source - google.com
Whether you’re an aspiring blogger or just looking for a little inspiration in your life, here’s a list of 10 best blogs with inspirational bloggers who all started out as, well… bloggers. Enjoy!
- Meet Gary Vaynerchuk @GaryVaynerchuk.com
He’s a very loud and charismatic New Yorker who gained internet fame as the crazy and outgoing host of Wine Library TV, a video blog that obsessively talked about everything related to wine. Through online video blogging, he built his wine business from a $3-million-dollar-a-year wine retail store to a $60 million dollar wine wholesale business.
Gary Vaynerchuk has built a multi-million dollar empire relating to his personal brand. He’s a two-time best-selling author and co-founder of Vayner Media, a very large digital marketing agency that works with some of the largest brands in the world.
He’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, GQ, and Time Magazine, as well as appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
- Meet Rand Fishkin @SEOmoz.org
Rand Fiskin is a college dropout who started blogging about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) back in 2004 while working for a family-run web development company. He was also providing SEO consulting services to a few small clients.
SEOmoz has since left the consulting business and instead focuses exclusively on creating awesome SEO software, as well as supporting a large community with educational resources related to the search industry.
It is rumored that the company generates millions of dollars each and every month from its software and subscription services. The company also raised $18 million in 2012, which it has been using to acquire other companies. Rand is still actively running the company and occasionally posts on the main blog.
- Meet Pat Flynn @SmartPassiveIncome.com
Pat is one of the most inspirational bloggers in the world. After losing his job a few years into his career, he was forced to scramble to support his growing family. He started a website called “SmartPassiveIncome.com” to track his progress with various websites and online money making projects.
He has since built a massive following and readership thanks to his transparency and honesty. Still to this day, Pat discloses his monthly earnings to readers, which has inspired countless individuals.
Pat currently attends industry conferences, runs a regular podcast for his readers, and spends as much time as he can with his family. Pat has earned, on average, around $50,000 USD per month.
- Meet Brian Clark @Copyblogger.com
Brian Clark is the founder of Copyblogger. He started the blog back in 2006 as a resource for entrepreneurs to learn to be better copywriters, content marketers, and all around “kings of content.” The blog has since grown to become an authority on creating killer content for the web.
With 100k+ subscribers, Brian got smart and leveraged his readership to launch Copyblogger Media, which launched several spinoff companies. These software companies include Scribe, Synthesis, Premise, and StudioPress.
The genius behind his business model is that his loyal readers love him and line up to buy the marketing software his company creates. Brian is still very active in the day-to-day of running Copyblogger.
Andrew started his blog, The Daily Dish, near the end of 2000. By the middle of 2003, he was receiving about 300,000 unique visits per month.
In 2013, Sullivan made some big changes and decided to leave his other his other blogging gigs (formerly at TIME, The Atlantic, and The Daily Beast) to work on The Daily Dish full-time. On launch day, the blog reportedly took in over $330,000 in recurring revenue, charging an average of $20/month to readers.
- Meet Harvey Levin @TMZ.com
Harvey is an American lawyer, legal analyst, blogger, and celebrity reporter. His website TMZ is a leading authority on celebrity gossip.
You can frequently see Harvey hosting his own TV show or appearing as a guest on celebrity related matters on CNN, FOX, and other networks. He managed to leverage the popularity of his blog to build a personal brand for himself.
- Meet Michael Arrington @TechCrunch.com
Michael is one of my favorite bloggers of all time. He started out as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer working on tech deals in California. After realizing his passion for the startup world, he decided to start a tech blog called TechCrunch.com, where he profiled and reviewed some of the best up-and-coming tech companies and entrepreneurs from around the world.
TechCrunch became one of the most widely read blogs in the tech industry, and as a result, it was Acquired by AOL for $30 Million dollars. Michael used the proceeds of the sale to become an angel investor and to set up his own investment fund, CrunchFund, to invest in startups. Today, Arrington is still considered to be a mover and shaker in the valley.
- Meet Tim Ferriss @Fourhourworkweek.com/blog
Tim is a self-proclaimed life hacker who built a massive following online through his blog posts. He is the author of the “4 Hour Work Week” which became an instant bestseller. He has also gone on to publish two other best-selling books.
He’s a frequent lecturer around the globe. He has also popularized the idea of “lifestyle design” and living an unconventional life.
Tim is credited with popularizing the “internet lifestyle” or the ability of lifestyle entrepreneurs to work on their laptops from wherever in the world.
- Meet Timothy Sykes @TimothySykes.com
Tim started blogging to document how he turned $12,000 of his Bar-Mitzvah Money into over $1 million dollars. He has gained internet fame for being an authority on Penny Stock trading.
His blog has hundreds of thousands of visitors, which has allowed him to launch additional companies like Profit.ly, which educate other traders on trader strategies.
He can frequently be seen making television appearances on ABC, CNN, FOX, and CNBC about stock market matters.
- Meet Darren Rowse @Problogger.net
Darren is another blogger who you have to know about. He started blogging as a hobby. He blogged about the Olympics and his passion for photography, then eventually started Problogger, a website dedicated to helping other bloggers.
Darren is currently a full-time blogger and started making money from advertising deals, affiliate programs, adsense, and selling an e-book.
Darren has gained quite a bit of fame online and was named to the Forbes Internet Celebrity list in 2007. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his family and still makes a full-time living from blogging!