450: Planning for Extended Time Away from Your Food Blog with Jessica Hylton Leckie

Welcome to episode 450 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Jessica Hylton Leckie from Jessica in the Kitchen.

Jessica first started her blog 10 years ago when she was in school pursuing a law degree. Since that time, she has continued to scale her business and now receives 1–2 million pageviews each month.

While pregnant with her first child, Jessica knew that she wanted to take some time away from her business to focus on being a mom. In the process, she developed a strategy for planning extended time away from your food blog and social media accounts, without losing any of the momentum she had worked so hard to build.

Whether you’re hoping to take a maternity/paternity leave, need time away to support a family member or loved one, or just need a break from being an entrepreneur, this is an incredibly valuable episode all about the importance of planning ahead, delegating, and learning to let go.

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447: How to Diversify Your Traffic and Income with Ewen Finser

Welcome to episode 447 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Ewen Finser.

The last few years have brought big changes to the online content creation world — AI, Google algorithm changes, you name it! As an entrepreneur, these changes can feel overwhelming, discouraging, and even scary. So… what can you do about it?

That’s why we asked Ewen Finser back on the podcast! He knows a lot about the importance of diversifying your business — from traffic sources to income and everything in between.

Bjork and Ewen chat about how to diversify your traffic income, how to approach risk, and different strategies and tools for managing your finances. Don’t miss this interview!

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445: Zero-Based Dream Building for Content Creators with Bjork Ostrom

Welcome to episode 445 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, we have a solo episode with Bjork!

In this solo episode, Bjork is chatting all about the concept of zero-based dream building. He discusses why you might want to try this strategy when thinking about growing your business and following your dreams, as well as how to go about zero-based dream building.

Bjork goes through a step-by-step process of zero-based dream building, which should help you as you’re thinking about setting goals for your business and for personal growth!

It’s a short but sweet, thought-provoking episode — the perfect listen as we head into 2024.

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431: The Highs and Lows of Being a Food Creator for Over a Decade with Lauren Toyota from Hot for Food

Welcome to episode 431 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Lauren Toyota from Hot for Food.

Lauren Toyota has been blogging for almost ten years and has had tremendous success during the past decade — two cookbooks, 450,000 subscribers on YouTube, and qualifying for Raptive. But all of these high points have been balanced by some professional lows, especially since the pandemic and becoming a mother.

Lauren is incredibly honest in this interview about the current “slow” period of her business, and how her mindset has changed around her business goals recently. She openly shares her struggles, and how she views the future of hot for food.

As part of the future of hot for food is Lauren’s membership (EAT IT). Lauren walks listeners through the process of starting a membership and why she enjoys creating that type of content so much. This is a raw, transparent, brutally honest interview that we know will resonate with many of you!

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423: How Liz and Lauren Allen Built a Food Blog with 11 Million Monthly Pageviews

Welcome to episode 423 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Lauren and Liz Allen from Tastes Better from Scratch.

Twin sisters Liz and Lauren Allen started Tastes Better from Scratch in 2009 and have been working together on the blog ever since. They are incredibly strategic about every aspect of their business, from hiring and content creation to data privacy and goal setting.

In this interview, Bjork chats with Liz and Lauren about how they’ve expanded their business over the years and worked to maintain the huge growth they saw in 2020 that skyrocketed their pageviews from 5 to 11 million per month.

They are also open and honest about their plans for the future of Tastes Better from Scratch in a world with AI and changing data privacy laws. If you’re looking for new ways to think about growing your business while leaning into your strengths, you won’t want to miss this episode!

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421: Scaling Three Food Blogs and Tips for Hiring a Virtual Assistant with Cheryl Malik

Welcome to episode 421 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Cheryl Malik from 40Aprons.

Cheryl first started food blogging in 2009, and now runs three different food blogs, in addition to an agency that matches food bloggers with virtual assistants.

In this interview, Bjork and Cheryl chat about growing and diversifying her business over the years and how she manages her time efficiently while managing all of her different businesses.

She also shares recommendations for hiring team members, and how to effectively onboard new team members. It’s a really practical episode that will give you lots of advice for thinking strategically about growing your team and your business.

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419: Balancing Life, SEO, and Income Streams Over 14 Years of Food Blogging with Anne Mauney

Welcome to episode 419 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Anne Mauney from fANNEtastic Food.

Anne Mauney has been running her blog for over 14 years now and, as you might imagine, her life has changed considerably during that time. Since starting her blog, Anne has become a Registered Dietitian with a Masters in Public Health, has gotten married, and had two children.

In addition to all of those big life changes, she has witnessed the rise of social media and SEO, and seen the huge changes in the food blogging landscape. In this candid conversation, Bjork and Anne chat about navigating life and blog changes and balancing parenthood with running a business.

Anne shares more about her changing income streams over the years, and why outsourcing certain tasks that don’t bring her joy has allowed her to continue blogging after all these years. It’s a super valuable episode no matter where you are in your blogging journey!

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416: Preserving Family Recipes with a Food Blog with Sarah and Kaitlin Leung from The Woks of Life

Welcome to episode 416 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Sarah and Kaitlin Leung from The Woks of Life.

For Sarah and Kaitlin Leung, their food blog, The Woks of Life, is a family affair. They have run the blog with their parents, Judy and Bill, for over ten years, and now they all work together full-time!

Bjork chats with Sarah and Kaitlin about the early days of The Woks of Life, including why they started documenting their family’s Chinese recipes, and how they grew their site while working full-time.

Sarah and Kaitlin share more about the division of labor when running a food blog as a family, and what they’ve learned over the last ten years of blogging. They have a really unique perspective on food blogging, and it’s a can’t-miss episode.

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412: How to Support Your Mental Health as a Content Creator with Sherry Walling

Welcome to episode 412 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Sherry Walling, a clinical psychologist and founder of ZenFounder.

Sherry is back on the podcast today to talk about something we should all be discussing more — the mental health of entrepreneurs.

If you have a career as a content creator, it can be difficult to separate your personal life from your professional life. It can also be lonely to run your own business. Not to mention the challenges of sharing parts of your life on social media!

All this to say that entrepreneurs face a unique set of challenges when it comes to mental health, and this powerful episode with Sherry is one you won’t want to miss. She shares more about the habits you can incorporate into your life to better manage anxiety, stress, and grief, and prioritize your emotional and physical well-being.

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