1. What is your purpose for refinancing? Make sure you are refinancing your home loan for the right reason. There are two goals for refinancing; 1.) Aim to shorten — or 2.) at least maintain — your current loan term while lowering your interest rate.

2. Know your credit score. Check your credit history and make sure the information is up-to-date and accurate. The better your score, the better the mortgage refinance interest rates you can qualify for or be offered.

3. What is the current value of your home? The goal here is to check your neighborhood for recent sales of homes like yours. Research your home’s value using reputable sources.

4. Find the best mortgage rate. Start by doing your research, then comparing refinance rates online. You can shop rates online as much as you want, but limit the window for submitting loan applications. Also do not allow your credit report to be pulled. If you do so, limit it to a two-week period. Why? Because this helps to lessen the impact on your credit score.

5. Know your all-in costs. Compare closing costs you receive from each lender you consider. A home loan refinance can trigger a bunch of fees: application fees, the cost of an appraisal, origination fees, a document processing fee, an underwriting fee, a credit report charge, title research and insurance, recording fees, tax transfer fees and points, to name several.

6. Maintain all paperwork and documentation. This can be a bit harder now-a-days because so many of us do our financial business online. But you might have to gather, print or download statements, pay stubs, and whatever else the lender will need during the loan process.

7. Lock-in your rate. You’ll have to decide when to lock in your mortgage refinance rate with the lender you choose, so the rate you’re offered for your new loan can’t change during a specified period prior to closing.

8. Cash is King. There are likely to be property taxes and insurance, closing costs and other expenses to pay at closing, so be sure to set aside enough cash to cover them. In some cases, these costs can be added to the mortgage balance, which, on the one hand, limits your upfront costs but, on the other, increases what you owe on your home.

Final tips

Know that some homeowners refinance their mortgages for reasons other than locking in a lower interest rate. Some refinance as a way to get rid of mortgage insurance.

Others are interested in tapping into their home equity as cash, but it’s important to understand the pros and cons of a cash-out refinance.

And with any refinance, be sure to consider how long it will take for you to break even on the fees and expenses.

Refinancing — for the right reason, with a good interest rate and a suitable term — can enhance your overall financial position.

The post A Step-by-Step Process for Refinancing Your Home appeared first on Chris Inc..

Let me take you down memory lane and look at my blogging history:

• Chrissain.com started out on Blogger. That’s terrible right off the bat.
• I was initially all over the place and didn’t have a real focus.
• Can you believe I had the nerve to put google ads on my page with no traffic (I made a $1.54 and immediately took ads off my free website)
• I finally got focused, found my niche and got serious about my blog as a potential business. (1k+ per month) – Started about a year ago

You can see the proof in my income reports. I’ve wrestled with this thing to figure it out and make it profitable.

Want to know the difference between a successful blog and an unsuccessful blog?  

Pull your seat up real close if you are reading this on your desktop… pull your phone real close to your face if you are on your mobile device.

It’s really simple…

Accumulate Your Losses QUICKLY.

That’s the key.

You need to get going so you can know what works and what doesn’t. Thoughts as well as questions such as “Does anyone know that my blog or business exist?” or just as important, the “Why is no one buying my stuff??

This is a phase we all go through.

What’s the key to starting fast?

It’s a combination of failing fast and learning quickly.

Ever heard of Hard Head Fred? Just know mistakes and failures are part of the process, but if you’re smart, you can expedite your learning curve and limit your mistakes with these tips below.

Let’s jump right into the 8 biggest blogging mistakes you need to avoid and how to fix them!

Here is a breakdown of what I will cover:

• Free Blogging Platforms
• Email Marketing
• Blog Post Titles
• Your Pins on Pinterest
• Belief in Yourself
• Hiding While Blogging
• Wasting Time
• Slow Website

1. Using a Free Blogging Platform

Mistake number one is for those of you still using a free blogging platform to create your blog (i.e. Blogger, Wix, BlogSpot, etc.).

You only get one chance to make a first impression – this is as true in the blogging world as it is anywhere else.

Check it out. If my first impression of you is that you’re unwilling to spend $3/month hosting and domain package…boy do we have problems. Not only are you signifying you’re unwillingness to invest in yourself but, you are also saying to everyone else; “Hey, don’t take my business serious because I don’t.”

Free does not inspire trust or confidence, and those things are EVERYTHING.

It’s also super easy to create an online business or to set up a blog these days. No coding experience or expertise with WordPress and Bluehost needed. Stop looking for excuses not to succeed and start out the right way. If you want people to take you seriously, you must first take yourself serious.

You get one chance to make a first impression! Remember that.

2. Avoiding Building an Email List

Mistake number two bloggers make is not building an email list as soon as possible.

I remember when I first started, not only did I not see a use for email I was reluctant to acquire people’s emails. That all changed quickly as I began to educate myself more and one day discovered that the “money is in the list…the email list.”

I quickly started collecting emails then…

Believe it or not, email marketing is a real thing. I understand the fear that many have with emailing from not knowing what to say to feeling like you are spamming people, but the numbers don’t lie.

Without question, email is the #1 way to turn a prospect into a buyer. It’s not going anywhere and its been that way for the past decade.

The beauty is this; I have a list of hundreds of people to contact when I publish new articles or sell new products. It provides a sense of security.

Even if Facebook became Myspace tomorrow, I’d be okay. Why? – Because of my email list!

Check out ConvertKit. It’s what I use and what I recommend new bloggers use to.

3. Writing Poor Headlines and Blog Post Titles

Mistake number three is writing poor headlines and blog post titles.

There are copywriters and full-time headline writers out there.  It’s a legitimate profession. Real talk, there are people paid to sit in a room and think up the most compelling headlines all day… Welcome to Digital, Tech and Information era.

Major companies are literally relying on the clicks provided by their team and the creative headlines they muster up.

A good headline is everything! Without one, you won’t get any clicks to your site. And without clicks, there is no ad revenue.

80% of your time should be spent researching your topic idea and coming up with a compelling and creative headline. Seriously, how much does what you write matter if nobody clicks and reads it?

You can have the best content in the world, but if you don’t pair it with a good headline, no one will read your blog.

4. Learn how to create nice looking pins for Pinterest

Mistake number four is creating poor graphics and pins. Learn how to create transparent backgrounds for instance or what color schemes work best and captures the attention of people online.

The image you choose means EVERYTHING. Probably right up there with your headline, your image is why people click. Choose wisely.

It’s not likely to have just a nice image and weak headline driving clicks.

I creates all of my images on Pinterest using a free software called Canva.

5. Lack of belief in yourself

Mistake number 5 is lack of belief in who you are. No confidence or low confidence is often at play.

This is not a problem I personally have, but I coach a lot of people and it is something that is present in many.

I will admit, blogging can be intimidating. Just the human part of all of this makes you go back and forth about whether to publish something or not. Wrestling with the thought of how other may perceive what you share is also a real fear.

Believe in yourself. Trust yourself.

You have a story that is meant to set some others free. You have a story that only you can tell that is intended to transform a life.

This post is as much of a reminder for myself as it is a lesson to you, by the way. Not everyone is going to resonate or agree with everything you say…So what. Focus on the ones that do. Keep writing.

The point I’m trying to make is, focus on who you are called to reach. You will lose yourself trying to reach and appease the masses.

Trust your voice. Believe in yourself. You story MATTERS.

6. Hiding behind your keyboard

Mistake number six is hiding behind your keyboard. Wait a minute! Chris what do you mean? A lot of people hide behind their blog and this is a big mistake. If you continue to hide, no one will ever know who you are. If no one knows who you are, you will never be able to connect with your readers.

What happens when you stop hiding?

• You grow and so does your blog
• More business. More sales
• Real customers. Organic followers
• An overall positive sense of self-worth

Which leads me to my next statement… Stop hiding?

Be more than your blog. People want to connect. People need to your face in order to connect and in order buy products you are selling on your blog.

There must be a real person behind the keyboard.

7. Wasting Time

Time is the most valuable asset we have. It is the one thing you can’t get back. Mistake number seven is procrastinating and wasting time.

When I started Chrissain.com, I decided to have 10 different email auto responders as part of my email list… Eager to make some money online, I went about it the wrong way.

Coincidentally, it was only when I simplified everything that I started making some REAL money in my business online.

Focus is key.

Do your best to stay focused on the #1 most important task that you can do right now to help your blog succeed. Let everything else go, temporarily, until you complete that one task.

8. Slow Website and Page Load Time

Mistake number eight is having a slow website. This often happens because you failed to optimize images, add too many plugins which in turns slows down your site.

Often times there are a few reasons for your blog is slow. The number one reason is often image size.

Most bloggers don’t realize this problem and just upload an image into WordPress at whatever size it comes in. The problem is that the more post you have the more it will slow down your site.

Here is the step-by-step process I take to make sure my images are optimized:

• Resize, crop, touch up, add borders, etc. using Canva.
• When it looks how you want it, save it to your desktop or whatever, and then upload it to WordPress. Add the plugin WP Smush which is another free platform that compresses your images for you!
• NEXT upload it to your blog post!
• Finally, BOOM…your photos are compressed and will no longer cause your site to work slow.

