This month I’m celebrating 9 years as a paid professional blogger. That’s right. I’ve been paid to blog since 2011. Even though I started blogging in 2009, it was just an outlet to express myself. Then September 2011 rolled around and I decided I would make blogging a career option for me. Now here we are 9 years later and I’m still creating content that is authentically transparent. If you have been blessed by my content in anyway over the years, please contribute to my cashapp $VernettaRFreeney Thanks for rocking with me. Your support means so much to me.
As I celebrate my divine 9 year blogaversary this month, I wanted to share some things I’ve done, experienced or seen along the way. Well this week I want to share 9 things that didn’t work out. While I made money, learned new skills, gained experience, made new connections or expanded my capabilities, when it was all said and done, they just didn’t work out. And I learned an invaluable lesson;
Just because I like to do it, good at it or it comes easy to me doesn’t mean I need to turn it into a business.
So let’s see the 9 things that didn’t work out for me as an entrepreneur:
1 Advertising Consultant
I was hired by a podcast network to bring in advertising for the different shows on the network. I crafted a plan, laid out how to execute it and the owner agreed. Then when it was time to work, the owner decided they were better suited to dictating how things should go. Now mind you my podcast had been making money while the network wasn’t as far as advertising was concerned. It became a frustrating situation and my contract wasn’t renewed. The bright spot was I ended up getting more advertising for my podcast following the plan I created for that network. The dark spot was I learned that the client didn’t trust my instincts, skills, experience, etc. and that’s a recipe for a challenging working relationship.
2 Journaling Business
I love to journal. Still journal to this day. So, I thought creating a business teaching others how to journal would be a breeze. Especially since I taught writing and grammar to immigrants and refugees for a decade. People even bought a journal I sold for $50. Now that’s a big deal in the journaling world when most journals are half that or less. I couldn’t figure out how to scale or expand the business to bring in more revenue. I also wasn’t the best at knowing how to market it either. I ended up just letting it fizzle out and moved on to something else. The bright spot is one woman said journaling saved her life literally. She was able to leave an abusive marriage and her husband was sent to jail. The dark spot is this business ended up losing me money because I had journals I couldn’t sell so I donated them to a girls organization so they could still be used.
3 Speaking Business
I have spoken at events and conferences around the country. Some virtual events as well. While I always received high praise for my presentations and people lined up to speak to me afterwards, I never sold much of anything to make more money. Often, I didn’t know what to sell. And when I did have something to sell, I rarely did. However, one speaking engagement in Georgia I did sell a few journals to some teachers after I finished. That made my day. But anyhoo, speaking reminded me of teaching and I left that field because I wanted to do something different. The bright spot was how easy it was for me to speak. All the years of teaching made it easy for me to literally create a presentation right before going up and killing it on stage if necessary. Or to adapt in the middle to accommodate the audience. The dark spot was I made no money. I didn’t charge to speak most times and rarely sold anything afterwards. It was really just marketing for my blog at that point. The cost of travel and hotel just ate up my budget. I didn’t want to make speaking a thing either so I stopped. This year was the last year I decided to speak for free. And that’s only because all the events were virtual. If I get back into speaking, it’ll have a fee because I know how to captivate an audience and deliver a message. I must learn how to sell me to the people who book.
4 Course Creator
I’ve made countless courses over the years. And they were all good. Again, being a teacher helped me be able to create courses. I’ve written curriculum and lesson plans for a decade so putting together the content for the courses wasn’t hard for me. The feedback was always positive. However, I sucked at marketing them because I just couldn’t explain the benefits. Ironic how I am a gifted writer and could easily market an event, but a course was where I stumbled. I eventually just gave up on making this an income stream because I was working too hard for the drizzle that was coming in. The bright spot is I learned how to research even better while putting together content. Which is coming in handy for blog series I’m creating for this blog. The dark spot is I never learned how to market something that people actually benefited from once they went through it. Funny how people say to use the skills from your 9-5 in your business and you can see most of the things related to education just didn’t work out for me. Maybe God has been sending me a message all along and I was too headstrong to listen.
5 Social Media Management
One of the first things I tried to do when I started blogging was managing and consulting social media for small businesses and entrepreneurs. I easily got clients because in 2012 and 2013 it was still a new concept. I was the only person most people knew who did this. The money came easily because no one argued with my prices. There wasn’t anything to say what to charge but I did charge a reasonable amount. The social media strategy I created for them worked. They all got new clients, leads, press, etc. I was able to hire some contractors to help on bigger projects. It seemed like things were headed in a profitable direction. Then I ended up hating it. I really didn’t like the work. I was good at it. I could masterfully (and still to this day) create a strategy that generates revenue. I just hated the hands-on. Even with contractors I didn’t like the work. And I realized it’s my business, I should not work daily on something that I didn’t find joy doing. Since then I’ve gladly referred people to those who’ve worked with me in the past. The bright spot is I learned what I didn’t want to do and was okay walking away with no regrets or remorse. The dark spot is I did lose a huge chunk of revenue when I shut that down. Yet, I felt it was the best thing for my sanity. Even good things can end up not being a good thing for you specifically.
6 Event Influencer Management
Y’all this was the worst experience of my career as a blogger. Well one of them at least. Let’s just say I had one client and that client was so horrible that I decided to never do this for anyone else again. I met with this client 2 times before any work was done or money paid. I laid out how we were to execute 6 events in 6 different cities in 4 different states. The client agreed. I got to work. Then the client started to change how things would go. I kept reminding the client that I knew what I was doing. The influencers brought on also gave feedback that the client was actually making it harder for them to do their jobs. I’ve only fired 2 clients in the past 9 years. And this was one of them. We ended up with a dispute with my payment processor because the client wanted a refund after it was clearly stated in writing that I don’t do refunds. And I had already done the work even though I didn’t finish the tour. The influencers were given their tasks and could finish by following the plan. And they did. Long story short, I realized that some people are way too controlling to listen to experts or reason. And if they want to fail, let them. The bright spot is I was able to try something completely out of my comfort zone. This was one of the biggest projects I was leading. Even though the client and I didn’t mesh I learned I could handle the work. The dark spot was I didn’t listen to my gut. My instincts told me not to take this client. I felt it would be stressful, but I really needed the money at the time. No amount of money or need should override my instinct when it comes to accepting a client. Hard lesson.
