The Introverted Influencer

My #1 Tip for Finding and Monetizing Your Passion

June 24, 2022 Erica Van Slyke Season 1 Episode 20
The Introverted Influencer
My #1 Tip for Finding and Monetizing Your Passion
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode, I am sharing my number one advice for finding and monetizing your passion- regardless of your niche or industry. 

In a super digestible manner, I am sharing my number one strategy for building a six-figure blog and, spoiler alert, it doesn't involve hustling yourself to exhaustion or being a master at analyzing market trends and metrics.

**All my fellow mamas out there: I am a potty-mouth,  so you may want to listen with headphones on!**

If you found this episode helpful it would mean the world to me if you could share it with a friend or screenshot this episode on your phone, upload it to Instagram stories and tag me (@designingvibes).  This podcast is not monetized, so spreading the word is the best way to "pay me back" for my time and wisdom- so to speak.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the introverted influencer podcast. I'm your host, Erica. Vanke my soul's mission on this planet is to help fellow introverts grow their online influence and estate, a feminine flow and ease while battling the woes of depression, anxiety, and even mom guilt. I've somehow managed to build a six-figure blog without the use of social media and without sacrificing my mental health, if I can do it, you can too. Hello and welcome to episode 20 of the introverted influencer podcast. So before I get into the meat of today's episode, I just wanted to take some time right now to extend some major gratitude to those of you out there who have been tagging this podcast and your in instant stories and hitting me up in my DMS with your feedback, you don't even know how freaking much it means to me. Some of your stories have put like just tears of joy in my eyes. And I just wanna thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy day to let me know how you're liking these episodes, because I'm not gonna lie. I'm still very much out of my comfort zone in the room of podcasting and public speaking. And sometimes I doubt myself and what I'm doing, you know, my heart still races and my palms get sweaty. And I even try to procrastinate my way out of these episodes.<laugh> but when I hear your feedback, it just, man, it just makes all of that minor discomfort. Totally, totally worth it. And as I've mentioned, I don't make any money from this podcast and actually it is costing me money. So if you were looking for just a way to create some good karma in the world right now, it would mean so much to me. If you could share this podcast with a friend or on social media, because the growth of this podcast really does depend on your word of mouth and your five star reviews. And I would love to start getting some guests on the podcast, but it's gotta be financially viable for me. And right now I need to, I would need to invest in some equipment to record podcasts with guests on, because right now I'm just recording on my outdated iPhone<laugh>. So if we can get the word out there, I just, I know this podcast can grow. I feel it in my gut and I wanna continue to serve you guys with like really interesting topics. So getting that outta the way with a moving on. So last week I was a guest on the abundance formula podcast, and I can't wait to share that episode with you once it's been released. But basically I just wanted to elaborate today on a question I was asked on that podcast. And basically the question was what was like the number one thing that contributed not only to me finding my passion, but what allowed me to successfully monetize that passion into a six figure brand. And while most people would probably expect like a very logical strategic type of answer, I basically just replied to just throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks, like not only at a macro level of finding your ultimate path, but also as a creative, I have to do this basically on a daily basis with all of my blog content and my tutorials, because here's the thing. I don't care how well, you know, SEO or how well, you know, social media or even how talented of a designer or stylist or artist you are. None of us have a crystal ball. It's not like I can predict or anyone can predict their next spiral hit. And I certainly never could have predicted that my blog would take off like it did, but at the same time, while it's hard to predict successes, I can zoom the lens out over the past seven, over seven years of my blogging career and distinguished a pretty predictable pattern to the trajectory of my business and just achieving success. And it goes a little something like this, are you ready? Flop failure, crickets. Wow. I stuck at this da, holy. Something finally worked and I'm so glad I didn't give up. And you rinse and repeat that over and over baby. That is the life of an entrepreneur. And while I'm not gonna be completely oblivious to more of the strategic tactical type of aspects of a business, like there are certainly best practices to follow. Um, like keeping up with search engine and social media algorithm preferences. I I've gotta tell you guys there are there's times when I have done everything by the book and I failed. And then there have been times I have gone against the advice of experts and have been incredibly victorious. Victoria is, and it's funny because in the early days of my blogging career, I was still working my boring nine to five as a marketing consultant and SEO specialist. And so when the blog was just a hobby, I would, halfass a lot of things. And it's hilarious because some of those posts that I half asked on more of the tactical side of it were actually some of my best performing posts on Google for a long time. So that kind of just goes to show once again, it's unpredictable and where I'm leading with this<laugh> yes, I'm all about harnessing the power of energetics and manifestation and as little action as possible, you know, locking in with flow. But I would be aligned to you if I didn't tell you that action is still key. Even if it's clumsy little