10. Influencing Behind The Scenes: How We Make Money
In this week's episode, Merritt covers a topic she's often asked about by readers, friends and strangers alike... how do influencers make money and is it actually lucrative? Is it possible to create a sustainable living from being a blogger or influencer? How does it all work?? She talks about the various ways one can earn money as an influencer, the pros and cons to those various methods, and shares her own experience being an influencer, as well as working for an affiliate network (LTK, formerly known as rewardStyle)! Merritt also gives a personal update (she finally can work out again!), discusses what she's been watching lately (You, Love Hard and Glitch), and shares what she got into over the weekend!
In the Beck and Call segment, Merritt answers listener questions on getting a travel group together and how early you should give notice to a job before you leave! Call the Beck and Call hotline at 214-620-0473 to leave a voicemail and ask Merritt anything - she answers two new questions at the end of every episode!
For visual guides and more behind-the-scenes podcast fun, follow along on Instagram @beckandcallpodcast! For more influencer/fashion content, you can also follow Merritt's other accounts @merrittbeck and @tssedited.
EPISODE AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION
Hey guys, welcome back to the beck and call podcast. I'm your host, Merritt Beck. I am a fashion and lifestyle blogger. And on this podcast I'm talking about all things life work and love as a single woman in my 30s. If you can believe it, I have reached my 10th episode of the podcast, I am so excited. I know that's not a huge milestone. But this is a new medium for me. And I'm just very thrilled with how it's going. I have gotten great feedback so far. So thank you so much, everyone who's taken the time to listen to the podcast and given me feedback. I really, really appreciate it. And while we're on the subject of the podcast, I'm so excited because last week, I launched a new logo. I think I mentioned this before, but because this is an entirely different entity from my blog, I wanted it to have separate branding and just wanted to kind of start from scratch. So I hired Marissa of rice creative Ko and she created the best logo for me and website, the website is not live yet, because I actually have to shoot some photos for it. I didn't really think about that when I started the website design process that I'd actually need content. And while I could use blog photos, I mean, I have endless amounts of blog content that I could use, I want these to have a different look, I don't want them to be just like my alpha photos from the blog. So this week, I'm going to be shooting some content for the website and then hope to have that fully launched either by the end of this week or early next week. So stay tuned for that. But you should be able to see the new logo wherever you're listening to the podcast and on the app beck and call podcast Instagram page. Now for a little personal slash Weekend Update. On Friday, I went to the Dallas Art Fair, which was going on all weekend. And it is so cool because you get to discover all kinds of artists and galleries from all over the world to come to showcase some pieces. And included in that was my friend Patti and her parents. They had a booth there to represent their art gallery, Ruiz Healy art, and they have locations in New York and San Antonio. And so it was really fun to go see them. And also check out all the other art and galleries from around the globe. They're in Dallas to represent their pieces actually have kind of a funny story about the Dallas art fair, but let me give you some backstory on it first. So my mom's sister and I went to Palm Beach earlier this year. And if you're not familiar with Palm Beach, it's got great shopping. It's got amazing art galleries. So while we were there, we spent a lot of our time shopping, wandering around popping into galleries. And there was one gallery where the art was, of course beautiful. And so I was I had expressed interest in it. And I was also interested in the guy who was running the gallery. He was very cute. And so we were emailing back and forth because I'd expressed interest in some of the art he was selling. So we were emailing back and forth. But ultimately I decided against purchasing anything. I did however shoot my shot, because you know, I figured if he says no, I'm never gonna see him again. He lives in Palm Beach and I basically was like if you're ever in Dallas, we should get a drink as sort of a you know, flirty email. He definitely wasn't interested because his reply totally ignored my comment and just continued to try to sell me art. So that was a failed attempt, but again, figured I would never see him again. Well, well, I was perusing the Dallas art fair on the first floor before going up to see my friend Patti in her booth. I was just looking around and I saw him like, I don't know if he saw me, but y'all I'm such a chicken. I just like quickly kept walking to the next booth. I did not say hi. I was too embarrassed to even mention it because I if he didn't remember why would I want to remind him anyway, I had a close call there but I shot my shot. I did what I could and he wasn't interested and let's move on. And then after the Dallas art fair on Friday, I took patty and her parents to park house for drinks and dinner. It was kind of a late night so I was a little sluggish