Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How Do Bloggers Make Money?

Consider the next part of this post as an update to this one from two years ago where we first broke out a few pie-charts to generally illustrate how we spend our time and how we make money as bloggers (because even our parents get confused about that sometimes). Things have changed over the last couple of years – not dramatically – but enough that we felt it was time for an update. So let’s kick this charty goodness off. Behold, a very simplified / approximated breakdown (all the pie charts in this post are very general guesses, btw)…

Pies Time Spent Overview

First, we should point out that this is not a complete representation of our waking hours – it’s just our “work” time. So you can see yesterday’s “Day In The Life” post for a better sense of how things like parenting, cooking, and running errands fit into the mix. That being said, the interesting thing to note here is that the majority of our work time is spent running a website (blogging, interacting, and managing a business) not doing DIY projects, as some might assume.

We always describe our job as a mostly-desk job. We might get to paint or build something while Clara’s in bed for the night (which is when we used to do projects when we both had day-jobs anyway), but between the hours of 8am and 6pm we’re most likely found on the computer sizing photos, writing posts, organizing giveaways, emailing about our book or the showhouse, answering comments, doing our expenses, or coding something. But let’s dive in a bit deeper to get a closer look.

Pies Time Spent Detail

When we look at how some of these areas break out, there are two changes that are most notable to us:

  • We’ve managed to streamline the managerial aspects of our business. Simple changes like using Rafflecopter to run giveaways (which also saves us from approving thousands of comments and allows us to accept more than 10,000 entries without the site crashing) along with hiring out more of our accounting have made small but significant impacts. But perhaps the biggest is a shift that we’re making in our advertising program. We’re currently transitioning our 4-year-old private sponsor system out (private sponsors = people that we manage directly, so I was manually uploading 30+ ads and invoicing 30+ people). We’re upgrading to a more auto-pilot system that is managed by a third party who can serve/place/bill automatically. The kinks of the new system aren’t all worked out, so I don’t have any other helpful details to share yet, but it promises to save us lots of time in ad renewal notices, invoices, and even writing sponsor shout out posts (which have been phased out as of this month). In addition to being more efficient for us, we’re aiming for a more pleasant experience for you guys (less sidebar clutter, for one!) and a more effective, flexible system for our advertisers (so they’re not one of 30 boxes blinking on our sidebar).
  • Which enables us to give more time to side gigs. Freeing up some managerial time allows for things like book #2, the showhouse, and a secret project that has to stay secret for now (ARGH, SECRETS!) to take up more of the pie. It could be argued that this is a bad thing (doesn’t it take away from spending more time on projects or posts?) especially when side gigs don’t contribute to the majority of our income (more on that in a moment), but to us, they’re the opportunities that we can’t pass up: they keep us fresh, help us grow professionally, and stretch us in new ways. And because they’re still only about 19% of our total time, there’s still just as much room for projects and other blog stuff as there always has been, which still make up 80+ percent of the pie.

Obviously this isn’t a perfect model of time management or how to run a blog. We’re constantly trying to improve our processes so that we can put the most time into activities that invigorate us, help and entertain you, and – let’s be honest – put money in Clara’s college fund. One thing some people suggest is “why don’t you spend less time responding to comments?” or set them to auto approve for repeat commenters, but the reason we keep comments in moderation is so we don’t miss questions. If we auto approve some or all of them, questions will slip through (they not only roll in on current posts, but old ones as well). And since we believe connecting with you guys and offering additional info is a big part of what got us here, we’d never want to phase that out.

Speaking of which, I think it’s time for our next chart:

Pies Make Money

Unlike last time we did this chart, we’ve now collapsed all of our advertising – private sponsors, ad networks, and Google – into one chunk. That’s partially because those slices of the pie are rapidly shifting while we’re in this sponsor program transition (you may notice over 25 fewer ads on our sidebar by the time it’s done). But it’s also to make it crystal clear that the majority of our income comes straight from sidebar ads. Much like how magazines or newspapers keep their doors open thanks to advertisers, blogging seems to follow that model as well, at least for us – especially since we don’t do other things like sponsored posts to make additional income. Although that red affiliate slice of the pie is from sharing some things we love – usually on our sidebar or occasionally in a post (both clearly marked as affiliate links whenever they occur).

