Welcome to episode 73 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Jessica Merchant from the blog How Sweet It Is about consistently creating great content.   In blogging, content is huge. It’s not the only important thing, but it’s the foundation of your business. Creating great content is really important. Just as important is creating content often. A blog needs fresh, exciting ideas to thrive. New content is what your existing readers want to see. However, doing both those things - creating really great content on a consistent basis - can be really tough. It definitely involves dedication and skill to do right. Jessica Merchant from How Sweet It Is definitely has that dedication and skill, and today she’s here to tell us just how she manages to make consistent and quality content every single week. In this episode, Jessica shares: How she discovered blogging and decided to leave her job What it took to build her blog before leaving her job How she networked with other bloggers Where she finds inspiration for her blog How she manages raising her son and working full time on her blog Why she does “batch cooking” days Why she doesn’t do much sponsored content What it takes to publish content all the time How doing exactly what she wants has helped her find success   Resources: How Sweet It Is How Sweet It Is on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!  

Our first ever member spotlight interview! In this interview we chat with FBP member Sam Turnbull from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. Sam talks about her decision to make take the leap into blogging full-time and what it was like to land a cookbook deal.

Welcome to episode 71 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork interviews Amanda Rettke from I Am Baker about her success with Facebook Live and how it has helped connect her with her audience. They say you only need 1,000 raving fans to create a successful business. Just 1,000! However, raving fans can be hard to come by. Where do you get them? How do you know they love you and the work you are doing? Amanda struggled with this a bit for the first few years she was in business. She knew she had great fans, but she didn’t feel like she really connected with them. And then she decided to try Facebook Live. Her raving fans loved being able to see and interact with her live, and she loved being able to connect with them. Facebook Live has been the experience Amanda needed to feel connected with her readers, and today she is here to tell us how she did it. In this episode, Amanda shares: What it was about I am Baker that people loved Why it’s important to appreciate the work that you’ve done How her live videos created raving fans How to keep your viewers interested in your videos Why consistency is key What her viewers love most about her videos Whether you can do live videos by yourself How she records on her phone but still keeps tabs on what’s going on Resources: Decorating from the Inside Out - Amanda’s Craftsy Class Mevo Cameras I Am Baker I Am Baker on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

Welcome to episode 70 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Steve Chou from MyWifeQuitHerJob.com about building two eCommerce businesses - one that sells physical products, and the other that sells digital products. --   Steve’s wife Jennifer decided to quit her job in 2007, and within one year replaced her six-figure income with an eCommerce business selling physical products. Steve started blogging about how she did it and later quit his job - fully replacing his salary - with an eCommerce business selling digital products. These two businesses had one thing in common: they were eCommerce businesses. Everything else, from the customer acquisition to the time it took to generate a decent income, varied widely. However, Steve and his wife have learned a lot over the last few years running their two eCommerce businesses, and today Steve is here to share some of his knowledge with us. In this episode, Steve shares: What two businesses he and his wife run Why one business wasn’t as profitable as the other in the beginning How to find what products to sell What it’s like working with vendors in foreign countries Whether he would recommend selling physical or digital products What the best way is to sell your first physical product What FBA is and why you might use it Why they stopped selling on eBay How he markets their digital and physical products   Resources: osCommerce Shopify Squarespace TeraPeak Jungle Scout Alibaba Shoe Dog by Phil Knight s2Member Fulfillment by Amazon Ecwid Klaviyo ConvertKit How to add a Facebook pixel to your website Bumblebee Linens MyWifeQuitHerJob.com If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!  

Welcome to episode 69 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Jocelyn Delk Adams from Grandbaby Cakes about growing her audience and building her brand by way of National TV. If you’ve ever dreamed of being a TV star, starting a food blog probably wasn’t your first idea for how to get there. However, for Jocelyn Delk Adams of the popular blog Grandbaby Cakes, her food blog was just the ticket she needed. Jocelyn started her TV career with her local TV channels, then slowly moved up to the big networks. She’s now been seen on National shows such as Rachel Ray and the Today Show. She loves where her experiences have taken her and attributes much of her blog’s success to her effort to get her blog in front of new faces via TV appearances. In this episode, Jocelyn shares: How she transitioned from running her blog as a side-gig to a full-time thing How she secured a contract with Pillsbury after just 5 months of blogging Why she thinks of her business as a brand, not a blog Whether people are natural-born TV stars or not What kind of equipment to expect to have on hand on TV Why TV appearances can help you attract brands Why she decided to create a Craftsy class How she got to be on national TV Whether she enjoys the hustle, or if she does it because it’s necessary Resources: Grandbaby Cakes Make Mine Mini Craftsy class I am Baker Grandbaby Cakes on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

Welcome to episode 68 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! This week, Bjork chats with Nick Loper, founder of Side Hustle Nation, about making money with your projects on the side. The majority of bloggers aren’t doing it full time. In fact, many bloggers fit blogging in between their hectic schedules that includes a full-time job, kids, and hobbies. However, the dream of earning an income from blogging still persists, but many wonder if it’s possible to do when it’s just a side gig. Nick Loper, founder of Side Hustle Nation, says it’s totally possible. He has successfully run a number of side hustles that contributed to his monthly income, all while having a full-time job. He’s been so successful at it, in fact, that he created his own full time job just showing people how to create an income from their own side hustles, and today he’s here to give us some tips. In this episode, Nick shares: What a side hustle really is What his first side hustle taught him Where Nick makes money from his website How you can make more money with your food website Why working for free is sometimes a good idea How people in all different industries have made successful side hustles Resources: Side Hustle Nation The Side Hustle Show The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy Udemy EatWith Feastly BonAppetour MiumMium Zozi Rover Dogvacay Wyzant Neil Patel, QuickSprout Bryan Harris, Videofruit Fiverr buybuttonsbook.com If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

