Episode 322: Blogger to CEO – Get a New Stream of Income Doing What You Love Most with Aubree Malick

322_AubreeMalick

Aubree Malick: Hi, this is Aubrey Malick from the Freelancer to CEO podcast and you are listening to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. 

Sponsor: Hey, awesome food bloggers. Before we dig into this episode, I have a really quick favor to ask you. Go to your favorite podcast player. Go to Eat Blog Talk, scroll down to the bottom where you see the ratings and review section. Leave Eat Blog Talk a five star rating if you love this podcast and leave a great review, this will only benefit this podcast, it adds value. I so very much appreciate your efforts with this. Thank you so much for doing this. Okay. Now onto the episode. 

Megan Porta: Hey, food bloggers. Welcome to Eat Blog Talk, the podcast for food bloggers looking for the value and confidence that will move the needle forward in their businesses. This episode is sponsored by RankIQ. I am your host, Megan Porta, and you are listening to episode number 322. Today I have Aubrey Malick with me and she is going to teach us how to take our blogging skills that we’ve already mastered and turn them into services to offer other bloggers as a virtual assistant. Aubrey Malick is a former teacher, freelancer and host of the Freelancer to CEO podcast. She teaches women to experience the freedom and joy that comes from designing a freelancing business with the skills they already have. Aubrey, how are you today? 

Aubree Malick: I’m great. Thanks so much for having me. I’m so excited to chat. 

Megan Porta: Yeah, it’s great to have you here and I’m excited for our conversation. But before we get into that, tell us what fun fact you have for us.

Aubree Malick: So I was thinking before, when you told me that you were going to ask me this question and I don’t know why, but I feel like this was something that I always said when I was growing up. But I have a birthmark that is in the shape of a heart and I always would lead with that. It’s like one of those ice breaker party questions that I just always thought was a fun fact about me. 

Megan Porta: That was probably followed by where is it? Let me see, right? 

Aubree Malick: Yeah. yeah. Luckily it’s in a place that I can show people. It’s not like somewhere where you don’t wanna show. But yeah, that’s my fun fact. Oh, I love it.

Megan Porta: So where is it? We have to know. 

Aubree Malick: It’s up. I guess it’s interesting to describe it now that you’re trying to as opposed to like here, just look right here. Yeah. But it’s on my arm, up by my shoulder. So right above my armpit in that crack where your shoulder and your arm combined. 

Megan Porta: Oh, that’s so cool. Never had a birthmark fun fact before, but I’m gonna counter your fun fact with one about a birthmark. So this is so crazy, but when my youngest son was born, he was born with a birthmark on his arm and it’s the exact replica of a birthmark I have on my leg. It’s not like a normal sized birthmark. It looks like. I always say it looks like the profile of Superman flying. There’s like a head and then an arm going forward and an arm going back. So when he was born, I was like, you have got to be kidding me. This is so crazy. So it’s like our little tie together.

Aubree Malick: I love that. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. Yes. So we are going to talk about taking our blogging skills that we already have. There are so many of them and turning those into services so that we can serve other bloggers, make money and add value to their businesses. So how do we start with that? How do we even start figuring out which skills to serve people with?

Aubree Malick: Yeah, a really great question. A lot of times what I tell people when they’re getting started, luckily I think your audience has the benefit of really already being immersed into this online world and seeing what the different things there are that go into starting a business. A lot of the women who come to me are coming from those traditional type jobs; teachers and nurses, and corporate nine to fivers. They’re thinking, how do I actually bring what I know how to do and transfer to the online space? So I feel like your audience has an upper hand on this. So what I would really tell your audience to start thinking about and all the things that go into having their blog and running this online business, what are the things that in the long list of things that they know they have to do when they get in front of their computer, what are those things that they no matter where they fall on the to-do list, they’re always trying to bring it right up to the top. Or they get so excited or, no matter where it is in the step of the process, it’s oh, I gotta do this. So maybe you’re writing the blog post. It’s oh, okay, I’m gonna go create the graphics. I already have this idea for what the graphics will look like for this blog post. Or maybe it’s oh, I can’t wait to create the pin for this. Maybe it’s oh, I can’t wait to do the research for the SEO for this blog post. So really thinking about those things that light you up, that get you really excited because those are probably your natural strength. Those are things that I would definitely lean into because if it’s a strength for you, it’s something you already enjoy doing, chances are you have a really great process or a really great way about doing that for yourself. That’s going to benefit somebody else, another blogger, another online business owner who maybe that isn’t their strength or maybe that’s the thing that takes them the longest. Maybe graphics are the one thing that another business owner is like, oh, I know I have to do this, but I’m just gonna push this off and keep pushing it off until the very last minute of having to do this.

