#045: How to Easily Find Lucrative Jobs Working From Home with Max Bonds
This week my guest is Max Bonds from the blog, Tried and True Mom Jobs.
With her blog. Max shows moms how to easily find lucrative jobs working from home, so they can stay home with their kids. We discuss a variety of online jobs available and how much they pay.
We also talk about how Max started her own blog a year ago, and grew it to where it is today.
If you are looking for interesting ways to make money online, or how to grow a blog quickly by solving a need, you’ll definitely want to listen to this episode!
Resources:
Holly Johnson Earn Money Writing
* May contain affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I might receive a small commission at no cost to you.
Table of Contents
Transcript: How to Easily Find Lucrative Jobs Working From Home with Max Bonds
Jillian Tohber Leslie 0:01
Hello everyone. Welcome back to the show. Before we start, I just had to give a shout out to Paula Silva, who left me this comment on iTunes.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 0:13
She said, “I love this podcast, listening to it opened my eyes to many different ideas. Jillian is amazing, curious and eager to learn more. She always brings guests with great experience and ready to share their knowledge.”
Jillian Tohber Leslie 0:28
So big shout out. Thank you, Paula, for leaving that comment. If you guys are liking the Blogger Genius, please head on over to iTunes and review it, write a review or just even rate it, I would love it.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 0:42
Okay, today I’ve got a really cool episode. Today I am interviewing a woman named Max Bonds. She is the founder of a site called Tried and True Mom Jobs.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 0:56
She wanted to leave her corporate job after having children. She didn’t know how, she was looking for resources online. And when she couldn’t find any she created this site.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 1:05
In this blog she shares tips on how to find jobs for stay-at-home moms. What’s cool in this episode is we get into how much moms are making working at home.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 1:18
She’s got some great tips. So without further ado, here is the episode. Max, welcome to the show.
Max Bonds 1:26
Thank you. I’m happy to be here.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 1:28
Alright, so I don’t know anything about timelines. When did you start Tried and True Mom Jobs? And can you tell us how that how that happened?
Jillian Tohber Leslie 1:42
I know you were working in corporate and then you said, enough.
A need to find a job while staying home with your kids
Max Bonds 1:47
Right. So, it first came about because when I became pregnant with my second child, I knew that I want to stay home. I was already missing out on so much with my son who’s already two years old. And I know new that I needed to stay home.
Max Bonds 2:01
But I needed also a way to make money to help contribute financially because we were living on two incomes.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 2:10
Got it. How long ago was this? How many years?
Max Bonds 2:14
I launched the blog at the end of January of this year. 2018.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 2:18
No way. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, what’s your job? Before this?
Max Bonds 2:22
I was a marketing communications manager at a large manufacturer.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 2:26
Wow.
Max Bonds 2:27
Yeah. So and my background is in marketing, and I enjoy what I did. But I would have enjoyed being home with my kids more. So I knew that corporate life was no longer for me after I had my kids.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 2:40
Right. So you said, Okay, I see these women, you know, moms making money online. I need to be doing that.
Max Bonds 2:47
Yes.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 2:51
Tell me, how did you then come up with this idea?
Max Bonds 2:55
Sure. So I was looking for ways to make money from home online. And I would see the articles about ideas that you can do to make money from home, but I didn’t see how do I get started? Was it legitimate?
Max Bonds 3:09
I want to see a success story from a mom, who was able to do this today and make money while raising kids. And most importantly, how much money were they making?
Max Bonds 3:18
I didn’t see that anywhere. There wasn’t one website that I could go to, to find all this information. So I created one.
Creating a blog to solve your own problem
Jillian Tohber Leslie 3:29
I love it.
Max Bonds 3:30
Yeah, thank you.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 3:32
In your research, how did you think you would go about monetizing a blog and making an income?
Max Bonds 3:43
To be honest, I had no idea. I recently created our website for our church. So I had a little bit experience doing that. And I just was looking for all this information.
