Breakfast:
Today’s breakfast was this recipe: Eggless Breakfast Scramble.
See? Proof that I don’t just eat chocolate! It’s an older recipe, with terribly old photos, but I still love it. There are actually quite a few old recipes on the site that I missed when archiving the recipe page, and I’m trying to go back to find them all. It’s like a Where’s Waldo…
Tomorrow I’ll get back to the chocolate recipes.
Promise.
Today’s post, though, is a follow-up to Thursday’s Day In The Life post, since so many people had the same questions. I figured it’d be best to answer them all in the same place.
I also wanted to apologize.
In my last post, I stressed the fact that I work hard at my job; that running the website takes up a majority of the day—nights and weekends, too. But re-reading my post, I’m cringing at how it almost sounds like I’m complaining about the amount of work.
Perhaps I chose the wrong words; it was definitely not my intent to compare my job to those of people who do manual labor or spend long hours at tedious jobs they hate. I can see now how my post could’ve sounded privileged and insensitive. If you took offense, please accept my embarrassed apology, as well as my gratitude for enabling me to have this job that I love.
To answer the questions…
How can I become a full-time blogger?
To be really honest (and blunt), I think that if your goal in starting a blog is to turn it into a career, you’re going to fail. You should blog because you love it, not because you want to make money. I didn’t set out to make this my job, and I happily blogged for years without getting much (or any) pay. My goal in blogging has never been to earn tons of money; it’s just to make enough money that I can continue doing what I love. I’d still run this website if it made absolutely nothing; I’d just be forced to devote less time to it.
If it turns out—without your trying—that you can blog for a living, that’s a happy coincidence. But I think if you specifically tailor your content to become a full-time blogger, people will see through you and see that your heart really isn’t in it.
So… how many visitors does your blog get?
At first I wasn’t going to answer this question. But the truth is, I’m curious too, and I’d love it if more bloggers shared.
My website received almost 8 million visits for February and March. If you’ve ever told your friends or family about Chocolate-Covered Katie, or shared my website on facebook, I am forever grateful to you… I’d bake you a giant batch of “thank you” cookies, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near enough!
(Seriously, it wouldn’t.)
Are you going to blog forever?
I don’t know what the future holds, but I’d love to continue running this website for as long as anyone cares to read. There is something else I’m working on, and many of you already know about it because I’m lousy at keeping secrets. I’m planning to finally announce it officially on the blog next month!
How does a person make money from a blog?
I have a sponsor, Foodbuzz. Their ads are on the side of my blog, and in return they pay me. This amounted to a few dollars a month when I first started out. But if a blog gets popular enough, you can actually make a living from it. I’m sure there are more lucrative ways to make money from a blog, but I haven’t looked into it. As I said earlier, I’m not interested in making a huge amount of money—just enough to pay the bills, cover the expense of my baking supplies (I go through a lot when doing recipe experiments!), and pay the server costs for website hosting.
Can I make a donation to your blog?
I actually don’t have a donation page… I know many other bloggers do, but I’d feel weird asking for donations when there are so many charities out there more in need than my need for money for baking supplies. But if you made a donation to your favorite charity in my honor, that would absolutely make me so happy!!
Do your parents financially support you at all? Does your husband?
My parents don’t, and my husband definitely does not support me. Unless you mean my imaginary husband. In that case, yeah he gives me tons of money. 😉
How do you make friends when you work alone?
I’ve kept in touch with some of my college friends and high school friends, and I’ve made more friends through their friends; plus many of my roommate’s friends and coworkers have also become my friends. Then I also have you all! Reading your comments makes me feel like I’m getting to know you and like we’re friends. I love being part of this online community and can’t understand how a blogger could take comments for granted and ignore his or her readers. You all teach me so much, and I wish there were more time in the day to respond to every comment and to try all the recipe ideas people send me.
(2015 edit: It’s so fantastic how many real-life friends I’ve made from people who have recognized me on the street from my blog! If you see me, please do feel free to say something!! Meeting new people is one of my favorite things, and it’s one of the top reasons I enjoy living in DC.)