Another interesting distinction is that as much as things like writing a book and having a lighting line might sound like cash-cows, they’re not things that we have experienced as high earners, as demonstrated by our chart above. But they’re a really big deal for us personally and professionally, so they’re well worth the effort and the experience. For those wondering, we still haven’t reached our royalty point on the book (more on that here) but we did hear from a publisher in China who bought the book rights from our American publisher for a nominal fee and is re-publishing it there in Chinese (which is really exciting to see – the cover’s going to be different and everything). So since we get a small percent of that fee for being the authors, that’s what that sliver represents. Admittedly the proportions represented above are a bit rough, since the goal was just to generally illustrate the point. So as long as we’re talking non-specifics, let’s move on to our third graphic.

Pies Spent Money2

After a couple of attempts to make a useful pie-chart, I gave up (these fluctuate so much that trying to quantify them just wasn’t working). But the point we wanted to illustrate was that some people think that blogging is a “zero overhead” profession, but if your readership grows, your business costs definitely rise with them. Here are some of the notable places that our earnings go:

  • Taxes & Accountant: As exciting as those auto-pilot ad network checks are sometimes, a big chunk of that goes right back to Uncle Sam (around 33% of our total income bounces right out of our checking account across four quarterly payments). We use an accountant to help keep it all straight, but it has definitely been the biggest adjustment for us (going from banking/spending all of our paychecks in our previous professions to having to hoard a big cushion to send back four times a year).
  • Retirement: Since we don’t have a boss taking 401k money out of our paychecks anymore (or anyone doing any company matching), we have to stay on top of our own retirement planning. We each have a SEP IRA and after year-end taxes our accountant calculates what our maximum contribution could be for that tax year and we try to invest as much of that as possible (as well as contributing to Clara’s college fund then too).
  • Web Hosting: The biggest unexpected cost for us in blogging was web hosting and other fees – everything from hosting our site and photos (which are stored separately on amazon.cloud to keep the site from crashing) to paying a monthly fee for Rafflecopter and Vanilla Forums. These expenses actually add up to almost double our mortgage payment each month!
  • Health Insurance: Another “perk” of being a small business owner is that you get to pay for your own health insurance. It’s not fun, but it’s definitely one of those “now I can sleep at night” investments in your business and family.
  • Business Insurance: While we’re on the topic, we also pay for business insurance. This helps to protect our business (and us personally) if we were ever to be affected by things like a lawsuit or the death/injury of one of us (knocking on so much wood over here right now).
  • Legal: This is a new expense for us recently because over the past year we’ve engaged a trademark and licensing attorney. Since our book was going to be titled Young House Love as well, we needed to fully claim the name – and she also helps us navigate some of the contracts that we’ve received for some of our side gigs (like our lighting collection). Plus, now we’re officially Young House Love™. Holla!
  • Projects: Last but not least… everyone knows home improvement isn’t free – and while most of the things that we blog about would be costs that we’d incur anyway, we certainly work at a faster pace (and therefore spend faster) than we did before we were blogging full time. We get asked all the time if these home purchases can be write offs since we’re blogging about them for a living, but the answer is no. Since we’re fixing up our primary residence (and not an office or investment property) we could never write a cent of it off (and if we attempted to, we’d owe a big ol’ chunk of money to the government if we ever sold our house since it would be partially theirs instead of all ours).

And now let’s lighten up this numberfest a bit, shall we? Like previous years we thought we’d throw some random stats and facts your way, but this year I’ve spiced things up a bit visually. You know I love a good infographic…

Facts 279 Days Writing Posts

Facts Giveaways

Facts Comments

Facts Forum Threads

Facts Forum Badges

Facts Instagram

 

P.S. – You can check out our original pie charts from 2011 here, and look back at our past by-the-numbers posts for our last five blogiversaries here: 2012,  2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008.

