise in. But did any of you guys have a side offline business or job that kept you above the water while you worked on your blog..... or did you have money stashed away while you devoted yourself to the project day in and day out.

The reason I’m asking because it doesn’t seem realistic to devote 100% of your day to a blog/project when your just starting off, even though everyone says “If your doing too many things at once, you’ll fail” and “To be successful, you need to focus on one thing” and at the same time, most people what to create their own content, which of course is time consuming.

Monetizing a blog comes with time and effort, maybe a few months of solid quality work yes, but I don’t understand how one would totally commit themselves to a blog and expect it to pay the bills straight away. And if you outsource your blog to a third party freelancer or company.... you may not get the results or quality your looking for.

I’m temped to do a side offline marketing business with my skills to stay alive, but I'm scared it will screw up my devotion to the blog I'm grinding at….

So elite Warriors... My question is this: How did you pull it off…balancing your personal life, your commitments to living and providing for your family or yourself money wise, while working on your project…. and whats your story of rags to riches.

Offline side business?

Side Job?

Outsourced it?

Or was it a straight up sacrificing, risking loosing everything and having creditors banging at your door (until you hit your goal) but went at it for months on end....

I’d love to hear your story

Cheers!