For today’s personal finance blogger interview I had the privilege of speaking with J. Money, the man behind the highly entertaining and always fun to read Budgets are Sexy. J. Money adds a very personal touch to the blog and at all times makes the site seem highly interactive. If you enjoy his answers and want to follow his work then subscribe to his RSS feed. Time to start the interview:
(Note: There are no typos or spelling mistakes in the interview, it is just the unique writing style of J. Money)
Me: What have been your favorite personal finance topics to blog about?
J. Money: Bad experiences all the way! A) because ranting is sooooo much easier to write about, esp if you just went through it, and B) because it shows your readers that you’re only human too – even though we do all that we can to keep our finances in check! Not only can everyone learn from your own mistakes, but it adds another element to your blog as well – drama! haha…it goes a looooong way here in the blogosphere 😉 after all, you can learn a lot more through entertaining stories than you can from dry cut and paste teachings.
Me: What key factors are crucial to your blog being so successful?
J. Money: I wouldn’t say that my blog is “so successful”, but i’ll def. take the compliment any day 😉 I think success is determined differently to each and every blogger out there. For ME, it means having a handful of readers come to my site each day and comment around. The way i try and make this happen is by posting frequently (at least once a day, M-F), and by adding some flare to each of the posts. Writing straight from the brain and being all hopped up on coffee usually does the trick! It’s also important to just be yourself out there. There’s a billion personal finance bloggers around town, and we all have our own voice. You stick to that voice, and keep your target audience in mind, and you’re smooth sailing my friend!
Me: Do you see blogging as a feasible full time income source?
J. Money: Most definitely – but not for me at this point 🙂 There are a lot of PF, and non-PF, bloggers out there (think Trent @ Simple Dollar or Perez Hilton) that have mastered the art of monetizing their sites, but it all comes with a bit of time and crazy hard work. So is it feasible? for sure. But am I there yet? Nooooo way, Jose. It would definitely be nice in the long run, but i’m just as content blogging for the experiance of it all right now.
Me: Best financial decision you made in your early 20s?
J. Money: Not going into debt. I think that’s the hardest part for a lot of people starting out in the “real” world, esp when credit cards are in play. That’s not to say i was perfect (cuz i sure as hell wasn’t), but just that i was fortunate enough to keep my level of debt to a minimum.
Me: Best general decision you made in your early 20s?
J. Money: Following your dreams no matter where it takes you. It’s the one time in your life (at least for me, coming out of college) where you have a fresh start and no responsibilities at all. You can move across country, take a fun and exciting job for YOU instead of the money, or even travel the world – it’s totally your world at this point. The best part is that you’re not “jaded” yet, and you feel totally invincible. I really miss that to be honest w/ you ;)
Me: Biggest issue facing new College/University graduates?
J. Money: Finding that first real career job, and in a timely manner. It’s one of the most frustrating parts i can remember (besides leaving the parties, of course), and it takes a lot of patience to get you started. The good thing though is that we have the internet these days, so you can literally search through hundreds of job openings every week! And with Facebook, Myspace, and Linkedin – you have a whole sea of possible contacts out there to help you out.
Me: It’s been really fun so far and thank you for your time. In conclusion could you provide some advice for new personal finance bloggers?
J. Money: Ask yourself WHY you’re blogging, and WHO your target audience is every now and then. It’s super easy to get caught up in everyone else’s successes or failures, but you have to remember everyone’s in it for their own reasons. And just keep being yourself and blog because you want to blog, not because you may feel like you “have to”. If it ever gets overwhelming or boring, just take a step back and re-evaluate. Remember, your blog is YOUR blog, and you can do whatever you damn well please with it.
If you were as entertained as I was by reading the responses of J. Money then check out Budgets are Sexy.