In 4 short days, I am coming up on my 1 year anniversary of working from home full time. It didn’t happen overnight- in fact, I am approaching 3 years of starting my work from home business. But to this day I STILL have people ask me, “what exactly do you do now?” So I thought it was time to lay it all out there again!
WHERE TO START
I started blogging in 2015 as a hobby. I loved to write and share, and a blog seemed like the best way to do that. My work from home business branched off from my blog in 2017. During the first two years of blogging, I learned a lot about the behind the scenes of blogging, social media, and graphic design. Soon after, I was approached from others asking for my help.
In June of 2017, I invested in a course about virtual assisting. Virtual assisting can mean a variety of things, from data entry to website design. It’s essentially helping online blogs and businesses remotely with different tasks. When I started, I had an end goal of not returning to work following my maternity leave with Addison. That gave me 6 months to match my full time income. Unfortunately, that didn’t quite happen. BUT, it was a huge blessing in disguise. I don’t think that without going back to work I would have had the push or motivation to build my business to where it is today, and for that, I am so so grateful.
In March of 2019, I had officially held my full time income with my side hustle for 1 year. So I took the plunge to leave my full time job and pursue working from home full time. I should use the term “full time” loosely. Addison goes to daycare 1 full day and 3 mornings a week, giving us more time together. If I don’t finish my work during her daycare time, I try to wrap up during nap time or after bedtime
WHAT DO I ACTUALLY DO?
Every single time someone asks me this question, it almost stumps me. It’s so hard to summarize what I do! So the best thing I have come up with is Digital Marketing Strategist. I work with bloggers and help them drive traffic to their sites using social media channels and email marketing. I schedule posts on Facebook, pins on Pinterest, and emails through email platforms to direct their readers to their blogs and help them earn and income through that traffic.
I’ve also helped a handful of local businesses build their own websites. How did I learn to do that? Trial and error on my own blog, and about a million online courses (kidding, but there was a LOT of courses that I took). In all seriousness, I’ve learned over the past few years to keep investing in online education- the online landscape changes almost daily, and in order to keep up
HOW I FIND CLIENTS TO WORK WITH
I landed my very first client through a message on Facebook. She posted that she was overwhelmed trying to manager her online business and motherhood, and needed help. She took a chance on me and the rest is history.
After working with Erin, I felt more confident in what I had to offer and reached out to a few other brands that I loved and believed in what they were doing. I found that when I am passionate about who I am working for, it doesn’t even feel like I am working. By the time I had 3 clients, I started getting referrals from them and before I knew it my client roster was filled. In the last 3 years, I’ve had the opportunity to help moms who are just starting out, and bloggers who make 7 figures a year on their blogs.
HOW CAN YOU GET STARTED?
In May of 2018, almost one year in to running my business, I had so many people coming to me asking how they could do what I do. So I spent that summer crafting a course specifically geared towards social media management, Social Media Manager in a Month. Since that time, over 100 ladies have completed the course, and started their own work from home gigs too! If you think you are more interested a general virtual assisting role, I highly encourage you to check out the course that I took when I started, 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success.
Working from home has been a HUGE blessing for our family- especially with our schedule. We no longer have to rush out of the house every day to make it to work by 8 AM. Plus I’m available to stay at home with Addison when she is sick. Lastly, I don’t feel drained at the end of the day now that we have a slower paced life. I hope this post answers all of your questions and gives you a little guidance if you want to start your own digital marketing business!
