Ep 014: 28 Income Streams and Still Having Fun – with KariAnne from Thistlewood Farms

00:04
Welcome to The Shannon Acheson Show, real business talk for real life.  I’m Shannon, creative business coach, digital product lover, and your strategy sidekick.  I’ve built a business that fits my life, and now I help other women do the same.  No hustle, no fluff, just smart, honest conversations about building a business that works for you.  Let’s dive in.

00:30
Hello everyone, welcome to the show today.  I’m so excited to have Karianne from Thistlewood Farms  here with me.  And we’re just gonna have a little business chat and hopefully share  some of the things that she’s learned over the years.  And we really hope that this is a great  sort of episode to give you lots of ideas. So Karianne.

00:52
I’m saying that right, right? You got it. Okay, just making sure because sometimes my brain plays tricks on me and I’m like, ah,  anyways, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here with me today.  Thank you so much for having me. I am so excited that we are going to talk through all the business side, literally making money just between you and I Shannon is one of my favorite topics on this planet.

01:17
I love that so much. So, okay, for anyone who doesn’t already know you, because, you know, lots of people that I know probably know who you are, but just in case they don’t, give us a quick version. Who are you? What do you do? And sort of how did all your online stuff begin?  So  my name is Karianne Wood and I am the owner and creator of a small media company. That’s how I like to refer to it. Thistlewood Farms, and I’ve been doing this in this space  for

01:46
About twelve and a half years and I started at the very very end of 2011 December 7th 2011 had no concept no idea what this would turn into No, it just wasn’t I was just doing it for fun about six months in I go to a conference that you and I have been to haven’t I loved and Shannon there were people there and they were making money and I was like

02:14
you can make money from this and then the rest is history. That first month, I made $1,000 and now we have 28 different revenue streams and ways that we produce money for the blog and social media. See, that’s amazing and I wanna talk about those. I do, I wanna get to those. But sort of, okay, so you started just for fun and then realized, you know, could, we started around, I started a little bit before you did, but like in 2010, but.

02:43
At that point I had realized, yeah, people are making money with this, like between ads and all the things. And even now there’s more options for how to make money with it.  did you always sort of  plan to turn your love of sort of home and design and that sort of thing into a business  or  that was just where you  started with home stuff?  I  look back at this journey and I’m like, there was a lot of luck. And I think that’s super important that we

03:14
make clear to everybody because some of what you and I have both experiences, we were just very fortunate. We got in  at the right time before the marketplace was very crowded. But  I had no idea. I mean, I was a mom with four kids. I had a very busy life. was running a PTO, okay? Like I had big things going on. I had four littles at the time and they were just really taking…

03:43
a lot of my time and so when I started kind of leaning into this, this whole like entrepreneurial person that I didn’t even know that I was came  out and  I’m so glad I let her out of the gate because  it changed my life and so I really want to speak encouragement and to anyone who’s listening, first of all, you are never, it’s never too late to start this. Like people ask that question all the time. They say,  is it too late? Is it?

04:12
market to saturate. I’m like, there is only one you in this whole world and the way that you approach things and the way that you decorate your home and your unique perspective on things that is super. It’s unique to you. So we are never too late to start. But I also think too, so many of us have that entrepreneurial spirit inside of us, but we just forget about it. We don’t like let out. So I encourage let that person out.

04:38
Let her shine.  It’s so true. think we get in the busyness because yeah, when I started too, I was homeschooling three littles. So like same thing, super busy. And yeah, like it’s in there. It’s in so many people like that.  there was something you just said and my brain totally just lost it. But  the joy of age, right? It was a pearl of wisdom. That was great. Anyway, no, it something I wanted to ask you, but  I’ll get there.  Okay, so you have done sort of

05:08
Blogging you’ve written books. You’ve worked with brands I know you and I went on a brand trip like  several years ago together to like Mobile, Alabama Right with yeah with the brand  and then you do I noticed you do affiliate marketing. That’s okay So you have these 28 streams so like do they fall under certain categories or are they completely separate like well? There’s  so there’s my top four  just you kind of talk numbers here a little bit So I think that’s super important people are like you have 28 like how?

05:38
My top four grossed, each of them,  well over six figures. So each of my top four,  so I have some that are very lucrative that I work actively every day.  And then there are some that are very, very passive.  And I’m always shifting them around. And I think that’s a  super key point because in this world that we live in,  right now,

06:04
The marketplace is changing. It changes every single day. There are Google updates. There are new blog things coming up. There are new social media that are being introduced. There’s  new social media tools that are being introduced. And I think  pivoting and  learning  how to shift  the revenue streams around is super, super important. So my top four  that I really heavily lean into, of course,  as you know, ads on the blog are very, very lucrative.  I’m with a company called Raptive that used to be AdThrive.

06:34
Just one quick tip on that if anybody’s leaning into those make sure you have your video player installed and  lean into video because a lot of people You know, they they go with them  and ad company and they don’t install the video player. I’m like,  that is the top roasting RPM. Okay, the second one, of course Hello captain obvious would be Amazon  My third one would be LTK and my fourth one is brand partnership. So those are really my top four Those are actively I’m actively working them. I’m actively doing them. There is a host

07:04
a myriad, a plethora of  passive income.  So I have had product lines that are still out there. They’re still generating revenue. I have seven home decor books. That’s a whole nother. have a whole  way of  layering in  digital products into the blog to make money.  There are so many, there’s UGC content. There’s so many other ways to make money  and…  Sorry, I… That’s okay.

07:34
I put  it on do not disturb. I’ll turn it off now.  But  I also think too that it’s important to pivot. so  one, I’m sure you’re going to ask me this question, but one thing I’m pivoting to  is I’m doing live shopping. I’m kind of obsessed with it. Like I’ve heard of that.  Oh, I feel like I’m old, but I’ve heard Gary Vee talk about it. okay. So what do you, what do you like about that sort of platform? First of all, I feel like you heard it here.

