7 Final Lessons Learned From Making Money Online
Painful But Important
Announcements:
Coaching hours-I have decreased my coaching hours and now have 7 coaching hours a month. You can book a coaching session here. Once you book that session I will reach out to schedule the time. Cost: $300
Days Available-Monday, September 25, 2023-Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Days Available-Tuesday, October 3, 2023-Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Days Available-Monday, October 9, 2023-Thursday, October 12, 2023
Please note: I won’t be available for 1-on-1 coaching in November or December.
Paid Subscriber Office Hours-Monday, October 9, 2023 at 6:00 pm MTN/8:00 pm EST (put this in your calendar)
Holiday Happy Hour-Friday, December 1, 2023 (Everyone!) Time: TBH
Pre-Recorded Workshops Available
My plans have changed and instead of hosting in-person workshops as I had previously announced-I’ve recorded these workshops instead. They are available for download and you can watch them whenever you have the time.
How to Make Money Affiliate Marketing-Cost: $17 (sale) I absolutely love affiliate marketing but most people are doing it wrong. In this workshop I’m going to walk through how to make money affiliate marketing, strategies to focus on and what to consider before you start.
Learn how to design your content while staying true to your brand.
How to find the right number of affiliates to share on your platform.
I will discuss how often you should share affiliate links
Key components to a brand that is able to consistently earn money affiliate marketing
Why affiliate marketing has the potential to become the revenue stream that saves your business or keeps you from monetizing in ways that you dislike.
A candid take on how long it could take to make money affiliate marketing
I Won an Award!
If you’re new to me then you might not know that I create content in different spaces. In fact, I’m know for creating content in the personal finance space. I love having conversations around equity, access and policy.
But, it can be hard to monetize.
But, that work is impactful and important. Last Friday I was recognized by my peers in the personal finance space for the work that I’ve been doing. Also, for the amount of time I’ve created content in the space.
Lifetime Achievement Award!
Personal Finance creators are recognized by the Plutus Awards. If you’re a podcaster think of these as similar in importance to The Webbys, Black Podcast Awards, Ambies or other similar awards. I’ve won several awards in previous years for my personal finance content. I do want to mention that I don’t really monetize that platform. In fact, recently I’ve made the decision to remove monetization from my “Michelle is Money Hungry” project and just ask people to “Buy Me a Coffee” instead because of the content covered in that project.
You DO NOT have to monetize the brand that you’re known for. You can apply your skills to something else that has nothing to do with what you’re known for. I will be reflecting on this in future Creators Getting Paid newsletter editions.
Final Lessons Learned
For the past couple of weeks I’ve shared some important lessons learned from monetizing my online brand. Some are painful, others surprised me and all of them were an important part of my online entrepreneurship journey.
Previous Posts:
Conversation with Corey Gumbs Founder of The Black Podcasters Association. We talk about designing and monetizing mission driven communities.
17 Lessons Making Money Online that All Content Creators Need to Hear
Final Lessons-Here We Go!
Lesson #11 Avoid Becoming Distracted By the Build in Public or Build in Quiet Conversation:
Right now there’s a lot of talk about whether or not people with online brands or somewhat public facing projects should build “in-person” or build “behind the scenes” Both approaches have their merits. Decide on which approach you would like to pursue and then commit to it. Don’t accidentally spend tons of time trying to decide which option you’re going to pursue.
Lesson #12 You’re Afraid to Take Daily Consistent Action:
Right now I’m growing a website that is in another niche than what I’m known for. It is growing pretty quickly, in fact, faster than any project that I’ve worked on. Every single day I work on content for that website. Part of the reason why I’m getting results is that I’m putting in daily work towards that project. Some days I can write one post other days it’s 4 posts, but I always try to get something done. This lesson, more than any other, is huge. Do the work. Most people won’t do the work and so they are upset that they aren’t getting the results that they are hoping for.
Lesson #13 Stop Telling the Wrong People:
Sometimes we tell the wrong people about our goals, wishes, dreams and projects we’re working on. They aren’t bad people by the way. But they might not understand what you’re doing and give you negative feedback that may be based on their own personal fears or doubts as they try to imagine doing what you’re doing. The wrong people could be other content creators, your family members, or colleagues at work. How do you manage this issue?
Join or create a small mastermind group filled with likeminded people. These are the folks who are working towards similar goals and will cheer you on as you work towards your own goals.
Attended events and conferences in the creation space that you’re in.
Follow creators who are monetizing their work-they are likely going to have messaging/advice and coaching around how you could monetize your projects as well.
Lesson #14 Afraid to Do the Hard Work:
Similar to Lesson #12 where people aren’t taking consistent action-this is hard work. If it was easy everyone would do it (cliche I know) The thing is for those folks willing to do the hard work they will eventually be rewarded for the work that they’ve been doing.
Podcast downloads will grow
Email lists will grow
Affiliate income will slowly but surely increase
Page views will tick up
Some things to keep in mind. It’s one thing to work hard. It’s another thing to work hard with:
A strategy in mind
Systems in place
Paying attention to important data such as where your audience is coming from and what they are responding to.
Understanding who your audience actually is.
Don’t just work hard, work smart. If you are wondering why you aren’t getting the results that you’re working towards there are options that you can tap into.
Ask for feedback
Barter with another creator who is willing to exchange their expertise with yours.
Pay for hourly coaching.
Pay for a course
Assess if you’ve spent enough time working on the goals that you’ve set.
Lesson #15 Way Overestimating The Amount of Money That Will Make a Difference To You:
Don’t get me wrong, it’s always nice to earn a lot of money. But, when you’re growing an online business there is a long period of doing “free” work until you start earning income “passively” Many online content creators find themselves selling services (ahem) to clients for a period of time. These could include freelance writing, copywriting, etc. Then there is a point when many creators begin designing products that scale (this is what I’m doing) But, what I noticed was that the first $500 a month (passively) consistently made a huge difference related to how I felt about building out my business and brand. That $500 took so much pressure off of me.
Lesson #16-You Keep Focusing On Something that is in Misalignment with What You Really Want:
Building a creative business online is both intimidating and really exhilarating. There is one thing that successful creators don’t talk about enough-why people pivot. I’ve made around 3 significant pivots as a content creator. Each time has been a really stressful decision and then a huge success afterwards.
Changing my personal finance brand to “Michelle is Money Hungry” My mom hates the name by the way because she doesn’t understand the tongue in cheek nature of it. But, she’s not the audience for the work that I’m doing. I wanted a name that people could remember and not change based on the type of English that they speak. That used to happen with the previous name.
Adding niche projects…even though I didn’t always work on them-Early on I recognized that I was a multi-passionate content creator and that all of my interests should be combined. While this initially slowed down my progress, it was a good way for me to explore other interests and skills sets without pressure. Several years later I am working on a few of those projects with a lot more intention and one of them, in particular, is looking like it might make a lot of money if I stay focused on it.
Lesson #17 Staying Stuck in Research Mode:
Perfectionists and Virgos listen up! I kid, I kid. But, in all seriousness, it’s very easy to get way into research mode and keep from taking any action because of the following:
You’re scared that people will critique your product-But, you NEED the critique in order to improve the product.
You’re convinced that you have to have a product that “looks” perfect-This is tricky because for many products they just need to:
Taste good if it’s food
Smell good if it’s perfume
Move you towards the desired end result if it’s an educational product
Entertain you if it’s a book, game or move
Coming Up
I’m in the process of interviewing creators to share with you. I’m really excited about sharing their insight, wisdom and ideas.
Stay tuned!
Michelle