Welcome to episode 67 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork talks with Amy Roskelley from Super Healthy Kids about scaling her small business into a thriving brand by building a team. So many bloggers dream of building a team to help them run their blog. However, it often gets put off in the name of waiting to find success. Unfortunately, putting off on growing a team can hamper your ability to find “success,” while choosing to grow your team can really propel your forward. Amy from Super Healthy Kids plodded along quite well with her blog for many years before starting to build a team. However, after she joined a partnership with her now-co-owner Natalie, she found herself free to pursue more of the things that she was really good at. Each subsequent hire has allowed Amy to fine-tune her skillset in certain areas while letting others do the work she wasn’t as passionate about, but they were. Since building a team, Super Healthy Kids has grown in amazing ways, and today Amy is here to tell us all about it. In this episode, Amy shares: How her blog supported her larger vision for her business Why it took her so long to turn a profit How she secured a consistent revenue stream with a membership aspect of SHK How she found and hired her business partner How hiring someone else to do a specific task liberated her What the turning point was that took her from “getting by” to “wildly successful” Why she needed to separate work and the other parts of her life How her revenues have increased though traffic has gone down Resources: Super Healthy Kids SHK on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

Welcome to episode 66 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork talks with Alana Woolley and Lindsay Ostrom about creating awesome recipe videos for Pinch of Yum. We’ve all heard it: video is the new thing. If you want to grow an audience quickly, if you want to be extremely helpful to your readers, if you want to take advantage of sponsored content opportunities galore… get into video. But.. how?? It can seem so daunting to get started with. There’s all the equipment you (think you) need, the amount of time it takes, the pressure to make perfect videos… So many things! Fortunately, our guests today have a lot of experience creating recipe videos, and they’re here to make it a bit easier for you. Please welcome: Alana Woolley & Lindsay Ostrom from Pinch of Yum! In this episode, Alana & Lindsay share: How much engagement their videos get as compared to photos What Alana’s goals are for each video What the video creation process involves What gear they use to create the videos If solo bloggers (those without a team) can do video well The most important thing you need when making video Why they keep their videos short What settings you need to change when uploading to Instagram Where they put links for the videos on Facebook Resources: Promaster Tripod Manfrotto arm smallHD 701 Lite Monitor (here’s a cheaper alternative) Tortus Copenhagen Canon 7D Mark II, 28mm lens Final Cut Pro Adobe Premiere Pro hello@pinchofyum.com See a photo of the POY video setup at foodbloggerpro.com/66 If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

Welcome to episode 65 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork talks with Michelle Tam from Nom Nom Paleo about building a brand across many channels. If you’ve been blogging for a while, or even a short time, you might have found that it’s really difficult to establish your blog on a variety of different channels and mediums. There’s only so much you can do! Some bloggers excel at it, though, despite the constraints of work, family, and life. Michelle Tam from Nom Nom Paleo is one such blogger. She’s managed to secure a brand presence not only on all the big social networks, but also in the form of her own iPhone app and her own cookbook. She’s a branding queen, and today she’s here to tell us all about it. In this episode, Michelle shares: How she got started with Nom Nom Paleo Why they started with Tumblr instead of WordPress What her partner’s role in the business is Why she decided to publish a cookbook in print How she kept creative control while still working with a publisher How she deals with people who accuse her of not being paleo Resources: Nom Nom Paleo Musicl.ly Gary Vaynerchuck The Tim Ferris Show The Sporkful Gastropod Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income This American Life 99% Invisible Serial Startup Podcast Gimlet Media Humans of New York Dave Ramsey Charles Ives Nom Nom Paleo on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Snapchat (michitam) If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!

Welcome to episode 64 of the Food Blogger Pro podcast! In this episode, Bjork interviews Dan Miller from 48 Days about finding work that you love through understanding yourself. Most of us have been there before: working a job that just isn’t right for us. Maybe it doesn’t pay enough, or the passion isn’t there, or it doesn’t work with your lifestyle. Whatever the reason, being in this position is just lame. At some point, you might have realized that you want to do something else - you saw a friend or a coworker or an internet role model find success, and you want to do what they did. You would love job! The problem is that it can be really difficult to know if you actually will love that job. Dan Miller, author of 48 Days to the Work You Love, has seen this scenario play out many times. Through his books, speaking, and personal coaching, he’s mentored thousands of people to help them find the work they’ll love, and today he talks with Bjork about this common conundrum. In this episode, Dan shares: How to know if you are doing meaningful work How you can find your passion How to know when your hobby should stay just a hobby What business you shouldn’t go into in the food industry How to know if you’ll enjoy a certain type of work   Resources: StrengthsFinder DISC Profiles on 48 Days Entrepreneur on Fire 48 Days to the Work You Love 48 Days 48 Days Podcast 48Days.net Community If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for interviews, be sure to email them to podcast@foodbloggerpro.com. Be sure to review us on iTunes!