08:04
Yeah, yeah,  yeah.  Live shopping is where we are all headed. So currently right now a lot of ways that we share affiliate links is we share something that we love. For example, this incredible amazing stand like  one of these for your laptop. I mean, excuse me for your iPad for your  phone  and I’m holding this up and then I say there’s a link here that you can click. The thing that live shopping does is it takes that.

08:33
the lack of interaction between consumer  and really promoter, I guess is a good word for it.  And they can ask questions. can immediately see immediacy  of shopping.  it’s so QVC is having a heyday, but yeah, the model for QVC and a lot of other home shopping networks is the live shopping model. Yeah, yeah. It’s so funny because I was like, huh.

08:58
That is like,  that used to be reserved almost for like late night television, right? Like the shopping channel or the shopping network or whatever. Like that’s, I know in the States it’s QVC. In Canada, I think it’s like the shopping channel, I think it is. Like that’s been a thing for a long time, but I think that’s sort of coming around in a different way. Like you said, with the interactive part, because otherwise we’re talking about.

09:22
things that we love, but then it’s kind of static, right? We’re like, blah, here’s what we love. And people can’t go, well,  how does it fit? What does it look like? Right? Like is the color true to what you’re seeing? Like, I think  that’s a really neat sort of addition to what you’re already naturally doing. Well,  and good thing Shannon,  I never met something I didn’t like to sell. like,  I’m kind of obsessed with it. Like I’m a shopper.

09:49
All the time I always say to people, you didn’t need to go shopping because I’m here. I will go for both of us. I will go first. Right, right. No, that’s great. I did think of what the question was and it was sort of around like you are very, you’re very sort of vibrant and energetic and you in your blog posts and I am assuming when you talk to you like on social and stuff, you are very into storytelling and like.

10:17
relating things that have happened in your life in the past and currently and recently and I think  Something probably that’s worked very well for you all along is is your personal brand like more than anything and just being here I’m this business. I’m this entrepreneur. I have this I have this website which you know, the website is very connected to you because it’s your house  But then  but then there’s like your whole personal self is part of that in a personal brand and I think  with all those changes you mentioned

10:46
I mean, tell me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think so.  All those changes you mentioned, sort of Google changes, different things,  I think coming back around to personal brand is gonna be like a huge thing going forward too, right? Like it’s not just this, you’ve done the SEO research on something, although that can matter too,  but like not just that you’ve done the SEO research, but like your person in it. People want to relate to you. Like you said, there’s only one of you.

11:12
Right? Like, that make sense? Like, has it always been sort of a personal brand sort of focus for you? Like, you’re in it? Well, and what’s interesting is I’m a giant believer in this. I think I call it a brand story. So I think every single one of us should have a brand story. And what’s ironic is I could probably ask you, because you, we have followed each other for a very long time. You know my brand story. what I did was probably about five or six years ago, I came up with about 10 things.

11:41
that I decided I was going to lean into. So hello, Captain Obvious, blue and white, let’s go. That’s one of my favorites. Of course, blue and white rugs is my other favorite. Red lipstick, love a good red lip. This is British Red 350, if anybody’s got it. And then I have, like I love Judge Judy, kind of obsessed with Judge Judy.

12:07
Yeah, but that’s a personality thing, right? Yeah, that’s right. And I like to read, so I’m always sharing organically books. I also like to play mahjong. That’s another thing that I like. And I have a cast of characters in my house that I’m constantly introducing. when, so what happens is when you lean into that story, so every single person that’s listening here, I would say come up with five to 10 things that are uniquely you and put that into a brand story and organically lean into that. So for example,

12:37
If you like to read books,  share books with an affiliate link, of course. If you like to play Mahjong, share Mahjong tiles, share the Mahjong mat, share Mahjong lamps, all of that.  It’s an organic part of your brand story.  so, and then what will happen is people will see things like  all the time, people see blue and white things and they send them to me.  And they’ll be like, I saw this, I saw this and thought of you. I’m like, thank you. And that’s because  I’m reading into my brand story. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that, you know,

13:06
that really  makes people sort of identify with you and feel like they know you too, right? Because you are sharing consistently those things that are uniquely you, but  they feel like they know you then because of that, right? Like they  send you links, like they send you the blue and white rugs, like,  they know you. And I think it’s very important to be  honest and authentic about those. Like don’t try to just because Mahjong’s popular right now. Don’t try to…

13:34
I mean, unless you really like to play Mahjong, but I’m saying people can sense immediately that you are not being authentic and that is not cool. So they’re going to want to, they want to know that you, like I am an avid reader. I read over 20 books a month. So when I share a book and I share a lot of them, don’t share cause they’re like, I’m like, uh-uh, that one wasn’t very good. So. I read a lot too. Yeah.  And books,  there’s a whole  audience out there just for books. And so.

14:04
Finding things that organically you  like to do, but also resonate with your audience as well and sharing those is the, that’s your best  success against AI, I feel like coming up. Right, because yeah, you need, you’re a person and so AI can say, hey, here’s how to X, Y, Z something, right? Like I’m a teacher at heart.  So that has been tricky for me a little bit because I like to break things down into step-by-step and teach them and whatever. And so.

14:32
making sure that there’s still  enough of like  you as a person  in what you’re sharing definitely matters because people will identify with you. They can hear the same thing. I forget what the number is, but like a gazillion things, someone can hear the same thing. That’s And they’ll identify with you and not the other person who said it, right? So like personal brand, think matters  so much going forward in the next little while, especially. Yeah, I love that.  Okay.  So

15:01
What is one thing maybe that you have tried that didn’t work? Cause it sounds like you’ve tried lots of things and lots of things have worked.  I have tried a whole bunch. Trust me. My list of things I have tried is longer than things that I haven’t tried. Okay. Um,  I would say one thing that I tried that did not work for me was TikTok. Okay.  I think  that what’s, but I think it’s almost like when we try something, it doesn’t work. What’s our takeaway from that? What’s our lesson?

