Making Sense of Cents Review (Including an Interview with Michelle Schroeder-Gardner)

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Hi everyone!

Welcome to today’s post where I will be doing a personal review of Making Sense of Cents, along with an interview where I have invited Michelle Schroeder-Gardner from Making Sense of Cents.

I decided to reach out to Michelle to thank her for creating her affiliate marketing course as I saw real results that were life-changing after implementing her affiliate strategies.

At the same time, I asked if I could interview her because she had been so helpful in my blogging journey when I was a beginner who got started with affiliate marketing on my personal finance website.

Michelle inspired me a lot when I learned that her online blogging business generates over $50,000 per month in affiliate income, which doesn’t include her other blog income earnings from display ads, product sales, sponsorships, etc. If you included those, then she was earning as high as $100K+ per month, which is amazingly successful and a HUGE accomplishment!

No, I wasn’t looking or expecting to earn as much money as her, but I knew that I would be SO happy if I could quit my 9-5 job that I disliked so much to become a full-time blogger!

Well, it actually happened!

I was able to quit my day job and become a full-time blogger earning over six figures per year all because I started my blog with Bluehost and followed Michelle’s affiliate marketing strategies in her best-selling course, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, which I link to my full and honest review about when you read further down below.

It was the beginner’s course that helped me earn my first $1,000 and eventually $10,000 in affiliate marketing and you can see those results in my journey of becoming a full-time blogger earning my first $10,000 blogging per month here.

 

UPDATE: You can follow my blogging journey where I documented my first blog income report here earning my first $703.57 in a month as extra income all the way to $27,689.76 in March 2021.

Yes, I earned over $200,000 in net income in 2021 with my blogging business from making several mistakes but learning from them at the same time!

You can read all my blogging related articles in this archieve here.

 

Who is Michelle Schroeder-Gardner and what is Making Sense of Cents?

For those of you who don’t know, Making Sense of Cents is a personal finance and lifestyle blog.

From learning how to live frugally and saving money to investing and earning extra money, Michelle covers a broad category of topics that will help you sort out your finances.

She also blogs about blogging especially affiliate marketing to help bloggers reach their goals – that’s exactly how I got started with earning a full-time income with affiliate marketing on my first website when I took Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.

Not only that but Michelle also interviews and features many other bloggers and business owners who turned their small side hustles into successful businesses. I was honored to be featured on Making Sense of Cents with my article here on how I increased my Pinterest traffic from 0 to over 100,000 for two of my blogs.

She also interviews and features people who were able to achieve financial independence before retirement (something called “FIRE” – financially independent and retiring early) like this one here.

 

Making Sense of Cents Review

Here’s my journey and personal review of Making Sense of Cents and how I came across Michelle’s blog.

Before launching my personal finance blog, FinSavvy Panda, I was on the hunt for ways to make some extra cash. I was working at the bank during that period, but outside of those hours, I found myself involved in various side hustles like taking paid surveys, refurbishing furniture, creating and selling home decor, selling my old clothes, and so much more. Additionally, I was trying to increase my earnings by investing in stocks (yes, there were times when I engaged in short-term buying and selling) and being a landlord to three different families.

Interestingly, I wasn’t even aware that I was “side hustling,” and I didn’t know that phrase even existed – I was simply trying to find enjoyable hobbies that could also generate some income.

While those side hustles did help me earn some extra money, none of them were able to substitute for my full-time income. My goal was to consistently make at least $10,000 each month so I could leave my job.

Related post: Make Extra Money: How I Made Over $1,000,000 With These Side Hustles

Then, one day, I came across Michelle’s blog, Making Sense of Cents, and read about how she was making over $50,000 per month through affiliate marketing on her blog. I was blown away and thought it seemed too good to be true. When I started hearing stories about people making thousands of dollars online and leaving their jobs, my initial reaction was skepticism, thinking it could be a scam.

Despite my doubts about making money online, I still wanted to give blogging a try.

So, in the early days of my blogging journey, when I had set up my blog and was getting some traffic that generated money via Google AdSense, I felt lost and unsure of what to do next. Months of blogging had passed, and I hadn’t seen much progress.

I hesitated to reach out to Michelle because I knew she was an established blogger, and I assumed she would ignore my emails, as most bloggers did at that time when I was just starting out.