Max Bonds 3:56
And then it just occurred to me, since there’s nothing out there, I might as well just create one. I didn’t have any thoughts of how would I monetize it. How would I get traffic and even having a background in marketing, I didn’t even think about how I would market it, I just kind of just did it.
Max Bonds 4:13
So I did it. But I was lacking success stories for mom. So I had to reach out to moms who were actually working from home. So it was a lot involved in what I was doing.
Max Bonds 4:28
But I just knew that I want to do this, because I knew how badly I needed this information, I was desperate to find a way to make money from home and raise my kids at the same time. And I knew that there are other moms out there. That wanted the same information.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 4:40
Got it. So are you pregnant at this point, and starting this site and working your full time job?
Max Bonds 4:46
Yes and I didn’t even think of the blog idea for about maybe four or five months within my pregnancy. Because during that four to five months, I was just searching online for anything that I could do to make money from home.
Max Bonds 5:01
I didn’t even think about blogging, I was just looking for ways to make money. I just knew that I had to make some kind of money, but I didn’t know what.
Creating a resource for other stay-at-home moms
Max Bonds 5:09
And since after searching for months and not finding any success stories from other moms, I just said, All right, it just occurred to me that I’m just going to create a website where I can find all this information in one spot, and just create a resource for moms like myself to go to for when we are looking for ways to make money from home.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 5:29
What I love about this is you had a problem and you built a business solving it.
Max Bonds 5:36
Yeah, thank you.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 5:37
You weren’t going, what could I do? Like, what’s an idea here? You know, again, always starting with the problem.
Max Bonds 5:46
Yeah, exactly. And I never thought I would be a mommy blogger. So I don’t know what I will blog about.
Max Bonds 5:53
It’s funny because I’m a marketing communications manager. But I’m not even a good writer. I have my mom review my articles before I post them because she’s good at writing.
Max Bonds 6:02
But that’s the great thing about blogging, you don’t have to be like the best writer out there when it comes to blogging, just kind of talk in conversation and give good information, it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 6:14
Absolutely. I think the hardest thing about it is just starting.
Max Bonds 6:20
Exactly, yes. I totally agree.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 6:22
Okay, so you start to research this and tell me how you research, then how you were able to find content for your blog. And one last thing I want to say which is you are your avatar?
Max Bonds 6:36
Yes. Correct. And so I kind of got lucky. Facebook groups have been just amazing. I feel like it’s this underground world where every there’s so much great information that so many people don’t even know about. But I joined this Facebook group called Boss Moms.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 6:53
Okay, I’ve heard of that. I was on her podcast.
Max Bonds 6:58
Oh, awesome. And I love the group, it’s a group of supportive women helping one another out.
Max Bonds 7:06
I was searching through the search tool just trying to find out I can’t remember what search term I chose that I was looking up women who work from home or something like that.
Max Bonds 7:19
I found a thread where someone had already asked if they could interview some stay-at-home moms who work and it was a popular thread, where there were boss moms giving their email addresses saying what they did, and that they would love to be featured in that article.
Max Bonds 7:38
So I reached out to them as well. And I said I told them what I was doing I want to help other moms like them be able to find out what they did, how did they get started, and how much money they made and they were very transparent.
Max Bonds 7:51
I was glad to see that they weren’t holding back on which they made, because I know sometimes that’s very personal they don’t want to share that information, but they let me have it.
Max Bonds 8:05
It was awesome because they helped me decide what I want to do. And I knew it would help others try and find their avenue trying to work from home.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 8:14
Okay, now you have to share how much are they making?
How much money moms are making working from home
Max Bonds 8:18
Okay, so I interviewed this one Etsy seller, I call her a pro Etsy seller.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 8:25
Okay. So she’s selling on Etsy, is it product she’s making or is it product she’s finding in China?
Max Bonds 8:32
It’s products she makes herself, she used to be a graphic designer. And she makes $300,000 a year on Etsy with her husband. Her husband was able to quit his job and work full time with her as they raise a kid together.
