I will never forget the feelings I had when I found myself confronted with the reality of “making this work” (this being the blog) in 2020. The pressure, the anxiety, the confusion. I was overwhelmed with everything I thought I knew and what I’d been told was required to ultimately make it as a successful blogger.

Time after time, I’d read monthly reports of how people made money. I stalked my favorites who were truly successful and making a living doing this but weren’t really telling us how. All the while I thought, I don’t know if I can really do this. If doing this job means doing it this one specific way in order to be successful, I don’t think I can or want to do this.

I panicked. 

How I Really Make Money As An Influencer

Luckily for me, the pandemic happened. I know. Bold statement. But at the time, I needed to be forced to learn some things if I was ultimately going to stay on this path I’d been called to. A path that it seemed God and the universe were set to keep me on if the next few years were an indicator (quarantine, multiple strikes in the film & tv industry, streaming restructuring everything, the tiktok ban, constant changes in social media, etc).

It’s been a lot.

And my “back up plan” – well it wasn’t really available. Plus, there was the time I totaled my car before being able to afford to buy a new one. Like God knew that I was at the end of my rope and there were still things I NEEDED to learn/face/heal even if it was doing it kicking and screaming.

So why am I telling you all of this without actually answering the question of how I really afford my life as an influencer?

Because I think for you to appreciate what I’m saying you need to understand a few things.

1. I am fortunate. I don’t think I could ignore this or should ignore this because there’s a lot of assumptions about this job and the reality of making money. And truly, I couldn’t have done it without the support of my family financially at times. 
2. I don’t have a trust fund. I’ve leveraged help and exchanged skills every step of the way to get here. My first website was built by a friend paid with a plate of the no bake chocolate oatmeal recipe on my blog. My first real branding was done by a friend who was just starting her now very successful branding business in exchange for piano lessons. I’ve had help every step of the way from people who believed in me but also by trading skills to get the job done.
3. There is no one right way to do this. But there are a lot of ways people are telling you it works and not all of those will be right for you.
4. Being an influencer may be everything you think it is or none of it at all. You can decide. 
5. None of this works unless you confront your own beliefs about money.

And money is really what we’re here to talk about today, no? 

You want to know the secrets of how people who seem to have a life so easy & get so much when maybe it feels like you have so little, or not enough or you just want more. You want to know the secret sauce for making life a little easier. 

Really, I don’t blame you because who doesn’t want to live out their wildest dreams. To live in their favorite part of the world, work when they want, have people listen to their stories, and seemingly have access to things that even on the smallest scale seem fabulous.

The truth. The “I swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth so help me God” truth? 

I learned about manifesting. 

Here me out.

I know people talk about manifesting a lot. It’s been a hype part of the internet for the last 7 years. Lots of people with lots of tips and only a small fraction of them making money.

So let’s not really use the word that feels trite at this point.

Let’s talk about beliefs. The ones that expand us. The ones that keep us captive. Also, the ones that run the show no matter what.

When I stumbled onto Amanda Frances in 2020, it was divine timing. I’d seen her floating around my Instagram feed occasionally for maybe a year. But when I needed to learn things, to take back my power, to crack the potential of what life could be if I stopped believing in everyone else’s rules, she showed me the way.

And it came in waves. First I took her course The Energy & Frequency Of Money. A few months later, I bought her book and then the audiobook. And maybe a year or so later, I invested in Money Mentality Makeover (and several other courses in the years that followed). 

I peeled back the layers to unravel things I needed to know in order to transform my life.

But this isn’t just about Amanda or learning about the energy of money.

Learning to view debt as a choice to pay something off over time. And that we all have an energetic minimum when it comes to money – an amount that no matter what we can’t imagine not having in our lives at any given time.

For some of us, that’s a negative bank account balance. For others, you can’t imagine having less than 5 figures in a savings account. It’s ours to own and sort out.

It wasn’t enough for me to learn about money. I had to learn the emotional things too. How to not take on someone else’s emotions as my responsibility. Also, how to healthy process my emotions. How my world is a reflection of as Amanda says “the standards we forgot to set for ourselves.”

I had to learn to process things in a way that was quite painful at first. To learn to emotionally support myself and hear myself throughout it all. Because that lack of hearing myself turns into desperation for everyone else to hear me and creates an energy that repels instead of attracts. 

I had to learn a lot. And I’m still learning. 

Nevertheless, I know that if you’re reading this you want what we all want when it comes to solving our problems: a checklist. The “please tell me how you did it because I’m so F-ing tired of fighting this nonsense” list. 

And as a projector, I’m literally hardwired to learn the things the hard way so I can give you this list. Whether you want to make money as an influencer or just want to find more freedom in your business, there are ways to do so but first the warnings:

1. If you want to change your circumstances and situation, it’s going to start with everything you’ve avoided looking at. All the feelings you’ve been hiding from. All the feelings you’ve avoided feeling (even the ones you don’t even know you actively avoid choosing to feel). This $h*t is not for the weak and you’ll have to break your own walls down to change your reality.
2. You have to let the people be people. When you start digging into energy work, there’s this natural ripple that takes place when you start making changes even if you never speak a word. The changes in you will make waves for others. Accept the waves are coming and just keep rowing.
3. We aren’t meant to have 11,000 opinions in our brains at any given time. You need to learn how to get quiet again. How to listen to the universal power you’ve always had access to and create space for what you want more than your slight addiction to social media (yes, I’m saying this as an influencer).
4. There’s no wrong way to do this. But there’s a lot of honesty required.
5. This work will change your relationships for better or worse.