15:30
Some people, what’s funny is I had a consultation yesterday with a younger influencer and she was on TikTok and she was saying how great, and she was making all these affiliate sales. And I had to kind of brace myself like, okay, I don’t need to run out and go beyond TikTok. I have a TikTok account. I do post things over there on TikTok, but for whatever reason, the content and the way that I share it does not resonate with a TikTok audience. And I don’t think it’s time for me to…

15:58
overanalyze that and lean into that. are so many other revenue streams and other ways to make money. And I think sometimes what happens is we try something, it doesn’t work, and then we get all caught up in that. We go down like this black hole, like, why didn’t that work? No, my friends,  bye, see you later. There’s way other  fun things to do that you don’t need to be obsessing over something that doesn’t work. And I think the reason why TikTok doesn’t work for me is I…

16:25
produce content a certain way. And I think to resonate with a TikTok audience, I need to produce it in a different way. And it’s a very steep mountain for me to climb. And I did not put on my hiking shoes. So. Yeah, no, that’s fair. Totally. And I think I love that. I love that you’re like, okay, it doesn’t work. Bye, let’s move on to something else. Because I think a lot of us creatives sort of get in a rabbit hole in our head, like you said. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So.

16:53
Your storytelling is such a huge part of Thistlewood, right? I think it’s such a huge part of just you. I think the impression I got,  was that something that you’ve  always sort of  been like, like when you were talking to people previous to the blog, like was that sort of story related to, or is that something that sort of grew more over time with  the blog and all of it? And my friend. I’ve been telling stories since I was, you know, as my grandma said, ni hao to him, baby.  But  I’m,

17:23
just love a good story.  And what is very interesting is I could remember the first time that they ever said, tell story like I was sitting  at Haven the very first Haven. So I’m six months in and I haven’t really told any of my stories and I have a I have a library of stories and much to the poor people that live with me that have heard the stories like 5 million times, you know, it’s those things. But I’ve got these five finely  honed stories that I’ve shared over and over and over again.

17:52
And I was telling my friends, we were sitting around dinner, and I was telling my friends, it was Heather and Vanessa from At the Picket Fence.  And we were sitting there at dinner and they said, why are you not putting these on the blog? And I said, oh gosh, is anyone really interested? You know, I’m there to do home decor. I’m not really there for stories. Is this even a thing?  And  the very first story that I ever put on the blog was a pancake story. was all about, I’m actually, and now,

18:21
I mean, I’m not a great cook, but I’m like way better when I the pancake story. Maybe we can link to it because it is a good one. I had shared that so many times and I was sharing it with them. They said, you put this on the blog and I came home and the next week I put it on the blog and that’s really where the story. So there’s a whole story tab now on my blog for all the stories. awesome. I love that. I love that it was.

18:45
from connecting with other people, encouraging you to do that too, right? You knew you had those stories and you told them, but  I love that. And there’s new stories all the time, new funny stories that come  And the amazing thing is sometimes I forget, I have  my cornerstone stories, like the day I got married and the day the twins were born and my kids.  But there’s a few that along the way I have forgotten and  that’s why the blog is so amazing. I go back.

19:14
I forgot all about that story. And so  that’s what’s amazing about writing a blog, I think. Yeah, no, it’s true. Because you hold onto a lot of that stuff.  just a  question about that. So when everybody was sort of in the last few years, because you and I have been around for a while. like blog sort of started out. was  a little bit of stories. It was what we were doing in our homes and things like that. But then for several years there, it felt like until the last little while, it was like,

19:43
SEO, make sure you target keywords. Like, did you sort of go down that rabbit hole at all or did you sort of stay with what was already working for you? Okay, this is sometimes do what I say, not what I do.  So when I coach people and consult with people, I tell them to do SEO, but in my own little personal life,  maybe not so much. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing at all.

20:11
can remember one time, Shannon, I’m not making this up. There was a whole Facebook, it was one of these private Facebook groups, and they were over there and they were discussing me.  And they were, they didn’t know, maybe they didn’t know that I was in the group. And one of my friends messaged me, goes, you are a hot topic of discussion in this Facebook group. And I run over there  and they’re all talking about,  well, Thistlewood doesn’t even use SEO. Can you believe it? And then they’re putting my numbers on there they’re like, how does she get  these page views with no SEO? Oh gosh. And I was like, oh gosh, like.

20:41
Wow, and I never, I just got the popcorn out and like, I never commented. Watched the drama. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow, yeah. And I think to that point, I’ve always, always, always written the type of blog that I wanna read. And I have actually, in the last two years, I’ve taken ads out of the center of my blog. Okay. I still have them, of course, the very irritating one that pops up on the bottom and the video ads, of course, and the ones on the sidebar.

21:11
which aren’t as apparent on mobile. Right.  But, and I have seen zero decrease in my numbers from rapid.  And I have only seen an increase in my affiliate. So what I’m trying to do is say to people, hey, I’d rather have you clicking on these affiliate links than I would have you clicking on my ads.  And so in a time when everyone’s leaning into, I sometimes you’ll go to a blog and it’s like enough, you go over there and know, Katy Perry’s jumping up from the bottom, selling you fireworks and you know,  and  all kinds of.

21:40
things are happening with ads and if you go to my blog and you click out of the top and the bottom you read it completely ad free.  But what happens is I get so many clicks because people do click out of the top and the bottom.  You still have that video ad in there but the rest of the time it’s just been something that I’m very passionate about. I I want,  I have a message and stories of course like you said that I want to communicate to people and I don’t want  ads coming in the way of that

22:10
I’m to lose readership. And so I think Google maybe rewards that. I don’t know. I’m not an expert at any of that stuff.  And occasionally I do write posts for SEO. I don’t want to act like I’m above it all.  No,  I write posts for SEO for sure. But I would say I write five blog posts a week. And of those,  one,  maybe two are SEO. And the other three are just for the joy of writing.