So oftentimes the things that we really enjoy, we don’t even think of as a strength because we think, or something that comes easy to us, we think, oh this must come easy to everybody else. Usually that’s not the case and that’s a strong indicator of something that you should really lean into. Because like I said, it’s going to help another business owner in an area that either they have a weakness or just something that takes them a long time to do, or maybe they are just spread so thin and they need to outsource some of those tasks. 

Megan Porta: I love that. So just think about what are the things that you lean into, the things that excite you as you go about your day and week, and maybe just noting that and then considering the fact that not everybody enjoys task X. So that’s a great way to sort through that. Something I hear a lot, a hangup in this space is that people know what lights them up and what they wanna dig into more, but they don’t know how to find people to serve. How do you recommend doing that? 

Aubree Malick: Yeah, so I like to tell people to take an inventory. So if you have that ideal person, take an inventory and start to think, where are those people hanging out online. That’s the first thing. Because I think a lot of us, our natural instinct is to think online. So to think of, Facebook groups or Instagram or TikTok, or maybe even LinkedIn. Think of those things. But another thing that I like to tell people too is, don’t just keep yourself boxed in with online space. Also start to branch selves out and think okay, where are people in my day to day life hanging out? I know a big hangup for people is I don’t know anybody who has a business, or I don’t know anybody who would like to have this service or who would pay me for this service.

Chances are, there are plenty of business owners out there that need that support. They are out there being like, I don’t even know how to find those people. So thinking even within your own personal network. I have a lot of students. Who have really tapped into their local network. So they have a lot of businesses around them, small businesses that don’t have this huge budget to bring on a full, maybe social media manager or an in-house person as an employee. Having somebody who will come in and do different projects for ’em on a project to project basis makes more sense for their budget. So don’t just think of an online space where I can connect with these people. Tap into your personal network, even tapping into other people that you hang out with, who are doing similar things for you. A lot of times we build this network of people that could eventually use our support. So even other bloggers in the online space, I’m sure you have communities that you hang out in. Chances are those people are getting to a place where their business is growing and they can’t do it all alone and maintain the schedule and where they would like to go. So there’s definitely online places, online communities, Instagram are really great places, but also within your own personal network, your local network that would be a really great place to start putting those feelers out. Start chatting with people and letting people know, Hey, this is what I do in addition to what I’m doing here with my blog. I’m really passionate about this certain service. That’s why I decided to start offering this to other business owners, because I know that there’s other people that struggle with this, or they just don’t have the time to do it. I really want to be able to support them through that. 

Megan Porta: So looking outside the scope of food blogging, which I don’t feel like is something that we often think about. We assume that we need to stick within our niche, but we don’t need to. 

Aubree Malick: Absolutely. Especially if it’s something that you can help with a variety. It doesn’t necessarily have to be niching down with the business. I say that there’s a couple different ways that you can do that within freelancing. You can either niche down with the service that you offer. So instead of being like, oh, I’m gonna offer a little bit of this and that. You can become known as the person who does Pinterest or you can become known as the person who does website design, whatever it is for you. That’s one way to niche down. The other way to niche down is who you’re serving, or you can do a combination of both too. I think wherever you find your passions are, wherever you feel like your strengths are, just leaning into that. If there’s something that is outside of your food blogging that you are super passionate about, that maybe you’re not able to explore in that creative aspect of it, definitely leaning into that because it might open your eyes up to the possibility of what’s out there. 

