A Day in a Blogger’s Life: Why I Started Blogging

A Day in a Blogger’s Life: Why I Started Blogging

by | Jul 25, 2026 | ideas+business

I started blogging to share my ideas but now I’m questioning whether I should continue

I have less than 355 days to save my blog. If that doesn’t happen, I’m shutting it down permanently.

After getting punched in the face with ridiculously high web hosting fees, I’m on a last ditch effort to save my blog and drive more website traffic to it before I shut it down.

My three year term expired and the current cost of running a blog ($1,248.08 CAD per year to be exact) is freaking me out. Shelling out more than $100 per month for a blog where I only post sporadically definitely does not make sense.

I started my blog more than three years ago. Overly optimistic, with lofty, high flying ideas and aspirations, only to find out that it’s hard work. A day in a blogger’s life is full of hard work but I didn’t know it when I started blogging.

This probably happens a lot. Aspirational blogger sets up website only to discover that blogging is hard. Rather than giving up and losing face, I’m trying to save this sinking ship and give it one more go before I completely stop.

 

My goal was to solve a problem for readers

Some people blog to earn money. That might not be the best and only reason to blog, but it’s a completely valid reason.

Some people do it so they can become overnight social media influencers. They picture a day in a blogger’s life as lying on a beach, blithely tapping out blog post after blog post and gaining hundreds of followers as soon as the post goes live. They picture six-figure sponsorships and deals.

But the truth is, blogging hasn’t been a rollicking adventure. If I knew that my reach would be modest, why did I start blogging? Why was I motivated to start one and what was my goal?

Was money a motivating factor? Possibly. I had the greenest of ideas that I could turn this into a side hustle and make myself some money off of it. I thought I would give it a try to flex that entrepreneurial muscle. Because at the end of the day, running a blog is like running a business.

But the main reason I blog is to help solve a problem. That’s one of the reasons that’s consistently touted as the secret to a successful blog.

What kinds of problems does this blog solve? I had an inkling that people would read it and be inspired. You can also say it was naivety and a lot of wishful thinking on my part, but naivety and wishful thinking are what got me started in the first place.

I kept it as a secret blog for over three years, fear of judgement and ridicule holding me back from attaching my name to the website. What if someone I knew read it and hated it?

But like most fears, my fears were unfounded. Most people have the memory of a goldfish. That’s when I realized I was just projecting my insecurities on an imaginary audience. In reality, most people would think it was weird and move onto the next thing.

Do people really care? Probably not. Really, everyone is too busy to care.

 

Reasons that bloggers quit

Most people don’t blog and there’s a reason why. It’s hard to keep blogging when you don’t have a community. You ask yourself, why should I blog when no one else I know is doing it? You don’t have anyone to keep you accountable and that’s the most challenging.

Posting consistently and thinking of new ideas to share isn’t easy. Especially when the rewards are few and far in between.

You find it hard to keep blogging when there are a million other priorities on your to-do list. A day in a blogger’s life is full of struggles but there are rewards and that’s why I started blogging.

Blogging is hard to keep up when you’re talking and no one is listening.

Indifference is a double-edged sword. On one side, it can let you do anything without risking public opinion, but getting people to care is a constant hurdle.

 

I wanted to share my ideas and reach more readers

I’m not even sure that I like the name of my blog. When I first started, I envisioned it as an “ideas and business” blog.

Why did I call it “ideapictogram”? Good question. Instead of answering this question, just Google “idea pictogram.”

In the early days I was obsessively watching Google search rankings like it was the stock market. Depending on where you are in the world, I’m on the first page of Google search results for the search words “The best things in life that are for free“, “The seven benefits of being frugal that will surprise you” and “The smart way to fail: how to fail often and fail fast.” I know. Ironic, right? These are blog posts I wrote almost a year ago and it’s still on the first page of search results.

Granted, I doubt that people are constantly searching for those exact same words, but I still get a kick out of it anyway.

