Now
that the new blog is launched, I can go ahead and tell you how I made money
from it prior to ever publishing my first post.
When
I started this blog, one of the things I didn’t know was that it would take
doing a number of different things to monetize it. I’d read articles where
bloggers (most in the technology and social media fields) had been hired to
perform services as a result of writing about certain things, and then organizations
would reach out to the them to speak or consult on those topics. Not the
easiest thing to do here since I talk about so much stuff.
My
plan to monetize discountthief.com consisted of seven different methods. I
categorized four out of the seven as “long-term”, meaning it would take building
up an audience and following in order to make them happen. Still – I wrote them
down.
Number
7 on my list was a service.
I
had a very vague idea of the service I could possibly offer, but honestly, I
didn’t think it would materialize until later. Much later. So as a result, I
didn’t have a process or even a description for the service. I hadn’t started
brainstorming that far ahead yet.
One
Saturday at happy hour with my friend Chris, we were catching up and I
mentioned the new blog to her. She was super excited and supportive, as always,
and immediately started to tell me how I could offer a service by helping women
discount shop. This was along the same lines as what I had envisioned myself.
The
next day I had an email from Chris offering to hire me. She’d been wanting to
go through her closet and determine what she needed to buy and what things she
should part ways with. What she didn’t want to do was pay the approximate $600
for a half-day session with a certified image consultant. She trusted me enough
to put her wardrobe and personal style in my hands.
The
experience was a success (according to the feedback Chris gave me) and alot of
fun! We created several new outfits
just by using clothes she already had, and then compiled a shopping list of
items and shoes to buy. We headed over to DSW and Marshalls and knocked it out
in about 2 ½ hours.
 |
| Chris took off her black cardigan and heels and put on her bedazzled sandals - one outfit, two ways to wear it. |
When
Chris told her mom about my new gig and how pleased she was with the outcome,
her mom hired me. This was going to be interesting because keep in mind – I
didn’t have a system in place to tackle this in person, and figuring out how to
accomplish it with an out of town client was sure to be a challenge. I was up
for it. Chris’s mom purchased the outfits I picked out and may hire me again to
shop for her when she goes on a cruise at the end of the year.
I
said to myself: I can do this. I can really
do this.
So
as of today, my one week old personal style blog has already made a profit. The
only thing I invested in was the $10 domain name back in September – with no actual
idea of how it would be used.
And
now the real work begins. Figuring out a strategy to land more paying clients!