Max Bonds 8:48
So she gave me her full schedule her day to day schedule, and how she was able to do it, how she sells on Etsy she’s able to promote her items. She gave me everything.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 9:00
What kind of items, I know she’s making them. But what are they?
Max Bonds 9:03
Yeah, they are like stamps, they are rubber stamps for weddings and different occasions and invitations I believe and that’s what she does.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 9:17
Wow.
Max Bonds 9:18
Yeah. So go figure.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 9:20
Wow, tell me more.
Max Bonds 9:26
I found a mom, her name was Brittany Sutton. And she makes $1,700 dollars a month working only two hours a day for VIPkid.
Max Bonds 9:36
And that’s just, you know, for some people, that’s just enough, just two hours a day, just teaching kids English in China. That’s basically what they do for VIPkid.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 9:45
So VIPkid, so she’s online teaching Chinese kids how to speak English.
Max Bonds 9:51
Yes. And it is also great, because you don’t have to worry about her kids. So, you know, in China, the time difference is right. So I think she works from like four in the morning to six in the morning.
Max Bonds 10:07
And so she’s able to do it when her kids are asleep to teach kids how to speak English. And she has enough time to take care of a kid and do whatever else she wants to do.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 10:15
Oh my god. Give me another example.
Max Bonds 10:17
And then another one was an interior designer that I had the pleasure of interviewing. That makes I don’t know exactly how much, but I do know that it’s a six figure income.
Max Bonds 10:28
And she just gave me the whole story on how she was able to do it. How she got started. And it’s just a great interview.
Max Bonds 10:36
And another one, there’s a boss mom who makes over $200,000 freelance writing.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 10:47
And how does she find her clients? Do you know?
Max Bonds 10:51
Of course, she has a course. And she tells you all about it. But it’s a free workshop to where she will show you about how to get started, and how to find clients, things like that.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 11:02
And what is her name in case people want to know.
Max Bonds 11:05
Holly Johnson.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 11:07
Great. We’ll put that in the show notes. Any others that are interesting?
Max Bonds 11:11
Um, you know, Corky, I’m sure you’ve heard of her. She’s a virtual assistant, And she created a course to how to get become a virtual assistant in less than 30 days.
Max Bonds 11:24
And there’s also some jobs that companies that are hiring right now, virtual assists with minimal experience that I do list on my website as well.
Max Bonds 11:36
And I also do make sure that all the companies that I put on my website, they have to have a four to five or higher rating on Glassdoor.
Max Bonds 11:45
I don’t want companies on there that don’t have a good reputation. So I do make sure whatever I list is thoroughly research before I put anything on my website. I want to make sure that it’s tried and true.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 11:58
Okay. So this is terrific. All right. So moms out there, if you’re looking for ways to make money, definitely head to Max’s site.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 12:07
My question for you is, so you’re doing this, right. So you start and you go, Well, I need to figure out how to make money online at home, and you start interviewing these women.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 12:18
At what point did you say, No, I’m not going to be let’s say, tutoring kids in China or selling on Etsy, I’m going to work on my blog.
Max Bonds 12:30
Right. So I’m interviewing these amazing women and I love what they’re doing, but it’s not what I want to do. Since it’s not what I want to do, that doesn’t mean anything. There are people who still want to do that there are other people who wanted to those things.
Max Bonds 12:47
So I wanted to make sure that I was sharing this information, but I’m still kind of searching for what to do and researching all this stuff.
Looking at other bloggers’ income reports online
Max Bonds 12:56
I keep seeing blogging, and I’m seeing these blogging income reports. And I’m seeing Michelle Schroeder makes $50,000 a month. And that was just a while ago. So I mean, she’s making even more than that now.
Max Bonds 13:09
And I’m thinking why can I do that? I mean, I know I have a marketing background, but I think anyone can do this. I think that blogging will work for you if you just are persistent and you are diligent about being focused on what you want to do.
Max Bonds 13:25
And I believe that anyone can do this but you just have to really want to do it because there will be days where you just really want to give up.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 13:32
Now here’s a question. Are these bloggers, how are they monetizing? How is this woman getting to $50,000 a month. Is it through ads is it through affiliates is it through selling virtual courses? What do you find?