Landing on the first page of Google search results is the gold standard for any blogger. It means more eyes on the blog. If a reader can’t find you, your efforts are wasted.

Sometimes, my blog posts will even show up in the AI powered feature snippets you see on the top of the search results. This is good, I thought. These small wins don’t seem like much, but when it validates my efforts, it gives me a reason to keep on going. It’s the benchmark for a successful blog. Plus, it’s gratifying to have external approval. It’s a great boost to morale.

Some of my posts do better than others but it’s a mystery why. It’s a hit and miss. How-to articles and top ten “listicles” perform best so that’s often the format of my blog posts.

However, some of my posts don’t rank at all on search results. The mysteries of the search engine algorithm is the only explanation I have. Some people would find it limiting to be at the mercy of a search engine, hacking your way to the top. That’s why some bloggers quit.

But I didn’t. I wanted to share my ideas and be creative. A day in a blogger’s life is full of creativity and that’s why I started blogging.

 

I wanted to do something extraordinary

What makes a great blog?

To create a great blog, I knew that I had to learn how to be more consistent when things get boring or too hard. Building a readership, marketing and self-promotion, is a job in itself, a typical day in a blogger’s life.

A blog needs to have a clear focus. You can’t be vague or indecisive, like it doesn’t know what it’s about.

I haven’t been following this golden rule exactly, because I write about topics that don’t necessarily go together.

If your purpose is to get more eyes on your blog, there is a certain way to write a post, rules to follow, and it can stifle creativity.

If I was writing with the sole purpose of landing in Google search results, the number of topics I can write about can feel too constrictive.

I had an idea, I had a vision, I had aspirations. Nothing really killed it all. I still want to do something extraordinary. That’s why I started blogging.

 

You can’t talk about creative writing without talking about AI

AI sometimes gives you less reasons to write and create. For better or worse, I make it a point not to use AI when doing creative writing.

A writer might also be pushed away by the thought that anything they publish will go towards training AI models. Does AI eliminate the need to publish? Will blogging be a lost art? What’s the point of writing when AI can articulate an idea or a thought better than you? There’s a lot of reasons why blogging might become obsolete, but it doesn’t keep me from trying or thinking of creative ideas.

But obviously AI is going to change what a day in a blogger’s life will look like in the future.

 

Save my blog by joining my community and becoming a reader

The countdown is on. I have less than a year. Only 355 days to turn this around and salvage this blog, the toil of the three previous years.

So give it a read. Take a look around. There might be some ideas there that either challenge you or make you think differently. A day in a blogger’s life is motivated by doing something you love and that’s why I started blogging.

Will I save this sinking ship or lose face and quit? You don’t want to miss this so follow this blog to find out.

The Smart Way to Fail: How to Fail Often and Fail Fast

The Smart Way to Fail: How to Fail Often and Fail Fast

by | Oct 18, 2025 | ideas+business

Failing in business is common. But there’s a smart way to fail, and that’s to fail often and fail fast. There are so many stories about how entrepreneurs failed before they reached success that everyone should think of failing as the normal thing to do.

Failing often and failing fast is a necessity. Learning is the most important way to grow as an individual and as an entrepreneur. When you understand that you are not going to get it right the first time in any project you start, the possibilities open to you are endless. The principles of failing fast are useful in business, but can be applied to all things in life.

 

Table of Contents

  1. Look for safe ways to fail.
  2. Don’t dwell on failure.
  3. Learn your lessons and don’t forget them.
  4. Exercise resiliency.
  5. Try many new and different things.
  6. Have a mentor or guide.
  7. Refuse to give up and to think that failure is the end.
  8. Have courage and don’t fear failure.

 

1. Look for safe ways to fail.

Think of ways to get started on your business while taking on minimal risk. Looking for safe ways to fail means that you don’t invest a ton of money into your new project. Minimize the risk by building your business with the least amount of startup capital. This will require some creativity, so look for ways to reduce the amount of money you need to start your business. What you don’t want to do is invest a ton of money in an idea that you later find out isn’t going to work. The smart way to fail is to fail with minimal risk. So start simple and start small. This allows you to fail often and fail fast.

