We can all agree that certain periods of your blogging career will be high as the sky and as low as a rock. It’s important for beginners to know this from the outset!
There’s ebb and flow to everything, especially in entrepreneurship. And the problem is that too many people have nothing else to do and so whenever their blog goes through one of those ebb times, they come off completely desperate.
They start tightening their fists and grabbing at whatever they can. Think: a dog with a bone. “Mine!”
Here’s the thing…when your fists are closed, you cannot, absolutely cannot RECEIVE.
How can someone hand you a $50 bill and you take it IF your hand is closed. You can’t. So, you literally cannot make money when you’re like that! You have to relax. You have to open your hand.
Things won’t always go as you plan. Things will fail. They will suck. They will get really difficult and during those times, you need to FORCE yourself to have other things going on. So that you don’t come off desperate. Because NO ONE buys from a desperate person. No one. Let your desperation show and the world and all your traffic and friends WILL leave you. It’s just how it is.
So, how do you have something else going?
What you do really depends on you and your circumstances. There’s no “one size fits all” here. For me, I have other avenues to work.
For example, in the summer, my blog is pretty dead. Well, I wouldn’t say dead-dead, but it’s not lively like it usually is. I could spend all my time TRYING to force my BLOG to work, force people to stop taking that awesome vacation or having summer plans just to visit MY blog (see how crazy it sounds to be desperate?!) OR…I can work on something else. 🙂
Think about the areas in which you do or can make money.
One of my blogging friends, when it’s slow, she hosts in-person workshops. It keeps her spirit alive and motivated, all the while, networking and meeting new people.
For me, I create printables to sell to other shop owners to put in their store (you can check out where I do that here in my private Facebook group – head’s up, I’m VERY picky who I let in. It’s not a numbers game for me, it’s about allowing the right people in, the right fit. If it’s not the right fit for you, I won’t approve it).
I LOVE creating and designing, so when things are slow on the blog (and even when they’re not) 🙂 I’m creating and designing fun printables either for my store, this blog, or for others to sell in their shops or on their blogs.
Another thing I like to do when blogging is in an ebb state is to sell more on ebay. I’ve been selling on ebay for 21 years now. Back before they were even CALLED ebay. Way back before Paypal was even a thing. Back before Half.com (who is now closed) was even ever opened. Back before all that. When dinosaurs roamed the Earth…kidding! 🙂 And I do pretty well on there. Actually, at the time I’m writing this, just in the past 15 days, I’ve made $394.82. Not too bad for a side gig I spend very little time on. 🙂
I also use that ebb time to work on a new platform or learn and grow and sharpen my skills. You could start up something completely new and fun.
This last time, I started up an Instagram account. So far, it’s going SOOOOO well. There’s lots of engagement on it and it’s growing in followers faster than I imagined. Compared to my blogging peers, it gets far more followers than them and I just started! HOWEVER, I decided to stop posting on it!!!
This sounds a little crazy, I know. Why STOP a platform that is doing so well?
Here’s the thing…I think the ROI is low. Instagram, unless you pay for ads, is designed to keep the person ON Instagram. Not leaving the site for anything else. It’s terrible for traffic. While it’s great at engaging and attracting new people, for my particular niche: selling on Shopify (I make $2.4M/year on Shopify, by the way) 🙂 it’s not really the right “vehicle”.
For the most part, many of the people on there for Shopify are scammy men. It’s not a place that I can really attract my ideal audience. They are not going to Instagram to look up Shopify stuff. Yet, on Facebook in many different groups, I’m constantly seeing ladies ask about what’s the best platform for them to use on their blogs to sell stuff.
It’s a better place to spend my time on Facebook, in those groups, where my ideal audience is engaging and asking questions, rather than on Instagram.
So for me, I’ll just be posting so very little on Instagram moving forward. Because my goal on Instagram isn’t to just get more followers and not have it profit my time. I’m a single mom…and a business owner. Like I need to have my time compensated for. That’s fair.
On Instagram, it’s just not doing that and so I need to move my time over to a place that reaches more people that I need to reach in order to serve them. I reach more and can serve more on Facebook.
Since backing off Instagram, I HAVE noticed those same people on Instagram, ARE now starting to come over to my blog and leave comments and it’s awesome to see those names. Putting blog posts on my blog is far more of value because it can reach many more people than to just be on an external platform like Instagram.
So, while I did the testing for a few months and while I decided it wasn’t really for me at this time, it’s something that helped me because now I know that’s NOT where I should spend my time. At least, not right now. Maybe that will change in the future, but not right now.
Listen, I’ve been making money online, from home, for 21 years now. I’ve done just about everything legit in those years. I know what works and I know what doesn’t work.
So don’t go off and be desperate on your blog, it’s off-putting and people will leave. Rather, work on other things until it picks back up. There are LOTS of things you can focus on that move the needle while you are in a slow time….things that will increase and sustain your cash flow. Here are a few more articles to read more about the ideas:
- 5 Real Ways to Add $500/month Steady Income (for the mom that just needs to make a couple hundred extra/month to make it)
- 7 Ways I Made Money Last Month and You Can Too (several ways I personally make money, easy ways that don’t take up a lot of time)
- 10 Easiest Ways to Earn Extra Income From Home (my favorite genuine ways to make money online, the best ways I’ve learned in 21 years of making money online)
- 15 Easy-to-Sign-Up Sites That Make You Side Cash (sites that are designed to put cash in your pocket)
- 40+ Things to Sell Right Now to Make Money (wanna sell stuff for money, here’s the ultimate list of out-of-the-box ideas)
- 20 Companies That Offer Legitimate Work at Home Opportunities (companies that are totally legit and worth looking in to)
What can you doing during your ebb times?
What other things can you do on the side to earn extra money and propel your business forward?
Pick your tasks wisely. Don’t just work on something to work on it, but really, truly, do something that makes you good money, things you enjoy, things that help sharpen your skills.
Learn, grow, never stop. If you stop, the fire inside you stops too, and then you’re not helping others and using those gifts to better the world and provide for your family.
