I'm going to let you in on a little secret that I wish I had taken to heart when I started my first business.

Ready?

Here it is.

Choosing a business model with high margins will make your life SO much easier!

The truth is that it's really hard to love your business when you're making tiny profits. Sure, the first year or two is the honeymoon period and you probably feel super stoked about it regardless. Sooner or later though, the long hours and low pay starts to wear on you and maybe you wonder if this isn't your dream after all.

Passion and honeymoons aside, choosing a high margin business model will also massively improve your ability to become financially independent and make a real difference in your social mission.  You need some serious cash flow to do both, so it's important that you choose a business that can both scale and turn a high profit.

Thankfully for you and I...

Online business is the PERFECT example of a high margin business!

Digital products can be sold over and over again with low overhead, and the barrier to entry in this industry is lower than ever. That's great for you if you're just starting out, but don't forget-  low barriers to entry mean high competition, which means YOU need to stand out and provide quality work more than ever!

​The very first thing you need to do before you even THINK about getting traffic to your blog and making it profitable is to choose a business model.

Don't let that term freak you out. This part is simple.

Your business model is simply what content you provide to engage your customers, and what you sell to them to earn money. 

So with that in mind, how do you plan to deliver your incredible content to your target audience? Will it be through blog posts, videos, a podcast, or something else?

Secondly, specifically what information will you provide to them? What can you give them or teach them that will fix their problem?

Now the second super important step is to figure out how your business is going to make money.

What will you sell? Is it a product, or a service, or will you sell both? Are your products digital or physical? Will you sell a course, book, membership, or workshop?

Trust me, you don't want to put in ALLLL that work to create an amazing blog and then find out that you don't have a solid idea of how you're going to make a living from it.

Not sure where to start with your blog plan? Download my free profitable blogging blueprint here.

If you've been on Pinterest at all lately, you've probably seen a fair bit of info about branding.

Branding your blog is the BIG THANG right now, but it's not a new concept. Big businesses have been using branding techniques for hundreds of years to connect with and sell to their specific set of customers. 

The good news for YOU is that branding isn't just for the big fish in the pond anymore. With millions of new blogs going up every year, you've got to find a way to stand out from all the fluff and garbage out there.

Branding is your golden ticket to doing just that.

If you're a blogger, your brand is most likely yourself. If you own a yourname.com and your blog's content is heavily centered on your experience and opinions of a particular subject, then YOU are your brand.  

Pretty cool, right?

Unfortunately, that isn't quite enough to really get you noticed.

A unique, well done brand is one that people can spot from a mile away. Someone should be able to look at one of your Pinterest pins or your graphics or your blog posts, or any other part of your business, and know instantly that it's yours. From your tone and voice to your colors and fonts and logos and overall vibe, everything about your brand should scream YOU. 

Want to find out EXACTLY how to design your brand to be unique, beautiful, and truly in line with your business. ​

​So by now you've got a business model and a kick-ass brand, right? Right!

The next step is to showcase your incredible knowledge and attract new readers and potential customers. This is where you start creating free content so people can get to know you and what you are all about. 

Depending on your business model, your content might be blog posts, or videos, or maybe even a podcast you've started. From now until forever, your job is to create super helpful and unique content on your blog that leaves your readers scrambling to find more of your work. 

Let's be real here. Traffic is great, but traffic always comes and leaves. If you want your blog to be successful and profitable, you're going to have to find a way to continue building the relationship with people who come to your site. This is where an email list comes in. 

Building an email list allows you to connect with your interested readers over and over and over again. It's also what helps THEM come to see you as the expert and hopefully trusted friend who can help them get where they're going.

One of the best ways to grow your email list fast is to use some crazy effective content upgrades to drive sign ups. Once people sign up to your email list, they become far more likely to buy from you because they know you and love you.

Want some step-by-step instructions for building an email list? Download my free profitable blogging blueprint right here, right now. 

Solid brand? Check.

Traffic? Check.

Email list of people who love you and your work? Check.

Girl you need something to sell these people! 

With a rock solid blogging foundation under your belt, it's time to create a product and take your blog from hobby to business. 

Never created a product before? Not to worry! Grab my free profitable blogging blueprint for a step-by-step checklist to creating a profitable product for your blog. (Seriously, this thing is tits so get it now!)

Here's the crazy fun part. Once you launch your first product to your email list and place it on your blog, that's when your business starts to make money.

In the early days, it probably won't be a lot. That's why your next step is to continue to grow your blog and bring in more and more readers who are looking for the solution you have to offer.

This is the point where your blog goes from earning a few hundred bucks a month to a few thousand or a few hundred thousand every single month.  (Side note: want to know how entrepreneurs become financially independent within a matter of years? Yeah, this is it.) 

Crazy, right? Blogs really do earn six figures per MONTH when they are valuable, honest, well branded, and insanely useful to their followers.

You're next, cupcake!

And of course, my free profitable blogging blueprint will show you how to get there.

​You've made it. You're a big league blogger and business owner. So now what? 

Well besides CELEBRATING (yes, you need to take a weekend off!), the next step is to expand your influence. Spreading your message to more and more people not only helps those that are finding you for the first time, but it also gives you the chance to fully reach financial independence and make a huge dent in your social mission. 

This is where you give interviews, maybe write a book, start doing some speaking engagements, and generally just spread your bad ass message far and wide.

So now that you've read this post, are you thinking that you've got some work to do? 

Heck yes you do!

I'm not going to lie, turning a blog into a business is a TON of work! You've got to be willing to keep learning, invest in your business and your education, and maintain a "do more, talk less" mentality. 

That being said, it's totally possible to create a five, six, or even seven figure business online. when you're willing to keep learning, investing in your business, and of course keep working. 

So with that being said, I've got one last question for you! 

​Question: What stage of six figure blog building are you in right now, and what's your biggest road block towards moving up to the next level? Let me know in the comments below!