baby steps and that's been my style for sure is just one foot in front of the other. But I also realize from experience that procrastination and fear is super real and it can be crippling and debilitating. But the way I have learned to navigate through the fear of action is by really reflecting on my path and reminding myself that even if I do fail in failure, it's almost an avoidable. Or even if I embarrass myself by executing, whatever action I have been called to do at you at the very least, I have gained knowledge and clarity and wisdom is so, so priceless. And if I do get that rare win, then I gain confidence. So you really can't lose from the action because if you fell, you acquire wisdom. If you succeed, you get, you get your swagger built up for sure. And you gotta realize here,<laugh>, it's not about waiting until you have the confidence to begin. I think people do it so backwards because confidence and even competence only comes through action. That's really the only way to acquire it. And maybe right now you feel like you're in a lull or a losing streak. I can personally say that this past eclipse season and mercury retro was incredibly tumultuous and trying for me and not to me off my center, if you're feeling that way, I just wanna share a little reframe. So when you start to get down and you feel like you're never gonna have a victory, like it's just a series of flops and disappointments. I want you to reflect on this. It took Thomas Edison over a thousand unsuccessful attempts to get the modern day light bulb to work. And when a reporter asked him, how did it feel to fail a thousand times Edison replied. I didn't fail a thousand times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps, BA<affirmative> fan mic drop. So as you can see here, not only is it about taking sloppy relentless action, it's also about keeping your mindset in check as well. And for me, it's just about continually shifting from disappointment and self-criticism even, it's, you know, it's all going to hell vibes to curiosity and playfulness like a simple shift from, oh my God, I suck at life to what if I tried it this way? Next time, just a simple little tweak. And maybe that's all you need because mindset, although action is important. Mindset is everything because divine intervention and divine inspiration will never come when we're in the survival mode of stress and negativity, It would be of your best interest to get your mind right, get relaxed and receptive. And that's when the best ideas come. That's when your answer to your prayers will come. And for those of you that haven't quite found your calling yet, I wanted to kind of elaborate more on that aspect of the question that I was addressing. And, you know, maybe you just, you have no, no clue of where to start. Just take inventory of the things that interest you and or what do people come advice to you for the most? What do you get complimented on the most? And just follow your curiosity from there. I mean, if you need to take up like an apprenticeship or mirror someone, or even just start a hobby that interests you in worst case scenario, if you hate it, at least you've acquired some clarity and direction. I didn't start my blog because I thought it would make money. I started it as a healthy way of coping with depression in a really like rock bottom phase of my life. I never thought it would make much money if any, it was just me Kind of aligning what I had been complimented on, which was my interior design skills and my writing skills. And then more of my practical knowledge, which was, I was a professional SEO consultant. And I had a lot of experience with web design. So a blog interface was just something I was comfortable with and I just kind of followed my path of least resistance from there. And I also did dabble with actual like interior design in the literal sense. I took on a few clients, but to me, the blog was just a lot more sustainable, especially at the time because I had little babies at home and I couldn't get childcare. So I couldn't go on site to a job. And, you know,<affirmative>, you know, that's, the blog is just what panned out. And while most people would, I think consider me a very successful blogger. I just gotta let you know that<laugh> over the seven years that I've been blogging, almost logging almost, I'd say like 75% of the posts I've published on my blog have been flops, but the tiny amount of wins have been enough to keep me going to, you know, reward me monetarily and to keep me enthusiastic and passionate about what I'm doing. And every time I sit down to write a post, I always get this rush and it's kind of similar to playing the lottery or even like gambling at a casino. So when I sit down, I get myself in this nice flowy playful state, and I think, wow, like this post could be the one, the next big viral hit. And it's, it just gives me hope. And it gets me excited because you see no matter how hopeless, how hopeless, blah, blah<laugh>, you may feel right now. One lucky break is all you need, and it can all turn around for you on a mother, effing dime overnight, baby. Your next big breakthrough is on the other side of that action. You know, you've been needing to take the next client, the next big cell, the next viral post, the next magazine feature that life changing partnership, you name it, but if you're too chicken to ever even try, you'll never know my love. So you just have to keep throwing spaghetti on the wall until something sticks giving up or never even trying is totally not the vibe here. You gotta hold the vision, remain in a playful, receptive state of curiosity and be willing to just try new things. Thank you so much for stopping by and spending some time with me this week. I hope this episode was just what you needed to hear to keep own truck and baby. And as I mentioned earlier in the show, if you're looking for a way to generate some good karma, it would mean the freaking world to me. If you could give the show a five star review, share it with someone who needs to hear it, or even better take a screenshot of this episode on your phone, upload it to your Insta stories and tag me in it at designing vibes. I'm.