783: A Peek Into My Revenue Streams: Here’s How I REALLY Make Money

0:01This episode is supported by What Should I Do With My Money? From Morgan Stanley. Okay, can we just talk about how money is legitimately one of the hardest topics to bring up. Like even when you think you have your stuff together, there's always this really weird awkwardness around it. That's why I am obsessed with this podcast. It actually makes money conversations feel approachable. I recently listened to an episode about affording multiple big life things at once, like a wedding, a house, an IVF, if they were all happening at the same time. And honestly, it hit home. So many people are wondering, can we actually have it all without sacrificing our sanity or our savings?

0:42What I love is that they bring in real experts who help break down these massive costs into actual doable steps. It's like having a money mentor in your ear who gets it. Search for What Should I Do With My Money in your podcast player. We'll also include a link in the show notes. Many thanks to What Should I Do With My Money and Morgan Stanley for their support. we were also spending a lot of money staying there yeah and we would stay in airbnbs each time and we started to like ask ourselves questions okay we're spending a lot of money here like what would this look like could there be a possibility that we could do this ourselves hey my name is jenna kutcher and i am obsessed with all things business marketing numbers and helping you to navigate both the messy and the magical seasons of this thing called life I'm a small town mama who took a$300 camera, grew a successful photo biz, and now I work from home and run a seven figure online business.

1:36I teach you the tried and true secrets to building a career you adore. Shy away from the real talk? No way. Money, hardship, growth, loss, and marketing are all topics we discuss here. Think of this as your one-stop shop for happy hour with a gal pal mixed with business school. Pull up a seat, make sure you're cozy, and get ready to be challenged and encouraged while you learn. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Hey guys, it's Jenna Kutcher. I am so excited about today's episode. This is a special featured episode. I was recently on the East coast with my friend, Halitaha, and she asked the million dollar question, literally, how do you make money?

2:12We did an entire episode where I was breaking down all the different ways that I generate income from doing digital courses to running this podcast to hosting on Airbnb. And we're breaking it all down in this episode. I know you're probably curious about the different revenue streams that we have and what we're generating our income from. And so I thought this episode would be super fun to air. This is from Hala's podcast, Young and Profiting, and we're airing it today on Gold Digger. Enjoy. It's all a little overwhelming, isn't it? Help desk software, payment processing, email marketing tools, blogging platforms, SEO tools, deal management tracking.

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3:32Visit HubSpot.com to grow better today. HubSpot.com. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast. Today, I'm interviewing my friend and entrepreneur Jenna Kutcher. And I am just super curious to find out all the ways that she makes money. So Jenna, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast. Thank you. I mean, let's talk about money, but money is such a taboo topic, especially with women. And so we're going to kind of dive off the deep end together. Yes. Let's do it. So first of all, tell me, what was the first way that you started to make a lot of money? When did it all start to really come together for you?

4:12So when I was 23, I worked in corporate America and I had a great job, but I very quickly realized that climbing the corporate ladder was just not for me. And it is an amazing option for a lot of people. It just didn't resonate with my soul. There was just this feeling of I've got to figure something else out. So I started as a wedding photographer. Most people know my story. I bought a$300 camera on Craigslist, ended up starting a wedding photography business, taught myself everything. And within three years, I was earning six figures, which at the time was more than I had ever even dreamed of.

4:47Right. In my corporate job, I was making$50 ,000 a year. I felt so rich making six figures felt like this amount that was impossible. And when I was growing my business, I was also experiencing burnout and I had grown so quickly, which was such a blessing. But I also just hit this place where I was like, I can't imagine doing this for the next five, 10, 15, 20 years. There's got to be a different way. And I committed to figuring out a different way through loss. And I shared this story many times. But when my husband and I finally decided that we wanted to start a family, it didn't happen as easily for us as it does for other people.

5:28And I know a lot of people experience this, but we went through two miscarriages. And I was planning my pregnancies around my photography business because I was shooting in the summer and I had to figure out how is this going to work? And when I had my second loss, I had to show up and shoot a wedding the next day. And I was like, there has to be a different way. Like I built this amazing business, but if I don't show up and shoot, I don't get paid. And there's got to be a different way. And so I committed then and there in this moment of agony of, I will figure this out. And I remember around that time, I heard this statistic, The average millionaire has seven revenue streams.

