This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Welcome, welcome, welcome. Thank you for tuning in. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School, the only podcast bringing you daily stories, tips, ideas, case studies, examples of real people creating real money without quitting their day job by using a skill they already have, without going into debt, all good things. I'm so glad you're listening.
We have a global community of awesome people just like you. Now, today's episode is part of a new feature we've been doing. We started in January. It's called Your First Thousand Dollars. Now, an intelligent guess might lead to the conclusion that this is about how someone made their first $1,000.
And that intelligent guess would be correct. Not their first $10,000 or $100,000, you know, all that is cool, but that would be a long story. And we really want to focus on how someone got started and what it felt like, you know, what obstacles they had to overcome, just how they kind of worked it out. And everybody's story is a little bit different, but I think there are some commonalities, you know, that we can pull some lessons. So with that in mind, today's feature comes from Jodi Carlson in Ohio.
We first featured her way back on episode 317. That was year one, so crazy. Lifelong Girl Scout earns her side hustle badge and $3,500 per month. We also featured Jodi in the "100 Side Hustles" book. Now, another intelligent guess based on the title of her previous episode might lead you to surmise Jodi has actually made a lot more than her first thousand.
And in fact, the business has only grown from when we first featured her a couple of years ago. Okay, so what about her first $1,000 though? How did she make that happen? And what did she learn? Let's hear it from her.
Among other things, she's got several lessons to offer about blogging for profit. So Jodi Carlson, I'll come back at the end with a quick wrap up. [Music]
Hi, this is Jodi Carlson with Leader Connecting Leaders, a blog for scout leaders to make planning your troop easier. One thing you will never forget when you start a profitable business is how you made your first $1,000. I have been blogging for over seven years now and looking back at the start, I made a lot of mistakes, but I also learned a lot with everything I did, right and wrong.
Before jumping into actually making that first thousand, I do want to say when I started out, I was not in it to make money. It was part of my hobby. I already did it, I was a Girl Scout leader. I just wanted to share all of my ideas with as many other leaders as possible. I didn't even realize you could make money blogging.
It wasn't until someone who visited my blog pointed me to teacherpayteacher.com and said I should put the badge programs together and sell on there for leaders and teachers to use. So that's where the creation of what is now a successful business and blog started. In month one, I put two of my badge programs on this third party website. Within the first two months, I sold 10 programs at $5 a piece. It wasn't much, but it was $50 more than I ever planned to make from this hobby.
I spent the following six months figuring out how to monetize my website using ads and learning what affiliate marketing was and how I can share what works for me and make money from that recommendation. The first six months, I made $50 to $100 a month between the printable sales, ad revenue, and affiliate marketing. As my traffic began to grow, I also quickly discovered how important email lists are and to get one started as quickly as possible because these are the people who will come back again and again as you add more resources and products. Plus, every time I released a great website, a piece of content, or a new booklet, I had no way to market it successfully. It always felt like spam putting on other people's social media accounts.
During that same time, I started growing my Pinterest account and created a Facebook page that I owned and can create a loyal following that wanted to see my content. Within that first six months, I created 10 printable activity booklets. I realized I can make more per booklet by publishing and selling right on my website. So at month six, I added that and still continue to sell on the third party site, teacher pays teacher as well. I still remember the day I hit the $1,000 mark.
I had just published my 12th printable and I sent an email out to my mailing list to share that printable. Instead of just selling that one new booklet, I had someone come and purchase all 12 booklets and sent me a personal email telling me how helpful my blog was and how it made leadership of a troop super, super easy. I was just shy of hitting my first year of blogging. I tracked monthly the progress of the site and the profit. It was that day with that order, it put me over the mark and I officially made $1,043 at 11 months of blogging.
Now, of course, after the $1,000 mark, it just continued to grow from there. The goals continue to grow. After the first thousand goal for the blog, I then set my sites to make a thousand a month. When I hit that, I just continued to set more goals for the blog, looking for more sources of income, just like I did when I was chasing that first $1,000. I will conclude this with a bit of advice for anyone thinking about starting a blog for profit.
You need to know a few things. One, blogging is not quick money and it takes a lot of work and dedication of producing high quality content that will keep readers coming back for more. Making your blog about your hobby will help you be the most successful because it will never feel like a job. As I stated at the beginning of this, I started it as a hobby and now it is a profitable blog. Don't look at other bloggers in your niche as a competitor.
Rather, look to them as your peers. Find ways to collaborate with one another because often you can help each other grow a following. Number three, be open to share other people's websites and blogs with your readers. If you become known as the person who shares and recommend others, you will grow a loyal readership. If you're starting your side hustle, going for your first thousand, embrace the ride.
You will look back on it years from now and smile at what you achieved. Soak up the knowledge you can, get from experts already in your niche and most importantly, learn from every failure because remember, every failure is success in progress. Good luck on your side hustle journey. Awesome, thanks so much Jodi. Really appreciate that advice.
I think this story really illustrates the principle that I like to talk about how your first thousand dollars tends to lead to your second thousand dollars or even your first thousand dollar a month and then your recurring thousand dollar a month just as has happened with Jodi here. I also liked her quick advice, blogging isn't quick money. Quick advice there, blogging isn't quick money. It's a long-term game. Make it about your hobby so it will be fun and see other bloggers in your niche as peers instead of competitors.
And if you're not a blogger, you can just apply that to whatever industry or field you're in. Those people working alongside you, you might be able to help them out and they might be able to help you out, right? That's always been my experience at least as an author and podcaster. So thanks to Jodi for telling us about her first thousand dollars and more. Listeners, I hope you found it encouraging Jodi's website.
Do check it out, leaderconnectingleaders.com. Leaderconnectingleaders.com. It's all about Girl Scout life. As mentioned, her story is also featured in the "100 Side Hustles" book. Now, if you have a question or an update for us about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com/questions.
Today's notes, sidehustleschool.com/1906. Thank you for tuning in today, you're awesome. Hope you'll join me again tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau, this is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
