Pep Talks For Side Hustlers

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Over the next several episodes of Pep Talks for Side Hustlers, I’m going to take you behind the scenes of my strategic planning process – so be sure that you’re subscribed so that you don’t miss a step! From setting big goals to getting into the weeds with data to planning out what I’m doing next and and when it’s going to happen, I’m going to break it all down for you, and share the insights I’ve uncovered along the way. In episode 155, I shared with you some key metrics that you’ll need to pull together so that you can figure out where to focus your time and money in the upcoming year, and a formula for figuring out what to focus on based on the numbers. So you can go back and listen to that episode and then hit the subscribe button so that you don’t miss another one!

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Over the next several episodes of Pep Talks for Side Hustlers, I’m going to take you behind the scenes of my strategic planning process – so be sure that you’re subscribed so that you don’t miss a step! From setting big goals to getting into the weeds with data to planning out what I’m doing next and and when it’s going to happen, I’m going to break it all down for you, and share the insights I’ve uncovered along the way. So at my day job, we used to have these big long strategic planning meetings that a) I dreaded, and b) were a total waste of time. It was basically a giant brainstorm session of all the things we had always done with a few big dreams thrown in with no data to back any of it up, no funding, and no accountability. It would get put away right after it was

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! In this pep talk, I’m going to share with you: What Types of Clients You Want to Work With (not only industry, but stage of business) How You Want to Serve & Support Clients After Sites Are Live How Many Clients You Can Work With at One Time How To Set Yourself Apart from Other Web Designers (by helping them get traffic and market themselves)

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Thinking about starting a freelance web design business? Congratulations, because there’s never been a better time to help businesses create an online presence and take advantage of all the different ways they can monetize online! So why is it that so many talented web designers are struggling to not only find clients but find clients are willing to pay a living wage? If you’re anything like me when I first started my freelance web design business, you’ve probably decided to charge hourly for your web design services. You figure you’ll get clients by listing all of your web design skills on your website with a contact form for anyone that wants to hire you, and then you’ll share your website on all of your social media profiles and let your friends and family know you’r

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! As more and more people are beginning to realize the freedom, flexibility, and financial independence that starting an online business can bring them, there has never been a better time for you to finally start that freelance web design business you’ve been daydreaming about. Brands understand how much more powerful online influencers can be compared to traditional advertising, which means anyone can start a blog and make money from sponsorships and affiliate marketing. Entrepreneurs who started businesses a few years ago by DIYing are now ready to up their game and hire a professional. People at the end of long careers are transitioning their skills and experience into a “second act” and needing websites to get started. Side hustlers are coming onto the scene at a rec

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! You know what the one thing is that separates the people that daydream about quitting their day job from the people that actual do it? A plan. Well, let me back up. I’m sure there are plenty of daydreamers that do quit their day jobs without a plan, and if you’re that brave and that much of a risk taker, more power to you! Sometimes I wish I could be that bold. I’m talking about the daydreamers who are more like me, who like security and are slightly risk-averse. A plan is what separates those daydreamers who just stay at their job forever, wishing they were doing something else from those of us who actually do it. Because it’s hard to imagine what’s really possible when you don’t know the actual numbers. Things seem so nebulous and so impossible until you actually look

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! How do bloggers actually make money? It’s a question I hear a lot from my community, so in this pep talk I want to break down the strategy behind creating a money making blog. In episode 149 I broke down for you the difference between a blog and a website, so go back and listen to that if you missed it! The beauty of making money as a blogger is that you don’t have to have your own product, or service to offer to make an income. You can take an interest or a passion you have, blend it with your personality, build an audience around it and make money from it. So yesterday I shared that when you’re a blogger, your main objective is to create consistent content and get as many eyeballs on it as possible. Bloggers talk in page views. That’s the main metric by which they mea