Bonus Blogging Mistake #9. Not FOCUSING on Pinterest!

Blogging and Pinterest are a powerful combination.

If you get it right, there’s a lot of money to be made that will cost you ZERO dollars in ad revenue!

In fact, I drive over 100,000 views a month from Pinterest alone and a long side Facebook and google, it is my preferred source of traffic.

The biggest problem I seen with Pinterest and bloggers, is that they don’t take it serious. Perfecting Pinterest is not simple nor is it a get-rich-quick thing.  Most people end up giving up because they can’t “figure out” how to use it.

Facts:  There is no shortcut to immediate traffic. Cultivating an audience takes time. But there are platforms that will help you get there a little faster.

If you don’t want to put in the work, just forget about blogging, because there is lots of work involved!

Making money online takes a lot of time and effort.

If you want to make a lot of money, spending a good chunk of time and effort mastering Pinterest can be worth it to figure out.

If you enjoyed this article on the biggest blogging mistakes or have any questions for me, please leave a comment below!

Get started. Dare to be GREAT!

The post 8 Blogging Mistakes You Need To Avoid appeared first on Chris Inc..

Can you relate to any of the fears I had?

• Haters and trolls saying crazy things about me (it has happened plenty of times)
• Not being good enough
• Starting down the wrong path and having to start over from scratch
• Choosing the wrong website design and blog name
• People thinking less of me for talking about “how to make money online” through blogging
• Most of all: Fear of putting myself out there and exposing who I am to the world.

• People knowing how much money I make
• Friends and family looking down and talking on me
• Not being skilled enough to compete with the so-called marketing experts

That’s a lot of fears…

To be honest, everyone feels some or most of these fears when starting out.

Very few people start a blog without certain doubt, fears and limiting beliefs. Doubting yourself is as much a part of being human as breathing and brushing your teeth.

You never arrive, there is never a good time and you will never feel 100% ready.

Remember that blog you engage with started at from nothing. Everyone has to build their blog and community from the ground up.

It’s easy to look at the vets in the game and feel discouraged and as if “You’ll never get there!”

Just remember that they started from nothing to and Google at your fingertips you have even more tools than they did!

Below are few of the best strategies I have found to overcome my fears.

How to Overcome Your Fear of Blogging

1. Accept that fear is part of human emotion. 

Many people never get started because they don’t want to be seen starting from the bottom. People fail to understand that in order to be successful, you can’t be afraid to fail.

Let your fear motivate you.  Having fears can be a good thing when handled correctly.

Fear of losing your car keeps you paying the bill. Fear of getting diabetes keeps me from consuming too much sugar.

Embrace the fact that fear can actually be a good thing. The goal in life is to learn how to channel your fear and allow it to produce epic results.

Aim to learn how to deal with fear in a positive and productive way.

Confidence is nothing more than believing in yourself.  Even when unsure a confident person presses forward anyway.

Never take a Loss. Only learn a lesson.

Checkout this strategy…

2. Frame all failures as L’s – “learning lessons”

The struggle is what I talk about it every chance I get. My failures and the times I’ve fallen short is what helped shape and build my character.

I knew what giving up looked like. I wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t quit!

Taking losses is the cost of doing business. Dust yourself off and make your next move your best move.

Not once have I regretted my past failures. Every loss was an opportunity to learn and grow.

If your first blog does not succeed, guess what… so what. Look at how much more knowledgeable you are now.

As you continue to learn and grow, you will continue to get better and better.

Everything happens for a reason. Learn from it. 

3. Write out what will happen to you if you do fail.

The author Tim Ferriss, can be credited for this activity. Simply think about the pros and cons of not succeeding.

Write down the worst-case scenarios.  Then write this statement; “If I quit my jobs and gave this my everything, what is the worst that could happen?”

It should look something like this. I…

• Give up the certainty of a pay check every two weeks to spend 6+ months blogging and making no money from blogging.
• Waste a lot of time and money only to go back to a regular job to avoid getting evicted and to pay my cell phone bill.
• Have to call my mom or one of my close friends to ask them if I can borrow some money.
• Must get a job through a temp service to avoid asking my mom for money.
• Will tell my family and closest friends, I flopped, and my blog failed.

Above is the worst that can happen. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Remember, if you’re not dead, you’re not done!

When you write out your limiting beliefs, you see how powerless those beliefs are.

I’m talking directly to you right now from my kitchen as my wife cook the best steaks ever.

I can’t even imagine NOT taken a chance to be great and living with regret solely due to my fear and lack of faith.

The truth is, if that’s the WORST that can happen, I think you’ll be just fine.

Having the ability to read this post wherever you are means regardless of what’s going on, in the end, you’ll be okay.

Why Start a Blog?

The two most important reasons for starting a blog that come to mind immediately are: unlimited income potential and time freedom.

A blogging career allows you to control your income. You can earn as much money as you choose to. Sure, there are risks involved and some people are never able to make money blogging but that doesn’t have to be you.

But if you stick with it and really dedicate yourself to growing your blog, there aren’t too many limits on how far you can go.

Blogging also allows you to leverage your time back to you. It enables you to travel and to work when you want to. Since staring my blogs, speaking, coaching and a host of other opportunities have presented itself. All are great income streams.

So, whether it’s traveling the world or just spending more time with loved ones, you can create the life you want.

How can I start a blog and make money?

If you already have an idea of what you want to blog about, you can get started in less than 10 minutes with our step-by-step tutorial on how to start a successful blog.

If you need some additional help on what to blog about, we have some resources here that should help you out:

• How Much to Charge For Your First Speaking Engagement
• Blog Writing Tips For Beginners
• How To Start A Profitable Blog Working Full Time
• FREE 7-Day eCourse on How to Start a Blog

Leave me a comment below with your questions or if you enjoyed this article on overcoming your fear of blogging.

The post How to Overcome Your Fear of Blogging appeared first on Chris Inc..

Writing good blog posts is more than just knowing your facts and putting it out there.

You may be the fact-check King or Queen, but you know what is way MORE important?

Connecting with your audience

If you aren’t able to write in a way that allows your readers to connect with you and start building a relationship, they’ll never sign up for your email list, purchase a product, or visit your blog again.

Trust is EVERYTHING in the blogging world where competition is stiff and there are millions of articles competing with yours.

Writing a good blog post requires you to do several different things at once, and I’ve got you covered on just about everything in this article.

Here is an outline of what we’re going to cover.

How to Choose Your Blog Topic

• What is Keyword Research
• Listen to Your Audience
• Trending Topics
• Content That Matters

Best Blog Writing Tips

• Plan Out Your Content
• Understanding who you are writing to
• Write like you talk
• Keep it real
• Length of blog content
• Make your content easy to read
• Ask for comments

After You Finish Writing

• Shareable Images
• Optimized Images
• SEO-Friendly
• Proofread and Edit

Before you can start writing your blog post, you need to make sure you’ve chosen a topic you like and feel good writing about. Below I’ve outlined a few of my steps for you.

How to Choose your Blog Topic

You can easily make this part way more difficult than it has to be by overdoing it. If you’re just starting out, you’re likely going to start writing about the most important topics you think your audience will be interested in.

Nothing is wrong with that starting out, but it can lead you down the wrong path.

People who blog just to blog create content they want to create, people who run successful businesses create content others want and need.

It doesn’t mean that you can’t write about what you are passionate about, but make sure you align your passion with the interests of others!

It has been said many of times by the experts so I’ll stress this as well. Your Number 1 focus in the beginning of building your blog is keyword research.

1. What is Keyword Research

Chris Inc. is built on creating content people actually search for. Here’s my step-by-step process to finding article topics on Pinterest (my recommended traffic engine for bloggers):

• 1. Go to Pinterest.
• 2. Type a Keyword into the top. In this example, we’re going to use the word “online.”
• 3. I like the word “business,” so I will select that as well.
• 4. I see both “ideas” and “opportunities” in the top searches, so I select ideas.

Now the keyword “Online Business Ideas” is cool and I could stop there, but in the spirit of giving you all I got, I will take it one step further.

• 5. I see that “Online Business Opportunities” is coming up in the suggested search (these items are the most searched and trafficked).

Therefore, I will add “opportunities” to my blog post, mix up the words a little, and I now have “Top Online Business Opportunities.”

BOOM!  I can even add a little fluff to it if the keyword is too boring. Its truly that SIMPLE!

At least 80% of your content needs to be created based on the things people want, need, and are actually searching for.

Chris Inc. is written solely based on content people want and need. Other tools that may help you find what people are searching for

You can also use tools like SEMrush and Google AdWords to find popular keywords and headlines for your blog topics.

You won’t need to do this for EVERY single article, but it can be helpful for coming up with the right keywords. Over time, you will begin to learn more about what your audience wants are based on the feedback you receive.

