_(2).jpeg)
It's often said that you should work smarter not harder, and now one woman has revealed how she makes £660K a year while working just 10 hours a week.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, 33, is one of a few people living their dream life, thanks to her incredible side hustle.
It all began when she was struggling to pay off her student debt in 2011, which inspired her to create a blog to document her journey to what she hoped would be a debt-free life - but it ended up being a lot more than that.
Advert
This blog is called Making Sense of Cents, and it became so successful over a two-year period that Michelle was able to pay off all of her loans and pursue its continued creation full time in 2013.
She told CNBC Make It: "When I created my money and lifestyle blog Making Sense of Cents in 2011, I had no idea what I was doing.
"I was a 22-year-old financial analyst making £34,680 a year and struggling to pay off my student loans.
"But my debt was actually a large part of why I started blogging - I wanted to track and share the progress of my financial goals.
Advert
"Eleven years later, Making Sense has grown beyond my wildest dreams.
"Over the last five years, I've grossed an average of £660,000 per year in passive income by providing advice on how to start investing, which financial products to use, and how to tackle other money decisions."
Michelle now spends just 10 hours a week on her blog and lives a nomadic lifestyle on a boat with her husband and baby daughter, aged six months.
She has also become financially independent, allowing her to spend most of her time on her passions, like hiking and snorkelling.
Advert
The mum-of-one first monetised her blog when it was around six months old, after a company paid her £86 for a sponsored post to reach an audience of 50,000 a month.
This then inspired her to look into further monetising her blog, which prompted her to post more often, and set up adverts on her site.
And, thanks to Michelle reaching out to some brands for sponsored posts, it wasn't long before she was making between £4,336 and £8,673 a month.
The influencer then set up a blogging course in 2016 to teach others how to follow in her footsteps, and now sells two courses - Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing and Making Sense of Sponsored Posts to her followers.
And over time, Michelle has developed her business model into various passive income streams, providing her with a gross revenue of £3,468,020 over five years.
Advert
She uses this to fund her dream life and revealed that it comes from three main areas - affiliate marketing, courses, and blog advertisements. Nowadays, she posts on her blog once or twice a week.
Michelle said: "I'm always trying to increase my passive income.
"On top of blogging, my husband and I invest in both individual stocks and investment accounts to add our retirement fund.
"Since I live and travel on a sailboat, there's not always reliable internet.
Advert
"So without passive income drivers, my family and I wouldn't be able to enjoy this wonderful nomadic lifestyle."
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/ @michelleschro