Notes from Chris

Episode 1620

Kelan and Brittany Kline left college with over $40,000 worth of student loan debt. Brittany’s job teaching and Kelan’s job in law enforcement only brought in so much money, so they wanted another way to get ahead financially.

In 2016, they started a blog called The Savvy Couple. The blog’s mission was to help families like them put more money in their pockets so they can spend more time doing the things they love. Sounds good, right? But they weren’t the first to try this, so it took some time to get going.

Initial startup costs were less than $100. They didn’t have children at the time, so they gave up watching TV and spent weekends, weeknights, and holidays working to grow the blog.

Nine months in, they made their first $50 from a sponsored post. Kelan says it was the most impactful money they ever made, because it was a tipping point of knowing the hard work was paying off. (Yes, he’s a little optimistic … so much so, that two weeks later, he told Brittany he needed to quit his job and run the site full-time.)

Jumping in with both feet that quickly isn’t for everyone, but in his case, it paid off. He did have a backup plan to become a home inspector if blogging didn't work out—but he was determined to make it work. While he scaled up the blog, he also found freelance work teaching English to Chinese students for $20 an hour. Within two months, the blog was making $2,000-$3,000 per month and he was able to focus fully on that.

That year, they grew the site to six figures and paid off their remaining student loans. Once they became debt-free, they had a month where they made over $43,000 because they were hitting on all cylinders and landed a big sponsorship. Forty-three thousand dollars was more than Brittany's entire year's salary as a teacher, so it was a clear sign it was time for her to quit teaching and join Kelan full-time.

The Savvy Couple is now one of the most popular family finance blogs reaching millions of readers each year and profiting over $10,000 per month. While these numbers are impressive, they have adjusted their strategy over time to keep up.

In the future, their goal is to grow the blog into a household name in the family finance space and generate seven figures a year. Keep an eye on this savvy couple.

 

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  MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Learn more about Kelan and Brittany at their website, thesavvycouple.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Lifelong Superfan Gets Paid to Write Disney Blog: A Disney superfan goes from journaling about the happiest place on Earth in a private notebook at age ten to sharing it with the whole world a decade later, earning $1,000/month from her passion project.
• Q&A: Is it still possible to profit from a blog?: Jon is wondering if he’s missed out on the golden age of blogging. He wants to start a blog… but is it too late?
• College Student Pays Off Loans With “Fitnancial” Blog: A college sophomore grows her finance and fitness blog into a business that brings in $80,000 a year.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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