2. Listen to your Audience

This is self-explanatory. Some of what you create should specifically be about what your readers want and need! Focus on their PAIN POINTS!

The best way to find out what your audience wants is to ASK them.

• Ask your email subscribers.
• Ask your Facebook fans.
• If you don’t have an audience yet, make sure to ask at the end of your posts (for comments).

As your blog grows, your audience will begin commenting on your posts and replying to your emails with feedback about what they want and need more help with.

Now, remember, don’t lose yourself keeping up with all of their request. There is a reason you should do this in moderation.

Being in the lifestyle and personal finance space, I have got some crazy suggestions.

You can’t write about a crazy topic just because ONE person asked for it.

You should listen for a common theme among your audience.

The smartest things I did when I started out was ask people in my opening email what they wanted me to speak about.

I sifted through literally hundreds of emails where people spoke about ways I could help them.

I know exactly down to a “T” what my audience wants and needs are. The question is… do you??

3. TMZ and Trending Topics

People love new things.  New episodes of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, new clothes, new boyfriends. We all get off into it.

Because we love new things, there will always be a new diet, a new waist trainer, or a new product that comes around swooping up everyone’s attention.

Trending topics are irresistible to readers because everyone wants the scoop. They know they’re going to say something new and juicy that they haven’t heard before.

As a blogger, you need to have an opinion on these types of things but in your niche.

Even if your opinion is not favorable, your followers want you to discuss these things so they know where you stand. You are an authority on the subject to them and having an opinion matters!

The reason not to make this the focal point of your blog however is:

• Trends come and go. Trending topics are only trendy for a moment, it’s not searchable in the long term.
• This content may not serve any other purpose than a quick read. It may not help you turn your audience into customers.

You can also see topics that are trending with Google Trends or try running a search for “your niche + popular trends in [current/next year].”

4. Content That Matters

While you should be sharing your story and expressing who you are throughout your post, it can be hard to connect when every post is a “list” or “how to” post.

That’s why you should mix it up every now and then.

Some of your post should always serve the purpose of helping you build know-like-and-trust with your audience.

Here are some great blog topic ideas for a quick mix-up that are designed to help you CONNECT with your people:

• What’s your personal story? Tell the world in a timeline of dates posts. [See our About Us page].
• Share some of your favorite memes, pictures, and videos that make you laugh on the internet.
• Is there something about your industry that frustrates you? Talk about it.
• What are your goals (related to your niche) for the coming week, month, and year? Share them!
• Share your opinion on a controversial topic. You will generally isolate some but build a much deeper connection with many more.
• Write a blog post about the biggest mistakes you’ve made in your journey to [relate topic to niche].

The best part about writing blog post like these, is that it’s both Therapeutic and Fun to write. It will also help you create a deeper connection with your audience.

They are both good for your audience and your business.

Win-Win-Win (in my Jay Rock voice).

7 Best Blog Writing Tips for Beginners

Now that you know what to write about, let’s talk about some tips that will help you with writing your blog posts.

1. Plan out your blog content before writing your post

Okay, so now you have your topic chosen. It’s time to plan out what you would like to say in your post.

You could wing-it and “just start writing!” But that could lead to rambling which doesn’t touch on the key points that are of interest to your audience.

My preferred method is to simply open up a new blank Word document with my blog title at the top. I then write out the major key points that I need to touch on.

After settling on the most important points of interest for the article, I begin to fill in the outline with what I want to say about the topic.

It’s easier to write in a Word document rather than in WordPress because that’s what I’m used to. You can copy and paste the content over to WordPress when you finish.

Now that our structure is in place let’s jump off into the good stuff!

2. Understand who you are writing to

When it comes to communicating with your audience, understand who you are writing to. Be mindful of where they are in the process.

This doesn’t mean that you should assume your audience don’t know anything. But be mindful.

When you write and communicate, do it from your point of view, your experiences, and with your knowledge about the topic.

You generally know a LOT more than your audience does about that topic, so its easy to skip over the ‘smaller’ details that you feel are less important but that end up actually being crucial to your audience.

Assume that your audience knows very little to nothing about the topic you are discussing so that you don’t leave out any important details that they need to fully understand your message (and purchase your products!).

This becomes even more important when you are writing emails and sales pages.

Here is an example of one way you can incorporate this concept into your writing.

Don’t just tell them how to do it. Remind them WHY they need to do it. – Obviously, they should know why they need it but the reminder helps them understand you better.

It may feel a little like you are communicating unnecessary details at first, but you’ll begin to get used to writing in this way and your audience will thank you for it!

3. Write like you talk

A lot of bloggers try to be too “professional” when they write blog content and they get overly focused on sounding “official” or like an “expert.” This is not college.

While verb-noun agreement is important, you don’t need to sound like an uptight professor when writing.

I like to write in the way that I would communicate my thoughts to my wife or to my boys.

There is some level of comfort when speaking this way but it’s not as formal as if you were presenting at a conference breakout session.

Find your cool. Try to remain relaxed and confident in your writing. Put on some 90’s R&B and let your fingers flow on the keyboard.

Put on some jazz or an instrumental.

Next up on the list of blog writing tips ties into the point above but goes a little deeper.

4. Keep it real

We touched on this briefly above with choosing your blog topic, but now we are going to take it a step further.

Stop writing about what you think and write about what you know!

Writing a blog post is really just about pouring your thoughts out on a subject, but writing GREAT CONTENT is more about incorporating your actual experiences into the subjects you write about.

If you’re talking about photography and how to take great photos but you don’t even know what a Canon is, folks will read right through you.

Honestly, this is the most important point of this entire post and the reason I receive positive feedback and social shares.

The number one compliment I get is, you seem so “real” and “down to earth.” Believe it or not, people appreciate very honest and transparent people.

With so much buffoonery online, honesty and transparency is what EVERYONE should strive for – regardless of your blog niche.

It’s not enough to talk to your audience like they’re family, you should also treat the relationship with honor and respect.

You do this by getting deep, sharing personal experiences, thoughts, and feelings.

This is another reason you should be careful with the blog niche you choose.

The more knowledge and experience you have about a topic, the better you can communicate your thoughts and perspective to your audience.

Without a personal touch, you might as well be Joe Blow. There will be nothing that sets YOU apart from everyone else.

When I write articles, I first think about the topic(s) my audience needs the most help with. Then, before I start writing, I think about my own experiences with that topic and how I can turn those experiences into important lessons for my audience.

These are the type of things you need to think about when you write your blog post.

5. Write good blog post but don’t go overboard on length

A super long post doesn’t always imply “good” when it comes to writing blog posts. 

Longer articles do generally rank higher for Google SEO because it means that people are spending more time on your page, and Google takes that into consideration in their algorithm ranking.

BUT…

If you fill your content with cotton candy just to hit some fairy-tale number for Google SEO, people will bounce from your website and this will INJURE your ranking on Google.

There is no silver bullet.

Most of my blog posts are at least 1,000 words, but I try to keep many of them closer to 1,500 – 2,000 for Google SEO.

With that being said, when I write, I write. I’m not checking for actual length or how many words.

Let it flow.

Check your word count when you’re finished.

If you obsess over how many words you got while you are writing, you’ll end adding fluff to your articles.

Once you’re finished writing, take a look at the word count. If you’re below 1,000 words, look for areas you can expand upon and provide more details to help support your key points.

During this overview, remember the point from above: Your audience is at the beginning stage and you’re somewhat like a veteran.

Don’t add cotton candy to your post to hit numbers. Only add additional value to your content for your readers or nothing at all.

6. Make your content easy to read

Make it plain. The only thing to touch on for those who love English is APA and MLA is out the window

Are you writing a dissertation?

No???

With that said, your articles should not be in block or full paragraph form. Again, this is not college.

People are constantly consuming information all day, whether that be at the gym, at work or at the nail shop.

Competition for attention is only intensifying, so it’s important to not only catch people’s attention but to also KEEP IT.

Most people aren’t mindlessly browsing through articles like they would a casual stroll while walking a dog.

They’re surfing through many different articles and scanning the information for things that interest them.

This means that your content needs to be easily readable and eye-catching so that the reader can tell immediately whether your content is worth their time. Ways to do this include:

• Using proper heading tags to make headings larger (this also helps for Google SEO)
• Including a table of contents or overview of key points at the beginning of your article
• Bolding, italicizing, and/or underlining important text
• Making sure hyperlinks are in an easily identifiable color
• Spacing out sentences into shorter paragraphs (rather than large blocks of text)

These are all strategies I incorporate into my articles. The last point is especially important and one that many people overlook.

When you were little, you were taught to write longer paragraphs that separated different ideas. In blog posts, you should write in a conversational tone because it makes your content easier to read.

7. Ask for comments

Comments are good forms of social proof that help you understand what your readers are responding to.

Comments also signal to Google that the content is popular and engaging. That helps with Google SEO.

I admit it can be difficult to get the comments on your blog posts, so you need to jump start it however you can.

