So I thought I’d document what I did, what I earned, and if it was worth it.

Deciding What to Grow From Seed

Tomatoes were wildly popular with my customer base, here in New England. While I will probably expand to more offerings next year, I will weigh heavy on the side of unique, heirloom, organic tomatoes.

But of course you could poll your audience and see what folks seem to be most interested in growing in their gardens next year and what they’d like to buy.

Creating Interest Before You Even Plant

It’s a great idea to start a “wait list” to create demand and so when the perfect week rolls around in the spring–when your plants are at their prime and planting season is upon you–you already have an eager list of customers.

If you do keep a wait list, I highly recommend sending them updates every few weeks once you plant your seeds to get them excited and to make sure they haven’t forgotten about you and wind up going to a nursery to buy their wish list.

When it’s Time to Plant

I’m still new to this idea of growing seedlings to sell for profit, so I am careful to only plant varieties that I myself truly want. If I wind up with an excess I can most likely put them to good use. But I have some other tips too:

1. Plant what you want for yourself (nothing goes to waste).
2. Plant what you know. It helps to sell the plants if you know what you’re talking about. So many potential customers said things like “I want a tomato that’s really big and great for sandwiches.” Or “I want a cherry tomato that’s average size… not too small, not too big.” I had to know the details about my seedlings if I wanted to recommend the right plant for them. And because i was confident with what they’d like, they often bought extra.
3. Label everything. Even if you color code everything and think you’ll remember what is what, trust me. You won’t. So label well. I’d also recommend avoiding your own shorthand, realizing the customer will want the full name of the plant on each container.
4. Plant in containers you don’t want back. This might seem silly, but I was scrambling for enough containers when my seedlings took off and needed to be up-potted and I regretted that I planted some, which I later sold, in containers that cost me a few dollars to buy. That cuts a good bit into your profit.
5. Use good quality soil. These plants are with you for 10 weeks, you want them to look great when it’s time to sell them, plus you want to be able to assure your customers that these are organic, high-quality plants.

What You’ll Need to Get Started

I can’t recommend a good grow light system enough. Hearty plants lead to satisfied customers. Everyone who picked up plants surveyed their box or bag and were very excited to dish out the cash to me. I’m pretty sure they will be repeat customers. But without a grow light set up my plants would have inevitably been leggy and skinny. Aside from your overall growing location, you will need:

• Great seeds. I can’t stress this enough. Great germination is key or you won’t have time to grow the full amount you had hoped to sell.
• Compost
• Potting soil
• Disposable cups with drainage holes drilled in the bottom
• Some larger disposable options as well, for the plants that need up-potting (and will bring you more money too). I use large plastic tubs, think xl sour cream, xl margarine tubs, bubble gum tubs. You can even ask on local facebook groups for these containers in the winter ahead and stockpile them.
• Sharpie for labeling as you plant
• Many strong box trays or seedling trays for transporting your cups of seeds/seedlings/plants around the growing areas and outside when it’s time to start hardening them off. Over the next 10 weeks, you will be moving these around a LOT. It’s worth the investment in some sturdy trays.

What You Need to Send Plants Home with Customers

• Start stocking up on the perfect sized cardboard boxes if you can a few weeks before it’s time to sell the plants. Aldi’s and BJs is a perfect spot, and I keep any packaging boxes that are delivered to our home too.
• Packaging tape is a great way to secure the cups of plants to the inside wall of boxes they’re being transported home in.
• Brown bags are handy for transport as well. If you cut off the top and use them as a (flimsy) tray of sorts
• Plastic shopping bags are nice to use to line the bottom of paper bags or boxes for transport, incase the plants are leaking water or dirt.
• Old newspaper is great to shove in around the cups of the plants to keep them in place in their packaging box or bag.
• Cash for change. When they pick up their plants they may not have exact change.

This Sunrise Bumblebee tomato plant was very tall and a little fragile, so I secured the cup (the orange one) to the back of a tall box with packaging tape and nestled the customer’s other two (smaller) plants in a brown lunch bag (with the top cut off) to keep them in place in front of the bumblebee. Then I filled the rest of the box with a few inches of crumpled up newspaper. Customers genuinely appreciate the little extra effort you take to help them get their plants home safely.

Things to Think About When You do Your Inventory

I can only give you my own example, from this year (my first at doing this). In fact, I didn’t mean to get into the seeding business at all. I just got really over-eager when I was planting my seeds this year and was shocked with I counted my total about a month after I had planted. I had 219 plants, but only room in my garden for about 125.

So I itemized my inventory and decided three things before listing plants for sale:

1. What plants I wanted for my own garden. (The only plants I had extra of were tomatoes. I only had enough peppers, basil, oregano, chicory, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts for myself. I guess I was just feeling extra happy when I was planting tomato seeds.)
2. What plants I might want extras of. (Something always dies once they go in the garden, so were there some plants I wanted to keep extras of?)
3. What plants I wanted to set aside to gift to my daughter or friends who may not have the means to buy plants (I helped Logan turn over her first-ever garden last week–happy day!)

How to Decide What to Charge

The best advice I can give you is to go to a high-quality nursery and see what they’re charging. If your plants look nice and healthy, most potential customers are willing to pay you slightly more than they’d spend at a nursery if you’re offering varieties of plants that are hard to find and that they know are organically grown.

It’s a difficult game to play to decide ideal planting time, but of course the bigger your plants the more you can charge. If they get too big you have the problem of having to stake them (I just use twigs I gather in the yard and twine) and up-pot them.

I decided to charge a range based on plant maturity. It’s all arbitrary, but it worked for me. I asked customers what they wanted, picked through my inventory for the ideal plants for them, pulling out the largest/most beautiful first, and quoted them a total based on plant maturity ($5 for very small, $7 for average, $9 for large). My plan was to down-size their plants if anyone bulked a little at the total, but honestly no one did. I always made sure they knew I was pulling out the most mature, healthiest plants for them and reiterated that they were heirloom (if they were) and organic.

Also, a few of my customers didn’t come through until my final “advertising” (which was just posting to a few relevant local fb groups, no real “ads” going on). At that point I had tended the plants an extra 2 weeks beyond my first sales. Factoring in my extra time spent with caring for and hardening off these plants, and the fact that they were considerably taller now, I upped my range to $7 (all small or medium size) or $14 (the largest ones).

What Your Profit Might Look Like

So, in the end, after setting aside extra plants for myself and Logan, I only had 59 plants to sell.

Yeah, not a whirlwind entrepreneurial adventure here. But still worth documenting so I can expand wisely next year, given what I learned this year. Here are my numbers:

• 59 plants
• 10 paying customers
• $401 in sales

I thought it was interesting that in the end I made almost $7 per plant, which of course was the average price. (Math is funny that way, huh?)

