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Much earlier this year, trainer Deanna Castro at her Professional Horse Blogazine blogged about the possibility of making money with horses.
Soon, Jackie at Regarding Horses mentioned that only the Parellis seem to have gotten rich from horses.
The thing is, these bloggers brought up this topic almost three months ago. As of this writing, Jackie’s post referring to “horse gurus” Pat and Linda Parelli had a new reader and a new comment a couple of weeks ago.
That demonstrates interest. Even if the interest is in simply trash-talking about the Parellis and their system.
But the Parellis aren’t the only trainers out there who must be making enough money to stay in business.
The thing is, if you’re a horse trainer already with clients, there’s no reason why you can’t utilize the Internet to supplement your income.
Have you ever thought about starting up a blog of your own? Or monetizing the one you have? Or even start a membership site where people can ask questions and feel a sense of community?
There’s a lot of info out there about how to do this that’s free. And if you like what you see and are eager for more, you can join some online courses which you can access whenever you have the time.
You might have some questions, depending upon where you are on your digital learning curve, so let’s see about answering them.
But I don’t have a blog and don’t know where to start …
Or even if you do have your own blog, you’re going to want to host a site on your or your barn’s domain name. People will be looking you up online anyway. You might as well make it easy for them to find you by locating your blog at MyBarn.com.
And, if you’re using your own domain instead of one of the free blogging platforms, you can use advertising links to make money from the blog itself.
Blogging mentors Gideon Shalwick’s and Yaro Starak’s free video on how to set up a WordPress blog will get you started.
I used these to set up this blog. I had the videos playing in one window and would stop them when I needed to do something to the blog in the other window.
Or, when I had a desktop computer too slow to handle the videos, I used my husband’s computer in the other room, hit “pause” and then walked in here to tweak on the blog. Then, I returned to my husband’s machine to proceed.
Just keep in mind that WordPress has upgraded versions and changed its “dashboard” (control panel page for users) since Gideon put together his tutorials. It’s basically the same thing, only with different jargon. It could be a little confusing, FWIW, especially if you’re a skittish green newbie to blogging. But it only takes a little time to learn. And worth the effort.
You’ve got a blog and want more traffic …
Here are a couple of freebie-but-goodies to get you going.
One is Yaro’s free report titled “Blog Profits Blueprint.”
Yeah, I agree – the landing page looks a little bit “sales-ey.” Which cracks me up because Yaro is a soft-spoken, unassuming guy who’ll remind you of a nephew or a cousin.
He makes the kind of money that could allow him to show proof that his system works by showing fancy cars and a big home. Instead, he has traveled around the world — and was doing so for most of the time when I was taking his online blog program, which he ran from wherever he was. Yet, he drives a modest car and lives in what looks like an equally modest townhouse condo. But they’re all paid for.
Anyway, his “Blog Profits Blueprint” gives a lot of good info about how to build traffic to a blog and to use a blog to get your chops as an authority out there. I often consult my copy.
If you’re a professional trainer, especially if you’ve won or have trained horses who’ve won some titles, you’re already an authority. So, Yaro can help you learn how to spread the word.
Now, you’re not being boastful or tooting your own horn. Especially if you have a horn to toot, you’re just spreading the word that you’re available. To someone out there, your voice and your explanations may just be what that person needs to hear.
A blog can spreads the message to more people beyond your geographic locality. It also demonstrates how you express yourself, which helps potential clients decide if they want to connect with you.
I don’t think Yaro is opening his Blog Mastermind program right now. That’s how I got this blog going, along with his Become a Blogger videos. Even though you don’t need to have a blog when you start, other students who already had a blog with a small audience when they started Blog Mastermind saw excellent results after applying Yaro’s recommendations.
In other words, they were building their audience while I was still setting up my blog by watching his and Gideon’s videos. After that, I started building this blog’s audience.
To help get you a head start for when he does open BMM — and especially if all this sounds new — poke around in Darren Rowse’s Problogger site. That’s the other good free resource for bloggers.
Darren has lots of info to help you get started. The problem may be that Darren has A LOT of info there. But his blog is organized so that you can find things.
But he also offers information for bloggers of varying degrees of experience. His very helpful series 31 Days to a Better Blog includes a free forum for asking questions and sharing
I’ve got a blog, but I want a community
What Yaro is opening this week is his new online course for starting up membership sites.
To get you started and to see if this looks like something for you, Yaro also offers a free report, Membership Site Masterplan (click on link and scroll until you see the book, then click on the cover.
I know, I know – another “sales-ey” looking page. And I have to say that I felt like some of the material in the Membership Site Masterplan was over my head.
Maybe it was because I don’t see myself setting up a membership site at this point? And that I have other fish to fry, like writing that novel? But maybe you are ready for that membership site material. And you won’t know until you check it out.
One thing I’ve noticed in my association with Yaro is that he believes in over-delivering. The free reports. All sorts of support, including a private forum, live teleconferences, audios, videos, special resources and lessons.
Yaro is opening up this program for just this week. (Yeah. The clock’s ticking.) His other students have been promoting it for a couple of weeks now, but here we’ve (uh, I’ve) been busy with the writers conference preps and a little horse race known as “the Kentucky Derby.”
He’ll raise his eyebrows when he reads this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he re-opens the program again within a year. Maybe I’ll be ready then. And maybe you will be, too.
After all, where Yaro lives in Australia, it’s early autumn. Here in the US and the northern hemisphere, it’s time for trainers to be outside with their horses and students. The season is in full swing, so we’re not likely to be receptive to parking our seats in front of a keyboard.
Also, FWIW, remember when you look at his prices that he lives in Australia and tends to charge in Australian dollars. The current exchange rate with the US dollar is about 75 cents on the US$.
In the meantime, it won’t hurt to download those free reports. Even if all you do is work with the freebie links I gave you, you’ll have plenty to do for a while.
You really can make money training horses without standing in the mud
Maybe you won’t make Parelli-esque riches. (Like Pat and Linda lounge around a pool in Dubai clinking crystal flutes of champagne. ::snork:: Yeah. Right.) But a little extra coming in might not be a bad thing.
However, it’s up to you, though, to give good, solid information to help horse people and to keep everyone – both human and equine – safe.
Let alone to keep Fugly from setting your site in her gun sights.
Tags: Blog Mastermind, clinicians, free membership site masterplan, horse training business, Membership Site Mastermind, membership sites, Yaro Starak
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