Ways you can do this include;

Ask for comments:

• “If you enjoyed this post or have any questions, please leave them in the comment section below!”
• “I’d love to hear your thoughts on [insert topic]! Please feel free to leave me a comment below the article!”

Ask a question: 

• “What do you think about [insert topic]? Please feel free to leave me a comment below the article!”
• “Did you enjoy this article or feel like you have anything else to add? I’d love to discuss it with you in the comment section below this article!

This small call-to-action can help to increase the number of comments you get on your posts!

After You Finish Writing Your Blog Post

Below are a few other blog writing tips that I incorporate into my articles to make sure that the blog content is the best it can be!

1. Include a shareable image in each blog post

If you don’t make it as easy as possible for your audience to share your blog content, they won’t bother.

I use a combination of a shareable images along with Social Media Warfare, a social media plugin.

My cornerstone blog posts include a tall image for Pinterest because that is my best source of traffic.

In addition, we use Social Media Warfare to include a Pinterest “Save” button that hovers over the image as well as professional-looking social media icons on our posts.

It’s a free plugin, but there is also a paid version!

2. Optimize Your Images

Site speed is incredibly important for both sales and SEO, and the larger your image files are, the longer it will take your website to load.

There are two steps that you need to take to optimize your images BEFORE uploading them to WordPress:

1. Resize: Make sure that the image is not larger than it needs to be to display how you want it on your site. You can use a free web-based app like WP Smush for this.
2. Compress: After resizing, you need to compress the file size to the smallest possible size you can get it to without reducing the quality below a level you’re comfortable with. You can do this through free sites such as Optimizilla or WP Smush.

It’s super important to take these steps before uploading pics so you don’t slow down your site with too many plugins or large images.

3. Make your blog posts SEO-friendly

Whether you plan on getting Google traffic or not, you should do what you can to “covertly” rank better in the Google algorithm.

If you do this, you will naturally begin to get more Google traffic over time.

The best way to learn more about how to do this is by downloading the Yoast SEO plugin. There is a free and paid version, but you shouldn’t need anything more than the free version.

4. Proofread and edit

Because you’re writing your blog posts in more of a ‘conversational’ tone, it’s a lot easier to make grammatical errors in your post.

I know that when I’m zoned out, I type super-fast because my mind is racing and I tend to make a lot small grammatical errors.

ALWAYS read over your content at least once before pressing publish. I recommend proof reading it in preview mode first then one last time before you actually publish the article.

Remember that its much harder to catch your own mistakes when you know what you wrote and what the article says already. If you can get another pair of eyes on the post, that’s good to.

I think that’s about it. I’m pretty sure I covered just about all you need to know. These are the best and most important blog writing tips that I personally use when writing blog posts. If you think I glazed over or forgot to cover something specifically for you, please feel free to leave your feedback in the comments below!

The post Best Blog Writing Tips for Beginners appeared first on Chris Inc..

I know that it’s easy to look at others success and think that it just ‘came easy’ or that they possess something you don’t.

But that simply is not true.

As I outlined in my stages of blogging success, there is a stage called “Flop Nation.” I know this stage first hand from personal experience.

I spent many months in the valley, going hard for hours’ days at a time and on weekends, with nothing to show for it.

Not only did it take nearly 12 months to make ANY money from my blog, I was lacking foundational pieces to the blog further hindering its success.

On top of that, I worked full-time, run a nonprofit and sit on numerous boards in the community.

So, how did I manage to get the blog off the ground?

These are my best tips, strategies and insights that I learned while in the trenches on the road to success.

And don’t worry, I got you. I’m not going to just tell you to put your head down and grind 24/7.

I had some long days and some long nights over the years to get where I am today.

Check this out.

Here is an overview of what we will cover:

• Manage Your Time
• What Social Life?
• Focus on What Matters
• Lock All The Way In
• Whatever You Earn Put It Back Into Your Business

Manage your time – Straight Up!

I know this may sound cliché but believe me when I tell you this, manage your time better. That means I don’t want you simply going through the motions. I need you get real SERIOUS about managing your time and eliminating distractions.

I’ve done some crazy things to ensure I protected my time such as:

Drink a meal replacement smoothie to avoid getting up to eat.

Yup, my wife has these shakes that are fire! Not only are they good but they are filling. One shake will have you feeling full for about 4 hours straight.

You have to do things to give yourself a competitive advantage. Those shakes turned out to be life changing and tasty.

Deciding what you will eat every day takes a lot of time and mental energy that can be too much for a new blogger.

Having a made-up mind frees up a lot of time and energy to focus on your new blog.

Wear sweats everyday (on the weekend and after work)

This came easy for me. As an athlete, we like to naturally dress comfy. Nothing is more comfortable than some nice sweat pants and a hoodie.

You spend too much time thinking about what you will wear every day and a lot of money buying new clothes when that money can be used for your blog.

I decided early on to keep my swag simple. That way it allows me to get right to work. Best of all, I’m comfy while working.

This helped me leverage my time in the morning when deciding what to wear and also kept me from feeling like I needed to go shopping for new gear.

5 a.m. Workout before work

One of the biggest issues with trying to blog with a full-time job was giving up my most productive hours of the day to my job.

I’m a morning person, those first few hours of the day have always been my most productive. Many days I have thought about how much further along my blog could be.

I made the decision to apply my routine from my playing days and start my day at 5 a.m. This allowed me to not only feel good but be more productive.

This does require a LOT of self-discipline, but it was worth it. I’ve obviously kept this up long after my playing days and now apply this same level of focus to my blog.

More tips on managing your time

Honestly, all of the productivity and time-management advice I can give you comes down to one thing: PROTECT YOUR TIME

The more you put on your plate, the more distractions you will have throughout the day.

Do your best to simplify your life as much as possible.

The only reason I am able to do what I do is because I protect my time. I have time with my wife, time for the gym and time for my blog. It’s the same routine every day until the foundation is firmly established.

I know that it sounds repetitive and somewhat boring but I promise you that there is nothing sexy about the blog life. But this is how you achieve success in the blogging game.

And now that success is here, I can take more time for other things in my life. It’s literally a short-term sacrifice for long term rewards.

What Social Life

In order to be GREAT you have to be willing to give up things that don’t improve your circumstance. This also goes right along with time-management and the tips above. Trying to maintain a social life could result in valuable time wasted. Time that you could’ve been working on your blog. Time you can’t get back.

This was especially hard for me because me and my guys love to get together, talk junk, watch the game, laugh and joke.

My home is home of all Super Bowl and fight (boxing) parties. I’m accustomed to lots of company and extremely late nights. But in order to be successful all of that had to come to an end (temporarily)!

Its challenging, I know but you need to commit to your blog and sacrifice the fun just for a bit. Keep in mind those 4 hours getting your nails done plus the 4 hours watching the game and halftime show means 8 total hours lost. Which translates into less time working on your blog.

With those 8 you lost, you could have:

• A new blog post completed
• 2-3 pins for Pinterest
• The prototype for a new product
• A new email sequence created
• 8 hours doing anything more productive than sitting at the barbershop watching the game

Okay, maybe you’re not at the salon or barbershop all day but you get my point. We all have the same 24 hrs. You gotta use your time wisely.

Sacrifice. Miss out on a few outings. Ask your brother to take the kids skating. Do whatever you need to do so that you can put some work in on your blog.

The main thing I’m trying to get across is that you must make SACRIFICES if you want to succeed – especially if you want to succeed sooner than later.

The hardest most disappointing part will be your family and friends. Reason being…the majority of them won’t understand. They will make you feel bad for not making time for them and they likely won’t understand this phase of your process.

Do your best to give grace to your family and friends but be steadfast in your decision to make your blog the priority for the time being.

Focus On What Matters

This is an important one because as a blogger, you are a one-man show. That means you are 100% responsible for all tasks that need to be completed at any given time.

The problem with that is, if you work on too many projects, you spread yourself thin and nothing gets done.

To avoid the lack of productivity this causes, focus on what matters.

Write out a daily to-do list of all of the most critical tasks that you need to work on. Then, prioritize them based on what is THE most important.

Work on that ONE most important task to the success of your business first, and do NOT move on until the task is complete.

Top Secret: It is NOT your logo or your blog lay out .

Pretty much everyone, spends hours on end and days at a time on logo’s and blog layout.

Ask me how I know. Because its exactly what I did when I first started out.

This is why it’s important to get some help when you first start. Coaching or Blogging courses can help teach you exactly what to do, step-by-step.

As a new blogger, EVERYTHING is all on you – blog design, content creation, landing pages, email collection, blog traffic, monetization, etc.

And it’s not just about what to do – the timing of when you do these tasks matters just as much, if not more. 

Lock All The Way In

Once you have prioritized your tasks and you know what you need to work on and in what order, it’s time to zone out and lock in.

Think of ‘Lock’n In’ as a deep day dream. It’s those few hours where you’re basically zoned out.

For some it might be hard to get in the zone but once you do, it’s GAME OVER. I guarantee you’ll get a lot done and feel very productive.

