The DollarSprout Podcast: Recent Episodes

View Details

I officially took my business full-time 10 months ago!

In today's update, I share where we've been over the last year, what my business looks like today (revenue, revenue projections, and hours I'm working), and my goals and plans for the rest of 2023.

Click here for the episode transcript.

View Details

Today’s guest is Adrienne Johnston. Adrienne is a freelance presentation designer who works with companies like Microsoft, Samsung, and Meta.

Adrienne left her job in finance in 2018. After working consistent 70-hour weeks, she was determined to build a business that gave her the freedom and flexibility she yearned for, but without the networking or sleazy sales calls. Today, Adrienne’s business brings in over $300k per year working less than half the hours as her previous corporate job.

In this episode, Adrienne shares:

• The marketing strategy that’s worked the best for her as an introvert (and brought in her best and biggest clients)
• An epiphany she had early in her business that pushed her to raise her rates
• How she avoids “sales calls” and still lands huge corporate clients
• Why her niche is so wildly profitable and tips for finding your own profitable niche
• The dichotomy between being an analytical person in a creative industry
• And so much more!

Resources:

• Episode Show Notes
• Free Webinar: How Adrienne Built a Six-Figure Design Business
• Adrienne’s course
• Adrienne’s freelance website
• Adrienne’s Instagram

View Details

Today’s guest is Jenny Weg. Jenny is a full-time mom and social media manager who started her business out of a desire to stay at home with her first child after maternity leave.

Like many business owners, Jenny’s journey has been a nonlinear one. After building her business as a full-time freelancer and course creator, Jenny decided to go back to a full-time job and keep her business for supplemental income. She’s learned to adapt her business model to support her family throughout the changing seasons of life. And that, as you’ll hear in Jenny’s story, is the beauty of having an online business.

In this episode, Jenny shares:

• How she got her first ever freelancing client (and tips for networking and getting referrals)
• Why she decided to go back to a full-time job
• How much profit her business makes per month now that she’s only doing it part-time
• How she made $20k with her first course launch with no training or prior experience (and, more importantly, how she won a related bet with her husband)
• What she did really well (and what she would change) with her first course launch
• The best investment she made in her business that paid off 55x in the first 6 months
• And so much more!

Resources:

• Episode Show Notes
• Jenny’s Instagram
• Jenny’s Social Media Manager in a Month Course

View Details

Today’s guest is Julie Berninger. Julie is a blogger, podcaster, Etsy seller, and co-founder of Gold City Ventures, where she teaches others how to start a successful Etsy business selling printables.

In 2017, Julie started her own Etsy shop, The Swag Elephant, selling temporary tattoos for bachelorette parties. After realizing she didn’t want to deal with the hassle of shipping orders, Julie switched to selling bachelorette scavenger hunt printables.

Over the course of two years, she was able to build her Etsy shop to $10,000 a year working just 4 hours a week. Even after taking 6 months off for a cross-country move, her shop still brought in over $10,000. Through her E-Printables Course, Julie teaches others how to create and sell printables on Etsy in nearly any niche.

In this episode, Julie shares:

• The #1 mindset trap for most people when starting an Etsy shop (and most online businesses)
• How she built a strong support community of entrepreneurs in the early days of her business
• Some printable niches you never would’ve guessed were profitable (or even possible)
• How the 80/20 rule applies to an Etsy printables business
• The biggest mindset change that improved her life and business
• A few dos and don’ts for starting an Etsy shop
• Things to avoid when starting your Etsy shop

Resources:

• Episode Show Notes
• Julie’s Free Workshop on How to Sell Printables on Etsy
• Julie’s E-Printables Side Hustle Course
• Julie’s Instagram

View Details

Today’s guest is Whitney Hansen. Whitney is a financial coach and business mentor who I’m a financial coach who helps ambitious people manage their cash flow, pay off debt, work towards their goals, and live life on their own terms.

Whitney started her business in 2010. After working two jobs to pay off her $30,000 of student loan debt in just 10 months, friends and family started asking Whitney for help with their own finances. From that grew a financial coaching and education business that’s helped thousands of clients and students pay off debt and achieve their financial goals.