So after all is said and done I figure my own large garden was free this year… I imagine $401 more than covers the seeds and any other expenses I will have (staking, fertilizer, pots/containers, and straw for mulching) and in a weird way it was kinda fun… 5th grade Michelle, who loved to play “store,” came out in full force last Saturday when I had customers messaging and popping in through out the day.

EDIT to add: I had more expenses than I expected after doing a Soil Test, and finding out how badly my soil needed amending. I shared here about my soil problems in my garden.

If I want to upscale my plant-selling operation, I could pretty easily make a few thousand dollars next year. Of course I would need to invest in more growing shelves and lights, so the first year that would eat into that profit.

It was so fun, and honestly rewarding to be helping others grow their own food this year, I might give it a whirl in a future year.

The post Grow seedlings to sell for profit first appeared on Souly Rested.

A sweet new friend of mine, Vea Carpi, joined me in episode 7 of season 2 of the Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy podcast to share great tips on growing an instagram page.

Meet Vea on her ig page right here.

Vea’s 6 Tips for Growing Your Reach on Instagram

1. Attract the Right People

Take advantage of the fact that people come on instagram to find others who have similar interests as their own. Make sure you are showcasing your interests in your description on your instagram feed and by what hashtags you use.

2. Keep it Pretty

Always make things aesthetically appealing, especially on your feed, where those first 9 little squares are where folks are going to get their first impression of you and decide if they want to follow you.

Brush up on some photography tips like ones I share here.

And always choose a new photo that looks great with the ones proceeding it. (Vea recommends the Preview app to help with this.)

3. Do Video, Right

Learn about all your video options and choose the right one for the “job.”

• While it’s sometimes very handy that an igtv can go much longer than a simple story, always ask yourself if your followers will want this longer content.
• Live videos, often intriguing for your audience, can also be very stressful for you, so consider having someone else there to help you and read the comments as you deliver your live.
• Reels, because they are ig’s newest video option, are very popular and will most likely be seen more than other options.
• Stories are the backbone of ig and are a wonderful way to bring others along, step by step over a longer period of time in your day, and give useful tutorials or encouragement. Save ones that your audience may want to refer back to in your highlights.

4. Enjoy Yourself and Be Creative

Enjoy learning and growing on ig, always be genuine, and take advantage of the fact that building your presence there tends to boost your creativity, and that’s always a good thing, yes?

5. Set Goals

Be assured that you can, in small ways, begin monetizing your instagram account, even with a rather small following. The key is to have a final goal and then work towards that. For Vea, the goal was to draw in-person customers to her family’s farm restaurant on the weekends and she found it was doing that after only growing to a few thousand followers.

6. Encourage Engagement

Encourage engagement in every way you can!

Ask friends to give your ig posts and stories lots of love as you’re growing this platform.

And feel free to, once in a while, outright ask this of your followers too. Because every time a post is liked, commented on, saved, and shared ig decides to show it to more folks.

And be sure to answer your comments, reply to your DMs, repost things you are tagged in, and be eager to engage with others. All of these little things can add up big on ig.

Join Vea & I as we talk about this topic:

Talk to me!

If you have any questions, leave a comment below. And please tag me on ig to introduce me to YOUR feed @souly.rested.

Other Articles You’ll Enjoy:

How I Make Money Blogging

How Homesteaders Make Money

Go Behind-the-Scenes with Online Content Creators

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord. Colossians 3:23

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.

 

Find out why SoulyRested is considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs … year after year.

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

The post 6 Tips for Growing Your Reach on Instagram first appeared on Souly Rested.

This isn’t your typical article on this topic that will tell you to research land in various states and then give advice on saving money to buy said land.

Because I’m a firm believer that you can’t be a successful homesteader without the right outlook, and gaining that perspective, in my opinion, is the biggest first step. So here we go…

6 Tips to Start Homesteading (before you even own land)

My hope is that these 6 tips will help you and your family prepare for owning a homestead, no matter where you live or what you’re doing today.

1. Slow down & take time to define what’s really important.

For our family, this time of year, one very tangible way to do this is sugarmaking. Tapping a few trees and boiling down sap into syrup is a great excuse to slow down, collectively, and spend family time creating something delicious.

“While sugar making has provided delicious pancake breakfasts and helped our family consume less refined sugar, if you asked me what it is about making maple syrup that has transformed my life? That’s easy. Sugar making helps me define the important things.” (Sweet Maple, p. 3)

Sugaring assures me that I’ll not only catch glimpses of winter beauty and listen to my own thoughts, rising and lowering with my breath, but also enjoy the glory of the wood fire even more when I return to it.

It assures me that for 6 glorious weeks at the end of every winter I will be reminded how precious the sweet stuff of life is. How it’s not something we’re entitled to. It’s not something we’re handed without effort. But it’s hard and wonderful, simultaneously. That’s not something our modern society understands. But sugaring makes it clear.

No, Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy, but it’s definitely worth it.

(If you agree, you want to follow along on my podcast, Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy.)

2. Get outside & put away devices.

If you want to one day run a successful homestead, you’ll need to be outside, a lot. Which is great for your overall fitness and vitamin D levels, but not so great for improving your instagram scrolling. You just can’t get the things done that need your attention if you’re wasting hours a day looking at your phone for entertainment and fulfillment.

The more you learn to get outside for a walk, or a bike ride, or rollerblading at a park, the more you–and your kids– will remember that not checking your phone every 10 minutes feels very good.

Bonus if you have a great excuse for daily exercise on long, cold, New England winter days, as I explain in my book:

3. Start enjoying real food, now.

No matter where you live or how limited your resources are, you can find a starting place to introduce your family to real food. Source raw milk & fresh eggs if you’re able. Or start making your bread and your butter, or taco seasoning, pickles, or peanut butter instead of buying them.

You’ll be shocked at how easy it is to make some of these items that you never even knew didn’t have to come prepackaged from the grocery store. Even better, you’ll love the convenience of making it exactly the way your family likes it, in bulk, so you can always have it handy.

Grab my Pantry Checklist for lots of inspiration.

I keep many of my homemade pantry items that we use often, in handy mason jars, right where I need them… and trust me that is true convenience food.

This journey towards real food is a lifetime one, so you might as well take little steps every season until you’re able to plunge deeper.

Why is this truly helpful and worth the extra effort? I dive deep into that idea in episode 14 (listen here on Apple Podcast) of the Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy podcast… go here to find us on your favorite podcast player.

