080: Inside Kate’s Business Coaching Session with Jessica Cha

Kate Kordsmeier 0:04

You're listening to the Success with Soul podcast with Kate Kordsmeier X journalists turned CEO of a multi six figure blog in online business. But it wasn't that long ago that Kate was a struggling entrepreneur who lacked confidence, clarity, and let's be honest money. But all those failures, experiments and lessons learned helped Kay create a thriving business that impacts 1000s and brings freedom, flexibility and fulfillment to her life. If you're ready to do the same and make something happen with holistic, soulful, step by step strategies from Kate and other experts, you're in the right place. Here's your host, writer, educator, mom, recovering perfectionist, bookworm and sushi connoisseur, Kate Kordsmeier. So today, we have a very special guests joining us we're doing something we haven't done on the show before. And we're basically sharing a coaching call with y'all. So I have one of my students, Jessica Cha here with us today. She has been in the 21 days to impact course graduated into the six figure blog Academy. And what's really cool is that we actually grew up together, you know, last touch as life happened, and we got older and now have reconnected. And so Jessica, welcome to the show. It's so good to talk to you.

Jessica Cha 1:25

Yeah, thank you so much for having me on. I've been looking forward to this. So I'm really glad and definitely, really excited for your coaching.

Kate Kordsmeier 1:33

Yay. All right. Well, before we get into that, tell everybody a little bit about who you are and your story. And you know, kind of what your background is maybe and then why you decided to start a blog in the first place. Yeah, so

Jessica Cha 1:47

I'm Korean American, I'll just start with that. And second generation here. Currently, I live with my husband and Brooklyn, New York. But we also split time in Atlanta, because that's our hometown. And my previous career for 10 years was in the digital media advertising world. So I was in the agency world for many, many years, got a little bit burnt out. And so along came with just kind of focusing on my mental health, even before COVID kind of hit, it was always a thing that happened. And so during that time, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, because I didn't want to just like quit my job or go to another corporate where it had the main same issues. So I kept listening to Success with Soul podcast episodes. And the beginning, I was like, No, I'm not going to get into blogging, like writing isn't my thing. And then I kept listening to it. And the current situation that was in my life where I was like, What do I do? I was like, alright, let's give blogging a chance. I have things to talk about. And so I did, I kind of took the plunge, quit my job without anything else. And yeah, I'm six months into it. And I love it, it's been giving me a lot of honestly, like a lot of purpose. I've been growing a lot myself, but also just learning a ton about blogging and really loving the moments where I can share helpful information with readers.

Kate Kordsmeier 3:16

Yeah. So bold and brave, too. I love it. And I can relate, you know, I had was in corporate America for a very short amount of time, but four months was enough for me. And when I quit, I quit with with nothing, you know, it was just like, I just knew that I was meant for more and that I wanted something different. And that that drive was going to be enough to get me whatever results I needed. So sounds like you had a similar mindset. And it's pretty scary. But it also feels like you know, if you are in a position where you can do that. And sometimes, you know, different things motivate different people, like I've talked to friends where it's like, oh my gosh, I could never quit unless I was already making that same kind of money in the new business, or I had X amount in savings or these different things. And then other people are like, that's what motivated me because it was like, I have nothing to fall back on. So

Jessica Cha 4:14

exactly. I mean, people are like you have a husband is fine, or like, no, it's like a little bit more meaningful as like a woman, it's like more of an independent thing. Like you want to make your own money, or that's just how I feel. Sure. And so it definitely does push me a lot. So it's great. And I think your first episode, which I actually recommend to a lot of friends who want to quit their jobs, like you gotta listen to this. It's really encouraging because this is what helped me to quit my job. So

Kate Kordsmeier 4:39

thank you. That's so nice. Yeah, I'm curious. Jessica, too. Were you following me? Like because we knew each other? Or did you find me in a different way? Like I'm always curious, you know, how did you learn about the podcast? Was it because you already knew me or you just happen to come across it for something else? Yeah,

Jessica Cha 4:57

it's because I definitely knew you. So I was just kind of like, Oh, I wonder what she's up to? Because you know, we used to hang out a lot. Yes, kids. And so I was just like, Oh, let's see. And then I think I just kept following. And then one day, I saw that you're getting a podcast. I was like, Whoa, this is really exciting. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, this is so awesome. And so yeah, I mean, I think as a friend, I always, like looked up to you. And so it's like, alright, let's just this Yeah, I was just like, let's just see what she's up to. So

Kate Kordsmeier 5:26

yeah, that's so nice. Well, I appreciate that. And I'm so glad that it resonated with you. So when you first you mentioned that you were like, I don't know, if I want to start a blog. I'm not really you know, into writing. And I'll what is your experience been six months in? Like, how much? Do you feel like you're writing a lot? Have you gotten better at it, or it's less writing than you expected?

