How I Went From Hobby Blogger To Full-Time Business Owner
I don’t know about you, but I always love hearing the stories of how other business owners got their start. I find it so inspiring to see the year-by-year breakdown and the process they went through to get to where they are today. You know - the good, the bad, the transformation.
It's a happy reminder that no two person's journeys look the same. Everyone starts in a different place, goes through different challenges and pivots to get to where they are today and that's okay!
I thought it was about time I finally share my own business timeline and the story of how I went from hobby blogger to full-time business owner & marketing mentor.
2016
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved writing. As a kid, you’d always find me writing short stories and as a teenager, I began writing a short monthly column for my local newspaper.
So in 2016, I packed my bags and moved 200 miles away from my small seaside town to live in the big city of London! I’d been accepted into university where I’d be studying Journalism and Creative Writing.
I fell in love with the course right away and my very first assignment was to start a blog!
I’d grown up reading blogs and had longed to start one of my own for years, but I’d never had the self-discipline to maintain one. So when I got this assignment, I saw it as my sign to finally take action. That’s when my very first blog, The Sunday Diary, was born. A lifestyle & social blog for the millennial woman.
2018
I was consistent with my blog for two years and had been building it up as a portfolio to use after I graduated.
In 2018, I began to see the power that Instagram was having for other bloggers and so I decided to create my own Instagram account with the intention of driving more traffic over to my blog.
It wasn’t long before my Instagram began to take off. Within a couple of months, I’d begun collaborating with brands on a gifted basis. A few months after that, I was landing paid partnerships with some of the biggest brands in the world including UGG, Primark and Missguided.
Very quickly, my little blog had turned into an extremely profitable side hustle that I continued to build whilst I worked on my degree.
2019
JUNE
In June 2019, I graduated from university. I began looking for employment within the journalism industry, but after attending a few interviews, I realised that journalism was no longer a career I felt passionately about or wanted to pursue.
By this point, I had been building up my side hustle as a content creator for just over a year and I’d found a true passion for it. So I decided to move back to my little town while I figured things out.
My ultimate goal was to turn my side hustle into a business that could sustain my lifestyle and allow me to move back to London.
AUGUST
After a couple of months, I began to realise that relying on brand partnerships as my sole source of income wasn’t sustainable. At the same time, I noticed that I was receiving a lot of DMs from aspiring content creators who wanted to learn how to grow their Instagram and get paid to work with brands just like I had been doing. It’s like the lightbulb went on in my head as I realised there was a popular demand for this type of information.
That’s when I began my second business as an influencer coach.
Over the next few months, I took on my first few clients teaching them how to grow their online presence, land paid brand deals and turn their hobby into a profitable side hustle.
DECEMBER
By the end of the year, I had worked with a few clients and they were getting incredible results from what I was teaching them.
But it still wasn’t enough... I tried for months, but I still wasn’t bringing in the income I had hoped for.
After a lot of reflection, I realised that the problem was this: I didn't have a clear marketing and sales strategy in place.
I had been taking bits and pieces I learned from different coaches, free webinars & masterclasses and although the information I was learning was great, the problem was that I wasn’t getting the full strategy. I was just piecing a lot of different strategies together, which meant that there were a lot of holes in there.
On top of this, I was also undervaluing myself as a coach and severely undercharging for my services. I was afraid that the more I charged, the less clients I’d attract so I was working myself into the ground for practically nothing. Looking back now, the prices I charged for the amount of work I was doing honestly makes me cringe!
I knew I wanted something bigger for myself. I knew that I wanted things to change - and the only way to create that change was to DO something different. So that's what I did...
2020
JANUARY
I stopped trying to piece together advice from 10 different coaches and started creating a marketing strategy that worked for ME.
I mapped out a marketing and sales plan that focused on creating a COMMUNITY, showing up as CONSISTENTLY and building my AUTHORITY.
That's when everything changed.
I went from severely undercharging, struggling to make sales and having inconsistent clientele to consistently selling 4-figure packages to dream clients!
JUNE
As my business grew, I began attracting content creators who wanted to diversify their income stream. They wanted to move away from relying solely on brand deals and begin creating their own products and services, just like I had.
I began to teach my clients what I’d learned. I helped them create, market and sell their own offers and services and once again, their results were incredible!
In June, I made the pivot from Influencer Coach to Marketing Mentor and began helping female entrepreneurs increase their influence and impact online so they could attract more clients!
JULY
In July, I launched my first online course, Insta Biz Accelerator. IBA was a 12-week programme teaching female entrepreneurs how to become an in-demand authority, turn their followers into clients and take their side hustle full time.
