Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Anastasia Gutnikova, a Pinterest Marketing Expert, based in Porto, Portugal.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I run an online course business, and my flagship course is dedicated to Pinterest marketing. https://anastasiablogger.com/pinterest-course-seo/. People who join my course are mostly website owners, bloggers, eCommerce stores, and small business owners trying to learn about Pinterest as an additional free traffic source. I also have another course for bloggers teaching beginners how actually to start making money with their blog https://anastasiablogger.com/blogyourway.
Tell us about yourself
I started working on my Pinterest course after seeing how it transformed my life. I was a beginner blogger struggling to get any visitors to my site at all; Pinterest marketing allowed me to attract thousands of visitors to my blog within 6 months of starting my account. My blogging income replaced my day job at the end of the first year of blogging. I think I could achieve these results with Google SEO, but it would take me at least 2 or 3 years to get the same traffic volume. I saw many other bloggers quit too soon because they couldn't see any traffic or income for years. So I wanted to show them an alternative way of getting traffic much faster.
The success stories of my students really motivate me to keep working on this course, updating it with all the changes on Pinterest. Plus, many students in my course make money on the platform in another way too. They offer Pinterest management to other business owners, and several members of my program managed to replace their jobs with just a few long-term clients.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
The best month in my business so far was when I made a bit over $40,000. I had a 4-month-old baby at home at the time and couldn't work more than just 4 hours a day in that month. Yet that month was a result of all the work I've done on educating my audience through Youtube and on my blog about Pinterest in the previous months and years.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
I don't know… To be honest, I can't think of any challenge of being a business owner that I don't actually enjoy. Taking on risks is probably the thing that would prevent most people from starting their own businesses. But that's what I was never afraid of; I was so ready for the adventure when I decided to leave my day job!
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Don't ignore the power of social media; it can help with any kind of business in any niche. You just need to go to the platform where YOUR potential customers are.
- Don't try to figure out and calculate all the risks and steps in advance. The only real way to learn about a market or a business is to actually start running it, so no matter how much time you spend in preparations, you will still have to go through some trial and error and learn things by doing them.
- Have your long-term expectations really high and your short-term expectations really low. Every business struggles when it's brand new, but success comes with a snowball effect.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://anastasiablogger.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnastasiaBlogger/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anastasiablogger/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/anastasiablogge/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/agutnikova/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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