Jessica Cha 5:47

It's definitely more writing, I kind of wanted to say it like kind of compared to like, in a fun way, like writing a college essay, because I do have to do the research and like, get the sources. But it's a more like fun way. And obviously, like a less pressured way, because you're not getting a grade for it. But it's definitely been a lot more writing. But I kind of got into the groove of things. And as I'm writing like, or like I have a skincare blog. So if I'm doing reviews, then I kind of have a template in mind. So it's really easy for me to type it out. And I think, you know, it's easy for me to write it when I'm super excited to talk about it. Yes, something where I'm like, Oh, well, from like a stat standpoint, it looks good. People are searching for it. But do I really want to write about it. And that's what makes it hard. But being someone who wasn't a writer, I definitely started to get used to it and trying to figure out the tone and the writing style. So yeah, it's definitely getting better. And I wish I could write like four batches of posts in one day. But honestly, two is like, the most that I can do. So

Kate Kordsmeier 6:57

I can never do much more than two in a day unless they were really either short or formatted. Or, you know, something I much more than two a day. What Yeah, that's a lot. So

Jessica Cha 7:07

okay, that's good to know. Because that's like, it might just slacking because some people say they write like four posts a day or six close. I'm like, I can't do that. Well,

Kate Kordsmeier 7:17

you know, the other thing I'm always talking about too, is like quality over quantity. And so just because you're writing more or publishing more, doesn't necessarily mean that's better. And if you're not using a really clear strategy, and making sure that your posts are optimized for SEO and for affiliate marketing and the all the other pieces like, yeah, you could crank out a ton of posts in a day. But are they going to serve you? And so soundly? Yeah. So I think that's good quality over quantity and making sure you have a clear strategy, because just posting a bunch of content isn't enough to make it.

Jessica Cha 7:54

Yeah, exactly. So that's just kind of what I think still trying to figure out is, how do I really set my schedule so that it works? Well, for me where I'm not burnt out?

Kate Kordsmeier 8:06

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So important. And I think too, there is this balance of figuring out what is the content that I really want to write? What are the stories I want to tell what am I excited and passionate about? Like, what's going to light me up? And then balancing that with? What are people searching for? Is this actually going to bring traffic to the site? Am I able to monetize this content in some way? And I think going all one way is never, you know, you don't want to be too extreme in either direction. So I really do think like a successful blog is finding that balance of passion and what feels good in your soul and having that strategy piece with it as well.

Jessica Cha 8:47

Yeah. Did you ever like write a post where it was more like, it's fine if I don't have any affiliate or, I guess, opportunities to make commission, but I'll just write it because I feel strongly about it about this topic.

Kate Kordsmeier 9:01

Yeah, definitely. There's a few posts that I wrote, like, I wrote this story of my son's waterbirth. And it was a very traumatic birth for me. And so I wrote that there's, I'm not making any money from that posts, like there's no, you know, affiliate links, there's no i, there's no, I didn't optimize it for search. Like I just was like, I need to get this out and tell this story. And then there's other posts to where you're writing. Like, maybe their goal is to get traffic to the post and bring more people to your site. But the post itself isn't going to be like a huge moneymaker. But it's like a way to bring more people into your sphere of influence and into your community. Yeah, so there's definitely a balance not every post is like this has to be a moneymaker. This has to be the affiliate piece or even this has to bring traffic like sometimes it's just like, I just wrote this because it was on my heart and I had needed to get it

Jessica Cha 9:55

right. Yeah, totally. I love that. I think as I'm starting to keep writing blog posts. One thing I've noticed is I get clicks to affiliate links, but very, very little purchases. So I was like, What can I do to I don't want to like, or can I say blatantly like, you know, give it a try here or like, I don't want to sound so salesy, but how do I make it sound organic, that it encourages people to say, I want to buy it kind of thing, because I do share, like my experiences, what I like about it, and all the little information and people click into it, but they don't really buy it. So it's like, how do I get this going?