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You know Katie you kind of remind me of me. Well we both work from homes and although our jobs are tough we do appreciate that we can do what we love. I am an actor, mom and voice actor. Most of my day is me dropping my son off from daycare, coming home to my voice studio and auditioning or marketing myself to future clients. It is tough job that many of my friends can’t relate too. But my hard work has paid off so far. I also love working from home because I love to cook. I eat healthy and use many of your recipes! Making your waffles tonight 🙂 Good luck in everything you do!
HI Katie!
Im about to make your zucchini brownies, my girls and I are super excited to have healthy
desserts. Im always substituting healthier ingredients to basic recipies because 1. I know Ill overindulge 2. I am not eating sugar just xylitol and stevia But when I do it they always turn out sucky. So Im really happy to have found your blog!! You are adorable, and no need to apologize for stating that you work hard on this Blog, its beautiful!! And so are you, kudos!
Aw thanks, Kendra! I hope the brownies turn out well!
I see this post is old, but I still do want to leave a comment. You speak of the post before this one as being “privileged and insensitive”. I do not get that vibe at all. You spoke of your day and I don’t see anywhere where you were “complaining”. Of course, when someone reads his or her own words they are completely aware of what was going on in their mind at the time. This sometimes leads to second thoughts and sometimes these second thoughts are wrong. I think this is the case here. I don’t know if someone made a comment that made you think otherwise but I think that your post was a good one. I have two part time jobs and I am a full-time student. I am constantly busy. I enjoy my life though, because I know I am working towards the life I want, I am being the person I want to be. Even if the jobs are not my ideal jobs, I do them right and see them as steps to help me to the future I want. No matter the job (there are exceptions though) if a person is dedicated to it, puts effort in it, judges the good from the bad, follows a certain ethics in it, and is passionate and has love for it, then there is no cause for anyone to feel guilty for having what may seem like a easy job. I do not know your life, nor does anyone else. I cannot compare my life or my work to what you do. It all comes down to the amount of effort one puts into their work. I may come home some nights sore and tired, I stay up late some nights studying, but thats my life and it is a choice I made. I am dedicated to being a great person, to following my explicit morality, and this is what makes a person good. I do not feel guilty for it, there is no reason to. So, please, do not accept any unearned guilt. You are doing good and you know its right, and thats great.
Thank you so much, Travis. 🙂
Hey Katie! first, I have to say that I absolutely LOVE your website and I’m a regular visitor 🙂 I’m trying to start a blog to post all my healthy recipes on because I absolutely LOVE to cook, but I’m struggling with how to start. Do you have any tips? and what website did you use to start this blog? Thanks!
This is a link to all of CCK’s posts with blogging tips: https://lett-trim.today/tag/blogging-tips/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I hope you don’t mind my asking, what do you do with leftovers, especially the ones that don’t work out perfectly, but are to good to throw away?
I like baking with my children, boys ages 7, 6, 3 (and 1 year old girl, although usually the baby doesn’t get to help). If I make a few things, I have to stop for a week until we can eat them before I have room for more. I also live in NYC and have limited kitchen/freezer room.
Hi Katie
I love how honest and authentic you are ☺ Your passion for cooking and this blog shows and I have bookmarked lots of your recipes for sweet treats as I have a big sweet tooth. Although I am from London, I love going to the USA and as weird as it may sound enjoy seeing (and eating) different granola bar flavours, most of which aren’t available here. In particular Annies Peanut butter and chocolate chip so I definitely love seeing peanut butter incorporated in lots of your recipes. Also to see recipes of Homemade Larabars and Lunabars is awesome and I can’t wait to make these! ☺
Hi Katie
I have just across this post recently and wanted to say you definitely don’t need to apologise as everyone will perceive whats written in different ways and from the people in this comments, in a positive way:) Kudos to you for finding a way to fulfill your passion and share it.
I love reading your blog! For someone with a sweet tooth these treats are just right. Recently I have enjoyed making the single lady cupcake and they have been more fluffier than the ones I make using eggs (my ingredient ratios are probably off:)
Thank you for sharing these tips for blogging as I have been wanting to start one too but have so many interests it’s where to start!
All the best from London ☺