Introduction: This draft has been pending since 2018 when I first started blogging. It's the last installment of the series. Please enjoy!
Michelle is killing it! She is my official blog shero! She made early retirement her minion and just conquers the blogging world in her spare time. Financial savviness is her superpower and her strive for independence is a thread through almost her entire journey which began at an early age. As the story goes, she completed 2 degrees in under 3 years then worked harder and smarter to pay off the associated debt. During this time, she also moved out of her house as a teenager, married, and bought her home. Then started a blog and found she loved it and could make money off of it. They sold their house and now travel in an Airstream and call a boat home....because they can. Her Feb 2018 income report showed just under $180,000/ MONTH in blogging income. With her income, I'd be able to retire in 3 months! Ahhh...what dreams may come!
She really needs no introduction. Her last twitter post showed she is even being featured in Oprah Magazine online. Check her out. This is one Journey you don't want to miss!
Remember the 'old days' when online chat was still a thing and people would list and ask for stats upon entering a chatroom. I thought that might be a quaint idea to utilize as I browsed and shared other FIRE blogs of interest. As this blog grows, there might be other blogs that might apply to your situation or season or just might be more interesting.
I like sharing knowledge; it's kind of what the Internet's all about. Some of the details are things bloggers have strong opinions on and use it to differentiate their experience. Others are things that are fun or basic to know about other bloggers.
Blog name: Making Sense of Cents
Author: Michelle Schroeder- Gardner
Blog start date: 2011
Location: Full time travel
Current Age: 29
Age of FI/RE: 24? (birth?)
Net worth: ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD (make an average of about $100,000+/mon on blogging)
Debt: $0 (paid of $38,000 in 7 months)
Income/ Income streams: blogging, investments, affiliate marketing, e-courses
Savings: ALL THE MONEY
Filing status: Married
Rent/own: neither (sold home to travel full-time)
Kids: 0
Pets: yes, 2
Car: the one they live in
Cell phone: yes
Cable: no
Credit cards: yes, for rewards; never been in credit card debt
Motivation: Per Michelle, my student loan debt was a big reason why I started this blog.
Their Journey so far: Overcame some adversity in her teens and helped raise her younger sibling. This is the personal history of many a prolific figure throughout history. Per Michelle, I used to work in the financial services industry as a financial analyst, but now I am fully self-employed as an online freelancer and solopreneur. I publish monthly income updates where I discuss how I earn over $100,000 a month online, which you can find here. Michelle's site promotes several products through affiliates and those she has created utilizing email marketing. I am a student of her how-to-start a blog tutorial.
Blog Notables: She wins in every category. The victory to me seems sweeter when there are personal history facets that could have taken the Journey down a different path.
My takeaway: If I can achieve literally a fraction...I'm talking 1% of her success...that will be enough for me. (It's possible I might not be dreaming big enough.) What Michelle has achieved is certainly notable and at this point her blog focuses heavily on promoting what she has already completed, created, and accomplished. I celebrate the hustle!
How I relate to their journey: Through adversity, many of us find triumph.
What blogbytes would you like to know about your favorite FIRE blogger?