Max Bonds 13:49
So I’m finding for myself she talked mainly about affiliate marketing. I don’t know if she’s doing more now than that.
Max Bonds 13:56
But also Carly Gamble I believe is her last name, she makes a lot of her money through ads and when I saw that, that was what intrigued me. Like if I can just get people to my website and make money off of that alone that would be great.
Learning about affiliate marketing as a blogger
Max Bonds 14:10
On top of that, learning more and more about this blogging world I found out about affiliate marketing so that’s kind of how I’m thinking that this blogging thing could work.
Max Bonds 14:21
I also interviewed two bookkeepers who are stay at home moms, and one of the moms has nine kids, homeschools six, and she is still able to make money as a bookkeeper part time.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 14:36
That’s amazing.
Max Bonds 14:37
Yes. So these are just amazing stories that I just can’t believe that these women are able to do these things, and still bring money in and raise kids.
Max Bonds 14:52
So she took a course. So it’s a bookkeepers course, and the courses are quite expensive. It’s $2,000, but these two moms, and there are other moms have taken the course. But I interviewed them specifically to see is this course really is something that a mom could do and actually be able to build a business after taking? And their answer was yes.
Max Bonds 15:14
And they told me all about their journey taking the course and how they have succeeded after the course. And I became an affiliate for this course. Because I knew that it was tried and true.
Max Bonds 15:27
And I just had one person sign up for the course, after reading the success story from those moms, and that was $500.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 15:34
Wow.
Max Bonds 15:35
Just from one person taking the course. And I did want to make sure that I’m not just trying to sell any old course. This is the actual course that people have taken and have become successful after taking, and that’s why I’m referring this information. So I’m able to give good information and profit at the same time.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 15:56
So you then right now, are you monetizing mostly via affiliates?
Max Bonds 16:02
Affiliates and ads. I was able to join Mediavine, which is a higher paying at network. So after joining them, I was able to greatly increase my earnings through ads.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 16:18
Got it. And how are you driving traffic to your site?
Driving traffic to your blog with Pinterest
Max Bonds 16:24
So primarily, and shockingly, Pinterest.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 16:28
Yes. Not shockingly.
Max Bonds 16:31
You know, it was really a shock to me, because I always as a personal user, will go to Pinterest for home decor ideas or fashion, inspiration, or quotes.
Max Bonds 16:44
I would never think that Pinterest was a way for the personal finance niche. I just, I would never go to Pinterest for those reasons.
Max Bonds 16:51
But I’m finding out just because I don’t, doesn’t mean other people don’t, it has been a great traffic source for me to talk about these success stories from these moms. And people really want to know, they want inspiration.
Max Bonds 17:05
And they want to know, how do you make money from home, people really just want to know how.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 17:09
Well, especially I think there’s a book that I highly recommend. I read it when I was pregnant. So 11 years ago, and it’s called The Female Brain.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 17:19
And what it does is it goes through a woman’s life, starting at birth, what happens for females, and there was this chapter about pregnancy and how your brain gets rewired when you’re pregnant.
How having children changes your life and your brain
Jillian Tohber Leslie 17:33
And I kind of read it. And I was like, whatever. And then I had my daughter. And I was like, Oh, my God, my brain has changed. Like, I love this little person so much.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 17:44
And all the things that I valued before this, I don’t value in the same way. And that’s how we ended up starting Catch My Party. I was a writer in Hollywood, a working writer in Hollywood.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 17:59
And I just, I had my daughter and I said, You know what? Like, Hollywood’s not as cool. And I remember thinking, Oh, my God and I turned to my husband. And I said, I just want to take our fate in our own hands. And I don’t want to have to answer to anybody. And I just wanted to start a business with you.
