Launch Your Blog Biz

016. It’s finally time for us to tell the other side of our story. 

Many of you know from following us -- or from creeping on old photos of us on Instagram (you know who you are) -- that Alex and I used to date.

It was amazing, because blogging can feel pretty isolating at times.

Your family and friends probably don’t understand what you’re doing, or what you’re going through, and they might be skeptical or downright unsupportive of your new business venture. 

Having a business partner, whether it’s your significant other or a friend or acquaintance, can make this journey more fun and oftentimes more successful. 

We were so passionate in the beginning, and more than that, we both understood each other, and what we were going through with starting our blog, and it was a level of understanding that no one else in our lives could provide. 

But at some point, there was a shift...

We got to a point where, while our business was flourishing, our relationship had just quietly...stopped developing. 

Now what do we do? How do we disentangle our personal lives without making any changes to our really successful business?

It wasn’t always easy and the road has been a bit bumpy.

We kept these details private for a long time because we didn’t want to damage the persona that we had created as this “power couple.”

And while we did update our About Us page to reflect the true events, we didn’t go into detail.

Until now…

We finally feel like we have the right platform to express our feelings about how we managed our breakup and continue to run our business together successfully today.

So this episode is going to be a little different, and a lot more personal.

And since mixing personal relationships and business can be really hard more often than not, we hope our story will help some of you who also might be navigating these rough waters. 

We’re sharing: 

• Our experiences with starting an online business as a couple
• What our work life balance was like in the beginning 
• The ups and downs of starting a business together, and how we made it work  
• How we navigated our breakup while still running our business together
• Rebuilding our working relationship, and redefining our roles in the business 
• Why we’ll never just be business partners
• What our relationship is like now

For additional resources and show notes, visit the episode podcast page on our website.

Resources and Mentions:

• Episode 1: Our Story
• Episode 4: How We Started Blogging With a Failure
• Tutorial: How to Start a Successful Blog
• Start your first blog with our Free 5-Day Blogging Bootcamp

For more information and resources, check out the podcast page on our website.

015. When it comes to running and managing my business, I’m the first person to admit that I would prefer to do everything myself, at all times. 

Not that I want to do all that work, I’m just very particular about how I want things done. 

But there just aren’t enough hours in my day, and I don’t want to spend all of my hours on my computer.

If you want to run a successful online business, at some point, you’re going to need to hire help.

But how do you know when you’ve reached that point?

In this episode, I’m sharing our experiences with hiring our first team member, including how we determined it was time to hire some help, and what we wish we had done differently. 

Alex and I never set out to be people managers, but as our business grew, things started to fall off our plates--and that translated to lost revenue. 

There’s a certain point in pretty much every company’s growth where it actually becomes more profitable to hire help.

But even before you reach that point, it’s important to think about your other resources--specifically, your time. 

Y’all, you can make more money, but you can’t really make more time. 

However, you can save time, or free up time, when you outsource tasks that don’t really need you in them. 

We’ve learned a lot (and personally, I’m still learning some important things) about when to hire out some of your tasks, and how to empower the people you hire.

I’m sharing those lessons with you in this episode so you can hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls we made in the beginning. 

I’m sharing: 

• How to determine when you need to hire help
• The first two roles we recommend outsourcing, and why
• Potential roadblocks to success, and how to avoid them
• Our top three mindset tips when hiring help
• What to do when things start falling off your plate

For additional resources and show notes, visit the episode podcast page on our website.

Resources and Mentions:

• Episode 3: What Does Running a Blog Really Look Like?
• Ready to hire help? Start your search on Fiverr
• Tutorial: How to Start a Successful Blog
• Start your first blog with our Free 5-Day Blogging Bootcamp

For more information and resources, check out the podcast page on our website.

014. Welcome to the third and final episode of our 3-part series on how to make money blogging! 

In our last episode, I shared the first half of how we make most of our income: affiliate marketing. Give it a listen, if you haven’t already, because that was the very first and very important step that we took to start selling products..

