AskPat 2.0: A Weekly Coaching Call on Online Business, Blogging, Marketing, and Lifestyle Design

#1191 Today we're speaking with Tracy Diane Jones, a geologist, author, and owner of the website Mini Me Geology. Not only does her business name have a nice ring to it, but Mini Me Geology is also a great resource for kids, teachers, and parents, to learn more about rocks. And Tracy does literally rock! She helps kids develop a love for geology through the kits, books, and activities available on her website. With the rise in interest in STEM education, Tracy's business was doing pretty well, but then some stuff happened in her personal life. She's been trying to get back on track, but she's finding that the old strategies for growing Mini Me Geology haven't been working so well lately. By the end of our conversation, you'll hear that Tracy pretty much knew what she had to do, but was a little scared or reluctant to embrace and take these necessary steps. So what are those steps? Make sure you listen all the way through to find out! Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/ap1191.

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#1190 Today we're talking with Gillian Tietz from Sober Powered. Gillian is an amazing person who's helping loads of people get sober with the help of her scientific background, through her podcast, website, Facebook group, and Instagram. I'm so proud of what Jillian is doing with her podcast and her platform, stepping up, being vulnerable and sharing her own story to help others. It's an amazing example of somebody who has gone through some stuff, who has found a solution, and is learning as much as they can and now wants to pass it forward. However, she's having a little bit of trouble connecting all of the pieces. Namely, her large following on Instagram and Facebook doesn't know her podcast exists or are not convinced enough to click play yet. That's what we're going to talk about today: how do we reduce the friction keeping people from getting from social media to our podcast? Because Gillian knows that when people listen to her show, it's changing lives. You'll hear a lot of good ideas today for drawing people in your community to your podcast, which you can hopefully implement if you have a podcast of your own! Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/ap1190.

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#1189 Time travel is one of my favorite things, and I love to incorporate it into AskPat by bringing people back to see how things have been going. Jackie Bolen of ESLSpeaking.org has actually been a guest on AskPat a couple of times before, in episodes 1003 and 1046. And she's been on an incredible journey. As you'll learn if you listen to her two previous episodes, she started out doing niche websites and helping people with ESL, and then doing some Amazon-focused stuff. She was going to partner with some people who were supposed to take a bunch of work off of her plate, but it didn't quite work out. Today we're going to dive a little bit deeper into what happened there and where things are now, and you're going to see this very nice story arc that Jackie has followed recently. Jackie is doing pretty well now, but she had to go through some messy stuff in the middle to find her way there. As her story shows, sometimes you don't realize how much you miss something or how good you had it until you don't have it anymore. Jackie's experience also shows the benefit of sticking with one niche and going deep, so you can build relationships and develop a much greater lifetime value (LTV) of each customer. Her story can be a great lesson for all of us, so check it out.

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#1188 Today we're talking with Stephanie Taylor from the UK. She and her sister have a business together at Rent2RentSuccess.com. That's essentially a way to rent a property from a landlord, then rent it out again. She and her sister teach others how to do this through their course and membership program. Things are starting to take off, but Stephanie is wondering: Now that we're here, how do we get to the next level? When you find a little success online, you might find yourself facing an even bigger challenge than the one that it took for you to get started. Now that you're making money, how do you make sure you don't lose it? How do you grow and scale the business? You have more options now, but you're faced with a fork in the road. How do you make the right decisions and avoid burnout or regret? How do you overcome the fear of success and growth because you're not mentally ready or don't know what to expect? All great questions we're going to tackle today! We uncover a lot of great things here, including how to get past some of the tricky psychology around making money, and we find some strategies to help Stephanie—and perhaps you—move forward. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/ap1188.