Megan Porta: Oh, I think that is amazing advice and allows people to think outside the box a little bit. What are your recommendations for pricing? I know this is hard for so many people, myself included, but how do we price ourselves when we are offering services to others?

Aubree Malick: This is a little bit of a loaded question, because I’m going to tell you an answer that sometimes makes it a little bit tricky. Because it’s oh, is that really an answer? It really is going to depend. Number one, it’s going to depend on what type of service that you’re offering. There are some services that if it varies from month to month of what you’re going to be doing, it might be great to start out charging hourly. And again, depending on what experience you already have doing this, is really gonna decide where you fall in that line. A lot of women who come into my community, like I said, they’re just getting and starting the online space. They haven’t really had any prior experience. So a lot of them start in that A$25 to $35 an hour range. But there’s other services where it doesn’t need to be tied to how long it takes you to execute that service. So that’s where you can lean into more of the package pricing, or some people refer to it as value based pricing, where it’s not about how long it takes you, but more about the value that you are providing and the expertise that you have and the experience that you have. How you price this out again, there’s a couple different ways you can go about it. What you look at is, I’m going to give this person, this business owner X, Y, and Z services for this total price. Again, that’s not necessarily oh, it’s gonna take me three hours times my $30 an hour gives me that. That is one way that you can start to go about it. You can also work backwards so you can think about, okay, what is. Income goal for offering this service. How many hours per month do I have to devote to that? You can start to work and formulate it backwards to give you that more hourly pricing that again is not necessarily that beginner rate. Then also, I like to encourage my students to do some research. Go out there and find some people who are offering a similar type of service. Where are they priced at so that you can start to get an idea? Especially if you’re just getting started or maybe you have a little bit of experience with this, or maybe you’re an expert at it. You can see, okay, here’s this one person. Here’s what they’re charging. Here’s what they include and start to get a feel for what is the quote unquote industry standard out there for that service so that you can see where you start to fall. Because you definitely don’t wanna undervalue your services and you definitely don’t wanna overprice your services. So pricing is definitely a very tricky subject. And like I said, it’s not a clear cut definitive answer. Of course, as you gain more experiences as you start working with clients and as you start getting really great at what the service that you offer, as you start to up level, maybe you’re investing in a course or a skills training that really helps you to deliver a really great service to your clients, then you can start to increase your rate too, and you can start to grow into those prices too. So I think that’s something that’s helpful for other people too, to know that the prices that you start out at don’t need to be your prices forever. It’s something that you can grow into. As you gain that experience, maybe you gain more confidence. I know a lot of times getting started with pricing it’s like hard, you don’t want to, like I said, you don’t wanna overprice yourself, but you’re also like, who’s gonna pay me for this. So starting at that place where you feel comfortable and you’re not going to feel resentful doing that work, oh my gosh, I’m totally undervaluing what I’m doing. But I also like to tell people, price yourself in a way that maybe stretches you a little bit. Maybe it makes you feel a little bit uncomfortable too. I feel like that’s a really great sweet spot. Again, it’s really going to vary from person to person. 

Megan Porta: How do you recommend overcoming that mindset that you mentioned about nobody’s gonna pay this much to hire me for service X, because I know that is so common. I have thought about myself so many times as well. Yeah. How do we go about getting over that? 

