Have you ever wanted to be your own boss, work your own hours, and talk about the things that interest you? For many people in the 21^st century, such a lifestyle is the new American dream, and it may not be as inaccessible as you once thought. Many people are turning to blogging as an additional, and sometimes even primary, source of income.

Jeremy Biberdorf had been doing professional website marketing since 2000, but like many people in the United States, ran into rough times once the latest recession hit. Jobless in a career field that couldn't layoff employees fast enough, Biberdorf had a big decision to make. His choice? Become his own boss.

Luckily for Biberdorf, his previous job gave him much of the know how to start a blog, and he had already started up several websites for secondary streams of income. Combining his already ideal skillset with his knowledge of the market, Biberdorf realized that there was an opportunity for him to be able to eek out a living by starting a financial blog. While this money would get him by while he was unemployed, it was the unexpected benefits of running his own site that really turned Biberdorf's luck around.

By starting a financial blog, he had to learn an incredible amount of information about investment strategies and methods to reduce costs. Suddenly he had never been better about managing what money he did have. Then of course there is the social aspect of blogging. Before he knew it, Biberdorf was connected with many of the big names in the financial blogosphere

Even after his blog took off (it even got nominated for financial blog newcomer of the year), Biberdorf kept applying to whatever jobs he could find, and soon was able to land a job doing website marketing for a financial company. Undoubtedly what separated him from the rest were the high performance of his blog and the wealth of his newfound contact information in the community.

While Biberdorf's experience is by no means common, it does prove a point. With a little bit of know-how and a lot of drive, it's possible to not only start a blog to help you through rough financial times, but to then actually use that blog to better your own life and further still, land a better job.

There are more than 20 million bloggers in the U.S. and 1.7 million of them are getting paid to contribute to the blogosphere. Granted, only about 2% of all boggers are able to make a successful living doing it, but the potential is still there for six-figure incomes. If you're interested blogging just might be the right choice for you, and who knows, it might even be the difference between wallowing in a recession and floating right on through.