73. How do you never run out of content ideas? (f. Juli Bauer Roth)
Ever wonder what it really takes to become a professional blogger? 👩💻 This episode is where you get all the answers. Phil and Lauren meet with client Juli Bauer Roth from PaleOMG to learn everything she knows about running a blogging empire. From figuring out your niche to recommended post quantity, Juli dishes on her content tips from nine years of blogging over five times per week. If you’re serious about turning your blog into a business, this is a must listen!
This episode is sponsored by A Personal Revolution Podcast .
Episode transcription
Phil
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Phil:
Well, hello, welcome to Brand Therapy. I'm Phil.
Lauren:
And I'm Lauren.
Phil:
This is the podcast where we help you position build and promote your brand. I'm so happy you're here.
Lauren:
Who me, or the listener?
Phil:
You and the listener.
Lauren:
Oh my god. Wow!
Phil:
Kindness, that's the theme of today. I actually love today's chat. Our guest is kind, our guest is productive and she's inspiring. I have to tell you, she brings up a lot of things in this conversation that directly inspired me.
Lauren:
I'm Julie's biggest fan to the point where I find myself now, casually using sayings that she uses a lot on our calls and on our Instagram stories. So in the words of Julie Bauer Roth, she is the freaking best.
Phil:
She is the freaking best. Do you know that I am starting to adopt those creepy fangirl habits that you have.
Lauren:
Wait a minute, creepy, let's let's back up a little bit not freaking creepy. This is not good because that'll set a whole different tone when people listen to this episode if they think of me is creepy.
Phil:
For example, yesterday she mentioned on her Instagram story that she has blonde hair. Did you know that she had blonde hair? So I thought I just don't believe it because I've never seen her with blonde hair. So I went on to Facebook and I looked her up and I went back to her old images and I still couldn't find blonde hair. So I guess actually, the moral of the story here is that I'm calling you creepy, but actually I'm the one digging into her archives.
Lauren:
I'm the red herring for your creepy obsession with Julie. No, I'm just joking. I've gone way back too I'm not gonna lie. I wondered what Julie was like in college and I've gone all the way back on her Facebook like way, way, way, way back way back on her Instagram, because I'm more interested in her evolution. She never planned for this to be her job. She never planned to be an influencer with 300,000 plus people involved with her life. That was never part of her program. And so I just find it so fascinating to see where she came from, what her journey was all that stuff. And I also just freaking love her.
Phil:
You mentioned the word program, and I'm glad you mentioned that what a great segue. In this conversation with Julie we talk about the huge success that the launch of her first program was, we were so honored to be a part of creating that. And now we're working on the next one. But honestly, when I look back at our business and I think about our best proofs of concept, our best examples of client success, this is in our top three.
Lauren:
Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt is one of like the proudest moments of my at least I don't know about you. But one of the proudest moments of my career is that she trusted us to create a program for the followers she's worked so hard to amass over the years, she trusted us to set the creative vision, the structure the pricing, and she's $100,000 richer from it.
Phil:
We're gonna get to the conversation in just a second. Before we do that, we want to give our listeners a huge heads up. Very soon, I'm about to launch my very first course video course that's going to be available on Teachable and this is called Content Mastery. Prior to this, it was a group coaching program where I tested what worked, what didn't work, though most of it worked and I've tweaked to now make it an awesome video course 20 plus videos you are going to have exclusive access to this upon launch. We are launching it for $299 however you podcast listeners get a special on that launch price.
Lauren:
You as a listener will get access to this $299 course for I'm doing a little like drop on my desk $99.
Phil:
Wow. Wow. Yes, so check it out. $99 instead of $299 for the next few days right after we launch right around the time of publishing this episode, the course will be available. So check that out, philpallen.co.
Lauren:
Alright, let's hop to it.
Phil:
Let's hop to Julie. Let's get to our conversation with Julie Bauer Roth.
Phil:
Here we are having a conversation that I quite literally have wanted to have for 14 million years and I am barely, barely exaggerating.
Lauren:
14 million.