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! A common question I hear from people who are just getting started in their side hustle journey is, “Do I need to start a blog, or do I need to build a website?” And so I thought I’d record this pep talk to help you understand the difference between the two and which one will work best for your business. Before we dive in I want to make sure you don’t miss tomorrow’s episode where I’m going to break down exactly how bloggers make money. Go ahead and hit the subscribe button if you’re not already subscribed so that you don’t miss an episode. Okay, so the first thing to know is that from a technical perspective, ALL BLOGS ARE WEBSITES, BUT NOT ALL WEBSITES ARE BLOGS. So if you ask me how to set up your blog, I’m going to tell you the exact same set of steps I’d tell you if

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Today we’re talking about the thing that side hustlers and online business owners love and hate at the same time. Your inbox. Specifically, your email inbox. Are there other inboxes? I don’t know… But I digress. The reason this topic even came up is because of a post from one of my students in a Facebook group that we’re both in. She said: “Can we talk about #goals? Specifically, inbox goals. Mine is out of control…30,000 emails, 8,000 unread 

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my July Income Report! Each month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! You can check out Part 1 where I review my income and goals here. If you want to learn step-by-step how to build a website so that you can start a side hustle and make money online, check out this blog post on how to get started! View all of my income reports here! EXPENSES BREAKDOWN TOOLS 1Password for Teams – $143.64 AccessAlly (Membership plugin for all of my courses) – $79.00 Acuity Scheduling (Done For You Consultations) – $10.00 Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, etc.) $54.73 Auphonic (audio optimization for podcast) – $11.00 Bluehost – $0 ContentSnar

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Welcome to my July Income Report! Each month I publish an income report to take you behind the scenes of my online business and reveal exactly how much money I make, how much I spend and lessons learned along the way! If you want to learn step-by-step how to build a website so that you can start a side hustle and make money online, check out this blog post on how to get started! View all of my income reports here! IMPORTANT THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN JULY I scheduled vacation time the first week in July. I spent a lot of time figuring out how Pinterest works. I released the 100th episode of my podcast, Pep Talks for Side Hustlers. I offered free site migrations to anyone that signed up for Bluehost via my affiliate link for Bluehost’s birthday sale. I turned my “So You Ha

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! In Part 2 of my conversation with Naomi Mdudu of The Lifestyle Edit, we both open up about our challenges as ambitious business owners and how we’re moving through them to create businesses that support our lifestyle rather than living our lives around our businesses. Through her podcast and website, Naomi reaches hundreds of thousands of women to give them inspiration, action steps and support on everything from visibility, marketing, and branding to advice on getting into a state of flow and tips on how to cultivate a growth mindset. Today we’re digging into: How to figure out how much you really need to bring into your business to replace your income. The importance of being in a mastermind or accountability circle. Why Naomi pivoted from retainer consulting with br

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Today I’m bringing you Naomi Mdudu of The Lifestyle Edit, an online space to spark real, candid conversations amongst creative female founders. It’s the mission of Naomi through the Lifestyle Edit to leverage her unique access to successful entrepreneurial women and give them a platform to pay it forward and share the strategies behind their success. Through her podcast and website, Naomi reaches hundreds of thousands of women to give them inspiration, action steps and support on everything from visibility, marketing, and branding to advice on getting into a state of flow and tips on how to cultivate a growth mindset. How Naomi’s dream job on paper as a fashion editor for a London newspaper turned out not to set her soul on fire. How the glorification of success, inspi

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Now that you know why an email list is so important and the simple strategy behind growing it, let’s talk about email list tech. Here’s what you need to get started: An email service provider A way to add an opt-in form to your blog An automated welcome series Email Service Providers There are SO MANY choices when it comes to email service providers, so the caveat here is that you really can’t make a wrong choice. Pick the one you will actually use – because the ultimate goal here is to take action, not get bogged down in picking the right or wrong tool. They will all work. That being said, I have a couple of recommendations. If you’re just starting to blog, you have just ONE email opt-in freebie and you don’t have a super-clear vision of how you’re going to monetize