Kate Kordsmeier 10:35

Yeah. So that's such a good question. And there's a couple of things that could be happening. We have a module in six FBA or less than six FBA called like troubleshooting affiliate performance. And in there, we talk about things like this, where it's like, people, nobody's clicking on my affiliate links, or people are clicking, but nobody's buying. And so there every piece, you have to kind of like peel back the onion and figure out like, well, where where's the disconnect happening? Is it happening because something in your messaging is not conflicting, but maybe it's not matching with what they're seeing when they go to the website. So maybe there's like some sort of disconnect there between the way that you're talking about it, and then they click and they're like, Oh, this is different, or they it's not what they were expecting in some way. That could be something that's happening. Maybe it's something that is, you know, a price point issue and your audience is like, I'm willing to spend $20 on a skincare product, and this is $100 product. And so they're like, I'm gonna, I'll look at it, I want to check it out. But I'm not going to purchase and maybe that could be like, are you telling them what the price is up front? Or are they waiting to find out the price until they click, and then when they do, they're like, Oh, this is, you know, this is different, or this is not what I was expecting. Again, there's maybe that like, that disconnect happening, where there's something unexpected once they click the link, one of the other things I'm thinking it could be is sometimes just really conveying the value of what that thing is. And so if if people are interested, but then they're not buying, it's because they're probably not seeing the value in the product. And so whether it's a skincare product or a course or you know, whatever it is that you're linking to, or talking about, they may not feel like it's worth it for whatever and it could be for a $5 product, like sometimes the money isn't the piece, it's just like, do they feel like it's worth the $5 or worth the time investment or something? So I think that kind of goes back to your first question. That's like, how do you talk about it without being salesy, and I think a if you're worried about being salesy, you're not going to be salesy, like the people who are salesy, don't worry about being salesy.

Jessica Cha 12:57

I love that I'm so used to writing salesy coffee for search, some like I don't want to portray that and something that's more organic. So that's good to hear, though. Well, and

Kate Kordsmeier 13:07

the other thing too, is like, I think there's a mindset shift that needs to happen because it's not being salesy by giving people direct advice about I love this product. Here's what it can do for you go check it out here, that's not salesy. That's just like I'm being helpful and I'm giving you my honest opinion of something, take it or leave it. You know, salesy is more of that, like, I think when we when we really step back and think What does salesy mean, it's when you're in somebody's face, like forcing something on them that they're not interested in, and not taking no for an answer. And being that kind of pushy and aggressive, where they're just like I said, no, like, leave me alone. Yeah, it's not just providing value. And then, like, people reading this, or, you know, more probably grown adults that can say, I'm interested or I'm not interested, and then walk away. So I think sometimes we're too worried about coming off a certain way. But if you think of it as just being like, a riding it, like, how would you tell a friend so I always think of one of my friends like all day, okay, if I were to try to convince my friend Julie to buy this mascara, what would I say to her to get her to do it, and then I'm just going to write it that way. And part of that is detaching from the outcome, because I don't actually care if Julie buys mascara or not, right? Like, I don't care if I recommend a book to a friend and they read it or don't read it. It doesn't really affect me. And so I just say it how like, you should read this book. It was so good. It really made me think about X, Y, and Z and change my perspective on this. And if it's helpful, here you go. And then you detach from the outcome, right? So I try to kind of talk to my readers the same way where it's like, I'm detached from the outcome. I'm trying to offer something to you because I think it could help you and if you don't want it, that's okay. And if you do great, here's my Think and I appreciate you buying through me.

Jessica Cha 15:02

Oh, that's a really good way of thinking. Thank you. Yeah, sure.

Kate Kordsmeier 15:12

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Jessica Cha 17:33

Yes, I have a post I'm about to launch where it's a mix of the high end. But then I'm like, well, a great substitute. But you know, something that won't break your wallet is Yeah, so I'm trying to test that out to see if. Yeah,

Kate Kordsmeier 17:46

yeah. And there's a lot of like demographic research you could do to with Google Analytics. And you know, there's some other tools that you can dive deeper to see like, what is the average income of the people that are reading your blog? Like, what's their gender? Where, like, where did they live? Getting a sense of things. So you can figure out like, what do these types of people need? Because sometimes we start a blog, and we think I'm writing it for so and so. But the people who actually end up coming are different from that. So I think it's important to actually look at like your audience demographics and see who are my people?

Jessica Cha 18:20

Oh, that's a good point, too. Yeah. Along with that, I was kind of thinking like, you know, when I researched for topics, I could go full day just trying to find topics that I'm interested about, but then I'm like, Oh, wait, no, it's too competitive. So it's like a whole day process for me. And so I was just wondering what that was like for you, with Putin and rebel when? Yeah, brainstorming ideas.