on Saturday but got it together because we decided to get a group of our college friends together while Patty was in town and have kind of a holiday cocktail thing Saturday night. And then Saturday, I went to my first neighborhood event they my neighborhood is full of like young families with children and so they do kind of rent like they had a Halloween Block Party. They do kind of random stuff like that throughout the year. But this was like a designated neighborhood event. It was the chili cook off and a bunch of people made chili. There were bounce houses for the kids and live music. It was just really fun and I got to meet a bunch of people that were my neighbors. So that was a good introduction to the neighborhood one year later after moving in. In other personal news last week I finally got period so I can resume normal physical activity who like working out, and I did my very first workout on Thursday. And it was, it would have been easy for me over a month ago. But it was so challenging. I just did a 10 minute ab workout, 10 minute arms, 10 minute legs, and I've been sore the last several days from workout. So I think it's gonna take a little bit of work to get back into this. I'm not used to it. I've never taken a whole month off of working out. So I feel like I'm starting from scratch. And I decided because I'm starting from scratch. I thought I would mix it up and try something new. I'm obviously still going to do the peloton tread workouts, I have the bike so I can use those kind of whenever I want. But I decided to start over with a different program on the sweat app and I'm doing Shawntel Duncan's fierce at Home program. I just did the first workout this morning. And it's a lot like BBG in that it's like a mix of hit and strength training. But it's set up a little differently. And every workout is a full body workout. Whereas in kala it scenesse is high intensity workouts every day is focused on a particular muscle group. So like Monday was usually leg day, Wednesday was arms. And then Friday was abs. And I think I'm gonna enjoy this more because it's a full body workout every single day. But they're set up differently in that one day might be to Bata one day might be like strength and hit circuits. So I'm hoping this change in format and a little more variety will keep me focused and motivated to really get back into it. Because as I said in the last episode, I just haven't been feeling like I have a strong routine. Yes, I worked out every day. But I just didn't. I wasn't seeing the progress that I was used to seeing from high intensity. So hopefully I'll start building that back up with this. And I will report back as I go. Switching gears here. I know some of you are probably wondering my thoughts on Megan's appearance last week. So if you missed it, Megan and Harry stepped out for their first red carpet appearance in over a year. And it was for the salute to freedom Gala in New York. And that I think was last Wednesday. She looks amazing in red. But I have to be honest, and say I disliked the dress a lot. She is a beautiful figure. And this is not at all a comment on that or her post baby body but moreso that the silhouette was terrible. It just wasn't the right cut for her body and didn't do anything for her. And I do think there's a lot to be said for dressing for your body type. She generally does this very well. But this was a total miss for me. And just for example, the bra cups were not even in the right place and weren't filled out the back look too tight like those two things shouldn't be happening at the same time. And it just didn't fit her properly. And I think the waistline and more fitted pencil skirt under the ball gown accentuated her short torso and made her look bigger than she is. As I've said before, she's gorgeous. And this is not at all a comment on that. But more so a comment on how this dress was not a great choice for her. She would look amazing in a burlap sack. It just all comes down to the silhouette and how it worked against her and not for her. But with all that said she could obviously wear whatever she wants, if she thinks she looked great and that more power to her. It's just not what I would have picked. And you know I if she was working with a stylist I would be surprised because you know these kinds of tailoring and fit things that's like truly their job. So it would surprise me if she did have a stylist who recommended this look. Now let's talk about what I've been watching this week. I watched the new Christmas flick love hard on Netflix. It features two of my favorite people, Nina Dobrev, from The Vampire Diaries and Heather McMahon who if you don't listen to the absolutely not podcast, what are you doing with your life? I listen to it every week. She's hilarious and is great on Instagram too. And so I had really high hopes for this movie. But it was bad. The writing was not good. It was too cheesy and unbelievable for me. And that's coming from somebody who likes cheesy Christmas movies. I just I couldn't I can't recommend it. It just wasn't very good. I want to support Heather I want to support Nina Dobrev. I would love to see more of them and other things. I don't think the movie quality is their fault. But you know, that's my review. I'm also fully caught up on you which is on Netflix and that features Penn Badgley from Gossip Girl he plays Joe who's like a murderous stalker, but I did watch the first season and I really enjoyed it and then when the second season came