This week I have a great audio interview that Andrew and I did with one of our wonderful Income Blogging Guide members, Debbie Bills from Happy Maker Now. It’s only about 22 minutes long and will give you more background on what you can expect from becoming a member of our blogging course. If you’d rather read it than listen to it, there is a full transcript below. Thanks again Debbie!
[audio:http://blogtechguy.com/audio/Debbie_Interview_May_5th.mp3]
(Press the Play symbol above to listen. If you can’t see the button, click here.)
Andrew: Hello there, we’ve got Andrew Rondeau and Joel Williams from the Income Blogging Guide Membership Course and today we are gonna be throwing several questions to our guests today and its Debbie. Now Debbie should tutor you about herself in a moment. Now Debbie’s been a member of our course for the last 18 weeks or so. So, I’m now going to introduce you to Debbie, and she is just going to tell you a little bit about her background. So Debbie just tell us a little bit about your background, your career, and maybe a little bit about your blog and what niche and that sort of thing.
Debbie: Ok, career-wise, when I was in the corporate world, I work in more the accounting field. I did take up years to raise 3 daughters that I have. And then when I went back to work it was in the accounting field. Many in card dealership, however, about 5 years ago, the dealership I was working in changed management, and the management wanted to bring in their own people so furthermore I wasn’t around. I decided, oh it took me about two to three months, didn’t really wanna get back in to the workforce. One day I decided I wanted to make a website dealing with happiness. Yeah, my family thought I was crazy, my husband thought I was crazy due to the fact that I really didn’t like computers or know anything about them. And that’s when I started my journey on trying to build my website.
Andrew: What made you choose happiness?
Debbie: All of the things that I had been through in my life, raising my children as a single parent and finding out what happiness really is and it is just the simple things in life and I decided I wanted to express that to people because I see so many people out there just struggling and getting caught up in the material world. And that’s just not worth at.
Andrew: So, what’s your domain name? Tell us your domain name and when did you start this? You said you left the corporate world about 5 years ago. It took you 2 to 3 months to make a decision. So, when did you start this?
Debbie: I started this, I’m thinking back now. About 2004. Coz it took me awhile to try to find somebody to help me get the website together. And I learned a lot in that process too. My domain name, I’ve actually went through several of them but now its, happymakernow.com. I did start out making happy shirts, yeah, that worked for a while. But I learned a lot.
Andrew: So happymakernow.com is your current domain name?
Debbie: Yes, it is.
Andrew: So, over the last, 2004 I think you said, so that’s 6 years ago. So from 6 years ago you started out, what made you come to the Income Blogging Guide Membership Course in only 3 months ago rather than, and so what have you been doing in those past 5 years?
Debbie: In those 5 years, I’ve been doing a lot of research on the subject and I have ben doing a lot of research and trying to learn how to build a site, who to get to help me build a site. As I said before I am not very technical about things. And I have gone into some of the courses that they’ve offered over the internet. I have found that yes I have learnt more as I go along but there was a lot of the details, the small details that not being very technical, I was having trouble following. And trying to set up the site like I needed to set it up. I had no idea how to do any of the social networking or anything like that or even the you needed to do this. And so I knew I was missing stuff and I went to this 1 course that did kind of point me in the right direction and then I came upon you guys.
Andrew: Ok so you’ve already invested some of your money in other products and other courses . So why then invest in another course? Why then think, ok I now need to go and join our course? Why did you think that?
Debbie: Because when I was reading your blogposts, both of you guys, it was giving me information. And it was giving it to me in simple words. It was guiding me, showing me examples, telling me the exact steps in what you might say layman terms and not computer terms. Kinda like a doctor you know, telling you what’s wrong with you and he uses all these big terms and you’re not understanding it. You say you put it in English and you guys were doing this for me. Just by reading your blogs and the information you’re putting out there.
Andrew: So why didn’t you just carry on reading our blogs rather than buying our course?
Debbie: Because I needed all the information and help I could get. I was determined not to give up and with the information you were giving me on our site, it was telling me that your course, you would know what you are talking about and I wasn’t wrong on this.
Andrew: Alright so, yeah that’s really good and I’m still curious on this other bit where you say you’ve tried other courses, so what are they not telling you what to do, what are they not telling you?