4. Do hard things.

Your children are watching your resilience and bravery in the face of a hard task today. And they’re learning. They’ll need to be able to do the hard things one day if you own a homestead… wrestle with the bobcat attack that took the chickens and figure out how to make the coop safer. Deal with the sad reality that a baby rabbit died in the night and determine if it was something that could be avoided with the next liter. Raise animals knowing all along they are for the family’s food.

If life is too easy and sugar-coated for them today, we aren’t doing our kids any favors when it’s time for them to do the hard things tomorrow.

5. Take on big projects and see them through.

It seems like an oxymoron that accomplishing big projects with family helps us notice the simple, defining moments in life. But it’s been very true in my experience.

As I explained in my book:

“I’ve often wondered if we need the solitude and labor of an undertaking like sugaring now more than ever. Previous generations had so many things that required them to work hard—really hard—for simple joys. A brief look around my living room gives testament to this fact. My grandmother’s wooden butter mold sits on my hearth. She would fill it with hand-churned butter for her children to spread on her homemade bread. Bill’s grandmother’s braided wool rug still cushions our feet more than eighty years after she cut each strip of wool by hand. I think about the quiet, reflective time all that churning and braiding required and realize I’m missing out.

Life is too short not to notice some simple, defining moments every day, and some of them should be delicious. I wrote Sweet Maple in hopes of bringing the joys of maple into homes across America, to assure people that it’s okay that simple joys require hard work, and to bring the warm sweetness of an all-natural, super-food syrup into kitchens everywhere.” (p. 9)

But of course you don’t have to make syrup to accomplish this. Any project you can do together, as a family, can help you all notice the small, important things.

Gaining this perspective on life will truly get you in the right mindset for one day owning and working the land on a family farm.

6. Start learning skills that will help you monetize your future homestead.

One of the first things I realized about this thing called “homesteading” is that it’s not cheap. Folks always think of them as “free eggs” if you raise your own chickens, but no one takes into account the costs of preparing a coop and buying the chicken food, which can be pretty pricey in the long winter months here in New England, when there’s no where for the chickens to free range and forage like they do from spring through fall.

Read more about what you should know before you get chickens here.

Thankfully there are many ways to earn money from your homestead, but most of these endeavors will have a much higher success rate if you can build an online presence of some sort.

If you have the time and resources to do so, now is a great time to learn to build a website or grow a social media platform. If you’re not homesteading yet, build your online presence around what you’re learning now, to prepare for your future homestead.

This article explains how I earn an income with blogging, and my second season of the Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy podcast (listen in to the season’s first episode right here, on Apple Podcast, or find us on your favorite podcast player here) will give you lots of back scene insight & insiders tips.

Talk to me!

If you have any questions, leave a comment below. And please tag me on ig & show me what you’re doing today to prepare for tomorrow’s homestead @souly.rested.

Other articles you’ll enjoy:

The Hardest Thing About Homesteading

13 Ways Homesteaders Make Money

Overcoming the Many Challenges of Homesteading

A Homestead Checklist for Every Season

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.

Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2019 as well.

Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from gardening, to homeschooling, to chicken care, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

The post 6 Ways to Start Homesteading (before you even own land) first appeared on Souly Rested.

It’s crazy really.

I am thrilled to be featured in the new issue of Where Women Create Work. But it’s crazy. I never would have dreamed I’d seriously be in a magazine, not alone the author of the article… and my brand the topic of the article!

How this crazy ride started

And this whole crazy “ride” from zero audience (seriously, not even my mom read my blog back then) to published author… this whole crazy ride all started with little ole me just doing a few things I wound up failing at pretty often but loving nonetheless. When I decided to write about what I was learning–be it homesteading endeavors, making maple syrup, making kombucha, or other similar topics–I wound up encouraging others who were also somewhere on this journey towards a slightly simpler life. And those “others” started to grow in numbers.

Next thing I knew, I had written a book. (aff link) It’s part how-to, part memoir, and a whole lot of delicious (aka a maple syrup cookbook), and a legit publisher wanted to publish it.

But it all started with a simple blog, that I started and maintained myself, with no coding knowledge whatsoever. Since none of the above would have happened without it, and since book publishers today usually won’t spend time on new authors unless they have a devoted tribe of readers, well this blog is super special to me and I’d love to help you have something similar.

You should come up with a plan

I didn’t have things all planned out.

Just a few years ago I had zero idea how I’d ever make money by writing. Heck, I remember wondering how I’d ever earn enough money to cover the cost of my web hosting. If you’re there, trust me, I get it. And everything I recommend in this post comes from that place–the place of a very poor writer. I would never recommend things that aren’t worth the money or the time, because I remember all too well not feeling like I had either.

The biggest mistake I made when I was starting out

I wish I had realized, years ago, that a few upfront investments would have saved me so much time and money. The two things I would definitely do differently?

• I should have started off with professional hosting. Instead I went with a free hosting, which was riddled with headaches when It was time to upgrade to a paid hosting program.
• I should have invested in professional training, right out of the box, which would have saved me years of flying by the seat of my pants and making zero money.

If you’ve ever wondered if you could make money blogging, I’m here to encourage you. And I’d love to help you come up with a plan (instead of winging it like I did for many years).

So today I’m gonna do something really weird. Today I’m not writing about homesteading, gardening, fermenting, or making and baking with maple syrup.

I know. It feels funky. But don’t worry, I’ll be back to those other topics next week.

Can you make money blogging?

Yes, I do make money blogging. Not a fortune. It’s just one stream of income for me (and even within that stream, there are many streams), but yes, I make money blogging. I wrote a while back about 12 Ways Homesteaders Make Money, as well as 3 Lessons I’ve Learned recently about the whole process.

Then last summer I was named a Side Hustle Star by Hostgator. Apparently, they liked my story & I ranked “high for site navigation, design, and web standards like SSL certificates and mobile responsiveness.” Ummmm, no one tell them I have been doing it all on my own, on a wing & a prayer, okay? They may want my cool swag back that they sent me.

But seriously, I think it’s time… because many of you have asked… I’m going to break down how to set up a blog, with the goal that–eventually–you can start making some money by blogging.

Here’s where I interject that it’s hard work, y’all. Even if you purchase all the right tools and do everything the right way (aka, not the way Michelle did things), you need to build up quality content and a devoted email list. So if you’re not sure that blogging is for you, it’s probably not.

But if you know you want to do this and do it well, stick with me–through this incredibly long post, chocked full of all my thoughts for you to help you get off on the right foot.

I’m going to pull back the curtain a little on my SoulyRested brand. Take you behind the scenes on the nitty gritty details you’ll want to think about if you hope to carve out a brand of your own and start making money by blogging.