out, I couldn't really get into it. I don't know why I might have been distracted or you know, watching other things at the same time. But I didn't make it all the way through the second season. And so when the third season came out, I you know, wasn't sure it was gonna get into it, but everyone kept talking about it. So I started where I left off in the second season and finished it this weekend. The third season is really good, but it's very different from the first two, because he's married and has a baby. And so it just it's a very different dynamic than the first two. But I really enjoyed it. And I am not going to tell you how it ends. But I really hope there's a season four because I think they've set up a really good plotline for season four. So anyway, I do recommend that show if you're not, you know, totally scared of you're out of your mind about a stalker plotline. And then last night, I started another show called glitch. And it's about a small Australian town where some people basically come back from the dead, including this police officer's wife who died of cancer and they're all in like peak physical condition. So not at all like a zombie show or anything like that. And nobody knows why they came back. And I don't know I'm enjoying it. So far. I like this kind of plotline. It's very much on brand for me. But I'm enjoying it. I think the acting is good. The story is interesting, but we'll see where it goes. I'll report back next week to see if it stays good.
Alright, let's jump into today's topic. So this is kind of random, but with, you know, cyber week coming up and it being the holiday season and a big time for retail, it kind of makes sense to talk about it. But a question I get asked a lot is whether influencing is really lucrative how we make a sustainable living doing what we do. And I think there's a lot of confusion around this topic, because there's not a lot of transparency. People don't talk that much about it. And I think it makes people more skeptical or critical of it. And so I figured we could have an open discussion on all of those things. How how do bloggers make money? Where does it come from? What the technology looks like all of that stuff. Before we get into it, though, I just want to make it clear that I can't speak for everyone in the industry. But I can speak to my own performance and experience as an influencer. And also my experience working for an affiliate network in the industry. I used to work for rewardstyle, which is now called LTK. And I worked there for two years. And so I've kind of seen it all. Now, I haven't worked there since 2014. And obviously this industry has exploded even more since then. So the possibilities are probably even bigger and better now, but I just wanted to start out by saying my experience may not be anybody else's experience. So when I first started my blog at the beginning of 2011, making money outside of simple banner advertisements on a website was not a thing. I didn't start my blog to make money. I just thought it looked fun. And it would be a fun creative outlet. I loved fashion and wanted to talk boast about it. So that's why I started my blog. But later that year, rewardstyle launched their affiliate network and invited me to be a beta tester on the platform. I did start making money right away. But that was before they had a ton of retailers on the platform. So while it wasn't earning a lot, I was impressed that it was actually possible to make money doing this. But before I get further into my own experience, let's talk about how bloggers even make money. Like how does it work? There's not just one way so influencers primarily get paid through brand partnerships, which is an arrangement between an influencer and a brand where the influencer promotes the brand in exchange for a flat fee payment. And then there's affiliate marketing, which is either getting paid a commission on purchases they influenced or by getting paid based on how much traffic they drive to a website. influencers can also get paid to host events design capsule collections help brands develop product, but I'd say affiliates and collaborations with brands are the two most prominent methods of earning money in this industry. Let's dive into affiliate marketing a little more because I think it's this part of the industry that's confusing for a lot of people and it can be met with skepticism and criticism and I don't think it should be as as long as you understand the concept it actually makes a whole lot of sense. So I like to compare affiliate marketing to working with a sales associate in a store so think a store like Neiman Marcus you have all these sales associates like my sister who works in the Austin store who are helping you find what you need, they bring stuff to your dressing room, they you know check you out and when you buy something from them, they earn a small commission from your purchase. Now this is not coming out of your pocket. It is coming out of Neiman Marcus or whoever store it is whatever store they are paying that commission on to the sales associate. blogging and influencing is literally the same thing. So when I link to something, and a reader or follower ends up buying something after clicking through my link, the store I sent them to pays me a commission for sending them that sale. And again, it does not come out of the reader or followers pocket, this money is paid from the brand through LTK. To me now LTK does take a small percentage, but the rest