Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Our country had a recession 25 years ago.
People I know who graduated did sales, cleaning jobs, factory work etc until a job came up in the area they are interested in did best. You can pick up a lot of knowledge and skills in these sort of jobs. Be careful taking a paid job just for the title, eg marketing assistant you can just end up photocopying.
I know someone who was offered full time jobs while he was cleaning, but wouldn't take one until the right job was offered, he now owns his own company, has done very nicely for the last 20 years
Do you expect to one day be employed by that company? ask the firm how many unpaid people they have as interns, and how many of these have turned into paid work. Contact other companies human resource people and ask their opinions on internships - would you have a better chance of getting a job if you had completed an internship, and where.

With regards to the blogging portion of your question. I googled around a bit and (ironically?) was a bit inundated with spam when trying to search for some blog earning statistics. What I did see leads me to believe that someone is statistically more likely to play in the NFL than to earn $20k/year blogging. So your knees may not last as long, but you may be better off playing linebacker for a few years and just saving hard during that span.
I may be WAY off on this... and would be interested if anyone had any statistics. I'm going by a couple random 'top earning blog' sites that seemed to indicate #50 in the list was already down in the $25k/year range.
I think Jacob has a unique spin on his blog, and offers up interesting comments and fresh content enough to making it worth visiting. For every blog like his, there are 50 FI blogs reciprocally regurgitating the same drivel and creating an intertwined nest of self linking to try to keep each other alive. Then there are probably 500 more that I haven't even seen.
What I mean to say, is that I believe it is unrealistic to plan on blogging as a significant source of income. It's not simply a matter of working hard and following a number of clearly defined steps like you would to become a phlebotomist or a plumber.

I never did associate blogs with selling things. I know some sell advertising space. I never look at any of it. I don't know of a blog I like better than this one, and I am not just saying that to make points. Otherwise, me, someone who really doesn't fit here, would not keep coming back. I will say now that I like the forum more than the blog. I sometimes comment on the blog, but mostly I like the forum. I learn a lot on the forum. That is because I am out of touch in today's operations. Some of the comments enlighten me on what today's younger folks are facing. And it gives me pride at all the ingenuity I am seeing in them. Some on here are struggling, and some are on top of their game, or close to being on top. As I say, it is a connection to the here and now for me.

As I look at the ERE blog site, I see no advertising save the ERE book, which I have read, and think it is a very well written and thought out book. I found the book a good value at the price of it on Amazon. I did not see the blog or forum as a "stepping stone" to sell a book, but rather an advanced work of the blog. I liked the individual articles in the blog, and the book drew them all together. So, I am not intending to blow Jacob's horn, but all that is very positive.

If ERE blog had a laundry list of advertising on a daily basis, I would simply click though it, or get one of the software programs to make it invisible if that is possible.

I think we need BOTH the blog and the forum. Both are very worth while reading on a daily basis for me at least.

I like to comment on other people's posts if I have a contribution. I know I am often thought of as old fashioned or radical, but I have earned that title.

So, I will have a cold one tipped to Jacob and my forum mates and wish all the best. I look forward to more enlightenment on the ERE blog/forum.

Thanks

Herb Spencer