Welcome to episode #127 of the Morning Upgrade Podcast. In this week’s episode I spoke with Chris Myles, a professional blogger, YouTuber, and podcaster.
Top Talking Points
- Tips for achieving success as a professional blogger.
- Setting up your business in a way that affords you a lot of free time and combats loneliness.
- How to work effectively when you no longer have a boss telling you what needs to be done.
Resources & Links
Connect With Chris at Blogger Evolution or at BloggerEvolution.com
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Episode Transcript
Announcer
Welcome to the Morning upgrade podcast with Ryan cote, where we feature casual conversations with entrepreneurs about personal development and growth.
Ryan
Hey, Chris, welcome to the Morning upgrade podcast. How’s your day going?
Chris
It’s going pretty good. How are you doing today, Ryan?
Ryan
I’m doing great. Recording this morning, I was saying I’ve got a completely quiet house because my kids and my wife are gone. So no distractions ready to talk to you. Looking forward to the next 15 minutes. So why don’t we kick it off by telling everyone you know who you are, what you do for a living, and then give us something you’re grateful for right now.
Chris
My name is Chris miles. I am a full time blogger, YouTuber and podcast host. And I’ve been doing it now for about maybe three and a half, four years. A lot of people say when I tell people that, you know, that’s like my quick elevator pitch. And sometimes people ask me what a blogger is? I mean, is that still a thing? You know, some people think that, you know, blogging died in 2009. Which kind of be it, to be honest. But it depends on what kind of blogging you’re talking about, right? The kind of blogging where you talk about what you ate for breakfast, if you go to the gym earlier, that kind of blogging, yeah, that did die like more than a decade ago. The type of blogging I do is answering common questions for people on a website on a particular topic. So it can be something like, I have a golf blog where I answer common golf questions, I get traffic to that site. And then once I get traffic to the site, or people eyeballs on the site, then I can find a way to monetize them, you know, and make money through things such as display ads, affiliate marketing, things like that. And so that’s actually what I’ve been doing now for about four and a half, really more like seven years. But I’ve been doing it full time for about three and a half, four years.
Ryan
That’s awesome. What are you grateful for, that might be what you’re grateful for. But what else comes to mind.
Chris
That’s probably one of the bigger things there because what is what it’s afforded me to do, Ryan is have a different type of lifestyle, or the kind of person who always had a job since I was like 15 years old, you know, even after school, like go somewhere for four hours work and just trying to make a little bit of money on the side. So it was kind of weird when I got, you know, a little older, me and my wife, we found out that we were pregnant with her son, and when he was about to pop up, you know, she expressed interest that she wants to stay home with them too. So she wanted to quit her job. And I remember thinking, I don’t think we can afford that. And I remember telling her that you gotta at least work part time. But I was like, No, I gotta just put on my big boy pants. And I was able to figure it out by falling into blogging and affiliate marketing. And by doing that, it wasn’t easy. You know, I had to, I had to figure it out all the way through. But after a while we were able to pay off a lot of debt, and we were able to have her quit her job about 18 months into it. And then about two years later, after we first got started, I was able to quit my job and you know, happy to say it’s been about three and a half, four years ago.
Ryan
It’s excellent. I want to go into personal development here. But your morning routine, but let’s stay on business for a little bit. Because this is really interesting to me, you know, making full time living blogging, to some people that’s like the dream, you know, like being your own boss and owning a set of sites that earn you money while you sleep. As I say, you know, I know, it’s obviously how to work. So just like sugar coating it, but it’s a lot of work. I know. I know, there’s a lot that goes into this, like, how did you make it work? Like is there anything that sticks? Is consistency a game plan? Like, how did you make this dream come true? What comes to mind first?
Chris
Yeah, that’s a great question when I because to be honest, I think a one reason why this was so I was able to figure it out, was the fact that I have a different reason why I was doing it, I want to do it because I had the motivation of wanting to kind of provide a different lifestyle for my wife and son. So at the very beginning, when I had, you know, I’ve done other entrepreneurial type stuff, not all of them really worked out, right. So some of them made a little bit of money, some may not so much money, or you know, not really justifying continuing with it. But for whatever reason with this one, because I had the motivation behind my back that I needed to figure this out, I had no other option, I needed to figure it out. Because I had like a nine month like time period, I had to figure this out. And from the time that you found out that she was praying until two pins you showed up, or my son pins, he showed up that we needed to do something now I didn’t quite do it in nine months, and then about 18. But having that reason why is what kept me going even when things weren’t going the way that I want him to do, where I would have normally probably given up in the past. So yeah, to your point, Ryan, it was like consistency, it was certain stick to itiveness, you know, to where even if something ideally didn’t work out, like I didn’t get enough traffic that month, or I wasn’t able to get enough conversions for how much money I made or maybe the traffic just dipped on the site. And I was just like, I’m like okay, now what, in the past I might have given up but because I had a different reason why I was doing it. I was able to keep pushing forward and just and not give up.
