Blogger Stories: Lynda Lippin

After Lynda Lippin traded in her life in academia in the States for what many would call a dream world on the little island of Providenciales in Turks & Caicos, she launched a little blog. Lyndia soon discovered her little blog could provide more than a virtual Treasure of the Caribbean. It could provide a real source of income that would allow her to enjoy her new lifestyle. 

Blogger Story Teller: Lynda Lippin - Pilates & Reiki In Paradise Blog Pilates & Reiki In Paradise Website Lynda's Pilates Product downloads at Lulu.com

I have always enjoyed writing, and spent most of my first 30 years in academia as a Philosophy and Women's Studies graduate student and then professor with Pilates and Fitness as my secondary part time job. With my university connections I was surfing the web early on and contributing to academic email lists, etc. I would see blogs and thought that the concept was interesting (spoken like a true philosopher) but figured it was too technical and too popular to be taken seriously.

Fast forward 10 years. I met my husband and married, decided to leave the staidness of academia and move into fitness full time, opened my own Pilates & Reiki In Paradise Website and writing for popular magazines. And suddenly I was reading lots of blogs. In fact, blogs became my primary source of information for website design, SEO, reviews, and just fun reading. But still I kept thinking that I couldn't possibly do the blog thing--too much work, too technical, and who would want to read it?

In 2005, after a battle with my teenage stepson, personal bankruptcy, and a civil lawsuit, we received job offers in the Caribbean! In an uncharacteristic move we sold everything and moved to the little island of Providenciales in Turks & Caicos where suddenly I could breathe again and realized that I did have some interesting tales to tell and information to give. So I went to Blogger and started my Pilates & Reiki In Paradise Blog. At first it was just sporadic and small, but then I really got into interacting with the world this way. I can post on anything I want whenever and wherever I want, and now my blog makes me money all at the same time.

Blogging for me is still fun and still therapeutic, and now I probably earn about $300-$1000 per month between product & affiliate sales, sponsored posts, and advertising. I will be starting some new blogs this month under private domain names, since I figure that if I can have 3 or 4 blogs offering quality interesting content that each earn me close to $1000 per month I won't have to worry about busting my buns for other income and can enjoy my Caribbean life a bit more, and the money I earn from my clients will be essentially gravy. One blog will be for Mike Wright's Golf Pilates, where I am the VP of Marketing & Educational Director, and I see the blog as being central to our marketing plan.

I can remember when I received my first $5 paypal payment for a blog post. Yesterday I wrote a $700 blog post (yay!). As my dear mentor Pat O'Bryan says, the web gives us the opportunity to build our own Portable Empires where we can earn income 24/7/365 and give people great information and products at the same time! And working with him has helped double my web-based income in just 3 months. What more could I want?

Comments

[Elsa Rousseau]

Hello, I really got inspired by reading your blog. Keep up the good work and good luck making money online! /Elsa

[Kim Grimshaw]

Looking to relocate to the Caribbean to open Pilates studio. Can anyone offer any information or advice?