In this episode, Whitney shares:

• Why she decided to switch from a more scalable business model (online courses) to a less scalable one (1-on-1 coaching)
• How she realized it was time to stop blogging (even though she was making passive income from it)
• How she got clients in the early days of her business and where most of her clients come from now (I was surprised!)
• Which side hustles she recommends to her clients based on their financial situation
• Her advice for someone just getting started in their business

Resources:

• Episode Show Notes
• The Money Nerds podcast
• Whitney’s 1-on-1 Financial Coaching Services
• Whitney’s Become a Financial Coach Course
• Book: Company of One

View Details

Today’s guest is Gillian Perkins from GillianPerkins.com. Gillian is a best-selling author, founder of the Startup Society, and host of the Earn More, Work Less podcast. Her mission is to teach regular people how to build online businesses that make passive income and provide them flexibility, fulfillment, and success on their own terms.

In this episode, Gillian shares:

• Her entrepreneurial journey going from music teacher to multiple six-figure online business owner
• The epiphany she had about why her business wasn’t making more money
• How she gets a ton of visibility and lead for her business for free
• The mindset shift around hiring that allowed her to scale her business
• The biggest myth around having an online business that she wants to clear up once and for all
• And more!

Resources:

• Episode Show Notes
• Free Download: The 8 Ways to Make Money Online Explained
• Gillian’s YouTube Channel
• Work Less, Earn More Podcast
• Gillian’s Website

View Details

Today’s guest is Keldie Jamieson, founder of the OBM Leadership Academy. Keldie’s career as an online business manager began in 2010 when she realized she could leverage her experience in project management and operations to build a location-independent business.

After struggling to find ideal clients for a year, she took the Certified Online Business Manager® training and soon after landed her first 7-figure client. For more than 10 years, Keldie ran a successful OBM business with no online presence whatsoever – not even a website.

Today, Keldie focuses on her work through the OBM Leadership Academy, where she teaches professionals how to leverage their operations, project management, and administrative expertise to build an OBM business of their own.

In this episode, Keldie shares:

• How she managed to build a successful online business with ZERO online presence
• Her #1 motivator for starting an online business (simultaneously a heartbreaking and heartwarming story)
• The biggest mistake she made in her first business and how you can avoid it
• Her best tips for networking (and why you need to build relationships with people in your industry)
• And more!

Resources:

• Episode Show Notes
• Free Download: OBM Essentials Kit: Discover how you can transition your business administration expertise into a lucrative and legitimate online career and business as an Online Business Manager
• Free Download: Certified OBM® Training Course Syllabus
• OBM Leadership Academy Website

View Details

Today’s guests are Rob and Melissa Stephenson, co-founders of Flea Market Flipper. Rob comes from a family of flippers, and he started his own reselling side hustle when he was just 16 years old.

When he and Melissa realized they were about to have three kids under three with no health insurance, they decided to go all-in on reselling and take the business full time. That first year, they made over $130,000, more than $100,000 of which was profit.

Today, Rob and Melissa have two sides of their business: flipping and coaching other flippers. On the reselling side, they bring in about $100,000 per year flipping 75 to 100 items. On the coaching side, they’ve helped over 1,000 people build profitable reselling businesses through their online course and community.

In this episode, Rob and Melissa share:

• How they spend just 5-10 hours a week on reselling and make $100k+ per year
• Rules of thumb they use to determine whether an item will be profitable
• How to avoid requests for refunds from your buyers
• How they earn 10x what they pay on each flip (including one item they bought for $500 and sold for $14,500)
• Stories of some of the best (and worst) flips they’ve ever made
• Their best tips for anyone new to flipping
• And more!

Resources:

• Episode Show Notes
• Free Workshop: How to Create A Recession-Proof Side Hustle with a Profitable Reselling Business in as Little as 14 Days
• Flea Market Flipper Website
• Flea Market Flipper YouTube

View Details

Today’s guest is Emma Sloan. Emma is a full-time content creator in her business, The Wee Writer, where she and her team provide customized copywriting and editing services to small and medium-sized businesses.

Emma started her business in 2015 when she was still in university. She was in need of part-time income with flexible hours when she came across the idea to offer copywriting services. Since then, she’s taken her business full-time and grown it to over $70,000 a year.

