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If you’re an aspiring Influencer looking to go full-time with your business, make 6 figures on your platforms, and truly SCALE your income as an Influencer, then keep reading.
In this post, I’m sharing with you my BEST Influencers Tips: 6 steps to making 6 figures as an influencer.
Step 1: Don’t Skip the Basics
I want to breeze right past this. I’m sure you want to get to the “good stuff,” but I wouldn’t be a proper coach if I didn’t start with making sure you have the foundation set for your entire brand.
There’s a reason why all you hear in every YouTube video is to “pick a niche,” “know your audience,” “know who you’re talking to,” “use content pillars,” “provide value,” etc.
Everybody says to do all those things because it actually works. If you skip any of those things, the rest of these steps won’t apply.
I won’t dive into those in this post, but I do have plenty of other posts or videos (like this one) you can use to help you go further and deeper into those topics.
Before you move on to step 2, make sure:
- You have your niche defined
- You know your audience like you know your best friend
- You know how to provide value to them by understanding what they consider to be valuable
- You’re showing up and being consistent
Got it? Let’s move on.
Step 2: Check Your Mindset
When you want to start making money, or more money than what you’re currently making, you need to check your mindset before taking any action.
Here’s a quick test. Answer these questions to yourself honestly:
- What do you currently believe is possible when it comes to money?
- Do you feel like results are impossible?
- What is your attitude or beliefs when it comes to money?
- What do you think the odds of you succeeding truly are?
The hard truth is exactly what Henry Ford said, “Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.”
If you feel like it’s impossible to make money, then it will be.
If you believe there is more than enough out there and you’re taking intentional action, you WILL magnetize money to you and your business!
This is why adjusting your money mindset is so important.
Your money mindset is the unique beliefs and attitudes you develop about money. So what you believe about money and yourself will shape how life unfolds before you.
If you think that this is something you need to work on here are 3 book recommendations I have for you:
- You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero
- The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
- Switch On Your Brain by Dr. Caroline Leaf
Step 3: Know Your Platform (or Platforms!)
More specifically, know how to leverage the platforms you’re on.
I understand that everyone’s journey looks a little different and some of you watching might be at the beginning stages of your business, where you only have time to focus on one platform.
And that’s okay!
Give 100% of your energy into one place while you build that momentum.
Then there are some of you who are at that next level of not wanting to put all your eggs in one basket, so you’re starting to expand into two, maybe three platforms.
No matter where you’re at with your journey, I believe there are two areas of importance for every Influencer when it comes to platform structure:
- It’s easiest to have ONE platform that is your MAIN platform. From there, you can recycle your content or make new content on other platforms to support your business in different ways!
- Know how to leverage each platform to your advantage.
First, let’s talk about juggling multiple platforms.
Managing Multiple Platforms
The easiest way to juggle multiple platforms is by recycling content.
This means I can turn a YouTube video into Instagram Reels or TikTok videos. I can use the script to turn into a blog on my website (like this one!) or even use the script to turn into a bunch of captions for Instagram.
I can also create a carousel post on Instagram that teaches some of these steps. With one macro piece of content like my YouTube video, I’m able to create 10 pieces of content elsewhere.
If that seems exciting, yet a little intimidating or overwhelming for you, then I recommend looking into tools like Jellysmack.
Jellysmack is a tech company that helps creators grow their communities and maximize their earnings across multiple social media platforms.
So, if your main platform is on YouTube and you want to grow your community on Instagram, Twitter or TikTok, Jellysmack will put in the work to edit your videos and tailor them to each specific platform so that you can stay focused on doing what you love creating content.
That can save you a ton of time, so you can focus on what you enjoy most all the while reaping the rewards of having content on all desired platforms. And I personally don’t know of any other tool that does that for you… and I’ve looked.
How to Leverage Each Platform
When you understand the value of each of your platforms, then you’ll understand how to tie in your streams of income (which I’ll list out all the possible streams of income in step 4).
For example, my platforms are:
- YouTube
- TikTok
- Email List
- Facebook Group
YouTube
YouTube is my main platform that drives most of the organic traffic to my business. This is where I provide 100%, free value to my audience through long-form content.
The way I choose to monetize this platform is through brand collaborations. It doesn’t cost anything for my subscribers.
TikTok
TikTok is where I post my short-form video content. There’s a combination of educational, entertaining, and casual videos over there.
It’s not a #1 traffic driver (yet), but it helps me reach a new audience that might not be on YouTube or might not prefer long-form content.
(If this is a platform you want to dive into, check out my post on how to grow on TikTok.)
Instagram is where my audience can connect with me on a personal level. They see what I’m up to on a daily basis in both my business AND personal life, vote on upcoming videos, and can start conversations with me through DMs.
I don’t do a lot of brand collaborations over on Instagram. I mostly do affiliate linking when I talk about products I like in my stories or talking about my own products and courses.
(You can also take my free course that can help you grow on Instagram.)
Email Lists
I email my list once a week and they get BONUS insights that I don’t post anywhere else. I have a series called “Question of the Week,” where I answer the hot topic question from that week in a video and send it to everyone who is subscribed!
There are also some funnels that will email certain subscribers offers on products depending on their interests: youtube, Instagram, business tips, etc.
Email lists are a great way to create a loyal fanbase. It’s also rather easy to set up with ActiveCampaign if you’re looking to start an email list.
