Are you a blogger, who’s looking to start and grow her blog from scratch? Don’t miss this interview talk with successful mom blogger!

I was so excited about this interview with McKinzie of MomMakeCents. Not just she’s a successful pro blogger but how did she manage to grow her blog and income streams while taking care of family and kids at the same time.

My personal advice is to read this interview until the end, and enjoy the big takeaways! Too often, we find everything on the internet but not those, experiences and challenges that a blogger goes through in daily life.

The challenges and struggles.
The misconceptions.
The comparison game with other bloggers in the industry.
Managing time
Making enough money etc

This interview has a lot of blogging tips for you.

Get inspired with this blogging journey and don’t forget to leave your feedback after reading the post.

Blogger’s Interview: How This Mom Blogger Grew Her Blog And Became Successful?

Let’s start to grow your blog with mom blogger.

1- Hi McKinzie! Let’s talk about you! What is your story? How did you get started online? What do you do? What’s your blog/business about?

Hey! Thanks so much! I started blogging over six years ago back in 2012.

My current blog Moms Make Cents I started in 2016 right after I had my first baby. I had been hustling with different side jobs to make extra money from home so I could stay with him and lots of other moms were asking me for tips on how they could make money from home too.

I was sending lots of back-and-forth emails with tips and tricks I was using when I realized that there were probably a lot of other moms that needed help as well. All those back-and-forth emails eventually turned into my first blog posts on my site.

Right now I run two blogs. My first blog is momsmakecents where I teach moms about running profitable blogs and businesses online as well as empowering them to take control of their finances.

I have a background in personal finance and have run many businesses online so, I love sharing my knowledge and experiences with other moms.

My second site is called todaymommy. On that site, I share my experiences with pregnancy and parenting and give tips to other new moms as well.

2- What’s one thing that inspired you? Who do you look up to for motivation and inspiration? How do you stay motivated all the time?

One thing that has always inspired me is to look at others that are having success in my niche. I love seeing other bloggers income reports and successes. It helps me want me to keep going whenever I’m feeling tired or discouraged in my businesses. Running a business with two little kids is hard, and so I need as much motivation as I can get!

It’s also crucial to focus on your “why”. Your “why” is the reason why you’re doing all of this, and for me my why is my children. I want to give them the best life I can, and it was really important for me to be able to stay at home with them.

Whatever your “why” is have pictures of it all around your house and on the lock screen on your phone so that you can have that constant reminder that what you’re doing is meaningful and stay focused on it.

3- Do you think if there’s any hindrance to work from home as a blogging mom? If yes, how do manage with that? Share any time management tips.

Being a work at home mom is so hard, but it is so rewarding too. If I weren’t work at home mom, I would have to be working at a job somewhere, and I wouldn’t get to share those minutes with my children. However, it can’t be hard to balance all of the different tasks as a stay at home mom and a business owner.

One thing that has worked well for me with my toddler-aged child is to you have focused periods of time for play. Even if it’s just a half hour of dedicated time, I found that after that he’s more willing to play independently so I can get some emails done or schedule some posts on social media.

Another thing that has been helpful is to automate what I can. I’ve set up email sequences and sales funnels so that my emails are continually working for me even when I’m not present. I set my social media post to repeat automatically, and I use smartloops on tailwind to repeat my content there too.

While this may not be possible for all moms depending on where they are at in their business journey, I also have found a lot of help and outsourcing. I started this early on in my business because I realized that I couldn’t be everything for everyone, so I began outsourcing small tasks.

Building up a team to help me with things like Pinterest graphics, responding to emails, and even sometimes freelance writers to help me write my blog post has freed up a lot of time so that I can be present with my children and still grow my businesses.

Related post: How to start a freelance writing career in 7 steps.

4- Let’s talk about goal setting! How do you plan and set your goals? Any goal-setting process that you’d like to share? Do you use planners or any app to track your goals?

I’m pretty old-fashioned, and I still use Excel to track a lot of my goals and milestones. At the beginning of each year, I do a brief overview with some of the key performance indicators that I want to hit for the year, and then I also look at them in quarterly plans.

Arfa’s note: Learn how to slay your goals in life and business from Nadalie Bardo.

The book the 12 Week Year is helpful in planning these quarterly plans and helping you achieve more during that time frame. I highly recommend it as a planning framework for your business.

5- According to your experience, what are 3 basic things every new mom blogger should know about? Any advice for mom bloggers who are excited to start blogging and make a living income?