Kate Kordsmeier 18:45

Good question. So yeah, I mean, you can really go down the rabbit hole on this stuff. And sometimes it's fun to just do that and get ideas and like, do some research and just like, call it an r&d day, and okay, that's what I did today. But I do find like, I tried to give myself a time limit where it's like 15 minutes to do keyword research for this post, or the set a time or whatever it needs to be for you. It could be an hour or two. So there's two things like sometimes I'm doing keyword research, because I'm like, I don't really even know what I'm gonna write about, I'm just gonna kind of start doing some research to see what people are searching for in general and get ideas and that usually takes a little bit longer whereas other times, I'm going okay, I'm gonna write a post about face masks, but I'm not really sure what the angle is. I know I have some things I want to say about face masks or I have a couple of products that I want to talk about but let me see what like the keyword research shows in terms of what the angle should be what that what keywords I should be using, and that's where it takes a little bit less time because you at least go in with something concrete. So I would start by like going to something like Uber Suggest typing in face masks, and then looking at okay, what comes up I know I'm not going to use the keyword face mask because that So you're gonna have a gigantic search volume and very high competition. Yeah, way too broad. But that's where I'll start is like start with the broad thing. And then from the list of like related keywords I go through and I look at the search volume. And that's the first piece that I look at a search volume, and I'll see, okay, what is maybe 200 searches a month at a minimum, and up to maybe 10,000 searches a month, which still can seem low, even 10,000. Because sometimes it's like, oh, but there's this keyword that has 200,000 searches a month. But when you're small, and you're just starting out, you cannot compete for those gigantic keywords, and even 200 people, if 200 people search for something, and you can rank on the first page and you get 200 people to your site. That's huge. And that is so much more likely to happen than if you try to rank for the 200,000 search volume keyword a month, you'll never show up on page one. So you're really trading 200 for zero, because you'll never show up, right? So I look for I try to stay on the lower end of the search volume. And then I after I kind of look at the search volume, then I'll look at competition. And I'll see okay, how, like Uber suggests is a tool that will tell you how easy or difficult it is to rank for a certain keyword. So I usually try to look for Okay, the search volume that I want and an easy level of difficulty. And then I'll from there. So maybe I start with face masks. And then the thing that comes up is pumpkin face masks. And I'm like, okay, Pumpkin Face mask is where I want to go with this. Maybe that's enough of the keyword but maybe there's an even longer tail keyword that might make more sense where it's Pumpkin Face masks for acne, or something. And so then you're getting more and more narrow as you go. So that usually takes me you know, 15 to 30 minutes, just depending. Does that answer your question? I feel like that. Yeah, roundabout way.

Jessica Cha 21:59

That's good, too. Yeah, cuz I can definitely go through a rabbit hole. I'm like, oh, I want to talk about I don't know, like toner for redness, but it's way too competitive. So I'm like, Alright, let's just get a little bit creative and see what more I can write about this, like a longtail keyword. But yeah, that's really helpful too. And I totally agree, if you're just starting out, definitely cannot compete in the 10,000 world searches. What I've actually done in the past was for a skincare product that is new. And I think there's a lot of potential, I would look at the searches and the competitive level. And there's one post where I am the first page. And when I initially researched for this product, it was probably like 50 searches very like low competition. But then three months later, all the major beauty publishers started to write about it. But I still ranked on the first page because I mean, I don't know the ins and out of all the SEOs. But I think because I had written already about it, it's like a very in depth review, I still remain on the first pay. So it's really cool to see myself around like the major publishing brands. I'm like, Yeah, I'm like on this tear. Now. Yeah, fans know something I've tested.

Kate Kordsmeier 23:12

That's such a good example of why it can be beneficial to find a low search volume, but for a topic that's maybe trending. And like if you get an early part of SEO, now there's a million pieces that go into it, but part of SEO is longevity. So the earlier you get in talking about something that is going to help you in your rankings. And so I see that and that's very similar to what happened to me when I did an organic meat delivery post and this is an example I share all the time, because it's been really successful for me and I think part of it is because when I first searched organic meat delivery, nobody was writing about it the only results that came up with the actual brands that you could just go buy directly from but there were no reviews there were no round ups of like comparisons. And so I got in early and then continued to maintain my first page ranking once it really did take off and especially when COVID hit and everybody was looking for food delivery things really took off with that and so I think yeah, that's a great example of like, it might seem counterintuitive to pick the lower search volume but it does pay off

Jessica Cha 24:25

yeah, definitely. I think some of the most I don't know if it's the most popular but I know it's definitely a hot topic is backlinks like how did you go about it in the beginning when you were starting out because that's something I really do struggle with.