Throughout her journey, Emma has learned that business growth isn’t always linear, and growth for growth’s sake is meaningless (and often stressful). Sometimes you need to take a step back and regroup in order to see the bigger picture. She’s on a journey to continue building The Wee Writer into a business that feels aligned and supports her needs.

In this episode, Emma shares:

• A big mistake she made when cold pitching clients early on (and how you can avoid it)
• The mindset shift that’s helped her get more business
• Her reality (and the reality of many) in running a full-time online business (spoiler: growth isn’t always linear)
• Tips for getting clients when you don’t have any work to show
• Why she pivoted from her early service offerings
• Where her best clients come from (you’ve definitely heard of her biggest client!)
• The story of how she knew it was time to hire someone in her business and how she chose what to delegate
• The biggest piece of advice she has for anyone starting a business
• And more!

Resources:

• Episode Show Notes
• The Wee Writer Website (tune into the Nifty Networking Showcase on the blog)
• The Wee Writer on LinkedIn

View Details

Today’s guest is Kelan Kline. Kelan is one-half of The Savvy Couple, a family finance blog that makes learning how to manage your money approachable, fun, and easy to understand.

Kelan founded The Savvy Couple in 2016, and the personal finance blog that started as a side hustle has now grown to a $500k/year business, putting them on track to reach financial freedom by age 35. Now Kelan and his wife Brittany spend a combined 35 to 40 hours a week working in the business, which allows them to spend more time with their two young daughters.

In this episode, Kelan shares:

• How they grew their business from $0 to $500k/year
• How we was able to quit his job and focus on the business full-time after making their first $50
• When they realized it was time to start creating their own products (and why two of their courses completely flopped)
• How Kelan and Brittany run their business together with two young children at home

Resources:

• Episode Show Notes
• Free Simple Budget Template
• The Savvy Couple website
• Book: The Millionaire Fastlane

View Details

Today’s guest is Kaci Ackerman. Kaci is a Certified Online Business Manager® (OBM®) and Verified ClickUp Consultant who helps her clients optimize and automate their work in ClickUp, saving them upwards of 10 hours/week.

Kaci started her business in 2020 after the dental office she managed was closed due to the pandemic. In the last 2.5 years, she’s grown her business from $0 to $150k, with half of her revenue coming from her ClickUp course and templates. This focus on creating passive income streams has allowed Kaci to scale back her time and work just 20 hours/week in her business.

In this episode, Kaci shares:

• How she replaced her dental office manager salary in the first 3 months of her business
• The mindset everyone needs when starting a business
• How she ended up with 10 leads in a single month (and why this was NOT good thing for her at the time)
• The habit that saved her sanity when she was booked out with OBM retainer clients
• Tips for finding a profitable passive income product (which she says is the reason her Facebook ads bring in 3x her ad spend)
• And so much more!

Resources:

• Episode Show Notes
• Kaci’s Website
• Kaci’s Instagram
• Kaci’s Free ClickUp Roadmap for business owners
• Ways to Work with Kaci (course, templates, and 1-on-1)

View Details

At the end of Season 1, Megan gave an update on her business and listed 7 things she had decided to differently from the first (failed) business that she started.

In this episode, Megan revisits that list and shares which items she followed through on, which she didn't, and what's changed in her business over the last 10 months.

Click here for the episode transcript.

View Details

My first business was... not entirely successful. But it taught me a lot about myself, what I enjoy doing, and what I want my life to look like.

After 4 years working part-time in my business, I decided to close shop for a while so I could figure out my next steps. Now I'm back on the horse charging head-first into my brand new business. 

Today, I'm sharing with you 7 things that I'm doing differently in my business the second time around.

Some of them are mistakes that I made and am avoiding in my new business. Some of them aren’t so much mistakes as they are just lessons and wisdom that I’ve picked up along the way.

And some are advice from our guests from this season and how I’m implementing their wisdom into my business going forward.

View Details

Today’s guest is Instructional Designer Melody Johnson.

Melody helps course creators develop customer success strategies that get them more and better customer success stories (AKA testimonials). And you know what they say – testimonials are the best marketing material.

Online courses and memberships can be a great way to build a flexible lifestyle business. We’ve talked about how to launch an online course in a previous episode with Lexi Merritt.

