Want to grow your blog with pro blogger?

On SheMeansBlogging interview series with amazingly successful pro bloggers, I’m glad to interview another talented female blogger who’s successful, creative and financially independent while working from home and making money online through her online blog/business.

I started this blogger’s interview series to share with you a new inspirational story every month so that you get familiar with their challenges, struggles, and ideas to lead in the right direction.

In addition to that, this blogger interview series will also help you grow your blog with the help of exclusive blogging tips, shared by pro bloggers.

What you’ll learn from this interview?

• How Tiffany of beautiful dawn designs started online?
• How she manages to work from home, and if there’s any hindrance?
• How does she plan and set her blogging goals?
• 3 basic things every blogger should know about
• 3 initial challenges of starting an online blog
• What are biggest income streams of beautiful dawn designs?
• What is her typical work routine?
• Favorite motivational quote
• The one book every blogger should read
• Recommended blogging tools, and resources
• Tips for growing an online audience
• Expert blogging advice for bloggers

Tiffany is passionate about providing resources to help you grow your blog and make money online. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, crocheting, and reading.

There’s so much to learn from her!

This post contains few affiliate links. For further information, please read my full affiliate disclosure here.

How To Grow Your Blog With Pro Blogger – Interview With ‘Tiffany’ Of Beautiful Dawn Designs

Let’s quickly dive into all the questions and interesting answers from Tiffany.

I am so sure you’re going to love this interview. Do let us know your feedback in the comments section. Don’t forget to share this post with other bloggers.

Here’s the first question.

1- 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?

Thank you so much for having me, Arfa!

Well, to start, my name is Tiffany and I run Beautiful Dawn Designs, where I help bloggers grow their blog and make money online. I do this by providing premium WordPress themes, helpful blogging and money making tips and free digital resources.

I got started in the blogging business because I was looking for a way to drive traffic to my website and promote my product. I was selling feminine WordPress themes at the time.

Within one year of blogging, my traffic and my income more than doubled! Now, it is my goal to help other bloggers grow their online business too.

2- Do you think if there’s any hindrance to work from home, and manage everything? If yes, how do manage with that?

In the beginning, I was so excited about the prospect of having my own business, that I found it easy to get everything done. However,  after a few years of working from home, I definitely started to feel isolated, and with that isolation, I found it harder to motivate myself to get work done.

I’m really big on giving myself breaks as needed. So when I find myself lacking motivation, I’ll take a few days off and spend time with my family, or enjoy the beauty of nature. That’s usually enough to get me back on track.

3- Let’s talk about goal setting! How do you plan and set your goals? Any goal-setting process that you’d like to share?

Actually, I rarely plan things or set goals for myself when it comes to my business. Usually, when I have an idea I want to implement, I just go for it. I’m sure I could accomplish more if I planned things out, but that’s just not the way I choose to do things. And I think this way has worked well for me.

Learn how to set and slay your goals with Nadalie Bardo to help you achieve your personal life and business goals.

4- According to your experience, what are 3 basic things every new blogger should know about? Any advice for someone who’s just starting out in the same field as yours like blogging, online business, freelancing etc.

This question actually made me think about a popular post on my blog called The Ugly Side of Blogging That Bloggers Don’t Share. Every new blogger should read this because it shows you the real side of blogging.

I think when people get into blogging, they expect to build a blog that quickly gains a lot of traffic and earns six figures, and that’s just not the way it works for most of us.

In reality, most people aren’t cut out for blogging, your passion may not make you money, and it can get really lonely.

I think it’s really important to go into this blogging thing with realistic expectations, otherwise, you’ll end up quitting prematurely.

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

Increasing my traffic was definitely a big challenge for me. I think that in the beginning, every challenge that I faced took me back to the fact that I needed to increase my traffic. If I wanted to increase my income or grow my email list, first, I needed to increase my traffic.

I overcame this challenge by consistently working to build my traffic. I wrote more content (3 articles a week for a year), made sure my content was SEO friendly, and worked to increase my traffic with Pinterest. Every month, I was able to see my traffic grow by doing these three things consistently.

6- How do you make money online? What are your income streams? Do you have any monetization 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.

As I mentioned earlier, I started off selling feminine themes. Because there wasn’t a lot of competition in this field back then, making money was easy for me. Ah, the good old days.

Now, there’s tons of competition in this field which means it’s important that I have multiple streams of income. I learned the importance of having multiple streams of income the hard way. So for anyone who’s reading this, please do not rely solely on one income source.  Don’t learn the hard way like I had to do.

When you have multiple streams of income, if one income stream isn’t doing so well, you have other streams to make up for it.

Currently, I make money with my own products (WordPress themes, and my course The Blogging Blueprint), affiliate marketing, the occasional sponsored post, and ads (through Mediavine). I’m currently working on a few more products to add to my shop.

Suggested Read : How Do Most Bloggers Make Money Online? (7+ Profitable Ways To Make Money Blogging)

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

My days are looking a lot different from how they did in my early days. My business is mostly passive. I put in a lot of work up front so that I don’t have to work so hard from day to day.

Currently, after I wake up, I’ll check and respond to my emails, check up on my Facebook group and then spend the rest of my day just hanging out.