Update – Some of the most frequent requests that we get are for info about professionally blogging (how we made our site, how we grew our following, how we make money, etc) so we shared all of the details about how we started a blog, grew our traffic, and turned it into a full time job. 

Comments

  1. Ashley M says

    Thanks for all your hardwork in bringing us YHL each and everyday! I know you used to have tshirts and a shop but just wondering if this was something you guys would do again as a source of income? Would love it!! Thanks again! Love love love YHL!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Ashley! Doing that helped us diversify our income before our ads/traffic picked up enough that we could phase it out, but it was also lots of work (like running an Etsy store on top of blogging and doing projects) so it was fun while we did it, but probably nothing we’d go back to managing ourselves. If someone else was running it, that could be fun in the future though! Who knows where we’ll end up!

      xo
      s

  2. Stacy says

    I find it hilarious that your last word of this “State of the Youngins'” post (of course, ignoring the post script) is regarding Barbies. Who would have thought?!

    Your hard work and desire for a balanced life is inspiring.

    Thank you!

    Reply

  3. Amanda says

    To your 401(k) comment–if YHL is a registered business, which I believe it is (LLC, right?), then you CAN have a 401(k)! If you find yourself maxing the SEP contributions, YHL, LLC can set up a Solo 401(k) plan that you (the two employees) can make 401(k) deposits into, but also at the end of the year the ’employer’ (YHL, LLC) can also make a contribution on your behalf. That way, you guys are saving on individual taxes with the 401(k) savings, and the business can deduct contributions to the plan as well. Your accountant should know about this.
    (I administer retirement plans for a living and about 20 of my clients are “solo plans” like you would be.) :)

    Reply

  4. Lindsey says

    I know this question doesn’t really fit with this post, but how tall are the ceilings in your new house? I tried to find the answer in an old post, but no luck. We are looking at a fixer upper very similar to yours, so I was trying to do some comparisons for inspiration!

    Reply

  6. Brittany says

    Thanks for sharing John and Sherry!!
    Very interesting. Your family is truly blessed. I’m so happy you chose to share your life with us everyday. You both are truly an inspiration. Oh and I hope you don’t stop leaving comments and answering questions…..it just wouldn’t be the same if you did. :)
    -Brittany
    Have a GREAT day!!!

    Reply

  7. Crystal says

    Wow you two (Clara and Burger too) are beyond amazing! You have had so much success and it is still so obvious that you actually still love what you do and have no feeling of entitlement. I absolutely love that you take so much time out of your day to read comments and reply to them, I think it’s one of the MANY things that set you apart from every other blog. I also don’t notice that your blogs sidebar of ads are obnoxious, I know they are there but they are easily ignored or clicked through if I feel the need. Sorry for such a long comment and if I sound like a crazy person I just think you guys deserve to hear how appreciated the extra time you put in is. If blogging were a super power you both definitely possess it!

    Reply

  8. Gwen, The Makerista says

    So glad you shared this! I just started blogging a few months ago, and although I spent several years thinking about blogging and researching, it’s still way more work than I anticipated! :)

    Thanks for some more insight!

    Reply

  9. Nina says

    What program do you use to make these charts? Love me some infographics! And where do you get the actual graphics from (like the red banners, text bubbles, etc) or do you make them yourself? One more question! When you put arrows on some of your photos, how do you make those arrows??? I always look for an arrow function in Photoshop and can never find it! Mine do not look as nice as yours when I draw them myself. Thanks

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      All of the graphics are made in Photoshop and a lot of the images are actually fonts that create webding-type graphics, so I get them from places like Font Squirrel and just play around with them in Photoshop. The one I used to make the banner is called Adhesive Number Seven. Hope it helps.

      -John

  12. Angel says

    I am a visual person so I love a pie chart, thanks for that because numbers just make my head hurt.