22:40
hear that and see that and  it’s really why I think people have stuck with me for so long. Yeah,  I think that’s a little bit  of permission for other  bloggers who  like to write and blog for the sake of writing.  Not for the sake of writing, but because they like that medium, right? I think that’s really not permission, but almost for them to go, okay, no, like put the focus where it should be. And there are other income streams.  So if  you love to write,

23:10
You love to write your stories and things like that. But you also mentioned  the video player for  Raptive. So tell me about that then. If you start out writing a blog post,  what videos are you putting in your  video player then?  I only have three to four videos that I do seasonally. I change them out every quarter.  They’re seasonal. So we’re about to put the Christmas ones in there  and  coming up  in Q4.

23:40
I don’t change them per blog post. Now, one thing I have started doing is I have started embedding. This is not an ad. I don’t make any money off of this, but it does help explain sometimes. I usually create a reel that goes along with whatever post I’m doing.  And I have started posting those on Facebook and then embedding the Facebook into the post.  Additional way of just showcasing a product or showcasing a tour of a house or something that.

24:07
is more three dimensional than the two dimension of the just blog post.  Right, okay.  And so are you running, like are those long form videos, are you posting them on YouTube too? Are they just, you’re just creating them literally for that player? They are a version of the long form on YouTube.  But I typically, now YouTube has rolled out all these amazing new things. YouTube is.

24:31
I mean, if I could say one thing, lean into YouTube. You heard it here first. YouTube, YouTube, YouTube. YouTube is completely restructuring the way it’s doing things.  You know, if you get to 10,000 followers on YouTube, the  world is your, you know, open to you. This incredible world of affiliate sales is open to you on YouTube.  But those are  usually typically videos that have been cut down  to be little bit shorter. sometimes, depending on how long the person’s on the page, they could get through two of them. Okay. Okay.

25:00
That’s interesting. because I mean, I feel like, because I’m with Raptive 2 and I feel like almost they should  tell us more to use video, right? Like there’s not a clear, okay, do this kind of thing. So I’ve sort of just left videos up there that have been up there for years.  Yeah,  it’s the thing that pays the highest.  you, mean, getting rid of those  literally, I mean, I just got rid, I just, there’s a little button you click at the bottom that you get rid of all.

25:28
And people are like, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. It’s counter programming.  It’s like everyone else is selling, selling, selling, selling. And I am selling too. I mean, don’t get me wrong. You are, yeah. But I’m selling it in a calmer way, I guess. Yes. Yeah, because ads get really jarring, especially since they’re all moving now and all of that. People have a pop-up. And there’s a lot going on. And people can get very overwhelmed very quickly.

25:52
Yeah, especially on the small screens, right? Like mobile is a completely different than  when more people were on desktop for sure.  So you also help other bloggers, right? Like you do consults and stuff like that.  what are you seeing with the bloggers who are coming to you now? Like where are they sort of stuck with things? Is it just bloggers or is it people who are sort of across all platforms, influencers? I do everything. So I do corporate consulting too. So I, which is a great.

26:20
revenue stream idea for a lot of people. So there are a whole host of startups out there right now  that are trying to market products for people like you and I that are influencers  and they need someone to almost go first and test it.  So  a whole corporate consulting business where I go in and I’m your like test. So I go in and I evaluate, I give them  feedback on the products.  But corporate consulting is something that definitely I lean into and  it’s something that people

26:50
like us, don’t think about. But  so if you see a startup, I would highly encourage you  message the startup and say, hey, listen, I have a lot of feedback. I’m great. I’ve worked with other  brands and startups before and offer, you know, pitch them. They just don’t know how to find people like this. You know, so it is a it’s a hidden revenue stream that a lot of people don’t  know about. But as far as individual creators doing consulting,

27:18
I should publicize it more. don’t really. I know you have like a page on the blog, right? I know about it because I came and did one like I did one with you like for like testimonials and stuff. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So I should promote. I do probably maybe two to three consults a week. So nothing is not my bread and butter. is right. But I mostly do it because I just first of all, I love to teach. I’m kind of like you.

27:46
And I just love, I don’t know, just love going to people’s blogs or businesses and thinking up an idea for them. Like, okay, I’ve got it. Don’t do this, do, wait, I’ve got it. And people are like, where’d that come up with? I’m like, I don’t know. It just pops into my brain. think my brain just works like that. But probably the biggest challenge that I have seen with, answer, very long answer to your question. No, that’s great. No, I love it. I love it.

28:14
is that people are struggling to pivot. In other words, they’ve made a lot of money in the past  with one revenue stream.  And now that revenue stream is drying up and they don’t know what to do.  let’s say that  they’ve always leaned into Pinterest and Pinterest is driving tons of traffic to their blog and they’re making money from Raptive because of the pins. They’ve also done  video pins now  where they’re selling affiliates and Pinterest is kind of

28:42
lost its way a little bit. I feel like doesn’t really know where it’s going.  they now Pinterest is completely dried up and I’m like, okay, well now we pivot and we do something else. So  that’s the biggest thing I’ve seen is that they’ve done something for a long time and now is  the money it used to make. Right.

28:59
And the pivot is hard because you sort of get stuck in that, okay, this is the only way to do it. I don’t even know what other ways there are, right? Like, and you need someone else to come and look at it and go, no, wait, there’s like all of this. Like, you have no idea. I mean, there’s so many ways. It’s like, just when I think I can’t think of one more, I’m like, well, there’s a whole other one that I didn’t even think about.