Phil:
Yes. 14 million. Thank you. Lauren. 14 million Brand Therapy is now paleOMG Brand Therapy because we have three minds here together at the table, virtually, Julie freaking Bauer, paleoOMG Goddess. Welcome to our podcast. We are so happy to have you here.
Juli:
Thanks. I'm just excited that I get to hang out with you guys more whenever I get to talk to you more. It's pretty much the best.
Phil:
I'll take it. We do love you and we are not quiet about that love. There are so many directions. I want to take this conversation because the feeling of like hanging out like productive hanging out is so mutual. It's so three way here. Lauren, it was actually your idea you said we need to talk to Julie about this one particular topic. Let's just paint that picture so that I try and stay focused in this conversation.
Lauren:
Okay, so picture this. For nine years, you have the ability to post five to six times a week on your blog, you're posting six, what seems like six times a day to Instagram feed and multiple times a day to Instagram stories and you never run out of ideas. To me, that is not a reality, not even close. But for Julie, that's your day to day that's your life somehow, you never run out of content ideas. So today, I was just basically wanting to get right into it. Where you got your ideas why you don't run out of ideas, because you most people do, and sort of just get an understanding behind your content process for our listeners.
Juli:
Oh, man, I feel like every week is a little bit different. But I think the biggest thing that I do is I take ideas I get from the public. So the main thing that kind of started all of this was I was posting recipes multiple times a week when I first started, and then I posted a blog post, a personal one, because all my posts before were not personal at all, it was only talking about the recipe because I was like, why would anybody care what I had to say? So I just talked about, like the recipe itself, and then cut it off at that. And then I posted this blog post about just insecurities I was going through, because I mean, I think I was 23 at this point. So I was like, the most insecure you probably will ever be, and I posted about some insecurities I was going through and how I was going to work with through them and how I was going to conquer them. And then I had all these women start leaving comments on my blog, and sharing their insecurities and how much it resonated with them. And I'm like, oh, okay, people do like this, like people like to know what you're going through because they're connecting with it because I would have never connected with these people on the outside world if it weren't for sharing this story.
So that I started sharing more of myself in different blog posts and more of my stories and seeing what connected with people and what didn't. And when I would share struggles with acne, then people wanted to know how I was getting control of my acne. So I started sharing skin products because people were asking for that. And then when I started going on book tour, after I wrote a book, people were asking where I got my outfit from. So I said, Oh, I'll start sharing where I get my outfits.
And so you're always just pulling ideas and content from the public around you. And you know, I go to a restaurant, I try an amazing meal. I try to recreate something that I tried at a restaurant, or I just share ways to work from home because I know others struggle with that. And I've done that for years or something I've gone through with my dog like almost losing him because care so much about animals and really want to know those stories and stories of hope.
You know, you just start pulling ideas from the public and start writing things down and ideas will come at night and I'll grab my phone and write something in my phone real quick. So I'm just constantly writing things down and trying to come up with different, different things to talk about. Because think about you, like you think 4 billion thoughts per day, and they always go in different directions. And so if you start pulling those thoughts and writing them down, it's so easy to come up with content day after day.
Phil:
One of the things I absolutely admire is that you never overthink it. And I think that that's an essential part of being able to create the content that you do at the cadence you do. You don't overthink it. It's never too complicated. Whereas Lauren, and I will be the first to admit, I mean, we have our differences we like to ying and yang and we do, but one of the things we have in common is a tendency to get a little complicated or a little too caught up in the details.
For example, you had a podcasting microphone that you had never even plugged in and plugged in for the first time for this conversation. You are so good at not overthinking it. Do you not think that that's an essential part of being able to create often?