    So do we get a clue about the secret project? A hint? HINT HINT HINT HINT HINT (this is what I do every year to my poor boyfriend for about six weeks leading up to Christmas).

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Stacey! That’s in the “side gigs” column, along with some other side writing jobs, etc. It’s not really our own line of paints, we just pick our favorite colors for the year and they make a page of them on their site.

      xo
      s

  14. Dominique says

    Those Barbies are hilarious. Isn’t it funny what gets “liked” the most? Not always what we invest more of ourselves in. Can’t wait for the reveal of your big secret!

    Reply

  15. Theresa M. says

    Things I love about Young House Love: ads that only switch pictures and aren’t neon, non-truncated posts, blog authors who comment and answer, no paid posts, content. Ya’ll are bomdiggity! But my most favorite thing to love are secrets! Love a good secret! I’m good at keeping them, promise. ;)

    Reply

  20. Karen says

    Yeah, I can personally tell you, (along with my bank account statements), that your side bar of ads really WORK!!! I never heard of Joss & Main, Wayfair and Ones King Lane till I discovered you guys! But my house looks better for it. :-)

    Reply

  21. Kathryn says

    I adore these types of posts! Thanks for going to the trouble again this year. It’s no fluke you guys are the success you are. I bow to your mad adulthood skills! Seriously, you are both a few months to a year and a bit younger than me, and I wouldn’t have a clue about how to go about buying a house, much less planning for retirement! I missed the ‘how to be a grown up’ manual somewhere along the way…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I’m right there with you Kathryn! One thing I’ve learned is “let the experts do their thing” so even from relying on our book agent to help us navigate those uncharted waters to asking a million and one questions with our accountant, they are all in the grown up club, and we’re sort of hanging around outside trying to peek into the windows! Haha!

      xo
      s

    • Kathryn says

      Thanks for taking the time to respond to that, Sherry (and for the perspective). It gets all too easy to see ‘everybody else’ as having it all magically figured out!

  22. Carrissa says

    Have you guys heard of Subbable? Its like kickstarter but people make monthly subscriptions instead of one time donations. They are going to open it up to blogs soon, you should totally apply! I would subscribe to you :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Never heard of it! Sounds interesting though, although we love keeping our blog free for you guys! You’re our peeps. We would never want you to pay to read about our weird little adventures.

      xo
      s

    • Jenny says

      That’s a good idea, Carrissa! S&J – with Subbable, all your content would still be able to be up for free, but readers could choose to “subscribe” to you for a monthly fee of their choosing, which is banked to purchase perks you offer (like an autographed copy of your book, maybe! or a shout-out in a post), as well as access to special things you might want to do like Google Hangouts. It’s a pretty cool way to support creators instead of just single projects (like Kickstarter or Indiegogo)

    • Pamela says

      Sounds a little bit too much like “like on Facebook for an extra chance to win,” and “tweet this for an extra chance to win,” and “come back and tell us you liked us for an extra chance to win.” It would make some readers “more worthy” than others.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I definitely can see how it could be annoying for some folks and fun for others. We won’t rush into anything without fully thinking it through and trying it out and asking you guys what you think, I promise!

      xo
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We are definitely turning down added income by no longer working with private sponsors, so we’re not guaranteed the same amount with 7 ads that we used to make with 30! But to us having more time to do other things than have John manage 30 accounts (back in his advertising days his entire job was just to manage about 5 accounts) seemed worth it to us! And since third party sites tend to charge a bit more for impressions than we charged our private sponsors, we hopefully can get away with significantly fewer ads.

      xo
      s

  25. Kathryn @TheLifescape says

    Hey, this question is more directed at John…

    I have tested out various websites to create simple, yet effective info-graphics. But I find them extremely time consuming and kind of “blah”.

    Do you guys use a program? Create them in photoshop? Use a particular website? Would love to know!

    Any advice would be grand. Hopefully this question hasn’t been asked before- but if it has, sorry! Info-graphics and statistics are my JAM.

