Side Hustle Pro

What’s it like to be a 13-year seasoned blogger in the age of Instagram and Snapchat Influencers? On this episode I sit down for a conversation with Luvvie Ajayi to talk Branding 101. Luvvie is is a writer, digital strategist and creator of entertainment and humor blog AwesomelyLuvvie.com. As a fellow writer and avid blogger, I’ve always been inspired by Luvvie’s journey to full-time entrepreneur. She started her blog after peer pressure from friends who recognized her talent. After starting as a casual blogger, she slowly increased to blogging more than once a week. Three years in, she was working a 9 to 5 then blogging from 7 to 9 like a true side hustler. Though she was getting paid zero dollars, her first blogging award in 2009 made her realize maybe she was on to something. The rest, as they say, is history. Now Luvvie is getting ready to debut her first book, called I’M JUDGING YOU: The Do Better Manual, which is available on September 16 (or earlier if you pre-order). FYI, I talked to Luvvie a few months ago for a Q&A before I launched my podcast. There we covered more of her background and how she got started. Check out part one here: then tune in to the episode. On this episode we discuss: Why you shouldn’t be so consumed with the idea of you being a brand Why you need to be so good they can’t ignore you How to make sure you’re prioritizing solid content over marketing How to negotiate with brands once you get to that level The real deal with how she approaches brand partnerships and her certified deal breakers MORE FROM LUVVIE: I’m Judging You AwesomelyLuvvie Awesomely Techie MORE FROM NICAILA: SideHustlePro.co Side Hustle Pro Community CONNECT WITH US ON INSTAGRAM: Side Hustle Pro – @sidehustlepro Luvvie – @luvvie #SideHustlePro Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we are welcoming back Meiko Drew, the Side Hustle Pro Entrepreneur-in-Residence. We’re following Meiko for an entire year to chronicle her journey from Corporate America retiree to the Founder of Food and Lifestyle brand MeikoAndTheDish. For those of you who don’t know, Meiko walked away from a six-figure salary at Target to focus on Meiko And The Dish full time. Though it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, her brand is steadily rising and so it’s time to check in with her again to see how it’s all going. On this episode we talk about: The financial sacrifices she’s had to make to pursue her dream The marketing steps she’s taking to grow the Meiko And The Dish brand on social media How she’s building relationships and partnerships in her niche The upcoming launch of the Black Food Network Find out how Meiko is making it work despite the twists and turns life throws at her. Podcast Details Click here to subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you’re starting your own business, the company you keep is more important than ever before. On this episode, I'm answering a listener’s question about how to ignore the haters and find a true entrepreneurship support group. I talk about how I found my own tribe and created a mastermind group, and what you can do to find your own entrepreneurship support system. I also get into updates on my own side hustle journey, including: what I’m doing to monetize and my new Side Hustle Pro Shop. Tune in to hear my latest updates in this Side Hustle Pro journey! Links mentioned in this episode: Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SideHustleProCommunity/ Side Hustle Pro Shop: SideHustlePro.co/Shop Social Media Toolkit: SideHustlePro.co/Episode7 Email Me: [email protected] Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2009, Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche lost her job as a preschool teacher. Unable to afford her mortgage, she moved back home with her parents at age 29. At her lowest moment, she was 31 years old, with no job, no money, and no home of her own. After hitting rock bottom, she determined it was time to put the financial wisdom she had learned growing up to good use. In this week’s episode, she shares how she bounced back from financial despair to take charge of her own life and help others do the same. Along the way, she has built a hugely profitable brand and even more, an insanely loyal community of Dream Catchers devoted to her Live Richer principles. Author of two #1 Amazon bestsellers, The One Week Budget and Live Richer Challenge, Tiffany The Budgetnista and her financial advice have also been featured in The New York Times, Reuters, US News and World Report, the TODAY show, PBS, Fox Business, MSNBC, CBS MoneyWatch, TIME, ESSENCE Magazine, and FORBES. In this episode, Tiffany breaks down: The inspiration for The Budgetnista and when she realized she could package and sell her financial wisdom. How she transitioned from major debt and losing it all to starting her own business. How she developed and grew the Live Richer Challenge to be a profitable and