Juli:
Yes completely, sometimes you just got to be a little bit more of a dummy. And it's easier to come up with ideas and content and not overthink things. I think that's, I am just a doer, I'm not a complete perfectionist. I want things to look good, and I want to do my best, but if it it doesn't look perfect in my feed, I'm not worrying about that, because I'm just worried about what I'm putting out there more. I'm worried about just having a workout video so people can work out that day. I'm not worried about this, like professional video from multiple angles that a lot of people have out there. And so and I've tried to mentor some different friends and I think they're such perfectionist that they overthink things so much. And then they have analysis paralysis, where they're just stuck in that moment, and then they never move forward because they're just too worried about what people think are a won't look good enough, and I just don't really care. So that's something that definitely helps me come up with content more often is just not worrying so much like some people do, because they're just worried maybe about what the outside perspective will be.
Lauren:
What do you think is more important quality or quantity? And that's if you're wanting to be a professional blogger or influencer?
Juli:
Oh man, that's so hard because obviously you need quality, quality content, as well as quantity. ou know, I, before I would make a recipe, and I'm like, I just don't think it's like perfect and my husband would love it. And I'm like, okay, whatever, I'm gonna post it anyways. And then people loved it, even though before I was like, I don't know if this is worth posting. And then there's so many people that love it. So I think quantity is really important because we're in a world where we have algorithms that make it impossible to see the things we want to see all the time. And so getting content out there on a regular basis, gets more eyes on it, that wouldn't be on it. If you're only posting maybe a couple times a week. So I think there has to be a balance, you know, you can't just throw crap at a wall, it's still gonna be crap, but there has to be the balance of not overthinking things, but still coming up with content that people are going to appreciate.
Because there's so many different minds out there that, of course, you're not going to resonate with every single person out there, but you're going to resonate with some, and some is better than none.
Phil:
Yeah. And quantity helps you get seen by more people quality might potentially convert that person quicker if it's quality, but they're that they're experiencing, but to your point, there's actually an argument that can be made that yes, it's 5050. But actually, maybe quantity is slightly higher. I mean, yeah, I'm listening to you talk about how much you don't really care about how things look on your feed. And I'm thinking you probably have three times number of posts that I do. And there there's a reason you have 300,000 more followers than I do is probably because for a few reasons, quantity over quality, or at least perfection. So you're not paralyzed by it because I think your stuff is quantity and quality, but you're not paralyzed by perfection. And the other thing here is that you're disciplined. And I lack that at times I preach it, but I also lack it. You are disciplined. It was only until recently in one of your Instagram stories where you said, honestly, this is the first week of the last near decade, where I haven't put up a new recipe almost every day. I think it is right. Like it's insane. Some of this is discipline. So give yourself credit for that, wouldn't you say?
Juli:
Yeah, completely discipline. I mean, I work from home, I work for myself and I still wake up at six every morning and start working first thing in the morning and that's how I've always been and kind of how I was raised in the first business. Like the first jobs I had when I was 14,15 years old. It was you're expected to show up early and start working early and stay late and that's kind of how I've always worked in my business. I still wake up at six. I still start working on my blog post for that day. I start setting a schedule for myself. And that's just that discipline because I love what I do. But I want to continue doing this moving forward and the online world is constantly changing. And so you have to learn how to adapt with it.
Lauren:
Yeah, it's so interesting because your day to day is so different from I feel like from someone who's, who's getting directions from like a boss or something. You're the one who's kind of setting your own standards, but you're also the worker who's doing who's actually like creating the content. One thing I was wondering is, you're so vulnerable and so honest with your audience in such a charming way. but sometimes you know, when you like see influencer or influencers online, or people who aren't as familiar with social media, they're open and they're honest, but it's like, it's just not it just doesn't it like misses the mark. And so do you have any advice for people on how to be vulnerable but still be like on brand.
Juli:
Oh, I don't know, I think I've, you know, I think some people would probably disagree with your statement and they, you know, don't like my vulnerability or honesty, I think the key is starting out exactly who you are from the beginning because you're going to bring in the people who have responded to who you are as a human being. So as soon as I started my blog, and I did this first vulnerable post, I immediately saw it connected with people and people connected with my humor, and some people didn't. But I always just wanted to be exactly who I was because I was raised. I was growing up people hated me for who I was when I tried to be someone else, and people hated me for who I was when I was exactly myself. So I learned early on that I wanted to be exactly who I wanted to be from the start.
