Michelle Schroeder-Gardner Interview: Blogging, Affiliate Income and Quitting Her Day Job

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a personal finance blog she started in August 2011 while working as a financial analyst. In this Michelle Schroeder-Gardner interview, first published on my blog in 2014, she explains how she went full-time, earned $14,156 in one month and approached affiliate marketing.

I had read one of Michelle’s interviews on another blog and was inspired by her story, so I invited her to my blog. At the time she was earning between $11,000 and $14,000 a month online. I have refreshed this post with a clearer structure and her verified background, while keeping her answers exactly as she gave them.

Key Takeaways from the Michelle Schroeder-Gardner Interview

• Blogging started as a hobby. Michelle did not start Making Sense of Cents to make money, and it took about six months to earn her first dollar.
• Client services paid the bills first. In August 2014 her biggest income source was managing websites for clients, not affiliate marketing.
• Affiliate income was her favorite model. She liked that a review written once can keep earning for years, even though she called herself a beginner at it then.
• She quit her job with a plan. A well-funded emergency fund made the jump from a secure job to self-employment less risky.
• Pinterest grew from zero. Catchy headline images took Pinterest from almost 0% to about 5% of her readers in a few months.
• Honesty is the first affiliate skill. Her advice to beginners was to promote products you actually like and review them honestly.

Who Is Michelle Schroeder-Gardner?

Michelle holds undergraduate degrees in business administration and management and an MBA with an emphasis in finance. She worked as an analyst at an investment banking and valuation firm, and started Making Sense of Cents in August 2011 to document her own path out of debt. She has written that she paid off about $38,000 in student loans in seven months.

She left her day job in 2013 to work on her business full-time. Since then, Making Sense of Cents has been featured in Forbes, CNBC, Time and Business Insider. On her official About page, she says the blog has reached more than 20 million readers and that she has earned over $5,000,000 blogging. In 2017, Forbes reported that she had made $1 million the previous year.

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner Interview Highlights

How did Michelle get into blogging?

Her path into blogging came from an unexpected place: a magazine feature on the personal finance site DailyWorth.

I first became interested in blogging by reading the magazine Cosmopolitan surprisingly. They had a section dedicated to the blog DailyWorth and I became hooked on the idea.

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

She started by commenting on other people’s blogs and getting active in the blogging community before launching her own. She credits her success to being real, honest and open with her readers about everything she does.

How long did it take her to make money online?

About six months. Because she had not started the blog to earn money, the first income surprised her. She believes it came from advertising on her website.

What was her best monetization strategy?

Affiliate income was her favorite, because a review of a product she believed in could keep bringing clicks years later.

I don’t think income can get more passive than that.

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

She was also candid that affiliate income had been a slow process for her, and that she planned to work harder on it. For the full picture of how top earners approach this, see my list of the best affiliate marketing experts to follow.

How much did she earn in August 2014?

She reported $14,156 in online income after basic expenses for August 2014. Her best source of income that month was managing websites for her clients. Back then she described herself as a content manager, website manager, social media manager and staff writer, and she also helped people start WordPress blogs.

How did she leave a secure job to work from home?

Leaving a well-paid, secure job was hard for her. She managed it by creating a plan and saving a well-funded emergency fund, so that one bad month would not knock her off course. She listed the risks plainly: losing your day job income, paying for your own health insurance, and finding it hard to take a real vacation because you are always in work mode.

How did she use Pinterest and social media?

Pinterest went from almost 0% to around 5% of her readers within a few months, mainly by creating fun images with catchy headlines. She was also active on Twitter and Facebook. Twitter was her favorite because it made it easy to connect with anyone. For more on social media growth, read my interview with Jeff Bullas.

What should aspiring affiliate marketers learn first?

Figure out products you like and be honest with your reviews. No one wants to read a bunch of fake reviews.

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

What did she think about video blogging?

She said she did not know much about video blogging, but expected it to become pretty big, even if it was not the whole future of blogging.

Her Plans in 2014, and What Came Next

In 2014, Michelle wanted to write an ebook, expand her content management services, add clients, grow her affiliate income and eventually speak in public, though she admitted she was still nervous about public speaking. She also hoped that within five years most of her income would come from affiliate marketing, by continuing to review products she believed in.

Her later public income reports and the Forbes coverage show how far that plan went. The blog that started as a hobby turned into a business earning seven figures a year.

My Take: Lessons for Bloggers from Michelle’s Story

What I like most about this interview is how honest it is. Michelle did not pretend affiliate marketing was easy. She built a stable base with client work, saved an emergency fund, and grew passive income on top. That is the same path I recommend to new bloggers in India: get paid for a skill first, then build content that earns while you sleep.

If you are starting young, the story of Umer Qureshi, who blogs and reinvests most of his income, is a great companion read. For building authority in your niche, I also recommend my chat with Ann Smarty.

More Interviews on jitendra.co

• Kulwant Nagi: From MLM to Blogging, His Success Mantra for Affiliate Marketing
• Umer Qureshi on Blogging and Affiliate Marketing
• Ann Smarty on Building Authority in Your Niche
• Jeff Bullas Interview: How He Became a Top Social Media Influencer
• Best Affiliate Marketing Experts to Follow

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Michelle Schroeder-Gardner?

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is the founder of Making Sense of Cents, a personal finance blog she started in August 2011. She is a former financial analyst with an MBA in finance, and she has blogged full-time since 2013.

How much did Michelle earn when this interview was published?

She reported $14,156 in online income after basic expenses for August 2014, and said she was earning between $11,000 and $14,000 a month at the time.

What was Michelle’s main source of income in 2014?

In August 2014 her best income source was managing websites for clients. Affiliate marketing was her favorite model, but she said it was still a slow process for her then.

How long did it take Michelle to make her first dollar blogging?

About six months. She believes her first income came from advertising on her website.

How did Michelle quit her job safely?

She made a plan and saved a well-funded emergency fund before leaving her job, so one bad month would not derail her.

What is Michelle’s top tip for new affiliate marketers?

Promote products you genuinely like and write honest reviews. In her words, no one wants to read a bunch of fake reviews.

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