Ryan
Where does most of your revenue come from as an affiliate marketing or just something else?
Zack
It comes from blogging and affiliate marketing for the most part and I have two businesses, one that does has a portfolio of what are called niche sites or niche sites depending on where you are in the world. So a portfolio of niche sites I got like maybe five or six of them that generate the bulk of my income, but then I have a second business that actually shows people how to do this thing as well.
Ryan
Got it. Okay, yeah, that’s actually it makes me think of a pretty This guest I had. It’s not not affiliate marketing related, but he owns a string of storage units. That’s one business. And the other business is teaching others how to do the same. So you learn how to do it, you show that you’re successful. And then you show others how to do the same. So he actually a pretty thick a few guests have followed that model and just different industries,
Chris
I’m really big into actually doing it, you know, I don’t like it means a lot of times, there’s an old adage out there that says that people who don’t do teach or something like that, and I always try my hardest to kind of buck that trend, right. So I’m always trying to have a blog up and running, that’s generating income of using the latest tactics for search engine optimization with Google and backlinking, and keyword research, all that fun stuff, to make sure that I’m staying up with the times, you know, I’ve hired mentors to show me how to, you know, really scale these businesses to as high as I can, and being able to turn around and show other people who didn’t even know that this business even existed, you know, it’s pretty rewarding.
Ryan
Yeah, sounds like it, and you are doing it, you’re doing it, and then you’re teaching it. So it’s at the best, the best of both worlds. So let’s talk about your morning routine, Chris, how do you start your days,
Chris
I have kind of a loose morning routine, but it does essentially do about the same thing. So you know, it’s just my wife and my son, and me, when we’re here, I try to wake up a little bit early, so that I can get a few things done. So probably around 7am, I’m probably getting up. And from there, I’ll hop on the computer, I’ll check the traffic on some sites, I’ll check the revenue, see what’s going on, around 738 o’clock, it’s about time to get the kid up, get kid and my wife up, and we try to get him dressed, and hopefully get him something to eat if we can, you know, and so that he can be prepared to go to school, you know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, get them to school around 830 45. And then I come back home. And actually, that’s when I kind of go to work. So I’ll sit there at my computer, and probably work on some blog and stuff, maybe a YouTube video or something in my community, just trying to give people you know, some as much as they can, I’ll probably do that to around 12, one o’clock, unless I’m working on something huge. And I keep going to like three or four. But for the most part, you know, around 12, or one o’clock, I’m done with what I need to do for the day, at which point I can go to the grocery store, if I need to maybe clean up the house a little bit or do the dishes, you know, things of that nature to try to get that done. And then around 330, it’s about time to pick up my son. And usually when he’s here, I can’t get much work done. So I’m usually either telling them, Hey, I gotta do this, or, Hey, let’s go ahead and do what you want to do. And then we’ll kind of hang out for, you know, most of the day. And then that’s pretty much today, you know, and that’s pretty cool to have that type of lifestyle. Because before I was working on, you know, not just a nine to five, you know, nine to five is rarely, rarely a nine to five, it’s like a Rite Aid to six or seven, three to seven. And I was working those 1215 hour days and barely being able to see my son when he was first born. So being able to, you know, tell you that morning routine that I just had just now, it works out great, because I’m able to, you know, have the day to do mostly what I want.
Ryan
You know, I guess when the pandemic happened, you were just kind of like, did a missile strike, right? Like you were in the, but your business was, like, perfectly suited for that for that situation? Because you are already at home, online and all that right?
Chris
Yeah, I like to say that I was working from home before working from home was cool, you know, so I quit probably like 2018 or so. So we’re in 2018 or early 2019. And then you know, the pandemic hit in early 2020. So I had already had a few months of just waking up and kind of just going about my day. And then when everything shut down, you know, there were more people at home. And since there’s more people at home, there’s more people on the internet just Googling random things, which means the traffic on My Sites went up, the business actually started doing well. And then the entrepreneurial side of the business as well. When it comes to the teaching and everything, people started, more people started popping up there. Because some people were getting laid off from their jobs. It was a tough time, right. So people were getting laid off and jobs they were not able to because they couldn’t go to work and the jobs couldn’t continue to pay them. So some people were really in a pickle. So being able to show people an opportunity to Yeah, you can make you some money on the side by doing this and doing that. And then at least somehow, you know, supplement the income that you have until things start to bounce back.
Ryan
You don’t have to get too too technical here. But I’m in the digital marketing world too. Do you rely mostly on organic through Google? Or do you layer in? Is there a paid advertising element so that you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket?