Facebook/Meta
I’ll also put my Private Facebook Group in here because it is another platform that I’m on daily. This is where I can give coaching advice to my students who have registered for my course.
Knowing what my “authority” is in each space, I’m able to tie in my different streams of income strategically. That brings me to step 4.
Step 4: Pick Your Income Stream. What Makes Sense For You?
There are a lot of ways to make money out there. The quickest way to 6-figures as an influencer is by having multiple streams of income.
If you haven’t heard this phrase before, multiple streams of income is when you have income from several different sources. This way, if one source stops or is eliminated, you’re not left high and dry. You have other sources to fall back on.
I heard somewhere that “every millionaire has at least 7 streams of income.”
While it is possible to make six figures with one income stream, the best way to reach six figures consistently is by having multiple streams of income running at once.
I’ll break this down.
Let’s say you want to make $100,000 in a year. Divide that by 12 months in a year, and you’ll have to make $8,333.33/month.
So, you can either make that much money with one income stream, OR you can have multiple streams to help support that number.
One income stream means it will have to bring in $8,333.33.
Two income streams mean each will have to bring in $4,166.66
Three income streams mean each will bring in $2,777.77
Four income streams mean $2083.33, and so on.
It feels a lot less intimidating when you break it down that way.
I will say, it does take a while to establish each individual stream of income, so don’t expect this to happen overnight. “Overnight success” doesn’t exist.
How to Make Multiple Streams of Income
Now, HOW can you make this money?
You can set up your income streams to be either passive or active:
- Passive income is when you put in a lot of hard work in the beginning, but you can eventually set it up to sell forever, with little-to-no effort on your end.
- Active income requires you to show up consistently with the same amount of effort every time.
- There’s also mixed, which is a combination of passive and active. They don’t solely fall into either category.
Popular Income Streams Online Influencers Choose
Here are income streams for you to choose from:
- Affiliate marketing
- Brand collaborations
- Selling digital products
- Selling physical products
- Online courses
- Coaching
- Offering a service
- Memberships
- platform monetization
- User-generated content (UGC)
- NFTs
These are the main ways Influencers can make money. Yes, there are other ways out there, but these are the most common income streams that Influencers specifically use to make money.
Now, in which of the three income stream categories do these fall?
- Passive: Affiliate marketing, selling digital and physical products, and online courses
- Active: Brand collaborations, coaching, offering a service, UGC
- Mixed: Memberships, platform monetization, NFTs
Some of these might sound more enticing to you than others. There is no “right or wrong” stream of income to have. It’s up to you, as the business owner, how you want to layer them, so pick what you want!
Pick one and start from there.
Step 5: Start the Snowball Effect
Money doesn’t just appear out of thin air. I mean… sometimes it feels like it does.
But there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into it. That’s why trusting the slowball effect and trusting the process is so important. Patience is a MUST.
I’m going to share with you some numbers.
I believe it’s important to be transparent about money in this industry because this era is so new! A lot of the time, Influencers don’t know how much to charge or how much it’s possible to make, and that’s why I share these numbers with all of you.
This is not to be flashy because, at the end of the day, this is NOT all my money. This is my BUSINESS’S income. I pay taxes AND expenses before paying myself.
How Much I Make as an Influencer (And How Long it Took)
Last year, this was what my streams of income looked like:
- Online Courses: $96,259.68
- My Digital Products: $3,794.65
- Coaching: $23,381.46
- YouTube: $40,756.59
- Collaborations: $40,995
- Patreon: $12,301
- Affiliate: $1,908.90
In total, my business made $219,397.28.
(If you want a full run down of how much money my business made in 2020 vs 2021, watch this video here so you can see the snowball effect happen in real-time!)
These numbers didn’t automatically appear. There was a snowball effect that took place.
Like I said before, pick one stream of income at a time. This is what my income timeline looked like:
- October 2019: brand collaborations & group coaching
- Jan 2020: started freelancing as a Social Media Assistant
- July 2020: YouTube Monetization
- August 2020: started an affiliate strategy (just linking in YT video descriptions)
- October 2020: 1-on-1 Coaching
- January 2021: I launched my website, which was when I officially started offering Digital Products. I also launched my Patreon at the same time.
- July 2021: Online Course
- October 2021: ended my Patreon
Now for 2022, I’m on track to hit $500,000! It took a lot of time and effort, but I chose my streams, one at a time, and never stopped. (Well, I did stop working as a Social Media Assistant and stopped my Patreon, but you get the point!)
You can do the same.
Step 6: Invest in Yourself
As an Influencer, you are the face of your brand. You need to be taking care of yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally.
The #1 thing that helped me scale my business was continually learning. I watched youtube videos, invested in courses that would help me achieve a specific outcome, attended webinars, and supported other people in the niche I was trying to grow in.
Invest in yourself physically! Go on walks. Eat healthy food at home more than you eat out or order DoorDash. Pay a little extra for organic produce (within your budget). Get a good night’s sleep every night.
AND to balance that all out, invest in your self-care!
Get that massage. Get your nails done. Go to the beach. Go ahead and take that nap. Treat yourself to a well-deserved cheat meal!
Investing in yourself not only keeps you driven to accomplish the income goals you set for yourself, but it also ensures that you’re giving your best in everything you do as an Influencer.
At the end of the day, what matters most is that you’re providing the best content you can and adding value to others.
Follow your joy!
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