The Things I Wish I Knew When I Started a Blog

The biggest challenge I faced with my blog could have been avoided right up front. Yes, it would have cost me a little money, but it would have saved me so much time.

But back then, I figured I may never make a penny with my blog. So I couldn’t bear the thought of investing money into it if I’d never get anything out. My thought process was that I would keep all my blogging costs as low as possible until I started monetizing and then, and only then, would I allow myself to “splurge” on some blog “luxuries.”

But here’s the thing. I should have never seen hosting as a luxury. Because you can’t make any money with a blog–not a penny–until it is self-hosted. So that’s where I’ll start my list…

Set up Hosting

First I want to explain, you can set up a free wordpress blog for now (it will have (dot)wordpress at the end of your domain name). You can convert it over later, once you’ve built up some quality useful content and are ready to start monetizing it a little.

— Save yourself some heartache

BUT, If you want to save yourself a good bit of heartache and you have the funds to invest a few hundred to set it up correctly from the get go, I highly recommend that. The switch over to self-hosting was a pretty complicated process for me, I’m not gonna lie. In fact, it was the most difficult thing I’ve done as a blogger the past 5 years.

— I can’t recommend these guys enough

When I was ready to start blogging “for real,” I spent a good while researching many hosting providers. I came down to two, and I don’t think you can go wrong with either. I say this with great confidence because I’ve been using HostGator for 4 years, and have never been anything less than pleased with them. Then my amazing tech friend, Dave, who I talked to about this topic, agreed that they’re awesome.

When Dave was helping me with a little tech issue (cause all tech issues are huge to me–the non-tech-y person that I am) he pointed out some amazing things about my hosting service, with HostGator, that I didn’t even know (well, #4 and #5 I already knew, first-hand):

• Why I Love HostGator

1. HostGator does daily backups as a standard service offering. What!? I still continue to do my weekly automatic backups on my own, but I was super impressed that daily backups are part of my hosting subscription. At zero effort or charge to me!
2. HostGator offers https service (encryption of your site–to make it secure for your customers) for free!
3. HostGator can help you purchase your domain name too.
4. They have a super easy-to-use dashboard, which is super important for us non-tech-y folks.
5. They have amazing customer service. The first time I had to call them I was prepared for battle. Prepared to hold for 1/2 an hour and reach a customer service representative who barely spoke English and who didn’t care about my problem or offer a solution. Boy WAS I WRONG! The service is fast, super helpful, and totally in English. And I’ve called them many times over the years, with always the same great results.

— But apparently these guys are amazing too

But I went on to ask Dave what hosting service he personally uses, he explained that he started out with DreamHost many moons ago, before HostGator was as awesome as they are today, and he has stuck with them because DreamHost is a dream as well.

• Why Dave Likes DreamHost

1. DreamHost provides free web hosting for 501c3 charitable groups… and I love this too.
2. Dave likes DreamHost’s dashboard better than HostGator’s. I haven’t see DreamHosts, so I can’t compare.
3. DreamHost, like HostGator, offers https service for free.

But when I told Dave I was working on writing this article for y’all I asked him which he would recommend, and he said he couldn’t pick.So you have to pick for yourself.They’re equally awesome. So there ya go… apparently you can’t go wrong with HostGator or DreamHost. Since I thrive on choices and researching things to find what’s best for me, I figured I’d let you hash it out between these two great hosting companies to see which one is best for you.

You’re welcome.

An effective social media presence keeps your audience connected with you, and they’ll always be excited about your next new thing.

Choose a Theme

I should explain that wordpress blogs have many free themes to choose from. But since more than 1/3 of all websites are wordpress sites, well free themes are pretty common. If you don’t want your blog to look like everybody else’s you may want to go shopping for a website theme. This is the skeleton, or framework, of your site that everything else will be based off of.

You can absolutely start with a free theme and upgrade later, whenever you’re ready, but I’ve talked to bloggers who have invested year’s of effort into building content that then went missing or misdirected or just plain looked awful when they switched their site’s theme.

You can also do what I’ve done if you have a little knowledge of wordpress and desktop design and customize a free theme so your site looks like no one else’s. I have zero coding abilities, but wordpress doesn’t require any if you do have desktop design experience and know how to google things when you get stuck.

On the other hand, if you’d rather not take years to get your site looking the way you want it (aka Michelle’s way) and you’d rather pay a small one-time fee to have a gorgeous site that meets all your needs, I highly recommend you check out these guys and the awesome sites they create.

Learn about SEO

Once you have a site up and have created some great content, it’s time to make sure folks find what you’ve created.

— What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization is a roadmap that points folks to your work. I learned everything I know from my friend Kelly, with her amazing, self-paced Sticky Blogging class. She does a fantastic job explaining all the ins and outs of this super important factor of your blog. The fact is, you can create the most amazing content, housed on the most alluring site anyone’s ever stumbled upon, but without SEO running smoothly, you’ll be a writer without an audience.

— Check out this super content for FREE

But another thing I love about what Kelly has created in this fantastic course on SEO is that she gives you super content–for FREE–right up front, in her 5-day eCourse to give you a taste for SEO to see if you’d like to dive into her more in-depth class that will have your blog popping up on the perfect phrases in google searches in no time.

But don’t take my word for it, take Kelly up on it. Try this FREE 5-lesson SEO eCourse and see what you think. Everything Kelly does, from the generous free class to her in-depth full course on SEO, is self-paced, so sign up right away and finish it immediately or take your time working through it. It’s up to you. But read all the way to the end, about another SEO option, before buying this one, so you know all the options I love and you can choose what works best for you.

Choose an email provider and start building your email list right away!

Build an email list

I use Mailchimp, because it was free when I signed up. And it will be free for you too, if you’re just starting out and don’t have a large number of subscribers.

But I grew faster than I was expecting, and what started out as a free mail provider–Powered by Mailchimp–now requires a small monthly payment. Even so, I’m pleased with their service and their options, so they’re a good choice for me.

UPDATE: I just made a big switch over to Flodesk for my email service and I’m loving their easy-to-use, very professional looking templates. As I had grown to over 3,000 subscribers in my email list, MailChimp costs had risen to over $60/month.

Flodesk has one base cost, no matter how much I grow! I can have 30,000, 3,000 or 300 subscribers and pay the same price. Sweet, right?

Even better, they’re offering this great deal that if you use this link you will get 50% off that price. For life. Now that’s a deal I can get behind.

Then there’s an ultra powerful option–ConvertKit, which gives you a nice little starting package and then grows with you, beautifully and professionally.