Once a week I like to write and publish an article for my blog as well as write a newsletter to my subscribers. Once a month I’ll schedule social media posts for the upcoming month. If I’m working on a new project, my days will look different, but this is pretty much how I run my business.

Join SheMeansBlogging’s facebook group for free by clicking this link to submit a request and I (Arfa) would love to have you as an engaged facebook member to learn about blogging tips and participate in daily threads.

8- What’s your favorite quote or saying?

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. – John A. Shedd

This quote reminds me to keep putting myself out there and step outside of my comfort zone. As they say, nothing really great happens within the walls of your comfort zone.

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

A book that has really inspired me and helped me increase my income is the book Get Rich Lucky Bitch by Denise Duffield-Thomas.

If you’ve ever heard of “The Secret” this book is similar to that. Get Rich Lucky Bitch is all about getting rid of your money blocks and manifesting the life you deserve and the money you desire. I partially credit this book for the success that I have experienced with my business.

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

When you start off blogging, you think you need to buy all the blogging tools. What I’ve learned over the years is that you actually don’t need a ton of stuff to blog successfully. A few tools I could not live without are:

Tailwind and Buffer. Scheduling tools are a great way for me to stay active on social media without manually posting multiple times per day. I use Tailwind to schedule my pins on Pinterest, and I use Buffer for Facebook and Twitter.

Converkit. You don’t have to use Convertkit, but I highly recommend signing up for an email newsletter provider.

MailChimp is a good option for new bloggers because it’s free for your first 2,000 subscribers. Having an email list is an excellent way to keep in contact with your audience. And you don’t have to be selling anything to have an email list. Simply sending them a link to your latest blog post is a great way to stay in touch and give yourself a quick traffic boost.

Email List Building : A step by step tutorial to building an email list for free with Mailerlite

Bookkeeping Software. Keeping track of your money is rarely talked about in the blogging community. As you begin to make money with your blog, it’s really important that you keep track of your income and expenses. I use GoDaddy Bookkeeping.

Find out how self employed individuals, freelancers and small biz owners use Freshbooks to prepare invoices, track expenses and income.

Social Pug. I can’t tell you how many new bloggers don’t have social media share buttons on their blog. Social Pug makes it easy for your readers to share your content on platforms such as Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.

11- 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 level at that time?

Yes, giving up on my blog is something I’ve thought about. I was getting around 9,500 pageviews a month, and earning a little over $100/mo. And this was with a lot of hard work. I felt like nothing I was doing was working, and I considered quitting.

The thing is, I’ve always believed in my work.  If no one saw my content or purchased one of my WordPress themes, my belief that what I had to offer was good stuff, kept me going and keeps me going to this day. Of course, as time went on, my numbers continued to grow and my income continued to increase, so I’m glad I didn’t give up.

It took a lot of hard work, patience, and some tears, but eventually, I got there.

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

My email list has played a big part in my growth. Connecting with my readers is so important to me. I try my best to connect with my readers through my emails. I also try to respond to all of my blog comments, and now my new facebook group has given me another opportunity to connect with my readers.

Pinterest and Google have also been amazing for growing my audience. Even if you’re just starting out, make sure your blog posts are SEO friendly and that you’re creating Pinterest friendly images for each post. I have an article on SEO for Beginners that talks about the simple steps I take to get ranked in Google.

13- 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 for bloggers?

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “it takes money to make money,” and I do agree with this. I’m a proponent of investing in your education (whether it be through courses, books, or coaching) if you want to grow a successful online business. However, I’ve noticed that a lot of people get stuck in the learning phase. At a certain point, you have to stop spending money on books and courses and start implementing the things you’ve learned.

When you’re starting out, I recommend reading articles from high-quality blogs like She Means Blogging or listening to podcasts and implementing the things you’ve learned. Once you’ve got the hang of things, and you feel like you’re ready to take things to the next level, you can consider investing in a course or two.

Helpful resources;

4 Best Blogging Ebooks To Skyrocket Your Blog Traffic
How This Course Helped Me Boost my SEO rankings and organic traffic

14- 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 everyone to check out my online course for bloggers, The Blogging Blueprint. I worked hard to make sure this course included everything that’s helped me grow my blog and increase my income, and it’s always being updated with new strategies.

If you would like to connect with me, you can find me on my website, Twitter, or Facebook. I would love to chat!

Final question

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

If I weren’t I blogger, I would definitely be a chef. I’ve loved to cook ever since I was a kid and even considered going to a culinary arts school. I have a passion for cooking and would have loved to do it for a living.

That was it!

I personally enjoyed all the honest answers by Tiffany, and her blogging story of how she started and grew her blog.

We often see the big picture of how blogging looks like but then, there are struggles, and challenges most bloggers & business owners face through out their journey. It’s so important to read other stories, and note down huge takeaways to get yourself motivated and inspired.

Do check out ‘The Blogging Blueprint’ course as it’s such an in-depth course you’d ever find to grow your blog! I have personally went through the course guidelines, and I can tell you if you start focusing on all the steps discussed in the course, you will start growing.

I’m sure you found some great tips to grow your blog with pro blogger ‘Tiffany’ and I can’t wait to see you grow you too!

Do let us know what you enjoyed most from this blogger’s interview series.

What’s the main takeaway for you?

Is it to have multiple income streams to make money online? Or, is it about learning new blogging things to grow?

Let me know in the comments below!