sustainable business. How she has grown her private Facebook community to over 100K members. Links mentioned in this episode The One Week Budget Live Richer Challenge Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2009, Courtney Sanders found herself drowning in debt, bad grades, and almost having to leave college. Three years later, she had paid off all her debt, earned a scholarship, started a business and graduated from college magna cum laude. How did she turn her life around? Find out on this week’s episode. Courtney is an entrepreneur, speaker, and goal ­achievement specialist. Through her training and development company, Think & Grow Chick, LLC, Courtney provides online & in-­person education, mentorship, and community for women, students, and minorities looking to accomplish BIG goals. Courtney reaches nearly 50,000 young professionals every month through her blog and social media platforms. In 2015 she authored the book, Get What You Want: The Ultimate Guide to Figuring Out + Getting What You Want in Life which has since served as a catalyst for several related trainings and programs, including her 2015 live workshop, Launch Your Life. In this this episode, Courtney breaks down: The inspiration for Think And Grow Chick and when she realized she could help other women How she grew her company into a profitable business How she juggles her side hustle with her full time job The financial wisdom she has learned along the way When she knew it was time to take her side hustle to the next level Find out about all Courtney’s experience as a woman who has scaled her side hustle to extraordinary levels and is getting ready to make the leap into full time entrepreneurship. Links mentioned in this episode: Think And Grow Chick website Think And Grow Chick Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, I'm providing an update on how my own side hustle is going. How am I balancing my 9to5 at NPR with my podcast and burgeoning Side Hustle Pro brand and business? I talk about the challenges I’m facing with time management and why I believe time management is a myth. I’m also sharing the best tools I’ve found to help me manage my calendar and organize the Side Hustle Pro process (Shout-out to Amanda Miller Littlejohn for the productivity tips!). I also get into a strategy that I’m using to build my brand and network: attending strategic conferences. I talk about the hustle bombs I learned from Myleik Teele, CEO of curlBOX: “A real hustler invests in themselves.” “If you are not popping or balling, you do not need to be sleeping in.” “Followers are not dollars.” Tune in to hear my latest updates in this Side Hustle Pro journey! Links mentioned in this episode: Doodle Calendly Asana Show notes from this week's episode: http://sidehustlepro.co/ Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did the product of a once homeless single mother become the Founder and CEO of a rising startup? This week’s guest, Stephanie Lampkin, shares how an influential aunt led her to coding at a young age, setting the stage for her to graduate from Stanford and MIT Sloan. Later, a surprise rejection from Google would lead her to found Blendoor, a mobile job matching app that hides candidate name and photo to circumvent unconscious bias and facilitate diversity recruiting in tech companies. Blendoor’s goal is to highlight the information that's most relevant to a candidate being a "good fit" independent of race, gender, military history or sexual orientation. In this this episode, Stephanie breaks down: How she determined what kind of business structure to set up The art of the “pitch” How she approaches pitching on stage vs pitching for investors How to build a team as an early stage company How she keeps the company lean and financially sustains herself as an entrepreneur Find out about Stephanie’s experience founding not one, but two startups and her journey to Silicon Valley in this episode. Links mentioned in this episode Blendoor This is your day YouTube video Podcast Details Click here to subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The number one question I get asked is how to leverage social media to build a brand. When people ask me this, I know that they're really searching for a quick and dirty shortcut to get thousands of followers without having to put in a lot of work. Well I hate to break it to you, but there's no way to build an engaged social media audience without consistent and authentic effort. With over seven years of professional experience as a social media marketing strategist, I've learned firsthand the challenges that come with trying to keep up with changing platforms and algorithms. If you want to be successful in social media, you have to abandon the 'I want to make something that will go viral’ mentality because that's not how it works. On this episode, I'm providing a detailed blueprint for how to grow an active and engaged social media following. I'm