I don’t even know how many years I’ve been following Sarah of Yes and Yes. She’s extremely successful, talented, and well-rounded. I love interacting with her online, and would be so excited to meet her in person! Today, I’m honored to interview her on my blog and introduce you to her world. If you’re not already a fan, you probably will be soon. Check out this adorable minx!
As someone who has so successfully turned her blog into a business, do you have any advice for someone considering making this big leap? Was your blog started with the intention of having it yield a profit?
My best advice is terribly unsexy and very financial advisor-y: diversify and create multiple streams of revenue.
In English what I mean is: find lots of different ways to make money. The last time I counted, I have 11 streams of income – ad space, affiliate links, ghostwriting, etc. (I wrote about it more in depth here.) This might mean having an Etsy shop, running in-person workshops, and selling products wholesale. Or you might have a few corporate writing clients and a run an ecourse. When you have lots of small income streams, you wonโt have to panic when one inevitably runs low!
Speaking of blogging and business, people can find it daunting to make products to sell when they don’t feel like they have additional skills outside of blogging. What kinds of products would you recommend for a newbie to create to sell if they’re not an artist making cool T-shirts or plushie toys?
At the risk of sound like A Total Mom, everybody as additional skills outside of blogger. I think we all tend to discount our own knowledge and experiences and think โOh, everybody already knows thatโ or โthatโs so obvious.โ Some of my most popular products and offerings are super basic things!
Think about the questions you get over and over again. Think about the situations where people are always asking for your help. Do friends want your help putting together cute outfits? Decorating the living room? Planning a trip? Writing a resume? Those are skills you can sell!
You do a lot of features on people from all over the world in the series “True Story”. If you were going to share your “True Story, I’m A…”, what would it be about?
Oh gosh! I think mine might actually be โTrue Story: People Tell Me Their Secrets.โ For some reason, Iโm the person people sidle up next to at a party and tell about their divorce/pregnancy/crazy childhood. I think itโs because I have a button nose that makes me look trustworthy ๐
You make travel and delicious foods a priority in your life. Would you say that’s a part of how you practice self love? Are there any other ways you practice?
Absolutely. I also try to make gratitude a weekly practice and I get massages every month. I literally have a reminder on Google calendar that says โBook yourself a massage, dude.โ
What are some things inspire you?
* new cities and cultures
* memoirs and nonfiction
* weird neighborhood junk shops
* bodies of water and time spent in the woods
* humans who make an active decision to make the best of a challenging situation
Sarah is a writer and blogger who believes that everything is interesting and yes is more fun than no. She spreads this gospel to 12,000+ daily readers on her blog Yes & Yes and helps other businesses and bloggers make their online spaces more awesome. Go visit her blog and tell her Uncustomary sent you!
Someone else who loves memoirs and nonfiction…be still my heart. HA! But really. This might be the strangest part of the interview to hone in on, but it’s what stood out to me because everyone I know thinks I’m a total weirdo for not being super into fiction. IDK. Just hasn’t been my thing. Or, wasn’t. In the last 8 months or so I’ve tried hard to read more of it and appreciate it, but I’m forever grounded too deeply in fact and logic and reality and can never betray my fondness for nonfiction (about boring things like neuro-based topics, of course) and memoirs (the seedier, the better).
You’re not weird at all! I haven’t read a fiction book in over a decade. I definitely prefer non fiction and memoirs! ๐
I love Sarah and her blog! Great interview!
Me too! She’s so helpful and sweet. Thanks for commenting, Stacia!
I was totally hoping that there’d be a link to a post she’d done listing Sarah’s favorite memoirs and non-fiction. But I’m glad to see in these comments that someone else honed it on it too. I also love memoirs and non-fiction. Sarah, if you’re reading this, it might be an idea for a future post on your blog! ๐
I’ll make sure to let her know!