6:03And at the time I had one and I was like, how do we figure this out? Like, what could this even look like? It felt so crazy. And so I started many different side hustles. Do you want to dive into that? Okay. So my first side hustle was I became a watercolor artist. So my mother-in-law was an elementary art teacher and in the basement of her house. She had all of these art supplies. And in my season of burnout, I was like, I need to do something to connect back to my creativity. Like at first my photography was my creativity and then it became my job. So I went home with all these watercolor supplies.

6:42I started painting every day. I forced myself to sit in a chair and paint for 20 minutes a day. And I started sharing these paintings on the internet and people were like, can I buy that? And I ended up figuring out a way to scan these watercolor art prints and sell them online. And pretty soon we were paying our mortgage with the print revenue, your first sort of passive income revenue. Totally. Because that was what made me realize I could create something once and sell it a bunch of times. So it started as a joke and it turned into something where I was like, wait a minute, we're onto something.

7:17Also around that time was when I had realized after hitting six figures is that I was happier when I was working less. And I had hit this point. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs hit this point where in the beginning, you have to trade time for money. There's really no other way around it. That is the hustle that is required. But at some point, when you start to get the money, you recognize that I will spend money to get back my time. And I'd hit that point in my photography business. And I was like, you know what? I will go back to earning$50 ,000 a year if I can have a life. And so I committed to booking half of the weddings that I had been shooting.

7:49And I said, I'm gonna figure something else out. And so that's when I started learning about online courses and I had scaled a business from zero to a hundred K in three years. I knew something that a lot of people didn't. And so I started mentoring other local photographers, having them come into this little condo we lived in and I would walk them through pricing, marketing, social media, like all the business stuff. Cause I'm like, these people are so good at their craft. They don't know how to like sell it. Yeah. And so I started coaching and then I started looking into online courses and that's where the business that people see today started to form, but it was years in the making.

8:25I love that. It's so inspiring. So in terms of your courses, how did you first figure out how to go from one to one to one to many? Because that's really the secret. It's how do you take what you do to individuals and then make it possible that many people can take this course? Like how did you first start to figure that world out? You know, it's kind of funny because I don't know if I've ever drawn the parallel of making a watercolor print, scanning it, figuring out one-to-one or one-to-many. And that is exactly what online education is. And it was so funny because I ended up coaching five local photographers and they all had the same questions.

9:02And all of a sudden I found myself, I'm like, I am a broken record. I'm teaching them the same things. I'm showing them the same pricing guides. I'm walking through the same things. And that was when I really started to discern there are trends and questions that everybody has. And that is the type of content you want to put into an online course. And I am so grateful that I took the time to sit down with people face-to-face, hear their struggles, understand, well, what am I actually doing different? Because I think that so often we are so close to our own genius that we think everybody knows this.

9:33Yeah. Surely this is easy for everybody. And so when I started to identify these trends, I was like, oh my gosh, I can teach branding and I can teach social media and I can teach pricing and I can teach email communication and all of these things. And so I created my first online course after taking an online course. So I was like, I'm going to buy an online course and figure out, okay, how did they deliver it? How was it recorded? How was it like spread out over the weeks? Yes. My secret sauce is like reverse engineering. I see an end result as a wedding photographer. I would see the finished shot and I would think, well, how did the photographer pose these people this way?

10:07What were the cues that they gave them? What was the lighting? And I reverse engineered course creation because I was like, I can figure this out. I know I can. The people that can take apart a car and figure out how to put it back together. I can't do that. But when it comes to digital stuff, I'm so good at that. And so online courses cracked my life open in such a beautiful way, but it did. It allowed me to reach people outside of where we lived in this tiny village in Wisconsin. And it allowed me to connect with other photographers who are struggling with the same thing so that they could really focus on the art and their craft.

10:41Yeah. So I really resonate with us because I started my first course a year ago. And at the time I didn't really realize that I had a course under my belt. I have a social media agency and it's very expensive to work with us. You're actually one of my social clients. And so it's like$10 ,000 a month minimum to work with us. And I'd have lots of people coming to me being like, I really want your help, but I can't afford your services. I really want your help, this agency that I'm building in order to get more clients. Every time I get three more clients, I have to hire five more people. And I don't want to have like a 3000 person organization.

11:19That's a lot of stress on me. So I was like, what can I do to sort of lay it all out? And the same trainings that I give my team, the same checklists I give them, how can I take what I give my team to service my clients and then turn it into a class? And then I did that. And I just used everything that we already had. So the course was very fast to put together because I think a lot of people don't realize that if you have an agency, you probably have a course because whatever you're doing, you can package it up and teach other people how to do what you do to service your clients. And I feel like a lot of people don't realize that.