I’d recommend comparing all the options and seeing what feels best for you. But whatever you do, choose an email provider and start building your email list right away! How to do exactly this–build a list quickly and effectively, using enticing promotions that my friend Lisa will teach you to create–is one of many topics that Lisa Bass covers in great depth in this professional, detailed course for bloggers that is worth every penny, and a whole lot more. But more on that in a minute.

Set up social media accounts 

I remember when I opened each of my social media accounts I debated what to call them. Honestly, if I could do it all again I would have no lag time and no debate.

— Don’t waste any time doing this

As soon as you buy a domain name, you should be setting up social media accounts as well–in the same name–so folks can quickly find you wherever they like to hang out. As soon as you have some good content, your social media platforms will be where you share it with your readers. That’s what social media is for… kinda a megaphone for your content. Although that megaphone falls on deaf ears if, first and foremost, you haven’t built a relationship with your tribe. Social media is where folks really get to know you. Then, once they feel they’ve built a friendship with you, they are eager to know what you’re up to over on your blog.

Over time, you’ll find they also love meeting your old content, which you can repurpose again and again. And they’re often in love with any new product you launch.

— Connect with your audience 

Kelly’s SEO class will have strangers finding you, via Google searches, and your social media presence will keep your audience connected to you on a daily basis. So on Facebook and my YouTube channel you’ll find me as SoulyRested. Sadly I was a little delayed  in setting up an instagram account. I spent more time with my small tribe on facebook than anywhere else, and didn’t want to spread myself too thin.

It turns out I love instagram too (here’s where to find me on instagram); I love how all 3 platforms are so different and I tend to share very differently in each little corner, which means my audience isn’t bored with overlap but many follow me on every platform.

So when I did finally go to set up an instagram account, there was already someone with the name “SoulyRested,” and even though they hadn’t done a thing with their account in years I couldn’t use the name. So my instagram account is Souly.Rested. I hate it that that account is different (see that little period?), so try to keep them all the same if you’re able.

When I discovered Lisa’s course, right in the midst of writing this article, it was like the heavens opened and the angel choir was singing.

Set up & run your blog like a professional brand

I recently befriended Lisa Bass and discovered her brand–Farmhouse On Boone–when my publisher mailed her a copy of my book, Sweet Maple. (aff link) Afterall, all authors love to stay up on what fellow authors are creating, but especially when we’re with the same publisher. Lisa fell in love with Sweet Maple, and I fell in love with all things Farmhouse on Boone.

I quickly realized that Lisa was a pro at developing an amazing brand, creating professional high-demand content, and monetizing it all. Seriously. Lisa is a rockstar blogger & youtuber combined.

So when I heard that Lisa has created a blogging course that packs all of her professional knowledge–and all of her best been-there, done-that tips–into ONE place, I knew I had to know more. Because I had just started piecing this article together for y’all, and I was at a loss of what resources to recommend to you for training purposes.

All the things I’ve piecemealed together and tried to teach myself over the past few years I couldn’t find in one resource, or even 3 or 4, and the professional resources I did find that offered great content were over $500, to start, more if you wanted any one-on-one coaching or entrance into a VIP support group.

When I discovered Lisa’s course, right in the midst of writing this article, it was like the heavens opened and the angel choir was singing. I was that excited. If you’re serious about making money blogging (and writing and youtubing) I can’t recommend Create Your Blog Dream and Video for Bloggers enough. Lisa means business about putting YOU in business.

— This one investment will save you money

I spent way too long building my brand, growing my audience, and creating my content over the past 5 years. (Yes, 5 years.)

If I had only had Lisa’s courses 5 years ago, I truly believe I would have been where I am today 4 years ago. That means I could have been making decent money on my blog 3 years sooner than I started to. Lisa’s course would have definitely paid for itself in a few month’s time. And I would have been earning an income in all the subsequent years, when instead I was just sitting over here googling things, one by one, year after year, and struggling through each action item that Lisa nails down and itemizes in her courses.

— Others “nickel-and-dimed” me

I’m gonna come clean here and tell you that I wound up wasting money by trying to save money. I spent $8 here and $29 there on small courses that I thought would help me learn the ropes for setting up a new blog, establishing a brand, learning how to do Pinterest and Tailwind effectively, and developing an effective social media following. Then for most of the “small” purchases I made, the creator of that product tried to “nickel & dime me,” as my daddy would say, asking me to upgrade and spend lots more to get their meaty content.

— “Free” was never free.

Seriously, I opted into so many “free” webinars that wasted an hour of my time with soft-sales pitches every time, for just a small nugget of information. And I often bought small courses (because, I reasoned, I couldn’t afford a big one). But those “free” and cheap options wasted my time. And held me back from making money off of my blog, because they weren’t teaching me everything I needed to know. But Lisa teaches the BIG picture, itemizing every detail with you along the way.

Needless you say, you won’t find me recommending any of those “free” options that wound up costing me plenty.

I know now that one up-front (and, yes, sizable) investment into Lisa’s professional, detailed, meaty courses would have been the best investment I could have made in my blog, right off the bat.

And all that time I had wasted trying to save money? Well I could have used that precious time to effectively monetize my blog much sooner.

— These topics took me years to learn; you can learn them in days

There are so many modules in Lisa’s two courses that would have made me an expert in certain topics in ONE DAY that took me a year to figure out by google, and trial and error, and the nickel & dime folks. Topics like:

• how to create an appealing brand
• how to set up a marketing opt-in funnel
• how to create an amazing free ebook
• how to entice hundreds of folks to sign up for your mailing list
• how to create useful, meaty content
• how to grow all social media platforms
• how to take professional photos
• how to use pinterest to market your blog
• how to use tailwinds to double your traffic
• how to create emails that your readers will act on

And my little list doesn’t even scratch the surface of the meaty modules in Create Your Blog Dream, then Video for Bloggers has more great content. Because as much as I love writing, I’m well aware that blogs see greater success if they have a video component that a YouTube channel provides. If you can learn to be successful at both, you’re golden in today’s world of social media influencers. And you will see much greater success if you grow them simultaneously, instead of individually.

For instance, I like to plop this little video from my youtube channel in many of my posts so my new readers can get to know me in just a 1-minute little video. Lisa will have you creating a video like this one in no time flat.

Other courses were always just a bunch of “fluff” for a small nugget of information.

As for Lisa? She’s not one of those nickel-and-dime-you kind of people. Lisa is right up front about the cost and the value that she’s giving you. And she gives it to you concisely, in wonderfully actionable chunks. Go here to meet Lisa and find out more about her courses.

