"Focus way more on my email list and SEO from the beginning" with Carmen Smith

Carmen Smith runs a DIY and budget-friendly home renovation website with her husband, Jordan - Living Letter Home. She aims to teach everyone to love the home they have on a budget and let it be an extension of your personality. After learning the business side of running a blog full time, she began offering her services as a virtual assistant for bloggers and runs a profitable business on the side providing services for others at My Unicorn Did It.

What is your background? How did you become an influencer?

I was previously working for a software company prior to staying home with our daughter. When we moved back to my husband’s hometown, I started a blog to document buying our first fixer upper. We both fell in love with the process and although it wasn’t planned, it turned into a business. 

What three things does anyone starting in your industry need to know?

Short and simple - know your worth. Do not work for free. If you want to be respected in this industry (which can be cutthroat at times) you have to take yourself seriously and put the proper boundaries in place to be seen as a business, not just someone trying to make a dollar being on Instagram.

What would you do differently if you were starting in your industry now?

Focus way more on my email list and SEO from the beginning.

Which people or resources have had the most influence on your growth and why? Other girls who are in my niche (I’m in the home decor realm) who are doing this successfully. I would say once I got my blog mentor, things completely changed for me. I was able to see things from the business side and that’s actually the part I fell in love with. Prior to that, I never paid attention to anything like that because it seemed unnecessary.

What do you think is the top key to success in your business?

Find your voice and run with it. In the beginning, I tried to copy a lot of other people in how they talked to their audience and it just never clicked. It wasn’t until I started opening up a bit and making people laugh and seeing what my life is really like that clicked and it took off from there. Also, for the love, diversify. If you’re JUST on Instagram, cut it out. Find another source to be profitable. You don’t own that platform and have no say of who sees what and when. 

How did you come up with your pricing model?

I pitched an original one to my mentor and she helped me tweak it and change it based on my blog stats and compared to what others are charging with comparable stats.

Talk about the biggest failure you've had. What did you learn from it? I honestly don’t think as far as this is concerned that I’ve had a huge failure. There have been “fails” along the way of failed projects or terrible interactions with brands I’ve worked for, but as of now, I have not had any huge failures and for that, I’m super grateful. I’ve definitely done things the wrong way, but it’s a quick pivot and shift.

How do you market your business? What has been the most effective form of marketing?

Social media-ish, but quite frankly, I don’t love the platform and it’s exhausting. My focus is really short term on Pinterest to get quick wins and then heavily investing in SEO. Google can be your bestie if you just work at it.

How do you find brand partnerships? What is your advice to those starting out?

Maybe this is just me, but from day one I have never had an issue reaching directly to brands. My first brand partnership was with a huge company and I had only been blogging less than a year. I had no idea what I was doing or how to manage terms and contracts, but the company was amazing to work with. My advice, NEVER (oh, and I do mean never) work for free. The product is not payment. You have to pay taxes on it which means it’s costing YOU money. Not to mention the time and energy it goes into actually getting the product, using it, installing it, photographing it, editing it, writing the content, optimizing the content, creating graphics, and then push on social. It is WORK. Treat it as such. You wouldn’t do all that for your company without getting paid. Don’t do it for yourself without getting paid. I’m very passionate about this. A good rule of thumb is at least 5000 page views before reaching out to make it valuable on both ends, but don’t be afraid to reach out. The answer is always no if you don’t ask.

What does a typical day in your week look like?

I actually am a huge proponent of time blocking my schedule. I have different days in which I do certain tasks, especially since I am a virtual assistant for bloggers on the side and have to manage their tasks as well. Since I have kids, I try to maximize my time when they’re napping, but especially if there’s something I have to photograph, I have to make sure I time is based on the sunlight in our house. I will say regardless, I’m on a computer about 90% of my waking hours that aren’t tied to babes.

What keeps you going when things get tough in your business?

My love for it and the people I know I’m helping. I had a couple of home renovation projects that nearly derailed my blog entirely because they were just so exhausted and I felt defeated. However, I kept on going and quite frankly, it was the best decision. I’ve faced a lot of hardships in my years and giving up is just not something I do easily. I’m pretty stubborn.

How can our readers get in touch with you?

I love hearing from other people! They can email me at carmen@livingletterhome.com for my home decor info or they can visit my site, obviously at https://livingletterhome.com. If they’re looking for virtual assistant things (even if they’re not looking to hire out - I give a TON of info away for free) they can email me at hello@myunicorndidit.com or visit my site over there which is https://myunicorndidit.com. 

IG - @livingletterhome and @myunicorn.didit

FB - facebook.com/livingletterhome