of that sale is passed on to me, it's basically a reward for sending them traffic that converts into sales. And while influencers and sales associates have pretty different jobs, like I'm not physically checking you out, when you buy things through my links, I'm still creating a ton of free content that's very time consuming. And while fun, it's still work, I'm still working and creating content for my followers to enjoy. And if you do enjoy stuff, and you buy stuff, I earn money. If you don't, then I don't make money. So I'm getting rewarded for the content that I'm putting out there. And my readers and followers are enjoying and shopping. Now. LTK is not the only affiliate program out there, but it is the one that I use exclusively. And I'll explain why I prefer this one next, there are two pretty typical affiliate marketing methods. So I mentioned this a little earlier, but one is a pay per click model, and the other is a CPA cost per acquisition model. The first means that if I send traffic to a website, that I will get paid on the number of clicks that I send, if I use a CPA based model, I only earn money if that traffic I send converts into a sale. So those are the two different models. LTK is a CPA based platform. Now there are pros and cons to both models. But it all comes down to each particular influencer and what their audience and content is like. Some influencers prefer a pay per click model because they might have a ton of traffic and click throughs. But maybe sales conversions aren't as high. Or they might link to a bunch of very inexpensive retailers like h&m and target where the commission rate might be good. But because the product is a lot less expensive, you're not going to earn as much on each sale. So those are two reasons why someone might prefer a pay per click to a CPA based affiliate program. Now let's talk about the CPA method, which I prefer and that is what LTK uses. So how does this work? When you click on an affiliate link, a cookie which you might have heard of before is dropped on your computer browser, and that cookie will track your behavior on the websites you're visiting. So if you make a purchase after clicking on an affiliate link, the sale will be attributed to the blogger who sent you to that website and this is called last click attribution. The amount of time a cookie lasts on your computer will vary from retailer to retailer. Some have shorter windows, like a few days long while others have cookie Windows lasting 30 days or more, which is obviously better for bloggers to have a longer cookie window because that means they'll be tracking your purchase behavior for a longer period of time allowing for more sales to happen and more commissioned to be made. While a longer cookie window is obviously better. last click attribution can work against you, especially if your followers follow a bunch of other bloggers and are clicking on a variety of affiliate links throughout the week, the chances of you getting that commission are probably pretty low. And so that's why bloggers and influencers are constantly sharing links on stories and a new blog posts and all new content because you want to be the last link that a person clicks on before they make a purchase because otherwise you're not getting the sale. If you want to make sure a specific influencer is getting credit for a purchase that you make, all you have to do is click on their link to the website you want to shop right before you add things to your cart. People often ask me that when they're checking out, like how do I make sure you get credit for this, and I'll just tell them just click on a link and you're good to go. I personally prefer to use LTK and the CPA method because while I don't have millions of click throughs, the people who do click through my links actually shop and shop a lot. And another reason I think I do particularly well in this CPA method is because my average order value is very high for the industry. And this is because I've maintained a luxury niche over the years on my blog and social channels. And so I do think a lot of my audience is willing to spend more on product and they shop a lot and so when they do shop because I have a high average order value I'm making more in commission than someone might if they're only linking to inexpensive items and their audience is only buying inexpensive items or not shopping a lot. So when you take that into consideration that I don't get a lot of Traffic like I don't have millions of click throughs. But the people that are buying stuff are spending a lot of money, it just makes more sense for me to be on a CPA based model than a click based model. As I said before, every influencer is different. And it all depends on the kind of content they create. So how much content they're putting out there, again, the price points of different things that their followers are used to seeing on their site. And what affiliate model makes the most sense for them based on that content, their audience, their conversion rates, etc. Affiliate marketing can be incredibly lucrative if you've got a loyal readership who shops online. And just to give you an example, the majority of my income comes from earnings I make from affiliate links. It's not from partnerships. A lot of other influencers, however, might make most of their money off of flat fee based partnerships with brands. And the most interesting part about all of this is that it actually has nothing to do with the size of one's