It's Making Money Monday, and this week, I'm featuring a success story!
Kimberly Gauthier from Keep the Tail Wagging is going to share a bit about herself and her journey.
Please tell us what exactly your business is all
about.
Keep the Tail Wagging is an online magazine for dog lovers that
shares tips on dog training, behavior, health, nutrition, safety, and new pet
products. I've always wanted to create a website about dogs. I saw that so
many magazines have an online version and I thought it would be fun to morph my
blog into an online magazine that appeals to people like me - people who are
nuts about their dogs.
What made you decide to work from home?
We adopted a third dog and
it's a lot of work. I want to be a stay at home Fur Mom, spending time with our
cool dogs, going on walks and hikes, spoiling them like rotten, and connecting
with others who understand. I got the idea when my boyfriend and I took a trip
with the dogs. We rented a lake house for several days and it was heaven.
Mornings on the beach, afternoons on the computer, evenings watching movies. I
realized that I wanted every day to be like that so I got to
work
How many jobs/businesses did you try before you found what
worked for you?
I started out trying to
building a photography business and worked at it in various ways for a few
years, before giving up. I have so much respect for photographers today,
because of my experience with trying to launch a business. Through this
experience, I discovered a love of writing and social networking, which lead me
to Keep the Tail Wagging.
How long did it take to earn your first profit?
Not long at all. I started blogging 2009, so when I launched
Keep the Tail Wagging in January 2012, I was receiving checks from Google
Adsense within a few months. Owning and managing a blog isn't very expensive
and I was able to break even pretty quickly and started making a profit within
the first 6 months.
What challenges did you have to overcome when you first got
started?
The biggest challenge was not knowing what I wanted to do; what
message I wanted to deliver. I love dogs, I support dog rescue, I wanted to
promote reputable breeders, quality food, inform about health and recalls. And
I wanted to do all of this in a fun, honest way. That turned out to be a tall
order, but I got there.
There are so many pet blogs out there and I needed to find a way
to stand out in a crowded niche. I also was learning as I was going along.
It's taken a lot of confidence and patience. When I have moments of
frustration and insecurity, I take the dogs for a walk and listen to the Adam
Carolla podcast. That's my way of grounding myself so that I can hit the ground
running when I return to my computer.
Have you realized your income goals yet?
No, I haven't. But I know
that I'm on the right path now to realizing my income goals. I'm connecting
with big brands in the pet industry, I have advertisers on my site now, and I
have a clear direction and passion for my magazine that I didn't have with my
photography business.
What are some of your biggest challenges now?
1) Finding people who will
commit to writing for me regularly. Many people express interest and may even
submit one article, but people don't realize what a commitment even one time a
month is; it's easy for me, because I love writing, but it's not easy for
everyone.
2) Rejecting guest post
submissions. I get several submissions weekly from people who simply want to
park a link on my site. Although I have guest posting guidelines, some people
don't read them or simply don't care. It takes a lot of my time to review guest
posts only to reject them; it's kind of a bummer, but one of the tasks of a
blogger.
3) Explaining to small
businesses that I can't promise them customers or traffic. I get emails from
people weekly who want me to write about their business, their product, or their
rescue group. That's not what Keep the Tail Wagging is about - the site is
about sharing dog care tips. Sometimes these requests do fit in line with my
blog's mission, but most times they don't and I have to explain that to people.
The bonus is that I can invite them to write an article sharing dog care tips
to my readers and include a mention of their business/product/rescue group in
the bio and people respond well this this.
What do you love most about your business?
I love when someone responds to an article. I love when I'm
able to help someone. Whenever I write an article, I always keep in mind "how
is this helping?" I also love when an article prompts a back and forth with dog
lovers who share their own experience with the topic. It's all about community
and I love it.
What would be your advice to someone just getting
started?
Be passionate, be patience, and have fun. I love many things,
but my passion is our dogs. I feel like my purpose in this life is to honor the
love and loyalty of dogs and there's nothing like knowing that I'm on the right
path.
Success does happen overnight; we hear about these stories. But
I bet if we dug deeper, we'd hear that the person worked for years to gain that
"overnight" success, so be patient.
And definitely have fun. When a part of my business isn't fun,
if it makes me miserable, then I cut it out. Granted there are things that I
like to do more than others, but every part of my business rocks and I'm happy
to do it and can't wait to see where it takes me.
Thanks, Kimberly!
If you want to share your success story, contact me with your name and url and why you should be featured! : )
