Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

Who The Hell Is Dave?

Welcome to David Risley dot com. I show bloggers how to turn their blogging into a business.

The Short Version

My name is David Risley. I’m guessing you figured that out by now. I blog for a living. I’ve gotten pretty good at it. Now, I show bloggers how to generate a full time income online and turn their passion into a solid, stable and profitable business.

I’m going to jump right to the point…

  • I will always tell it like it is. There’s the typical blogging fluff, then there is the real world stuff that actually grows a blog and pays the bills. I prefer the latter, don’t you?
  • I’ve been doing this for over 10 years and I’ve figured out a thing or two.
  • I’ve been generating a six-figure income for the last 6 years, and in 2009 I generated $204,173.56 from only two blogs.
  • I didn’t get started by talking about "make money" stuff. My background is as a tech blogger.
  • My philosophy is one which merges the world of blogging and social media with the world of internet marketing.
  • I live, eat and breathe this stuff. I absolutely love what I do.
  • You can count on me to help you.
  • I have been known to drop a few dirty words here and there. :)

I live in Tampa Bay, Florida with my wife and 2 little munchkins.

From Pushing Carts To Six Figure Blogger – My Story

My first job was as janitor to a hydraulics shop, cleaning everything from the kitchen to the toilets. I even had to clean the metal shavings from all the hydraulic machines. Then, I "upgraded" to a job at McDonalds. Woo. Hoo.

In school, I was basically a loner. You know, the "smart kid" who had no fashion sense whatsoever. Once I graduated, I guess I came out of my shell and came to be comfortable with people. I had always had a love of computers – perhaps partly out of a discomfort with people. That hobby intersected with a twist of fate when I read an article in Yahoo Internet Life about how to build a website in 20 minutes or less. Before long, I was a webmaster of a beautifully horrible website, complete with blinking text and animated icons. It was, however, the beginning of what would end up being my life’s mission.

College, Beer, And The "Cart Jockey" Life

I went to college and got a degree in Information Systems Management from the University of South Florida. During this time, I worked a college job at Sam’s Club. I started out as the "cart jockey". You know, the dude who goes out into the parking lot to fetch your cart and bring it back into the store. Lovely, I must say.

Eventually, I moved "up" to cashier, then supervisor. During this whole time, I was working on my online business. I had started PCMech.com, a hobbyist technology site and had managed to get it up to a point where it was actually making me some side money. So, college, for me, was basically being a mediocre student, working at Sam’s, and shooting a lot of pool with my buddies and drinking beer by the pitcher.

By 2001, it was coming time to graduate and get started with a real life. I was making enough money online to make Sam’s Club seem like a colossal waste of time. I had stayed with it for the social life, but eventually grew a brain, put in my two weeks notice, and quit. I have not had a "real job" since.

From Hobby Blogger To Full-Time

In August 2001, I graduated from USF. While my friends were looking for IT jobs, I wasn’t even looking. I had decided to stay in business for myself, making my money on the Internet. Within a couple years, I had purchased my own home and had two cars in the garage – one for everyday and one for fun (a little Mazda Miata). In true internet fashion, my wife (Malika) and I met on Eharmony.com in 2004. In 2005, we moved in together. In 2007, I sold my house, we got married and we had our daughter, Elyana. In February 2010, we brought our son, Nathan, into the world.

Today, I’m a family man who still pursues my ultimate lifestyle via the Internet. PCMech.com remains my flagship blog and has been a six-figure business in its own right for several years now. About two years ago, I decided to begin a second blog – this one.

My family now depends on what I do online. This adds a new level of necessity and a new drive to what I do. I do what I do because it is loads of fun. But, the fact that I can give my two kids a good lifestyle is what it all comes down to now.

Here are a few other places to learn more about me:

What’s This Blog About?

DavidRisley.com is properly entitled "Confessions of a Six Figure Blogger". I have been making my living entirely on the Internet for many years now. For much of my time in this line of work, I didn’t talk about what I did. I just talked about computers and tech on PCMech. I started this blog so that I can really start to talk about my passions – lifestyle design through the use of the Internet. And by lifestyle design, I mean do the things that I want to do, empowered by my internet business.

This blog is a plain-English, pull-no-punches tale of my life as an Internet entrepreneur and problogger. Topics include blogging, blog marketing, affiliate marketing, blog setup, social media, social media marketing – etc. I also throw in the occasional personal post. Hey, the site has my name on it for a reason!

There are a lot of people out there talking about how to make money as a blogger. I’m most certainly not the first one and I highly doubt I’ll be the last. But, I am a dude who has successfully made my living online for many years – probably much longer than most of the others. I started this blog because I firmly believe that my approach and my way of helping is unique.

In early 2009, I launched my first information product in this market – a 3 day orientation course for people brand new to the realm of online business. Later in 2009, I launched Blog Masters Club, a six month training program which essentially compiles my decade of experience in this business into a video training course. Consisting of over 90 videos and over 30 hours of instruction, I’m fairly confident this is the most in-depth training program for bloggers online today. In 2010, I launched the Inner Circle program, a "continuing education" program for bloggers who want a closer level of access to me – a real over-the-shoulder, insider look at how I run my own business.

I look forward to connecting with you, and I hope you enjoy DavidRisley.com.



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