Next, I’m sharing the second half of that equation: Selling our own digital products. 

This is the income source that has made us the most money, and more importantly, has given us the freedom and control to build the lifestyle we want. 

While there is definitely more work involved in creating your own digital products or services, especially in the beginning, the payoff can be huge--if you know what you’re doing. 

We missed some key steps when we created our very first digital product for our failed blog, but we learned a lot from that--and knowing what not to do made a huge difference the second time around!

Our first successful product, along with all the lessons we learned from our failed first try, is how we were able to turn up the volume and truly scale our income. 

We were actually able to double our revenues for the first five months of business--growing our monthly revenues from $2,000 into $4,000, and then into $5,000 and $6,000, and eventually into $10,000. 

The difference this time was that we understood our audience, and we created a system that worked--allowing us to create more products, and sell them successfully using that same system. 

This episode will help you understand if creating digital products or services is right for you, and how to choose the best sales strategies. 

I’m sharing: 

• What online products and services are
• The ups and downs of creating and selling your own products and services
• Which kinds of products we love and recommend, and which ones we will personally never offer
• The two best ways to get your products and services in front of customers, and the pros and cons of each
• The strategy we use to sell our products
• My personal thoughts on imposter syndrome when it comes to creating your own products and services, and how it could be holding you back
• How to get started with creating your own products and services

For additional resources and show notes, visit the episode podcast page on our website.

Resources and Mentions:

• Make Money Blogging Pt 1: What Not To Do
• Make Money Blogging Pt 2: Affiliate Marketing
• Book recommendation: Untamed by Glennon Doyle
• Convertkit
• Tutorial: How to Start a Successful Blog

Start your first blog with our Free 5-Day Blogging Bootcamp

For more information and resources, check out the podcast page on our website.

013. Welcome to the second episode of our 3-part series on how to make money blogging.

This is where things get exciting! In past episodes I’ve taken you through how to build a foundation for your blogging biz, how to build an engaged audience, and in our last episode I even shared what not to do when it comes to making money blogging.

Give it a listen, if you haven’t already, because knowing what NOT to do is almost, if not equally, as important as knowing what TO do.

Now it’s time for what did work for us so you can be more intentional, with less guesswork as you start to monetize your blog.

We make the majority of our income through: 

• Affiliate marketing
• Selling our own digital products (eBooks and online courses)

This is how we started, and I can tell you that not much has really changed over the years. Which is great, because that means that this income from these sources has turned fairly passive!

We recommend starting with affiliate marketing first and I'll share more about selling your own products in part 3. 

It’s really helpful to understand why value-added content is more important in the long run than trying to make a buck or two quickly. 

All affiliate marketing is not created equal and there are for sure some pitfalls you’ll want to avoid as you’re starting out. 

I’m sharing: 

• What affiliate marketing is
• The pros and cons of affiliate marketing 
• How we use it
• My personal thoughts on how to get the most success from your affiliate marketing strategy 
• My personal thoughts on the future of affiliate marketing

For additional resources and show notes, visit the episode podcast page on our website.

Resources and Mentions:

• Make Money Blogging Pt 1: What Not To Do
• Convertkit
• Tutorial: How to Start a Successful Blog

Start your first blog with our Free 5-Day Blogging Bootcamp

For more information and resources, check out the podcast page on our website.

012. The next saga in our fast and furious failures is here… (and we’ve had many more than these movies, I can assure you). This episode is Part 1 of 3 in a series on making money with your blog. 

And as we often do here, we’re first sharing what did NOT work out for us before we share what did.

Including our first attempt at webinars, which I consider our real rock-bottom, most cringe-worthy moment.

I won’t spoil the story here, but it was an epic catastrophe -- and one that our MOMS were there to witness. 🙈

Y’all, we tried everything:

• Ads
• Amazon products
• Launches and webinars
• Affiliate marketing and selling other people’s products
• Our own products
• Tripwires and upsells

And they were all failures.

