By Shana Lynn Yao

“Let’s just all do what we love and do a lot of it.”

— Marc Jacobs

Are you running a business or are you TRYING to figure out how to run a business?

Doing what you love and making money from it. In concept it seems so great but whether you have a business and are trying to do that or you have thought about it and just haven't done it, the time is NOW.

Never has it been easier to make money - period. With the power of the internet and social media, if you're not making money doing what you love, WHY NOT?

And if you have a soul sucking business already, maybe it's time to rethink the way you think about having a business and turning it into one that you love.

Like A Boss

I say this often, but you are a CEO. Which means if you want to do what you love and make it your work, you have to show up LIKE A BOSS.

You may not have a job but you have a JOB. A job to be the CEO of your brand. To run your social media, your instagram, your business and sales and marketing like a CEO.

Being a boss is different than trying to figure out how to be a boss. Bosses have PLANS. They may not know what works but they DECIDE what they think works and go all out to make that happen.

What that means for you is:

If you want brand sponsorships, are you showing that you are a boss of a brand that gets brand sponsorships? Are you featuring products of the brands you want to work with, tagging them and trying to get your followers to buy them? So when you approach those brands in the future, you can show them the statistics of how you get your followers to act?
If you want clients, are you marketing your business like you HAVE and GET clients? Are you networking like a boss of a company?
Are you investing deliberate and focused time on social media to creatively market your business or are you just hanging out on social media and liking posts or waiting for people to like yours?
Are you spending quality time OFF of social media to actually run your business? Producing content, reaching out to brands, and finding other ways to bring in dollars to your business while you build the business you want to build?
Are you investing in your business? Buying the right tools, social media apps, hiring people to help you strategize or assist you where you are lacking in skills?

Those are just a few things I recommend asking yourself everyday before you get online. I see a lot of people wondering how to make money when a boss and CEO says “I make money here is how I do it. If that doesn’t work, I will try another plan.” Deliberate. Focused. Strategic.

Just Start

The truth is, whether you are going to school or have a job, getting paid for being who you are is important. It's important to whatever company you are working for, for the people you are meant to help with what you know, and for your own knowledge of your self worth.

I talk to people every single day. From young teenagers to grown adults - and my conversation usually involves "You should start a blog."

Yes, after studying everyone from fashion bloggers to entrepreneurial business giants and social enterprises, I'm here to tell you, it's so much easier than you think.

The word "entrepreneur" is intimidating. You think "OMG I have to have a website, an email list, a following, sell something..." and the loud chatter for one turns into fear and overwhelm and NOT starting.

The real reason most people are not doing what they love, why you may be working at a soul sucking job or even a soul sucking business you already have, is giving in to fear.

That's FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL

The world is filled with fear causing noise. Friends and family say it's too much work. You don't have time. But you're already doing something, it's too much trouble.

Whatever your excuse is, it's time to prioritize what you actually want for your life and what you want your life to be about.

You will never start doing what you love unless you just start. And today, I'm going to show you the EASY way to turn what you love into a business you love.

How And Why You Need To Start A Blog

You know you've thought about it. People actually tell you to do it. They tell you "wow that was great - you should start a blog".

Years ago when I first heard that term, I hated it. What the hell is a blog and why would anyone do it? But the truth is, it's actually how you can have a business and make money doing what you love, almost by accident.

Today, a blog is almost an overused term that people use in conjunction with a business. But "back in the day" a blog meant "an online diary". The purpose of it is to reflect the blogger's personality.

So today, many businesses use it as a marketing tool. An editorialized "ad" to gain followers and interest in their business.

But as I said, this is the EASY way to turn what you love into a business you love - and to do that - we need to actually redefine the word.

“A blog is an online diary that reflects your own, unique personality. ”

So let's go back to what you love. What do you love? Make a list of everything you are super passionate about. Include things that people often say to you when you talk about it (as in "you should blog about that!" "you're really good at that!")

Now ask yourself, which one of those things could I talk about every single day? Do you love fashion? Awesome! Is it finding great deals? Styling outfits? Taking photos?

Love to cook? What kind of food? Could you take pictures of that food and teach other people how they can create their own recipes?

You get my point. We're not even talking about money yet. We just need to get clear on what you love.

“A blog is the best way to start a business doing what you love because you will start understanding yourself, what you love.”

I know you may think you know what you love, but writing or talking about it every single day not only helps you stay focused, but you start to realize that you know A LOT more than you think. Additionally, NOT thinking about "how can this make money" "how do I market this" is freeing to a creative mind.

Share Your Work

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

— Peter Drucker

Whoa, that sounds complicated - but is it? In fact, if you are blogging about what you know best - about something you love and you probably know a lot about why you love what you love, how you found out you loved it, and how you got really good at doing it - wallah! That's what marketing is. Your potential customers are actually just like you!

To make it easy, let's just think about marketing as "sharing your work". There are many ways to share your work.

Email
Content sites such as Digg, Stumble Upon, Bloglovin', and so many more
Social media - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Linkedin, etc
A podcast
Youtube
A webinar
A teleclass

The list is endless - and again, back to point #1, you just need to START. Stop complicating it and do the work. Having a blog will give you something of value to share. That's Marketing 101.

Making Money Doing What You Love

Truly, there are A LOT of ways to make money doing what you love. I came up with 18 ways (DOWNLOAD THE FREE LIST) but here are a few more that are easy ways to almost make money by accident.

1. AFFILIATE MARKETING

Affiliate marketing is an easy way. As the blogger, you include links to a product or service offered through another business’s affiliate program. If one of your visitors clicks on that link and purchases the good or service, you’ll receive whatever your % is.

If you do affiliate marketing,

Only promote products relevant to your niche.
Only promote products you’ve personally used and recommend.
Include a disclaimer on your site as to not mislead your audience

These are a few popular program such as:

Amazon Associates
ClickBank
LinkShare
Share2sale
shopstylecollective
Reward style
Viglink

They work with the best and widest selection of brands and while the commission is low, it’s a way to start generating cash.

You can actually work with individual business owners too. Many business owners (including ME!) have an affiliate program where you can make anywhere from $500+ just by promoting their program SEE MINE HERE.

2. ADVERTISING

Consider signing up with Google AdSense and start getting paid! Google Adsense is

Based on impressions: This depends on page views. For instance, for every 1,000 page views you get, you earn a set dollar amount.
Based on clicks: Regardless of page views, if a visitor clicks on the ad from your site, you’ll earn a certain cut of the ad revenue. This can range anywhere from $0.01 to a couple of dollars depending on the ad.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA

Yes - you thought social media was just for promoting your business, but the truth is, social media platforms like Instagram are how most bloggers make money. Whether you have 1000 or one million followers, if you have an engaged following and have a growing following, you are a candidate to partner with brands to promote them in exchange for products and cash. (more on monetizing your social media in future articles)

4. COURSES/CONSULTING

Whatever you do and are great at, it's never been a better time to help others with it. It's one of the easiest and most natural ways to package what you love into a product or service that solves an urgent problem for someone else.

The truth is, it's what purpose is - using your life as a lesson and packaging it into a product, service, or even job that helps someone else. I call it getting paid for being who you are.

As I said, there are A LOT of ways to monetize what you love. But back to point #1, the key to accomplishing anything in life is to JUST START.

Stop letting your fear brain become the unlived life inside of you. So I want to ask you, what do you love and what are you going to start doing TODAY to make that a business and life you love?

Tell me in the comments below and if you got value from this article, please LIKE it and SHARE it with others. Let's make this world a better place where we all do more of what we love and A LOT of it.