Max Bonds 18:21
Wow.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 18:21
And I felt braver. But in hindsight, I can’t believe that I did this. But at the time, I felt like I had no choice. It was like, I have to do this.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 18:36
So I get that struggle. You know, you’re working in corporate America. So I wasn’t even working in corporate America. But let’s say you are, and you’re just kind of grinding it out. But you know, you’re getting promoted or whatever. And then all of a sudden, you have children and everything shifts.
Max Bonds 18:52
Yeah, that’s totally true. I didn’t want to travel anymore. I wanted to be home, I want to come home to my kids. I didn’t want to be out of town and not be with my kids anymore.
Max Bonds 19:04
My aspirations in the corporate world were just no longer I didn’t even care for those things anymore.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 19:10
I remember I was nursing my baby, you know, still nursing her, so she was an infant, and I’m in a meeting a Paramount and you’ll be like, Oh, my God, that’s so cool.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 19:20
And it was cool. But it was cooler again, before I have my daughter. And I’m sitting in the meeting. And the way that meetings work in Hollywood is everybody kind of like, you kind of talk about chuffa in the beginning. What movies you’ve seen, what TV shows your liking, that kind of thing before you get down to work.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 19:38
And here I am my boobs are so filled with milk, and I’m going in my head. I’m going, you guys I don’t care about this anymore. I have something. I have a more important job right now. Yeah, like, I’m a mom. I Lainey’s mom. And I’ve got to get home to her.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 19:53
So I remember just going through the motions thinking, can we get this thing started, and afterwards, driving home and thinking I just need to be with my baby. And this was not me. This was not who I was.
Max Bonds 20:07
Yes, yes. You change. Definitely. I can never be the same.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 20:11
Never. And, still to this day. So anyway, so I feel like I relate to this need that women have. It’s almost like putting on a sweater that doesn’t fit anymore.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 20:25
And the desperate need for moms to take off this itchy, tight sweater and find something that works for them.
Max Bonds 20:31
Yeah, I love it. Yes, that’s it.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 20:39
But yet women need money. And especially if you’re a dual income family. You can’t just, you know, have the luxury of saying, Well, I’m just going to stop working.
Max Bonds 20:48
Right. Exactly. Right. And you still have to bring it and even if it’s just $1,000 or I mean, I don’t know someone situation. Everyone’s situation is different. But just any type of extra income to help offset from costs will help anything really.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 21:05
Absolutely. I also think though, that like for me, I would not have been okay emotionally without a something outside of being a mom.
Max Bonds 21:21
I was just about to say that. Yes, I totally agree.
Max Bonds 21:26
It’s important for us moms, and even as women to have some kind of creative outlet. Because we love our kids. But I mean, during that time, we do have time or at night at night or early in the morning.
Max Bonds 21:39
We do have time to do something that we want to do for ourselves. And I think it’s healthy as even a mom and a woman to be able to have something of our own.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 21:48
Absolutely. Because at a certain point, I could not sing “Wheels on the Bus” anymore. You know what I mean? I had to have something adult. Something that was was mine. And I still hate that song.
Max Bonds 22:04
Yeah, and I had this “Baby Shark” song in my head all the time.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 22:07
I know the Baby Shark song! I get it. I get it. So I agree. And again, for some women, it’s enough to do the Baby Shark song and Wheels on the Bus. But for others, you know, we need to kind of find what works for us.
Max Bonds 22:22
Yep. I totally agree.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 22:24
Okay, so for you, then you’re doing ads, you’re doing affiliates. Any other way that you’re making money?
Max Bonds 22:30
I did do one sponsored posts. And it was my first time doing it. But it was like the easiest $250 I ever made.
Doing sponsored posts as a blogger
Max Bonds 22:39
And it was actually an article that was very relevant to my audience on how you can make money by doing laundry from home, go figure.
Max Bonds 22:48
You can start your own business. I get it seems like as some people are working, and they have their busy lives. They don’t have time to do laundry. So of course, they the market is out there for people who are looking for people to do their laundry for them.
Max Bonds 23:03
So I’m that inspired laundry care is the business. And you can start your own business, doing laundry for others and make $500 a week actually.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 23:16
So it’s like Uber for laundry.
