The ABCs of Growing Your Business

BlogHer

The ABCs of Growing Your Business

Elisa Camahort Page, BlogHer Co-founder and COO

@ElisaC

BlogHerPhoto credit: BlogHer ’13

BlogHer is an unstoppable community, network,

and media company, where more than 100

million engaged, influential, info-savvy (mostly)

women come to seek and share opinions and

advice.

Who is BlogHer

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1. Bloggers making money

2. The new ABCs of funding

3. Who’s doing it?

4. Why people give you money

5. No one gives you money because…

6. Figuring out what you want

7. My top lessons learned

AGENDA .

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1a. Making money ONLINE

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Examples:

Advertising: CPM, CPA, CPC

Affiliate relationships

Sponsorship

Subscription/Productization

It’s a NUMBERS game

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1b. Making money BECAUSE OF online

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Examples:

Consulting

Freelance and Publishing

Brand Ambassadorships

Speaking gigs

It’s an INFLUENCE game

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2a. THE NEW ABCs

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A: Angel investors

B: Bootstrapping and Bartering

C: Crowdfunding

D: Debt

F: Friends & Family

G: Grants

I: Incubators & Accelerators

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2b. THE NEW ABCs

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L: “Lifestyle Business”

M: Multiple Income Streams

N: Non-Profit vs. For-Profit

P: Preferences

R: REVENUE!

V: Venture Capital (VC)

Y: YOU are a sales person now

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KATHRYN FINNEY: is the founder

of The Budget Fashionista, a

highly- influential fashion blog, but

has become the leader of a

movement by founding Digital

Undivided.

HER DIFFERENTIATION:

Kathryn saw a gap in African

American women start-up

founders, and decided to fill that

pipeline. Because it’s good

business. Like BlogHer, it is a

mission-based, for-profit company! Photo Credit: Tanzie Johnson

Kathryn Finney – Digital Undivided

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ELISE BAUER is the creator of

Simply Recipes, one of the most

popular and highly-trafficked food

blogs, reaching more than 8

million unique visitors each

month.

HER DIFFERENTIATION:

It’s in the name: Simply Recipes,

and amazing SEO, and

community ethos combine to

create the #1 food blog on the

Internet

Photo credit: Ree Drummond

Elise Bauer – Simply Recipes

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MONIQUE KILGORE, the creator

of Divas Can Cook, has more

than 1 million monthly page views

and 235K YouTube subscribers.

HER DIFFERENTIATION:

Monique focuses on video, with

each of her videos reaching tens

of thousands of viewers. Are you

creating video yet?

Monique Kilgore– Divas Can Cook

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Diane Cu – White on Rice Couple

Diane Cu along with partner Todd

Porter, is a professional

photographer, food stylist, and

cookbook author, making a living

doing all of the above, but

crediting their blog for taking them

this far.

HER DIFFERENTIATION:

Sticking to her guns on the value

of her work, but also sticking to an

authentic believe in abundance.

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4. WHY PEOPLE GIVE YOU MONEY

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• People give money to people

• Because you have pent-up demand

• Because you need to scale

• Because you know how you’ll *spend* the

money!

• For new products, hiring and markets

• To MAKE money

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5. NO ONE WILL GIVE YOU MONEY BECAUSE*…

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• You’re tired

• You want to hire people to off-load tasks

from yourself

• You want to do a better job of everything

you’re already doing

• You’re soooooo close to where you want

to be

*OK, maybe your mom and dad will

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6a. FIGURING OUT WHAT YOU WANT

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Who do you want to be beholden to?

Yourself

Family

Customers/Users/Partners

Employees

Investors

Bankers

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6b. FIGURING OUT WHAT YOU WANT

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How hot is the fire in your belly?

Will it kill you if someone beats you?

Do you believe you are delivering

something no one else can or will?

Are you willing to work hard, no, make

that really really hard?

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7a. MY TOP LESSONS LEARNED

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CO-FOUNDERS ROCK

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7a. MY TOP LESSONS LEARNED

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CO-FOUNDERS ROCK

What to look for in a partner:

Complementary skills

Able to have the tough conversations,

not just the fun and easy ones

Carrying the weight equally

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7b. MY TOP LESSONS LEARNED

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BUILD YOUR NETWORK

Affinity Groups AND individuals

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7c. MY TOP LESSONS LEARNED

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THINK IN “THIN SLICES”

Thin slices of attention

Thin slice mentoring

THINK MVP FOR LIFE

Minimum Viable “Product”, as applied to

you, and the bar you set to ask, to offer, to

put yourself out there

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7d. MY TOP LESSONS LEARNED

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PRIORITIZE:

PEOPLE

TERMS

VALUATION

In that order.

Source: CATERINA FAKE, FLICKR, HUNCH AND FINDERY CO-FOUNDER

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7e. MY TOP LESSONS LEARNED

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MONEY DOESN’T BUY

HAPPINESS, BUT IT DOES BUY

FREEDOM

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7f. MY TOP LESSONS LEARNED

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ASK YOURSELF:

What is the WORST that could happen?

ANSWER THE QUESTION:

In detail

MAKE YOUR FEAR CONCRETE,

NOT ABSTRACT

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Most Powerful People in New

Media

America’s

Most Promising Startups2011 Award

Winning Women

Elisa Camahort Page

@ElisaC

Thank you.