 

2. Don’t dwell on past failure.

If you fail after your first, second, or hundredth attempt, move on. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and don’t dwell on failure. The sooner you get back up, the quicker you will reach success. You’re going to do this often, and you are going to do this fast. So don’t dwell on failure and move on quickly. Perfectionism is the enemy of forward progress. Your attempts are not meant to be perfect.

 

3. Learn your lessons and don’t forget them.

Keep a record of your attempts, especially what didn’t work, and what you can change. A failure ends up being only a failure if you don’t learn anything from it. Forget the failure itself, but remember the lessons. It’s called learning because you have to do something that you’ve never done before. You’re unfamiliar with what you’re doing, and not knowing how to do something can be uncomfortable. But once you’ve done something a couple of times, your muscle memory takes over, and it’s like doing something automatically without much thought. The smart way to fail teaches you many lessons, and as you get better at failing, you get better at learning.

 

4. Exercise resiliency.

If you are to succeed in business, you must toughen up and be resilient. I’ve heard stories of many people getting knocked down by what life deals them, but the most successful people are the most resilient ones who get back up and try again. You should be familiar with failing often and failing fast, because this builds resilience and lets you get back up faster. You become stronger and failure doesn’t break you.

 

5. Try many new and different things.

Business is all about experimenting. You have to try a whole bunch of different things before you can stumble on the one thing that works. Tweak each experiment and you’ll eventually find that momentum that leads you to your goal. That’s why with each reiteration, you’ll get closer to achieving your goal. Nothing works the first time. It’s by repeating these experiments with better knowledge of what works and what doesn’t work that leads you to success. Get as much experience as you can because experience is the best teacher.

 

6. Have a mentor or guide.

A good mentor or guide has a wealth of knowledge that they can share with you. Having a mentor on your side can save you time and energy, because they will tell you when you are taking the wrong step. They will show you the quickest path to success. Having a mentor is a part of learning. With their experience, they can show you the way to success, and the quickest way to get there.

 

7. Refuse to give up and to think that failure is the end.

Business is about experimenting. Think of these experiments as a maze. Are you going to get to your destination at the first attempt? No. You’ll take winding paths and meander. You’ll get led down the wrong path. But this eliminates the wrong turns and eventually you’ll learn and get to your destination.

The right thing to do is to keep trying. The wrong thing to do is to give up. Failure is not the end, it’s the beginning.

 

8. Have courage and don’t fear failure.

If you are afraid to try something new because you fear what people will think of you, or that they will laugh at you when you fail, just know that everyone’s memory is temporary. If there’s one thing good about short attention spans these days, it means that people will forget what you did and move on to the next thing to laugh at. The smart way to fail is to have the courage to fail often and fail fast.

 

The above tips are smart ways to fail. Like in life, nothing in business is certain, so fail often, and fail fast. That is the only way you will learn, become resilient, and find success. At first, it is painful to fall down and fail. You get scrapes and cuts. But the ones who succeed are the ones who will bandage their wounds and get back up.

Business books to read about failing often and failing fast:
Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan
The Sweaty Startup: How to Get Rich by Doing Boring Things by Nick Huber

How to Persuade People to Take Action in Six Easy Ways

How to Persuade People to Take Action in Six Easy Ways

by | Aug 5, 2025 | ideas+business

 

If you’re a business owner, getting your customer to make a purchase might be the hardest task you’ll ever have to do. Forget about hiring and coaching a team, being a great leader, setting up operations, and business strategies. If you haven’t got a fantastic sales strategy, then none of that would matter. Sales is a hurdle that discourages most entrepreneurs and makes them give up before they’ve even started. How do you make a potential customer part with their hard-earned dollars? How do you give them a good reason to want to do business with you? How do you overcome objections? In this blog post, I will review how to persuade people to take action in six easy ways. These six techniques will give you an idea of how to elevate your sales strategy to persuade your potential customer to do business with you.