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#1187 Today on the show we're talking with Rose Griffin from ABASpeech.org. Rose is a seasoned speech therapist who's helped many people. Her specialty these days is helping professionals who work with people with complex speech disorders or autism. She's doing great work, and she's already got a course and a podcast out in the world. So what's she struggling with? Well, she wants to know whether to make her course evergreen, or only make it available at certain times of the year. Should she create some FOMO for her target audience by opening and closing the course at regular intervals? Or is that going to be too much work? We also get into a discussion about pricing. When you get to the moment Rose announces the price of her course, you might already know what I'm going to tell her. But stick around to find out. We really dig into the ins and outs of course launch strategy, as well as the mysteries of pricing (because seriously, pricing is weird). This is a great episode if you've got a course that's doing well and you want to make the most of it, so give it a listen. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/ap1187.

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#1186 Today I have the pleasure of talking with Daz Cater over in the UK. Daz manages two different blogs, plus he has a full-time job in construction along with being a husband and dad of two kids, and he's wondering whether or not he can balance it all. This is a really fun conversation, especially because of Daz's main interest and the focus of one of his blogs at retrogamerdaz.com: retro toys and collectibles. (I'll just say that his video background is one of the coolest ones I've seen in all my years of interviewing people.) His other website, nextstopwdw.com, is a Disney travel blog where he offers tips and documents his family's journeys through Disney properties. He's built up a decent following on both sites, but he's feeling stuck. Can he manage both, or should he focus on just one of them? That's exactly what we chat about today. I think you'll get a kick out of this one, especially if you love collectibles, Disney, or both! Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/ap1186.

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#1185 Today we're talking with Shira Kates from Snapdragon Strategy. Shira has a lot of experience in the corporate world and Silicon Valley. She's done a lot of really cool things, but she's ready for her next phase and wants to try something else. Is it coaching? Is it something else? She's got a few opportunities lined up, but she needs help focusing. She also wants to know how she can move in the direction of creating passive income, to give herself some time back and create balance in her life. Along those lines, Shira wants to know: is passive income even real today? Is it possible to easily create a passive income-driven business anymore? That's a really cool discussion we have, too. We also explore the importance of networking and keeping relationships alive throughout your journey. And on top of that, which is maybe the most important part of my conversation with Shira is, how do you leave a legacy, to your family and others? Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/ap1185.

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#1184 Today we're talking with Kathy Walker, who was previously on the show in late 2019. She had won an award—the 2019 North Carolina assistant principal of the year award, and wanted to know she might use this award to get more assistant principals to find her show and build her audience. As you might recall, a lot has happened between late 2019 and now, particularly the COVID pandemic. As an assistant principal, obviously Kathy's line of work was dramatically affected, with the shift to virtual learning and supporting teachers and students through all the changes and challenges. Cool fact: Kathy was one of the regulars on the Income Stream, a 365-day straight live stream I did on YouTube. Kathy came in almost every day and was a big part of the community that built up around the show, and I got to know her and work really well. Today, we'll get a little insight on what life was like as an educator during COVID. And we'll also find out what happened to Kathy's brand and her podcast. I'm excited for you to hear this "Where are they now?" conversation. Let's dive into what's happening for Kathy! Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/ap1184.

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#1183 Today's guest, Kimberly Reynolds, aka Dr. Kimmy of Productive on Purpose, is at a crossroads. She's created a thriving community built around helping women with productivity and overcoming procrastination. At the same time, she's been niching down and coaching women on building businesses and walking in their purpose. The coaching is taking off—to the tune of $50,000 in revenue in just two months. But she's feeling torn in two directions, and knows she can't commit to both focuses. What should she do? Can she find a way to serve both of her audiences? Can she transition away from managing her community without leaving people hanging? She's going to have to start making some pro-level, CEO, executive-type decisions in her business, and Pat is here to help guide her. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/ap1183.

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#1182 William Barton from BootSpy.com has a really interesting question today. It's one you might have wrestled with in your own business: How do I launch something when I don't have a list or anybody out there who knows that I exist yet? How do I validate this thing? How do I ensure that it's going to work before I put all this time and effort into it? You may be familiar with a little book I wrote called Will It Fly?, which is all about how to test your next business idea so you don’t waste your time and money. We're going to discuss a lot of the principles, strategies, and techniques that I share in that book with William today. If you’re launching something, you want to build that audience and validate your idea first, so let's get into it. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/ap1182.

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