Aubree Malick: Yeah. So one thing that I like to help people to reframe in their mind is not necessarily what you are charging maybe per hour, but thinking at it from the business owner’s perspective and thinking, Hey, if I go into this business owner and I free up maybe an hour, couple hours of their time by doing this service, what is that business owner actually going to be able to do during that hour? Maybe they’re going to be able to take on a one-on-one coaching client. That’s worth x amount, probably more per hour than what you are charging. So thinking about it from that angle is like, what is the value that your service does? It’s not necessarily oh, I’m just, I know some people are like, oh, I’m gonna help business owners tackle their inbox. In their mind, they’re rationalizing, oh, that’s just an easy thing to do. Anybody can do that. But if a business owner feels like they can’t get to the work that they need to do, because they are constantly bogged down by their inbox and they’re never able to get through all of those emails and it’s distracting them from the work that they need to do, if you can come in and say Hey, I’m gonna take care of that inbox for you and that frees up an hour of their time. Maybe they’re able to, like I said, Book a coaching client, or maybe they’re able to have a conversation with somebody to sell their course or whatever their business model is. Or even for me, I hire people in my business that frees up my time to do things that don’t necessarily need me. For me, what does that give me? That gives me time with my kids, that I was spending up in my office, trying to figure out how to do when somebody else could come in and help me with that. To me, I can’t even put a price on that, like time with my family is everything to me. So not necessarily thinking about it from oh, this is such an easy thing. Anybody could do this. But what is the value that you’re bringing? Even that’s something that I would encourage you to ask those clients that you’re talking to. If I could do this for you, if I could take this off your plate, how would that feel? Really getting to that emotional piece of it. It’s helpful for them to see the value in it too. A lot of times it takes, like I said, it takes that confidence. Maybe where you start out with your pricing is not where you want to be right in the beginning. But working into that, and every time that you gain a new client and you gain that confidence and oh yeah, like people are hiring me for this. Then you can continue to raise your rates and like I said, grow into those pricing. So it doesn’t feel like, oh my gosh, like I’m starting out charging a thousand dollars for this and feeling that that overwhelms me. Like I said, finding a price that feels comfortable for you, but also gives you that little bit of stretch and pushes you outside of your comfort zone a little bit, helps you to take that leap where it doesn’t feel so scary like you’re just totally jumping off a cliff. 

Megan Porta: I liked what you said earlier, too, about not being resentful. That’s kinda what I do in my mind anytime I’m pricing something now, is I think what price point is gonna make me angry. I don’t wanna be doing this for this dollar amount. Then what dollar amount is going to make me feel good or comfortable? Yes, this is worth my time. So I think that’s maybe a good place to start too. If you have no idea how to price. You mentioned doing a little bit of research and just seeing what other people are charging, but then I think you have to go with your gut. Do you agree with that? 

Aubree Malick: Yeah, absolutely. And I like the way that you said that too. What’s gonna make me feel like, oh my gosh, every time I sit in front of my computer oh, I gotta do this again. Even if it’s something that you love, if you don’t price yourself in a way that makes you feel good. Even if that’s like your favorite thing to do in the whole wide world, you’re going to start to feel resentful of that because you know that the value that you bring is there and your price doesn’t reflect that too. So that’s a simpler way too, to just what’s gonna make me feel angry and then where am I gonna feel? Really good. Again, like I said, too, Even taking that next step further and stretching yourself just a little bit where it’s like, what’s gonna make me feel good. Also maybe a little bit uncomfortable. Because I truly feel that when we push ourselves outside of our comfort zone, even if it’s just like one tiny step outside of our comfort zone, that’s where we can start to really think big picture as opposed to just staying in that place that feels good, feels comfortable, but really wanting to take that next step too.

Megan Porta: There’s always people I found that are willing to pay that slightly uncomfortable rate. Like you think that there’s nobody out there that’s going to, and then you find a few people who do, and you’re like, oh my gosh. That helps to raise your confidence. Then that sets you on a path to up-leveling like what you’re talking about, growing into your comfort with pricing. So it starts with, yeah, just finding those people who are going to pay that rate that you really think you’re worth. 

Aubree Malick: Absolutely. 

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Megan Porta: So you mentioned a little bit ago about ways to find clients. So there’s obviously the Facebook groups and different forums for food bloggers, looking in real life to find those people. What are some other ways we can show up authentically and build relationships so that we can get those clients.