Max Bonds 23:18
Yeah, exactly.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 23:19
That’s so interesting. Yeah. And what would you say? Okay, so you did your sponsored post, you would like to be doing more I take it.
Max Bonds 23:27
Yeah. So after they approached me and asked to do a sponsorship, a sponsored post, and I wrote the article after working with them and getting information. So it was relevant to my audience. So I’m definitely willing to do more sponsored posts for anything that’s relevant to my audience.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 23:47
Got it. And what would you say is the most popular job, I don’t know if you can tell on your end. But that moms, you know what articles they’re reading on your site, or whatever. What is resonating in terms of Tried and True Mom Jobs?
Max Bonds 24:04
So right now, what’s going viral on Pinterest right now is the VIPkid job where Brittany works two hours a day, making $1700 a month.
Max Bonds 24:20
And Nikki who makes $300,000 a year on Etsy. Those are the one of my two popular, most popular articles right now.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 24:34
And how is it going for you? So you haven’t even been doing this a year?
What a blogger can make in her first year blogging
Max Bonds 24:39
Yeah, you know, it’s, it’s done very well, actually. And I’m probably making maybe about $1,000 a month now. And I started really promoting it in, I would say March on Pinterest. And that is my biggest traffic source.
Max Bonds 25:01
I started heavily promoting it in March on Pinterest. And I’ve seen great success by joining MediaVine within three months of really promoting it on Pinterest, which I didn’t have a lot. You have to get 25,000 sessions or more so in order to join MediaVine.
Max Bonds 25:23
So in that short time, I was able to have some posts go viral about saving money, and work from home jobs, and it just kind of took off.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 25:34
Pretty amazing. Yeah. And then you also talk about budgeting on your site.
Sharing budgeting tips as a personal finance blogger
Max Bonds 25:40
Yes, I’m a very frugal person. That’s just my nature. I don’t want to spend money on anything that I don’t have to. So I guess I have a lot of experiences of how to save money that others aren’t doing, or they just don’t really know about. So I share that on the side as well.
Max Bonds 25:58
And that’s kind of the how I want to educate a lot of moms on ways to make money, save and invest so they can become financially free.
Max Bonds 26:09
And I really just want to get across that they can really have the best of both worlds. You can make money and still be able to stay home and raise your kids.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 26:18
Have you thought about doing couponing? Because those are big sites.
Max Bonds 26:22
You know what? No, I have not. And I’m just starting to actually do some couponing by looking through the paper and things like that. So yes, I guess I am.
Max Bonds 26:35
I love the Ibotta app, I think it’s so it’s so amazing. So easy. Just how you can just take pictures or take a picture of you receipt by downloading offers that you already buy anyway, and getting a little kickback for that.
How to get more Pinterest followers with the MiloTree Pinterest pop-up
Jillian Tohber Leslie 26:49
Right. Right. And then you also have a whole section on blogger tools. And I think you’re a MiloTree affiliate.
Max Bonds 26:58
Yes. Oh, I love MiloTree it has contributed to all of my followers on Pinterest. And I have over 3,000 followers on Pinterest now.
Max Bonds 27:08
I think the first week I got over 100 followers after joining MiloTree, and I just always hear new bloggers. Well, I consider myself a new blogger. But people who are just starting out, how they don’t know how to get followers. And that’s the first thing I always tell people. MiloTree is definitely what you want, because Pinterest make so many changes.
Max Bonds 27:30
Now, I don’t even know how people get followers without a tool like MiloTree.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 27:35
Right? It is tricky because Pinterest isn’t really like the cult of personality that say Instagram is, where, oh, I want to follow that person.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 27:48
On Pinterest. It’s a little bit more of a disconnect. Like, I like these recipes. But it’s not like I’m identifying that recipe with this person.
Max Bonds 27:57
Exactly. You’re only going to that article because of the of that pin you created.