Debbie: They were telling me what to do but not how to do it.
Andrew: Right, so it’s the how to.
Debbie: Step by step.
Andrew: Give us an example.
Debbie: I’m the type of person that needs a manual you might say, a step by step guide. I can watch a video and write down the steps, you know, steps that way. But when I got into you guy’s course. I found is that you’d show me the video but also you would print it out and pardon the expression, use arrows to where I needed to go. And I need a complete roadmap when it comes to the technical stuff with the computer.
Andrew: Right. Okay. So throughout your, some of your courses, you’ve mentioned that technical aspect and that sort of thing. It sounds like that’s how the course has helped you. Would that be right to say?
Debbie: Yeah, you know, because somebody would say you need a plugin and I’m saying ok what’s a plug-in? You guys, you know, in other courses I’ve taken they would say you know, you need a plugin, you needed to add rss feeder and so on and so forth. And I’m saying what is it? And you guys would bring up a subject like that and then you would explain exactly what it is, how to use it and how to put it into your site. And that was the part that I was not getting this from other courses, you know, I needed the stuff but I didn’t know what it was.
Andrew: Yeah, Okay. I understand that. I can understand that. And I think that was the whole point that Joel and I came up with the membership course, so, that gap was missing. Coz Joel and I are a very, we’ve done it all in the same switch we share and we know how to tweak them and how to implement them and those sort of thing and I think that was the reason that we found so many people wanting that technical how to do it side. Rather than just install this and off you go. So, I can understand that. So, out of the weeks on the course that you’ve covered so far. If you can, I’m gonna say customize your mind back to all those weeks. What do you think you see, the one or two things which you’ve really enjoyed or really learnt from. The most important things you’ve learned from over those last 16, 17 weeks.
Debbie: Ok, it started with pointing me out on doing keywords, which you have to start to kinda build a platform and then going on down to doing, setting up the blog like it needs to be setup and now I am in the part of also creating the content for the blog because you do, in the course, you do both through in exactly how to do this, you give examples of words to use, when you need to highlight things so on and so forth, using the pictures, using links to link different things in your blog. Setting up your blogposts like it needs to be setup to get your traffic and then also right now it’s going to getting that traffic. Before, you know I could put something up there but nobody would read it. And you guys are teaching me how to get people read what I am putting up. I am starting to get, I am getting comments back on my site. And I do need to bring in some income which is coming because of the way you guys are teaching this course and teaching me how to use my affiliates to bring in that income and how to build my own product. And that’s what you did for me.
Andrew: So, it sounds like you’ve experienced some benefit. Coz you know Joel and I always say from the very outset of our course. Blogging is hard work. You know, making an income via your blogging, your online business is really, really hardwork. You gotta work at it not all day everyday but you gotta work at it at certain number of hours everyday.
Debbie: But you guys have made it fun. I do want to put that in. You guys have made it fun because of the map that you give a person to use.
Andrew: Right. Yeah. Ok. Ok. I can see what you’re saying from that side. Because you’re only in the first few weeks of the course. That it sounds like what you said was that you’re getting more traffic, you’re getting, you’re building up relationships from comments and that sort of things. Although its small, some income is starting to come in, although it’s small. But let’s just say, Joel and I are very open in our sales technique, whether it’s the wrong thing to do, I don’t know, but the ethical thing to say is that don’t expect income overnight. When you start your online business, when you start in any blogging career, something like that, it takes a good 4, 5, 6 months blast of doing things via the plan which we gave you, each day everyday to create that income and. We’ve, Joel and I have gone through those pain periods but it’s having that plan and getting there eventually. So, go on, go on…
Debbie: See, that is what I appreciate because you guys are not leading me astray, that this is gonna be done overnight and you can, like you read some of these sites, the gurus and stuffs like that, you can do this, you can do that. No, you guys are in the real world. Yes, it’s hardwork but it’s fun and there’s no just trying to sell somebody something.
