Episode 96: Changing The World One Blog At A Time With Leslie Samuel

Leslie Samuel is the creator of the Become A Blogger. He has a passion for education and has taken on the mission of "Changing The World One Blog At A Time".  In his podcast, Blogging With Leslie, he teaches solid lessons about how to build a blog that will have an impact, in addition to interviewing other successful bloggers who have built successful platforms and turned them into thriving online businesses.   He founded, and later sold, Interactive Biology, a blog dedicated to making biology fun for students and teachers worldwide. This blog landed him a job as a university professor in a doctoral program. After three years, he left that job to be a full-time blogger. His message is simple - Create Content, Inspire Others and Change The World (while building a solid online business)!   Biggest Takeaways You Don’t Want To Miss: Leslie is an educator and a blogger. He’s constantly feeding his brain. There is so much to gain from being a sponge and soaking up all the knowledge around you. As you take in the information you learn, it is important to share it with others. Make sure to check out Leslie’s Podcast on Become a Blogger named “Facebook Doesn’t Care About You.” Facebook and social media outlets are a business and they are not truly thinking about your family. You have to take the reins on how and when you interact with Facebook. What readers are looking for in blogs: VALUE. Answers to questions, solutions to problems and a lot of times business owners don’t see it from the customer’s perspective. Establish trust and nurture your growing relationship. Create a system that converts a reader from someone gathering information from you to someone who wants to do business with you. Get them on an email list, nurture them with value while introducing your services gradually. You really want them to trust you as a source of information and a reliable service as well. Google analytics can have a huge impact on your blog. Even if you don’t understand it, you need to have it on your blog from the start. It’s free and gives you all types of data on your blog. This data is key in knowing what is working on your pet sitting blogs and your website. Show Highlights: Facebook brought Bella and Leslie together through split screen interview technology [2:30] What is Leslie currently learning? The concept of social media and what it does to our minds. He loves it, but there is a balance you need to find your business, personal life goals, and social media. [5:00] What are the mistakes that you should be afraid of in blogging as a business owner? You get into blogging to promote your business, but it doesn’t have to just be there to promote your business. [7:45] Give your blogs a bigger purpose. Create the right content to help them the best. Use your pet sitting blogs to integrate into your sales process.  [11:00] The elements and structure of writing great pet sitting blogs. Read it, see it, hear it; use all the senses with pictures, written, video and audio resources. But you don’t have to do it all at once! Choose one and run with it first, then start to incorporate the rest as you can. [14:00] Downloadable Offer: Grab this great spreadsheet calendar to make your blogging a breeze at https://www.becomeablogger.com/spreadsheet Links: Find all the resources at https://www.becomeablogger.com Subscribe to Become a Blogger on YouTube Learning with Leslie Podcast Join the coaching club at bloggercoaching.com Learn more about Bella's Mastermind group at  jumpconsulting.net/jump-mastermind Share The Show: Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link –Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’ Transcript: Bella: This is episode 96 of Bella in Your Business. Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready—Bella’s got your chute. Let’s jump. Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta with Jump Consulting, and today I have the sincere pleasure of bringing to you someone who I’d like to say has become a bit of a friend to me. His name is Leslie Samuel, and he is from Blogging with Leslie. He’s the creator of Become a Blogger and has a passion and education for taking the mission of changing the world one blog at a time. His podcast, Blogging with Leslie, teaches solid lessons about how to build a blog that has an impact, in addition to interviewing other successful bloggers who have built thriving businesses online. He founded and later sold an interactive biology blog dedicated to making biology fun for students and teachers worldwide. Did you guys hear that? Biology. Fun. In the same sentence. If this guy can do it, this is going to be a really fun interview for you to learn from. The blog actually landed him a job as a university professor in a doctoral program. After three years, he left that job to become a full-time blogger. His message is simple: create content, inspire others, and change the world while building a solid business online. Leslie, as I’m saying this, I’m hearing the intro to your podcast in my head. Welcome to the show, my friend. Leslie: Well, thanks for having me. I’m going to take issue with something that you said. I think you said something like, “kind of call me a friend,” or something like that. I need more confidence in our friendship. Bella: OK, I can call you a friend. Let’s tell the story real quick of how we actually met because I think that’s like a social media anomaly in a way. So, Leslie, somehow Facebook loves you more than the rest of the population because about a year ago, when Facebook came out with the ability to do split-screen on Facebook Live, we were all like, all of us social media geeks were constantly checking, right? And all of a sudden we had it. It was like on a Sunday, because I was in total mom mode—probably food on my shirt, hair a mess—and you had it. I was like, “Oh my God, I need to request to be on it.” You were just bringing people on, and I remember because I was on my phone going live and was like, “What is this invite button I see here?” Leslie: And I was instantly drawn to your personality. You have personality that has personality, your energy level. You really do hold true to your message of inspiring people because you just exude that. Bella: When I got to know you even more, I learned that you are basically an expert at blogging. But more than that, you’re an educator and a learner. You’re constantly feeding your brain, and I think that’s a really important lesson for our listeners. We all need to be doing that. It’s tough—we have to be intentional about it. But you also want to be learning from someone who’s constantly learning, and I admire that about you. Leslie: It’s kind of interesting because as a child, I wasn’t very much into learning. I was all into having fun. Later on, I just realized how much you get from being like a sponge and soaking up knowledge. A lot of people think they’re so smart, they have it all figured out. I know I don’t, so I need to continue learning in order to serve my audience. Bella: I imagine that’s how you get a lot of inspiration as well because you never run dry. Leslie: Exactly. A lot of people ask me, “How do you continue coming up with ideas for content?” And I’m like, “How do you not?” If you’re taking in so much information, you’ve got to share it. I’m a teacher, and I want to help others. As I take in, I ask, how can I make this accessible to the people connecting with me online? Bella: That’s great leadership. Two questions. You can answer them however you want. One, I know our listeners are wondering, where in the heck is your accent from? And second, what are you currently learning or listening to right now? Leslie: My accent is a mix of being originally from St. Martin in the Caribbean and then living in Michigan for 21 years. Mix the Caribbean and American and you get whatever this is. What I’m learning right now is this concept of social media and what it does to our minds. I love social media, but I’m focusing on how to balance it with my actual business and life goals—what kind of person, father, husband, and leader I want to be. It’s been very insightful and made me way more productive. Bella: It’s been inspiring to watch you on that journey. There was a podcast you did that everyone should listen to—“Facebook Doesn’t Care About You.” It inspired me because what you’re basically doing is taking control of it rather than letting it control you. Leslie: Exactly. The goals of these social media platforms are to absorb as much of your time as possible because it makes them more money. I don’t want them determining how I spend my time. They’re not thinking about my family. They care about growing their business. So I need to be intentional about deciding how I’m going to interact with these devices and not just do what they tell me to do. Bella: Incredible. I love it. OK, so let’s talk about blogging. For those who have a WordPress website but are afraid to start—what mistakes should they be aware of? Leslie: One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is getting into blogging only to promote their business. They’ll talk about their services and how great they are, but nobody cares. People are looking for value—answers to questions and solutions to problems. The biggest mistake is not thinking from the client’s perspective. You always have to ask, what is my ideal customer looking for, and how can I serve them? Bella: So what I’m hearing is—don’t make it about yourself. Serve your audience and solve problems, and you’ll build trust. Leslie: Exactly. If you do that, you’re already ahead of most business owners.