If you’ve ever wanted to make your living from your blog, you’ll definitely enjoy our interview today with Mandy Rose of House of Rose.  Just 14 months after leaving her full-time job, she’s on track to make the same amount of money just from her blog!  Unbelievable, right?  Well, she shares her advice to help you do the same thing.

1. Do you mind telling us a little bit about yourself and your business (or blog)?

Hi, I’m Mandy! Boy mom, fountain coke lover and DIY wanna-be! I run a lifestyle blog called House of Rose.

My husband is the one who initially inspired me to start blogging in early 2008. He is an avid personal finance blogger and had been hounding me for months to start a blog.

I kept seeing all of these amazing people he was meeting online {and I may have been a little jealous}. We had just had our first child and I thought it would be a great way to get support from other moms out there and also to journal our baby’s childhood. I didn’t blog much about home decor and DIY until I quit my full time job and started to realize I had a passion for decorating! My blog has evolved over the last several years from a mommy blog to more of a lifestyle blog.

 I write about fashion, parenting, decorating, adoption, blogging tips, and more!

2. Did you ever imagine you would go from a full-time job in a health care company to a full-time job blogging?

Not in a gazillion years! 😉 It’s always a risk to give up a full time income to pursue something you are passionate about. I was lucky that my husband was able to support us while I began my journey to full time blogger! It’s only been 14 months since I quite my job and I am on the path to make as much as I was making at my full-time job…blogging! It is possible!

3. You and your husband work together on your other blog, Dollars and Roses, which is all about being money-savvy. What advice do you have for others who want to work with their partner?

Phew, I love this question. My husband and I absolutely love working together. That being said…we didn’t love it so much at the beginning. Haha! We are both polar opposites. He is very laid back. Me? Not so much. He pursues a million ideas at once. Me? One idea at a time. He likes to fly by the seat of his pants. Me? I need a schedule.

See, this was mad chaos at first. It took us about 6 weeks to understand how the other one works. We had a lot of discussions about it and set each others expectations from the beginning. Once I learned how he worked and he learned how I work…all was golden! If you are thinking about working with your spouse I suggest that you have these discussions before it escalates out of control.

Communication is key!

4. What advice do you have for others who want to become full-time bloggers?

Be dedicated, but also be patient and don’t give up!

The number one question we get from readers is: How can I make money blogging?

The funny part about most of the people asking that question is that they haven’t even started a blog yet. If you are only concerned about making extra cash then you will fail. I promise you! Blogging is hard work and takes tons of dedication. The income doesn’t come initially and a lot of times that discourages people and they give up. DON’T GIVE UP! Gaining readers and traffic takes time. And you won’t earn income without traffic.

If you are interested in starting a blog we have some great tutorials that will get you going quickly!

5. You have three boys (and one more little one on the way). How hard is it to juggle your ‘work’ with your family? Any tips for other parents running their own business on the side?

It’s extremely hard especially since my work is always in front of me at home. When I went to an office every day it was easy to lock my door, head home and forget about everything related to my job until the morning. But working from home can be hard because you never have that separation.

I set boundaries for myself so that I wasn’t comprising my time with my children to answer just one more email. I shut down my computer at 4:15 pm every day and do not open it again until 8:30 pm when the kids are in bed. It’s important for me to give them my undivided attention and not let blogging interfere. It also helps me not to feel burnt out.

I encourage you to set aside “free time” each evening where you are 100% focused on your family and you leave the blog, email, social media behind for awhile.

We hope Mandy inspired you to set aside time to put some more life into your blog.  If you want more advice or financial tips, you’ll definitely want to head over to her blog.