So that's what I started out with my blog, and I shared my ups and downs. I shared everything in between and I really created this great following of people who knew that they could rely on me to be honest with them, because I was being honest about myself. So I think that's the key is being exactly who you want to be, or who you are from the start of starting your platform. And that will resonate with your audience, and they'll stick with you from the start moving forward.
And if people can see it when you're not completely honest, and then they just don't kind of want to stick around. And so then you're filtering through this new audience all the time, and my people have just stuck it with me since 2011. Most of them I think so. Or they come back, you know, like, maybe they get off social media, and they come back on and they come back to my blog because they know, I'm going to continually have content and I'm gonna continually be honest with them and share what I'm going through and they know they'll be able to connect with something instead of seeing all this picture perfect life that we see on social media so much. So I don't know if that answers your question, but my biggest thing answer is just be yourself from the start. Because that's what people want to see.
Phil:
Right, even if it takes some discovering what that is going in a few different directions. Yeah, ideally you end up back in that place I resonate with that I have no fear of being myself clearly and saying what I want to say. I try to make sure that what I say is not petty. Like I think sometimes people think like, oh, Phil, I'm scared to show my business card. I'm scared to show my website. Well, you shouldn't be scared. I'm always going to be honest, but it's me to also be constructive and positive. So sometimes I think people maybe misinterpret my brand in that way. But otherwise, I think people pretty much know what they're getting into. Which is like you you know, we need to watch three Instagram stories to know you're hilarious, you’re real honest and hardworking, also super humble. You are almost too humble by the way. No, you are. I'm actually not as humble as you. I mean, I was raised as a good Canadian, but you don't flaunt anything, you've had huge successes. And also, we're super proud to be a part of those in a small way. Let's talk about that. Because where I'm going with this conversation is like blogging. There's not a lot of instant gratification, honestly, and every day becomes more competitive. So I'm curious to explore. We're going to talk about those successes in a second. Let me put that back on that little shelf. How do you stay motivated, other than discipline and good work ethic and loving what you do? I guess it might be a combo of those, but how do you stay motivated when there are not a lot of instant gratification in something like blogging, dependent on advertising and traffic and same for influencers too.
Juli:
That's a hard one because it definitely comes from loving what you do. I started my blog as a place to share recipes because I was changing my lifestyle around, and so I wanted to share the recipes with my friends. I had no idea you could make money off of a blog at that point back in 2011 and I didn't make any money off of it for quite a while. And I just continued to do it because my friends looked at it. And then a couple more people looked at it, and then a couple more people looked at it. And I just love talking about food. That was the starting point. I love it.
You know, just on my stories, today, I'm talking about supporting these local restaurants that are having a tough time during this craziness of the coronavirus because I love food so much, and I don't want businesses to go under because of this crisis. I just love food. And that's what I started this blog as.
And I continue to share new recipes every week because I love it. And I think you have to find something you love. Because if you're doing something if you're sharing a blog, where you're talking about knitting, and you hate knitting, you're like why did I pick knitting? Well, I think it's a niche. You know, it's a niche market right now I'm going to go with knitting and you hate it, well, you're going to get a year in not making a dime. And then you're like, I hate every single day that I have to log on to this. And if you're not making any money at it, you're not going to continue to do it. So you really have to find something you're passionate about, that you love, that you can start maybe as a hobby, and then it can grow into a business moving forward. And I only say that because that's how mine came to fruition.
But loving what you do is so important in a business where it does fluctuate, and you know, your income isn't always the same. And you have to know that you want to work at it, and that you get excited to wake up every morning and work at it, even if it's not going well that day, and you're kind of like, I don't want to do this, but you're going to do it because you love it.
So, I know you said you know, other than loving it, but that is seriously the biggest thing that I think continues to get people to move forward with their business. When things go under, when the world in the economy flips it down, they're gonna actually stick with it because they love it. And that's what my online businesses, is something that I just feel so passionate about and I just never want to stop. And that's, that's what you got to find.