11:54The other thing with courses is that it just gives you so much content to then create an audience and attract an audience. So for example, I have like a two-day masterclass on LinkedIn and my team literally just goes to the slides that I created and then creates posts. You know what I mean? Because they have all the content. I've written it all down. Okay, it is officially that time of year. And if you run a business, you know, the holiday rush is no joke. I've done more Black Fridays than I can count at this point. And let me tell you, orders at 2am, inventory updates, refreshing my site, hoping it can keep up.

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14:28Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. So I'd love to understand how did you end up becoming an influencer? Because you've got like a million plus followers on Instagram. You're huge on Pinterest too. How did that piece come about? Was the podcast the first thing that kicked that all off? It all grew super organically until it didn't. When I was a wedding photographer, I realized really quickly that there were a million wedding photographers in my area. that were really talented. And the only thing that made me different was me because we were all delivering a very similar finished product.

15:04And so even in the early days, and I mean, this is like, Oh gee, Instagram, we're talking here. Like when we used to use those weird Valencia filters, I would just share my life and I would just share who I was and what I was struggling with. I would share working from home with no makeup on, like this is the reality of it. and it was so interesting because when I first became a wedding photographer, I just hid behind my work. It was like this safe spot. I figured surely everyone only wants to see my work. And I remember years and years and years ago, polling my audience of like, what are your favorite posts?

15:37And it was all personal. And I was like, what is this? Fast forward a few years, we went to Hawaii and I wanted to do an experiment and I love experimenting. I am like a huge experimenter. And so I said, for 30 days, I'm going to only post me. And this is at a time when I've been hiding behind my work for years and my engagement skyrocketed. My confidence in myself grew. My connection to my audience grew. And I was like, so fascinated by it because I was like, this seems like the least interesting thing of what I'm doing. It was just sharing my life. and it really made me realize people need to connect with people.

16:15And I never set out to be an influencer. I really wanted to just continue to grow and share. And I really have realized over the last few years, my dream is help women build businesses they don't hate and build lives that they love. And I have been taking people on this journey, not as I have figured this all out, I am still learning. I am still growing. I'm still figuring this out. And so when I started doing social media collaborations and social media promotions and different things like that, it just felt so natural because I am the kind of person where I'm like, Oh my God, have you tried this new lip gloss or like this skin cleanser is life-changing.

16:55Like when I go on a girl's date with my girlfriends, by the end of the day, I've dropped 10 links of things that I'm just telling them about, because I'm like, if this works for me, this could work for you. Like I just love not gatekeeping, whether it's business or beauty products or whatever that is. And so that was just such an interesting facet for me to realize people care about the business. Yes. But they also care about what's happening behind the business and like what's fueling it. And so that was interesting. We did have a viral moment. So I grew very organically. I felt like I knew every single follower.

17:26Like I just, it felt that way. And we had a moment go viral and it was photo of me and my husband on the beach in Hawaii. And I was talking about body image. It was the funniest post because I just, I never expected it to go viral. I think that's what happens with viral posts. And I was clapping back at someone who had said, how can a woman like you get a man like him? And my husband is very fit. He's very in shape. At the time I was curvier. I had been going through miscarriages and lost my body had been through so much. And I was just angry. And I was like, who are you to say this? We have been together for a decade.

17:58He has loved me through every pound, every pimple, like everything. And that post blew up. And overnight, we got hundreds of thousands of followers and blessing and a curse, right? Double-edged sword because wow, this is amazing. But also like, who are these people and why are they here? Yeah. And what are they watching? That's when I first found out about you because I was starting to podcast and I was growing popularity in podcasts. And then I remember hearing about Jenna Kutcher and your likeliness was so tied up with body image. And so like you were the body image girl that was spreading body positivity.

18:33And that's what you were known for. Was that hard to sort of get out of that box? Cause now you're out of that box. Well, it was so confusing because I had talked about body image for years. I think it's a lifelong journey to learn how to love yourself. And I don't think it ever ends. And so the fact that one random post goes off and then here I am running a business, teaching entrepreneurs. And now all these people are following, commenting about my body, wanting more of that content that I'm not monetizing because I didn't want to monetize it. It was very confusing. And again, it was such a blessing and a curse because so many people resonated with the message and it connected with them and they felt seen and they felt understood.