Aubree Malick: Yeah, I think one of the best ways, and I think like the biggest bang for your buck, and I know that this is keeping in with that theme of pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zone. But I think in this time that we’re in right now, I think the best way that you can show up authentically and really make connections with people is through video. I know you and Megan, you and I both are podcasters, and that is still another great way to continue to build that trust. But there is nothing like the power of video and showing up. Showing up as your authentic self. I think a lot of times people are scared to show up on video and to show their face because they’re thinking, oh, I have to look a certain way and I have to have this and have to have my makeup done. Honestly, one of the biggest pieces of feedback that I get, which just lights me up, is that people are like, I see myself in you. I’m that type of person. So I like to show up in who I am, because I know that’s really going to speak to the people that I want to attract. So I think definitely showing up on video, my platform that I chose to do that on was TikTok, which I know for some people is not everybody’s choice. Some people are like, what? TikTok. I think that’s just a dancing app. But it has helped me to really build connections with people a lot faster than I had seen, even with my podcast. My podcast was really, again, another great way to continue to nurture and build those raving fans. But the way that it happened when I started showing up on video and I just started putting myself out there, the good, the bad, the ugly, it just made those instant connections. Because people could really see who I was. There was like no hiding behind anything. I really was just showing up as I was. That’s where I saw the growth for me. 

Megan Porta: What ways did you show up on TikTok that made you grow so fast? 

Aubree Malick: So I think the biggest thing for me was consistency. Some people are not gonna like this answer. I was just talking with somebody the other day about them getting started on TikTok. They’re like how many times do I have to show up? I don’t really think that there’s a magic number. I. Think whatever is going to work for you, that you can stay consistent with. But I think that was something that really helped me to build that tribe of people and that audience because they knew every single day that they were gonna be able to come back and get a new piece of content from me, or just hear for me. They started to expect that, and that started to build those people of okay, I’m gonna keep coming back for Aubree. So definitely having that consistency. Whatever platform you do it with. It’s the same goes for blogging too. You definitely wanna have that consistency and have that schedule of people who are following along and who are wanting to tune in or read or watch what you’re doing, that they can start to expect, Hey, she’s gonna show up every single day or she’s gonna post this twice a month or whatever it is. I think that, on any platform, but specifically for TikTok was for me just how can I show up consistently so that my audience can really build that trust with me and I can really nurture them through that. 

Megan Porta: Talk to us about your batching processes and your systems. I know that you believe in like batching videos and how that can help you. Yeah. Talk to us about that. 

Aubree Malick: That was one thing that really scared me, maybe a little bit from starting the video because being a podcaster I like. Okay. I can show up. I don’t have to do my hair. I don’t have to do my makeup. I just go in front of the mic and I record. That felt really easy to me. So stepping into the video, I was like, oh, I’ve gotta do my makeup and I’ve gotta have this and everything like that. I think the nice thing about TikTok in particular for me, that I haven’t necessarily seen across other platforms for video, is it doesn’t matter how many times you’re in the same outfit or looking the same way. Again,they want people on that platform. So for me, I would just start to think about, in a day, how many videos I could do. I would start to poll questions from people. I would start to take those other topics that maybe I had talked about on a podcast. Or maybe I had talked about it on a blog and started to break them down into smaller bite size pieces. Because that’s something, for those shorter form videos, it’s not necessarily going in and recording a 20 minute video. It was more of how can I break that down and really capture their attention, really get them a quick win. So taking some of those other pieces of content that I had already put out there, again, for me, it was my blog, my podcast, things that I was already posting on Instagram, or maybe talking about on stories and just repurposing them over on that platform in another way. So I wasn’t reinventing the wheel. I was really having that one main piece of content. Like I said, whether it was a blog post or podcast and how could I break that off into different things and really filter it through a lens of like, how can I take this piece of content and how can I use it to inspire people? How can I take this piece of content and use it as a way to entertain? Then how can I take this piece of content and maybe break it down into an educational video or maybe a five part series where if maybe the blog post or the episode had five topics that I was talking about breaking that down into a series where it was five bite size videos where they could come back to and every day I would do that too. So really doing that and from there that, that made that process easier for me to be able to batch in a chunk when I really could really, again, not reinventing the wheel, not having to think, okay. Where am I pulling this content from? But taking it and filtering it through that lens. Then for me, it was really like a day or two where I would record that content and I would have it saved and that I could just slowly start to drip that out, that made it really easy for me to be able to show up. So if you already have that content that you’re using, really go, even if it’s a couple months old, going back and repurposing that. Then again, another thing that was helpful for me with TikTok too is that I was able to continue to repurpose even content that I had already posted on Tiktok because I was posting those videos, my feed, the videos that I had posted a month ago would start to get pushed down. So bringing those topics back up, maybe in a different format, maybe with a trending sound or maybe with music in the background, as opposed to just a talking head, putting in a different format, even though it was the same content, because all of the people who were following me or even new people, they maybe didn’t see that piece of content that I posted a month ago. So bringing that back up. So it was a lot of rinse, lather repeat type cycle that I would use. 

