Episode 82Apr 3, 2026· 28:15
Replay - How to Turn Your Blog Into a Business
About this episode
Are you ready to turn your blog into a thriving business? In this episode of the Bloggy Friends Show, we covered everything you need to know to make money from your blog. From understanding your motivations, laying the groundwork for monetization, to exploring different income streams, we've got you covered. And remember, it's all about staying motivated and celebrating every milestone along the way. Whether you're…
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Full transcript
00:02
Welcome to the Bloggy Friends Show. What's up,
00:20
my Bloggy friends? Welcome back to the show.
00:21
Or if you're new here, welcome to the Bloggy
00:24
Friends Show. So I've been blogging since 2009
00:27
and I've been paid to do it since 2011. And I
00:29
have learned a lot in my 15 years of blogging.
00:32
And though I don't quite have the level of success
00:35
that I want yet, I do know a thing or two about
00:37
using your blog to make money. So that's what
00:41
I want to talk about today is how to turn your
00:43
blog into a business. Because here's the thing.
00:45
When you blog as a business, the sky's the limit
00:48
in terms of what you can do, how much money you
00:50
can make, all the things. So let's get into it.
00:54
First up, you have to figure out why it is you
00:57
want to start your own business in the first
00:59
place. Before we can dive into like the how to's
01:03
of monetizing, you need to first get clear on
01:06
why you want to take something that's normally
01:07
a hobby and turn it into a business. Being an
01:11
entrepreneur, it's not for everyone. Some people
01:13
thrive with the structure and predictability
01:15
of a nine to five job. In fact, a lot of people,
01:18
they prefer to keep their hobbies completely
01:20
separate from what they do to make money. So
01:23
I recommend that you take some time to reflect
01:25
on what's driving your desire to turn your blog
01:28
into a business. For example, do you crave the
01:32
freedom and flexibility of being your own boss?
01:35
Are you passionate about growing an idea into
01:37
a viable income source? Does the stability of
01:40
a regular paycheck appeal to you? Or does taking
01:43
risks energize you? Making money from a blog
01:46
or having a blogging -based business, it takes
01:50
consistent effort. and discomfort as you learn
01:52
new skills like marketing, selling, and managing
01:54
a business. And yes, I did say selling because
01:57
you will be selling yourself a lot. So be honest
02:00
with yourself about whether you're willing to
02:02
push through these tough times for the rewards
02:04
of entrepreneurship. The fulfillment that comes
02:07
from turning your creative passion into a career,
02:09
for some people, it does make the hustle worth
02:11
it. But for others, monetizing something that
02:14
could be just a hobby, it zaps the joy completely
02:17
out of it. And it's a very personal decision.
02:21
whether you take your blog to the next level
02:23
as a business. It may not be the right choice
02:25
for you. So before you really jump in and get
02:28
serious about this, do some soul searching. Your
02:31
motivations and your temperament need to align
02:33
with the realities of entrepreneurship for it
02:36
to be sustainable in the long term. Okay, so
02:40
now you've decided you're all in. Let's get you
02:42
prepared. When we think about preparation, we're
02:44
thinking, what do you need to have in place before
02:46
you first start monetizing? You want to think
02:48
about quality content and engaged audience, solid
02:51
social media presence, all those things. So after
02:54
you've already done all the soul searching and
02:56
you've gotten really clear that you do want to
02:58
turn your blog into a business, the next step
03:01
is really getting prepared for monetization.
03:04
So there's a few things you're going to want
03:06
to do to get this going. Obviously, you first
03:09
need to have a blog. And if you don't have a
03:10
blog, it's very easy to set one up. And we won't
03:13
be getting into that today as to how to actually
03:15
set one up. There's lots of resources I can leave
03:17
in the show notes. If you go to famousashleygrant
03:21
.com backslash boss blogging, you'll be able
03:24
to find all kinds of awesome resources for how
03:26
to actually start your blog. But assuming you
03:29
already have one, the next things you want to
03:31
think about are established authority and trust.
03:34
Do you have a solid reader base who sees you
03:36
as an expert in your niche? Are you publishing
03:39
high quality content that consistently adds value
03:41
for your audience? You want to focus on growing
03:44
your blog's reputation and community before you
03:46
start thinking about how you're going to make
03:48
money from it. And trust me, I know it really
03:50
sucks whenever you hear someone say something
03:51
like that, because as soon as you think, OK,
03:53
I want to start a business, I want to make money.