So how do I afford my life as an influencer? 

Answer: it changes every month. (and thank God it does)

When I first started this, my mindset was oh I just need enough followers to convince brands to do ads with me. I had the goal I think a lot of have when we start: I need followers to make money.

But the more I did this work and the more I started re-writing and embodying new beliefs the more I realized that narrative made me feel powerless. And really, I just wanted to make money from a organic, flowy place.

I wanted to test things, learn things, make it easier on someone else, and share that with them.

which this blog post is a perfect example of

Whether that’s big life challenges like losing my father to suicide, reviewing a coffee machine that became CONTROVERSIAL, or sharing my experience of living on 30a and the best tips from a local. I’ve always wanted to be the person who could make someone else’s experience a little bit better.

I think it’s what the best story tellers do.

So when I learned that money is an energetic standard it freed me in so many ways.

Now I would be remiss if I didn’t say: manifesting from your human design is a game changer.

I’ve studied with some of the best over the last 5 years and I’ve had to learn that as a projector there are just some things that don’t work for my design. So forcing manifestation tips down your own throat that don’t work for your H.D. only make it harder in the long run. It’s okay to say this part doesn’t work for me.

But remember: manifesting is a natural part of our existence. 

Re-wiring our beliefs is what starts changing our reality. Living from a space of taking action from & based on those beliefs is how we embody it and truly create new things. 

It’s why journaling is only one part of the equation (even if it is one of my favorite ones).

There have been times where most of my income has come from AD revenue just from people around the world reading the blog. Other times, it’s been 1000% out of left field. A random refund check for some lawsuit I forgot I was a part of showing up in my PayPal to meet my monthly energetic minimum.

An affiliate link that shouldn’t exist but somehow does and someone buying a course that shouldn’t be on sale but somehow lets them and I make money.

I would be lying if I said I knew exactly how every penny was going to come in every single month. I just know it does and it will.

If we want to get specific with numbers the girl math looks like this for the last 12 months:

• 30-50% of my income comes from ADs on the blog (the little pictures & videos you see in this post)
• 20-30% of my income comes from affiliate links
• 0% from sponsored content last year
• 30% manifested or from unexpected sources

yes I realize this is terrifying to think about because it feels wholly unpredictable and contrary to everything we’ve ever been taught to believe about money

And of course, within that context I know there are some predictable elements (and energetic standards) that allow me to plan with peace. I know what elements of my business are standard for allowing me to operate with certainty: to have subscriptions, pay team members, and use services that have become what I feel are essential to running this blog.

But then there are elements that are out of my control: affiliate purchases can take 120+ days to actually turn into money I have access to and that’s if someone doesn’t return items. 

I’ve had blog posts written years ago with little traffic take off suddenly and completely change the monthly revenue of the blog.

Or maybe something, like 75 Love, that I created years ago unknowingly becoming something more because people needed it and wanted it. Now.

So why am I telling you all of this without listing it out with easy repeatable steps:

1. When you do the energetic work, making money as an influencer is about you and what you want in your soul. 
2. There are no limits to this only limiting beliefs.
3. I’ve been doing this for 9 years and the biggest changes happened for me when I stopped listening to everyone else and started having more intentional conversations with God & the universe.

You have the power to create the ultimate change in your life. So here’s how I did it:

1. Money Mentality Makeover changed my life. I believe it’s set to go on sale soon at the time of this blog post but if you get on the wishlist you get $$$ off. I’ve learned loads from Amanda but I come back to this space time and time again when I need to check my energy & beliefs with money. It’s the ultimate support space for having more expansive energy with money.
2. If MMM, feels like too much of a financial investment, I’d highly recommend starting with Drop The Money Struggle or Rich As F*ck.
3. Learn how to play with money and start educating yourself on money things. Girls That Invest is one of my favorites for helping you to understand the power of the stock market. But I’m also a big fan of Investopedia for teaching yourself to pay & trust yourself with money even before you had any to invest.
4. 75 Love continues to change my life. I know if I would have given this to myself years ago, I would have seen the impact much sooner. But really, you can take every course on the planet and if you don’t learn how to emotionally, physically, and spiritually process your sh&t, you’ll stay stuck.
5. I never stop asking myself questions. One of the reasons I love our Patreon group is that the power of a well-timed question/journal prompt can help you gain wisdom on areas that live in the shadows of your brain. 

But here’s the thing, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

Once you start doing this work, it will change you. And you’ll want to share it with everyone else because it’s so life-changing. You’ll want them to believe in it with you.

The best piece of advice I can give you that I would give me 7 years ago: do things quietly and quickly. Be the living example of the changes you’re making and less of the talking head.

Wherever you are, however today’s post found you, I hope that you know the answers you seek are seeking you too. And this is just one of many steps forward you get to take in creating your dream life. Sending you all the best. Xoxo, Savvy

Ps. I love sending you guys newsletters as a way to stay up to date with all things WSS. If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss a thing, you can sign up here for free. And if you too love a good journal prompt, enlightened voice note, or feel like you need a life reset, you can find 75 Love and weekly journal prompts here.

I do a few sponsored posts but they are limited to maintain the authenticity of © What Savvy Said. Some links in my posts may be affiliate links. This means I receive a small compensation for purchases made through those links. The presence of affiliate links and potential commission compensation are marked with an (*).