Every entrepreneur loves to hear success stories. They're inspiring because they show that the path you're taking has been successful for other people. And they can be helpful, especially when they include tips you can use in your own business.
For this article, I had the chance to interview Lidiya Kesarovska, from Let's Reach Success. On her site, Lidiya teaches online business strategy and lifestyle design, and is well on her way to six-figure per year business. Much of her success is the result of her passive income products. Here's our interview with Lidiya:
Being a self-employed entrepreneur can be difficult. As an entrepreneur, you’ve got no corporate paycheck to fall back on… your income is entirely dependent on you.
Why did you decide to become an entrepreneur? What appeals to you about this lifestyle?
Lidiya Kesarovska: There’s definitely a lot of anxiety and uncertainty around this, and it’s what stops most people from building a business and becoming self-employed.
I was also worried in the beginning when I didn’t know whether I’d earn enough. That’s why for some people it’s best to build their business on the side of their day job. Once they earn enough, they can quit and focus on it full-time.
As I began earning a consistent income month after month and saw the potential to grow it in multiple ways, I started having more trust in the process and more belief in myself and my abilities.
As an entrepreneur, you take full-responsibility for anything that happens (or doesn’t happen) in your life and business. So these challenges and mental barriers you overcome in the early stage are necessary to build the discipline to grow and be a solopreneur.
I decided to enter entrepreneurship because of the total freedom it provides. And we’re talking location freedom (you can live anywhere or travel while running your business), creative freedom (to work on the projects that light you up and outsource anything else), flexibility (you decide on the working hours and how to structure your days), financial freedom (there’s no limit to how much you can earn).
So no matter what challenge goes together with it, for me the benefits always outweigh the costs.
At the beginning of your business journey, you were making most of your income through freelancing… but decided that you needed to focus more on building passive income. Why?
Lidiya Kesarovska: Working for clients didn’t make me happy. I realized I was investing my most productive and precious time of the day, every day, to do work for others. I was still self-employed but not so much my own boss running my own company. I had people to answer to, deadlines, expectations to meet, etc.
That became harder and harder to deal with so I knew I wanted to create content only for my platform, my blog Let’s Reach Success. I had already started it on the side and absolutely loved publishing articles and knowing I have full control over that content. I also wanted to diversify my income so I started earning in different ways as a blogger, 3 of which are passive.
What types of passive income have been most successful for you in your business?
Lidiya Kesarovska: I’m earning from advertising (which depends on blog traffic and is passive income), sponsored content, affiliate marketing and selling my digital products.
While most of my revenue often comes from the first 2 income streams, I’m focused on growing the other 2 as they are what provides real value to my audience and it’s the way to scale in terms of income and impact.
Most of our readers are consultants and freelancers who, like you, want to stop earning 100% of their income by trading time for money.
For freelancers looking to build their first passive income stream, what would you recommend they focus on?
Lidiya Kesarovska: That depends on what you feel comfortable with, what your zone of genius is, and what’s currently in demand.
I loved blogging and was already doing it as a hobby so it made sense to want to turn that into the foundation of my business.
As coaching is super profitable and an amazing business opportunity now, that’s what might work for other freelancers. I mean, you already have a skill, so why not get out there and build your brand as a coach teaching others how to do that (or even how to become freelancers if they are still at their regular job).
Are some kinds of passive income streams better than others?
Lidiya Kesarovska: Here’s my take on it… Advertising and sponsored content got me to where I am, but the other 2 passive income streams (affiliate marketing and digital products) are what will get me to the next level and what will help my audience get better results.
When you were a freelancer, how did you make the time to actually build passive income streams even though you also had to serve clients?
Lidiya Kesarovska: That was quite challenging as by the time I was done with the freelance work for the day, my motivation and energy were already at a lower level. But my vision for a business where I’m the boss of everything and there’s total time and financial freedom was guiding me in the right direction.
Time management is key here and it’s all about prioritizing. My main goal was to go from a freelance writer to a full-time blogger and I wasn’t gonna let anything get in the way. I was also learning from other bloggers all the time, taking courses, treating my blog like a business before it actually was, etc.
The more I continued that, the more I was building the mindset of a full-time blogger and someone running a blogging business, and the more I was stepping away from freelancing.
What’s next for you and your business?
Lidiya Kesarovska: I’m currently working on my new course Fearless Content which is so different than other programs I’ve creating and I’m loving the process. The early bird students are already in and the official launch will be next month, so that’s what I’m preparing for next.
Other aspects of business I’m focused on this year are email marketing and branding.
Many thank to Lidiya for her time and ideas. Be sure to check out her site at Let's Reach Success!
Photo Credits: Nattanan Kanchanaprat from Pixabay and Lidiya Kesarovska
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