Max Bonds 28:06
So MiloTree is a great reminder to say, Hey, you like this content, follow me for more stuff like this.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 28:11
Exactly. The one thing that I am seeing more and more, especially as Pinterest has told us a little bit about their algorithm.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 28:21
Remember, Pinterest shows your pins to your followers first. So you want those followers to be really engaged followers. Because if your followers like those pins, then you will get broader reach with those pins. Pinterest then goes Oh, these are good will show these to more people.
Max Bonds 28:40
Yes, and I attribute Pinterest followers even sometimes a little bit even more important than email subscribers.
Max Bonds 28:46
Because like for example, if someone joins my email list, they’ll never really know what I’ve put out there in the past because I’m not going to talk about old things I’ve talked about before.
Max Bonds 28:58
But if they are my Pinterest followers, they’re always going to see pins from my older blog posts that they may be interested in. And just stay up to date on everything that I’ve done and all my pins and that.
Max Bonds 29:11
But my email followers will never get all that information. So I do think Pinterest followers are very important especially for the way I market my business
Jillian Tohber Leslie 29:19
This is interesting and what are you doing then with email?
Max Bonds 29:24
The way I’m using email right now is just keeping them updated so whenever I have new article about something, I’ll share it with my email list, or if I find a new way to make money, or to save I’ll share share with them so I just keep them updated on the blog and what articles we have going on.
Creating a free course with affiliate links
Jillian Tohber Leslie 29:41
Are you thinking of creating a course or creating products that you can sell?
Max Bonds 29:48
You know I thought about that and I think what I do want to work on is creating a blog course on how to get started, because I’ve learned so much in such a short amount of time that and I’ve done pretty well and such short amount of time, that I want to create a free course for anyone.
Max Bonds 30:05
Because I know when you’re trying to start a blog, the last thing you want to do is spend money on something that you’re not getting money from, so I definitely want to create something that’s free. And if I profit off of it it would be through Affiliate Marketing.
Max Bonds 30:18
So for example, if you got to create a website I would recommend SiteGround that’s who I host my site through.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 30:27
I recommend them. We don’t use SiteGround because we use Amazon Web Services because we have a big site with Catch My Party and stuff. But we love SiteGround we think are really great.
Max Bonds 30:39
Yes, they are. And they’re probably one of the most inexpensive hosts out there that has the great support.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 30:49
Definitely. Okay, sorry. So you were going to do a course or you’re going to put together some resources that are free, but then monetize via affiliates. Correct?
Max Bonds 31:02
Yes.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 31:03
You know what, I was just thinking of top of my head, you could so do a lead magnet, like a one page lead magnet to get people on your list that just says Here are the top five ways to make money as a mom blogger or is as a mom as a stay at home mom.
Max Bonds 31:19
I love that.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 31:21
You know, you can do all these kind of interesting things, like do somebody laundry or teach English to Chinese kids, or whatever it is just boom, down and dirty. Like here, go do this. You’ll start making money right away.
Max Bonds 31:35
I’m writing this down right now. I love that.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 31:40
Because I think it is hard to, like you were saying, if you just want to jump in. How do you jump in? And where’s the low hanging fruit?
Max Bonds 31:54
Right, exactly.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 31:56
Well, I think this is just so great. Do you have time to be putting together a course?
Jillian Tohber Leslie 32:05
How does it work for you with two young kids? Where are you finding the time?
How to manage your time as a mom blogger?
Max Bonds 32:11
It took me some time to really figure out how to use my time management skills the best.
Max Bonds 32:16
I finally feel like I’ve gotten into a rhythm where it works. So I can do two hours in the morning before my kids get up. My kids are great nappers. They nap around two to three hours. So that’s another time that I work.
Max Bonds 32:32
And then at nighttime, so my husband comes home, I devote some time to our family. And then after I put the kids to bed, and spend some time with my husband, then I’ll open my laptop up, and then just work until I can’t work anymore, and then have to fall asleep.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 32:47
So how many hours a week would you say you work on your business?
Max Bonds 32:50
I would say 40. And it’s possible because just early in the morning, two hours here, so two hours in the morning, two hours during that time, and then whatever I can do for the rest during the nighttime, I just work.