Table of Contents:

1. Let your customer know the consequences of their inaction
2. Motivate your customer to take action
3. Give them a clear deadline
4. Guide your customer so that the decision is easy and obvious
5. Eliminate barriers that make their decision challenging
6. Warm up your customer

 

1. Let your customer know the consequences of their inaction

Many people don’t take action because of inertia. What do I mean by inertia? I mean that it’s easier, simpler, cheaper, and more convenient to stay still and not move. It’s easier to stay in their comfort zone than do something that makes them uncomfortable.

Exercise and physical activity is a great example of this. People find it challenging to stick to an exercise routine, even if they’ve paid for a gym membership and loaded up on that fancy gym gear. It’s easier to just relax in front of the T.V. after a grueling and exhausting day at work, or taking care of your kids when you’ve just spent time preparing them dinner and tucking them into bed at night.

People won’t take action unless you let them know the consequences of inaction.

To overcome that bit of inertia, show them the reasons why taking no action is actually the wrong decision for them to make. Your customer is comfortable where they are, so show them that their inaction causes even greater discomfort.

You must show them the discomfort of staying where they are.

Going back to the exercise example, haven’t you ever thought about working out more when you read a news article that explains the risk of having too much abdominal fat? Or drinking sugarless soda which instead spikes your sugar level?

Maybe you’re an advocate for climate action or a charity. For the climate action example, maybe you’ve shown them the dire consequences for the planet if the human population continues to cut down trees, drive SUVs that cause global warming, or dump their unrecyclable waste into landfills. All of these things would cause discomfort into any environmentally conscious citizen.

Once you’ve described the discomfort of not taking any action, your customer would be more persuaded to take that first step. I further describe how you can eliminate barriers for your customer that would encourage that initial step.

 

2. Motivate your customer to take action

There must be a motivating factor in order for a customer to act. If there’s no motivation for the customer to act, they would slip into indifference and apathy. When trying to make a sale, you must answer the question, what are people motivated by? If your product doesn’t answer that question, they are left wondering why they should buy from you at all. Give your customer the motivation by persuading them to take action.

You need to give them a reason that lights that fire in their soul. Dangle a carrot in front of them, and push them to act. This doesn’t just apply to sales. For example, maybe you’re a team leader at work, and you just can’t seem to get your reports to be motivated enough. Their productivity under your leadership suffers as a result.

This is when you really need to empower them to make their own decisions and take ownership of that project. If the momentum falls flat after that initial enthusiasm, pump up the energy and recharge that spark. Motivating people is all about lending them your infectious energy. It has to be so motivating that it’s contagious. Only then will your team or customer take action, and maintain that momentum.

 

3. Give your customer a clear deadline

This is one of the easier ways to persuade people to take action. Online stores love to use this technique to ramp up e-commerce. They put up a timer on their storefront counting down the days, hours, and minutes until the sale is over. This strategy works because of the “fear of missing out” and the creation of “scarcity”.

This is also something that you must use in the workplace if you’re a team leader. Your direct reports are less likely to procrastinate and get a task done if they have a goal to work towards. And as you know, every goal must have a deadline and be time-bound. When they have a deadline, it’s like turning that hourglass upside down and letting the sand run out until there’s no more time to waste.

To make a faster sale, use this technique. Envision how you can incorporate a countdown into your sales strategy. It could mean setting a deadline for them to take action before the sale is over. Some decisions, however, take time, especially if it’s a lengthy sales cycle. Sometimes your customer doesn’t like to feel rushed into making a decision, especially if the decision involves an expensive purchase. Use your judgement when trying to implement this technique. I go into more detail below about warming up your customer if this is the case.