Oh, for the record, I never refunded that client. The payment processor did, and I left them for good. We (the payment processor and I) talked several times and in the end, we agreed I would not pay them back and I would never use their service again. So, I got to keep the full amount I was paid because I earned it and I said no refunds. I was able to back it up with proof. Yes, clients can be wrong sometimes and it’s okay to professionally point that out to them.
7 Conference Producer
The irony of easily covering, promoting other people’s conferences (where I made a good chunk of money over the past 9 years) and not being able to do my own. I did do a podcast episode about it. I attempted 3 different conferences in person on my own and they all flopped big time. Like I did everything right or so I thought but they didn’t blow up like I hoped they would. Of the 4 I produced only 2 made an actual profit. I’m not embarrassed or ashamed by this fact especially seeing how I was an event blogger from 2011-2020. It just didn’t work out for me to be my own conference producer. The amount of work it takes to put on a conference didn’t scare me. I’m not afraid of hard work. My 4th and last conference was virtual and it was right at the beginning of the pandemic. It turned a profit. And it solidified my decision to no longer do events. It was a great way to end. On a high and profitable note. Now I did produce conferences when I led HAAB and all of those turned a profit. So, I do know how to produce a conference that generates revenue. But the ones for my personal blog just didn’t take off. I was disappointed but got right back up and went to work moving forward. I don’t have time to dwell and beat myself up on what didn’t work out. My bills won’t allow that. Thanks to the pandemic; being in events is no longer something I know God wants me to do. Will I still assist or participate in them? Absolutely. The bright spot was all the skills and experience I gained. There’s so much to bring a conference to life that you’ll end up doing things you never knew had to be done. And the fact that I never cancelled an event (may have had to shift a few to virtual) but never cancelled told me that I could fight to the finish. The dark spot was the amount of money I invested in the in-person conferences that I’ll never get back. Expensive endeavors in order to get to find out what works for me and what doesn’t.
The process is where I learned a lot and the event itself was where I enjoyed seeing people thrilled with what they were able to takeaway. This was by far the most expensive income stream and I attempted 3 times and flopped 3 times. I’m sharing this because it may work for you on the second or third try. Or changing platform. Not being a conference producer but whatever you’re doing. Don’t let 1 bad experience (like mine as an event influencer manager) stop you from doing something God has called you to do. God did not call me to do conferences. Ego and ambition did. Just letting you know.
8 Business Consultant
This was a joke. Honestly, I may have known what to do in theory because of undergrad and graduate classes along with some success here and there but overall, I should not have attempted to be a business consultant. A business coach I hired led me down this path. That’s a whole ‘nother post about hiring a business coach. Oh wait I did a podcast episode on it. The bright spot was how much info I learned that I could use for myself such as HUB-certified in Texas, grants for small business, business models. For the record, you probably should do your own research on getting HUB-certified and applying for grants. The dark spot was how silly I looked. While that doesn’t affect me how you may think I realize how I could have harmed someone else’s business if I gave bad advice. Thankfully, I didn’t give any bad advice due to my thorough research before meeting with each client. Timing. That’s the key to anything. Knowing when the perfect timing is to do something and not to do something. And this was not the time a couple years in to be a business consultant in my personal opinion.
9 Knowing When to Step Down as a Leader
If you’ve followed me over the past several years then you saw this play out in real-time. Looking back at how everything happened, I should have left HAAB in 2017 around Thanksgiving when God said move on. But my pride and ego said I needed to make sure everything was the way I wanted it so it would be easier for people to follow the plan I left. Wrong! Like wrong on so many levels. It led to nothing but a quick deterioration of something that should be thriving right now. Especially with all the opportunities that the association could have created due to this pandemic. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, listen to your instincts. They are there for a reason. I didn’t know at the time, but God was trying to save me from headaches and frustration. And boy did I have them. To the point I passed out in my classroom from the stress of leading that association. God was trying to protect my health, but I wouldn’t listen. When we lead others, we have to know when our time is done. Again, timing coming in to play. Being a leader isn’t about finishing our vision until the end most cases. It’s about doing what’s in the best interest of those we lead until it’s time to move on. And I didn’t know or want to know that my time had come sooner than I imagined it would. The bright spot is I learned a lesson that will help me for the rest of my life about moving when I hear God say move on. The dark spot is an association with so much promise is forever tarnished and turned into a pile of nothingness. And for me that hurts the most. How many people won’t be blessed by the infrastructure, content, connections and community because a few people all let their pride and ego (for a few who told me to my face their jealousy I created something they wish they did) ruin a good thing?
This experience showed me what pride, ego and jealousy are truly capable of. Since this experience I have worked to rid myself of those toxic traits because what’s for me is for me and what’s for you is for you. I will not argue with God about who gets what or why in this life.
I really hope you takeaway some invaluable gems you can apply or look out for when starting, growing, scaling or expanding your blog/business. After 9 years, I know what I don’t want to do and have done. Now I’m looking forward to doing what brings me joy and fulfills those who come to this blog looking for something to stimulate your soul. When your soul is stimulated then you’ll be more productive in whatever area God has given you dominion to dominate and lead.
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