audience. Instagram numbers can be very deceiving, and are not at all indicative of someone's actual influence when it comes to sales. Just to give you an example, when I was working at LTK, formerly known as rewardstyle, from 2012 to 2014, there was one top earner for several months who was making nearly 100 grand a month on commission, but she had less than 50,000 followers on Instagram at the time, whereas there were other influencers that had like 500,000 Instagram followers and weren't making even half that amount on commission. So it really does vary from influencer to influencer. And it really has nothing to do with simply your number of followers on any platform. Another reason I really love LTK is because with their collaborations, they choose talent for those collaborations based on performance, not on the number of followers they have. And because I'm not a huge influencer, which means I have less than 100,000 followers on Instagram, I don't often get approached for collaborations outside of LTK. And if I do, they almost always lowball me or offer me way less money than I'd normally accept. So that's mostly because PR companies don't have access to the performance data like an affiliate network would. So they are offering compensation totally based on follower count, they might look at engagement, in addition to follower count, but that's still not a clear picture of whether someone's going to convert either. So because I don't have a ton of followers, I often get low balled, like I said before, when I do get pitched for a collaboration outside of LTK, but because I do really well, on the LTK network, I get a ton of collaborations through them, because they are picking the influencers based on who's performing for the retailer that they are doing the collaboration for, and performing well within the LTK affiliate program allows me the flexibility to turn down any collaborations that don't offer me enough money or aren't on brand, because I am making enough to where I'm not, I'm not needing those collaborations. So with all that said, the LTK platform has been amazing for me personally, because not only do I make the majority of my income from commissions that I earn using their affiliate network, but I also get rewarded for my performance with awesome collaborations with brands that I love, like my Teresa, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. They're not just random brands, they're brands that I'm already talking about and linking to and that are authentic to me, there are really only two downsides to affiliate marketing for me. The first is that there's little to no consistency. So each month is different and you really cannot predict how much you're going to make from one month to the next. And your performance can be based on a variety of factors, like certain sales going on how much content you're putting out that month, if you're traveling, I always tend to make a little bit less when I'm taking long trips because I'm not posting as many links because I'm busy all day or just posting a lot of non fashion non linkable content, that kind of stuff. With that said I've been doing this a long time. So while no month is exactly the same, I now consistently earn enough in commissions on even my lowest months to live very comfortably on so I'm very lucky about that. My lowest and highest earning months are wildly different numbers, but the lowest is still great and I definitely cannot complain about it. The second bummer is how long it takes to get paid. So most stores have a long return window these days especially with COVID shipping delays and you know supply chain stuff and especially right now during the holiday season most stores extend their return window. Once the return window ends in the store has declared the sale final. That's when I'll get paid. And this generally happens about 60 to 120 days after the purchase. which is a really long time, like up to four months. And you also have to remember that because the retailers have different lengths of time for their return windows, they close at different times. So you can't really count on a specific number to get paid by a certain date. So for example, I get paid every two weeks. And so the first payment of the month might be really small, and then the second payment will be huge. And so it's kind of hard to plan, especially with credit card bills that are due on certain days, you just can't count on any specific amount to get paid. So for example, with the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale In July, I probably will not get paid for what I made that month until late November or early December. And last year, for example, the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale was a month later. And so I didn't get paid until January for that it was nice because I you know, had to pay my taxes and stuff. But it would have been nice to have that money during the holiday season to buy gifts and all of that stuff. So you're sort of at the mercy of the return window before you can get paid for anything. And another thing to think about with that between when a purchase is made and the return window ends, people obviously make returns. So I may make a certain amount one month, and then I'll look three months later, and it's gone down quite a bit because of returns. So that's sort of a bummer, too. But obviously very common practice in retail. And it's just something you got to expect. While earnings from commissions can vary