If you are blogging as a business, have you decided whether or not this is what you want to do for the rest of your life? To quote Kurt Scholle, “a blog is not a business plan”. A blog is part of your business.  It can be a huge part of your revenue and your business, but it’s not a business plan and strategy. Do you really want to be posting every day, even multiple times a day for the years to come or even the rest of your life?

When I travel on a plane, I always pick a seat closest to the exit. Aside from the fact that it’s a little more roomier there, I like the confidence in knowing that I can get off the plan pretty quickly if something were to happen. As stressful as flying is, I have a little more peace of mind if I know where the exit is and am close to it.

The internet is constantly changing. New start-ups appear and the ways to make money are endless. A blogging niche can get flooded very quickly, and then what is your plan? Trends and the needs of consumers/blog readers will be constantly changing in the next several years, and I strongly believe that it is important to have an exit strategy.

What are your 3-5 year goals?

If you do not have any, it’s time to come up with some. Any good business will tell you that you need to be thinking ahead over the next few years.

• Do you want to just keep blogging at the same thing you are doing? Great! Use that to plan your strategy.
• Do you want to get noticed and hired by a company? Everything you do for the next few years should support that.
• Do you want to be wealthy enough so that you can walk away from your blog?
• Do you want to make enough to support your family and outsource the work on your blog?
• Do you eventually hope to sell your blog?

Whatever your goal is for the next 3-5 years, you’ll need a plan and, quite possibly, an exit strategy.

What is an exit strategy?

It’s the plan you set in place for if and when you want to leave your blog or move onto other things. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you HAVE to leave your blog, but I do think you should have a plan in place in case your blog/business never becomes a profitable stream of income, or discontinues to be one (note that it’s also good to have other things in case you lose your passion for your blog – I strongly believe you should never do anything that you aren’t passionate about).

Any smart business person will tell you that it’s important to not be dependent on one source of income. The phrase “multiple streams of income” gets thrown around a lot, and for good reason.

An exit strategy can also be the plan you set in place for your blog/business to continue thriving after you leave. Many people love working with startups and just want to create a great start, but then move on to other things. If you want your blog to succeed after you are gone, then you definitely should have a plan in place for when you do decide to move on/sell.

Have you ever thought about what your exit strategy should be? What kind of things you do recommend for making a good exit strategy? I look forward to your feedback and comments!

P.S. No, I’m not making any plans to leave/sell my blogs anytime soon. But I do have back-up plans in place.

photo courtesy of Noby46.