But the really cool thing here is…

Almost all of the methods to make money that we tried weren’t complete failures. They were just failures at that point in time.

We ended up making money using these same methods several months later when we had a better idea of what the heck we were doing.

We’ll talk more about that in Part 2 and Part 3 of this series.

And I’m excited to announce that joining me in this first episode of the series is my co-founder, Alex Nerney! I couldn’t really tell this part of the story without him.

For additional resources and show notes, visit the episode podcast page on our website.

Resources and Mentions:

• Tutorial: How to Start a Successful Blog
• Start your first blog with our Free 5-Day Blogging Bootcamp

For more information and resources, check out the podcast page on our website.

011. This is the 3rd and final part in our series on how to build an audience. In part one, we talked about driving traffic (visitors) to your website through various platforms. In part two, we went a step further to talk about how to get the right visitors to subscribe to your email list -- the people who are actually the most interested in what you have to say. 

In this episode, we talk about how to have engaged subscribers who are opening your emails and taking action on the content you’re offering. 

This is what turns your subscribers into fans who follow you for years and years to come. People who grow with you and support you. 

The gurus aren’t lying when they say that you can make money while you sleep.

Having email sales funnels in place has given us the flexibility to do other things to grow our business, like creating courses, growing our YouTube channel, and starting this podcast -- all on a schedule that is entirely on our terms.. 

And I can honestly tell you that the email funnels we have right now, they’ve been in place for a while and we’ve had to make very few changes over the years. 

But it’s not just about sales, y’all. That’s the end goal, but the stories and relationships that get you there are what this is really about.

What we’re talking about in this episode:

• What kind of content to send your email subscribers
• An inside look at email funnels 
• Emails for automating your business 
• Tips for building relationships with your audience

For additional resources and show notes, visit the episode podcast page on our website.

Resources and Mentions:

• We use and recommend ConvertKit's email software
• Episode 9: Building an Audience Pt 1: Getting Visitors to Your Blog
• Episode 10: Building an Audience Pt 2: Building an Email List
• Tutorial: How to Start a Successful Blog
• Start your first blog with our Free 5-Day Blogging Bootcamp

For more information and resources, check out the podcast page on our website.

010. You’re creating content and finally getting people to your website. But now what do you do with that traffic? What you do next is going to make the difference between getting stuck in the hamster wheel of the traffic-driving phase or creating content for an audience who already likes you.

Y’all, it’s hard enough getting people to your content the first time around! If you can have a way to reach those visitors again, it’s going to be SO much easier to get your content seen and heard in the future. 

The people that come back for more are the people that really matter. They’re the people that are ultimately buying your products. 

Email is without a doubt the single most important tool we use to drive sales and make money online. Period. 

So many people think that making money with a blog or website is just about creating great content and creating great products. And it is. Those things are important. You can’t just have your products listed up on your website and expect people to absorb your content and buy. Some will, but most won’t.

It’s what connects the two that makes the difference between a few scattered sales here and there and a steady and consistent stream of income.

Bottom line, if you have any kind of online biz, you need an email list and you need to understand how to connect with your audience through email.  

What we’re talking about in this episode:

• Why building your list directly impacts your biz (“The money is in the list!”).
• How email is the single most important tool we use to drive sales and make money.
• The upside of email – NOT IMPACTED BY DREADED ALGORITHMS!
• Building connections and sharing content just got easier.
• HOW to build your list! (HINT: “Sign up for my newsletter” doesn’t work!)

For additional resources and show notes, visit the episode podcast page on our website.

Resources and Mentions:

• We use and recommend ConvertKit's email software
• Read the Article: How to Build an Email List: 5 Ways to Get Subscribers to Your Blog
• Episode 9: Building an Audience Pt 1: Getting Visitors to Your Blog
• Tutorial: How to Start a Successful Blog
• Start your first blog with our Free 5-Day Blogging Bootcamp

For more information and resources, check out the podcast page on our website.

009. The very first step to start earning some money from your blog is to get some people in the door. A steady and consistent stream of people that are interested in what you have to say -- enough that they might consider buying something that you recommend. 