19:17And at the same point too, as a creator, it's like, what do I do with this? And as a business owner, where do we go from here? Like I'm not going to sell a course about body image. And so it was a really interesting time. And I think that I just did my best to like, stay very true to myself, stay very grounded in the message to be clear of like, here's what you can expect if you stick around here, cause this isn't going to become this type of account. And And so, yeah, it was very interesting. I want to dig into the course thing and how it lended itself so nicely to you doing affiliates. Yeah.

19:48Because something that a lot of entrepreneurs don't realize is that once you figure out how to promote something well, you can then just take that and replicate it in a million different ways. Yes. And I was even talking about this yesterday. Me and Jenna were at the IAB upfronts. We were both very integrated into this big podcasting event for advertisers. And I was telling the advertisers, yeah, media, my network, we're all business owners. And so we understand how to promote our own products and services. And then we turn that into podcast sponsorship. Yes. So that's what I've been doing. You've been doing that with affiliate marketing.

20:23So I'd love for you to walk through how do you actually promote your courses? And then what is the relationship to that? And then how you started affiliate marketing? Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love affiliate marketing. I know. I don't do any of it. Oh my gosh. people. Okay. So we do seven figures in affiliate marketing each year over seven figures. If people are wondering, are you getting pennies to the dollar? Like this can be a very lucrative thing, especially if you don't have a ton of offers that you are selling on your own. Affiliate marketing is literally just recommending someone else's product and getting a commission when people buy it.

20:58And so if you have gotten people's trust in what you are recommending with anything, and they do trust you, they will follow you wherever you lead them to in a beautiful way, right? I love affiliate marketing, whether it is skincare, whether it is jeans, whether it is another online course, I just think it's so powerful. And the reason why I love it is because I am not an expert in everything. Very clearly, I'm not an expert in all the things. And I want to recommend things and people that I love to the people that I love. Yeah. I am a natural connector. My greatest joy in life is connecting people that I love to each other, connecting people to products that they love.

21:39So one of the things that I've realized is I can sell my own stuff. That's wonderful. But what does it look like when I partner up with brands that I love and with people that I love and help promote their business? We recently partnered with one of my dear friends who I've literally known for almost a decade and she's my copywriter and she is in amazing course. And I was like, Ashlyn, let me talk about your course. Your work has changed my life. And so many people could benefit from this. And I am not a pro copywriter and it transformed her business. It changed her launch. It made her show up differently.

22:12My audience was like there, we had thousands of people sign up for masterclass. And so it's like so fun for me because I get to support the people and brands that I love. I get a commission from what I'm selling and I get to kind of experiment with different marketing strategies because there's less skin in the game and I get to be more creative of like, what does this look like? But go into the nitty gritty. Like, what are you doing? I know you're using many chat automations. Are you leveraging an email list? Like, just tell me like, what are you doing? Okay. You want me to give you the okay.

22:42So if somebody is listening to this and you have a podcast, a very natural way to do this is to have a podcast interview and to be able to tie it to somebody's offer. That's what we did when just naturally integrating what that person is an expert in and inviting people with a call to action at the end of the podcast. If you have an email list, sending out emails about, Hey, this person that I trust, this is my experience with them. This is how they've transformed things for me. This is why you should trust them or join their free masterclass. If you have Instagram sharing about it on Instagram.

23:15So we basically built this almost like flywheel where we could have a guest on our podcast. We could send out a couple of emails. I could do an Instagram live with them in a few Instagram posts. And that's honestly it. And they take care of the rest. And it's people that I trust that are going to serve my audience well at the highest level. Yeah. And then if it's the right offer for them, they'll take it. So now you've got millions of followers. Take us back to when you didn't have millions of followers. It wasn't that long ago. How would you promote something then? Maybe you've got a couple thousand followers, but you're really smart.

23:50You already make money doing something really well. Maybe you have a job and you do something really well. Maybe you have a company, you do something well, but you just don't have a lot of followers. How would you then either sell courses or affiliate marketing? Yeah. I would say two channels. Pinterest is huge. And I love that's a juicy one. No one talks about this. Y 'all Pinterest is a search engine. It's not social media. And it's so crazy to me that people think that it is just a place to like plan your dream life, but not do anything about it. When people go onto Pinterest, they are typing in recipes with sausage, makeup looks for work or capsule wardrobes for vacation.