widely, especially when you think about average order value, the actual commission rate, luckily, reward styles, or LTK. His commission rates are like between seven and 20%, which is really good collaboration amounts can also vary widely, and not just you know, the price they're offering you obviously that number can change based on what's included in the project. But you also can't guarantee there's going to be a collaboration every month, some months, I have an even split between collaboration, earnings and commission earnings, whereas other months, it's all commission and no projects, you really can't count on those. So while you can always count on them, if you do happen to get a project, at least the paycheck is guaranteed. The fees, like I said can definitely change depending on the content requirements. But either way, you can count on that specific amount to hit your checking account. Now, I've already talked about the pros and cons of working with affiliates. But there are also pros and cons to flat fee partnerships, you deal with inconsistency on both sides. But there are also benefits to both with just doing affiliates. I have complete creative control over what I post the brands I feature etc. With collaborations, there can often be a lot of red tape, you have to get things approved, there are quick turnaround times, sometimes some strict rules. And there's often a lot of back and forth on those things as you are doing the project. So it's just there's a lot of moving parts that are happening at once in these collaborations, which can be a lot of work. I feel very grateful that I can do both affiliates and collaborations but I'm not fully relying on either one for my entire income. So I've got to say thank you to all of you who have followed along and shopped my content over the years because I truly wouldn't be able to say that without you guys. So thank you. Over the years, I have noticed some patterns that are pretty typical within retail that helped me plan out my year in terms of spending and budgeting and identifying and preparing for those cyclical changes has helped me manage the wild swings I might see in commission from month to month. So I thought I'd tell you a little bit about those. So for example, January and February are generally very slow, which is not surprising considering it's coming off of the holiday season where people are spending a lot on gifts and holiday decor and things for themselves. And people generally aren't going out as much at the very start of the year. They're eating well and you know, not drinking a ton I mean it's everyone's just a little more chill in January and February, March there's usually a bit of an uptick because of spring break. I also launched my capsule wardrobe mid February so more sales are happening in March for the coming season than April May and June are generally lower too. They are still higher than January and February but lower than I'd like spring and summer clothing is generally less expensive. So you're you're buying more breezy, lightweight stuff, cotton linen, you're not spending money on boots, and you know leather pieces and faux fur and just generally heavier clothing. And so I think that has something to do with it. But once July comes sales really pick up thanks to the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale and they generally stay up for the rest of the year through q4 Because of the holiday season. People like I said are now buying more boots and coats and just heavier clothing items that cost more to make and they're buying gifts. It's it's just a lot busier in the latter part of the year to give full transparency July and November are my two biggest months of the year and they're very close in terms of commission. Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is the biggest thing for me though. So July is still at the top, we'll see what this month holds at the end of the month. But July is usually my top earning month of the year. The thing about November in addition to people shopping for gifts and holiday decorations, we also have cyber week, which is actually right around the corner. Black Friday is obviously been a very big shopping day for years. But as online shopping has become more popular in the last decade, Cyber Monday is now considered to be the biggest data shop all year long. According to CNBC, just last year, Cyber Monday reach 10 point 8 billion and online sales, which makes it the biggest e commerce selling day of all time. And part of this, I think is due to the pandemic because you know, there's less there was less foot traffic in stores last year, people were shopping more online. But I do think it's indicative of where shopping is headed in the future. I think more and more people are coming to terms with everything is going online. And that's where all shopping is starting to happen. And since we're on the subject of cyber week, is it worth it to shop during cyber week? I would say yes and no depending on where and what you're shopping for. Yes, everyone is having a sale. But a lot of the sales I have noticed over the years don't change that much from the ones that they're having earlier on in the year at different times. So shop ops a great example of this, they usually do a sale that happens through cyber week that is not restricted to one day. And if I recall, it's generally like a buy more save more sale where you can earn up to 20 or 25% off site wide, they usually do this exact same sale to