Phil:
One hundred percent. I think that's an amazing answer. There are obvious signs, I think results of your hard work and your success. Let's talk about one of them where I was going with this. You came to us about a year or so ago, a little less wanting to rebrand wanting to evolve the visuals on your website and just online in general, which was super cool because it became a bigger discussion on where you're going as a business. Part of where you're going as a business is launching a program, a new way for people to access you for years. They're getting your lifestyle tips, your food tips, workout tips, but now the first time as a program, we worked on this side, you worked super hard on your side. It was a lot of work. I mean, by the way out of the three of us, I did the least amount of work, by the way. Okay, but the final product oh my god has been so amazing not only gratifying for you to have a way that over 1000 people have engaged with you by buying this program, but you have now passed, Lauren, I know you keep tabs on the numbers, where is Juli right now over over $100,000. Wow, yeah. Wow. Oh my god, how does that feel? What was that process? Let's inspire some other people to let them know that they can also achieve these.
Juli:
I felt you you know, you asked me before hopping on this call, are you comfortable with me sharing numbers. And I think sharing those numbers is so inspiring because me coming from a place, I didn't grow up with much money, I didn't think that I would ever make much money. I knew I probably would make $30,000 a year and that was going to be it and so to be able to create something that people love first and foremost, which is so cool, and they're utilizing it, and it's making a difference in people's lives while being able to make money and put away money in my savings account so I can continue on with this, is so freaking cool.
I never expect for things to sell or to do well, and it's been so cool to see this, you know, I'm, like, flustered for words because I just didn't expect it to do this well, and it wouldn't have been possible without you guys.
The whole goal once I met you Phil at the Everything Food Conference, I was sitting in that room, and I was looking at you and I'm like, I feel so connected to this guy. And I don't know if you just do that to everybody, but I'm like, I want to work with this guy. And I went to lunch after your speech, I was like, I'm gonna hire this. I need to I'm going to write him. I'm going to meet with him. I'm going to hire this guy and it’s exactly what I wanted.
I wanted to rebrand and I wanted to create something. Before I had written cookbooks, and those were these great projects that I've worked on, but I didn't feel fulfilled anymore. And I wanted to create something that fulfilled me much more and I could continue doing this moving forward. And I couldn't have done that with you guys. I didn't have the vision. I didn't know where to start. And you guys gave me those tools. And so it's been you know, I cried on the zoom call with you guys. Just a little couple weeks back, because I was just so flabbergasted that this had happened. And yet, it's been so freakin cool.
Lauren:
I think it's cool to know that basically, creating posts is just the starting point for your brand. It's just the starting point for anyone's business. And I want to know you said something really interesting, like you originally, were just creating recipes because you wanted to share them with your friends. Is that like advice you would give for someone like literally try to find a topic or like at least an area where you You love it so much that you share it with your friends, and that's what you should be doing?
Juli:
Yeah, I think I've actually recorded podcasts with other bloggers in the past. And I think that's almost what many bloggers have done where I interviewed this fashion blogger who she would dress all her sorority sisters in college, and they all come to her and shop her closet, and she would dress them, and then help them with interviews and like put outfits together for them. And so then she was like, Oh, I should just like start doing a blog about this, because then I can share it with more people. And you know, it can be anything like that, where say you're a mom, and you're doing these, like DIY little home projects with your kids, and another mom's like, Oh, my God, that's such a cool idea, I would have never thought of that. Boom, you got an idea right there.
There's so many different ways that we think of ideas and they sometimes just pass through our mind and you're like, Oh, thanks and just move on from it. But if you are now we have the internet you're able to reach so many more people and that one DIY project that one Mom, that was cool. Well, I can promise you 20 plus other moms are going to love it. And even more out there is going to help so many people.
So I think that's the biggest thing is taking those little things, those little comments that your friend says, Oh my God, this has been so helpful and think, Oh, I could share that in other ways. Oh, I've made so many other projects that I can share. And then putting that out there into the world wide web.