By the end of this launch I had sold out all 5 available VIP spots (which included private access to me) and I had completely exceeded my launch goals!
SEPTEMBER
After the success of my first launch, I was so excited that I wanted to do it again! I decided to take full advantage of the momentum I’d built up and went straight into my second launch almost as soon as my first one had ended.
I created and sold a digital product called The Story Lounge with the intention of helping other entrepreneurs show up on their Instagram Stories consistently, without wasting hours of their time brainstorming content ideas… and the launch was a success!
I enrolled 150+ women into TSL within one week, again, exceeding my launch expectations and resulting in one of the best months my business had ever had. After two successful launches, I was celebrating 2 of the highest income months I’d ever had. I was ecstatic!
OCTOBER
However, something started to feel off. Shortly after the end of my second launch, I was physically and mentally exhausted.
Over the past few months, I had been working harder than I ever had before. I was mentoring my private clients, creating, marketing and launching multiple offers at the same time. The workload I had put on myself was immense.
I realised that I was experiencing burnout.
I knew that I needed to take some time away from my business for my health, so I put all my upcoming tasks and projects on hold and took a month-long break from my business. I took this time to reflect on what had caused my burnout and how I could prevent it from happening again.
I came to the realisation that although the unrealistic workload I had given myself was likely the trigger, there were also certain things I was doing in my business that I simply didn't enjoy - things that were draining my energy.
As much as I loved working with my private clients, I found the Zoom calls draining and I resented that I had to bend my schedule around them. I started my business because I wanted to be free, but 1:1 coaching was leaving me feeling trapped.
On top of that, the amount of sales calls I was getting on was leaving me feeling extremely drained and I dreaded getting on them to the point that I even found myself hoping that prospects would ghost me so I didn’t have to do them.
The traditional 1:1 coaching container and sales calls were just some of the things I’d been conditioned to believe were a necessary part of building a successful business and were non-negotiable if I wanted to be successful. But the truth was, I didn’t like doing them and I didn’t want to continue doing things that were making me resent the business I was building.
After my breakdown, I completely scrapped anything I didn't truly love from my business. Goodbye sales calls, goodbye 1:1 coaching, goodbye energy sucks.
Instead, I began to map out a sustainable business model and marketing strategy that felt right to me and aligned with my values.
Read more about my experience here.
2021
In 2021, I really committed to taking action on building the business I truly wanted. No more doing things that I hated just because it was seen as ‘the done thing’ or because other people told me that’s what I should be doing.
I didn’t start my business to feel like I was still stuck in a 9-5 following orders from others. I started my business for the freedom that comes with it. I committed to building my business MY WAY.
Instead of allowing prospects to book sales calls with me, I transitioned to selling in the DMs.
I also brought back my 1:1 mentorship… with a twist. Instead of biweekly Zoom calls, all communication with my clients would now take place via Voxer - a text and voice messaging app.
This was a change I had been considering for months but had always put off as I wasn’t really seeing others doing it within the online space. However, it was a mentorship model I was so drawn to and I kept on coming back to it so I decided to give it a try and see how it went.
The results and transformations my clients experienced affirmed that this was the best decision I could have made. It also allowed me to reclaim my time & energy so I could give even more to my clients.
I went from being in a constant state of hustle to 4-hour workdays AND I was able to increase my income in the process.
In April, I finally achieved my goal of moving back to London - a little delayed thanks to Covid, but an accomplishment I was so incredibly proud of!
Throughout the rest of the year, I continued to build my business focusing on this new style of mentorship and launching my existing products and programmes.
2022
Fast forward to today and all I have to say is that this hasn't been an easy journey at all. There have been plenty of tears and plenty of times I almost called it quits…
But I never gave up.
And neither should you.
I still have big goals and milestones I have yet to reach, but I'm striving towards them and making progress every single day.
Entrepreneurship is about perseverance and the journey is never-ending. Continue to chase those big goals, but remember to look back at your progress and be proud of how far you've come!
If you’re ready to grow your business on your own terms, I’m currently accepting Private Mentorship Clients. This is for the woman who wants to grow her business without sacrificing her time or energy. By the end of our time together, you’ll have a marketing strategy that brings more time, freedom and profit to you and your business. Find out more & apply here.
xo, Leticia
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Hey, I’m Leticia
I’m an online marketing strategist for creative entrepreneurs who want to build an influential and profitable online business on their own terms.
Grab a cuppa, get comfy and stay for a while ☕️☁️
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