 

4. Guide your customer so that the decision is easy and obvious

Most of the time, you have to make the outcome of their decision obvious. Don’t rely on confusing them into making a decision because it won’t work. If it’s too challenging to do something, they will not do it at all. The trick to overcome this is to make it easy. It must be effortless to take action. This is one of the easy ways to persuade your customer to take action.

For example, e-commerce and shopping online makes it easy to buy products. At first, the customer wavers between indecisive and decisive. What makes them finally enter in their credit card number and hitting the “buy” button? It’s because the online store is designed with the user’s experience in mind. There are many steps involved throughout the purchasing journey. Landing on the initial webpage that acts as their virtual storefront. Loading their shopping cart with products. Entering in their credit card number. Finally hitting the “buy” button. Making it easy means acting like a guide throughout their purchasing journey, or their decision tree. There are many steps involved, and you have to be there every step of the way or else your potential customer will just forget about it and go back to being inert.

From attractive graphics, colours, and fonts, your customer should have no choice but to continue through to the final step, because you’ve made the purchase or decision irresistible to them. Be available to answer any questions every step of the way.

From initiating that sales call to closing the sale, you should make the process so simple that it’s easy for the customer to agree to buy. Ever get lost because you didn’t have a map? It’s the same concept with sales. The customer needs a map that guides them in their decision.

 

5. Eliminate barriers that make their decision challenging

Your customer doesn’t have time to work out the kinks when making a purchase. If it’s too hard for them to decide, they will just move on to the next business that makes their purchase a no-brainer. With technology, it’s easier than ever to make the customer journey smooth, barrier-free, and effortless.

Once you’ve gotten rid of all the barriers, your customer will love you for it and come back for more. That one-time customer will soon turn into a repeat customer who’s loyal and brings in more referrals to your business.

Eliminating barriers means making the process easy. Think of ways to eliminate these barriers before they even pop up on your customer’s radar and even before they encounter them.

 

6. Warm-up your customer

There’s a reason why it’s called “cold-calling.” When you are cold-calling, your customer doesn’t know you and doesn’t have a good reason to buy from you. You haven’t yet built up the rapport that makes them familiar with your product. There are many books explaining how you can warm up your customer for better results. Some that I would recommend include Launch by Jeff Walker and Oversubscribed by Daniel Priestley. These two books both explain methods for warming up your customer before you ask them to make a purchase. To this end, you will have greater success in persuading your customer to take action.

Ever heard of the observation that it takes at least seven touch points for your customer to finally buy from you? These touch points can include social media posts, emails, and newsletters. It’s anything that makes your customer more familiar with you and your product. So every touch point should give them more information about your product, and should be persuasive enough that they pay more attention at the next touch point.

Getting your product in front of your customer only once will not persuade them to buy from you. That’s why lead nurturing and warming up your customer works. You must do this at least seven times.

 

The Final Word

Implementing even a few of these strategies will propel you forward to sales success. These techniques will guarantee that your customer’s journey is far more painless and quicker than your competition’s. Guiding them and showing them the right way at every step of the customer journey eases the potential pain points in your sales funnel.

When inertia is the default state of your customer, it takes leadership skills to motivate them into taking action. Show them two options: option A, the consequences of staying inactive, or option B, the benefits of making a definite decision. Then, make their decision process easy, clear, and obvious. It has to be obvious so that they won’t waver between these two states. Strategies I’ve just described include setting a deadline for them to make a decision, eliminating barriers in the customer journey, and making their decision obvious and clear.

Nuturing leads: not just a sales tactic

Nuturing leads: not just a sales tactic

by | Feb 26, 2024 | ideas+business

1. Nurturing leads can benefit you in your everyday life even if you don’t have anything to sell

Nurturing leads is not just a sales tactic. In fact, ever been to a networking event and have met a lot of interesting people that you would like to get to know more of? Or, have you ever wanted someone to do something for you or your career? The immediate benefits of networking might not be apparent at first. But these people can really help you in your career or business down the line. This is where nurturing leads plays an important role.

Nurturing leads is doing the opposite of a “cold call.” Since you’ve already introduced yourself to them, your leads are now “warm leads.”