Kate Kordsmeier 24:42

Okay, I'm so glad you asked this question because I think your background will be helpful for this to in the traditional like SEO world and online marketing world backlinks and for everybody listening who maybe doesn't is not familiar with this term. Backlinks is basically when other website links back to your website. And so this is beneficial because the more backlinks you have the higher you can rank in Google search results, because you're basically telling Google, all these other websites are vouching for me. Like, all these other websites are casting a vote to say root and revel.com, or basic sunday.com. These are legit sites. And so you want to get more backlinks. That's one of the best things you can do for your SEO strategy. Now, in this space, traditionally, the way you do that is like really spammy. And it's like a lot of people. And I'm sure if you've gotten even pitches from people trying to get a backlink on your site, you see how it's done. And you're like, No way, I want no part in this. So I had a journalism background. And I spent much of like the first 10 years of my career, pitching myself to magazines to write stories about other people that had this pitching background. And so I thought, Well, I think I'm going to take more of this, like journalism PR approach to backlinks. And instead of spamming a bunch of strangers with emails that say, Dear sir, if I want to place this link on your website, and you know, it's like very impersonal, very mass generated, I thought, what if I sent an email to editors at magazines, and ask them if they would like how and tried to offer them something that I could do for them? So I would look at magazines or websites like BuzzFeed as an example where I could say, okay, Buzzfeed publishes recipe roundups. Every single day, there's recipe roundups. And there's always holidays and events coming up that people are like, Super Bowl recipes, Christmas recipes, like whatever. So there's always something I've got a bunch of recipes, I want them to be featured on these sites. So I'm going to pitch BuzzFeed and say, if you ever need recipes for Roundup, I want to give you permission to use my photos and link back to my site for these recipes. And then I would start sending like seasonal pitches. So when it was leading up to the holidays, I would say if you're looking for Thanksgiving recipes, here's five for mountain rebel and you have my permission to use my photos and link back to the to the site. Or I would contact an editor at an online publication or a magazine and say, if you ever are looking for a guest expert to speak on the topic of Korean skincare, I would love to chat with you. Here's my background. Here's my blog. And if you ever need somebody to support an article that you're writing about this topic, I hope you'll think of me. And I think taking that PR approach was really helpful. And then I also was building backlinks from these really big, reputable sites, which makes a difference too, because getting a backlink from another tiny site. It's not that it's not important, but it's not going to move the needle as much. And as quickly as getting a backlink from the New York Times, you know, as getting a backlink from these already really established places. So I think the PR approach is the way to go.

Jessica Cha 28:13

Oh, that's a really good tip. Thank you so much. Because I was like, I don't want to go out and just ask people to just backlink to backlink like, be purposeful and authentic. Yeah. And so yeah, I guess with that, would you say? Because I have, I'm still trying to build up my page views. And so when you pitch I mean, for me, I would love to include like, Oh, I get x amount of page views. But it's a little hard for me to say that in my pitch if it's low. But is that something that you had also mentioned in yours in the past?

Kate Kordsmeier 28:45

No, I don't mention that. So I don't think it matters like they're not, they're not going to feature you because of your page views. They're going to feature you because the content is good. And so I think you have to ask, they probably aren't going to just stumble upon your site on their own when you're small. So you have to ask, and then you're just presenting your best face forward and giving them quality content that's going to make their lives easier. It really doesn't matter the stats on your site, it doesn't matter how many page views or followers or anything you have. I would just say something like, you want to talk about why you're uniquely qualified to talk about something or why they should feature you and that really has nothing to do with like how many other people already know about you.

Unknown Speaker 29:33

Got it. Oh, thank you. That was really

Kate Kordsmeier 29:35

helpful permission to leave that. Great.

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Jessica Cha 32:16

I think that was really all I had. Yeah, I think one of the main things again, I like asked you about was really trying to figure out a schedule that works. And for me, I do go back and forth on it. And so my routine does change. And that kind of I'm a routine person. So I'm still trying to like figure out alright, if I'm in New York, I should do this. When I'm in Atlanta, I should do this. But I guess when you first started out is also like, did you do more of your batch work? And then like, did you like draft up your posts and the next day you like edited and then do the photos? I guess what was your schedule? Like?

