Business Deep Dive
In January I wrote 500 words every day. Most days I wrote more. I kept track on a calendar and then gave you the play by play in this blog post. It was great. I felt totally motivated and got a lot accomplished. However, I’ll admit I did feel a little burnt out at the end of the month. Rather than come to a full stop, I did a pivot of attention and decided to focus on something else for a while.
BUSINESS.
Specifically, growing my writing business.
Even though I don’t have any formal business training, I have always loved putting my creative brain to work for my authorpreneur career goals. (Technically I don’t have any official degree in writing either, but that hasn’t stopped me so far!) Recently, I’ve felt stuck… like I’ve gotten as far as I know how to go on my own. I needed more information. I needed to be inspired. I needed to light a fire under my own you-know-what.
So, for the entire month of February I decided to do a deep dive into the business side of writing. I listened to podcasts, read books, watched YouTube videos, and let me tell you, I learned A TON!
Living in a world in which you can learn just about anything online can be a great thing, but it can also be overwhelming. So, today I’m going to tell you the top three resources I found (and fell in love with!) this month. I’ll also share the ways they can help you move your authorpreneur career forward. *
*Side note, I think these resources and tips can easily be applied to any online presence or small business endeavor and yield results!
Goal Digger Podcast
I can’t even remember how I happened to stumble upon this GEM, but I am so glad I did. In the past month I have binged about 20 episodes of this podcast. Jenna Kutcher, the genius behind the podcast (and company) claims that her podcast is a cross between happy hour and business school. I wholeheartedly agree. I love that Jenna is a fellow Wisco-girl, but even more importantly, I love that this girl knows her stuff and has figured out a way to share it in an approachable and applicable way.
Jenna Kutcher runs a multimillion-dollar company that regularly pulls in seven figures a year, and in this podcast, she tells listeners EXACTLY HOW SHE DOES IT. In each 30-45 minute episode she shares tips, resources, and tried and true systems, all in the effort of helping others replicate her success with their own projects, goals and businesses. It might be because I am also a thirty-something Midwestern girl who isn’t afraid to work hard, but I find Jenna a joy to listen to. One of my favorite things about her podcast is that there are (to date) almost 350 episodes (she posts three times a week!), so I can scroll through the menu and find a thirty minute lesson on exactly what I want to learn at the exact moment I need to learn it.
So far, my favorite episodes have been:
And, bonus! For each episode Jenna lists show notes, so after I listen, I can go and jot down the important points, links and ideas I had while listening. I have pretty much told every human I’ve encountered this month, whether they care about entrepreneurship or not, that I love this podcast. It’s that amazing. If I’ve lost you at this point in the post because you’ve gone to Jenna’s site and haven’t come back, I won’t be mad. Not eve a little bit, because it’s that good.
(Okay, not mad, but maybe a little sad. Go, but then come back, pretty please?!?!?)
Blog for Profit: Without Selling Your Soul
I first ran into Ruth Soukup and her book Blog for Profit, via a Facebook, but unlike other random online purchases that I regret, this one made me a 100% satisfied customer. Ruth defines a blog as any online entity of your business, including social media, videos, website offerings, courses, actual blog posts, and physical/digital products. You can see all that Ruth’s “blog” has to offer here. (Bonus, if you buy the book through that link, you can get $5 off your total order!)
I love this book because it breaks down the steps, really there are only four, to making money online. Wanna hear them? (I won’t even make you read the book… but you’ll want to, trust me.)
Refine Your Message
Build Your Audience
Convince them to like and trust you
Ask for the sale
There are details behind each of these steps and Ruth gives you all the info you need to make it happen for yourself. Again, she has figured out a systematic process to create fans who will pay you for the things you know and love to do. The second part of the title is: without selling your soul. And that may be the best part. There is nothing slimy or sleezy about Ruth’s methods. Every action and process she describes is intended to serve the audience you build and then reap the rewards of your hard work.
My copy of this book is marked up in colorful ink. My ideas and dreams are scratched into the margins and I know that when I read this book again, because I most definitely will, it will be just as impactful, if not more so, than the first time.
Andrea Jean Entrepreneur
I’ve known for a long time that my friend Andrea had a YouTube channel… I just didn’t really know what it was all about. I use YouTube mostly for listening to instrumental while I write. I am on the far-enough-edge of the millennial age bracket that I don’t use YouTube to teach myself how to fix my washing machine or cure my child’s skin rash. (I call someone and have an actual conversation about it… because that’s what feels good to me!)
But when I ran into Andrea at the gym and she said she was writing while her daughter was at practice, my curiosity was piqued. I found her on Instagram and started messaging her and eventually found my way over to her channel(s) on YouTube. I was blown away!
I’m not a YouTuber and I probably never will be, but Andrea is a darn good one. She uses her channel to teach others how to grow their success in business through Instagram and YouTube. (She also has a channel where she shares cleaning and organizing tips too.) I’ve learned a ton about creating community and persistence from Andrea. If you are an entrepreneur of any kind looking to grow your reach, I highly recommend looking her up and settling in to watch a few (or ten) fantastic and practical videos on how you can start making it happen.
One common thread I noticed in all of these resources, is the importance of serving your community and sharing what you have learned. Tony Robbins calls it shrinking “decades into days”. Jenna, Ruth and Andrea are taking what they have learned over years and years, and are sharing it so that you can accomplish your goals faster.
It is in that spirit that I am attempting to do the same. I’ve been blogging weekly for three years. In that time, I have shared a lot of information about the writing world, over one hundred and fifty posts in fact! Through this sharing, I’ve also gained a lot of knowledge. I’ve learned about idea generation, as well as content creation and organization. I’ve figured out how to engineer engaging graphics and share my work in multiple ways. I’ve learned tricks and turned them into templates, figured out processes and simplified them into checklists. If you are interested in blogging, I’d love to share these things with you.
For a work at your own pace style, you can click the button below to grab your Blogging Bundle.
If you are interested in my next in-person blogging workshop on Saturday, April 4, you can click here to learn more. Let me help you shrink your blogging timeline from decades to days, so that you can start sharing your story with the world sooner than later.
It would be pretty crazy if you walked away from this blog post with only one piece of helpful advice. If I’m honest, I hope that it has inspired a lightning strike of a brainstorm inside your business mindset. Ideas are great, but they need action to become reality. As Jenna says, Imperfection action makes things happen.”
So, get moving! You’ve got this!
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Today’s post post was made beautiful by CANVA and is categorized in my blog archive under Authorprenuer Advice. Check out the entire collection here.
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