other times during the year, at least offering the exact same discount, it might not be a buy more, save more, it might just be a, you know, standalone 20% off or whatever. And they do that in the fall and in the spring. And so this sale isn't any different. And they always have the same kind of restrictions, certain brands aren't included. And so there's nothing really that special about this sale, it's just going on during cyber week. Another good example of this is J Crew. So they always offer at least in the past couple years, they've always offered 50% off on Cyber Monday, usually on Black Friday, they'll do 40% off so that Cyber Monday is the really big day. And they do this also on other holidays. So they've done this on Fourth of July, I'm pretty sure they do it Memorial Day and Labor Day, it's usually about the same percentage off. So again, it's not anything any different. It's just going on during cyber week. Now, I'm not going to say it is not worth shopping during cyber week, because that's foolish. I mean, it's always a good idea to shop when there's a sale going on if you're in need of something. But I just want to reiterate that it's not any different for the most part from shopping any any other sale during the year. Now, there are some exceptions to this, I feel like Amazon does a really good job, which shouldn't surprise anyone, because they do those flash sales where they have a select certain number of products, usually electronics or things that people really like for their house. Or like there's an ice machine that everybody talks about, those things are marked down really low. And it's usually for a set number of hours during one day. And so there's a sense of urgency and people feel like they have to buy it immediately or they will never get it at this price. They are good at this. If more brands did something like this, I think they would have more success during cyber week. Because you know, the sense of urgency isn't always there if you're doing a week long sale, and don't change the discount amount. But I do think it's a great opportunity to, you know, spend more on gifts, if you're able to get something discounted, you might as well get a really good gift for your mom, your sister, your stepdad, I always like to spend more on special Christmas gifts. So this is a great time to do that. Because obviously getting a discount is great. And then for things like furniture and electronics, I definitely would take this time to do that. Because it's not often that furniture stores discount heavily. And you know, it's expensive. So that those are items that I think are definitely worth shopping during cyber week. So let's circle back to the questions that I posed at the beginning of this deep dive is blogging slash influencing really that lucrative and how do you make a sustainable living? Yes, blogging and influencing can be very lucrative. If you do it right. There are 1000s of influencers out there not only making good consistent money but actually fully supporting their families on their earnings. I don't feel totally comfortable telling you exactly what I make but I will share that this will be my fifth year to make a salary in the six figures and my earnings continue to grow year over year. And I'm not telling you this to brag but more so to be transparent and share that it can be lucrative No matter your audience size. Many influencers have gone on to create entirely new companies and brands from their success as influencers from clothing lines and beauty and skincare. Hair brands and everything else in between. I personally still love creating content and don't really see myself designing clothes or launching a tangible product that I do see myself continuing on as I have with my blog and Instagram accounts. And now this podcast, I might do something else in the future. But I really do love what I do. And I just, it's hard for me to imagine doing anything else. And as far as it being sustainable, I think as long as people are shopping, online, logging and influencing isn't going anywhere. If you are consistent and sharing quality content with your followers who enjoy and continue to shop, there's no reason to believe you won't continue to grow and earn more. Just like with any industry, it's important, obviously to keep an eye on trends and evolve as things change around you. So for me, that might mean adding a new content vertical or launching a new medium, like this podcast, or launching a brand like clothing line or whatever. But again, I just think I mean, we're everything's going digital, there's no reason to believe that this job is going anywhere, as long as you continue to enjoy it, and your followers continue to enjoy it. I think it's gonna last. Alright guys, I hope that was helpful. I don't know if that was interesting to anyone. But it is something I get asked about a lot. So I thought it'd be fun to cover it, especially before, you know the biggest shopping week of the year. So anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed that. As always, if you have questions about that, or anything else I mentioned in these episodes, you can call the beck and call Hotline at 214-620-0473.
Alright, guys, we've made it to the beck and call segment, which is where I answer to listener questions at the end of every episode. As I said before, you can call into the hotline at 214-620-0473 or submit a question via email to info at beck and call podcast.com. Let's get into the first voicemail.
