French Bulldog Blog Fetches Extra Bones

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

If you ever wanted to have a dog that pays his own way, 'cause you know, pets are expensive. Well, good luck with that. I never could get my cat to manage rental properties or do any of that passive income stuff. Although she did a decent job at moderating comments on my blog, usually working in the middle of the night. Pets, in fact, do not do much money making work at all.

But in this story, a new family pet becomes the hub of household hustling activity. When he features as the subject in a blog about French Bulldogs. Did you know, by the way, that French Bulldogs are the second most popular breed in the United States. Labrador Retrievers have topped the list for 30 years. Don't stop retrieving, they're just going strong.

But the Frenchie has climbed the charts to take that number two spot. From there, you've got Poodles, Beagles, Rottweilers, and then Golden Retrievers. But we're gonna talk today about French Bulldogs. We're gonna talk specifically about a French Bulldog blog that fetches extra bones. After introducing a French Bulldog into the family, a man finds a way to get paid blogging about it.

That's the story. Stay tuned, it's coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]

When website designer, Kyle Batis, got his French Bulldog three years ago, he didn't expect it would be the start of a business. His family had long been used to having a furry animal in the house. And so after their beloved pet, Noble, passed away, they decided to get a new one.

His three kids spent a great deal of time breeding up on different dog breeds and watching YouTube videos, eventually deciding on a French Bulldog. They named Auggie. Now, as you might expect, this was exciting for the family, but also expensive. With food, toys, and pet insurance, the bills quickly add up. Kyle thought that perhaps there was a way they could earn a small income that would at least cover the costs.

As a designer, it struck him that this could also be a good opportunity to show his kids that it was possible to make money online. How? By creating a website and writing about the family's experience with their new dog. His kids, aged 13, 11, and nine, agreed to help out with this new project. That same weekend, Kyle built the site on WordPress and got a local photographer friend to come over and shoot some photos of Auggie and the kids.

Before Monday arrived, their site, Frenchy Journey, was online. Although Kyle already knew a bit about marketing, he decided it was worth investing in an online course that would teach him more about attracting organic traffic. As he says, success leaves clues. And the course showed him a model that he could adapt. Within the first month, he had published 10 articles on the site.

Over the next few months, Kyle started to get his first Amazon affiliate commissions. He got these from various links that he inserted into the posts. Although the initial traffic and revenue was so low that it was negligible, it was encouraging to see that there were actual readers of the blog and that this could be a viable business model, even if it was a slow one. Better still, his kids were impressed with the whole process and it inspired them to work harder on the family project. In fact, that proved to be the most exciting aspect of all.

Although his kids were young, they each found a way to contribute. They would come up with article ideas, write outlines for the articles, take photos with Auggie for their social media accounts, and even check Google alerts for the latest news on French Bulldogs. Indeed, that was how the family found out that French Bulldogs had climbed from the fourth most popular breed in the United States to the second most popular, which of course inspired an article of its own. The site has grown significantly since it was started in December 2019. With over 130 posts, it currently receives more than 30,000 visitors a month and brings in approximately $750 a month through a mix of affiliate commissions and ads.

Beyond paying $13 for the domain name and then $7 a month for website hosting, there have been no other costs except for the time it takes to write those articles. This, however, has not been difficult for Kyle since it's time that he's able to spend with his kids. In fact, as he says, the revenue potential on the site isn't that high. So he really focuses on the shared family project and the lessons that he can pass on. For those who wish to start a lifestyle blog, whether in the world of dogs or something totally different, Kyle says that growing a site like this can be painfully slow.

That's why you gotta have a long-term perspective. Because it takes a fair amount of time to see any results, you have to pick a topic you're passionate about so that you'll stick with it. It also helps to have fun along the way, just like Kyle is doing with his kids. [Music]

Success leaves clues. What does that mean?

Thought about that as I was working on this episode. I love that concept that whatever success you're hoping to emulate, now obviously you want to create your own success. It's not so much about copying someone else, but nothing at all wrong with looking at models and saying, well, this person was able to do it or this project worked well. What are the clues to it? What are the characteristics that allowed this one to succeed or this blog really took off whereas this one didn't?

And over time, as you pay attention, you're gonna notice that. You're gonna notice those clues. So success leaves clues, follow the trail, see what you can do to create something of your own, whether it's in the world of dog blogs or as I said, something totally different. Thanks for joining today. Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is so much better.

To find the show notes for today's episode, go to sidehustleschool.com/1604. I also want to give a shout out to my friend John Acuff. His new book Soundtracks is all about overthinking. Are you an overthinker? I am absolutely an overthinker.

I overthink way too much. And John has the solution in this book. Lots of personal stories and also real world research. So don't overthink it. It's called Soundtracks.

You can get it wherever you shop for books. If you've got a comment or question for the show, just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. That's it for today. I hope you'll come back tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau.

This is Side Hustle School. [Music]

From the Onward Project.