Max Bonds 33:06
And then I also work the weekends the same kind of schedule. So the one thing, when you run your own businesses, if you don’t run it, it won’t run.
Max Bonds 33:18
I just pretty much work as much as I can. When the kids are sleeping. I really pride myself in trying to be an intentional mom and being there and not being a mom that just gives them my phone or whatever, just so I can finish some work.
Max Bonds 33:34
They are definitely my priority. And I just I make it work by just staying up late. And getting up in the morning and utilizing that time.
Max Bonds 33:43
And one thing I do though, I will clean and cook and do everything I do when the kids are awake. And then that’s when I just do everything that needs to do for the house as well.
Max Bonds 33:53
So that’s all the time that I had to do those things that I know a lot of moms do when the kids are asleep. But I just do it when they’re awake because when they’re asleep, that’s my work time.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 34:05
I get it. So if you had a piece of advice based on all of the research that you’ve done, and also starting your own business, so let’s say I’m a mom, and I’m working in a bad corporate corporate job that doesn’t fit me anymore. And I really want to be home with my kids. What piece of advice would you have for them?
Max Bonds 34:26
Well, I would say check out Tried and True Mom Jobs!
Max Bonds 34:29
But honestly, I would say that because every job is different for everyone. I know that I have a list of 20 ways that moms are making money from home.
Max Bonds 34:37
But the only one that I’m really doing is blogging and affiliate marketing. Because it’s just something that works for me and what works for me, that may not work for you.
Max Bonds 34:47
So I would definitely check out the website and see how moms are able to do it, you can check out success stories and and see how they are able to do it while raising kids at the same time.
Max Bonds 35:00
And just the job itself, I’m being a virtual assistant. That was definitely something that I was considering that I would have done had I not found blogging, because a virtual assistant can be so many things.
Max Bonds 35:14
I actually have a list on there of 150 virtual assistant skills that you could have that you could service out to others. So I’ll honestly just say to check out the website and see what it is that you think that you will want to do.
Max Bonds 35:31
And then you can find out how to do it and that into start from there. And I’ll continue into at ways that moms can make money from home, like I’m there.
Max Bonds 35:42
I know that a lot of moms that are business coaches or life coaches that make money doing that. So I’m looking for someone that can review there.
Max Bonds 35:51
I’m looking for a mom who’s doing that today that I can interview and share with others to show how you can make money from home.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 36:05
Are you continuing to interview moms like, Is that still the bread and butter of your site?
Max Bonds 36:10
Yes, it definitely is that and my saving money articles, I feel like that’s what people are most interested in.
How to get interviewed as a mom entrepreneur on the Tried and True Mom Jobs blog
Jillian Tohber Leslie 36:23
Okay, so let’s talk about how can people reach out to you and are you looking for people to interview.
Max Bonds 36:29
Yes, I’m always looking for people to interview, especially if you have a success story.
Max Bonds 36:35
So if you make money from home, I just want to hear from you. I want to know how you’re doing it, and if I can share your story with other moms just like myself, and looking for ways to make money from home.
Max Bonds 36:46
So my email address is Max@triedandtruemomjobs.com.
Max Bonds 36:57
And triedandtruemoms.com and I check my email daily several times a day so I’m definitely looking to hear from from you.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 37:09
Oh, great. And they can find you on Pinterest and Instagram and all of those places?
Max Bonds 37:13
Yes, and I just recently joined Twitter. I actually fell off on Twitter. I didn’t realize that it was still a big thing for the personal finance niche. So I just created a profile that I’m going to start being more active in as well.
Jillian Tohber Leslie 37:30
Awesome. Well, honestly, Max, thank you so much for being on the show.
Max Bonds 37:34
Thank you for having me.
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Jillian Tohber Leslie 37:36
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Jillian Tohber Leslie 38:07
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Jillian Tohber Leslie 38:35
If you have any questions always feel free to reach out to jillian@milotree.com I read everything. We’re here to troubleshoot and really we’re here to support you and help you grow your business.
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