Jillian has been at it since February of 2010 and she’s already made a few hundred a month, but she’s starting to take it to the next level. Her mission is to get to five thousand a month, and she’s willing to show you how she’s going to do it at 5kmission.com

Finding honest people online that are willing to share how much they make online every month is hard. There’s only very few that actually disclose the real numbers. Like for example Pat Flynn from smartpassiveincome.com, he’s been doing this for quite a while now.

I had the chance to get some great answers from someone that’s in the journey to create her own passive income and she’s already 6% closer to her goal. That’s just great at just a few months into blogging and she’s able to bring in enough money to at least cover a car payment or maybe some bills. I know that there are a lot of people just looking for something small like this, but they just don’t believe that it’s possible to make money online.

Listen to what Jillian had to tell us…

Tell us something about yourself first and something about you got started blogging?

I never know what to tell people about myself, haha.

Something that I think explains a lot about me is that I come from a big city.  I was born and raised in Philadelphia, and I think coming from a big place like that makes an impact on the kind of stuff you’re interested in.  Being exposed to so many different kinds of people and things has definitely made me a better-rounded person.  It also gave me a “big city attitude”, so I tend to be a skeptic.  But I know how to make cheese steaks, so that’s something.

My start with blogging came as a combination of ideas.  I’d been earning money online for a few months before starting my blog, mostly through writing.  As soon as I found out that I could make money through the internet, I got really interested in the idea and reading everything I could find.

I weeded through a lot of crap during this time, and also noticed that most of the things I was reading were by people who’d already become successful.  I wanted to read about the other side of the story, seeing where people succeeded and failed when they started from scratch.  So, that’s pretty much what 5kMission is all about.

What did you do before you started blogging? Have ever had a job?

I’ve had lots of jobs, but I’m only in my 20s so I hadn’t really found my “career” yet.  I’ve worked with charities, done tech support, sold jewelry, lots of things.

My first part-time job was when I was 12 – I worked on a seafood restaurant that was shaped like a boat.  It was awful!  Even before that I’d done some entrepreneurial stuff though – babysitting, reselling comic books, you name it.

Are you making a full time income or are you at least where you want to be, in terms of money?

I’m definitely not earning a full-time living yet.  I’m just getting to the point where I’m earning a part-time income, but it’s increasing every month.  I’ve only been keeping part-time hours, so I’m getting a decent return on my time so far.  Hopefully within the next 6 months or so things will really start rolling.  I’ve only been trying to earn money online for about 4 months, and my blog’s been around for a little over a month.

How did you really learn to blog? Like did you read any blogs or buy any products?

I haven’t bought anything yet, but I’ve read a TON of blogs.  I still do, because there’s still a lot to learn.  In the meantime, I’m kinda blogging by the seat of my pants.  My blog’s all about stumbling on the way to success, so I’m not ashamed to make mistakes.  If anything, I hope it’ll make my story more useful and credible later.

How long did it take you before you actually started making $1 online?

I made my first dollar online my second day in.  The first service I used to make money online was Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing service run by Amazon.  I wasn’t really expecting it, but my blog made its first dollar this week – so that took me about 6 weeks.

Most people that you talk to online have had a rough beginning, what would you say was the toughest part when you where just getting started?

Part of it was just trying to find legitimate information without buying a bunch of snake oil.  I think we all know there’s a lot of crap out there, and navigating through the crap to find useful information was rough at first.  The other thing I had trouble with was trying to find answers to my questions when I didn’t know what I was asking for.  Not being familiar with the jargon made it hard to find answers to questions as they came up.  That was another thing that sort of led me to blogging, wanting to provide information for beginners in plain English.

If all the blogs online where deleted, besides yours, which one would you want to stay up?

That’s a tough question!  I’d probably have to say Copyblogger though.  That blog is full of so much interesting, quality information.

For people just getting started on their first blog, what’s the best advice you can pass on to them?

Learn as much as you can, but just get started. Learn as you go! Don’t sit around planning to start a blog for 6 months.  Jump in.

Would you ever trade the lifestyle that you have right now for a high paying 9 to 5? why?

I don’t think so.  I’ve always kind of hated working for other people, so I think I’ll probably be trying to make a living on my own terms from here on out.  It would be hard to go back to taking orders from someone else.  I get a lot of my work done at random times of day, and I’ve kinda fallen in love with working in my pajamas.  It would be hard to pull those things off in any other line of work.

Would you say their is a way for a new blogger to shorten their learning curve?

The biggest shortcut is to understand that there are no shortcuts.  You’re also responsible for your own learning curve, to an extent.  If you’re just reading and reading without actually doing anything, you’re not really learning.  You have to take the things you read about and start applying them.  Seeing a lesson in action is sometimes the best way to find out why or how something works.  If you’re willing to get your hands dirty, you’re halfway there.

If you had to give one tip that’s unique and useful for a new blogger or person looking to start their online business what would that be?

Get out there and meet people.  This is something I really underestimated at first, don’t make the same mistake.  Network your face off and it’ll pay dividends beyond belief.  I can’t stress this enough.  Keep making connections, and there’s no way you won’t expand your horizons.

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