Hello and happy Monday friends! We have such a great article in store for you today. We were lucky enough to be able to interview Alexis Schroeder from Fitnancials, a blog where Alexis writes about everything from personal finance to how to make money blogging. In the interview below, Alexis gives some really helpful advice so be sure to take note and share with friends. Before I give too much away, here are the 11 questions with Alexis Schroeder!
11 Questions with Alexis Schroeder from Fitnancials
#1. Please tell us a brief summary about yourself.
Hey everyone! My name’s Alexis and I’m a full-time blogger over at Fitnancials. I’m 26 years old and currently live in Western Colorado. I’ve been blogging full-time for 3 years and I absolutely love it.
#2. What inspired you to start your blog?
My blog originally started out as a fitness & budgeting blog. I lost 60 pounds, quit smoking and drinking, and totally turned my life around. My blog started out as a way to motivate others and was also used as my *diary* in a sense. Fitnanicals was born out of a hobby and I never intended to make money from it.
A couple years later, I realized I wanted to take my blog seriously because I was getting good traffic on it. I never thought I’d be an entrepreneur or run a small business. I loved caregiving and working with children and had dreams of becoming a special education teacher, but quickly realized how stressful and time consuming the job is. I wanted something with more freedom, so I committed to going full-time on my blog and working from home.
#3. At what point were you able to stop working all other jobs and fully focus on your business?
Time goes by so fast and I can’t believe it’s been 3 years since working full-time on my business. I stopped working a full-time job in 2017 and became a major side hustler while growing my blog. Side hustles helped me take back more of my time and I got to work on my business more.
I love where my business is now because it’s so flexible. I worked so hard years ago to get to where I’m at now and it’s really paid off.
#4. What advice would you give to any newcomers who want to start a blog?
Treat your blog like a business and don’t go into it thinking it’s going to be easy. I meet so many people who tell me they’re going to start a blog because they need to make money ASAP – that’s not how it works. Blogging takes so much time, money, persistence and patience. This is why so many people start a blog and fail. They go into it thinking it’s going to be easy and quick money.
A blog isn’t just a *blog*, it’s running a small business online. I spend a few thousand a year in business expenses, invest a lot of my time in new courses, learning new things that intimidate me (Google SEO), and so much more. If you want to start a blog, be ready for hard work and an exciting (but sometimes frustrating) journey.
#5. What have been some of the biggest obstacles you’ve had to overcome by running your own business?
The biggest obstacle has been the mindset roadblocks I’ve faced. I grew up with very little confidence and that trickled over into my career and business. I’ve had to work up on building my confidence over the past few years. Running a business by yourself can be tough and there were a lot of times I questioned if I was even capable of doing it.
People are always surprised when I say that because they expect a technical answer, like the hardest part was learning how to make money from my business or get traffic (which both were hard), but the mindset obstacles were definitely the biggest challenges.
#6. What is your opinion on the FIRE movement?
I think it’s great that people are choosing their own lifestyles. I also think there’s nothing wrong with people who choose to work until they are 60-70. I personally have no idea if I want to retire early or not.
I recently read Playing With Fire and Work Optional and they were both great books that taught me a lot about the FIRE movement.
#7. What do you think are the biggest factors in having good financial health?
I think good financial health is a combination of things including being intentional with your money and learning how to enjoy it as well.
A lot of people spend money to keep up an image or keeping up with the Joneses. Money is an amazing tool and should be used to make life better, not harder.
#8. What are some first steps people can take to try and get their finances under control?
I think the easiest step to take is writing down where all their money is going now. Most people think the key to saving money is by making more of it, but just because you make more doesn’t mean you’ll end up saving more. You need to know how to save or manage your money even when you make very little.
Write down where your money is going for 1 month. Get rid of expenses that you don’t need or use (subscriptions, gym access, restaurant outings, clothes, etc.). Come up with a savings goal for each month and find a great motivating factor. Your motivation could be paying off debt so you can start saving for your kids college fund, paying off the mortgage, or contributing larger amounts to your retirement accounts.
#9. If you could go back and do anything differently (with the blog or your finances), what would you change and why?
If I could go back in time, I would 100% start saving for retirement when I first started my job at 16. There’s so much power in investing early on. Luckily, I learned how important time is when it comes to investing in my early twenties and now I’m maxing out my 401k and Roth IRA.
I also wouldn’t be so hard on myself. When I first started investing my time in learning about personal finance topics, I’d beat myself up for not knowing about all of this already. I’m still learning new things or different ways of doing things.
#10. Are there any books or tools that you think would help any new bloggers or people trying to get their finances in order?
If someone emails me and asks me what personal finance book I recommend, it would be Broke Millennial because you learn about all the major personal finance topics in layman’s terms. There are some books out there that make personal finance seem boring or difficult to understand, and Broke Millennial isn’t one of them.
I’d also recommend, You Are A Badass At Making Money because this book helps both in the personal finance and blogging realm. You learn how to break down your negative thoughts around money and learn how to make more of it.
#11. Hardest question yet – what has been your favorite city/country you have traveled to so far?
That’s such a good question. I’ve been so fortunate to be able to travel so much. I’m torn between traveling throughout South Korea and Italy. I’m half Korean and explored South Korea by train and got to spend so much time in the smaller towns, but I also spent a few months in Italy as an au pair and got to live in beautiful Bologna. I recommend visiting both!
Key Takeaways
- Blogging isn’t a get-rich-quick side hustle
- Treat your blog (or side hustle) like a business from the start
- Mindset obstacles are often the biggest roadblocks to overcome when running a business
- Use money as a tool to make life better, not harder
- Understand where you money is going before trying to make more. You can make as much money as you want but it still doesn’t mean you will save any if you don’t understand your spending habits.
- Self-education is key. Even Alexis, a successful business owner, focuses on a new subject to dive into each year by taking courses, reading, etc.
- Broke Millennial is a great book for those looking to correct their financial health. It is easy to read and covers all the bases regarding your finances.
I hope you all enjoyed and learned a lot from this interview with Alexis. Fitnancials is an incredibly informative site and I would highly recommend following it.
Other ways to connect with Alexis:
What was your favorite part of this interview with Alexis? Let us know in the comments!
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