But what if you’ve never created a course before? How do you organize and structure your course content to make sure that the course you create gets your students their desired result? The last thing you want to do is waste time creating a crappy course that no one finishes, that doesn’t get results for your students, or worst of all, your students complain about and ask for refunds for.

As an Instructional Designer and a Certified Virtual Customer Success Manager, Melody’s specialty is helping you get your customers better results. And as I said before, better results equal better testimonials. And better testimonials equals more revenue in your business.

A little about Melody before we jump into the show…

Melody has a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts with a concentration in performance and directing. She has a passion for musicals and makes it a point to learn every new Disney princess song. (Me too, Melody. Me, too.) She brings the same sassy theatrical excitement to every client and every project.

Melody also studied early childhood education and taught young children before going on to get her Master’s Degree in Instructional Design. She then moved on to corporate training for several years before starting her own business, The Course Consultant, where she helps small business owners create, grow, and scale their online course curriculum.

When it comes to course design, Melody is the real deal, and I’m so excited and grateful to have her on the show today.

Links and resources:

• Episode Show Notes and Key Takeaways
• The Digital Product Toolkit
• Melody’s Inspired Courses Facebook Group
• Melody's TikTok Account
• Melody on LinkedIn
• The Course Consultant Podcast
• The Course Consultant YouTube Channel
• Melody's Retention Calculator
• Melody's 1-on-1 Customer Success Intensive
• Blog Post: Why Customer Success Matters for Small Businesses
• Tool mentioned: Tawk.to (free help desk software)

View Details

Ever wondered what’s the fastest way to make money in an online business (without selling a service? Affiliate marketing might be the answer.

Ben Huber and Jeff Proctor have made multiple 7-figures in revenue from affiliate marketing alone in the last five years of their business.

In this episode, they talk about what you need to start making money with affiliate marketing, how to connect with thousands of your favorite brands at once, and their best tips to increase your conversions and build a loyal, trusting audience.

Links and resources:

• Episode shownotes
• Free DollarSprout Facebook Group
• Blog Post: 3 Top Affiliate Marketing Networks We Use to Make $20,000+/Month
• Blog Post: 8 Affiliate Marketing Strategies to Drive Massive Sales
• Podcast Episode: Is Blogging Dead? Here’s How Blogging Has Changed in the Last 7 Years

View Details

Today’s guest is Content Strategist Marisa Jo, also known as MJ. You might have read her story on HuffPost or Good Morning America of how she left her full-time corporate career in 2020 to become an entrepreneur and full-time content creator.

Today, Marisa helps creatives and coaches create a TikTok strategy to get seen, heard, and paid.

She’s also the co-founder of Spacetime Monotasking, which offers virtual coworking focus sessions. If you’re someone like me who gets distracted easily and sometimes just needs the accountability of other people, then Spacetime Monotasking was created with you in mind.

And if you’re a coach, a content creator, or any service-based business owner, I highly recommend you go follow MJ. She posts super helpful tips on content creation, mindset, and business. And she’s just really relatable and a genuine person. She’s not afraid to talk about the not-so-pretty parts of entrepreneurship, like burnout and unlearning hustle and productivity culture, which I always love and appreciate. Her TikTok is @itsmarisajo.

Links and resources:

• Episode Shownotes and Key Takeaways
• MJ's TikTok: @itsmarisajo
• MJ's Free Exercise: Bottomless Content
• MJ's Co-Working Business: Spacetime Monotasking (Get your first session for free)
• Book: Deep Work by Cal Newport

View Details

Today’s guest is Launch Strategist Lexi Merritt.

I first found Lexi on TikTok, and I’m just gonna say this upfront: if you’re a creative business owner, or interested in launching an online course, or you just appreciate fun and relatable content from REAL people, then you’re gonna want to go to TikTok and follow Lexi. Her TikTok is @leximmerritt.

Lexi has worked in marketing for over 8 years. She was the Director of Marketing and Online Course Development for Rachel Simmons, best-selling author of books Odd Girl Out and Enough As She Is.

Lexi founded the Pretty Decent Internet Café, where she teaches creative thinkers how to turn their dreams and ideas into businesses.

Her two main offerings right now are a VIP Day, where she helps creatives outline a sustainable product or service offering and design a strategy to sell it. And her second offer is The Study, a private membership space for creative business owners, freelancers, and people who like to make things.