03:56
And I get that. I really do. But if your website
03:59
isn't actually driving people that will keep
04:00
coming back, you're going to fail. So you need
04:03
to start thinking about creating quality content
04:06
consistently. Next, you need a clear content
04:10
strategy. Is your blog content cohesive and serving
04:13
your target audience? Or is it just random musings?
04:16
That's the big mistake that I'm making with my
04:18
own website right now. I have random musings
04:21
on it. And though I still use it as a portfolio
04:24
to make money and to get other clients for like
04:27
ghostwriting, the truth is that my actual famousashleygrant
04:31
.com, it doesn't have a consistent strategy.
04:34
And so if you're trying to actually make a business
04:36
from your website, you need clear. content. You
04:40
need clear strategy. So think about that as you're
04:44
defining your blog's purpose and refine the content
04:46
to build a loyal audience. Next, let's talk about
04:51
having a functional website. I talked about this
04:53
in my New Year's Goals episode. You have to have
04:58
a website that actually functions the way it's
05:00
supposed to. So think about things like your
05:02
site speed, mobile optimization, your user experience.
05:06
That's something that I've been trying to work
05:08
on myself by like taking all the big images that
05:10
are way too large that make the site take forever
05:12
to load. I'm starting to go back through all
05:15
of those pages and make them open up a little
05:18
bit faster. You need to invest in your blog's
05:20
infrastructure so you can actually run it like
05:22
a business. And by the way, that's a huge key.
05:24
If you're planning on turning your blog into
05:27
an actual business, you need to think of it as
05:29
a business. Speaking of, another thing that is
05:32
on my blogging goals list this year that I talked
05:34
about in the last episode. is your email list.
05:38
This is one of your most valuable business assets
05:41
for connecting with readers. You have to make
05:43
sure that you have a system for capturing emails
05:45
and sending newsletters. Again, this is something
05:47
I have talked about for years for clients or
05:50
my own website. I've talked about this a lot
05:52
and I'm really bad at it myself as well. And
05:54
I get it. It's really hard to be like, hey, sign
05:57
up for my email list. But if you have an email
06:00
list, they often say that the The money is in
06:05
the list. And the reason why is because you have
06:07
a dedicated group of people you can send emails
06:10
to and make offers. And that's a big deal. But
06:13
we'll get into that a little bit later. You also
06:16
need a defined target audience. Get very specific
06:19
on who your ideal reader is so that you can tailor
06:22
content and monetization to their needs. And
06:25
I'll say that this is a big deal whenever I'm
06:26
doing ghostwriting work for my clients because
06:29
I have to get into the mindset of the person
06:31
that they are selling to so that I can actually
06:33
talk to that person and write the things that
06:36
they want to hear or that they're searching for.
06:39
Because if you're writing about, I don't know,
06:42
let's say bowling balls and you're putting it
06:44
on a website that only sells KitchenAids, well,
06:47
you're probably not going to sell very many KitchenAids.
06:49
Do you get what I'm saying? I think you do. Next,
06:52
you want to think about your business account.
06:53
You need a business account. a registered business
06:56
name at the very least. Now, some people will
06:58
say that you need an LLC. Others will say you
07:01
should get a sole corporation or an S Corp or
07:05
a C Corp or all those other things. To get started,
07:08
though, to actually just get started, you just
07:11
need a business name. A lot of states will have
07:14
like fictitious name setups that you can start.
07:17
For example, whenever I was in Florida. I was
07:20
able to just go to floridasunbiz .org and create
07:23
my own business name. And then I was able to
07:25
use that to register for a business bank account.
07:28
You want a business bank account so you can take
07:30
care of legalities from the start. And it also
07:33
helps to start getting you in the process of
07:35
if you do start an LLC or an S Corp or a C Corp
07:38
or any of those things, you're already training
07:40
your brain to go, OK, anything that I'm buying
07:42
from this account is for the business. Anything
07:45
that is for anything else I buy from my personal
07:47
accounts. With these foundations in place, your
07:51
blog has, you know, it's ready to start the monetization
07:54
elements and start actually generating revenue.
