Throughout my life, I always tried to start online businesses, but perfectionism and self-doubt made me quit every time.
Here’s how it went:
I start something and meticulously plan every detail behind my computer. I spend countless hours on branding, web design, logo creation, forms, social media profiles – probably even creating LLCs and opening bank accounts.
Everything had to be perfect before launch. Months of planning and making things perfect so that I had enough confidence to share it with friends – my ways to keep things safe while avoiding rejection and failure.
And when I finally did launch, I’d tell friends and family so they could look at my amazing new, (soon-to-be-unsuccessful) online business.
While sharing your new online business ideas with friends and family may seem like a way to hold you accountable, it backfires almost every time.
It’s pure psychology: when you share your new entrepreneurial identity, you start to believe people think that’s who you are. This newfound status achieves part of your new identity goal, you feel good about yourself before even getting started, and you’re less likely to succeed.
Next, when it finally came time to market myself in the real world, self-doubt took over.
I wouldn’t see immediate results, get discouraged, stay behind my computer, and quit – every time. I never gave it my all. I stayed in a safe, predictable bubble, trying to distance my personality from my business.
If I didn’t put my face to it, it wouldn’t matter when I quit, I thought.
This blog is the first time it worked. Here are my theories why:
I learned enough about myself (and in my digital marketing career) to make it work.
I launched without worrying about things being perfect.
This blog is under my name, putting my personal brand at the forefront.
I didn’t tell any friends or family about it until I was making over $20,000/month.
Most people who write “About Me” pages focus on how awesome they are and list all of their professional accomplishments.
Don’t get me wrong – I like a success story.
But even more than a success story, I like the story of the person who fucks their life up and then gets it back together.
Where I Am Today
One thing I learned along the way is that humans are really good at getting used to things.
At different times in my life, I’ve been depressed and broke, or happy and thriving. Either way, my mind creates new normals, and I get used to however good or bad the situation is.
For example, at a previous time in 2016 at Cupbop, I was making more money than I thought possible just a few years prior, yet I felt exactly the same.
Then it hit me.
Whether I live in a prison of my creation or enjoy a life of abundance, it’s a daily choice only I can make.
Not my employer. Not society. Not my past. Not my parents. Only me.
Everything I learned (and everything I struggled with along the way) was the only path to get me where I am today.
It was enough to realize that I could start a blog and make it work.
And since I had already used almost every piece of software in existence during my career, I was in a good position to review these tools and earn affiliate commissions. In a way that I could cover all of marketing.
And this time around, I didn’t spend months planning or trying to perfect every little detail. In November 2021, I put up some blog posts on a Squarespace site so I could start writing.
I quickly realized Squarespace’s limitations, so I moved my site to WordPress and officially launched this blog in January 2023.
I started using startup growth tactics to grow my blog. As I still had a full-time job, I needed to make the most effective use of my time. And I wanted to make real money in 3-6 months (not 3-6 years) – all in the ultra-competitive marketing niche.
To do this, I had to scale my blog like a startup. I focused less on writing and more on treating my blog like a business.
So instead of taking the typical route of writing, promoting, and sharing my content, I shifted all of my focus to scaling processes.
These processes had three primary goals:
Obtain backlinks to build Domain Authority.
Accelerate my organic traffic growth.
Monetize my site within 3-6 months.
So for six months, I started hustling and working 100+ hour weeks between my blog and Doordash
I designed and launched my WordPress site, wrote five pillar blog posts, and set up my email funnel.
Next was email outreach to find freelance writers and content companies to outsource my guest post content.
I started aggressively pitching guest posts, outsourcing the content creation, and getting published to speed up my backlink acquisition.
After obtaining backlinks and getting my blog posts to page 2-3 on Google, I used SEO tools to update my content and make it better than competitors.
Once my posts got to page 1 on Google, I added affiliate links and started monetizing them.
Rinse and repeat.
And it worked.
Three months in, I obtained over 500 backlinks and ge
Content Production