Chris
Yeah. So for the blog’s 100% organic, I never pay for traffic to go to a blog. And mainly because the return on investment just isn’t there. And once you get, you know, drove traffic onto the site, you’re doing pretty well. Now for the paid side. I do use paid advertising for my courses. So on the other side of the business, where I’m pretty much just showing people how to do this, how to do that. I do have paid ads for it that I run probably six months out of the year. And that’s pretty much it so 100% Organic for the blog post but then for sure showing people how to do it, I do run ads to try to get in front of the most eyeballs.
Ryan
Okay, and give us some tips around like so people that are listening, that are interested in this kind of profession where they have an online business could be blogging or whatever it is when they’re working from home, like how do you are there habits that you rely on throughout the day or a way, a way that you structure your day to keep yourself motivated, cuz you basically wake up and you have like an clean slate? And so you can, you know, work on whatever you want. And so how do you structure your day to be efficient, and to get the most out of those hours that you’re putting in when you don’t have a boss telling you what to do? And you could do whatever you want to do, essentially,
Chris
yeah, Ryan, that was really a hard transition for me when I first quit my job, right? Because you’re used to having a boss telling you what to do, when it’s due, and how to do it right. And then all of a sudden, now I don’t, I’m my own boss, I don’t have a boss and I got to come up with my own projections for the quarter, I got to come up with my own, what needs to be done. So it did take me like three to four months before I realized that I was wasting a lot of time. So I remember I hired a mentor to kind of help me with that kind of thing. And they helped me just kind of become more of a project manager. So I’ll have a project that I’m working on, it might take me a couple of months to work on it, right. But that’s what I’m working on. And then I move on to something else, and then move on to something else, just depending on that every single day. But what makes sure that my day doesn’t go in vain, I guess you can say is one thing I like to say is a blog post a day keeps the employer away, right. So I keep trying to make sure that I create some type of content that day that goes out, you know, whether it’s on a blog post, or whether it’s a YouTube channel, or something, or podcasts, you know, depending on what it is, regardless, I got to create something that’s going to go out there, that’s where I try to help with the organic stuff. So as long as at some point during the day, I created something that went out to the masses, then I probably had a good day.
Ryan
I liked that. But you say one blog post a day keeps the employer away. Yeah, a blog post a day keeps the employer away. Like that. That’s really that’s really neat. We talk about tips on the show, usually around personal growth. But just from what you were saying, it sounds like you’ve got a specialty in SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization. For everyone listening, I’m pretty certain that we have not talked about SEO on this show. I’m almost positive. So what’s your number one tip for SEO? So everyone listening, SEO is where you optimize your site, your website for organic traffic. So like when someone does a search on Google for a keyword, you are showing up high, hopefully, in the organic section of Google, not the paid side, the organic side. Yeah. What tips do you have for SEO?
Chris
Yeah, I try to like an SEO, especially Google SEO, like a library, right. So you go to a library, you want to find a book about a bear. So you’re probably gonna go to the computer, you type it in, and it tells you exactly where in the library there are books that happen to be. SEO is kind of similar. You’re trying to work with Google, that Google is like the big librarian, and you’re trying to work with Google to create your content in a way to make it so easy for Google to see it and know what it’s about. That way, they can present it to the right person at the right time and get traffic to your site. There’s a few tips that you can use in order to make sure that your SEO is on point. Sometimes people will hear the words SEO and kind of kind of get a little sheepish because they’re like, oh, my gosh, I don’t really I don’t know anything about SEO. And then they try to go another route, whether it’s paid ads or something like that. But I can tell you right now, right, and nothing has a higher ROI than going after SEO traffic, because eventually you’re going to start getting free leads with it if you do it right. So a couple of tips that I would do, you need to find a keyword and number one, you have at least a shot at ranking for. That’s probably the number one thing when it comes to SEO, make sure that it’s a keyword, or a topic that you have a shot at ranking for to do that you just Google the phrase, look at the websites that are there and see if the contents any good, and can you create something better. If that’s the case, then you found yourself a decent keyword. At that point, make sure that the keyword that you’re looking for, let’s just say it’s how to fix your golf slice, right. So let’s just say that’s what you’re going to be going after, you want to make sure that that title is in the title of your article and the URL itself and the URL meaning you know, your website.com/how to fix your slice, right? You want to make sure that that’s the case, make sure that you put that keyword in the first 100 words of your article, and then use it naturally throughout the rest of the article. And if you do that, you’ve done about 60-70% of what’s called on page SEO, and you’re good enough to continue writing the article and then move on to the next.
