A few years ago, Nicky was morbidly obese, stuck in an abusive marriage, and struggling with financial difficulties. Every time she tried to take a step forward, her husband pushed her even further backward. Ultimately, she realized she couldn’t change him or his behavior; all she could change was herself. And she definitely did that!

In addition to starting her blog and getting a divorce, Nicky lost a huge amount of weight. Once she decided to have bariatric surgery, she looked for a blogger who could help her, but couldn’t find one. That’s how she decided to become the resource that she had wanted when she went through the process! Her website Stop Weighting, Start Doing is devoted to helping women make the permanent lifestyle changes that are needed to be successful with weight loss surgery. She wants to help other women change their lives just like she did.

Nicky is looking for help with increasing her traffic, growing her email list, and figuring out a monetization strategy. Because she works full-time, she wants to know how to maximize her time and effort so she can eventually quit her day job and focus only on her business. Her struggles include the technical side of her website, the concern that her ideas aren’t resonating with her audience, and the limiting belief that she’s not good at sales.

I have lots of advice for Nicky (and you, if any part of her situation sounds familiar!), so tune into the episode to hear it all. You may be particularly surprised by some of my advice in this conversation, including who to target (or more specifically, not to target) when you’re running Facebook ads, why sometimes focusing on blogging isn’t the best fit, and how having a smaller target audience can be a positive thing.

Highlights

[00:46] – This Get Ruthed episode comes to you courtesy of Elite Blog Academy, an online program that teaches you exactly how to build a successful, profitable, and sustainable online business. Curious to learn more? Check out the free training exclusively for podcast listeners at this link!
[01:38] – Welcome back to the show! Ruth introduces today’s coaching guest, Nicky Bicksler.
[04:25] – Nicky shares a bit about her background and her story, which explains why she’s so passionate about her blog topic!
[06:52] – We hear about how things changed for Nicky in 2018, which was a tough year for her.
[11:16] – How does Nicky feel now that she’s lost so much weight and made amazing changes in so many parts of her life?
[13:33] – At this point, Nicky’s blog is earning pennies per month, but she’s not earning any serious money from it.
[13:58] – Where does Nicky feel like her biggest struggle is right now? Who is the avatar who she’s writing to?
[17:29] – Nicky shares some of the ideas that she’s come up with in terms of creating a product to sell.
[20:30] – Ruth dives into the changes that she wants Nicky to make to help her achieve incredible success with her blog.
[23:13] – One of the things that Ruth really wants Nicky to change is to stop giving away so much for free and focus instead on getting people into her program.
[26:43] – Nicky’s website should become more of a sales page for herself, her products, and what she has to offer.
[29:00] – Ruth offers herself as an example of sharing a condensed, consistently powerful, and relatable narrative.
[32:06] – Next, Nicky should make sure her lead magnet is a targeted lead-in specifically for her avatar.
[35:50] – Nicky responds to Ruth’s advice, and explains what specific topics she’s been writing about recently.
[37:59] – Ruth points out that because Nicky’s audience is so specific, she doesn’t need to play the numbers game as much as a blogger who’s focusing on a larger topic.
[41:40] – We hear more about how Nicky can work toward getting more traffic and subscribers to her email list, so that she can then do her baby seed launch.
[45:17] – Nicky takes a moment to share her thoughts on putting things in perspective and believing that you can do anything.
[46:58] – We hear one more thing that helps get Nicky through: the idea that God is opening doors that she can’t even see.
[49:20] – One of Nicky’s quarterly goals is to pitch five guests posts per month, she explains.
[51:41] – Ruth shares some of her thoughts on her conversation with Nicky, as well as a quick recap of the biggest action steps that Nicky needs to take right now.
[55:55] – Don’t forget to take the Do It Scared Fear Assessment! It will help you understand how your fear might be holding you back. If you have any questions about this episode, ideas for guests, or other topics you want to discuss, get in touch with Ruth on Instagram or by email at ruth@livingwellspendingless.com