I can’t imagine how anyone who works their way through these courses (at their own pace, btw) could be anything shy of ultra successful.

btw, just food for thought… Lisa offers a module on SEO. It’s nowhere near the depth that Kelly goes into in Sticky Blogging, but it’s enough that, combined with Kelly’s free course, it may give you enough confidence with SEO that you may be able to dive into good SEO practices for now & plan on investing into Kelly’s full course in the near future, if and when you feel you need more SEO training.

Just be sure to pin this article for later so you can find the link for more SEO work.

And trust me, there is a reason I am only recommending Lisa’s and Kelly’s courses for professional blogging courses that you can invest in. There are thousands out there, but these two are the best, in my opinion, from all the ones I’ve researched, talked to other bloggers about, or taken myself. And they’re all-inclusive of everything you need to know. Plus, both ladies have VIP groups for follow-up help and brainstorming, so they’re there to help you as you grow. And they’re just awesome ladies, all the way around.

Start today, commit to being the best you possibly can be, then seek tools and mentors to help you get there.

Some advice from the pros, who make money blogging

So I’ve gone on long enough filling your ears with my tips on how to make money blogging; I asked some friends to chime in with their two cents as well. Afterall, we can all stand to learn more from each other, yes? 

“Invest in the tools you’ll need to grow your website earlier rather than later. The ability to rank in the great world of Google requires you to know what items will help get you there.” 

–Ann Accetta-Scott is A Farm Girl in the Making and author of The Farm Girl’s Guide to Preserving the Harvest. (aff link)

“Have a product to sell BEFORE you create a blog. The product will make it easier to make an income separate from ad revenue and guide your article creation. If you can, have two or three products that would appeal to different demographics – a tangible like a print book, an e-course, designs/patterns, whatever. Your people will find you quicker if you’re creating content they need and you will be able to sustain the blog and grow it if you can charge a reasonable amount for products your people need.”

–Tessa Zundel is the author of The Do It Yourself Homestead (aff link) and owner of HomesteadLady.com, where she writes extensively about the self-sufficient lifestyle, with great content such as this article about Once-A-Month meal planning.

“Blogging is a longevity game. That’s the piece of advice that stuck with me most when I was first starting out. Now that I’ve been in this business for almost 4 years I can say that it’s so true! You can quickly reach $1,000-4,000 a month, and the sky’s the limit! Don’t let setbacks or fear take you out of the game. The longer you play, the more fun it is and the more money you make! Start today, commit to being the best you possibly can be, then seek tools and mentors to help you get there.”

–Victoria Pruett, owner of A Modern Homestead, where she writes about all things back-to-basics, including this fantastic Beginners Guide to Back-to-Eden Gardening.

“Treat it like a business to begin with, have a clear path on how you will make revenue and make sure you have multiple streams of income, but never forget, from social media to your articles, it’s not about you, it’s about what you can deliver to your ideal reader to help make their life better or solve a problem of theirs. ALWAYS center your content on serving them.”

–Melissa K Norris, owner of the Pioneering Today Online Academy, and author of Handmade, The Made From Scratch Life, and her brand-new Family Garden Plan (aff links) writes about being self-sufficient and debt-free with great content like these 5 Tips on Cutting Debt. 

“Niche down. Choose something that you will love to write about for a long time. Got a hobby? You could probably turn that into an income! I did.”

–Sharon Peterson, owner of Simply Canning, shares amazing tutorials like this one about her hobby of canning.

The Nitty Gritty

If you’re like me, you will read through this all then pin it right here so you can think on it and come back to it. Then, when you revisit it, you want all the details listed out, nice and concise, in a bullet list.

1. For a hosting company, consider HostGator or DreamHost.
2. Customize a free WordPress theme or look into these Pretty Darn Cute Designs.
3. Look into Search Engine Optimization with StickyBlogging.
4. Set up an email service, with MailChimp , ConvertKit, or Flodesk.
5. Start social media accounts, creating all the accounts in the same name as your blog’s name.
6. Consider learning from a true pro, with Lisa’s classes Create Your Blog Dream and Video for Bloggers. (Or sign up for both.)

In fact, if you start with step #6, all the rest will be a piece of cake.

More Info You Would Like

How to Encourage a Child to be an Entrepreneur

How Homesteaders Make Money (including a description of my 3 jobs)

Go Behind the Scenes with Online Content Creators

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.

Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2019 as well.

Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of other supplies I use for maple syrup making (as well as gardening, homeschooling, homesteading topics, nature journaling, and more).

Many readers often ask what camera I use to take the images you find here on SoulyRested. I love my Nikon; you can read more about my camera and even purchase your own here.

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

The post How I Make Money Blogging first appeared on Souly Rested.

There have been mind-blowing wonderful things going on around here recently. I’m talking about the kinda things that make you wanna explode with joy. Nutty, too-good-to-be-true kinda stuff. . . It all boils down to the fact that I took on 3 new bosses.Yes, you read that right.

I took on 3 new bosses, all within about 6 weeks of each other. Granted, one was myself. Let me explain.

And in the process I’ll explain the roses too.

How do homesteaders make money?

I’ll give you lots of ideas in a minute, but first, let me break down how I personally make money, here on my homestead.

• I write. I guess I’ve been working for myself, so to speak, for a while now. I’ve been blogging here for a while, long before many folks actually read my content. From the beginning it was important to me to write without forking out a lot of money for website design or web hosting.

So I designed this site myself, via WordPress, and I spent a long time comparing hosting services to get a good, reliable one for the best price. I have been very pleased, for almost 5 years now, with Hostgator as my hosting provider, and I highly recommend them for the best bang for your buck if you’re considering starting a blog.

But go here for the full scoop on how I make money blogging and exactly how I set up my blog.

And definitely check out my 12 tips for growing your online reach. I mean why not? It’s totally free & you can sign up right here–>

Then I signed on with an agency and had Sweet Maple under contract. (Order an autographed copy & directly support our sugarbush right here: Sweet Maple Autographed Copy) Suddenly I became more of a legit writer with real deadlines and an official manuscript. When I took that on, I was elated. I figured I had enough books brewing in me to write full-time from that point forward. What I didn’t realize then was that an author makes a few pennies when someone buys a copy of her book. Seriously. Not getting rich on that one…

BUT if you’d like to support our family farm and sugarbush directly, you can purchase an autographed copy right here.

• I work locally. Just when I was settling in cozy with the notion of being a full-time published author, a friend here in my small, rural town, became my second boss.

I’ve told y’all the nearest traffic light is 18 miles away, right? Have I mentioned we have a population of 3,300? Yeah, we’re rural. So who’da thought I’d get a part-time job offer, to a job that I can walk to, that’s absolutely perfect for me, here in nowhere-ville? (I say that with sincere affection for my town. I like that we’re in nowhere-ville.)