Lock’n In and Zoning Out may look different for you than it does for me. Your job is to find your groove.

For me, it’s usually in my kitchen. I have this nice spot at the island in my kitchen where I just get after it.

For some people, it’s at the library or the coffee shop. I get too distracted in public. But find what works for you.

Find your work groove and get in it as much as possible!

Complete your toughest task while your locked in and zoned out. Things such as; content research and creation, blog post writing, product outline, writing emails, etc.

Some tasks that don’t require you to be zoned out are things like social media, graphic design and creating pins for Pinterest.

I typically find that its easier for me to lock in and zone out in the morning. But if you are not a morning person, go with what works for you.

Bottom line: Do whatever you can to eliminate all distractions, zone out and work on your blog.

Whatever You Earn Put Back Into The Business

This is HUGE! I’m going to cover the business of blogging in two parts:

Set Business Goals

Treat your blog like a business. Invest in it as you would anything else and you will eventually get a return on it.

If you’re trying to start a free blog and get by as cheap as possible, you will get cheap results. If you don’t invest a dime, you will never make a dime.

It’s that simple!

For everybody out there screaming  “But I don’t have money to invest in my blog right now,” I hate to break it to you, but blogging is not for you.

Blogging is not some get-rich-quick scheme

If you aren’t willing to spend any money on your new blog-business, the life of an entrepreneur is not for you.

I don’t mean to sound harsh. I just have to keep it real about what it is and what it ain’t. You must have the right expectation from jump.

You CAN start with free options, but you cannot expect to make any real money with free options.

For more information on the expected costs to start a blog, see our post here.

Invest in Yourself. 

Okay, let’s address the money from a different perspective.

I know first-hand that many of you say; “I can’t afford $100 for blog hosting” but are spending the same amount on shoes and clothes.

How do I know this? Because I did the SAME thing. We’re all human.

We make room in the budget for the things that matter to us. The problem is that we generally have our priorities messed up and end up spending our money on the WRONG things.

Don’t allow yourself to believe that you can’t afford the $29/month for ConvertKit but then turn around and buy a $80 pair of shoes.

Little things over time add up. It simply comes down to whether or not you want to make your blog work or not.

I chose to make it work. I made it the most important thing in my life outside of my family and my worship. Years later…My life, and my accomplishments goes without saying.

I was in student loan and credit card debt when I started my blog. The thought of starting and running my own business is what ultimately motivated me. I wanted to tackle my debt once and for all. Why? Because you become a slave to the lender.

I’ve been debt-free ever since.

I also started living a minimalist lifestyle. That meant getting rid of lots of stuff and living a lean life.

Here me when I say this, I am NOT advising you take it to the extreme. I just want to show you how committed I was to the things that mattered to me.

Invest in Your Business

It doesn’t take a whole bunch of money to get started.

But you should manage your money and penny pinch if necessary. Remember your blog is the top priority in your life.

If it’s not the top priority, that’s okay too. Just don’t expect major results from it.

I am blessed to have a good full time job. My son is 19 and out of the house now. So for me, I had some money to invest into my blog.

This money was put towards various software, products to sell, courses on how to monetize, etc.

I honestly spent several hundred hours over the first few months learning everything I could, implementing the strategies I learned, and mostly failing.

But while in the valley, some things stuck. I eventually found things that worked and were able to generate some revenue after several months.

And the rest is history!

You don’t need to invest thousands of dollars on your new blog and I’m not asking you to.

This is why I offer my FREE 7-Day Course. These are the strategies that I learned over the years – the ones that WORKED is what I give to you.

I’ve cut out the rest of the false and irrelevant information and left you with the strategies that prepared me for success the quickest.

Taking the right courses can greatly accelerate your learning and growth in your own business. Don’t sleep on that.

Here are two GREAT resources if you’re unsure of where to start:

• If you haven’t started a blog yet: Free 7-Day eCourse on How to Start a Blog
• If you have started a blog: Making Sense of Sponsored Post – is a course that will help you earn money

The post How To Start A Profitable Blog Working Full Time appeared first on Chris Inc..

For a lot of you that have followed our story over the past year and a half, you know that my wife and I worked extremely hard to pay off our debt and become debt free. Many of you seemed like you were on the actual journey with us and for that we love and appreciate you.

Others who were motivated by our debt freedom journey have asked specifically about our online side hustle, blogging and things we did to earn extra money…hence this online income report.

Blogging as a Side Hustle

Chris Inc. on its own didn’t do Sugar-Honey-Ice-Tea for about 9 months, and the first income I made was from sharing Pay Per Click (PPC) articles as an Influencer which earned about $350 a month on average. We literally had to use other revenue generating mechanisms to bring money in.

I must admit though, LIFE IS GOOD right now. To wake up every day motivated and grateful that we get to do what we love is pretty nice. Somehow, I’ve actually been able to turn a side hustle into a decent living. It’s crazy to even think about.

Whether you’ve been with me from the beginning or are just getting here – THANK YOU.

If you’d like to start your own blog as a hobby or potential side-hustle, check out my free “how-to” blog setup guide. You’ll be able to set up your own blog in as little as 15 minutes. I also suggest that you sign up for my free 7 Day Blogging Course below.

How to Start A Blog Free Email Course

In this free course, I show you how to create a blog easily, from the technical side (it’s not as hard as you think) all the way to earning your first income. Join now!First NameEmail AddressWe use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer.I’M READY!We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.Powered by ConvertKit

Before I get to the report here is a little motivation; You become GREAT by being GOOD over a long period time. Maybe it’s not writing a book or paying off debt like we did, but you should absolutely be working towards your goals every day. It’s worth it no matter what it is, I promise!

Let’s dive in! Read this next little blurb to see how our online side hustle income reports work:

If you’re new here, I started tracking my blogging income through income reports to be open, honest and transparent as well as accountable. More importantly, to track our efforts.You can’t effectively measure what you don’t track.CLICK TO TWEET

This is also a great way for me to keep an eye on my progress of what Chris Inc. is doing and it’s a great way for you to follow along as well if you’re thinking of starting an online business.

My income reports are divided into three sections:

1. A quick intro to who I am and what my story is for new readers (Must-read if you are new here, skip if you’re not)
2. How I made money with my online business (This will change monthly).
3. Fun Facts about Life Love & Relationships

It’s been crazy to see the progress and how much our life has changed since we got married and especially over the past year and a half!

Here’s a quick rundown of my story:

I was a former Division I Athlete that accumulated a massive amount of credit card and student loan debt due to that fact that I was a walk-on and not a scholarship athlete.

Like most athletes at major college programs that come from the inner city and low-income communities, I did not have many resources. However, what I did have was $20 that my father gave me on a random visit that I would hold onto throughout my entire college career (you can read more about that here).

While in college, I had a brother who served nearly 20 years in prison so my “why” was a little different. My hope was to have a decent enough college career in athletics that would lead to an opportunity to play and make millions, at the professional level.

My goal was to help my brother avoid having to take penitentiary chances in order to make a living upon his release.

None of what I had planned or hoped for worked the way I had envisioned. However, I did manage to graduate, earn some advanced degrees and eventually go on to get married and become a moderately successful entrepreneur, best-selling author and speaker.

Related: How We Made Our First $100 From Blogging

Aside from student loan debt, I also managed to pay off $18,000 worth of debt in 90 days which helped uncover my passion for personal finance that had been there all along.

And now, here I am. I run a successful online business that allows me to help others along the way.

A lot of you have wanted to start your own blogs after seeing the success that I’ve had, and I highly recommend it. If I hadn’t bet on me, I would only have one stream of income and still be buried in massive credit card and student loan debt.

Just understand – blogging (or any online business for that matter) isn’t easy in any way or for the faint of heart, and definitely not something you should immediately quit your day job for. Most people quit blogging long before they actually “make it.”

It takes time to build a business like this, but if you have some great focus and a good message/story, it is possible to do well.

Take a look at my free blog setup tutorial. You’ll have your own blog set up in just 10-15 minutes, and will receive a lower website hosting price since you’re one of my readers when you use my exclusive link. As a bonus from my family at Bluehost- you’ll also get a domain name for free ($15 value)!

Have you taken my free blogging course yet?

So far I’ve had nearly 1,200 people sign up for my blogging course since I created it, and the reviews have been great! Even if you are just thinking about starting a blog or want to figure out how to get more traffic to the one you already have, this will be useful for you.

Basically, if you want to learn the step-by-step process of how I went from a casual hobby blogger with massive student loan and credit card debt to earning 5-Figures a year annually, you might want to check this out.

How to Start A Blog Free Email Course

In this free course, I show you how to create a blog easily, from the technical side (it’s not as hard as you think) all the way to earning your first income. Join now!First NameEmail AddressWe use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer.I’M READY!We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.Powered by ConvertKit

Here’s how we made money with my online business this month:

Digital Marketing Income: $1,500.00

I am open to doing more of this but for now I assist my digital marketing clients by running company blogs and managing there Facebook Ads. We use Facebook Ads to increase sales and reach new customers in a nutshell.