Kate Kordsmeier 32:55

Yeah, I am such a huge fan of batching stuff for blogging and life in general. So what I would do is I worked with a photographer because I could not take my own photos. And it was just one of those time like areas where you just go, this is not my zone of genius. And it's going to take me way longer to do it myself. And so I'm going to outsource it and get what I need and be done with it. So she would come to my house. And in the beginning, it was probably like once a month, then when things really picked up, we were doing it every two weeks. But we would batch all of like, we would do eight recipes in a day or something like that, or, you know, whatever the post is going to be like we did a lot of DIY skincare. And we also talked about beauty topics. So you know, if we needed like a picture of me holding a product or using a product or something like that, we would do all of those at one time. So we'd have like a an agenda of this is what needs to be shot today. And we do all of that. So it'd be one day couple of days a month where we would get all of our photos done. And then I usually would have like a Tuesdays where my writing days. And so I would write a couple blog posts. And once you get into the habit, and then you're a little bit ahead on your content, it feels so much easier because you're like, Oh, I'm working today on content that's going to publish next month. And so there's less of that like urgent oh my god, this needs to go out today. And so getting ahead is really helpful. So I would write all of my content one day and then I usually would try to give myself a couple of days in between when I wrote it so that you could come back with fresh eyes to like take one last pass through catch any typos fix anything or if you have new ideas to add. So I would do that. And I'm trying to think what some of the you know, then I would have like, batch days for pitching. So okay, I'm going to spend and some days doesn't have to be like every week, it's the same but it could be on the 15th of every month. That's my pitch day. And so that's what I'm going to do All day I get my pitches together. And I just found like, I was so much more productive because I was so focused on just doing one thing and not being interrupted by 1000s of other things. And you could really move the needle a lot further by batching. And getting everything done at one time. And then it just freed up so much whitespace in the rest of your schedule.

Jessica Cha 35:22

Yeah, definitely, that's really helpful to know. Because I think I don't know if anyone else had like, put porphyrin trying to do things on their own. But one of the biggest struggles I had was being able to manage my own time, instead of someone putting meetings on my calendar, and basically managing my time I have I get to do whatever I want with my time. And that's a lot of freedom. I'm like, Okay, how do I do this. So it's like, efficient. So I'm constantly in the mindset of, oh, every single week, I have to do this. And this is the same thing over and over. But I'm like, maybe it doesn't have to be like that. Maybe I can customize this so that it works the best for me, obviously, I want to do the bash posts, the same days or whatnot. But I'm just still trying to explore all the flexibilities I have with my time and figuring out what works the best for me that I don't feel so overwhelmed. And yeah, yeah, efficient with

Kate Kordsmeier 36:20

such a good point that you make that all of the freedom is so great, but sometimes it's like suffocating in itself, because it's so much easier if somebody says, For dinner tonight, do you want sushi or tacos? And you just pick one, if somebody says, What do you want for dinner? And it's like, oh, gosh, I don't know, what do I want for dinner, you know, like, having too many choices can be tricky sometimes. And so I'm a big fan of like the law of constraints, and like putting natural constraints and containers around things, and then fitting things into those I just feel like for like human nature and our sanity, if every day is a free for all, I feel like humans really thrive with structure. And so figuring out how much structure you need in order to feel that, like I still have flexibility, and I still get to like work in this state of flow. But it's not every day I sit down, it's like, well, what of the 3000 tasks that I need to do should I do today? There's like that structure in place that can kind of help you constrain the freedom in some way, which actually, I think ends up making it feels more liberating. Yeah,

Jessica Cha 37:35

definitely. And I'm just thinking like, there might be other people who are blogging part time because they have full time jobs. So it might be the other way around where they feel like they don't have enough time. So but for me, I was just like, actually, I don't know what to do with all like, how do I structure so well. But yeah, I think that was like, I'm still learning through it. Like, how can I do this efficiently and keep the blogging? And honestly, it is a business like how do I keep the business moving forward? Right, so that it thrives. And so I'm kind of telling myself, like, this is your first year, you haven't done any flogging in the past, give yourself a break. I'm trying to like say that to myself, like,

Kate Kordsmeier 38:15

on a mission to be a beginner, give yourself permission to learn to not get it right the first time. I was listening to Doc shepherds podcast last week, and he had Mark Ronson on. And Mark was talking about how he and he just said this in passing, and I literally paused it and said to my husband, Ooh, that was good. I'm gonna write this down. Because what he said was, he was talking about, like, his rise to success. And he the way he described it was something like, I was just doing a lot of getting it wrong in order to get it right. And it was like, oh, yeah, that's what you have to do. You have to keep showing up getting it wrong in order to figure out what is right for you and know what's going to work and what's not. And I think so much, we're often like, well, I don't want to take action until I know the right thing. That's never gonna work. Like you just have to start doing it, getting it wrong, and then improving a little bit every day. Yeah,

