How Lidiya Achieved Financial Freedom through Blogging and Courses
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We had the pleasure of interviewing Lidiya Kesarovska, the founder of Let’s Reach Success. She has built a thriving online business that focuses on blogging and course creation, and she teaches others how to succeed in their digital ventures and achieve the desired financial freedom. Lidiya will tell you about her journey, how she maintains motivation and a positive mindset, and will shed light on her strategies and experiences.
In this article
Journey to financial freedom
Joy Wallet: Can you share a bit about your journey to financial freedom?
Lidiya: One of the main reasons why I started a business was to have all the types of freedom I crave. Financial freedom is just one of them, but there’s also time freedom, creative freedom (to be able to work on anything you feel like), location freedom (to live anywhere), and emotional freedom (to be who you want to be in your life and business and stay true to yourself).
There have definitely been ups and downs and moments where I’ve felt more of it over the years. It’s a journey indeed.
One key thing to remember is that money isn’t always the best goal to set when you start a business. Even if you get to it, maintaining that financial freedom is a whole different ball game. It’s better to start with more meaningful and deeper reasons, to have a “why” that will keep you going no matter what.
Read also: 5 Hobbies That Can Make You Money
Services and resources
Joy Wallet: What are the primary services and resources your site offers?
Lidiya: The best way to work with me and be in my energy right now is through my membership and community for bloggers, Fearless Bloggers.
Inside, I answer all your blogging questions, share strategies on how to increase your traffic and income sooner, and am just there for you, celebrating your wins and helping you keep going when you don’t see results.
Every month, you get access to:
- My monthly blog income report that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at my business. It’s also what keeps you going. Members have mentioned to me many times how this inspires them and how it shows them I keep doing the work no matter what.
- A video training that will show you how to do one specific thing or one process of my business or else.
- A PDF file which is usually a big time saver. A recent one was a list of sponsored networks you can join so you can earn through sponsored blogging. This has always been my biggest income stream, but lately, I have done more research and actually joined many new networks and started earning from some, so I really want to share them with you as things in that industry change. It’s been years since I explored new networks. Some from the past that used to be popular either have a new name or don’t exist anymore, or I just wouldn’t recommend them anymore because of a feature they lack. That one PDF can literally be the reason why you make your next few hundred dollars as a blogger or why you add a new recurring monthly revenue stream.
Then, there are going to be two very important posts in the membership every month — one helping you to increase your blog traffic and one to monetize your blog better. Sometimes, these can be short and sweet but very actionable. I might share one thing you can do, one tool you can start using, one tactic I’ve discovered and tried and which has worked for me or which was recommended by someone I’m following and looking up to but which can still be very valuable to you. In any case, while not every post will help you grow your blog traffic and income because there are so many factors that go into this, even if one or a few of them work for you every few months, your business is going to be growing.
I also have my courses and you can find them all here. If you’re looking to become a course creator and create your signature offer, launch it, and keep earning from it forever, then Bold Business School is the program for you.
Choosing focus areas
Joy Wallet: How did you decide on blogging and course creation as your main focus areas?
Lidiya: Blogging came first, and it has always been my main thing. I absolutely love it.
Writing is the best way to express myself, and I love the business side of blogging — optimizing the content, monetizing it, picking topics strategically, assessing the impact it provides to people, etc.
Over time, I started teaching it. Digital products are one of the four main ways to monetize your website, so once I got into creating courses, I just couldn’t stop. It’s a beautiful way to dive deeper into what I teach and master one specific topic (such as content marketing or blog sponsorships).
Motivation and productivity
Joy Wallet: How do you stay motivated and productive while running your business?
Lidiya: These are two of the biggest challenges of running your business.
The best way to make sure you always come back to your business is to have a damn good reason for being self-employed. Whether it’s to answer your soul’s calling, get your creative juices flowing, be able to live anywhere, or provide for your kids, define it and keep it in mind at all times.
From then on, the daily habits you form bring discipline, and that’s what can get you in front of the laptop when you don’t feel like it.
Your motivation will go down sometimes, and you won’t be able to focus or get anything done, but you can still show up for your business in different ways. Maybe you can take a course, do keyword research, get inspired by others in your field, do some networking, test a new way to bring traffic to your blog, or be part of a membership with like-minded business owners so you can get the support you need.
Mindset and success
Joy Wallet: Can you discuss the importance of mindset in achieving success?
Lidiya: They say business is 10% strategy and 90% mindset, and I can’t agree more.
When you’ve been trying any business idea under the sun or any tactic to increase blog traffic or revenue, and nothing seems to work, it’s your mindset that will keep you in the game long enough till you actually move forward.
When you feel imposter syndrome when releasing your new paid offer, teaching a new subject or something more controversial, or just when publishing a new piece of content or bringing traffic to your sales page with paid ads, it’s your mindset that will help you overcome the limiting beliefs and get your work out there.
When you see others in your field earning big numbers and feel discouraged, it’s your mindset that will remind you that this is just proof that the same is available to you too.
When you get a hate comment, an unhappy client or a refund request, it will be your mindset reminding you that you can’t please everyone, but you’re there to help the right people, and they always benefit from your content.
When your loved ones tell you to quit because you aren’t earning enough, it’s your mindset that will help you persevere, stick to your vision, and take action from where you want to be, not where you are now.