If you’re wondering – yes. I do plan on adding more marketing clients this year. I really like helping entrepreneurs and small business owners succeed with online marketing.

Affiliate income: $1,004.26

Bluehost Blog Hosting: $400

Personal Capital: $250

Online Surveys: $33.50

ConvertKit: $150.40

Betterment: $100

LeadPages: $70.36

Alright – here we go. This is an area of my business where I want to reach $5K per month consistently through my affiliate income alone. My plan is to be hyper-focused on my affiliate income and convert better than I have so far.

Currently using a VA aka Virtual Assistant, but those efforts haven’t been directed at affiliate income. That will change soon though. Instead of checking emails and creating graphics, their job will literally be to go back through and optimize every piece of content to produce affiliate income.

There are some other tricks up my sleeve as well of course, but basically, I need to step my game up a lot more.

Top affiliate companies

• Ibotta
• Ebates
• ConvertKit
• BlueHost
• Survey Junkie
• Quickbooks:

Physical Products: $555.74

Dumb Athlete: How MY Biggest Fear Became My Biggest Motivator 

Spearheaded by the media’s portrayal of African American men, it is believed by many, that most urban inner-city youth will be dead or in jail by twenty-five. Although cliché, with high school drop-out rates escalating and unemployment impacting minorities much more severely than other races, today’s urban youth who lack hope and direction, have embraced dying young or spending the rest of…click here to read more.

Finding Real Love in the Love and Hip-Hop Era: LOVE is the highest aspiration we should have! Chris Sain Jr. educator, domestic violence activist, speaker and relationship expert, has coined this generations quest for love as the Love & Hip Hop Era where finding real love has been an evasive roller-coaster ride that has eluded most men and women. Everyone is on a quest to find real love. Who isn’t looking for love? Love is the goal for everybody in life!

Digital Products: $780.00

How to Become A Speaker: This e-book is a step-by-step guide intended to teach you how to launch your career as a speaker, get booked, go on speaking tours and get paid. I share in-depth details about what I did to become one of the youngest and most influential speakers in the country.

How to Prepare for A Speaking Engagement: Getting on stage is one thing, but a great speech starts way before the MC reads your introduction and hands you the mic. A few degrees of separation separate the good speakers from the great speakers. Learn preparation techniques that take your speaking to the next level.

How to Write A Book: Is a step-by-step guide of everything you need to know to publish your first book. No fluff just the information you need to begin telling your story.

How to Launch Your Book: Regardless of where you are at in your process, whether you have already written your book or are in the process of writing your book, at some point you must Launch Your Book! Launching your book is regarded as probably the most important aspect for authors. The launch is as or if not more important than the writing of the book.

Blog coaching: $500.00

Blog Coaching consist of either 1-on-1 coaching or group coaching to help individuals get started making money online. From minor to nuanced issues and details to more advanced issues with running a blog, I get folks coached up every month.

Business Coaching: $1,000.00

Business Coaching is for individuals who desire to grow their business and their income. I help individuals through monthly coaching with various aspects of business. 

Display Advertising / Ads: $0

Traffic is picking up steam, but ad revenue is at zero. I really don’t care too much about ad revenue right now. I currently don’t have any ads on the site.

At some point I do plan to add some ads. Once my website traffic justifies it, I will let some ads run on the site. No need to leave money on the table, right?

Now, just like affiliate income, I can turn some of my attention here in the future and get some things optimized.

I’ll address this at some point for sure though.

As far as traffic goes, things are going in the right direction again. I will also focus on this area more moving forward.

Traffic leads to potential customers and potential customers give you the chance to earn more income.

Sponsored posts: $800.00

I was actually a little disappointed with this number. The reason is, I basically had two sponsored posts fall through at the last minute.

I’ve learned a couple things about sponsored posts since I’ve been blogging:

1. If you haven’t signed a contract…it’s got about a 70% chance of falling through. Not sure why, but if you are a social media manager for a company I’d love to know!
2. Don’t be thirsty. Turn down more sponsored posts than you accept. If you work with a horrible company, you may get called out by your tribe. Trust is a huge factor for building a brand, so be prepared to turn down shady companies.

Fun Facts about LIFE LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS

My wife and I love family and friends. We are young, love to have fun but to be honest, most weekends are spent at home. However, we make it a point to travel at least three times per year.

My wife is a Registered Dietitian. She can throw down in the kitchen and loves to look at labels while grocery shopping. Thanks to her, I have not seen a horror movie in nearly 10 years. Yup! She’s terrified of scary movies. So please don’t ask me have I seen {scary movie x} because more than likely the answer is NO!

She is also a runner. I’m talking beast mode; 25K and Marathon type runner. She was a star track athlete in high school. We run together often.

But she runs by herself even more.

Related: How We Paid Off $18,000 in 90 Days

We attend cross fit three times per week together. A couple that works-out together, stays together.

Now a little bit about me…well there is not much here… 😊

But in all seriousness…

I’ll say this. I share as often as I can about all I am doing. From speaking tours, keynote speaking engagements to mentoring hundreds of young men (read the blog post) I never know who I might inspire.

Can We Say Thankful

I am truly thankful for my wife and the support she gives me.  The patience, the love and the support.

She makes it easy to want to be GREAT each and every day.

Having a partner who wants the same things out of life financially and spiritually as you, is truly a blessing.

There will more updates, I promise.

New to blogging? We’ve got a ton of resources for you if you’d like to get it popping right now:

Best Articles for People Who Have Not Started Blogging:

• How to Start a Successful Blog – Step by Step Beginners Guide
• 7 Helpful Blogging Tips For New Bloggers
• Why You Should Start A Blog
• How Creating Your Own Products Is Key

That’s it!

To those of you who have been with us from the start, we thank you. I hope you can tell that we work really, really hard to accomplish goals we set.

How was your month? Interested in earning blogging income?

The post How We Made $6,140 Last Month Side Hustling appeared first on Chris Inc..

Quick Back Story. I started out as a blogger who documented the behind the scenes journey of writing my first book and chiming in on relationship related topics. Monetizing my blog was not my initial focus. That came later.

Now, I run a successful personal finance and lifestyle blog that earns me nearly 6-Figures a year and because of the systems I have in place, I expect it to continue to grow well into the future.

Why I Created A FREE Course

So, I launched Chris Inc. home of CHRISSAIN.COM, a few years ago and have built it into a great business. It has since allowed my wife and I to have some extra cash to help out family, pay off our own debt and student loans.

I am happy to say that we are just about completely debt free, make a great living and have work-life balance. We also have more time to spend with loved ones.

Like with everything else I do, in this free email course, I show you exactly how to create a blog, the back-end or the tech side (it’s real easy – believe me!) all the way to down to earning your first income and attracting followers.

Here’s a quick outline of what you will learn:

Day 1: Why you should start a blog and monetize your personal brand

Day 2: How to determine what to blog about

Day 3: How to create your blog/website. In this lesson, you will learn how to start a blog on WordPress

Day 4: How to make money blogging and with your personal brand

Day 5: My tips for passive income through blogging

Day 6: How to grow your influence, traffic and followers

Day 7: Miscellaneous blogging tips that will help you be successful

Plus, much more as I’ll share with you all the mistakes I made that I want to help you avoid in order to reach success faster!

How to Start A Blog Free Email Course

In this free course, I show you how to create a blog easily, from the technical side (it’s not as hard as you think) all the way to earning your first income. Join now!First NameEmail AddressWe use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer.I’M READY!We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.Powered by ConvertKit

No need to wait! Feel free to sign up for the course using the form above. I really think you’ll get a lot of value out of it.

Between you and I – it took me mad long to create this email course so I’d appreciate if you took a look. #LetsGo!!!

Once you finish the course, feel free to let me know what else you think I could add. Your feedback is always appreciated.

My goal is to give the best, most relevant blogging and side hustle information that I can.

Question for you:

What do you think the hardest thing about blogging is? I think it’s finding your “lane”!

The post My FREE Blogging Course appeared first on Chris Inc..

My Wife and I Paid off $18,000 of Debt in 90 Days

Momma we made it!!! Well not really but being debt free is the first step toward financial freedom and building wealth.

A quick back story in case you are new to my world.

I was a former Division I Athlete that accumulated a massive amount of credit card and student loan debt due to the fact that I was a walk-on and not a scholarship athlete.

Like most athletes at major college programs that come from the inner city and low-income communities, I did not have many resources. I did happen to have $20 that my father gave me on a random visit that I would hold onto throughout my entire college career.

While in college, I had a brother who served nearly 20 years in prison so my “why” was a little different. My hope was to have a decent enough college career in athletics that would lead to an opportunity to play and make millions, at the professional level.

Related: How We Made $6,140 Last Month

My goal was to help my brother avoid having to take penitentiary chances in order to make a honest living upon his release.

None of what I had planned or hoped for worked the way I had envisioned.