Phil:
I love hearing that because that is I teach that every single day I teach, create an inventory of those ideas that you get, don't just let those moments happen. Write them down, put them somewhere central so that you can reference them when you need them. Pair that with the discipline like someone like you has, and you can actually execute and build proof of concept. That's all this is. There's a reason you have hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of visits is that it's proof of concept. And it doesn't just happen overnight. It's not the result of a brand name or a rebrand or posting a few blogs when you have time, you found a way to prioritize this as a career and to wake up at 6am every day and work late and do the work.
It's a marathon, not a sprint, you know, this is a perfect example of that.
Juli:
Such a marathon, a forever marathon, don't know when it's going to end. But if you love it, then it's fun. And remember, you know, when we're talking about $100,000, I went from making $17,000 a year. Then I had this affiliate deal that came in, and I made $24,000 in a week. And this was the first like, big check that came in. And it was like I just made in one week more than I made in a year before.
And then you can take that experience and say, okay, how can I do this moving forward? What's going to be another affiliate? What's going to be my next project? What's going to be the next month? What's that going to look like to move forward towards these projects and affiliates that are going to help me moving forward. And it's been so eye opening in such a cool experience. I hope to share that with more people. That's why I try to mentor some of my friends who I think could really do well on the online world. And not everybody wants it, but I'm hoping to give advice because I've had such a fun run and I hope at some my experiences can help other people.
Phil:
It's hugely inspirational people, not just your friends, it makes me think about you mentioned Everything Food, which is where we met. I'm so proud to be affiliated with this conference. In fact, it's the conference I've spoken at the most of any other conferences. I think I was there the first year and Kami Kilgore, the organizer has become a dear friend. I am so excited that you and I will not only be at the conference this year, which has been rescheduled to August, but we have our own workshop, which is an additional option for those attending the conference in Utah. It's called “How to Value your Influence” and we’re talking all about reputation, audience, pricing, perspective, all of these things. This is like a little mini window into that workshop.
Lauren:
What is your advice for someone who does love what they did like loves what they do loves what they're blogging about, but just does not feel like doing a blog post, when you're just not in the mood. How do you get through that?
Juli:
Well, first, you could change up what you're writing about. So often, if I'm like, Okay, I have to make this recipe and I'm like, I don't care about this recipe. I do not care. I don't want to make it then I make something else. If I don't want to make anything, then I write about something else. If I'm not feeling anything that day, because I feel like I'm just, you know, drowning in sorrows from the Coronavirus, then I sleep on it. I start early and fresh the next morning. But I think changing up if you're just not feeling passionate about something doesn't mean you won't feel passionate about that topic or whatever it is in a few weeks. So you can bump to next in line, but just change, you can change your surroundings you can change the content you're working on. Or often I just sleep on it and I feel better by morning and I feel refreshed and I'm ready to write or work on whatever I need to that day.
So those are the three things, changing your surroundings, changing your content, and sleeping on it because it's amazing what a nice night of sleep will do for you.
Lauren:
So freaking smart you still do something you just do something different.
Juli:
Yeah, just do something different. I do that all the freakin time I change things up if I'm not feeling passionate about it.
Phil:
What a great conversation thank you so much Juli, for you for this for all you do. You're such a pleasure to work with like our dream is to just work with the Juli's of the world because you make our job so fun and we're so grateful.
Juli:
Actually guys are just buttering me up, you say this to all the people you interview.
Phil:
Juli, again, thank you, we just love you. This is just the beginning of us. So program one launch was successful. Oh honey, by the time you're listening to this, we are close to the next one and more and more and more. I know people should go to paleomg.com they should subscribe to you or follow you on Instagram and pretty much everywhere. The Power Program, hello, it is so awesome.
Juli:
Three months of workouts you can do with minimal to no equipment in the comfort of your own home. And I have a meal guide so you can stay on track with your recipes as well.
Phil:
It's so awesome. What is in that thing is amazing. Honestly, it's it's so great. I love everything you do not just because we're involved, but even before we came along, everything you do is great and people agree. So thank you for spending your valuable minutes. You're the best. Thank you guys so much for being with us on Brand Therapy.
