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$238,000 of Debt to $20k/Month Profitable Blog [with Debbie Gartner]

Earning six figures is a pretty big motivator, but you know what’s even more compelling? Needing to pay off six figures worth of debt…

That’s exactly what Debbie Gartner of The Flooring Girl blog was facing back in 2016, when she lost her flooring company, and suddenly found herself staring down the barrel of impending financial doom. 

Debbie actually started her first blog to help her get local clients to her physical business. She was a flooring consultant that helped people, mostly women, navigate the complexities of choosing and installing new flooring in their homes. She didn’t have a care or a thought in the world about actually monetizing the site itself.

But through a series of unfortunate events (that she can’t even discuss in detail due to a non-disclosure agreement), she lost her company. Living in New York was expensive. The debt grew. And grew. 

With few options in front of her, Debbie turned to her online blog for answers.

She didn’t know anything about monetizing it at the time, but she had learned a lot about SEO in her efforts to use her website to bring in more physical clients to her business.

So, from there, she learned. And through a lot of hard work and what Debbie refers to as “grit,” she was able to: 

  • become a highly sought-after SEO consultant, 
  • make $1,100 her first month with ads and affiliate sales, 
  • write two very successful ebooks on SEO techniques, 
  • and grow her blog to over $20,000 per month in income.

Debbie’s story is truly mind-blowing, and full of major missteps and even greater wins. 

Today, Debbie is sharing all the details of her nail-biting journey to blogging success and financial freedom, as well as her best advice for how you can do the same thing with your blog. 

In this episode, Debbie and I are discussing:

  • Debbie’s journey from flooring salesperson to full-time blogger
  • How she dug herself out of over $238,000 of debt
  • The major role SEO played in her success
  • Affiliate marketing pro tips
  • Some big failures and bigger successes along the way
  • And more.

Listen to the full episode:

Episode Highlights:

  • [2:14] How Debbie started blogging
  • [3:13] Starting with an SEO strategy
  • [4:06] Losing her flooring business
  • [5:01] Setting big goals, and starting to monetize her blog and blogging skills
  • [7:54] Making her first $1,100 with ads and affiliate sales
  • [8:41] Increasing her monthly blog income, and making ends meet
  • [10:18] Bartering and trading for blogging products
  • [11:56] Starting to see results
  • [12:43] Reaching her first big financial goal
  • [13:14] Selling SEO coaching and SEO ebooks
  • [15:13] Getting reviews and learning to bundle and cross sell
  • [15:51] Making over $20k/month and paying off debt
  • [16:42] Accidentally following the right steps for blogging success
  • [18:04] How Debbie found success with Amazon Affiliates
  • [19:45] Asking the right questions when making blog biz decisions
  • [20:59] The blogging mindset and ideas every blogger should have
  • [22:19] Debbie’s Six Figure Blogger experience
  • [23:13] Debbie’s top takeaways from the course
  • [25:17] The impact of implementing Six Figure Blogger lessons
  • [25:55] Communication > Sales and marketing
  • [27:08] Failure is not an option
  • [28:00] Lying to yourself to avoid overwhelm
  • [28:49] Gaining momentum
  • [30:20] Find more about Debbie and her blogging resources

Resources and Mentions:

Full Episode Transcript:

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