Many people who cannot earn a living pursuing their interest- for example, enjoying shopping but cannot afford the price, carving jewelry out of precious stones, building houses….. instead of starting the brick and mortar business, they can blog about it instead. Write about what others do, how to get supplies, show case work of others, etc. There is equal satisfaction which came with much lower risks.
And what’s more- consistently churning up posts would definitely improve one’s writing flair and style. Ability to write well is an undeniable asset in many jobs.
It’s a way of living your dreams, minus all the inventory and set up costs.
When I was in primary 5, there was a small duration where I sold chewing gum for some side income. I would buy the chewing gum- which each packet contained 5 strips for 20 cents. And I would sell by the strips of 5 cents each. For each packet of chewing gum sold (5 strips), I would make 5 cents. As the chewing gum came in various flavours- banana, orange, strawberry and grapes, my classmates would prefer to mix and match different varients.
As I saw the candies being sold by the wholesaler, I reminded me of those days:
During that time, most of us or our parents do not have any contact with wholesalers. I was not the only one. My other classmates also had their ‘part-time business’ selling stickers and 5-stones.
5 stones (lima batu) was what we used to play during school- as during my time we did not have technology gadgets and carrying mobile phones to school was unheard of. Some of my friends made quite good business selling 5 stones, often made by themselves or their mom.
Discarded or unwanted cloth are being used where green or red beans are put inside and it is sewn tight. The best ones to play with are the pyramid shaped ones. The picture above showed the 5 stones sold by wholesaler- in which the quality differs so much from what we used to make ourselves.
During my late teenager years, I had developed a real interest in crafting, initially making beaded hairclips, necklaces, keychains and bracelets. Eventually I moved on to using satin ribbons to make my craft.
It was my passion in crafts, and discovering many crafters worldwide through their websites that lead me to build my own website using Geocities in 2002. I had a full time job by then and but spent my free time devouring forums and nursing a dream to be a full time crafter.
However, eventually the time taken to produce each craft piece and the inability to compete in pricing due to the mass produced and much cheaper made-in-China products that have flooded the markets and craft stores worldwide made me abandon my dream.
Eventually I ventured into blogging…. writing about topics that I love. I was inspired to write and continue to churn posts. Over time, it has improved my writing skills which eventually helped in the progression of my full time career.
Blogging had always been something that I ventured on the side. In fact, during the beginning I never even monetized my blogs.
However, at times like this when I am no longer to work in my full time job (I left to become a full time caregiver for my mom), I am grateful for the traffic I had build up to help me earn some money to cover my expenses. Today, most of my income came in from evergreen content that I wrote between 2009 to 2012 (not on this blog but in my other blogs).
It is about life with its unexpected turns. As company uses more artificial intelligence to replace humans, many people may find themselves without jobs. If you have already a little blog running by the side, you may be really able to take off and work on it…. and perhaps becoming a full time blogger.