Megan Porta: So food bloggers. I know some who do create other content aside from food content, but do you recommend that if food bloggers are offering services to other bloggers, that they start creating content that you’re talking about and inspiring people in that way, aside from their food side, do you know what I mean?

Aubree Malick: Yeah. I think it’s definitely something that you should do. Because you want people to know that’s something that you offer. If you don’t ever talk about it or don’t ever put any type of content on it, how can the people who are looking for your services or how can your ideal clients that you would really love to work with, how do they know that’s something that you do? So I know for some people, it might just be even simply putting it on your website as a tab, like work with me, or done for your services. But I think consistently bringing that up in your content. It doesn’t have to take over your entire content, but having that be something that you share about so that people know oh, Hey, like not only does she do this, but she can also help me with this piece too.

For me, I do a little bit of both. Not only do I coach people on how to start their businesses and grow and scale that, but I also still do work with freelancers. That’s not the forefront of my business. That’s not what I’m consistently putting content about, but I do bring that back to the forefront so that people do know oh yeah, she is still doing that. So I think you have to find a healthy mix of doing what you’re currently doing, but also starting to weave in that. Yeah. I am going to start offering these services and here’s different ways to work with me, so that again, people start to catch that and they’re going to need to see it more than once before they decide to actually work with you. So making sure that you have a strategy of I’m going to bring this up a few times a week, I’m gonna talk about it. Just let people know, because if you don’t ever talk about it, how can we get you connected with those people who might wanna hire you. 

Do you recommend starting an entirely separate social account for that? Because I can see where it would be a little confusing. Maybe not though. I don’t know. I’d love to get your thoughts. Serving business to consumer and then business to business within the same social account. 

Yeah. Definitely going to take some strategy behind it. I am all about working smarter, not harder. For me, I had this dilemma too, even when I was getting started with my business. I had my Instagram account and I was like, okay, I can either keep this Instagram account and then create a whole new one or I can just transform this one that I currently have and start weaving in again, those topics that I want to, and shifting it towards that. If I went back in time, I probably would’ve created a different account just because now it’s more a majority of my account is the ideal audience that I want, but I do still have people on there who are like, I was following you for pictures of your kids and just to keep up with your life, not necessarily your business. But it’s really gonna depend on how much time you have to maintain both of them? Some people do, and some people want to keep it really separate. Other people want to be able to weave it into the mix of what they’re doing. So I think it’s more of a personal choice on that and really what you have the time to devote to. If you can find a way where it is related to what you’re doing, like with your food blog, then it might make sense to keep them one and the same. But if you really are like, no, what I’m doing is completely different from what I’m doing here and the services that I’m gonna offer, then it might make more sense to separate it. But again, that’s added work on you. So you just have to be willing to say am I gonna be able to keep up with both of them at the pace that I want to?” 

Megan Porta: Yeah. A little bit of experimentation maybe to start. What are some other systems that you use to save time? Because diving into serving others, like you just mentioned, is extra work. So I know that you corporate systems into your life in business. So tell us what they’re. 