I really admire the way that Lexi has structured her business. She gives herself a 4-day workweek, taking Thursdays off to have what she calls an “intuition day.” And she built her offers around things that she loves, which are teaching and working with other creative business owners.

Lexi’s content speaks to my soul, and I’m so excited to have her on the show. I hope you enjoy.

Links and resources:

• Episode Show Notes and Key Takeaways
• Lexi’s website: PrettyDecent.org
• Lexi’s TikTok: @leximmerritt
• The Pretty Decent Podcast:
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
• Book: The Artist’s Way

View Details

Is blogging dead? Should you start a blog today? How long does it take to make money with a blog? DollarSprout's Co-Founders, Ben Huber and Jeff Proctor, discuss how blogging has changed in the last 7 years, what it takes to make money blogging today, and who should consider starting a blog.

Links and resources:

• Episode Show Notes
• Free DollarSprout Facebook Group
• Blog Post: These 5 Millennials Started Blogging 12 Months Ago. Now They’re All Making $1,000+/Month
• Blog Post: How to Start a Blog
• Blog Post: How to Make Money Blogging for Beginners: A Complete Guide to Your First $1,000

View Details

Today’s guest is High Performance and Mindset Coach Carrie Veatch.

Carrie helps ambitious entrepreneurs bust through their self-doubt so they can create wildly profitable online businesses. She has a Master’s degree in counseling psychology, which led to her working as a therapist before starting her coaching practice at Set Yourself Free.

Carrie now runs two online businesses, including her coaching practice, both built around her core value of freedom – including time freedom, financial freedom, and location freedom. Because of the way she’s built her businesses, she’s able to enjoy the digital nomad lifestyle she loves. She spent the last 4 years traveling around Asia and I believe is now in Mexico.

In this conversation, Carrie talks all about the mental blocks that hold so many would-be entrepreneurs back and how to bust through them so you can create the freedom-based business of your dreams.

• Episode shownotes
• Set Yourself Free (Carrie’s website)
• Why Perfectionism is Fear in Disguise and What to Do About it (Carrie’s podcast)
• Navigate Your Visibility Fears While Still Making More (Carrie’s podcast)
• Feel Like a Fraud? Listen to Why It's a Good Thing! (Carrie’s podcast)
• Why Going ALL In is the Difference Make if You Want to Make More Money in Your Business (Carrie’s podcast)
• How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome Now (Carrie’s podcast)
• The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks (book that talks about how to find your “zone of genius”)
• Prevalence, Predictors, and Treatment of Impostor Syndrome: a Systematic Review (study)
• Thinking your way out of imposter syndrome by Valerie Young (video)

View Details

Today’s guest is Jen Smith. Jen is co-host of the Frugal Friends podcast, which I highly suggest you check out if you haven’t already. Jen and her co-host Jill are so funny, you’ll literally just feel like you’re having a conversation with two of your best friends. They’re amazing.

And on top of having a very successful podcast, Jen has done a lot of other things in her business. She’s been a freelance writer and blogger, she’s sold online courses, written and sold eBooks, she and Jill host an online summit called The Future of Frugal Summit.

We’ll include links for all of those resources and more in the show notes for this episode so you can go and check them out.

There was just so much that I wanted to talk to Jen about on our call because she just has so much experience and wisdom in all of these areas. Some of the things we touch on are:

• Jen’s story of getting laid off at her job, while pregnant and about to give birth, and how she was able to build her business during that stressful time.
• How you can diversify your business while maintaining a simple business model
• How to attract the right people to be in your audience (and repel the wrong ones)
• Understanding the purpose of every piece of content you create
• The number one mindset shift that has improved Jen’s life and business the most. (And it might surprise you coming from a frugal living podcaster.)

And of course just so much more that I’ll let you find out yourself without rehashing our entire conversation.

Don’t forget to stick around to the end of the episode to hear my key takeaways, thoughts, and action items you can take away from this conversation.

Links and resources:

• Episode show notes and transcript
• The Frugal Friends Podcast
• Financial Freedom Mentorship Waitlist
• The Future of Frugal Summit
• Frugal Friends YouTube Channel
• Modern Frugality
• Book: The One Thing
• Book: Essentialism

View Details

This week’s episode of The DollarSprout Podcast features Jeremy Enns, CEO of podcasting agency Counterweight Creative.

