We’re doing something totally different today. Instead of offering actionable tips for real estate pros to diversify their income streams, recession-proof their businesses, and become financially independent, I’m going to give you a self-indulgent peek into my life as a professional real estate blogger.
This post was originally written in November 2018. Here’s the updated version.
Why go off-brand today?
Well, because frankly, I’m having an off-week. This week’s post was supposed to be all about how to get more real estate leads with Pinterest. It’s a big topic. Over the last couple days, I managed to put together about 900 words (not a lot, but a respectable number), and today – the scheduled publication date – I realized I’ve only scratched the surface with those 900 words, and I’m not particularly happy with them. I can do better. My readers deserve better.
So what are my options?
- Work on the Pinterest post through the weekend and publish Monday? Can’t. I have 4 posts due for clients on Monday. The weekend will be spent on those.
- Skip this week and publish the Pinterest post next Friday? Tempting! But I already skipped 2 weeks in the last couple months while I was traveling. And I really don’t want to make that a habit.
- Pour myself a glass of wine and write an informal post about what it’s really like to be a professional real estate blogger? Ding ding ding!
So I have a glass of cheap rosé…let’s talk about what it’s like to be a real estate blogger. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Basics of Being a Professional Real Estate Blogger
First, what do I do as a professional real estate blogger, exactly?
Most of my paid work is ghostwriting real estate blogs. Real estate agents email me a blog post topic, and I provide a complete blog post, ready to be copy-and-pasted to the agent’s blog.
The agents get to publish the posts as their own work, under their own names, and I collect a paycheck.
For some clients, I get to be more involved. I can create an editorial calendar to help agents reach more buyers or more sellers, convert more prospects, or rank higher on Google.
I’m a pure freelancer. I keep track of all my income so I can pay my income taxes every year. I save for my own retirement since I no longer have a 401(k), and I am responsible for my own health insurance (which is actually a non-issue since I’m typically covered by my husband’s policy).
As an entrepreneur, lots of my time is spent on finding new leads. I might check job boards, post to Facebook groups (but only in response to specific questions about blogging for leads, because I don’t want to be that member who spams the group), or cold email agents. I also get some leads from this website. If I’m writing a post about how to improve your real estate blog to increase your income, for example, I’ll throw in a quick blurb about how I can help if agents just don’t have the time or desire to write their own blog posts.
I invest some time every week on this website. Again, it mostly focuses on how real estate professionals can secure and grow their businesses through multiple streams of income. I am a born side hustler, and I like showing other people how to make diverse income streams work for them. Especially in the real estate community because that’s my professional background.
So those are the basics. Let’s move into all the good things about my job.
The Good Things About Being a Professional Real Estate Blogger
Here’s everything I love about being a real estate blogger.
1. I can live wherever I want.
Right now I’m living in Frankfurt, Germany. And it’s awesome! The people are super cool, the food is amazing, and I’m able to do lots of traveling, being so centrally located in Europe. The travel is a key perk for me personally. I’ve been obsessed with travel in general since childhood. And in the last year alone, I’ve been to Munich, Innsbruck, Venice, Milan, Paris, Luxembourg, and Athens. It’s a dream come true!
I landed here in Frankfurt thanks to my husband’s job in video games. Because of that job, we’ve moved 14 times in 15 years. And thanks to real estate blogging, I’ll be able to make a living from wherever his next job takes us. That’s HUGE!
2022 UPDATE: Ok, COVID put a damper on travel. But since I published this back in 2018, I’ve added several travels to my list (Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Ljubljana among my faves). We also moved up to Bremen, Germany, making Berlin and Amsterdam more accessible. Yay!
2. I get to wear yoga pants and a hoodie all day.
Yes, I work at home in my pajamas. This alone is simultaneously good, bad, and ugly. PJs are super comfortable, and I don’t have to spend 90 minutes getting ready every morning like I did when I had a corporate job. But wearing PJs for a giant chunk of the day is less-than-glamorous. And I can’t imagine what our delivery people think when I answer the door at 1 in the afternoon looking like I just rolled out of bed.
3. I’m drinking wine at 4:00 in the afternoon.
Hmmm…day drinking could also be considered good, bad, or ugly. I’m going to say it’s mostly good because a) it’s Friday, b) I’m writing an informal blog post for my own site (not a post for a paying client), and c) sometimes being a touch tipsy helps the words flow more easily.