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I just use Photoshop. I like to download new fonts (some have webdings to create things like banners or arrows) and then I just play around in photoshop and use simple tools like the circle tool mixed with screen shots of things (like the icons on Forums for liking things/LOLs/etc) and those fonts/webdings.

      -John

  26. Ali says

    Didn’t see this in the breakdown, but you mentioned your mortgage and I’m sure you have things like day care expenses, groceries, etc., so I was curious if you keep two separate sets of “books” one related to blogging and one related to personal? Also, do you sort of give yourselves “salaries” which cover personal expenses and then “invest” the rest back into your business?

    Just curious :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We keep one running tally of our expenses, so that includes things like groceries and our mortgage and Clara’s preschool along with business expenses and project costs and all that. It’s nice to see it all together to see how much is going out each month (and rein it in if we think we’re spending more on food from one month to the next, for example). After we put money towards taxes and retirement and Clara’s college fund and health insurance and other YHL-related bills, we do try to put as much back into the business as possible.

      xo,
      s

  27. bridget b. says

    LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the swimming barbies! More importantly my 3 year old loves them. I save that video for those times when I REALLY need her to stay occupied for a while. i even taught her how to restart the video (don’t judge me, lol!).

    Reply

  28. Anne G. says

    A bunch of my friends have blogs, and a few of them actually think they can make them into businesses, but I don’t see any of them putting the thought and work and love and professionalism into their blogs that you do. It is nice to see bloggers who understand how to run a business and putting the care and hard work into it that’s required to make it a success!
    Thank you for sharing the ins and outs of this. I think it’s helpful for people to see how you do it and understand that it is truly work!
    I also want to thank you for setting an example for true professionalism. I have been struggling with a new job — hating many aspects of it, really — and wasn’t sure what to do. Should I quit? Should I complain to my boss? Reading your blog this morning reminded me that you guys approach everything from a place of love and acceptance and the understanding that things might go wrong but they eventually work out. I decided to try approaching my own job that way this week, or at least today. I read your blog every day and I am always finding little unexpected gems of wisdom and inspiration that help me when I need it most! Isn’t it interesting the way the universe works and we find the answers we need in the most unexpected places? I am grateful for what you guys do and how you do it. Thank you!

    Reply

  30. Julia at Home on 129 Acres says

    I may have missed this somewhere, but I’d really be interested in to know what your monthly traffic is. If you’re comfortable sharing that, of course. Thanks for being so open about your approach to blogging. Posts like this are really helpful to me as I think about where I’d like to try to take my blog.

    Reply

  31. Amanda says

    HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY! I read your yesterday post super quickly while I was waiting in the Apple Store with my friend (new phone for $0.00 — that’s what I’m talking about) so I didn’t get a chance to comment.

    I love your Blogiversary week, and I look forward to it every year. It’s an amazing accomplishment for you four and I’m so proud of you being a long (long) time reader. :)

    I love you guys and you are awesome-sauce.

    Reply

  32. Laurie says

    I love when you guys share this stuff. It’s so interesting and really nice of you to talk about it. Thank you. You don’t have to share this but giving us a peek is such a good reality check when I think, “I wonder if I could blog for a living?” and then I see what you do and re-think that. You guys have a great team and do this so well. I think I’ll just enjoy being an amature. ;-)

    Reply

  33. Kelly says

    Kudos on another awesome anniversary behind-the-scenes post. I especially appreciate it because there are some bloggers (who shall remain nameless) who feel so inauthentic with their advertising methods, sponsored posts, etc. I keep coming back to you guys – and clicking on your sidebar advertisers – because you are upfront and real about your business and what it takes to create all this content. Here’s to another great 6 years!

    Reply

  35. qs777 says

    Thank you so much for going through these stats. As someone working in a family business, many of my friends always thought we made boatloads of money from day 1, obviously not knowing all of the costs involved. I have always said that anyone vying for public office should have to have owned their own business first to get a sense of how laws can affect small businesses.