Hey, Merritt, this is Katie from Boston, I definitely really loved your question about making new friends and the podcast about some friendships, expectations that we have as we go into some of our 30s and life changes for just about everybody around us. But anyway, I was just wondering, given that and your travel podcast, would you ever consider doing a listener like trip, I know that you did do a meetup at one point, maybe in Chicago or New York, and maybe a trip would be a little bit more specific, and people would really have to commit to it. I know that since travel has been opening back up and people are really curious about traveling, that might be a good chance for some listeners to meet you. And more like a continental US area maybe or something like that. I know you did, like a run in Charleston at one point too. So maybe it's centered around some sort of event or something fun, but just didn't know if your thoughts are taking you there. And if that would be something that people would be interested in. I know that's sort of like a little out of your wheelhouse. But it could be really fun to to meet you and travel with some like minded people and do some fun shopping or different things like that. So anyway, I just wanted to ask that and loving the podcast, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Okay. This is such a great idea. And I feel like Heather McMahon who I mentioned at the beginning of this episode has done this, I feel like she's traveled with maybe listeners of her podcast. And I don't know if she did it, like as a giveaway kind of thing or what happened or how that worked. But it sounds like such a fun idea. I think it would require a lot of planning. So I'm not sure I'd be doing it in the very near future. But I definitely be open to considering that. I love to travel, obviously, and would love to meet more of you guys. So I'll definitely think about that and kind of look into what that would look like. But in the meantime, I do hear that people are meeting up from this podcast based on that. Let's make some friends post I did on the app, beck and call podcast Instagram, and I love seeing that you guys are meeting up in your own cities. And then I'm actually hosting a Dallas meetup this Thursday. So if you're in Dallas and want to come shoot me an email info at beck and call podcast.com and I will add you to the Paperless Post invitation. And I want to be doing more of these of course as I start moving about the country, but that's all I'm doing for now. But you can always obviously connect with each other on the at beck and call podcast Instagram page and connect with like minded people. But a great question. Definitely something I'd consider. I will get back to you guys. Let's get into the next voicemail.
Hi, Merritt. My name is Audrey. I'm really enjoying the podcast so far. My question is career related. I am at a point where I am considering going back to school for a whole new career and I'm trying to figure out, when would be the best time to tell my current employer that I will be leaving? I've already made the decision this is happening. But I wouldn't really be leaving for at least another few months. I'm wondering what your thoughts are on giving advance notice of someone leaving or if you think kind of the standard two week notice is appropriate. In this situation, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks so much.
First of all, congratulations, that is so exciting. Starting a new career is very exciting at any age. And I wish you all the success and luck in this new field, whatever it might be, I also should say resist is lying right next to me in might snore, like that. So just a heads up on that. But I think it totally depends on the type of company and how big it is that you are currently working for. If you're working at a standard corporate job, nine to five, you know, they've got a lot of staff, I say two weeks is probably plenty of time. And a lot of times they might not even keep you on for that additional two weeks. Now, if it's a startup or say it's like me and Liza where there's just one person or you know, you're really enmeshed in a lot of different things. And you think maybe it might be helpful to give your employer some extra time that I think you could maybe do if you wanted to offer a little bit earlier. So maybe give them a month versus two weeks. But you also have to be very prepared for the fact that they may say even if you are giving them a month, they may say we want you out today, some companies are very specific on like how they do privacy, and sometimes just want to make sure that it's a clean cut break. And so you just have to be prepared for any and all scenarios that could occur when you give your notice. But I would just think about kind of your team. If you're really involved in a lot of stuff, and you want to be extra helpful with them. Maybe give them more than two weeks. But otherwise, two weeks is very standard. And you're still doing what you're supposed to you're giving them some notice and you won't be on the hook for a long kind of extended period. Alright guys, that's it for this week's episode. As always, please be sure to rate review, subscribe and share. It means so much to me when I see y'all posting on Instagram and tagging at beck and call podcast. Also just a reminder, if you ever have a question a call into the beck and call Hotline at 214-620-0473 to ask me anything and I will answer it in a future episode. Thanks so much for tuning in and I will catch you guys next week. Bye!
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