3 Reasons You Shouldn’t Take Elite Blog Academy

Today, as we move closer to the opening of the annual Elite Blog Academy annual enrollment period in March, I want to get serious about something. 

 

As a CPA who blogs, I feel like it’s my solemnly sworn duty to spread financial knowledge in our community. There is a lack of this out there, and it’s hard to know what to do when everybody and their mother is saying “Sign up for this course! No, this one! Wait, look at this one!” 

 

I came up with three solid reasons taking an expensive blogging course like Elite Blog Academy would NOT be a good idea for you. 

 

1. Your blog and personal finances are commingled and your significant other is NOT on board. This would be like enrolling in a college class and not running it by them. I took EBA when my blog could pay for it. I was already splitting my blog from personal accounts, and it didn’t affect my husband one bit because if I spent $500 or $2000 because it didn’t affect our personal finances. If you don’t have separate blog finances, then this is a Come-to-Jesus conversation you must have together! Keep in mind that EBA takes a serious commitment and once you start applying the concepts you will never blog the same again. You will no longer create post after post without a plan because you will know deep down what you SHOULD be doing. If you don’t currently have separate blog finances, get prepared to do so. Call up your bank for a separate business checking cuz things are gonna happen if you enroll! 

 

2. You aren’t comfortable with marketing and don’t have a desire to sell on your blog. I totally get it. I started my blog as a writing outlet and a way to share tips with fellow moms like myself. I never dreamed it would grow like it has. The hard truth is that my blog grew by leaps and bounds the day I got comfortable with “selling”. EBA definitely helped me get over this jump. Ruth helped me see how what I was already teaching could play into monetization. It’s one in the same now where before I would write and then occasionally “sell”. Now my writing sells!

3. Your personal blog network (i.e. your tribe) has members who are already really successful and willing to teach you the ropes FOR FREE. Elite Blog Academy is designed to walk you step by step through setting up the building blocks for a strong blog foundation. If you already have access to this kind of support, then you might not need to take it. I have to admit that I am a little jealous of my friends in the kid blogger niche. Those ladies are true selfless heroes because they lift one another up and teach newbies the ropes. But, sadly, as hard as I try, I cannot write about kids activities, tantrums, teaching preschoolers or other kid topics on a regular basis so I don’t quite fit in. Unfortunately, I also don’t have a built in tribe of successful parenting lifestyle / family finance friends who are willing to show me the ropes. I found those friends in EBA. This is why I’m super excited about the new Facebook group because we will now all have a central place to meet AND EBA Live events are phenomenal! Just the opportunity to network and bounce ideas off of everyone in the community is getting me pumped! If you don’t currently have someone to guide you step by step along on your blogging journey then EBA could be for you.

 

I simply start asking myself a series of questions. The answers to those will determine my decision to invest. I like to keep this sort of “clinical” and look at this in terms of ROI (or, return on investment). Once I start looking at this through my own eyes and not through my business lens, it’s too easy to never invest in anything because I’m frugal at heart! If you are the same way, you know what I mean! 😀 

 

Objective questions I ask (I’m looking for a “yes” or otherwise positive answer to each):

 

1. Does this course fill a knowledge gap for me? I am painfully dense when it comes to marketing and learning new technology; I don’t have much natural ability in these subjects. I like taking courses that teach me new concepts, make me proficient at something I’m just starting to do, or enhance my knowledge of something I’m already decent at but could be better. I feel like there’s always room for improvement and if I’m basing my blog success on everything I already know, then I won’t get very far because I definitely have limitations.  

 

2. Regardless of price, do I think IF this course can teach me what it says it can and I APPLY those principles, will I at least earn my investment back within 3-6 months? If the answer to this is yes, the course is a good candidate.

 

3. If the answer to question #1 is yes, then do I think I will be able to increase my MONTHLY income by the price of the course or more once I apply the principles? (Meaning, if I spend $500, I think I can add $500+ in monthly recurring income after I apply the principles)….If the answer to this is YES, then the investment is an automatic YES. Now it’s just a matter of WHEN I will take this course, not IF I will take it. 

 

4. If I am not sure of the time to recoup my investment in question #1, are there other benefits to taking this course? Like perhaps the opportunity to network with experienced bloggers and bounce my ideas off of them in a private forum? Or perhaps will it help me figure out whether I should NOT be doing things the way I’m currently doing them (saving me precious time and energy)? Think of this as looking for the silver lining. “Other benefits” are hard to quantify, but they should be considered as they can make a difference in the success of your blog over time. 

 

5. Do I trust the teacher? This is important! Even if Lucy Blogger promises me she will teach me how to fly my blog to the moon and gives me compelling testimonials to back up her claims, I will NOT buy her course if I don’t trust her. If she’s not trustworthy, why would I take her advice? I’m building a business on integrity, not sleaze.

 

When I ask myself these questions and objectively consider the answers, the choice to invest in a course becomes apparent. It’s usually a solid yes or a definitely not ever.

 

I hope these guidelines are as useful to you as they are for me. Let me know if you have any questions!  

 

How much does it cost?? Elite Blog Academy is over $1000. It’s not a small price tag, but like I said above, the price tag is relative! Do you think a business like Boeing says, “I don’t want to pay $20 million for your airplane parts because it’s just a lot of money!” No, they do not. They have accountants asking, “Is this $20 million a good investment in this point of our business cycle? Do we have the financing and how much profit will we make on this new fleet of airplanes? Let’s look at the numbers.” That’s the kind of blog business mindset you should train yourself to get into if you want to grow your blog beyond your wildest imagination! 

 

If you ask yourself the questions in this blog post, I’m curious to know what doors open for you this year! What courses or tools will you likely invest in according to these principles?