 

2. Networking is the perfect opportunity to nurture leads

It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain your relationships with your leads.

Some people don’t like to network because it’s uncomfortable to talk to strangers. Yes, you worry about whether you’re not giving them the right first impression. You worry about whether you’re saying the wrong thing. There’s a lot of pressure that is sometimes involved with networking.

There are a lot of other people who go to networking events for the same reasons that you do. I remember when I was a student, and almost everyone in the room was looking for someone to give them a job after graduation. The number of students outnumbered the people who could hire them, or introduce them to a hiring manager, so there was a lot of competition. It’s for this reason that professionals sometimes avoid networking events: there are a lot of people asking for favours who have no connection or obligation to them.

 

3. Networking events are a chance to sell your personal brand

I’ve been on both sides of the equation. It makes me understand now why networking doesn’t work if you don’t go about it the right way. It can get frustrating because you end up wasting time “barking up the wrong tree”, as they say.

The trick is to find a type of networking event that works for you, and that could mean a less formal event which is more focused on getting people to talk to each other than in making a sale.

You can be reluctant to ask people for favours when they don’t know you, or have a reason to do you a favour. And you’d be right to be reluctant. That’s why your connection first has to warm up.

Work on your elevator pitch. It’s a thirty second speech to sell your personal brand. It should briefly describe who you are and why they should get to know you more.

Yes, networking takes time, but you have to be patient.

So start early and get to know as many people as possible.

Someone you met a year ago might think of you today and be interested in what you can offer.

 

4. Nurturing leads builds your professional network

Nurturing leads is not just a sales tactic because there’s no better way to progress in your career than by finding new opportunities through your network. It could be a connection that is internal to your current company, or a different one.

Knowing more people can also make you more knowledgeable.

If you’re building your own business, it’s useful to know people who can advise or mentor you.

By broadening your network, you cast a wider net and increase your chances of making the one connection that could change your life.

 

5. How you can nurture leads

After the introduction, send a follow up message that reminds them who you are and where you met. Then suggest that you meet up for another coffee, either virtually or in person.

After the coffee chat, stay in touch.

Send a new message when you’ve reached a career milestone, or have interesting or relevant information to share with your network.

 

6. Where you can find leads

There are a lot of places where you can find leads. For example, special interest groups and professional associations are the two most common places to find new leads. Also, people flock to social media, whether it’s Facebook or LinkedIn, to connect to new acquaintances.

Finally, through volunteering for a cause you believe in, you can be introduced to the same people who believe in the same causes that you do. This can be a great conversation starter and a way to keep in touch.

So don’t wait until you want to switch careers or move up the career ladder to start networking and nurture those leads. Similarly, it’s important that nurturing leads is not just a sales tactic because the main objective is to expand your network.

You can think of networking as an exchange of useful information. You can connect to someone, but it’s even more meaningful if you have something to offer.

This is where adding value plays an important part in nurturing leads.

Following up on warm leads are more likely to result in meaningful and lasting connections than cold leads.

Networking is never easy. It takes time, and it takes practice. Expert networkers are trained to recognize opportunity and to give immense value to others.

Should you partner with an influencer to promote your business?

Should you partner with an influencer to promote your business?

by | Dec 4, 2023 | ideas+business

Introduction

At a certain point in your business, you might consider partnering with an influencer to promote your business. A social media influencer can spread your message and win you new audience members.

 

What is an influencer?

An influencer has a loyal audience who are hooked into the minutiae of their everyday lives. They tune into their social media channels just to see what the influencer is doing, wearing, buying, and recommending.

It really is amazing how devoted these fans can be. If the influencer has a massive following, they often capitalize on this by building partnerships with other businesses and getting paid for it.

 

Partner with an influencer to promote your business and increase brand awareness

If you own a business, and want to build brand awareness, or increase exposure to your target audience, you could consider partnering with an influencer. This can really multiply your following, popularity and get your brand in front of your audience.