Whether or not Hemingway ever actually said, “Write drunk, edit sober,” I find it helpful every once in a while. Sometimes you just get really in your head, and you try to edit yourself as you write. Which is super inefficient and makes for stiff writing. If I’m struggling with a piece, I’ll try a tipsy draft and see if that gives me a better base.
4. The pay can be pretty good!
I have one article due next week that’s paying $375 for 2,000 words. That’ll probably be over $100/hour, which is great for me! Btw, Jorden over at Writing Revolt taught me how to do this. If you want to earn good money as a blogger, you need to check her out.
Of course not all articles pay that much. Some articles take longer than others because of the required research, and I’m not currently filling every hour of the day with paid work.
5. The flexibility of working my own hours.
Friends want to meet for lunch? I can be available! Dentist appointments in the middle of the day? No problem! Internet guy needs someone at the flat between noon and 4? I’ll be here!
I can also travel as much as I want. I just email my clients to let them know I’ll be away and ask if they’d like to send me assignments in advance so they’ll still have a post ready to go that week. And if we ever decide to have kids, I’ll be able to work around their sleep/school schedules. I know this is a luxury most moms would kill for, so I’m pre-grateful.
2022 UPDATE: We have a kid now! Our son was born here in Germany in 2020. Thank the ever-loving Lord I have this flexible career because I dramatically underestimated how much time and energy children require.
The Bad Things About Being a Professional Real Estate Blogger
On to the bad…
1. It can take a little time to get started.
Getting started is a little tricky because you don’t have any testimonials from happy clients to use in promoting yourself. So you end up investing lots of time in writing sample articles for the first couple weeks. You typically don’t get paid for these. You just reach out to industry publications, pitch them your post ideas for their websites, and write the post in exchange for a byline with a link to your website. Be patient while working to land your first paying client.
2. Being a solopreneur is hard.
When you work alone, you wear all the hats.
My first big task was to launch my personal website, michelleclardie.com. I’m not a techie or a designer. But I also didn’t want to spend a fortune paying for a techie designer. So I rolled up my sleeves and learned all about WordPress and web hosting and design themes. It took a solid 40-hour week to launch my first site. Mind you, this task has nothing to do with writing.
But this was also a necessary time investment. And (making lemonade out of lemons), this experience is how I created How to Build a Real Estate Website, which offers completely free step-by-step instructions on building your own website. It’s easier than you might expect once you have instructions to follow, and DYI-ing your site will save you thousands of dollars!
3. I have to promote myself.
Ugh…this is my least favorite thing about being an entrepreneur. As soon as I feel like I’m making enough money and can scale my business, I’m going to hire a social media marketer.
See, I’m terrified of being perceived as pushy. And I don’t ever want someone to look at my promotion and be like who does this girl think she is?! In fact, I still haven’t had real, professional photos taken yet for exactly that reason. Who am I to need professional photos?
Yes, I’m on FB, Twitter, and LinkedIn. No, I don’t post consistently like I know I should. I don’t want to bother people. And honestly, I sometimes forget Twitter and LinkedIn even exist.
Yes, I know that’s the wrong mindset. Yes, I’m trying to change it. No, I haven’t been successful yet.
*By the way, I just poured glass #2. Let’s see what happens, shall we?!*
2022 Update: I’m on Insta! @keyrealestateresources. It’s still a struggle for me, but that’s not gonna keep me from working at it.
The Ugly Things About Being a Professional Real Estate Blogger
And now the ugly…
1. I can’t count on anyone else to motivate me.
I no longer have to be at an office by 7:30. And my days aren’t usually so packed that I need every minute to get everything done. So I’ll just hit snooze for 5 minutes. Make that 20 minutes. Maybe an hour. Sometimes 2.
My only must-get-out-of-bed moment is 9:15. That’s when my husband has to get up for work (video game industry people are late-to-bed, late-to-risers). As a point of self-respect, I won’t stay in bed while my husband gets up and gets ready to go to the studio.
And waking up isn’t the only thing. I try to keep something of a schedule, but if I’m reading a few chapters of a novel on the patio during lunch, it’s way too easy to read “just one more” for an extra hour.
I always considered myself highly self-motivated. Until I became self-employed. Then the ugly truth came out.
2022 Update: wow, having a kid will get you out of bed before 9:15. Now my motivation issues are about housework vs. work-work vs. spending time with the family vs. me-time. Work-work has some tough competition.
