A professional food blogger does not a media empire make.

See, I have referred to grit and persistence a good deal on this site.

If you couple that tenacity with something that you love, well you might just have a recipe for long-term success.

But if you want more than that, more will be required.

Starting a successful hardware store by doing X, Y, and Z will not get you to the size of Lowe’s or Home Depot.

And I think we can all agree that making it as full-time blogger is a world away from owning CNN or Slate.

I have seen this play out with pastors of all people.

A pastor of a church of 300 members is a completely different job than a pastor of a church with 10,000 members.

It all boils down to what you want and how much you want to grow.

Are you ready for a job change?

Because a common food blogger and the Pioneer Woman are further apart than we can probably imagine.

Entrepreneurs start out doing what they love. Not because it makes sense, or because it’s a great market, but because they cannot imagine themselves doing (or eating) anything else. On the one hand, that passion and commitment is an asset. It can help early-stage companies push through the ugly barriers that make it so difficult to find a business model. On the other, once there’s a small, working operation that’s found revenue, the leadership needs to refocus on all the tasks a growing organization demands. Testing ingredients, taking photos, finding obscure, forgotten recipes, and sharing them with the world may have gotten you where you are, but it won’t take you from food blogger to media empire.

-Rand Fishkin, Lost And Founder