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! The biggest mistake I see bloggers make is to put an email opt-in form on their blog inviting their readers to join their newsletter to get the latest updates and happenings. You may get some subscribers, but joining your newsletter or getting updates isn’t tangible or compelling and you’re leaving so many email subscribers on the table by not having a compelling opt-in offer. You must give something of value away in exchange for an email address, and I personally think it not only should be super actionable and solve a problem, I also think it needs to be shareworthy. Yes, this is a tall order… But your blog leaves clues. Go look at your analytics for your most popular content. What can you create to supplement this content that’s going to solve a problem (or be a life

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! I’m all about helping side hustlers create strategies that maximize their time and help them scale their income – which is why I teach people how to monetize their expertise online AND how to put together all the tech to make it happen. What it really boils down to is building a website, building an audience online, and turning your expertise into income. And when it comes to building an audience, a common metric that people focus on when measuring their success is pageviews – which literally means how many pages of your website have been viewed in any given time period. There’s no end to the number of articles on Pinterest all about different tactics to “explode your blog traffic” and increase your pageviews. But what’s more important than your number of pageviews is w

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Your overall high-performance score is 3.64 out of 5. Our research shows that the top 15% of high performers worldwide score an average of 4.76 “What do you think you should focus on to increase your odds at long-term success?” Your CLARITY score is 3.5 out of 5. Improving this area gives you greater confidence in who you are, which decisions are right for you at this stage of your life, and what will make you truly healthy, wealthy, and happy. How could you gain more clarity in life right now? A simple thing you could do is to set an intention for who you want to be and how you want to interact with others right BEFORE you enter any social situation. Your ENERGY score is 3.17 out of 5. If that score seems too far away from a 5, then it’s time to start some new daily p

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! So a couple of weeks ago I was having my third quarter of self-employment crisis of confidence. It seems like I’ve had one of these every quarter, and as I’m coming to understand, this is a pretty normal thing on the entrepreneurial journey. Or as my business coach Vicki Fitch calls in, it’s just one roller coaster in the Entrepreneurial Theme park. This time it wasn’t all about money, it was about feeling physically burnt out and mentally exhausted, getting sick, forcing myself to stop working and then and not being sure how I could keep up the pace at which I’d been going. And as these things mysteriously happen, the right book at the right time came through for me. It’s called High-Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard. I’ll link up to the book and Brendon’s website

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! When I started my side hustle first as a web designer and then as basically a web design and marketing teacher, my intention always was to quit my day job. And I had lofty goals!!! I thought for sure I’d be making enough money to be able to quit by the end of that first year. And when I say “be able to quit” I mean be making enough money to replace my paycheck and cover my business expenses and taxes. It never occurred to me that I could take a pay cut. That it would be worth making less money in the short term to have more time to potentially grow faster. Oh, how naive I was!! One, I had to do a lot more than just make enough money. There was so much I had to learn, and am still learning, about entrepreneurship and running a business. And that’s just me. That’s my risk

Build a website in just 5 days (even if you're not techie) at www.free5daywebsitechallenge.com Already have a website? Take the Free "Jumpstart Your Website Traffic" marketing mini-course at www.jumpstartyourwebsitetraffic.com Leave a Review! Today I’m bringing you Elaine Rau, the creative mastermind behind the Ladyboss Blogger, a blog full of content by female entrepreneur for female entrepreneurs and it’s “contemporary way of advertising through CONTENT CREATION & CONTENT MARKETING.” Ladyboss Blogger helps you market your business and build your credibility by interviewing you and accepting guest posts on your expertise that they broadcast to their audience of 100K+. In Part 2 of my interview with Elaine Rau of Ladyboss Blogger, we’re going behind the scenes to find out: How Elaine uses interns to do market research and create her blog content at the same time. How Elaine takes a collaborative approach to bringing on interns and her best advice for finding the right match. How Elaine’s unpaid internsh