07:57
You shouldn't rush into making money before laying
07:59
this groundwork. And again, this is something
08:01
I was bad at. I just started making money before
08:04
I started thinking about any of this kind of
08:06
stuff. I had a PayPal account and just was raring
08:08
and ready to go. And I thought I was good to
08:10
go. But then I realized later I needed to actually
08:12
have a business bank account. All right. So let's
08:16
talk money, honey. How do bloggers make money
08:18
anyway? There's a lot of ways. This is the fun
08:22
part, right? Actually making money from your
08:24
blog. There are a lot of proven monetization
08:27
strategies that successful bloggers are using,
08:30
and you may not be successful from these different
08:33
ideas from the get -go, but every single one
08:37
of them does work if you can figure out how to
08:39
make it work. So the first one is affiliate marketing.
08:43
This is the lowest barrier entry. It's the easiest
08:45
one to get started with. And it's basically where
08:47
you promote relevant products and services and
08:50
you earn a commission on sales you drive. It's
08:53
great for monetizing review posts or gift guides
08:56
or even just putting things on your social media
08:59
where you're trying to talk to people about different
09:01
products that you either use or that you're thinking
09:03
about buying. I highly recommend only talking
09:06
about ones that you actually believe in unless
09:08
you're. basically one of those review sites that
09:10
bitches about stuff and then you can put whatever
09:13
links you want to because you're telling people
09:15
the truth and it's their fault if they buy it,
09:17
right? Next is sponsored posts. This is where
09:21
you get paid by brands to create branded content
09:23
and advertisements that align with your blog's
09:25
niche. Now, and I know I've probably said this
09:29
a couple of times, I'm saying niche and niche.
09:31
I use them interchangeably. It's just how I roll.
09:34
And if you don't like it, you can go ahead and
09:35
stop listening now because it's going to happen
09:37
a lot throughout this episode and future episodes
09:39
if it hasn't already. Next is display advertising.
09:43
This is where you actually sell ad space on your
09:45
site directly to advertisers or you use a program
09:48
like Google AdSense. When you do display advertising
09:51
where you're selling directly to someone, you
09:53
can get the full amount of money to yourself.
09:56
Whereas if you use like Google AdSense or Mediavine.
09:59
Those companies are going to take a cut. You're
10:00
only going to get a cut of whatever the advertiser
10:03
is paying. Sometimes it's helpful to use one
10:06
of those kinds of companies, though, because
10:08
they go out and find the advertisers for you.
10:10
They do all the groundwork. You don't have to
10:11
think about it. You don't have to do anything.
10:13
It's just an ad that goes on your site. But it's
10:16
up to you if you want to do it the hard way or
10:19
the easy way. Another way to do monetization
10:23
on your blog is digital products. This is things
10:26
like creating online courses, e -books, membership
10:28
sites, selling digital products to your audience.
10:31
You get the idea. Another way is consulting and
10:36
freelancing. This has basically been my bread
10:38
and butter personally is freelance writing. I
10:40
use my website to find leads to get freelance
10:43
work. That's kind of how I started in this game,
10:46
I guess you'd call it, is I started using my
10:48
website as a portfolio of the things that I had
10:51
written and I used that to start getting writing
10:53
work. This is where you can offer your expertise
10:56
as a consultant or a freelance writer to brands
10:58
and businesses. Next up is physical products.
11:02
This is where you design merch or products to
11:04
sell based on your brand. You could do things
11:06
like t -shirts, coffee mugs. I've seen calendars.
11:09
I've seen, I've even seen decks of cards. There's
11:11
all kinds of novelty products you can do. I actually
11:14
did an article, 101 Ways to Make Money Online,
11:17
where I actually dive into the different things
11:19
you can make physical products wise, where some
11:21
of them you don't even have to have. inventory
11:23
of these items because you can basically create
11:27
whatever you want and they do a direct to consumer
11:29
shipping situation. And so I'll leave that in
11:31
the show notes as well. It's 101 ways to make
11:34
money online. Two last ones that I'm going to
11:37
talk about is email newsletters and live events.
11:41
Email newsletters is where you use highly targeted
11:43
ads in your newsletter for steady income stream.