He and his team help with “podcast strategy & production for scrappy brands looking to punch above their weight” → I had to quote that line from their site directly because I love it so much.

Jeremy has many titles – audio engineer, podcast producer, CEO. But above all else, he’s a creative.

In today’s episode, Jeremy shares some of his biggest lessons and tips from over 10 years as a creator and 6+ years growing Counterweight Creative, including:

• How to come up with an unlimited number of ideas (for your business, content, writing, or any creative endeavor)
• How to stand out and make more money on Upwork
• A surprisingly important trait required for success in podcasting, blogging, and business

As always, stick around to the end of the episode to hear my key takeaways and some action items you can start implementing today.

Side Note: Jeremy was extremely transparent about the number in his business, which we always appreciate! The first ~15 minutes of today’s episode is about his revenue, profit, email list size, and other business metrics.

Links and resources:

• Show notes and transcript
• Jeremy's favorite resources: An incredibly thoughtful page with links, tools, and resources just for DollarSprout listeners.
• Jeremy's Creative Wayfinding Newsletter: Where each issue "explores the question of how to navigate the wilds of meaningful creative work with clarity, purpose, and confidence." (I signed up. You probably should, too.)
• Jeremy's Twitter
• Podcast: Akimbo by Seth Godin

View Details

This week on The DollarSprout Podcast, we’re joined by Leadership Coach Raina Willick.

Raina helps freelancers and entrepreneurs create a work-life balance and schedule they love without sacrificing their most important goals.

She’s a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) of the International Coaching Federation, and a Fellow of the Institute of Coaching McLean, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

Raina uses the neuroscience-based Positive Intelligence framework to help her clients make lasting changes by building mental fitness, purposeful productivity, fulfilling focus, and a happy entrepreneurial life.

On today’s episode, Raina teaches us:

• How to step into the CEO role in your business (even if you’re a 1-person show),
• The top 2 things you need in your business that make every decision easier (and how to create them), and
• Simple ways you can start to develop more self-trust so that you can make decisions in your business from a place of confidence rather than fear

As always, stick around to the end of the episode to hear my key takeaways and some action items you can start implementing today.

Links and resources:

• Episode show notes and transcript
• Free Exercise: Raina’s Vision Journal Prompts
• Raina's website
• Raina’s Coaching Offers
• PositiveIntelligence.com (learn about your saboteurs, positive intelligence, and mental fitness)
• Book: Positive Intelligence: Why Only 20% of Teams and Individuals Achieve Their True Potential and How You Can Achieve Yours by Shirzad Chamine)
• Video: Morning Pages Exercise
• Book: The Artist's Way by Julie Cameron (creator of Morning Pages exercise)

View Details

On today’s episode, we talk with podcaster, blogger, YouTuber, and niche site creator Pete McPherson of Do You Even Blog.

Today, Pete runs a lifestyle business that most people only ever dream of. He wakes up whenever he wants, works about 15-20 hours per week, and takes time off to spend with his family and kids whenever he feels like it.

But it wasn’t always like this for Pete.

In fact, it took him 40+ failed business ideas before he found success in Do You Even Blog.

During our conversation, Pete shared some of his biggest lessons learned in his decade of online business experience.

Stick around to the end of the episode to hear my key takeaways and action items you can start implementing today.

Links and resources:

• Episode show notes and transcript
• Do You Even Blog (Pete's website)
• The Do You Even Blog Podcast (see season 1 for some beginner online business gold)
• Book: The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin
• Blog Post from Pete: My Failure Resume: A walk through 40+ failed blogs and biz ideas
• Blog Post and Podcast from Pete: How to Create Digital Products (The CrissCross Drill for Discovering Product Ideas)

View Details

Welcome to The DollarSprout Podcast! This episode is all about the who, what, and why of this show.

Tune in for:

• 3 things that set a lifestyle business apart from other businesses
• The story of how I (Megan, your show host) got into the online business world (and awkwardly stalked DollarSprout co-founders Ben and Jeff until they gave me a job), and
• What else you can expect from season 1 of The DollarSprout Podcast.