Just a few weeks after I was knee-deep into my Sweet Maple manuscript, Nate asked if I would consider working for him. I know you don’t know Nate. . . well, unless you’re one of my 3 local friends who follow me here on SoulyRested, then maybe you know him. . . But Nate’s on a mission. A mission to tell folks about Christ from the pulpit in our old, tiny church. . .

. . . And via books he’s written. In fact, Nate’s written lots of books. Before you know it, I’m gonna have as many of Nate’s books on my shelf as there are miles from here to the nearest traffic light.

But before Nate was ready for me to start helping him out, and before I was too many chapters into work on Sweet Maple with my editor?

This is where I mention a person who I’m pretty sure you have heard of.

• I work with an another homesteader and online influencer. Jill Winger asked me to come on board and help with her aMAHzing projects… When Jill asked me to join The Prairie Homestead team as Marketing & Project Manager, it was like 3 decades culminated into “YES!” This folks is what I’ve wanted to do for years and didn’t even know it. Suddenly all that marketing and writing experience and sometimes seemingly pointless degrees that I’d amassed over the decades started really kicking in.

Right after I joined her team, Jill released The Prairie Homestead Cookbook. So very much to love in those 122 recipes and 368 gorgeous pages.

And P.S. check out the maple sandwich bread recipe on page 158. See #2 and #3 right here if you’d like to know how my recipe became one of the 122 in Jill’s book.

But we do many things to make money on the homestead.

Turns out mom didn’t have to worry.

My sweet mom used to worry about me–the creative dreamer who always had her nose in a book and her thoughts in the clouds. . . Then as a momma myself, I gave my mom more to worry about. I know she sat around loosing sleep wondering how her daughter was ever gonna put food on the table if she only has writing degrees, quits her good-paying editing job to homeschool her 4 daughters full-time, and, oh, has a husband who’s a mechanic.

Side note here, the best mechanics never–in any world–ever get paid even close to what they’re truly worth.

Bill, by the way, is truly the best mechanic that God has ever created in human form. That man can fix, build, rebuild, and troubleshoot ANYTHING. . . well except me, he’s been trying to troubleshoot my shenanigans for 25 years now, totally unsuccessfully. . .

But Mom didn’t have to worry. Sure, we had to scrimp every dime for most of our 25 years of marriage, but we’ve reached a really nice point in our lives, and I’ve figured out how to actually make some money while my two youngest daughters finish up homeschooling high school and while we get to live this blessed homesteading life.

3 Lessons for Homesteaders who want to Make Money

Of course you can lump thousands of people under the term “homesteader,” and you’d probably find about 850 different ways they make money. But overall I feel like there are 3 lessons in my story to help everyone:

•  No matter how much you continually fail at this “homesteading” thing, you can find an area of expertise. In fact, it may be something you’ve failed at more times than you can count, until you finally started truly learning how to do it. Let’s face it, it’s in those areas that you know a whole lot. Then you can work at teaching others. In the beginning, no you won’t make any money at that. But eventually you just may find a way, through a blog, through a youtube channel, or through a published book, to make some good money.

•  No matter how remotely you live, you can find a real skin-and-bones job, if that’s what you want. It may take a while, but if you really get to know folks and find out where there are needs in your community that you can help with, you may very well stumble upon your dream job.

•  No matter how much of a “nobody” you start out as in the homesteading social media niche, if you decide to start a blog or a youtube channel, definitely get to know your peers. Follow the folks who are doing it “right.” Not only will you learn from them, but, who knows you may one day wind up calling them “friends.” If you’re truly blessed–and I consider myself to be on the the top rung of the “blessed” ladder–you may even start working with them.

There are many ways homesteaders can make money.

Nope, none of them are get-rich-quick schemes. Heck, most of them could never be profitable enough to be a full income. But nothing about this homesteading lifestyle is easy; I wouldn’t expect the money to come easy either. But there are plenty of very practical ways homesteaders can work towards making some money. Consider just these few:

1. Selling anything that your homestead produces. Maybe start with garden produce. There are lots of gardening tips here on SoulyRested. Start here and then download my free gardening book.

2. Write about what you’re doing and learning. I explain here how I personally make money blogging.

3. Finding buyers for your extra eggs. Here are 10 Fowl Facts for ya if you haven’t started raising chicken yet.

4. Getting ducks and selling their eggs. We can earn twice as much for duck eggs over chicken eggs in our area. But go here for Everything You Need to Know About Duck Eggs.

5. Hatching and selling baby chicks or ducklings. But don’t make this huge mistake I made.

6. Making butter. I tell you exactly how to make butter here.

7. Tapping trees and selling glorious syrup, sugar, candies, and cream. Grab a copy of my book, Sweet Maple, and you will know everything you need to know.

8. Selling photography at a local touristy type of general store. Folks love adorable farm pictures. I’ve written many posts with photography tips. Start here if you’re interested in that.

9. Offering gorgeous, useful handcrafted products, like gorgeous farmstead soaps.

10. Making your own kombucha and growing and selling the extra SCOBYs that result almost weekly. Start here if you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about.

11. Making instructional videos and ebooks and setting up a membership community. I like how Kate, of Venison for Dinner, has set one up, which she calls her Insider’s Club, go here for information and listen in as Kate explains more when she guest starred in my podcast, Season 2, Episode 2.

12. Renting out land for others to camp on during vacation season in your area.

13. Documenting your homesteading life on a youtube channel. Once you gain enough followers, you earn advertising money. Al Lumnah is a great example of a homesteader here in my own state who is doing this well. His channel is linked right here if you wanna check it out.

14. Growing and selling plant seedlings. I really enjoy selling seedlings for profit, you might want to give it a try.

15. Start an instagram page about your homestead. Found out how to grow an online platform that will allow you to sell your own products, or others that you endorse as an affiliate.

So, I promised a list of a dozen ways, but came up with a few extra.

So, why the roses?

I couldn’t help but think of my sweet mom when I took a few pictures of my roses. She would have LOVED this part of my story. (I wrote about the pain of loosing mom and dad in this post.) Because mom adored flowers. While zinneas she hand-picked from her gardens were her favorite, she loved when someone used a vase full of gorgeous roses to commemorate a special occasion.

Mom would never believe this though. That crazy nose-in-her-book daughter has figured out how to homestead, quit the 9-to-5 life & homeschool her daughters, make gallons of delicious maple syrup every year, and even make a decent living to boot.