Aubree Malick: Yeah, I think if you’re going to start serving other clients in this capacity of offering, done for you services for them, I think the biggest thing that I can recommend as far as a system is investing in some kind of CRM. That’s the customer relationship management system. There’s some really great ones out there. Again, it’s just personal preference. Some people die hard for one system and they swear by it and other people are like, no, you gotta pick this one. But things like dubsado and Honey book, and that’s going to handle a lot of your client management. So handling things like your invoices, your contracts, client communication. Just keeping everything in one place, keeping everything on track, so that you again, if you’re also adding this into addition to something that you’re already doing, you wanna make sure that you have something that’s organized. Then from the flip side of it too, the clients that you’re bringing on are going to be really happy when they start working with you. It’s oh, okay. It wasn’t this hodgepodge mess. Everything was organized. I got the invoice, I got the contract. Then I got the welcome email saying, Hey, like I’m super excited to get started with you. Here’s the next couple things that I need. So really starting to think, bird’s eye starting to look if I’m going to start working with clients, what are those things that I need to have in place? I like to tell people it really starts from that first place of finding out about you. Not necessarily when you have a signed contract and a paid invoice. So starting to think back from, okay, if somebody finds out about me and they wanna inquire about my services, what’s that next step going to be from them? Do I have a link to book a call with me? Do I have a link so that they can view the services that I have? Start mapping out that customer journey of how I am going to move a person from one place to the next. If you have some programs that can help you to do that, so you’re not doing all of that on your own, that’s going to make things simple for you. It’s gonna take less time. I think any time you set up a system, it takes more time in the front to put that into place and to make sure all of those moving pieces are working together, but once it’s set up, you don’t have to continue to make sure it’s working fine. Once you have that thought through, you have a journey for somebody to move through. So I think if you’re going to start offering services, that’s something that I would definitely make sure that you invest in. Think through, plan out, have that map so that, how you move somebody from one place to the next, that’s going to make such a difference. Number one for you for your business. So that you’re not on this hamster wheel trying to do all these things on your own. But like I said too, from the client’s perspective, that you’re bringing on and helping them in their business, they’re going to feel really well taken care of. That makes all the difference in the world, that first impression of starting, especially if it’s their first hire, they want to feel at ease. If you can do that through having a nice, easy breezy system for them to move through, like I said, it makes all the difference in the world.

Megan Porta: Systems are not super fun or easy to get going, but once they’re up, oh my gosh. They’re so great. I absolutely love it when I put the time into a system and it works. Then it can just run on its own. It’s pretty magical. Yeah, that’s a great recommendation. Do you have any other systems you recommend?

Aubree Malick: Yeah. So it really depends on how advanced you want to get. When I was first getting started, I really heavily relied on using Google Drive, the G suite. I don’t know if that’s, I feel like somebody said it’s called something different now. I still do use that, but even something like that, having a hub for your clients, having a place where you guys can share documents, you can share what you’re working on, something where it’s organized or you can up level to more of a project management system. There’s so many of those too. Again, there’s not a right or wrong here, but finding something that’s going to work for you, I think is the best. When I was first getting started in the online space, everybody was team Trello, and I tried to use that to help me manage my different clients and the projects that I was working on. I spent so much time trying to get it to work for me when, for whatever reason with my brain and the way that things work for me, it just wasn’t working. So I switched to a different project management system and that helped me to be way more productive. It helped me to get things done and stay on track because it just flowed with me. So there’s Trello, there’s Asana. There’s Click Up there’s so many, but that would be another thing that I would say. There’s free versions of those too. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be something that you invest in, but having something that’s going to organize your projects, going to keep you on track, things that you can set due dates to that’s super helpful.

I was very much a believer of a pen and paper planner, and I’ve been slowly shifting to being more digital because it helps me to have everything in one place as opposed to being like, where’s that sticky note. Did I write this down in my planner? Especially when your booking calls. It’s so nice when you have everything synced together. Now in the online space. So many programs that you’re using can sync together and you can get things organized. Definitely having some kind of digital online system to organize yourself and your projects and your clients is super helpful, too. 