2. I have to find excuses to leave the flat.
Ok, I do go get groceries every other day because 1) I can only carry two days’ worth of groceries home from the nearest grocery store .75 miles away, and 2) the fridge/freezer/cabinets don’t hold much more than that anyway. I need to go to the Drogerie for stuff like soap, shampoo, and toothpaste every couple weeks.
Then I have a few friends here in Frankfurt, so I might have a coffee or lunch date several times a month. And we might do a couples dinner with couples friends a few times a month.
And that’s it. So I have to make up reasons to go out. I take my dog for a walk every day. I take my laptop to cafés fairly often just to be “out”. And sometimes I just go walk around the city center and watch other people walk around. It’s a major luxury to have so much freedom and time, but it’s also weirdly challenging to fill the time and feel productive. First world problems, amiright?
2022 Update: Aw, I miss walks with Peanut. She passed away in 2019. She was the goodest girl. My reason for leaving the house today is to take our son to daycare. Then I typically work from a cafe for a few hours until I pick him up.
3. The longer I go without daily face-to-face interaction, the more anxious I get about it.
I’m not a social person. I get low-grade anxiety about group events. Anxiety might be too strong a word; I just get strongly uncomfortable.
Now, when I was in property management for years, I got used to meeting new people and forcing myself to be outgoing. Working from home has allowed me to stay in my comfort zone. I’ve noticed myself getting nervous now about client phone calls. What am I afraid is going to happen on a phone call?! No idea.
A Typical Day in the Life of this Real Estate Blogger
So what is the day-to-day like for a real estate blogger?
Here’s a breakdown of my typical day:
- 8:00 wake up and take the dog out for a quick walk.
- 8:30 make cup of coffee #1 and get to the computer to go over the day’s goals. Thanks to Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning, I also take a look at long-term goals every morning. I seriously think this is why my income has increased by almost 700% in the last 10 months (no, that’s not a tipsy typo; the exact number is 684%).
- Read and respond to emails.
- 9:15 make hubby’s lunch and quickly straighten up the flat while he gets ready for work. I know this sounds old-fashioned, but hubby works hard to bring home the bacon, so I use this small gesture as a token of appreciation.
- 9:45 make cup of coffee #2, say bye to hubby, and settle in to write. Paid articles for clients always come first.
- 12:00 P90X. I sit on my tush for large chunks of every day. So I need the intense workouts. Then shower (obviously!).
- 1:00 lunch. A sandwich or salad or something.
- 2:00 go to get groceries, put them away, then take the dog for another walk.
- 3:00 back to writing. If I’m not working on client assignments, or one of my personal blogs, I’m prospecting for new clients or guest post opportunities.
- 5:00 I start getting antsy. This is that dangerous time when I sometimes allow myself to get lost in the sea of the Internet.
- Sometime between 6:30 and 7:30. Hubby gets home, and I start dinner. Nothing that takes more than 30 minutes because cooking sucks.
- So then it’s dinner, followed by Netflix, then a good book before bed.
2020 Update: Kids change the schedule.
- 5:30 wake up and chill with Jakob. We read, play, and get ready for the day.
- 8:00 catch the bus to daycare.
- 9:00 arrive at the first cafe for breakfast and my first article of the day
- 11:00 walk to the second cafe for lunch and the second article of the day (or work on my Etsy shop if I don’t have a second article due)
- 1:00 leave to get groceries and get Jakob from daycare
- 2:00 momma-son time. We’ll go for a walk, FaceTime family in the US, blow bubbles, whatever.
- 5:30 Jakob’s dinner.
- 6:00 supposed to be exercise time. Is typically consumed by general household management crap.
- 7:00 Hubby puts Jakob to bed while I start our dinner. We have dinner, whatch Netflix or YouTube, then I read a few pages of a good book before bed.
Do you want to hear something amazing? This post is now close to 2,300 words. I’ve been drinking and writing for 2 hours. And honestly, I think I’m far happier with this post than I am with the 900 words on Pinterest for Realtors that I’ve been revisiting for days.
This may not have any actionable advice for real estate pros to diversify their income streams, recession-proof their businesses, and become financially independent. But maybe future real estate bloggers found something in this tipsy mess that they can use to launch their own careers. If that’s you, I hope I helped in some small way. If you have questions about getting started on a freelancing career of your own, leave a comment or contact me. I always reply.
All the best to you!