11:47
Now, I have seen some people do this really,
11:49
really well. The two that I'm thinking of right
11:51
now that are just fantastic is Pat Flynn and
11:53
Jay Klaus. Both of them, their sponsored content
11:57
is fantastic. They make it obvious that you're
11:59
going from reading content that they've written
12:01
to content that they are being paid to put out.
12:04
And they get paid because of their audience.
12:07
They get paid for the ability for these companies
12:11
to... have direct access to their audiences.
12:15
Now, grant you, their audiences for Pat Flynn
12:17
and Jay Klaus, their audiences are huge. So they
12:21
can demand a certain amount of money. But when
12:24
you're first starting out, it may not be that
12:25
much money. But basically, the sky's the limit
12:29
as to how much you could start charging for people
12:32
to have access in your email newsletter to your
12:34
audience. And like I said, the last one is live
12:36
events. And this is where you host in -person
12:39
workshops, retreats, conferences, whatever it
12:41
is. that your audience would value. So if you,
12:44
let's say you're a gardening website, you could
12:47
create a live event teaching people how to actually
12:49
garden in their own homes or, you know, do those
12:52
vertical gardens and all kinds of things. Like
12:54
there's so many different ways that you could
12:56
take what it is you blog about and turn it into
12:58
an event. So get creative and try different income
13:01
streams and see which one resonates the most
13:03
with your audience and your niche. And the best
13:05
thing you can do is aim for multiple income sources
13:08
so you have diverse monetization. The reason
13:10
I recommend this so much is because at any given
13:13
point, any of your income streams could dry up.
13:16
For example, I think we all remember what happened
13:18
with the whole affiliate marketing situation
13:20
during the pandemic. It was really bad what Amazon
13:24
did, but it happened. And so let's talk about
13:26
it. Amazon Associates was a huge way for bloggers
13:30
to quickly get into affiliate marketing and start
13:33
promoting products. And they were getting paid
13:35
a commission. for every single person they sent
13:37
to Amazon to buy a slew of products. And some
13:41
people's commissions got as high as 10, 12, you
13:44
know, 15 % per product. And people built entire
13:48
websites all on Amazon affiliate links. Then
13:52
what happened in the pandemic is Amazon thought,
13:55
you know what, we're making so much money and
13:57
so many people are coming to our website that
13:59
we don't need all these bloggers anymore. And
14:01
they cut commissions across the board. And one
14:04
of the saddest things that I saw was some of
14:06
these bloggers that were making four or five,
14:08
$10 ,000 a month, suddenly making $1 ,000 or
14:12
less. And some had to go get day jobs. Some stopped
14:14
doing blogging completely because they were so
14:16
upset. So that's why diversification is so important.
14:20
And you shouldn't also, excuse me, you should
14:23
also diversify who you're an affiliate for. Don't
14:26
just work with Amazon. Work with ShareASale.
14:29
Work with Rakuten. Work with... all the different
14:31
affiliate companies that are out there, because
14:33
the more you have and the more opportunities
14:36
you have to share different product links, the
14:39
less likelihood you have of if one of them dries
14:41
up, you can still be making money on others.
14:46
Okay, now that we've talked about a bunch of
14:48
the different ways you could make money, let's
14:49
start reverse engineering how much you will actually
14:52
make. One of the most important things to do
14:54
when you're trying to turn your blog into a business
14:56
is reverse engineer how much money you're going
14:59
to make. This will help you set goals and understand
15:02
if blogging can actually replace your nine to
15:04
five income, or if you don't have a job, how
15:06
much money you need to make to be able to at
15:08
least pay your bills. So first thing you want
15:10
to do is look at your current traffic metrics.
15:13
And the reason you want to do this is because
15:16
if you have 50 ,000 monthly page views, you can
15:18
estimate about how much money that would make
15:20
from the different monetization models. For example,
15:23
let's say display ads on Google AdSense pay around
15:26
$20 per thousand impressions. If you have 50
15:29
,000 page views a month, you can make $1 ,000
15:32
a month with display ads alone. And if you have
15:35
50 ,000 monthly page views, you can qualify for
15:38
Mediavine, which would give you even more ad
15:40
income because they tend to give bloggers more
15:44
money for those page views than something like
15:46
Google AdSense would. Next, you want to factor
15:49
in your audience engagement. It's a small but
15:52
highly engaged audience that is going to buy
15:54
your products. that will be more valuable than
15:57
a large disengaged one. Here's what I mean by
15:59
that. If you have a bunch of people that are
16:02
coming to your website regularly and they're
16:05
purchasing products and they're constantly engaging
16:07
with you, then you are already doing way better
16:09
than the person who has millions of page views
16:12
a month that no one ever comes back to. So you
16:16
want to look at things like what's your email
16:18
open rate? How many followers do you have on
16:20
social media? All those metrics, put them together
16:23
and estimate. potential digital product sales.