And both of my bosses respect the fact that I’m my own boss as well. After I hit the “send” button on my final manuscript for Sweet Maple, I sent a picture below–summing up my excitement–to both Jill and Nate.

Jill immediately offered me kind accolades, just short of singing me a victory song, and Nate walked into my office with these gorgeous roses in hand.

Let me tell ya’ folks, there’s nothing better than being your own boss, with two other bosses who go out of their way to encourage and congratulate you on your exciting accomplishments–even the ones that are happening apart from your work with them.

As I near the 5-year mark of when our family moved to this little rural, rocky, rural corner of New England, which was followed rather closely by the 5-year mark of when I started SoulyRested, I can truly take a moment to stop and smell the roses.

Simple doesn’t mean easy.

Life’s been hard. I’ve failed miserably at this homesteading thing. I’ve burnt more pans of syrup than I dare admit. I spent years writing here with about 10 people reading it, and they were mostly related.

But let me tell you folks, simple doesn’t mean easy. And boy am I glad I’ve put in the work. Go here to check out my Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy podcast.

Cause sometimes simple joys come in threes and are really quite beautiful.

If you’re more of a visual person…

Hop in and join me chatting live about this topic. In fact, please join me every Tuesday over on facebook at 9:50 a.m., Eastern Time. I seriously love meeting new readers on Tuesdays! Oh, and (random note… cause sometimes I am random…) check out my Daddy’s little (very old) wood stove and why I love it!–>

Similar Posts I Think You’ll Enjoy.

Being an Online Content Creator

How to Make Money Blogging

How to encourage a child to be an entrepreneur based on their interests.

3 Secrets Legit Homesteaders Might Not Tell You

The #1 reason you may decide to never own a homestead.

Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.

 

Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the One of the Top Homesteading Blogs.

Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from gardening, to homeschooling, to chicken care, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

 

The post How Homesteaders Make Money first appeared on Souly Rested.

I always have too much on my mind. Maybe that’s to be expected, since I homeschool my daughters, run a freelance editing business from home, and well, just ’cause I’m a mom. I know I need to make sure I make time to just listen. So I often take a walk. One-on-one with each daughter, whenever circumstances allow. With no computer screen enticing me to waste a valuable 10-minute window, no editing deadline staring at me, and no chore screaming my name, with just a daughter by my side and my hiking shoes leading the way, I tend to hear—really hear—what my daughter has to say.

On one such walk, when she was only 7, my blond-ponytailed daughter gazed up at me with limpid-blue eyes and informed me she was going to some day own horses.

Her Dream Deepened

As we ambled around the equestrian parkland near our home—her favorite place to wander for hours—she assured me her horses would make kids happy, especially the kids who didn’t have money to pay for lessons—the kids whom she would be giving lessons for free.

Over the next few years, she learned about the amazing therapeutic benefits of time spent with horses, and her dream deepened. She would own a therapeutic riding ranch.

She Put Legs to her Dreams

At 9, she put legs to her dreams. She became an entrepreneur, with a monthly customers and 3 retail locations, so she could start raising the money to someday own a horse. All of this effort and, mind you, we owned a .2-acre plot of land, with no possibility for any equine neighbors. But her dream grew on.

By the way, my number one response when asked how to encourage entrepreneurship in a child? Listen. Really listen. If you can tap into their passions and help them see how entrepreneurship will help them obtain their goals, you’re on the path toward raising a very successful entrepreneur.

If your child is serious about their efforts, a website can not only boost their business but also teach them more fantastic life skills (and encourage them to become strong writers!) Read this post for all you need to know to help your entrepreneur child start a blog.

How Can Kids Make Money?

When I’m asked “How can kids make money?” I explain that truly there is no limit to the paths they could choose. But there are huge limits to the prospects ahead of them if they try to monetize something they’re not passionate about.

If you google “How can kids make money?” you’re sure to find hundreds of ideas. But you probably don’t need to waste hours pursuing such lists. Yes, your child could try to bring in some money using all the variations of a lemonade stand that you find in your google search. Yes, you child could make some money walking neighbors’ dogs or building a blog and using AdSense. But if they’re not totally into the neighborhood canines or they don’t adore writing then they won’t get too far.

My point is, you’d be more productive in encouraging your child’s business success if you help them decide what they’re passionate about and then help them brainstorm ways to make money that relate to their interests.

So, again, it all comes back to listening. If you don’t take time to really listen to your child, neither of you may realize the intense potential they have.

Her Dream Developed Deep Roots

Following her passions, my daughter volunteered for 3 years at a rescued horse ranch, where her dream developed deep roots, immersed in the very setting she hopes to create herself one day.

Putting Wings to Her Dreams (and a Write up in CNN)

Then we started a new life, in a new home. We moved from the mid-Atlantic to New England. From two tenths of an acre to fourteen. From a home where her dream seemed impossible, to a homestead where her dream could materialize. This spring, she’ll be putting wings to her dream. She’ll be adopting her first rescued animals, and the really hard work will begin.

She was even written up in a nice article in CNN Business!

How thankful I am that on that chilly day when the small 7-year-old hand tugged on mine and my precious daughter poured out the details of her dream, I was listening. Really listening.

 Meet Kayla here, on the pages of CNN Money–> She loves tech & wants to be a farmer

And a little more about her here–> She’s a 15-year-old business woman

Then help your child set up a blog and get to work–> Help your child start a blog like a pro

Need to set up a website? The best hosting around (and yet they offer amazing customer service!) is Hostgator. (aff link)

You may find business tips I share here helpful as well.

PIN this for later! Just hover over this image for the Pinterest logo.–>

Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from homeschooling, to gardening, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

And hop over here to find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018.

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

And please follow along!

Please take a second to follow along here on SoulyRested to catch up on a few of my memorable mishaps, discover fascinating things about my centuries-old farmhouse, glean a little parenting/homeschooling insight from this momma who’s been failing at the effort for almost 2 decades, or enjoy the inside scoop on the secrets other legit homesteaders might not tell you.

I hope my focus always encourages you, because simple joys require hard work. Let’s face it, we all need all the encouragement we can get! As soon as you subscribe (in the box at the end of this post), you’ll have immediate access to my Resource Library, which includes many useful printables–including ones about crafts and how to clean a braided wool rug–my FREE EBOOKs, and amazing recipes for things like whoopie pie cookies, maple sap switchel, and my grandmom’s perfect pie crust.

If you already ARE a subscriber, just hop over to the Resource Library here and enter your personal password. (If you don’t remember your password, no fear, we always include a personalized reminder in every Thursday email, “Hard Work, Simple Joys.”)

The post Secrets to help your child be an entrepreneur first appeared on Souly Rested.