Jessica Cha 39:13

exactly. Yeah, I was trying to figure out like, how do I integrate the social medias, like the Instagram and the TIC TOCs. They're kind of like, I kind of call them the secondary channels in terms of the monetization like blog is number one, but I was like, well, then how do I still want to expand like the awareness of the brand basic Sunday? And so I've been learning just testing out different social media of a medium because I actually like it. So I was like, Alright, whatever posts are too competitive for me to write about. I'm gonna make a real IG real about it. So because of that, like, I don't care. Yeah, I don't care if I don't get close. I mean, I would love to but Right. Yeah. And so that's something I've been testing out with, just like it gives me another freedom. I Yeah, I would say, of talking about what I want to share with people. Yeah. And so yeah, and I think I've been kind of testing with Pinterest as well. It's not just like, it's not like, Oh, here's like a slab of Maya post, like blog post picture. But I've learned that at least for skincare, people are clicking, engaging more with skincare guys like a pin that they can actually see the full information and pin instead of having to click on the pin and go to your website. So interesting, a lot of testing that I've been doing. But yeah, I'm still trying to learn a lot and give myself a break. Like, I don't get a ton of pageviews or whatnot.

Kate Kordsmeier 40:40

There is a snowball effect that happens. And the first year is really hard because you're creating something out of nothing. It's really hard. And blogging is more of a long game. So I know for people like us who are ambitious, and we have big goals and dreams, like, at least I was very impatient that first year of like, oh, my gosh, this is taking so long, just we're, I'm in that boat right now. Yes. And especially like you've been doing it for six months. And so you're getting to that, like, Okay, I've been doing this a while like, and you're starting to see some results. But it may not be enough to you know, sustain, like a full time income or something. But I promise you, like if you keep following the system, around that year to 18 month mark, the snowball effect starts happening. And all of a sudden, you go from like 500 page views a month to 5000 Really quick, and then that 5000 quickly becomes 25,000. And like, yeah, it just takes off. And I think so many bloggers give up right around that one year mark, because they're just like, they're too impatient. And they're just like, I can't do this anymore. Oh, it's like just give it a little bit more time. And it does work and it can create such amazing abundance and the Snowball is started. And you just gotta like, let it keep rolling.

Jessica Cha 42:01

Yeah, definitely. I think when you share your income report the year over year, that actually does help me feel a bit better. I'm like, Yeah, all right. So it does take time like year three, she was here. I was like, alright, it's okay. I don't need to make like six figures. I'm gonna love to my first year. Okay, if I don't so

Kate Kordsmeier 42:16

right. My first year I made $6,500. And then year two, I made 75,000. That just happened in a year, I was able to almost 10 times. Yeah, more than 10 times my revenue. Like it was crazy. So yeah, you just you got to keep showing up. Keep doing what you're doing fighting the good fight, and it will work. It does work. I've seen it work for so many people. And I know, I can see what you're doing your blog is beautiful. I love watching all of your skincare tutorials and everything. It's so calming. Yes. And yeah, I'm just I'm excited for what's next we'll have to check in and like six to 12 months from now. Definitely like, you know, yes. So before we head out, I want first you to tell everybody where they can find you and a little bit more about your blog.

Jessica Cha 43:08

Yes, so you can find me on my blog is called Basic Sunday. So basic sunday.com. And then my Instagram is basic Sunday underscore skincare. Someone has basic Sunday handle, so I can't take it. I know. I want to message that person, but it's fine. But yeah, basic Sunday underscore skincare. And that's where I post all my video tutorials. And basic Sunday is really kind of created from a mindset where I'm all about loving yourself and you know, prioritizing yourself first. And so part of that is actually skincare because some people find self care through that. And so I named that basic Sunday, because basic comes from the word, just making things simple, not too crazy, because our days are already crazy. So I want to provide very simple and easy to follow advice and tips on how to treat sensitive acne prone skin because sensitive acne prone skin are very hard to manage, because you're trying to fight the breakouts, but you don't want to irritate your sensitive skin. And I don't think there are a lot of sites that provide information that is just focused on that. And so I definitely want to help people who struggle with that just tips and routines that have worked for me. And so yeah, and I call it Sunday because most people get the Sunday scary so let's just take it easy and give ourselves a little bit more love and you know, you can do that through skincare and you know, I think how you feel is also it reflects how you look too and so it's just all about providing positive mental health and yeah, skincare advice at the same time.