I did manage to get something out of the deal; I graduated, earned some advanced degrees and eventually went on to get married and become a moderately successful entrepreneur, best-selling author and speaker.

Now to the good stuff.

Fortunately my wife and I are both pretty good with money and budgeting. We have long been fans of Suze Orman and I sometimes listen to Dave Ramsey and Dr. Boyce Watkins to name a few as it relates to money and personal finance.

My wife and I met while attending Michigan State University (MSU). We both graduated with a considerable amount of student loan and credit card debt. Hey!!! That’s the price of being a young, broke college kid.

Its what we both had to do to break cycles of generational poverty in both of our families.

How It All Happened

It was my 34th birthday. I sat in silence the entire day full of joy and peace but also with a quiet calm reflecting on my life. I reflected on where I was currently at (spiritually, financially, physically and in my marriage) and where I wanted to be.

Related: How Chasing My Dream Resulted In Massive Student Loan Debt

I ignored the 50,000 happy birthday shout outs on I received on Facebook (I have the best fans and community). They certainly know how to make a person feel special. I didn’t send out my daily inspirational or my motivational post.

I didn’t even respond to any text messages or phone calls, I sat in silence…the entire day.

Sometimes you have to be still in order to hear what is trying to be revealed to you.

For me, in that moment, I kept hearing and coming back to one thing. I kept coming back to how much debt my wife and I both had.

What I heard in my spirit was: Pay off all your debt. Be intentional.

I learned early on, despite how much money you make or how much money you have, none of it matters if you have debt of any sort.

I pulled out our monthly expense book and began calculating every bit of debt we had out there. Everything from Chase to Bank of America, to car loans to private student loans, I tabulated it all.

The GRAND TOTAL….$18,000

Once I knew the number and wrapped my head around the total amount, I devised a plan to crush this debt as fast as possible.

On Average the Wealthiest People in the World Have 7 Streams of Income

Part of our plan included side hustling. We both work decent paying jobs but income potential is limitless within your own ventures.

I immediately increased my speaking fee for all upcoming keynotes and speaking engagements, I sold more books, I accepted more coaching clients, drove more traffic to my online business and I sold more apparel from my clothing company.

I went hard in the paint!

All of that combined helped generate the momentum needed to payoff $18,000 worth of debt in 90 days.

A mixture of the debt avalanche approach as well as the debt snowball is what we used. But in all honesty…It was all about the GRIND!!!

It wasn’t easy but it was worth it.

Life After Debt

The first month after being debt free felt weird. It was crazy! Somehow we get so accustomed to paying off debt that something almost feels wrong when you have nothing else to pay.

Its crazy…I know!

Once we embraced there was nothing left to pay, we gave our new money a purpose.

The same payment amounts we were sending in to pay off massive debt, we were now sending to ourselves.

We began making payments to our investment accounts, our retirement accounts and our emergency fund account.

Now we are able to grow our net-worth at a much more rapid pace.

We can comfortably grow our net-worth all while still being a blessing to members of our family, our church and our community.

Life is good!

Need Money? Earn a quick $30 bucks for Free (sign up at links below)

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Survey Junkie: My favorite survey website to make money in my free time. All I do is answer questions with my honest opinion!

What is your Net Worth? Here is my Wealth Building Recommendation

* Manage Your Money In One Place: Sign up for Personal Capital, the web’s #1 free wealth management tool to get a better handle on your finances. You can use Personal Capital to help monitor illegal use of your credit cards and other accounts with their tracking software.

In addition to better money oversight, run your investments through their award-winning Investment Checkup tool to see exactly how much you are paying in fees. I was paying $1,300 a year in fees I had no idea I was paying.

After you link all your accounts, use their Retirement Planning calculator that pulls your real data to give you as pure an estimation of your financial future as possible using Monte Carlo simulation algorithms.

I’ve been using Personal Capital and have seen my net worth skyrocket thanks to better money management.

The post How We Paid Off $18,000 of Debt in 90 Days appeared first on Chris Inc..

How One I.G. Story Sold 27 Shirts and Earned $584 in 2 Hours

Today I want to share one of many strategies, that have led to success in my online business and more specifically, my online store.

I am going to show you exactly how I made $584 off of one Instagram Story.

“Real Friends Do Real Things”

‘Real Friends Do Real Things’CLICK TO TWEET

So, In addition to my online business, I have a nonprofit called Grand C.I.T.Y. Sports (please follow on IG & Facebook), a Mentoring & Tech Company that teaches individuals how to invest, the stock market and about ownership as well as a clothing company called 49/51 Apparel.

Each company has individual’s goals and objectives and each for-profit company also has income goals attached to them.

I’ll be teaching you all of the methods I’ve used to promote all my products so that you can take one or all of them and try them for yourself with a product you can recommend to your audience.

The Power of Word of Mouth

My friend and avid supporter purchased her shirt. That’s what we call showing love. The next thing she did was even bigger for my business.

Read >> Create Your Own Products to Create Massive Wealth

She shared her shirt to her Instagram Story and within the next 2 hours one simple IG post led to 27 purchases on this product. 

It’s been doing well on its own ever since.

Don’t be afraid to use unconventional methods sale products and don’t underestimate the power of your network. #RealFriendsDoRealThings

Chris Sain Jr. is a Top 40 Business Leader & Entrepreneur and is followed by over 200,000 people. He is a Business Coach & Consultant that helps individuals and businesses get “unstuck.” If you need help building your online business, with Facebook Ads, your Personal Brand, Customer Acquisition etc. connect ASAP.

The post How One I.G. Story Sold 27 Shirts and Earned $584 in 2 Hours appeared first on Chris Inc..

How To Start Your Own Website Blog Using Bluehost

In this post, you will learn all about how to easily create a website on your own and how to start a WordPress website. Having my own website that was home to my blog is what changed my life and allowed me to make thousands of dollars a month, all by doing something that I love. Below, I have included discounted pricing that I personally negotiated with Bluehost so that all of you can start a blog for cheap. You will also receive a free blog domain through my link too. Act quick though because I’m not sure how long these low prices will last! 

Click here to start WordPress Website, then use the tutorial below for the easy directions.

If you’re looking to start a WordPress Website for cheap, then choosing Bluehost for your hosting needs may be your answer. Bluehost is a great web host and I personally have had a great experience with them.

Blogging on my website has been one of the best things ever for me. Right now, my blogs brings in over $4K/Month and I plan to continue to increase that number. The nice thing is that, this income is separate from my full time job.

In addition to my full-time job, I am a Best Selling Author. I regularly speak around the country in a paid capacity. Speaking and selling books are some of my other streams of income. Thanks to my Side Hustle Income, my wife and I can travel whenever we want, I have a flexible schedule and slowly but surely perfecting the work-life balance. I am absolutely loving life and I can’t believe how much my life has improved over the past few years.

You Own Your Website

Ownership matters. Unlike Facebook and other social media platforms, YOU own your website. You own your blog. Their is something to be said about ownership.

Anyone can make money with their website and I was able to make the money back that I paid for web hosting very quickly. It is well worth it to pay for web hosting and I’m sure you will be able to make your money back quickly as well.

Bluehost is one of the top web hosting companies in 2018 and you can start your own blog with them for as low as $2.75 a month (this low price is through my link only)! Also, if you sign up using my link, then you will get your domain for free if you purchase a 12 month or longer hosting plan (a $15 value). I highly recommend signing up for the 12 month hosting plan through Bluehost. It’s affordable and you can save a lot of money by signing up for at least 12 months. If you want a better deal, the best value would be purchasing a 36 month plan, as your monthly rate is much lower over the long run.

How to Start A Blog Free Email Course

In this free course, I show you how to create a blog easily, from the technical side (it’s not as hard as you think) all the way to earning your first income. Join now!First NameEmail AddressWe use this field to detect spam bots. If you fill this in, you will be marked as a spammer.I’M READY!We won’t send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.Powered by ConvertKit

You may be thinking, “Well I can just start on Blogger for a little cheaper and learn how to make a blog that way” NOOOOO… Don’t do that. There are so many reasons for why a Blogger/Blogspot blog is a really bad idea, and why you should instead setup a WordPress blog on Bluehost.

If you are interested in ever making money off your blog, freelancing or turning it into a business, then paying for your hosting, such as through Bluehost, is a MUST. It’s extremely cheap as well to go through Bluehost AND you get a free domain. You can run any of your own advertisements, affiliate links, direct advertising, etc. with a blog ran on Bluehost.

Don’t Use Blogger or other Free Sites

Making money on Blogger or any other free blogging platform is very difficult, and in many cases never happens. Most advertisers and companies tend to run away from Blogger websites because they don’t view them as professional as self-hosted WordPress blogs, so that’s another big reason to use Bluehost.

Also, if you follow me closely, you can tell that my income through blogging didn’t take off until right at the exact moment I switched to WordPress. That’s a lot of proof right there that being self-hosted on WordPress is the way to go!

Click here for more info about how I built my own empire here.