Ryan
Excellent Yep, I agree with all that. So we do a lot of SEO, I bounce on my family’s marketing agency. So yeah, everything you said is spot on. So thanks for sharing a little bit of a different topic, but we like talking about business here. So appreciate you sharing that. I have a question about happiness for you. Okay, because you’re home alone, and while you have your wife and your kid there but Benji there but you know, I’m assuming a big part of your day you’re you’re working you’re by yourself like how do you feed your happiness? Unless you’re someone that gets someone that likes to be by yourself but like how do you feature happiness being that you work from home? And you know, you’re not in an office around people, etc?
Chris
Yeah, that’s a really great question. Because working on a computer all the time, you know, when you’re, when you’re a blogger, or just a content creator, probably in general, it’s a lonely existence, you know, because you’re kind of just there, by yourself, for the most part, working on things, a lot of the connections and contacts you might have with people is through email, or through text message or something like that, you know, that’s kind of why I do kind of relish having a podcast where I can talk to other people, or at appearing on other podcasts like, like yours to just be able to have an opportunity to talk to other people about entrepreneurship, about blogging about this than the other. So that’s what I kind of do to try to get out of that. Now, that said, I am an only child. So a decent job of entertaining myself. So I have this thing that I like to use, it’s called a brain FM, um, have you ever heard of it, it brings out FM, so it’s like Lo Fi beats that you can plug into and they just kind of work. But brand.fm is a little different. Because it’s, by the way, I’m not an affiliate or anything other than just like the service. They have like white papers that accompany what they do, saying that it kind of helps with getting you to focus with your brainwaves and everything. You know, you can go on YouTube and just find random Lo Fi beats, but these are specifically created to be able to kind of get you in a focused mode. So I use that. And it really does help with getting work done more efficiently. That’s what I’ve been kind of doing. And I think it helps with, you know, not feeling alone, because I’m focused on my work at the time. So hopefully that kind of answers your question.
Ryan
No, it does. It’s funny, you said that tool. I love different resources so we’ll link that up in the show notes. But it’s funny you say that because I have a tab open for YouTube. And hopefully doesn’t start playing now. Okay. It says study music, alpha waves relaxing, studying music, brain power. It’s like all keywords in the title. But basically, it’s like alpha wave music that I just play in the background while I’m doing work. And it keeps me zoned in like a missile. I’m just like really focused, you know,
Chris
it’s great, because there’s no words to it. And sometimes the beat isn’t very predictable. So you don’t find yourself bumping into it or you know, kind of bobbing your head around it because it’s just there to keep you focused. It works out really well. I’ve been using it quite often. I can’t use it a ton sometimes because I edit videos every now and then. So I can’t listen to the music while I’m editing video at the same time, when I’m doing something that just requires me typing whatever. Yeah, I kicked it on. And I I plug in and then go from there. And the time flies usually when that happens.
Ryan
Excellent. Well, we are at the end of our time, but I do have one last question for you. Yeah, Chris. It’s about the meaning of life. I like to ask them this question. And most of my interviews lately, because I like it through the lens of Chris focuses, this is a personal question through the lens of Chris, what do you think the meaning of life is?
Chris
Yeah, man. That’s a great question. So it’s an insightful question as well. So I would definitely say that one of my favorite sayings is I like to fear, regret, more than I fear failure, the fact that you know, we live, you know, that, that’s not gonna always be the case, right? And that, because it gives you a natural drive to do what you can. That was a big reason why when I just had to quit my job to stay home with the family, I remember thinking to myself, like, it’s probably gonna be tough being around the family all the time, you know, and don’t get me wrong. There’s times where, you know, we might be at each other’s throats. But at least we’re getting through those times. I didn’t want to be gone constantly for that, right at a job where, you know, I worked 1215 hours a day, come home, be able to see my son for like, half an hour before it was time for him to go to bed or something like that. So I was like, let’s, let’s figure out something else. And worst case scenario, I’ll just get another job. That’s kind of the way that I looked at it was I didn’t want time to pass. And I feared the fact that I missed out on a young man growing up and developing a better relationship with my wife and the family and everything. So I was like, let’s just go ahead and just be around and try it for a year. And then two years came and in three years came and you’re like, Okay, so we’re still kind of doing it right now. And it gets a little tougher, especially in this climate that we’re happening to be in right now. But I got some things in the pipe that I’m working on, and hopefully things will start bouncing back the way that it needs to.
Ryan
Excellent. Well, this was great, Chris, thanks for everything you shared. If someone wants to learn more about you, where should we send them?
Chris
Yeah, definitely check out the podcast, blogger evolution podcast, I talk a lot about blogging obviously and affiliate marketing there and how you can scale this up to a full time income or replace your income or maybe just make an extra 100 bucks and loss you know, whatever it is, your your goal happens to be and, and then also the YouTube channel under the same name.
Ryan
Perfect. Thanks, Chris.
Chris
Yeah, no problem. Ryan, thanks so much for having me on.
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