29:23
Okay, so when you say startups, you talking, this is just a sort of side question, it’s not really a, like, are you talking like tech companies, like new email platforms or like, okay. For example, I’ll just give you a perfect example. I did corporate consulting for URL Genius when they very first started out.  I did  corporate consulting for a  thing called AI Alt Text, which is like  a,  it’s like a company where they, it’s actually an amazing product.  They come in,

29:50
You pay for a certain number of credits and every image that’s loaded onto your blog. They created automatic Oh my gosh, like I know and it’s yeah, it’s it’s like next level. are next level So what happens typically is I what happens? The way most of these come about is I’m looking for a solution  or I hear of a solution that someone suggests to me I go look at it I realize okay, this is gold and if it’s making a difference for me

30:15
But there are some changes I think that they then I just reach out to them and I say, Hey, I have this whole corporate consulting thing. I’m happy to sit down,  book a, you know, a session with you and just pour into you with tweaks and changes to make it more applicable to me.  then once I do it, they go, wow, that was really insightful.  I really knew what she was talking about.  And then they, know, typically book another session. Sometimes I’ve worked with them for, know, three or four years. So.

30:45
Okay. No, that’s great. Because  that overall, I mean, that’s great for your business, it’s great for their business. But overall, that’s great for like user experience and stuff  for the people who end up purchasing sort of that software or whatever it is that you’re doing.  So I have a question. Like you,  you have all these things and all these balls in the air. So like, I want to talk to you about like, how do you manage your time? And do you have a team that helps you with things?  Okay.

31:12
Great question.  Next level. so two part answer.  The first thing is I have this whole thing in my brain. Well, I used to have it on paper, but now it’s kind of in my brain. I have tiers of in things that are important in the world that we live in. Okay, so for example, top tier  absolutely must be done.  I don’t care if there is a tornado coming through the North Texas area.

31:40
these items will be done. And one of those is blogging. So  I have made a commitment to my readers, I have made a commitment to myself that with very rare exceptions, I am going to write a blog post five days a week.  It publishes Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

31:59
Saturday is a roundup post of all of my favorite things. If anybody is listening to this and they would like to be featured, I am more than happy to feature anybody. I love finding new  blogs and websites. So that is a no deal. That’s like that has to be done.  And then there are certain things associated with that that have to be done.  And email has to be sent out. Certain social shares have to be sent out. OK, those are kind of like

32:29
that so when you’re talking about my time, that’s 1000%. Then there’s another tier of things that like they’re good and most days I get to them. But if I don’t get to them, it’s not the end of the world. And those involve like, I try to post between 30 and 35 Instagram stories every day. try. I know, right? Okay, so separate stories, like it’s a whole arc of things or like slides 30 or 40s. I kind of let the Instagram.

32:59
Take care of I will. like, as an example, I just got this super cute purse from Target. Okay, so when I get off the phone, oh, look how cute. Wait, Shannon, not only that, I know this is not part of podcast, but look. That’s okay. Aw, that’s so summery, I love it. I know, exactly, I was excited as you. So when I get off here, I’ll do a post on the purse with the fun little tag.

33:26
And then that might lead me to think, wait, I have another purse or that might lead me to nothing. Or that might lead me to here’s the grapes I’m eating today. Or it might lead me to wait, it’s yucky outside. What’s the weather like where you are? I don’t know. It’s like my little like happy place, like Instagram stories. I love it. But if I don’t get to all those stories, I release myself. I say, okay, you did what you had to do. I have pins that I do every day.

33:54
Sometimes I’ll go and pin older posts and  check my analytics and  put more things into circulation. That’s a, if I get to it and I have time, that’s an amazing thing. And then there’s the top tier, which is like, well,  if you’re having a real easy day and you got tons of time.  And things in that category would be like going back and reworking an old blog post. That would be like  making new pins for some of my

34:23
older blog posts, like things that, and sometimes I would say once or twice a month, I get to that very top tier.  But having your tasks in tiers like that releases you because here’s the thing about our job, you’re never done.  If you’re listening to this and you think you’re gonna be done, you’re not. Like you’re never done. Never. The list is always going to be longer than you have time for. That’s right. So if you tier things, if you tier things, then…

34:51
I like that. It just releases you. It releases the stress.  And yes, I have an amazing team.  We have about five people on the team.  One of them is my husband who helps. does all the accounting and  all of that kind of stuff. I have an amazing kind of right-hand person.  Her name is Dee Dee. She is incredible and  answers my emails. She does Facebook for me. She does  quite a few just, or she helps me strategize, all of that.

35:20
I have a photographer named Kenna Lynn who’s incredible.  I have Kristin Solarski who you might know. She’s incredible. If anyone needs a process person,  Kristin Solarski is incredible. And then I have  a videographer. Okay. That’s awesome. No, it’s good to know because, you know, some people,  sometimes you don’t know whether someone’s doing it all by themselves. Obviously you’re the face of it and that’s how it needs to be.

35:47
what you love, judging by your Instagram stories.  But yeah, sometimes  you need help depending on how many, mean, 28 different income streams kind of requires a lot, I would imagine. Well, and I think too,  I think that you have to, people always say, well, when should I hire someone or how do I hire someone?  And two tips on that. Number one, I always say,  do what you don’t, give someone else what you don’t like to do.  So if there’s things, so  I…

36:13
I mean, y’all have talked to me now for a little bit. You know, what does Karian like to do? She likes to sell and she likes to write. Okay. And by the way, she likes to read too. So  all selling is my department.  All marketing is my department. All writing is my department. And it’s not AI writing, it’s Karian showing up every day in truly writing. And that’s a kind of a pact I’ve made with my readers. Things I don’t like to do, I don’t like to make collages. I don’t like to post.

36:39
sometimes on  other social media besides my beloved Instagram stories. So those are things I’ve hired people to do. So find things you don’t like to do and hire someone to do them. And the second thing is if you’re trying to figure out how to hire someone,  making a Google form and putting it on Facebook or Instagram or wherever and saying, we’re hiring and having people respond is probably the easiest way to do that.