going to go over step by step what I've done to grow my own social media accounts and I'll provide a full checklist of resources to measure and grow your social channels, but don't worry, you don't need to take a lot of notes because I've created a downloadable freebie for this episode. So if you go to sidehustlepro.co/episode7 you can see the show notes from this episode and get the FREE step by step checklist for the Side Hustle Pro Social Media Toolkit. My special guest on this episode is Muoyo Okome, Founder of Daily Spark Media & the Daily Spark Entrepreneur Community, who details how he was able to grow his account from a little under 600 followers to 25,000 in less than a year by studying his Instagram insights. He used the data on the most liked and most commented posts to plan his content strategy and explode his social media audience. Show notes from this week's episode: SideHustlePro.co/Episode7 Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What goes into the making of a YouTube personality? CeeDotCee is this episode’s special guest. Whether it's recapping the latest episode of Love & Hip Hop or reviewing the hottest new music and gossip in pop culture, CeedotCee is an all around entertainer. Trailblazing the internet with her hilarious videos from YouTube to Facebook, she has over four million views combined. Her hilarious videos, like her Beyonce lemonade recap have garnered the attention of the likes of PEOPLE magazine. As if her talent in front of the camera isn't already enough, she also has skills behind the camera as a videographer and editor for various artists such as Chrisette Michele, Mya and Keke Palmer. If you haven't heard of her yet, now is the time to become a member of the rapidly growing "Cee Hive." In this episode she breaks down: How to create and build a brand as a YouTube personality Why you don’t need expensive equipment to have successful YouTube channel How to stand out in the crowded YouTube space The secret ingredient that accelerated her Facebook and YouTube following How she’s paying the bills and keeping the lights on as an entrepreneur Connect with CeeDotCee: YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ceedotceeTV Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CeeHive Twitter: https://twitter.com/ceedotcee Snapchat: CeeDotSnaps Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The words "Side Hustle" means different things to everyone. In this episode I’m breaking down: The real definition of a side hustle How to tap into your talents to determine what your side hustle should be 5 steps you can take to get started on your side hustle TODAY Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a Corporate America retiree, Meiko Drew walked away from a 6-figure salary to start a lifestyle and food empire. But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. As the Side Hustle Pro Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Meiko will share the real picture of entrepreneurship after quitting your job. On this episode we talk about: The steps she took to prepare herself mentally and financially to quit her job Her early mistakes as an entrepreneur so far How she pays the bills as she works to build a profitable business Tune in for an eye-opening episode. Website: https://www.meikoandthedish.com/ Twitter: @MeikoandTheDish Instagram: @MeikoandTheDish Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s guest is Genese Jamilah, Founder of I Don’t Do Clubs, a successful events and lifestyle blog that caters to African American professionals across the country. In 2015, Genese also created the popular Must Love Beards Day Party Series and the first ever Black-Owned Restaurant Month. You’ll hear how Genese built I Don’t Do Clubs into a profitable business and how she got her brand and coins in formation to prepare to leave her day job. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What goes into the making of a Venture Capitalist? Wharton graduate and Michigan MBA Stefanie Thomas shifted from a career in banking at Citigroup to centering her passions around support for under-resourced entrepreneurs. But the road to VC was not always clear. Learn about the key experiences she gained at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, the steps she took to feed her entrepreneurial fire, and the way she set herself on the path to Senior Associate with Impact America Fund. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the very first episode of Side Hustle Pro. In this episode I’ll share the vision for this podcast and tell you more about me, your host Nicaila Matthews. You’ll hear why quitting my first job at 24, a rejection from Google and taking the path less traveled inspired me to create and grow my side hustle into a profitable brand. Plus, I’ll tell you what to expect each week on the show and give you a sneak peek at our first guest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.