Kate Kordsmeier 44:49

I love it so beautiful. And I love the name so much. And I think there's a good lesson for people listening here too is that you have a really specific and narrow niche, and I would lean into that your target market is sensitive acne prone skin, lean into that that's probably a good keyword to like on a broad level look at and then dial in content from there. And that's going to be a great way to grow your traffic in a faster way and more sustainably than if you were just a general skincare blog. Definitely. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so last question for you, if anybody is listening is interested or has considered joining 21 days to impact or the six figure blog Academy? Do you have any advice for them or anything you'd like to share about your experience,

Jessica Cha 45:40

I would say my number one advice would be to go for it, especially if you're new to the blogging world, or even if you have a blog, and you really want to scale it, for me at least 21 days impact that helped me to just get things off the ground. From a technical standpoint, it really did help me to, you know, set up the Google Analytics, Search Console, those are things where it's just like, I don't know how to do this, like, what is it kind of thing is 21 days to impact, it really helps set up the base work for me. And that's something that I would recommend, even to my friends who may want to start off blogging. And then once you're kind of done with that, I think the six figures blogging Academy, that's super exciting, because that's when you can really learn how to do the ins and out of the blogging, how to do affiliate sponsorships, and even just the basics of what to write about. And so I think both courses, I would actually recommend, if you can do both, because it really does help guide you every way I don't think it handhold you which is totally works for me, because you still have to learn on your own and testings and figure things out. That's how you really learn. Yeah, and so but it does provide really good foundational lessons. And really good resources, like what kind of affiliate partners you can reach out to are so many other there's a lot of resources, I can't remember top of my head, but I do have a look at them time to time. So I recommend both courses if you really want to do this right and seriously.

Kate Kordsmeier 47:07

Awesome. Thanks, Jessica. And you are one of our students, like I think people ask all the time, 21 days like, can I really do this and 21 days now it's a three month program. So you do have three months to implement it, which you did. But do you want to speak a little bit to how long it actually did take you to get your blog set up and you know, running, it actually took

Jessica Cha 47:29

I feel like it took me longer because I was working on Superbowl campaign when I was when I enrolled in it. And I clocked in like, I don't know, 16 hours a day. So it took me a lot longer because I did have a very demanding job. But honestly, I would say maybe took me three or four months, but it was fine. Because I was like I'm busy with my job. So yeah, but it was really quick and easy. You just have to sit yourself down for maybe like 30 minutes, watch the entire module follow whoever's teaching how to do certain things, and is fine. And I think what's great about your course, is this the Facebook group, because lots of people just ask questions, and you don't feel like this is a dumb question or embarrassed to ask, like you said, there are probably other people who have similar questions as you do. So it's totally fine. And I love the support in the Facebook group that everyone gives to each other. Yeah.

Kate Kordsmeier 48:25

Yeah, I'm so glad you mentioned that. Because I feel like the Facebook group is one of those things that like you think you don't care about when you're looking to join a course or a program of some sort. And it's like, oh, we offer a Facebook group and everyone's laughing. I don't need another Facebook, right. Yeah. But that ends up being like one of the best parts because that community aspect is so huge. And when you do get stuck there, you need somebody to help you troubleshoot something or just like, commiserate with you on something or celebrate your wins that like other people outside of this industry are like what are you talking about? I don't even know what a page view is. And yeah, you know, it's nice to have that community. So I'm glad you mentioned that.

Jessica Cha 48:58

Yeah, definitely. And it's also just celebrating each other instead of you know, being jealous of other people success. Yeah, really celebrating and being encouraging, just being a nice person. So yeah,

Kate Kordsmeier 49:09

love it. Well, thanks so much for being here. Jessica. This was so fun.

Jessica Cha 49:13

Thank you so much. I learned so many helpful tips and I can't wait to get back to writing my blog. Yay.

Kate Kordsmeier 49:26

Wait a minute. I know I know you're eager to get back to your life. But before you turn off this episode, I want to share something super quick with you. I know you're probably sick of hearing other podcasters ask you to leave reviews. But here's the deal. If you like a podcast, and you want them to be able to continue delivering you free episodes every week. We need your support. If you subscribe on the Apple podcast, Google podcast, app, Spotify, or wherever you listen, it makes it possible for me to continue to provide free helpful content and bring you amazing guests. And if you take it one step further by giving us rating and review with your honest feedback, we can improve better serve you in the future. And you could even be featured on a future episode during our listener spotlights. Because if we don't get the reviews, we don't get the rankings and it makes it a lot harder to continue justifying the cost and time expense of producing a podcast every week and convincing amazing guests to come on the show. And of course your reviews are super helpful and motivating to me personally and I love hearing from you

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