37:01
Yeah, that’s fair.  Yeah, I guess aside from having people in your life that you know are good at certain things like your husband, right? Yeah, I have my daughter occasionally works for me depending on the time of year and her exam schedule on things that I don’t like like data entry for business stuff. And then you have an accountant that we hire for taxes and all of that stuff. So yeah, get rid of the stuff that you don’t like. That’s for sure. Yes. Oh yeah, have fun. The second this stopped being fun for me, the second I stopped waking up every single day and going,  this is what I get to do.

37:31
That’s day I will not be doing this anymore because it’s too short.  When people say  it wears them out, I cannot understand. I cannot wait to get  off this podcast and sell you that purse.  Yeah, I think some of that gets bogged down in, I think, probably trying to do things that other people are doing that aren’t suited to  your personality. Like,  someone’s always doing this and it’s working well for them, so you should go and try that in your life.

38:01
and it’s like soul sucking, Yeah, it’s like TikTok. Yeah, right. Yeah, I’ve not done well with TikTok either. just isn’t But some people do amazing and  like, love that.  We’re all running our own little tiny individual businesses and we have to run it the best way for us. That’s true. You have to build it for you and for your life. And even sometimes I feel like for the season that you’re in, right? Like my  kids, your kids are older, my kids are older. Like there are different things we can do now.

38:30
that we couldn’t have done 10 or 15 years ago when we started, right? Because we had little kids and the hours and the time and the brain space  was not the same. So I think sometimes seasonally you have to change things too.  Oh, good point. Excellent point.  Okay. So what advice do you give most often to bloggers or creators who feel like the industry has changed too much, right? Like there’s a lot of people in a lot of the Facebook groups right now going, it’s

38:56
I’m never gonna recover, it’s never gonna be the same,  it’s changed too much and why can’t we go back? What would you say  to  those people?  I think, and this is gonna sound like, okay, okay Pollyanna, I see you.  But I just feel like you should find what sparks joy in you. I think what happened along the way,

39:23
Originally, we all started with joy sparking. We all started with things that we loved. We loved to decorate. We loved to cook. We loved to  do all this. And then somewhere along the line, it became a business. And once it became a true business with employees and payroll and people started panicking and people started doing things that maybe normally they wouldn’t have done when they were doing all that joy sparking. instead, I just invented that. I know that’s a word joy sparking.

39:51
But they started doing things that are wearing them down and  then they started looking at the bottom line and they started panicking and then when the panic came  because people can sense people can it’s coming through the screen loud and clear if you’re desperate and you’re over there selling things because you’re trying to make the bills whatever people said  if you’re selling things because you’re so joyful and happy and you found this amazing incredible thing and you can’t wait to share

40:19
then people sense that too. And so  I would say to those people, trim  whatever employees or  things that are not bringing you joy, go back to what brought you joy originally and figure out how to monetize that. you have, and I have been friends for a very long time. And I would say post 2020,  I did not ever do affiliate links, never, ever, ever. I mean, I kind of looked down like.

40:51
And then in the middle of 2020 and 2021, something amazing happened to me personally, in that I lost 105 pounds. And so when I lost the weight, know I’m still kind of all about that. I love that. I’m so excited for you for that. Every now and then a picture will pop up on Facebook. like, oh, whoa, Kari. I lost the weight and in…

41:14
losing the weight, I discovered how much I love fashion and dressing up and getting dressed up every day and finding new amazing things and leaning into the latest fashion trends and so I pivoted. And all of a sudden I started sharing, I mean, one day when, you know, my husband opened the door and there were like, you know, 47 Amazon packages outside. was like, hello, I think we’re gonna have to figure out a way to support this shopping habit. And I was like, well.

41:43
I could just start sharing  shopping things and  I didn’t do it because I was trying to, well I did it to support my shopping habit but I didn’t do it because someone else told me to do it or someone else was doing it. I did it because  I truly love doing it and that’s why I pivoted to that. So I feel like people have lost their way and they’re so concerned and the gloom and doom and then one person is sad and then that makes another person sad and then all the people are just sad together.

42:12
shut out that noise, find what joy sparks you and lean into that and figure out how to monetize that. Right.  And if that’s not like, cause you were more strictly home based, like home decor content based before that. if like,  if you need to, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of advice out there that says pick a niche, pick a niche, pick a niche.  And I think that matters. I think  the advice maybe that holds true is you picked a niche, you were in that.

42:42
and then you pivoted, like you became known for that and then you pivoted to other things that you still loved. So it works that way. It’s not like you went, I’m gonna talk about this today and this tomorrow and this when nobody knows who you are. Does that make sense? That’s That’s 100 % fair. And I would even say, like, let’s just use reading as an example. So, you know, right now I am at a time in my life where I do have…

43:07
more spare time and I when the kids were younger I couldn’t really read and now I am an avid reader. Well let’s say that that was really what was sparking joy which it does spark joy for me but let’s say I wanted to lean all into that and I had been home decor maybe fashion now I’m going well then I’d lean all in and all of a sudden I’m sharing books I’m sharing books I don’t like I’m having all these affiliate links I’m contacting publishing houses I’m asking the publishing houses hey I’d love to interview your authors like there’s so many ways that if

43:37
all of a sudden reading was like the whole focus of my life. It would start monetizing that in a way I’ve never monetized it before because that’s what I’m doing. That’s what’s making me happy. It’s true. No, that’s so true. And there’s several podcasts where literally they don’t take other guests anymore. They only take authors who are fed to them by the publishing houses. craziness. Yeah. So that was just an aside because I happen to know somebody who does that. But okay. So

44:07
You know, I think we talked about this a little bit  when  I talked about time management and stuff like that. But, you know,  obviously you make it look easy because you love it so much. But what does an actual work week look like for you? Like you get up and you’re excited to do these things, but what do your work days look like? Okay, so it’s the same work day every day.  Okay. So I get up usually about 730  and  my sweet coworker, my husband has a

44:36
hot cup of coffee waiting for me.  I drink a full bottle of water before to hydrate myself and then before I get the coffee.  And then right about eight o’clock, I typically start in for about an hour. So it’s a solid hour of social media.  I do Instagram. I usually have some sort of video that I share to Pinterest, to all the social media, different places, TikTok, even though five people stand over there.

