My name is Caitlin Bacher and I grew my social media consulting biz from $0 to my first $12k month in six months. Sounds good right? Well, there was a LOT of drama behind the scenes.
If reading about how much other people make feels weird, then this post is not for you. I feel like numbers are important to share with you for two reasons. The first is that my expertise is creating profitable social media strategies. If I can't do it for myself, then I'm not qualified to do it for anyone else. Share on X
How many people do you know who take a Pinterest course, then proclaim to be Pinterest experts. Ew. The second reason is because I want you to know that it is possible to build a biz from scratch.
Now onto my story…
If you have ever thought about taking a BIG risk and taking your side hustle full time, read Caitlin's story. Share on X1. GOING ALL IN
After being a part-time social media manager (tweeting and posting for other biz owners) in 2014, I was SUPER bored. I got REAL tired of posting and tweeting for everyone else. I wanted to TEACH people how to implement profitable social media strategies FOR THEMSELVES.
I had SO MUCH experience growing businesses for everyone else with social media. I wanted to teach others everything I learned AND begin implementing all those same strategies for myself.
We couldn’t afford to send my daughter to preschool full time unless I was making some serious cash. So, in January of 2015 I set an income goal for myself with a 60 day deadline. If I wasn’t able to meet my income goal within 60 days, I would have to scrap my business entirely and stay home full time. I was tired of trying to run a side hustle during naptime. It was all or nothing. BTW, that income goal was $2k a month. $2K was enough to cover preschool AND have a bit leftover.
Big results take an even bigger risk. Share on X2. SOCIAL PROOF
Until I decided to take my biz full time in January of 2015, I spent practically zero effort on my own social media. I gained clients from referrals or pitching people directly, NOT from social media. When I went full time in January and launched my social media consulting biz, I was starting from scratch. Luckily, I knew what I was doing. I used everything I learned from managing the accounts of others and applied it to my own biz.
If I was going to convince anyone that I was a social media expert, I needed the numbers to prove it. Would you ever hire a web designer with an ugly website? No. I had to create a social media strategy for myself that would not only look good, but be profitable. In other words, I wanted to grow my Facebook group, but I also wanted them to be genuine members who were interested in what I was selling.
3. INVEST IN MY BUSINESS
I met my 60 day income goal in 30 days. Did I run off and buy a bunch of crap? No. I reinvested my money into my website. This investment was HUGE for me. The thing is, I would not have made $20k this month and be on track to make $200k next year if I didn’t hire a professional branding team.
Don't blow your windfall on candy. Invest it BACK into your business. Share on XI chose to work with October Ink for a few reasons. The first being that the clients they worked with were similar to my ideal customers. I’m trying to build an empire here, ladies. I don’t want to spend money unless I know it’s going to make me money. They had a big following on social media, so cross-promoting with them would be profitable for me. I also knew that they would be a great referral source if any of their clients needed social media help. Did I mention their work is stunningly beautiful? That, too. P.S. If you’re looking for a super duper web developer, call Gemma. She did ALL the development for this website.
4. DO THE WORK
Within my first three months, I was already booked two months in advance and making about $4k a month doing individual sessions. How did I do this? MY FACEBOOK GROUP. My biz was blowing up because I knew exactly how to promote it in my Facebook group.
I worked hard. Really hard. Even though I was “full time”, I only had six hours each day to work. This was because I had to drop off and pick up my daughter from daycare. Twelve hour days weren’t an option. This meant a lot of late nights.
The second I put her to bed at 8pm, I was at my computer. Did I mention I was married? Yeah. I’m going to be honest. You can have the most supportive partner in the world, but it is HARD on your relationship when you are in startup mode for your biz. Not only that, but I was missing out on weekend family time. In other words, I needed to work that much to launch, but it wasn’t sustainable.
Consistent results take consistent action. Share on X5. THE COURSE THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Creating a course was one of the best things I did for my business. I was able to help more people than ever before. By no means is this passive income…yet. I work my buns off to promote it. After helping hundreds of biz owners, the course practically wrote itself.
Let me repeat that. My courses were written from EXPERIENCE. By the time I wrote them, I had helped HUNDREDS of people and I KNEW the strategies worked. Hell, they were working for me, too!
I would have killed (okay, probably not that) for this kind of course when I first started my business. It would have saved me A TON of time and research. Get all my strategies for growing a following quickly and easily.
6. WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?
Right now, I am moving on to the next phase of empire building: outsourcing. I’ll be back here next week to talk more about that.