You need good, CONSISTENT traffic to your website to understand what people want most from you so you can create those raving fans!  

Building your audience is the foundation of your business, who you create your content for, and ultimately who you sell most of your products and/or services to.

And it’s not that difficult to do this -- you just need to spend some time upfront figuring out what type of content and traffic platform will be best for both you and your audience.  

Alex and I have created a six-figure a month business using platforms that felt good to us - and skipping the rest until we felt ready for them.  

This episode is part of a 3-part series on building your audience where I share how to be intentional with where you spend your energy and learn how to get the best ROI for your time. 

What we’re talking about in this episode:

• Where YOUR people are. 
• What your message is and the purpose of your content.
• How you want to reach them and the kind of relationship you want to build with them.
• The nature of the platform and the behavior of the consumer (how they interact with that content, what action you want them to take).
• Outsourcing and at which stage it makes sense. 

For additional resources and show notes, visit the episode podcast page on our website.

Resources and Mentions:

• Episode 8: How to Create Content That Stands Out
• Tutorial: How to Start a Successful Blog
• Start your first blog with our Free 5-Day Blogging Bootcamp
• Article: Blog SEO: 10 Step Beginner's Guide to Ranking Blog Posts
• Article: Pinterest Traffic for Bloggers
• Article: How to Get More Traffic to Your Blog

For more information and resources, check out the podcast page on our website.

008. Getting your content to the top doesn’t mean that you have to spend days and weeks pouring over articles and information on how to play just right into the algorithms.

All it takes is having great content.

The kind of content that makes people stop and really think about what they’re taking in. 

The kind of content that makes people remember you and want to read, listen, or watch everything you have to say.

And I’m here to tell you that it’s not THAT hard. It’s easier than you might think!

What we’re talking about in this episode:

In this episode, I’m taking a deep dive into what makes great content and I’m giving away some actionable tips that you can use to up your content game right away.

I’ll also share some of the most common pitfalls that we see:

• Creating content based on what you think people are interested in.
• “Popular” content that ends up looking just like everyone else’s.
• Easy, generic content doesn't stand out in the crowd. 

And I’m giving you real strategies that have worked for us that you can apply immediately to your own content strategy so that you can start seeing more natural engagement and shareability in what you do.

For additional resources and show notes, visit the episode podcast page on our website.

Resources and Mentions:

• Episode 4: How we started blogging with a failure
• Episode 6: How much time and money does it take to invest in a new blog?
• Start your first blog with our Free 5-Day Blogging Bootcamp
• Tutorial: How to Start a Successful Blog

For more information and resources, check out the podcast page on our website.

007. Are you trying to build a blog business while also juggling a full-time job? How do you know when to take the leap and start blogging full time?

The transition to full-time blogger will look a little different for everyone and it depends on a lot of factors. If you have some savings stockpiled away, if you have a family and kids to consider, and of course, what stage your blog is at. 

You could probably say that Alex and I took that leap a little prematurely and it was definitely based more on feelings and desires rather than serious logic and rational decision-making. But it worked for us and it turned out to be the best decision we ever made.

There were still doubts though, and those doubts and uncertainties were reflected in the faces of our families and friends when we told them we were giving up our full-time jobs. 

But we had to try it, and I can tell you that one of the biggest things to get right during this time is… your mindset. 

What we’re talking about in this episode:

• What my transition to blogging full time looked like.
• The mindset shifts you need to consider during this process.
• How to use your personality type to your advantage.
• The possibilities open to you throughout the learning and growth process. 
• Work-life balance??? Is that a thing??
• What my full-time blogger life looks like now.

For additional resources and show notes, visit the episode podcast page on our website.

Resources and Mentions:

• Start your first blog with our Free 5-Day Blogging Bootcamp
• Episode 1: Our Story: From 9-5 to Over $100k/Month Blogging Business
• Tutorial: How to Start a Successful Blog

For more information and resources, check out the podcast page on our website.