There are many reasons for why you may want to choose Bluehost for your WordPress blog and I honestly believe they are one of the best web hosting providers. These reasons include:

• It’s easy to use. Yes, ANYONE can create a WordPress blog easily with my tutorial below. Bluehost makes it very easy to create a WordPress blog.
• Bluehost web hosting offers technical support.
• Bluehost is extremely affordable and they offer cheap web hosting. You can have a blog of your own and the only real expense you need to pay is the cheap blog hosting which starts at just $2.75 per month.
• You get a FREE blog domain.
• WordPress through Bluehost is FREE.
• Bluehost offers a guarantee in case you determine that it is not for you. If you sign up for Bluehost, but you are confused for any reason (such as how to set it up, picking a plan, pricing, etc.), you can always send me an email and I can help you out.
• You will be self-hosted. If you want to monetize your blog, then you will want to be self-hosted.
• You will appear much more professional to readers, companies, and so on if you are self-hosted on Bluehost than being on Blogspot.

First, you will need to head on over to Bluehost to do any of this. There are many web hosting companies out there, but Bluehost is honestly one of the best. There is a reason why many bloggers choose Bluehost for their web hosting needs.

If you plan on starting a website on Bluehost and you are interested in learning how to start your own website on WordPress, continue below. Remember, if you sign up for Bluehost, but you are confused for any reason (such as how to set it up, picking a plan, pricing, etc.), you can always send me an email and I can help you out. That’s what I’m here for so don’t be afraid to send me an email.

Click here to start the process.

How to start a Website on Bluehost

1. Register your domain name.

You can click here to purchase a domain name and create a blog, then continue to follow the easy steps below.

The very first thing you will need to do when starting a WordPress website on Bluehost is to think about what you want your domain name to be. This can be tough, and I would give some serious thought to this.

I don’t even remember how I came up with my website name. It’s kinda blah. Trying to spell out my website name to people who don’t know about it can get frustrating because although it’s just my name altogether it can be confusing.

You can get your domain directly through Bluehost and make the whole process very easy. If you do this, you can get a FREE domain for the first year as long as you buy 12 months worth of Bluehost web hosting. This makes it well worth it to sign up for at least 12 months of hosting as you will be saving a good amount of money this way. You also get a cheaper monthly price when you buy at least 12 months of hosting, so the free domain just makes it even better. If you want an even better deal, the best value would be purchasing a 36 month plan, as your monthly rate is much lower over the long run. If you decide to get the free domain, just continue to the next step as you can buy your hosting and get the free domain all in one step.

Note: The Basic Package Is All You Need

2. Buy hosting for your blog.

Setting up a WordPress website on Bluehost is very easy. First, we will talk about the costs of a website:

• To receive the cheapest price to start a website, choosing the “Basic” plan is really all you need. It’s only $2.75 per month through my link (due upfront in full) if you sign up for 36 months, which is a great price. If you sign up for a 24 month plan, then the price is $3.95 per month. If you sign up for a 12 month plan, then the price is $4.95 per month. $4.95 is still extremely affordable and it’s a great plan to choose (especially since you get a free domain at this price still!).

• If you are unsure about your website, I would sign up for the 12 month plan as this is still a great price and very affordable for one year. If you purchase a 12 month plan, your total price is only $59 a year, which is still a great price. Plus, you still receive the free domain name when you sign up for 12 months or more which saves you money. The best value would be purchasing a 36 month plan, as your monthly rate is much lower over the long run.

• The Basic plan is all you really need for now, so skip the Plus and Business Pro plans as they are more expensive. You can always change it later to a different plan if you want to (and just pay the difference), so there is no need to sign up for extra that you do not need.

• The other item you may want to pay for when it comes to a website is Domain Privacy Protection, which is only $0.99 per month. This is so that your contact information stays safe.

• Other than the above, you do not need the other items that Bluehost sells, so I would uncheck any of the extras that are listed.

• Remember, if you sign up using my link, then you will get your domain for free if you purchase a 12 month or longer blog hosting plan.

I want to reiterate why you should purchase at least a 12 month hosting plan. Month-to-month is less effective, and I highly recommend signing up for a minimum of 12 months for many reasons. By signing up for a minimum of 12 months, you will receive a free domain name, lower pricing, and you won’t have to deal with an expired website after each month. For example, if hosting is not renewed or if the card expires, then your website is down and you risk losing business (visitors/traffic) when you pay on a month-to-month basis. It’s also exceptionally more expensive to pay month-by-month rather than in one lump sum. The more years you sign up for, the less you pay.

Blog hosting will most likely cost you around $59 a year on average, or $99 for 3 years, which is a great deal! If you purchase a 12 month plan, your total price is only $59 a year, which is a great price. The best value would be purchasing a 36 month plan, as your monthly rate is much lower over the long run.

When you are ready to create your website, follow the steps below to buy hosting for your site.

1. Go to Bluehostand click the “Get Started Now” button.
2. Click on the package you are interested in.
3. Enter your domain name you registered with earlier, or sign up for a new domain name here.
4. Enter your personal and payment information.
5. Next you will be asked to enter a password. Make sure it’s secure as this information is very important.

3. Connect your domain and your hosting.

Note: You can skip this section (Section 3) if you buy your domain directly through Bluehost.

If you buy your domain through Go Daddy, then you will need to connect your domain to your hosting account. Go Daddy has a full support page for setting nameservers for your domain names. Below is a snippet:

“When you register a domain name with us, we set it up on our parked nameservers so a temporary page displays when visitors go to your website. After you determine which hosting provider to use, you can change your domain name’s nameservers to remove the parked page and activate your domain name.

If you registered your domain name with another provider, you can still purchase a hosting account with us, use our Off-site DNS services, or use our CashParking® or Quick Content services. If you do any of those, you must view your nameservers in your account with us, and then set the nameservers with your domain name registrar.”

How to modify your DNS Nameservers when you are using Go Daddy for your domain and Bluehost for your hosting:

1. Log into the GoDaddy.com Account Manager.
2. Select Manage Domains from the Domain Namesdrop-down menu or the Manage Your Account
3. Select the domain name you wish to modify using the checkboxes and then click Set Name Servers.
4. Enter your updated name server information in the spaces provided under the blue Name Servers heading on the right side of your page and click Save Changesat the bottom. Your entries should look like this: bluehost.com; ns2.bluehost.com.

You will then need to add the domain you bought (such as through GoDaddy) as an addon domain to your Bluehost web hosting. You can do this by clicking on “Domains” when logged into your Bluehost web hosting account and then clicking on “assign.” Follow the steps and it is very easy!

4. Install WordPress on Bluehost.

Okay, this is probably the step that all of you have been waiting for. If you want to start a WordPress website on Bluehost then continue reading.

This part isn’t hard at all. Bluehost makes it very easy to create a WordPress website and it is FREE.

• After you create your password, Bluehost guides you through exactly what you need to do in order to start a site.
• First, Bluehost will ask you to pick a theme. You can just pick a random one here or find one that you actually like. You can change it later so it’s not a big deal or just scroll to the bottom and skip this step. Remember, there are many free ones too!
• Click on “Start Building”
• On the next screen, you can choose “Business” or “Personal” – it’s up to you. Or, you can click the “I don’t need help.”

WOOHOO! You now have a WordPress site. You will have to work on the design and producing high-quality content, of course. Good luck!

If you sign up for Bluehost, but you are confused for any reason (such as how to set it up, picking a plan, pricing, etc.), you can always send me an email and I can help you out. That’s what I’m here for so don’t be afraid to send me an email.

Some general tips for how to navigate WordPress:

• To sign into your WordPress account, you will want to save the WordPress login information that you receive in a separate email. You will receive this email after you complete the steps in #4 above. This email will include your WordPress login URL (your URL is separate from everyone else’s and it’s the only way you can access your WordPress account), your username, and your password. You want to keep this email safe.
• You can add and create new posts by clicking on “Posts” on the left-hand side when you are logged in. If you want to add a page, simply click on “Page.”
• If you want to add an image, click on “Media” on the left-hand side.
• You can go to “Appearance,” then “Widgets” in order to add items to your sidebar, footer, and so on.
• If you are looking for a way to send newsletters or emails to your readers, I recommend ConvertKit.
• If you are looking into the actual design of your blog, Genesis seems to always be the most popular. Genesis is used on my blog, and I highly recommend it. Or, there are free themes through WordPress you can use too. Just go to “Appearance” on the left-hand side when you are logged into your WordPress website and click on “Themes,” then activate whichever one you are interested in testing out. By doing this, you can start designing your website easily!

Here are more blogging-related posts you should take a look at after you learn how to start a WordPress blog:

• Why You Should Start a Blog 
• How To Make Money Blogging
• 7 Helpful Blogging Tips For New Bloggers
• How To Start A Blog – Tips for a Beginner

Do you have a website? Do you use Bluehost for your site? Share your website mistakes as well! Hope you enjoyed my tutorial on how to start a WordPress Website on Bluehost.

The post How To Start Your Own WordPress Website Using Bluehost appeared first on Chris Inc..