The first thing that I would say is this is real, and you can make money with a blog. I remember when I started my first blog years ago, I had no idea that it even could make me money, but this is a legitimate income stream if you work for it.

Read how bloggers make money with a blog.

My second step would be to give yourself time starting any business is going to take a big investment in time to get off the ground. Many bloggers will give up before the six-month mark and typically that’s what I’ve seen that many blogs will take off. It takes time to learn how to write useful blog posts, create new graphics and write enough content that you can get a reasonable amount of traffic.

Related post: Why your blog is not getting traffic? [And, what to do]

Things like SEO will also take time to build as Google starts to recognize your site and you begin to build your domain authority. If you are just starting your blog promise yourself that you will do this for at least a year and then reevaluate. It takes time and you may have some discouraging moments, but if you stick with it, it can be one of the best choices of your life.

My third tip is to be a sponge. And by that, I mean to learn as much as you can. When I first started blogging there weren’t courses and resources that allowed me to accelerate my growth so a lot of things I had to figure out on my own.

Thankfully, now there are lots of generous instructors that teach their strategies and help other bloggers succeed. Learn from their blog post opt into their email list and follow them take their courses when you’re able to this will all help you gain your success more quickly.

It can seem like an investment now but actually will save you money, in the long run, to invest in yourself and your business.

Arfa’s note: Some of the courses that I totally recommend bloggers to invest in are;

The Blogging BluePrint

Ready Set Blog Traffic

Pin to Profits – The ultimate course to levargae pinterest to get traffic, subscribers and grow income.

6- Discuss 3 biggest challenges you faced when you started online? And, how did you overcome those challenges?

The biggest challenge for me was balancing my time and figuring out how I could invest enough time in my business and also be a present wife and mom. Like I mentioned above I learned and created systems where I could automate a lot of my processes and as my income grew on my website, I eventually outsourced different projects so that I could focus on the places where I was needed the most.

The second challenge that I had was comparing myself to other bloggers. While it is wonderful to learn from them and let them motivate, it also can become easy to compare yourself to them.

I had trouble comparing my beginning to someone else’s middle. If you were looking up to someone and seeing their successes you may become discouraged if you were not reaching that same level of success.

Instead, try to learn from their wins and see how you can incorporate similar strategies into your business with your unique twist. If you’re struggling with comparing yourself and unfollow them on social media and unsubscribe from their email list.

If you’re spending a lot of time fixating on someone else’s business, you’re wasting time that could be spent on growing your own.

My third challenge has been burned out. There is a lot that goes into you being an online business owner. If you don’t take breaks and practice self-care it is easy to get burned out. Make sure to take time still to take care of yourself.

It can be easy to spread yourself too thin when you’re trying to do the mom life and business life. Schedule a time at least once a month where you get away and read a book or take a bath or get your nails done. Whatever is relaxing for you. You’ve earned it!

Related post: 10 best books every blogger and entrepreneur must read.

7- How do you make money online? What are your income streams? Do you have any monetisation tips for anyone who wants to start online or are new to blogging? How long it took to make your first income? Please give details on this.

I am a bit of a serial entrepreneur, and I’m always looking for ways to make extra money each month. I’ve done a lot of side hustles online. I’ve sold on Amazon, I’ve done direct sales, I’ve run multiple profitable blogs, and I’ve worked as a virtual assistant.

My first real job working online was as a virtual assistant. I worked with a local small business owner to help them grow their online presence. I was able to learn a lot and at first, I did it for free just to gain experience. This eventually turned into a paid position after a few months.

In other businesses, I was able to make money more quickly. With my Amazon business is I was able to make money within my first couple of months, and with my blogs, I was making money within the first three months.

My best tip would be to focus on one business and learn as much as you can. As you gain more knowledge and experience, you will be able to scale your income whether it is selling products, offering services, or blogging online.

Related post: How to make your first $100 with your new blog!

8- What’s your typical day look like? How many hours you spend on your blog/business?

Right now I have two little kids at home with me. In the mornings I take care of them get them their breakfast, and we play for a while until my baby has their first nap. During this time my toddler does independent play, and I try to catch up on blogging related tasks, like responding to emails, moderating my Facebook group, and coming up with new blog post ideas.

After the baby wakes up, it’s lunchtime. We will eat and do you some more play time, maybe go outside, and then if she takes an afternoon nap, then we will repeat what she did during the morning nap with independent play or preschool games on the iPad.

In the evenings when my husband gets home, I try to take at least an hour to work on my businesses after dinner. This gives me a much-needed mommy break and allows for focused time to work on more intensive parts of my business like writing blog posts. On Saturdays, I try to get in a few more dedicated hours to growing businesses.