16:25
So like if you have 100 ,000 people on your email
16:28
list and you have a 1 % conversion rate, you
16:31
can kind of do the math as to how much money
16:32
you could be making from those people if you're
16:34
selling, let's say, a dollar product. So if you
16:39
have a 1 % conversion rate and you're selling
16:41
a dollar product and you have 100 ,000 people
16:43
on your list, you're making $1 ,000 a month.
16:45
And if you're selling a product that's $10, well,
16:48
you're making $10 ,000 a month. So that's kind
16:50
of how you reverse engineer all that good stuff.
16:53
You want to research the earning potential for
16:55
your niche. For example, finance blogs, they
16:57
often make a lot more money from affiliate marketing
16:59
than food blogs would. The reason for that is
17:03
they're constantly, or I shouldn't say constantly,
17:05
they're often selling products that have a higher
17:09
commission. So where if a person is selling a
17:12
syrup on their food blog that links back to Amazon
17:16
and it's a $2 syrup and they're only getting,
17:19
let's say, four cents for it. That same amount
17:22
of, I guess, page views could be making significantly
17:26
more on a finance blog, where if that person
17:28
clicks through, let's say, on Robinhood and they
17:30
get a $20 kickback, then obviously they're going
17:33
to get a lot more money for every time that someone
17:35
clicks their link and purchases a product. So
17:39
you want to see what other popular blogs are
17:41
in your industry and what they're charging for
17:43
advertising, sponsored posts, etc. to compare.
17:46
And then you want to put together rate sheets.
17:48
and media kits and things like that so that whenever
17:50
you start talking to advertisers, you know how
17:52
much money you should be charging for those kinds
17:55
of things. Finally, you want to consider any
17:57
outside income like consulting, freelancing,
17:59
speaking opportunities, etc. that could come
18:01
from growing your blog's authority. Adding up
18:04
all these income sources like the digital products,
18:07
the affiliates, the ads, the services, etc. Use
18:10
that to calculate what your total monthly earning
18:13
potential is. And if the numbers aren't where
18:15
you want them to be, then you can start, you
18:17
know, creating goals that actually drive you
18:20
towards what you're looking for. When you start
18:23
doing this, you have to ask yourself, does the
18:24
reverse engineered income surpass what you're
18:26
currently making? And if not, keep growing your
18:29
audience and your income models until your blogging
18:31
business can fully replace your nine to five
18:33
salary or whatever it is you're doing to make
18:35
money at this time. Okay, I know we've covered
18:38
a lot, but let's get into the next steps. Here's
18:40
what you do next. You have a clear vision of
18:43
turning your blog into a business. You have the
18:45
income potential and it looks promising. Now
18:47
it's time to actually take the action and implement
18:49
these monetization strategies. So here's the
18:51
concrete next steps you should be taking. First,
18:54
you want to sign up for those affiliate programs.
18:56
Amazon Associates is the lowest barrier to entry.
18:59
Almost everybody I've ever met that applies is
19:01
accepted. Another one that's really great is
19:04
ShareASale. And I actually will have a link in
19:05
the show notes if you're interested in signing
19:07
up for that. ShareASale is an affiliate network
19:10
that connects you to other, um companies like
19:13
rugs r us or uh healthy wage and things like
19:17
that they well at least at the time of this recording
19:19
they connect you with those advertisers so if
19:22
anybody purchases um products on those links
19:25
you would get a kickback so definitely start
19:29
signing up for affiliate programs immediately
19:31
like i said they're the lowest barrier to entry
19:33
and the easiest way to start making money then
19:36
you want to research advertisers and sponsors
19:38
in your niche Start reaching out to brands that
19:40
could sponsor your posts or run ads on your site.