45:05
Poor TikTok, I don’t mean I know, no, my kids are like, one of my daughters, she’s like, mom, you just have to get into the trending music and the this and the that, I’m like,  meh.  Right, so that’s right from eight to nine, right about there.  Then I go upstairs and I get ready for the day and I take it  very seriously.  I put on like beauty masks, I put like my little under eye patches on, I I soak my skin,  I like, I mean, all my little, I mean, it’s just… Every day?

45:35
Every day, okay, okay, Saturday sometimes no, but every day I’m up here trying out new beauty products people send me Leaning into it trying to figure out what’s working what’s not working like but I do it for me not just because they send it to me I just do it right so I’m obsessed now with this chin mask, which is like all this stuff All right, and so so it takes that

45:58
whole process and usually I’m listening to a book while I’m doing it. Okay, I’m talking to  like either one of my kids on the phone or my mom or somebody as I’m so I’m double doing that right then I pick out an outfit and I pick out an outfit with the sole purpose of selling what I’m about to put on  and I get dressed up every day like the crack up is if you saw me you’d be like, are you going to tea with the Queen like what’s happening here?

46:22
And there’s just something about getting up. It’s not for everyone. And I’m not suggesting. I’m like a hoodie. Actually, I have a nicer shirt on underneath, but it was freezing in my office. So I’m like, ah. No, I just,  I. You love it. This is no judgment on anyone else. This is just me.  And it’s because all of those years, I never did this.  And so I’m making up for lost time. All those years I would get up and just, you know, I didn’t treat myself to anything because I didn’t feel sometimes worthy of.

46:47
That’s not this podcast. That’s a whole other podcast. that’s another one.  You can come back and we’ll talk about that later.  So, but anyway, so I just, I’m just treating myself. So I pick out an outfit  that I’m going to sell and then I go as soon as I’m ready for the day, I go and I film,  I go to, have this…

47:07
cool thing that attaches to the mirror and then I can step back and I kind of say like, oh, you need this cute. Like this is a cute jacket from Target. And like this shirt I just got yesterday from Target. And so I’m going to like promote all of these clothing items. And then I take that video and that video now goes into a library. And so I can constantly be resharing it, resharing it, resharing it. Then I come downstairs. It’s now about 1030 and I treat myself. I have a little snack at 1030 that I eat and I go and I

47:37
immerse myself in the world of what is going on in social media. So I go look at what other people are doing. I see, is there any holidays I should be paying attention to? Are there any great sales that I’ve missed? Because I follow like all these brands. It’s on a separate account from my regular Instagram. I follow all the brands to see what sales there are. Oh gosh, Anthro’s having an extra 40 % off. That’s something I should be sharing on Instagram stories, you know? But I immerse myself for about 30 minutes.

48:06
to kind of set, so now I’m looking all cute,  eating my little pretzel snack with my yummy water and lemonade and immersing myself for 30 minutes. And I think that is such a piece that we miss.  And then,  now it’s 11 o’clock, and at 11 o’clock anything can happen. Sometimes I’m filming other content,  sometimes I’m starting to,  I  have the whole editorial calendar with all the blog posts and socials mapped out for the week.  Sometimes there’s a two hour chunk of time where I’m doing that.

48:36
So really it’s just general blog and social media work until  I’d say maybe about two o’clock. Then sometimes I go out to coffee with my husband, but through it out, I’m sharing it on Instagram stories.  About five o’clock, I come home and cook dinner  and we watch Jeopardy.  Oh, and in there I  watch my tape Judge Judy 2. And then.  Yes.  And then.

49:04
Right after that I start writing the blog post for tomorrow. So I write the blog post every day and I usually do it kind of It’s it’s like it’s it’s  usually prepared and ready for me I prepared it put photographs or whatever and it takes me about an hour to To write the blog post and then the next day I it all starts over again. It all starts again Okay, so you said that little half hour where you’re like immersing yourself and that’s so that you are aware of what’s going on with the things that you

49:33
that you sell that you promote?  That’s what you mean?  100%. Well, what I’m doing is I’m looking for trends. I’m looking for hashtags. I’m looking for  specifically with brands who they’re working with.  Really, I recently started working with Quince.  Well, I found Quince because I saw all these amazing people sharing it. And I was like, well, maybe that’s a brand I need to order. So I ordered a brand and  tested it out and fell in love with Quince. And then…

50:00
kept promoting their products and sold a whole bunch of them and then you know reached out to them and that’s one of my new brand partners but I found that because I saw other people sharing quints and I thought well maybe this is something I need to test out you know I try really hard not to get in the headspace of comparing myself with anyone right I’m more doing it like I think of myself as a internet research person like are people using new tools like is there a new tool I need to look at you know  is there a new way of sharing things

50:29
that I need to be looking at. And I’m not saying I copy any of those people. It’s more like I take it in as information.  And then I  spit it out in the KariAnne’s way of doing things. And sometimes someone will do something and I’m like, okay, like a real, like I’ll give you a perfect example. A trend right now that people are doing is they take a clothes rack and then they just put like one clothes and they put another clothes and they put another  clothes. They put a shirt, then they put pants and they put, you know,  just different things. Well, that’s not really, I’m…

50:59
I don’t feel like my audience would respond to that, but that’s definitely something interesting that I’ve seen lately that I’ve tried. Maybe I should try that. But, you know,  so sometimes I see a trend and I think it’s not for me and I discard it. Sometimes I see something,  oh, that’s an amazing way. I should lean into that, you know? I  think the piece that we miss so many times  is that we are not immersing ourself.