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Content creation
Joy Wallet: How do you choose the topics for your blog and courses?
Lidiya: My blog covers many topics and was initially only on personal growth, but now it’s mostly about online business. I believe we can best teach what we ourselves have learned (starting from nothing) because we get exactly what newbies are going through and can guide them through the limiting beliefs, challenges, potential mistakes, etc. For me, that’s blogging, so my paid offers have to do with this.
I teach the different monetization methods, content creation and marketing, SEO, blog traffic, mindset, and anything that goes into running a blogging business. I do it through my free content, the podcast, the courses, and now the membership.
If you’re still deciding on your niche, here’s a quick tip: go for something that you’re passionate about, which you know enough about (more than a beginner), and which is profitable (if others in the same niche are successfully monetizing their content and products on these topics, that’s usually a good sign).
Work-life balance
Joy Wallet: How do you balance work and personal life?
Lidiya: This is another one of the beautiful challenges of being self-employed. Maybe that balance can never be fully reached, and maybe it changes because you evolve together with your business, and so do your needs.
For me, it’s important to be able to wake up whenever I want to.
I also need to re-evaluate everything I’m working on often to make sure I stay on the right track. That usually happens by having regular “meetings” to gather the numbers and see if the last targets are hit, as well as set new ones, which will ultimately lead to reaching the one-year business goals, the three-year ones, and so on.
Common mistakes
Joy Wallet: What are some common mistakes new bloggers and course creators make?
Lidiya: They spend too much time overthinking every little detail before actually starting the blog. That’s the name, the niche, the design, etc.
It’s better to just start and go from there.
Then, they often leave their blog behind soon after because they don’t see results. Or they don’t publish content consistently. Or they compare themselves to bigger names in the industry and only focus on how much they haven’t achieved.
None of this is helpful.
Start your blog, have a basic strategy in place, and start publishing content on the main topics you cover. Go for one well-written and valuable piece of content weekly. Optimize it well. Do keyword research for it. Set up a Pinterest account and pin your content regularly. Start an email list sooner rather than later.
Content relevance
Joy Wallet: How do you ensure your content remains relevant and valuable to your audience?
Lidiya: I’ve always been publishing evergreen content. Some things related to business might be trendy right now or not relevant at all some time from now (such as some tools or a new social media platform), and others are only starting to become a big deal these years (like AI), but overall, 99% of my content is evergreen. That means that the articles I published 10 years ago are still relevant today, and whoever finds them can benefit from them in some way. They might not be my best work, and I’ve changed a lot since then, and so has my teaching style, but the content itself is still relevant.
The problems and desires people have have always been the same. We want freedom and to not work for anyone else. We want to develop a strong mindset, heal our traumas, and be able to enjoy life in the present moment. We want to travel and have a business that basically runs itself. We want to make enough money so that we don’t worry about bills or providing for our family. We want to be in good health and get a lot done daily, but we also want to be able to relax and form a deep connection with ourselves.
Creating content on these topics will always have an impact because it’s about desires and issues close to our heart.
Handling setbacks
Joy Wallet: How do you handle setbacks or failures in your business?
Lidiya: With the mindset of a lifelong learner. My business mentor, James Wedmore, says that everything we do in business either gives us the result we wanted or the lesson we needed to get closer to that result.
With this perspective, there’s no need to feel down, take time away from your business, or completely change direction.
In fact, if you really embrace this approach, you will look forward to your failures because they are the ultimate proof you’re taking action. Plus, we learn more from them than from the actual successes.
Recommended tools
Joy Wallet: What tools or platforms do you recommend for new entrepreneurs?
Lidiya: It depends on your business model. For bloggers, I recommend WordPress as your content management system, ConvertKit for your email marketing, and SiteGround or WPX for website hosting.
For my courses and membership, I use Podia. For podcast hosting, I use Blubrry. For anything design-related, Canva.
Our CDs are perfect for growing your money at a guaranteed rate.
- 4.50% APY 3-Month Fixed Rate CD
- 4.00% APY 12-Month Fixed Rate CD
- 3.60% APY 24-Month Fixed Rate CD
A day in the life
Joy Wallet: Can you describe a typical day in your life as a business owner?
Lidiya: No two days are exactly the same, but here are some things that are usually part of my ideal workday. I wake up whenever I want to and have a slow morning. I do a few hours of focused work (5 to 6 on a more productive day), and can do social things and sports in the evening.
On Mondays, I have a meeting to assess the results from the previous one, and there’s also one at the end of every month, quarter, and year.
I also started working with theme days again. That means having a specific theme for the day and focusing only on that, such as creating content for the membership or my second blog, or on email marketing, etc. It helps because otherwise, a whole aspect of the business can get neglected.
Future of digital entrepreneurship
Joy Wallet: How do you see the future of digital entrepreneurship evolving?
Lidiya: With AI and the changes in search engine algorithms happening lately, everything changes every few months. As usual, we can either stress about it and use it as a reason to give up, look for new opportunities, double down on what has been working for us, or explore other platforms/strategies that don’t depend on outer factors too much.
One thing that has always been relevant is original, quality content that answers the questions people have and solves their problems. The same goes for the products you create.
Add to that authenticity, a good content marketing strategy, and providing value, and your business can become recession-proof.
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