19:43
The third step is you want to build your first
19:46
lead magnet to start growing your email list.
19:49
This could be anything. It could be an e -book,
19:52
a checklist, a mini course, anything you want
19:54
to create that you can use to get people to give
19:58
you their email address. Next, I want you to
20:01
outline your first digital product idea to sell.
20:04
Now, this doesn't have to be something scary
20:05
or something you have to do immediately. Just
20:08
start with something simple like an online course
20:10
or maybe even a guide. Then I want you to start
20:13
getting images and branding assets that are designed
20:16
for your blogging business that will polish your
20:18
online presence. For example, if you want to
20:21
be the face of your website, go get new headshots.
20:24
If you don't want to be the face of your website,
20:27
then hire someone to create your avatar or something
20:30
that you can use that will be the image or the
20:32
face or the brand of your website. And start
20:35
setting up social media business profiles if
20:37
you don't already have them. Now, the one thing
20:40
I will say is with this, go ahead and get all
20:42
of your social media profiles. But don't feel
20:45
like you have to be on all the social media profiles.
20:48
Because let's face it, being on all those social
20:50
media companies, that's a lot of work. And it's
20:54
going to take a lot of time to build engaged
20:56
followings. What I would do is pick one, maybe
20:59
two. And only focus on that to actually grow
21:02
your audience and then make sure that on the
21:04
others, like let's say your main one is TikTok.
21:06
Everybody's talking about TikTok now. So you're
21:09
on TikTok, but you still have an Instagram account,
21:12
a Twitter account, a Facebook account, etc. I'm
21:14
sorry, not Twitter, RIP Twitter. You have an
21:17
X account. And basically what you're going to
21:20
do is every once in a while, you're just going
21:22
to put one post that keeps your account active
21:25
and engaged just so that you can make sure you
21:27
can keep your username on it. Because the truth
21:30
is, if you don't keep those pages active, you
21:34
could lose them. Because I don't know if you've
21:36
ever seen the terms and conditions of all these
21:38
various social media profiles, but they actually
21:40
say if you just are squatting on it, like keeping
21:44
the thing but not using the thing, they have
21:46
the right to discontinue your account. And you
21:49
don't want that to happen, especially if you
21:51
start building a brand that really gets known.
21:53
So at least post on them once in a while, just
21:56
something generic or whatever you want. But make
21:59
sure you at least keep the pages active. But
22:01
only focus on one to build up and keep your audience
22:04
growing. And then if you want to start branching
22:07
out into the others or repurposing your content
22:09
in some other way, go for it. I'll leave a link
22:11
to Rachel Peterson. She has a video that talks
22:15
about how you can repurpose all of that content
22:17
on all the different social media websites. And
22:21
it's a really cool way to take one piece of content
22:23
and make like 30 pieces of content from it. So
22:25
I'll leave that in the show notes. And again,
22:28
that's fameofsashlagrant .com backslash boss
22:30
blogging. Next thing you want to do is you want
22:34
to track your income goals in a monthly spreadsheet
22:36
to stay on target. So if you have an amount of
22:39
money that you want to be making, it's important
22:41
to track how much you're actually making so you
22:43
can kind of keep an idea of where you're at,
22:46
where you're falling short, and what kind of
22:48
things you need to be doing to keep this going.
22:49
Again, remember, this is being treated like a
22:52
business if you want it to be a business. So
22:54
you've got to keep an eye on how much money you're
22:56
bringing in. And there's something really special
22:59
about tracking that amount of money because I'm
23:02
part of Denise Duffield Thomas's money boot camp.
23:04
And I have to tell you, when she started having
23:06
us track our income, it makes you want to go
23:09
get more. Like if you have to put a zero for
23:12
the month, there's something about it that just
23:14
makes you like it lights a fire under your ass
23:16
and you want to go get more money. So I highly
23:19
recommend you track your income and your goals
23:22
and all that good stuff in a monthly spreadsheet.
23:24
The key is don't get yourself overwhelmed, but
23:28
start taking small steps every single week because
23:31
consistent action is what will turn your dream
23:33
of a profitable blogging business into a reality.
23:38
And by the way, one thing I have to say is as
23:40
you're going, there's going to be some hard times.