Megan Porta: So much great information Aubree. Wow. Thank you. I think this gives a clear picture about opportunities that food bloggers can dig into as they’re either waiting for ads to get on their site, or maybe they want the right to increase their ad income. Either way, I think that this is a huge opportunity to dig into serving other bloggers and just figuring out how to do that. Is there anything we’ve forgotten that you wanna be sure to mention? 

Aubree Malick: I think we covered so much. I don’t wanna overwhelm your audience too, but I think this is a really great opportunity. Like you said, too, if you’re waiting for things to pick up with your blog, this is what I have found too, is one of the easiest ways to start making that income. It’s not like you’re saying, oh, I’m putting this blog or this vision that I have here on hold. You’re number one diversifying your income stream, which I think is a great thing for any business owner, no matter what type of business that you have. But you can use this to help you to fund this passion project that you have too. So it’s relatively easy to get started, to get set up. Like I said, I don’t wanna overwhelm your audience with telling them, do this and do that. I have free training for those that really goes through those steps. So if your audience wants to check that out. I have that linked up at aubreymalick.com/EBT. So if you’re thinking this is a good fit for you, that would be a really great place to start. But like I said, it’s something that you can easily add on to what you’re currently doing that can really help you to bring some of that income in while you’re waiting for, like you said, some of those other things to start to work.

Megan Porta: Oh, awesome. That’s such a generous offer. So thank you for that. I can start to move my body. So we had a little bit of audio issues in the beginning, so I’ve literally been like a statue this whole time. So hopefully I didn’t sound like a statue. So I can relax now that we’re saying goodbye, but thank you so much, Aubree, for being here, we are so grateful for you and everything you shared today.

Aubree Malick: Yeah. Thanks so much for having me. 

Megan Porta: Do you have a favorite quote or words of inspiration to leave us with?

Aubree Malick: I have a quote and I don’t know the whole entire quote, but I heard it when I was a mastermind and I absolutely loved it. I’m going to, I’m gonna butcher it I know. So I’m just gonna take a quick minute to search for it. Just so I can give your audience some context. 

Megan Porta: Yeah. Go for it. 

Aubree Malick: Okay, so I’ll read just the beginning part. Like I said, it’s a longer quote but it’s, “our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most.” It goes on to that too, but it really inspires me because a lot of times, especially in the online space and when there’s people who are doing things similar to you, it can start to feel very overwhelming and it can start to feel, who am I to do this? It’s a longer quote, like I said, but it really encourages me that we all have unique gifts. We all have things to offer to people. We owe it to ourselves to allow ourselves to shine brightly too. That’s one that, that really inspires me whenever I’m feeling down or whenever I’m feeling that imposter syndrome starts to kick in. I read that over and I’m like, okay. Yes. I need to, it’s almost my duty to shine brightly so that I can encourage other people around me and I can inspire other people too. 

Megan Porta: Oh, so inspiring. I love that so much. Thank you, Aubree. We’ll put together a show notes page for you. So if you wanna go look at those, you can go to eatblogtalk.com/aubreemalick. Why don’t you tell everyone again where they can find you online and on social media and your podcast and everywhere else. 

Aubree Malick: Yeah, so I like to make it super easy for people to find me. So pretty much anywhere you search is just going to be my name. Aubree Malick. So my website, aubreemalick.com. Instagram, Aubree Malick TikTok, Aubree Malick. Then my podcast is called Freelancer to CEO and lots of really great topics for helping you, like I said, starting this business as a freelancer, growing it, and also scaling it to those maybe higher figure months that can support you along the way too. So I would love to have you come over there and listen as well. I just wanna thank you so much, Megan, for giving me this opportunity to pour into your audience.

Megan Porta: Oh, thank you so much for being here. It was a pleasure to chat with you. And thank you for listening today, food bloggers. I will see you in the next episode.

Outro: We’re glad you could join us on this episode of Eat Blog Talk. For more resources based on today’s discussion, as well as show notes and an opportunity to be on a future episode of the show, be sure to head to eatblogtalk.com. If you feel that hunger for information, we’ll be here to feed you on Eat Blog Talk.