But, out of desperation for guidance, I emailed Michelle and asked if her course would be beneficial for me. Out of all the bloggers selling courses, she was the only one who responded, expressing confidence that her course, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, would indeed help me. At that moment, I decided to trust her, took the plunge, and bought her course.

I can’t believe she was right!

When I started getting traffic on my blog and promptly integrated some affiliate links into my posts by following the lessons from her course, I went from making $0 from affiliate marketing to my first $500. I was astonished to find that I was making an extra $500 a month online from affiliate marketing!

As I progressed and implemented more strategies from Michelle’s course, my earnings increased to at least $1,000, then $3,000, and eventually to a full-time income from affiliate marketing alone, which I discussed in a separate post on how to become a full-time blogger (advice from a six-figure blogger).

As a result, I was extremely satisfied with my initial interaction with Michelle and the purchase of her course.

I also want to highlight that her sister, Alexis, was incredibly kind to me during the early stages when I was just exploring affiliate marketing.

Before I quit my job and became a full-time blogger, I mentioned to Alexis that I was only receiving 15,000 to 18,000 monthly page views and felt stuck at that level. However, she was kind enough to review my blog, assured me that I was doing well for a beginner, and continued to encourage me to keep going.

Michelle and Alexis were both significant sources of inspiration and served as role models when I first started my blogging journey. I will always remember these two wonderful ladies because they didn’t dismiss me, even when my blog was in its infancy and had little to show.

On top of that, Michelle was kind to participate in this interview series years ago when I was still a novice blogger.

 

An Interview with Michelle from Making Sense of Cents

Now, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for.

Michelle will introduce herself along with her blog, Making Sense of Cents, and share some tips on how you can increase your blog income by mastering the right affiliate marketing strategy!

Without further ado, let’s hear it from the creator of Making Sense of Cents and Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, Michelle.

 

1. First, can you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?

Hello! My name is Michelle and I run the personal finance blog Making Sense of Cents. I have three finance-related college degrees and I used to be a financial analyst.

Around 7 years ago, I started my website with the aim of teaching people how to save money as well as journaling my personal finance journey after reading a magazine that featured a personal finance website in one of their articles. I became extremely interested in that website and my interest in blogging just grew from there. This is interesting and hilarious because, before that same summer, I had no idea about what blogs were, that they could even make money or anything along those lines.

I did not create my blog with the intention of making money blogging. It was all just a hobby and an outlet I then realized how much I loved blogging and realized that it was for me, so now I am a full-time blogger! I went full-time in October of 2013 and I haven’t looked back once. Blogging has completely changed my life for the better and it’s something that I recommend everyone try if they are interested.

On my blog Making Sense of Cents, I talk a lot about different ways to make extra money, the best ways to save money, achieving your dream life, RVing (me and my husband RV full-time), and more. I love running Making Sense of Cents and I am very happy that this is now my full-time career, my business, and pretty much my life.

 

2. We see that Making Sense of Cents is a huge success! It’s really impressive that your blog earns over $1,000,000 per year! How did you manage to do all of this? How were you able to differentiate yourself from other personal finance blogs throughout your blogging journey?

Thank you! It’s definitely been through a lot of hard work and many, many hours.

I differentiate myself in many ways, but I think the top way is that I write in a conversational style – so I make talking and learning about money less boring because I like to write like I’m talking to a friend. So, you’ll never find an article on Making Sense of Cents that sounds like a term paper, haha.

 

3. When did you first learn about affiliate marketing? And what sparked your interest to use affiliate marketing on your blog?

I’ve always been interested in affiliate marketing almost since around the time when I first I started my website, but I never thought it was possible before. I always thought that you had to have a huge following and a ton of page views in order to be successful with affiliate marketing.

Well, one day I decided to give myself a goal of earning affiliate income, and I worked towards achieving that goal. I started by making a little bit each month, and then it just continued to grow month after month.  I now know that you don’t need a ton of page views or a huge following in order to make a great income through affiliate marketing.

I love affiliate income because it can feel quite passive. You can create just one blog post or social media post and potentially earn money from it years down the line, as long as you maintain it and keep generating traffic to it. With affiliate marketing, I can enjoy life more and know that I am still able to earn a great living promoting products that I use and enjoy.