Of course, you have to pay an influencer. Like any paid ad service, you want to maximize your return on investment (ROI) to achieve the most results from the money you spend. The influencer becomes your brand ambassador, or temporary spokesperson, for your business.

The partnership might become part of your marketing plan. An influencer charges fees in exchange for featuring your product or service through their social media channels. A partnership might be useful if your following is small and you want to grow your following.

 

Does the influencer match your target audience?

There is a right way to execute a partnership with an influencer. First, examine whether influencer marketing is right for your business.

Would your business have the most advantage from this partnership? Since influencer marketing does not work with all businesses, you should decide whether this is the right path to take.

It’s not surprising that lifestyle and leisure (e.g. travel and food) are the industries where the most influencers are found. So it’s these industries that would work best.

What kind of audience do you already have, and what kind of audience do you want to attract?

Understand your target audience, have a goal clear in your mind, and know what you hope to achieve from this partnership. This is important for analyzing the end results and concluding whether the partnership worked to bring about the desired effect.

 

Tips on searching for an influencer to promote your business

Look for an influencer that will resonate with your audience, within your budget, whose views agree with yours.

Ask for a media kit. Most serious influencers will have one put together. A media kit includes their background information, follower count, bio, and social media channels.

If you don’t already have an influencer in mind, or know which ones to approach, do a search on social media and view their blogs, tweets, photos and videos.

Influencer marketing is just like any paid ad service: do your research before engaging their services, because the reputation of the influencer becomes the reputation of your brand.

Research what the “market rates” are for their services, and decide if it’s within your budget.

Meet virtually with the influencer to work out the details of your agreement, and to determine if they’re a good fit for your brand.

 

How to approach an influencer

What you need before you approach an influencer is a website or established business with your social media channels already set up. Once you’ve constructed a short list of influencers to approach, write an email or send a direct message. Avoid sending a generic mass email.

Another option is to engage the services of a digital marketing agency that represents the influencer.

Have a clear outline of the types of content you want the influencer to use to promote your business.

Finally, the contract should include the expected fees and pricing for their services, based on your agreement and previous research.

 

The risks of partnering with an influencer

There are always a few risks that you will take if you are working with an influencer. To effectively use influencer marketing, your actions must be authentic. The influencer must believe and genuinely support your brand, products and services, or it will be seen as insincere, untrustworthy, or done only for money.

These days, it is easy to inflate their follower count through fake user accounts.

On rare, though nonetheless possible, occasions, your influencer might find themselves embroiled in a scandal or controversy. As your brand ambassador, this invites negative publicity that might affect your brand.

You have to believe in what they stand for, which can be a problem if their views and opinions do not agree with yours. Thoroughly understand the influencer’s personality to ensure that it aligns with your brand’s values.

Finally, what should you do once the influencer has put their recommendation for your business out there? Follow up by monitoring engagement with the influencer’s post. Determine whether your ROI was worth it, and whether you gained more followers. You could continue the partnership if opportunities arise.

 

Conclusion

By partnering with an influencer, you can achieve a reach far greater than if you were promoting your business yourself. If you are cautious with your outreach, you can really maximize your ROI. Don’t skip any of the key steps, it can mean building a new partnership that works better and more efficiently.

Three Industries with High Earning Potential for Small Business Owners

Three Industries with High Earning Potential for Small Business Owners

by | Nov 27, 2023 | ideas+business

Introduction

Most entrepreneurs who have authored business books are also owners of businesses that earn them millions. Just I’ve noticed a pattern from reading these business books. There are three industries with high earning potential, and these entrepreneurs have capitalized on them.

The three industries are: real estate, event planning, and coaching.

On the high end, business owners in these industries can make millions in potential earnings.

Before they’ve moved on to write books about it, they were self-made millionaires from various backgrounds. Not all of them were raised in rich families, which goes to show that with luck and hard work, you can build your million dollar business, too. Realistically, though, the average income is in the high six figures.

