Work From Home Blogger

Philadelphia's citypaper.net reported, that it is  difficult in Philadelphia to make some cash on the side as a blogger. The city sent out letters to thousands of blogger, demanding $50 per year for a professional license or $300 for a permanent license. Unless you have a professional license you are not allowed to publish a blog, which the city considers as a professional activity.

An annual fee of $50 does not seem like a lot. But some of the blogger earned less than that. There was one case of a woman who made whopping $11 from her website within two years and was still asked to pay the $50 fee.

While it is understandable that a city can not assess every business and determine whether they actually make money or not, there should be some kind of threshold which gives freelancers some room. If for example the activity brings in less than lets say $500 per year, nobody in their right mind would consider that a business.

Continue reading on the next page.


As far as I know, not even the IRS would ask for a share, if the total revenue of a company was only $500 in a given year. Why the city of Philadelphia has not rules like that is unclear. But maybe there are rules like that, but they are not broadly known. A business license is not a tax and only gives a person to do business.

It is definitely possible to make much more money with blogging or freelance writing. The person that only made $11 within two years was probably not really trying to make any money.