    On another note, no matter how bad of a day you’ve had, it is hard not to laugh at synchronized Barbies. Thanks for starting my day off right! :)

    Reply

  36. Carmela says

    Congrats on your Blogiversary!! It was interesting to read all your facts and figures. Question: we’re looking to paint our kitchen cabinets – have you covered the process in your blogs? Also any recommendations on what product to use in order to remove dirt and grease buildup on the cabinets? Thanks! And looking forward to reading your blog!!

    Reply

  37. Jihane says

    I knoooow what the secret project is … After the book, the TV shows…. it’s Young House Love : The MOVIE :-) Riiight? haha… Seriously, I almost never comment (cuz I know from your precedent Blogiversary posts all the work the comments represent for you) but I needed to say Happy Blogiversary! I love you guys and your blog is now a part of my daily routine, as if I needed to check on my lovely and talented friends. I have a (stupid?) question for you : Do you ever think about the time when the “young” part of “young house love” will be mmmm, less true? I mean, do you see yourself running this wonderful blog until you grow old? Anyway, as far as I am concerned, I see myself reading this blog foreeeever :-)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha! Yes, it’s a secret movie. It’s going to be just like the Bieber movie, but fewer screaming teenagers and more ceramic animals! And as for our name, oh yes, we’ll have to change it to Old House Love if we’re still doing this in a while! We always wonder if blogs will even be a thing then or if we’ll be doing something entirely different that we never expected (sure couldn’t have guessed we’d be here 6 years ago!).

      xo
      s

  38. Chase says

    I for one LOVE the blog, always have, and am so glad that it supports you financially enough that you are able to keep doing it. I truly look forward to every post! PS I had no idea that you spent 2x your mortgage on web hosting. My goodness! Keep up the great work :)

    Reply

  39. Kitty says

    Hi! Three things, if you will indulge me…

    I have been disappointed recently over what feels like a scarcity of DIY posts, but when I see how much time it takes to actually run the blog, I am going to cut you guys some slack. Wow! I would never have the self discipline to run a blog. I’m all about fun projects, but you couldn’t pay me to do all of the other stuff. Keep up the hard work!

    With your recent moves to protect your trademark, are you feeling a bit more understanding of the actions This Old House took when they thought you were infringing upon their trademark? I remember your being quite offended at the time, but now that you have your own name to protect, I am wondering if you might one day have to do the same thing they did.

    I am impressed that you make retirement savings a big priority! Most people who have the funds to do so still are not preparing for retirement, so I commend you for setting that example for your readers. (This is not a criticism of those who don’t save because they are struggling to survive, but more about those who choose to blow all their money in the present.) I can’t wait to see how you will decorate your nursing home in 50 years!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw, thanks Kitty! We generally have a feeling of gratitude that we were forced to change our name because we’d much rather have our own stand-alone name than have a parody name off of something else like we did back when we started out (we just couldn’t resist the pun at first). We do see where they were coming from, although the thought that “someone might confuse this blog with our brand” seemed a little crazy to us since everything about our site made it clear that we were just two DIYers without any ties to their company. But in the end it worked out so well that we can’t complain. “Love” should have been in our name from the beginning, so we’re glad it ended up in there – even under some surprising circumstances!

      xo,
      s

  40. Ashley Bee says

    I unfortunately can’t watch the synchronized swimming Barbies(work computer doesn’t play nice with Instagram) :( It looks awesome! BUT… I just had to say that I was a Barbie superfan as a kid ANDDDDDD, I still often dream in “Barbie.” Yes, as an adult. Full-fledged Barbie-fied dreams with storylines and characters and Barbie cars and accessories… It’s very weird, but oddly satisfying. LOL!

    Reply

  41. Lorelei Reed says

    oh my gosh that is hilarious!! ALL the work and sweat and projects and demonstrations, pretty scenery, sweet pictures of your family, funny pictures of your doggie,and worry about lightining and camera angles and whether or not your ponytail is in straight….and the MOST popular instagram is swimming Barbies!!!

