Marc Andre graduated college in 2002 with a Business Administration degree and bounced through several different jobs in the finance industry in his 20’s. He had envisioned a traditional job where he worked hard and moved his way up the company ladder. “I had jobs with 4 different companies in my first 8 years after college, and with each employer I felt like I was going nowhere and I had very little hope for my future there”.
After a few years of frustration, Marc eventually started his own business on the side. He had taken a web design course in college and continued to learn more on his own after graduation. As part of his efforts to get clients, Marc launched a blog on his site. The blog took off really quickly. “It did help me to land some clients, but I realized that I enjoyed working on the blog a lot more than working for clients. At that point I just started focusing on growing the blog and making money from advertisements”.
In 2008, after about a year and a half of work on the blog, Marc was able to quit his job in the finance industry and pursue his own business full-time. For the past 10+ years he has been working from home managing his own websites and blogs. Marc has had sites in the web design, photography, travel, and finance industries. He eventually sold the web design and photography blogs and his current project is a personal finance blog, https://vitaldollar.com/.
“I love what I do because I’m able to work on things that I enjoy, I have a flexible schedule, and I work from home. I’ve also been able to earn significantly more money than I made as an auditor, and my wife has been able to be a stay-at-home mom since we became parents in 2012”.
Enjoying Freedom
Like most entrepreneurs, the flexibility is really important to Marc. He still work as many hours as he worked when he had a traditional job. But now he can arrange his schedule any way he want, which is really helpful with a family. He also don’t have to get approval to take days off, and he can travel for a few weeks at a time.
“I also have the flexibility to pursue the projects that I choose. I’ve had websites in a lot of different industries, and most of them have revolved around topics that I enjoy. I’m a hobbyist photographer and I was able to work for several years on websites in the industry, which was a lot of fun. During that time I took a few working tips that were amazing ways to spend my working hours. One of the highlights was a trip to photograph Acadia National Park in Maine. While I was out hiking and enjoying nature, I was appreciating the fact that I was no longer stuck in the cubicle at my old job”.
Mistakes Along the Way
Like most of us, Marc has made plenty of mistakes! The mistakes are part of the process and are great learning opportunities. “Early on, I made a mistake by relying too heavily on one source of revenue from my blog. I was making a pretty good income from selling ad space, but I was missing out on some other ways to make a lot more money. Once I eventually added a few other income streams, my income tripled”.
Marc hasn’t always invested enough in his business. “Looking back, if I had been more willing to spend a little bit of money on outsourcing some tasks, I could have made better use of my time and made more money”.
Time management has also been a challenge for Marc. While he loves the freedom, there’s never enough time to do everything. “I’m in a constant struggle to decide what is most important and urgent, and what needs to wait. To help with this, I keep a list of short term actions that I need to take, and I use a weekly and daily to-do list that keeps me on task and working towards the things that need to be accomplished”.
Start With a Hobby
One of Marc’s biggest tips is to find a way to incorporate one of your hobbies into your business. “Work is a lot more enjoyable when it involves something that you enjoy. There are several different ways that you could do this. You could offer a service (like giving guitar lessons), create a blog/podcast/YouTube channel, create an online course, or create and sell products”. See Marc’s article on turning a hobby into a business – hobbies that make money .
See what Marc is up to lately a his main site.