Arfa’s note: Click here to join McKinzie Facebook group for free.
Click here to join my facebook group and participate in daily threads to grow your blog.

9- What’s your favorite quote or saying?

I personally love the quote, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right” by Henry Ford. This helps remind me that I am capable of as much as I will allow myself to do!

10- What book(s) you recommend to bloggers, biz owners or hustlers to read? Any books that inspired you?

Two of my very favorite books that inspire me as an only business owner are You Are A Badass At Making Money by Jen Sincero and the Obstacle Is The Way. Both of these books are very inspiring and help you change your perspective and your business.

Usually, the biggest stumbling block in our path is ourselves, and these books will help you reformat your thinking.

11- What tools or skills you think are required to run a successful blogging business? List your favorite blogging tools.

There are so many great tools that make blogging so much easier.

For me my tops ones that I could not do without are:

• Tailwind – For scheduling Pins on Pinterest
• A social media scheduler – check out these
• Canva – For creating social media graphics
• Email Service Provider – I use ConvertKit and love it!
• Teachable – platform for creating and selling courses

Arfa’s note : If you’re interested, you can check out the complete list of blogging tools and resources I use to grow my blog.

12- Did you ever feel like giving up on your blog? If yes, what one important thing you did to turnaround the situation? Also, if you could also share your blogging stage (the age of your blog) at that time?

There was one time where I did feel like giving up on my blog. However, this was not an option because at that point because it was providing for our family. I was making a full-time income for my blog, but I was completely overwhelmed by course launches and by comparing myself to others.

Like I talked about above I had to unfollow some on social media and I also had to get better self-care practices.

13- How did you grow such a raving audience online and an engaged community? According to you, what is the best strategy for building & growing an audience? Do you suggest using social media, email list, pinterest or any other idea to convert visitors into daily readers?

My favorite way to create an engaged community is to first have a solid Pinterest presence. If you can come up with a productive Pinterest strategy you can get thousands and thousands of new viewers to your blog every day. However, with Pinterest, many of them won’t come back to your site again unless you get them on your email list.

Once you have that Pinterest traffic coming to your site make sure that you have an email marketing strategy so that you can begin to build your email list. These viewers and subscribers will be much more dedicated than the one off of you or that comes from Pinterest.

Related post: 3 no-fail pinterest tips to explode your blog traffic.

14- Finally, what solid tips you’ve for aspiring bloggers or individuals who want to grow a successful business online? Do you suggest investing in digital products? How do they become successful & earn decent income? Do you suggest coaching or masterminds? What’s your go-to learning process?

Like I mentioned above I do recommend accelerating your success by strategically investing in courses and resources. Focus on one learning area at a time. Pick a topic that you want to master and choose a course or resource that will help you achieve that.

Arfa’s note: If you’re looking to invest in your blog, here are 20 small things you can invest in your blog for profit and success.

15- Do you have any special resource/offer to share? Where and how we can connect with you? Please share social media platforms and your website link.

I would love for you to come leave a comment and say hello on my site momsmakecents.com.

If you are ready to grow your traffic to your blog or online business you can also join over 10,000 other students in my free Pinterest course, Pinterest Primer.

Final question

If you were not a blogger/biz owner, what would you be?

If I were not a blogger or business owner, I would either be a stay at home mom or a financial planner. My goal has always been to stay on with my kids but if I needed that income my background is in financial planning and I would go back into doing that as a career.

McKinzie is a mommy of two, married to her sweetheart and a serial entrepreneur. She loves teaching other moms how to save money, make money and take control of their financial situation. You may have seen her featured in publications like Forbes, The US Chamber of Commerce, The Penny Hoarder, Tailwind & more.

What a wonderful interview with McKinzie!

I’m sure you must have learned so much from her. Reading stories of other successful bloggers is so helpful in learning the right path to success.

I’m so impressed by her, and I’m sure you are inspired too. Just like all other bloggers, it’s common that everybody faced challenges and struggles in the beginning phase. All they did was to invest their time and money in the right things.

If you enjoyed this interview, you must also read these two from awesome bloggers;

Grow your blog with Tiffany Griffin – How did she started her blog, and make money with different income streams

How Nadalie Bardo started her online journey and helps people with slaying goals! A must-read interview.

Can I ask for a favor. If you enjoyed this blogging journey, please take out a minute. Share/Pin this post.

Leave a comment and tell us what’s the biggest takeaway for you from this blogging journey.

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