Andrew: I’m not gonna backfire on us to a certain degree, there are obviously people that who won’t buy our products or our membership course because we don’t overhype and we son;t say you’re gonna be owning a thousand dollars by next week because there are some products out there which do say that. And they’re more inclined to go and buy those but we don’t wanna work with people like that, we wanna work with people who we try and manage personal expectation, who are in for the long run. So that’s why we try and have that sort of approach. You mentioned quite a few times the good things about this course and I thank you for that. What hasn’t matched your expectations? What would you like Joel and I to do more of or differently or anything like that.
Debbie: Oh there are some weeks on you give the guide every week at the end of the plan for the week, should I say.
Andrew: Yeah.
Debbie: And sometimes I’m looking at that and say, Ok, they have this and that, oooh, ok, how am I gonna get all this done? And sometimes I think it’s a little too fast but for some people it probably would be. But due to the fact that this is all, it’s like learning a new language to me. I have to kind of not get discouraged because maybe it’s going too fast and what I am finding in that aspect is if I do get a little behind, I can go back on my downloads that you’ve given me and you know break it down a little bit for my self each day that way too.
Andrew: Right. Ok.
Debbie: So sometimes, it’s just maybe you know I can’t go back fast but hey, I’m working on it.
Andrew: Yeah, without defending it too much. There’s a lot to cram in. You know, there’s a lot to cram in six months if, coz the course isn’t just about blogging, it’s basically providing, you know, at the end of the six months, you have your own online business and running it like a business and if you look at your, and blogging is just, blogging is just one aspect of that. Coz you know the whole point of it is to generate an income for you. So you have to look at it from an online business and to, to provide you with all of the information and all the different aspects and topics covered in creating your own online business. There’s a lot to cram in in six months. So, yeah, sometimes the lessons are pretty meaty, pretty big. It’s quite weird because other people say it’s not fast enough. You know we’ve had one or two comments where its saying people are saying, can we have all of the lessons in one go. That’s what they’re saying. So, we’re all different, I can now say, some people are being overwhelmed in some weeks and some people want it a little bit faster and it’s just getting that balance right. So….sorry, go on.
Debbie: What’s nice about that though Andrew is the fact that if, like for me being a little slower, I can still go back and pick up the information because of the downloads that I get from your course.
Andrew: Yeah, and another, another plug, if I may, is don’t forget that once you have, I’m just gonna say graduated, I would say graduated from the six months course, you still have access to Joel and I for all your questions forever with no extra cost. So, I know there’s something like a mark in your statement and a bit of a plug but it’s true, you know, at the end of the six months, you’ve paid your fee per month for 6 months and then after you pay no more but you still get access to Joel and I for your questions and you’re right, go back to a lesson if you’re not too sure about that come and ask us. So, you know, that’s the whole point of, you know that, Joel and I are very much into, we like to help people, we like to provide the best customer service we possibly can and we like to respond to feedback as well and that’s why we’re so open on, you know, give us the feedback, how can we do things better. Now, before we go, what, you said some great things about the course, you said how you’re benefiting from the extra traffic and the extra comments and that sort of thing and also just starting to bring in a small amount of income although it’s small. If was sitting on the fence, I, let me put, I haven’t, let’s pretend I haven’t purchased the course and I’m thinking about purchasing it. What would you say to someone who is thinking about investing in the course.
Debbie: I would let them know that for the last 6 years I’ve went through 3 different people trying to get a website and a blog setup, I have spent money that, I got something out of it but not what I should have and the system that I find with you guys, this course that you guys have is like buying into a franchise because you have every step from the technical to the marketing to the making product, you have every step in this course for somebody to succeed with. And if you buy a franchise, they’re going to also let you know you’re not gonna make money immediately, you have to take it step by step to set it up. And that is exactly what you guys, it’s like you’re helping people build a franchise from your knowledge.
Andrew: Right, Yeah. That’s quite a good way to put it. I quite like that.
You know I do want you guys to get a big hit or anything but hey, you’re good.
Well thanks Debbie, I really appreciate your time and thanks for asking all of that questions, I know there’s 2 more weeks to go before you sort of graduate. And I know that you’ve done certain things so far just so to keep up with everything. So thanks once again. It’s Andrew and Joel from Income Blogging Guide and we’ve been speaking to Debbie Bills from happymakernow.com and thanks for the smart choice and be with you all very, very soon. Thanks. Bye
Debbie: Thank You.
Andrew: Thanks.
Like this:
Like Loading...