23:43
It's going to suck sometimes. So make sure you're
23:45
celebrating every milestone, every income goal
23:47
you're reaching to stay motivated. But how do
23:50
you do that? That's probably the question that's
23:53
going through your mind right now is how do you
23:54
stay motivated even when it starts sucking? So
23:58
one way you can do it is by every single time
24:02
you hit a revenue milestone or a traffic increase,
24:05
go celebrate it in some way, shape, or form.
24:08
And it doesn't even have to cost you money. Maybe
24:10
you give yourself the evening off or maybe you
24:12
get a dance party with your dogs. I don't know.
24:14
Do something that helps you celebrate. Another
24:17
thing I recommend is joining a mastermind group
24:20
or community blog community of bloggers to get
24:22
support and inspiration. I did this myself by
24:25
joining the create and go. They had a they had
24:28
a blogging like mentorship group for people that
24:31
were in their courses. And I highly recommend
24:33
that if you want to check out their courses,
24:36
there'll be a link in the show notes as well.
24:38
They have the six figure six figure blogger course
24:41
and Pinterest traffic avalanche and all kinds
24:43
of amazing courses that I highly, highly recommend.
24:47
Another thing I recommend you do if you're trying
24:49
to stay motivated is schedule time off to recharge.
24:52
Because the truth is, burnout will zap your motivation
24:56
and your creativity. So make sure you're taking
24:58
breaks regularly and then you'll come back recharged.
25:02
And then we're going to go back to the very beginning
25:04
of this episode. Remember your why. Revisit the
25:07
original reason that you started this in the
25:09
first place. Every time things start sucking,
25:11
just start thinking about why it is you're doing
25:13
this. For me, I was working at an insurance company.
25:17
And I was I was hating it, like working in a
25:20
nine to five, like I don't do well with authority.
25:23
And so working in that insurance company was
25:26
a soul sucking day job. And every time I think
25:29
about that, the idea of having to go back to
25:32
that, that's what makes me finally get some articles
25:34
written for my clients. And that may be necessary
25:37
for you. You have to start thinking about, well,
25:39
if I'm not doing this, what could I be doing?
25:41
You could flip burgers. You could work at a CVS.
25:44
You could do all kinds of things. But if you're
25:46
enjoying the thing that you're doing now of actually
25:49
blogging for money, remember that. And hopefully
25:52
that'll motivate you to keep going. So once again,
25:55
I know we've covered a lot here, but I truly
25:58
believe that with consistent effort and focusing
26:00
on your goals, you can power through the challenges
26:02
of blogging as a business. I hope that you'll
26:05
stay inspired by the freedom of being your own
26:07
boss and doing the work you love. And hopefully...
26:11
your motivation will be renewed every time you
26:13
get a check or a new client or a new anything.
26:17
So that kind of wraps up today's show of how
26:20
to turn your blog into a thriving business. And
26:23
let's quickly recap on some of the things we
26:25
just talked about. So first, I want you to reflect
26:29
carefully on your motivation and make sure entrepreneurship
26:32
fits your personality before you commit. Then
26:36
I want you to lay the groundwork of great content.
26:39
audience building, and branding before you try
26:41
to rush into monetization. Next, take advantage
26:45
of proven money -making models like affiliate
26:48
marketing, digital products, sponsored posts,
26:51
and more. Then I want you to calculate your income
26:54
potential and set realistic goals so that you
26:57
can determine whether or not blogging can make
26:59
the money that you need. Then start taking small
27:03
steps every single week to implement monetization
27:06
strategies without getting overwhelmed. Finally,
27:11
stay motivated through those challenges that
27:13
you will face. You will inevitably face these
27:16
by tracking progress, celebrating your wins,
27:19
recharging, and connecting with a community.
27:21
Turning your passion project into a profitable
27:24
business, it's challenging. I admit it. It's
27:27
really hard sometimes, but it's so rewarding.
27:30
And I hope that everything that you've heard
27:32
about in this episode gives you clarity and actionable
27:35
steps to move forward. So don't forget to head
27:37
to famousashleygrant .com backslash boss blogger.
27:40
And on that page, you'll be able to download
27:42
an income goal tracker and other free resources
27:45
to help you get started. And until next time,
27:47
may your page views be high and your bounce rate
27:49
be low.
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