Think about it this way: If you already enjoy a product, why not get paid to promote it?

 

You can learn more about affiliate marketing for dummies and how you can make money here.

 

4. What are some of the common mistakes you see bloggers make today with affiliate marketing? How would you advise them to fix this?

You cannot just slap affiliate links on your blog and hope to make affiliate income, and this is the most common mistake that I see other bloggers make when it comes to affiliate marketing. You have to have some sort of strategy, which is what I teach in my course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. So many bloggers make this huge mistake and usually lose followers or waste their time because they don’t realize that there is a correct way and a wrong way to approach affiliate marketing!

 

You can also read all about my personal review of Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing here.

 

5. There are bloggers who don’t have the intention of pushing a sale, but as soon as a reader sees an affiliate link on the page, they may assume that the blogger is being “salesy.” What advice can you give?

If this is the case, then that usually means that the blogger does not have the correct affiliate marketing strategy. The blogger will need to change that.

 

6. So many bloggers are hesitant to spend money on courses because they say they can gain access to free material online. What are your thoughts on that?

Free material is almost never the same as paid material. Plus, you’ll most likely waste a lot of time reading junk in order to find the actual valuable stuff. There is so much to do when it comes to blogging, that who really would want to waste their time?

 

7. Many bloggers think they need at least 50,000 monthly page views (or a huge following) before they could start earning a decent income with affiliate marketing. Do you agree or disagree? Can you still benefit from affiliate marketing with lower page views?

I disagree. It’s more about the amount of loyal followers that you have, your email list, your content, and your affiliate marketing strategy. I know people who have taken my course who have reached a full-time income and don’t receive 50,000 monthly page views from their blog.

 

8. There are so many affiliate marketing courses out there today. Why do you recommend your course over others? What makes it so special?

I actually don’t think there are that many, haha.

My course is specifically for bloggers, while most other affiliate marketing courses are not.

My course also comes with a lot of high-quality bonuses, in addition to lessons that can’t be found anywhere else.

 

9. Are the affiliate marketing strategies in your course applicable to all blog niches or only certain ones?

The lessons in this course can be applied to any blogging niche. Whether you write about lifestyle, travel, finance, family, fashion, DIY, food, business, or anything else, you are able to apply everything to your affiliate marketing strategy.

 

10. Who would you recommend this course to? And who would you NOT recommend it to?

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is a great learning tool, even if you are a brand new blogger. By taking this course, you will start off blogging the correct way. You can learn from my affiliate marketing mistakes and learn the best ways to start making an income by being an affiliate. Through taking this course you are sure to grow a profitable blog quicker than the average blogger, as you’ll learn exactly what you need to know about affiliate marketing.

So, even if you only have one blog post, you are ready to get started with this course!

If you’re an advanced blogger, this course is for you as well. Affiliate marketing is an area that even the most seasoned bloggers can improve upon. Plus, most bloggers aren’t making anywhere near the amount of affiliate income that they should be and are leaving money on the table. If you want to grow your affiliate income, there are numerous tips and strategies that I share in Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.

My Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course is for you if:

• You want to have a profitable blog.
• You want to improve your blogging income even further.
• You want to earn income while you sleep.
• You want to write a blog post and earn money from it for years down the line, with minimal work needed.
• You tried affiliate marketing but haven’t had any luck.
• You want to spend more time with your loved ones and have a better work-life balance.
• You love blogging and want to be able to grow your blog, build trust with your audience, and help more people!
• I would not recommend this course to a person who does not want to put in the work. Blogging is NOT a get rich quick scheme.

 

11. What is the best advice you could give to bloggers who feel discouraged and are not seeing results with their blogs?

My best tip is to keep pushing through. So many people email me because they’re not seeing results. But, then I will look at their website or their strategy, and there are clear things that they are missing. This is where a course can really help a struggling blogger.

That’s the end of our Interview. Again, thank you, Michelle, for this interview. It was a pleasure having you here!

 

Wrap up with Michelle from Making Sense of Cents

I hope you enjoyed this interview with Michelle from Making Sense of Cents!

Readers, are you ready to start your blog and rock your affiliate marketing strategy?

If you are interested in learning more about affiliate marketing to take your blog to the next level, you can learn more about my personal experience and review on Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing here. I highlight both the pros and cons of her course and whether it’s worth the investment.