In this blog post, I describe the three industries with high earning potential. I will outline their risks, qualifications, and challenges in each.

 

1. Real estate agency

Owning a real estate agency can really have the potential to earn you a high income. The real estate market is expected to grow to USD $729 trillion globally by 2028.

If it’s your dream to be a real estate agent, you will need to apply for a real estate license. The required coursework can take up to 1.5 years to complete within Canada, or up to six months in the US. After passing the exam, if you want to obtain a broker license and own your own brokerage, you need further training and at least two years of experience as an agent.

The startup cost of a real estate brokerage is at least $10,000. This includes office expenses, marketing, and salary for your employees.

The risks of starting a real estate brokerage are lawsuits from: not disclosing information about the property to the buyer, any breach of confidentiality, and injury on the property during showings.

The threats to your brokerage business could stem from events such as a housing market crash. The housing market is sensitive to many factors out of your control, including interest rate, supply and demand, and the health of the economy.

In addition, the rise of discount brokerages are also driving competition between different firms.

As a real estate agent, your commissions are pretty much standardized across the region that you work in, so it may not be possible to earn millions if you don’t own your own brokerage.

Furthermore, owning a real estate brokerage is just like owning any business as an entrepreneur. You must network and get your brokerage known and trusted within the industry.

In the end, real estate brokerages are in an industry that have the high earning potential of $160,000 per year.

 

2. Event planning

Another industry with high earning potential is event planning. This industry is expected to grow to USD $1.75 trillion by 2032.

Unlike real estate, you don’t need a license to be an event planner, so there are lower barriers to setting up your own event planning business.

However, it could help to be certified in event management. Once you earn your certification, experience working for another event planning agency before starting your own would be useful.

The risk to starting your own event planning business is that your highest income earning months are seasonal. In addition, the event planning industry took a tumble during the pandemic as events were switched to online virtual platforms.

This just shows how you must be able to pivot and adjust your business model in response to market conditions that are out of your control.

In addition, the cancellation of a single event would require you to refund all the tickets, leading to a major loss in income.

Finally, there is the threat of competition from other event planning agencies. but depending on your brand and price point, you may be able to find your niche more easily than a real estate brokerage.

 

3. Business coaching

The third industry with high earning potential is business coaching. As a business coach, you act as an advisor for other entrepreneurs, guiding them in their business journey.

Your coaching business can have different models. For example, one on one or group coaching can be in-person or virtual, or you can sell masterclasses that your customers view on demand.

Business coaching is possibly the business with the lowest risk out of the three, because of the low overhead costs. Unless you’re thinking about leasing an office space, all you would need is a phone line to handle calls, a virtual meeting platform like Zoom, and internet.

It can also help to get certified as a coach, and these programs will have a fee.

One risk that this type of business faces is the loss of income caused by a recession or economic downturn. During these times, people will be reluctant to start businesses and hire someone to help them, though it might depend on what type of business they are in.

There are also challenges that can result in this type of business. For example, it’s also true that some niches perform better than others.

Selecting a good client can take time. There has to be a good match between client and coach, so know how to select clients who will work well with you.

Another risk is that depending on your business model, you may be trading time for money. One way to get around this is to sell access to on-demand coaching classes on an online teaching platform.

 

Conclusion

All three types of businesses require you to put in the effort to network and get your name out there to gather and maintain a good client base.

So, good interpersonal and communication skills are essential, and the know-how for gracefully dealing with difficult clients and customer service issues.

Also, it requires you to have realistic expectations. A good reputation is not built overnight.

A good business and marketing plan for making sales is also a major factor in the success of the business.

Expertise and experience are valuable, so find ways to gain that knowledge fast.

At first, stress and work life balance can be an issue, until you may need to find a system for outsourcing your tasks.

Avoid situations such as taking on a client that is not a good fit for your or your business, which can tarnish your reputation.

Relationship-building and leadership skills will land you far ahead of the game.