Interview With Sumit Sao – Side Hustle Journey From job to $1000+

I am glad to present an interview with Sumit Sao the founder of BloggingLift and ExactBlogging.

There are few reasons I interviewed Sumit Sao such as:

• He has been side hustling for quite a while now and escaped the 9-5 rate job with side hustles. Now making 4 figure dollars monthly from Blogging and Affiliate Marketing.
• He is very true inspiration for one who wants to turn side hustle into full time living.
• I have been watching his growth. By nature, he is a very humble, excellent guy who is always there to help people.
• He possess excellent Blogging, SEO, Affiliate Marketing skills.

So without wait let’s hear the side hustle success story in this interview with Sumit Sao.

Interview with Sumit Sao Founder of BloggingLift

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1. Could you tell us about yourself?

Hi Amol, Thanks for inviting me to this awesome interview series.

Hey Growth Funda readers, I’m Sumit Sao, 27 years old passionate blogger from India and founder of BloggingLift.com & ExactBlogging.com, where I try to provide helpful guides related to Blogging, SEO, and Affiliate Marketing.

Apart from this, I’m also running a Facebook group, “Blogging Lift VIP Group” which is joined by 43,700+ bloggers all around the world.

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2. What were the challenges you faced when you started your side hustle journey along with your full-time job?

When I started my blogging journey back in 2017 then at that time, I was doing a full-time job as an engineer in a private company, at that time it was tough for me to manage my day job and blogging at the same time.

I tried lots of time management strategies during this hard time, but not all worked for me. 

So, Finally, I planned Saturday and Sunday for my blogging activities, and Monday to Friday (approx. 1-2 hours in the evening), I decided to work on a Facebook group to build my audience. 

I started helping people in my group and other blogging-related groups that helped me a lot to build some authority. It also helped me a lot to grow my Facebook group.

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3. Leaving a full-time job to become a full-time Blogger is a tuff decision. Any plan you followed for this transition?

The decision to leave my full-time job to become a full-time blogger was one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make. It took a lot of research to figure out if it was even the right decision for me. 

I decided to leave my job because I don’t want a life where I’m working for someone else’s dream. I want to live the way I want to. 

So, as soon as I realized that earning from my blog is more than my job, I leave my job and started blogging full-time.

Here are some of my plans for growing my blogging business:

• I’m currently focusing on only those things which can help me to increase revenue from my blog. 
• Publishing Videos on YouTube: I started publishing videos on YouTube and noticed that the conversion rate on YouTube is better than a blog. I got affiliate sales even with 100-150 views. So, I’ll publish more and more videos on YouTube very soon. 
• Growing my email list and Facebook Group to build my audience.

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4. How did you choose Blogging as Side Hustle over any other?

This story is very interesting. During the last semester of my Engineering, I learned HTML.

So, I decided to design a webpage by writing HTML codes. But after designing this webpage. The main problem was that I did not know how to show this page on the internet.

But from somewhere I came to know that we have to purchase a domain name for this. So, I purchased a domain name.

After purchasing that domain name, I was very confused. Because I did not know how to link this domain name to my webpage.

I called the Godaddy support team then they informed me that I need to purchase hosting for this. And finally, I purchased hosting from Godaddy and launched my single-page educational website.

After that, one day, I accidentally visited ShoutMeLoud and I think that they also designed this awesome website by writing HTML codes.

But After reading ShoutMeLoud articles, I knew that they are using the WordPress platform and we can even earn money from our blog through Google AdSense and affiliate marketing, etc. 

So, I started some blogs on WordPress and after 3 unsuccessful blogs finally, launched Blogging Lift.

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5. How did you manage time when you were doing both Blogging and 9-5 job? Also, what’s your current schedule?

As I already told you that at that time I was also doing a full-time job as an engineer in a private company.

So, I planned Saturday and Sunday for my blogging activities, and Monday to Friday (approx. 1-2 hours in the evening), I decided to work on a Facebook group to build my audience.

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6. Why one can start a side hustle? Any directions that you would like to give?

 A side hustle is a great way to make extra money. It’s the second source of your income. 

I will suggest everyone choose side hustle as a source of income. Because this will bring some extra income to your pocket. Don’t worry, It is not harder to start a side hustle.

I will suggest you start with blogging or YouTube. You can easily do affiliate marketing through your blog or YouTube channel and make a good amount of money.

Quick Tip: If you are planning to start a blog for a side hustle then I want to tell you that writing articles is not a difficult task. 

But still, If you think that you don’t have enough expertise in writing articles then you can make use of tools like Jarvis Ai, an AI tool that can write SEO optimized unique articles for you. You’ll be glad to know that Jarvis works with a famous SEO tool “Surfer SEO”. So, you don’t need to worry about article quality.

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7. According to you, what are the good online business\side hustles ideas one can start?

It depends on the person! There’s a lot of folks that are into different things. So I would say to figure out what you love and then see if there’s a way to make money off of that thing.

Here are some good side hustles ideas:

• Start a Blog
• Start a YouTube Channel
• Create an online course and sell it
• Affiliate Marketing 
• Dropshipping
• Become a freelancer

And the list of ideas could go on………

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8. How to Start a Blog? Do you have any course\eBook on Blogging so that audience can learn?

Starting a blog is not a difficult task. Follow these simple steps:

1. Select A Niche. e.g. Blogging, Technology, Business, etc.
2. Purchase A Domain Name. (You can purchase domain from NameCheap)
3. Purchase a Good Web Hosting (e.g. GreenGeeks, A2Hosting, Very cheap webshosting like NameCheap )
4. Install and setup your WordPress blog
5. Start Writing Articles 
6. Monetize blog through Google AdSense or Affiliate Marketing.

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9. What is the future of Blogging & Affiliate Marketing? And is it a good career option?

Blogging is not going anywhere. It’s only going to continue to get bigger and better. People always need answers to their problems and they need answers fast. A blog allows you to answer those questions in a very easy-to-digest, brief manner. And quite frankly, people trust it.

Also, Affiliate Marketing is not passing by any time soon. The future of affiliate marketing is growing and becoming even larger! Trust me, blogging and affiliate marketing is a tremendous career path. So, don’t worry about it.

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10. What is a key message\tip you would like to give to everyone? (Especially Full-time Employee, Students)?

Be consistent. I see a lot of people get super excited when they start a side hustle. But, the problem is they quit too soon. 

If they don’t see any progress within 2-3 months then they give up. Don’t be that person! 

First, you need to understand that blogging, affiliate marketing, or any side hustle is not a rich quick scheme. That’s just not how it works. 

You have to put in the time and effort and work at it. But if you do, then you can see some really good results! I promise you that. You just need to be consistent.

So, be patient and be consistent. If you don’t see progress, in the beginning, don’t worry about it. You will eventually see it. It takes time to be successful at something. So keep going.

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11. Could you share a few words\testimonials about my blog?

Your blog is very helpful for those who want to start a side hustle. Also, The expert interview series of your blog is really helpful to learn and gain more knowledge about this topic. Keep up the good work and keep on publishing quality articles. All the best.

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I hope you like this interview with Sumit Sao, so do share with your friends and read more Side Hustle Success Story Here.

Read Next: Meet Man Making Money Blogging & Living Laptop Lifestyle With $5000+ Per Month

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