    I am laughing so hard I have to get up from my desk at work and run to the bathroom!!!!!

    Reply

  42. Emily says

    I finally bought your book yesterday (after it sitting for months in my Amazon Wishlist!), so I did my part to get you closer to those royalties!!

    I was getting textbooks for my grad program and figured I deserved a little treat. :) Much love for you guys! I’m already looking forward to the Book #2 Tour!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s a good question! We honestly don’t know what that will mean for our blog, so we’ll have to see if it moves the needle – and if so we might have to course correct again!

      xo
      s

  44. myamogabi says

    thank you sooooo much for not auto approving comments! One big reason I like your blog so much (aside from all the wonderful projects that you’re constantly amazing me with) is because you respond to the comments. It’s where you really make your presence felt, and set you apart from other blogs! I know it takes an awful lot of time to interact and to respond– it’s obvious from yesterday’s entry– but it means so much to me as your reader, and I’m sure others feel the same way, too! So keep up the good work!!!

    May you have many more 6 years to come!

    Reply

  45. Judy says

    I just returned from a trip to Washington, DC speaking on behalf of online businesses and bloggers being effected by the COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) amendment that was passed 7/1/13. I host a mixed audience website offering free educational resources for elementary teachers. Because some of my activities can be considered targeted towards children, this new amendment has turned my business model upside down. A year ago I served 48 million unique visitors. My business model is similar to yours. I rank organically in the search engines. Advertisers buy space on my pages through 3rd party ad networks. Visitors get resources for free. Win-win-win.

    This new amendment has increased my operating costs by thousands of dollars and my revenues have been cut by more than 50%. I’m very unhappy with the advertising choices that I have been dictated to use and that are associated with my brand. If Mozilla (Firefox) blocks all 3rd party cookies, you WILL feel the impact. You might want to keep your plan A (sponsors).

    My sister LOVES your blog and shared your post with me this morning. Just thought I’d give you a heads up on what’s happening in the industry. The COPPA amendment took me by surprise because I thought “AdChoices” had everything covered. The amendment was passed without doing any economic studies in how it would effect small businesses. And in my case, there will be a HUGE impact on educators too. Most teachers can’t afford to buy resources for their classrooms and pay their bills too. Lose-lose-lose. :(

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks so much Judy! That does sound terrible for your business. I’m so sorry it affected you so much! We are definitely planning to keep an open line of communication with all of our sponsors so we can go back to working with them if this change doesn’t pan out! It never ceases to surprise us how much can change in a year!

      xo
      s

  47. Michelle says

    Do you think that your previous careers in advertising help you navigate the advertising side of your business? Also, if your trademark is registered you should use R with a circle around it, instead of TM.

    Reply

  48. Lauren says

    Do you guys keep separate bank accounts for business and for personal? I just wonder if when you are considering home improvement projects, do you also have to consider the impact it will have on groceries or whatever personal necessities you will have that week?

    Also, I just got your book for my birthday on Sunday. SO EXCITED! It’s a signed copy too! You’ve touched my book! Ha ha ha!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We have a business credit card for things like hosting fees and health insurance and then a regular card for groceries and Home Depot runs and all the DIY/life stuff that’s not technically a business expense or write off. We do have to keep track of whatever goes out either way, so we have one long tally each month of all the money that goes out, just to make sure we’re not spending too much on foods or something. Helps us keep it all straight!

      xo
      s

  49. Shaina says

    You said that the “How Our Time Is Spent” graph is just an estimate. In the nonprofit world, we do something called functional time studies. Staff track their time in 15 minute increments in 5 functional expense categories for a period of two weeks. I am always annoyed when they roll around each year, but they actually are eye opening when you see how your day breaks down.

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  50. Julianne says

    I’m not a regular commenter here, but I’m a regular reader. Even still, I wanted to point out how much I appreciate the time and effort you guys spend in connecting with your readers. I love that all the comments go through you, and you’d never want to phase that out. Awesome!

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