Welcome to the Scaling Success Stories series!
If you’re new to this series, I ask online entrepreneurs questions regarding growing and scaling their business.
This is the series description:
You can get your fill of online business tips by reading the other interviews on the Scaling Success Stories page.
Interview with Suzi Whitford from Start A Mom Blog
It was my pleasure interviewing Suzi Whitford of Start A Mom Blog, a popular blog that helps moms start and grow their own blogs through Suzi’s simplified process, which is inspired from her knowledge of Lean Six Sigma from her industrial engineer days. Suzi has helped over 40,000 moms so far and isn’t stopping any time soon.
Check out what Suzi had to say to my questions!
1. Why did you start an online business and how does your passion still drive your business’ growth today?
I started my online business because I had a fire inside of me to do something great.
My entire family is made up of entrepreneurs. My dad launched his own company at the age of 25. My mom designed and ran her own restaurant. My brother and his wife run a successful online snack company. The internet is too wonderful of an engine not to be a part of it.
After leaving my corporate job as an industrial engineer, I became a stay-at-home mom to a beautiful baby girl.
I would kiss my husband goodbye at 5AM in the morning and not see him again for 12 hours.
It broke my heart. The man I adore and the father to our little girl had to spend most of his time away from us.
The drive to bring my husband home and the blood of entrepreneurship in my veins helped project me into online business.
I had my ultimate goal and passion; I just needed to find the right outlet!
And, thank God I did!
If I didn’t our entire house might have been covered in painted peg dolls—one of my side hustles before blogging.
2. At what point did you realize that your business was “taking off” and that you could really make money from it?
The month I launched my own product and broke $1,000.
My list was small and my product was cheap, but I created something and helped my readers through it.
It was life-changing.
I wasn’t just making money through affiliate marketing and promoting someone else’s business.
My profit was made by me, not another company paying me.
To a stay-at-home mom of two little ones, this was impossible a few years ago.
It’s one of the main reasons why I love helping my readers so much—the possibilities we have at our fingertips today are endless and life-changing!
3. At what point did you realize you were living the life you wanted to?
I worked hard to grow my business.
I had to do it all without full-time help or a big team.
I finally reached my goal of having my husband come home two months ago.
I have my best friend at home with me. Together, we’re raising three beautiful and busy little kids, building our businesses and sleeping in late. We are living our dream life.
We don’t own fancy things.
We drive a Toyota minivan, live in a small home and shop at Aldi. But, it’s not the stuff that makes us happy; it’s the freedom we have working on what we want when we want and spending our days together.
4. One of the biggest fears of outsourcing is trusting the people you hire to run your business the way you would. How did you overcome this and where did you find the right freelancers and employees to help you grow your business?
I still have fears of outsourcing too much.
But, when I found myself drowning in emails for months on end, I knew I was being foolish.
I could help my readers more by creating helpful content, going live, and sharing new strategies. So I hired my first VA based on a recommendation from a friend.
What helped me overcome the fear of outsourcing was thinking about my readers. Is this really the best way to spend my time to help my readers the most?
If not, then I should outsource it.
5. A common myth is that as you grow and scale your business, you have to sell your soul to make money, especially when you venture into paid advertising. How do you debunk this myth in your business?
I tried paid advertising; it works well, but, it honestly made me lazy.
The ads were doing so well, I stepped back and didn’t invest in my organic growth.
I don’t feel like I have to sell my soul to make my business grow.
I’m not super promotional and I don’t charge insane prices. I know my products change lives and my students have proven that again and again. I give as much as I can, and occasionally, I ask for a sale and things do well.
6. Why do you think most people fail to grow their businesses and what advice would you offer them to keep pushing, despite all the setbacks?
Most people give up and find excuses.
It’s too hard. It’s taking too much time. I’m tired today. I’m not smart enough.
Most of these self-deprecating emotions are a form of procrastination.
If you have a strong enough goal, it will fuel you.
My ultimate goal was to get my husband to come home. Now that I’ve accomplished that, it’s to keep him home.
Editor’s note: What is your why? If it’s not crystal clear, you will lack the motivation to continue prodding along even when it gets challenging. Let me know what your why is in the comments below.
7. How important has niching down been (no matter how hard it hurts) to your business’ growth and profitability?
It helps.
It’s not mandatory.
But, niching down helps so you stay focused and know how to talk to your audience.
It may take you a few months to find your perfect niche.
I would advise starting your business even if you don’t have your niche yet—you’ll discover it faster when you start working.
8. What do you attribute your success to and how do you explain it? Do you think the same strategies will help you reach your next monetization goals? Why or why not?
I attribute a lot of my success to my relentless drive and dedication.
I’m extremely competitive and it fuels me.
This drive could actually prevent me from reaching my next monetization goals because I’m placing too much of my focus on my own skills and not those of my team.
9. To scale, you really need to have a systemized business. What steps have you taken to build those systems and how do you optimize them?
I’m building a team for my business and it has been wonderful.
I’ve realized which things I must do and which things I can outsource.
This allows me to help my readers more and is a win-win for everyone.
10. If you could speak face-to-face with yourself when you first started your business, what pearls of wisdom would you impart?
I would tell myself to not get in such a tizzy about little things.
Just focus, work hard, and keep your blinders on.
Don’t be distracted by every shiny object.
And stay positive—your attitude can determine your success.
About Suzi Whitford
Suzi Whitford is a former industrial engineer who left the corporate world to raise her little tribe of children. She spends her free time helping moms build their blogs and applies her corporate knowledge of Lean Six Sigma to simplify the blogging process. On Start A Mom Blog, she has helped over 40,000 moms start and grow their blogs and many of her students are making $2,000 to $20,000 per month with their own blogs.
Conclusion
Thanks for participating in my series, Suzi!
As you can tell, it’s NOT EASY growing and scaling an online business, but there are some things you can do to aid you in the process.
Inspired by Suzi Whitford?
Now, it’s your turn!
I assembled the Scaling Blueprint to show you how to…
- Outsource Effectively
- Systemize Your Business
- Shatter Your Revenue Goals
After working with six-figure and seven-figure clients, I know the difference between how they function.
Let me help you start scaling successfully.
Cheers to future success!
Suzi my most favorite mentor. I have been following her for almost two years now and although I am still small, I am growing slow and steady. Most everything I have learned, I have learned from Suzi. She is so sweet and generous. She runs monthly challenges to get free group support. I haven’t missed one yet.
I am so happy to have run across this interview with her. She truly is inspirational.
Hey, Traci! So glad to hear! Suzi is a good friend and I met her this year at FinCon 🙂 I’ll make sure to forward this message on to her so she feels the love <3
Great interview! Love Suzi and her work. She is so inspiring! I recently started a blog and have a long way to go! Will you mind sharing the mastermind class that you have referred to? Thank you!
-Anu
Hey Anu! Glad you loved Suzi’s interview on the Scaling Success Stories series 🙂 Unfortunately, the mastermind group is private, but what I can tell you is that there are some AMAZING bloggers in there, all of whom you will see featured on this series if you subscribe, so you will have a chance to learn from them. If you can get into a mastermind group with bloggers you trust and appreciate, I would highly recommend it as it has transformed my blogging career. Thanks!