51:24
in the marketplace and looking around us to see what’s going on. We have this tunnel vision and we do our own thing. And definitely when it comes to sharing my own content and what I like and what I do, I do have tunnel vision training. I think it’s very important to just see what is going on with brands, with other creators, with  social media channels. I follow the social media channels over there. So maybe Instagram’s having a new announcement.

51:52
It’s just very important to immerse yourself in the marketplace. Right. And you dedicate like a half hour to that. With pretzels and lemonade. With pretzels and lemonade. So it’s like a little event, right? Instead of…  I think some of us get in the habit of like, we’re sitting down and we just scroll through, right? But I think then we’re sort of taking in too much all the time. Like, yeah, get to immerse yourself in it for this period of time for this purpose  versus just sort of  scrolling.

52:19
mean, with refreshment too, it’s so much better because it kind of, I don’t know, just, everybody knows in my house, okay, it’s 10.30, like Karianne and whoever, you know, and I, I mean, I just, they call it my 10.30 snack, you know. I love that. And other than that, I’m not really, I’m not really interacting unless I’m commenting back to somebody that’s commenting on my- Right, you’re not consuming social media outside of that. No. Okay, that’s really smart. Cause I think, I think we’ve,

52:49
forget to limit it, right? think we just let it sort of bombard us. And I’ve kind of trained myself. That’s why it’s important to add brands in there. It’s important to add social media channels, not just creators, because  you go down that rabbit hole of comparison very quickly.  you look at it not like you’re a researcher, like you’re from Mars and you’re training with your clipboard and you’re like, let me see how this  whole internet thing works, know? So that, kind of that tape.

53:18
Yeah, yeah, no, that’s a really, really, really good point.  So then  we’re getting close to our time. So what is really, I mean, you sound excited about all the things in your business right now, but like, if there was one thing you could say was really lighting you up right now in your business, what would it be?  Amazon. Amazon, really?  Okay.  No, I’m not judging. I’m just, that’s, wow, okay. I think I’m just surprised. No.

53:47
I’m not judging you, Karian. I love to shop too. I just, okay. I think because I just am finding so many solutions in life. That’s what’s amazing about Amazon is it finds solutions for you that you did not even know that you had a problem. And I’ll give you the perfect case in point. So it’s summertime. And I have…

54:15
like tennis shoes and I’m always like, I’m always when I’m going out the door, I  actually put a big thing on my  blog the other day. I was like, do you wear shoes in the house or not? And  typically  I don’t wear shoes.  Sometimes when I’m getting dressed up, I’ll like, and I’m  sharing the whole outfit, I will, but a lot of times I’m trying to run out the door and sometimes I need,  if I’m wearing like a sporty outfit, I need like fun little tennis shoes that I just want to slip on. And I was like, oh, they just don’t sell cute slip ons. I went and looked, I couldn’t find  any.

54:44
I found the perfect solution.  These little laces that turn any shoe into a slip-on.  Oh, genius. Who knew that that was even a thing? I had no concept of that. had no…  So I was like,  wait. So I have these really cute shoes from Bowdoin and now they… just…  It’s five seconds. I think of my mind, right? Well, there’s  a minute of life that I saved.  I could put that into my pretzel time.

55:13
Right. little more me time.  No, that’s perfect. And you’re right about the solution thing, because that’s not something you were thinking you needed new shoes and you just needed new laces, right? So kind of you’re asking what is exciting me lately is I’ll think, well, I have a problem. And sometimes my problems are lame.  And sometimes they’re like overwhelming. You know, there’s all different types of problems.

55:38
And get, I’m like, wonder if Amazon has a solution for this, something I’ve never even thought of before. And I’ll go over there I’ll be like, well, there’s the solution. And I’ll get it  and I try it. And sometimes it’s lame. Sometimes it’s not a good solution. And sometimes it’s next level. And then the excitement that I have to share everybody, course, sell it  to everybody. This amazing solution that I didn’t even know was a thing is very exciting to me. Yeah. No, that’s amazing. I’m the problem solver.

56:08
You  are, you totally are in many different topics and many different ways for sure with a lot of fun on the side of that problem solving.  Okay, so if people were to look for you and want to find you, where is the best place? What do you sort of have to  offer people right now sort of on the business side of things? Tell us about that. Okay, so they can find me of course on my blog thistlewoodfarms.com and then on all socials. I’m either Thistlewood, most of them on Thistlewood  or I’m Thistlewood.

56:37
But I do have, if you’ve been listening to this and you’re like,  that girl has 28 revenue streams, like what in the world, how is she doing this?  I came up with an amazing solution.  I have a whole group, it’s $17 a month and every single revenue stream has its  own  video  that unpacks  exactly how I make money.

56:59
with these different revenue streams, because I don’t want to be a gatekeeper. So I’m going through and launching, we launch two videos a month and you have access to the entire library. There’s no commitment. You can stay for one time. If you’re super overachiever, you can pay $17, watch all the videos and then, know, resign from the group. You’re more than welcome to do that. But, and then once a quarter we come together and I answer any questions that you have. And that’s all $17 a month.

57:26
But I also,  if you are listening to this and you’re super stuck and you’re like,  I need a revenue stream, I need an idea, what could I do?  I do individual consulting where I, and I think I’m relatively affordable for the way stuff people are charging now.  And  I can look at all of your stuff and I, can’t guarantee, but I feel very strongly that I can look at everything and come up with an amazing revenue stream that you might not have thought of before.

57:55
to a way to make money,  a little pivot for you.  Awesome. Thank you so much, Karianne, for coming on the show and for sharing  all this wonderful goodness with us. It was so fun,  I wish you only the best success. are next level, and I know this podcast is too. Aw, thank you so much.  That’s it for today on The Shannon Acheson Show. If you found this helpful, follow the show and share it with a friend.

58:25
And hey, if you’re not sure what kind of business actually fits your life,  take the free quiz at ShannonAcheson.com.  It’ll point you in the right direction.  Thanks for listening. Talk again soon.