Speaker Spotlight: Pet Blogging Business Tips From Lena West

Post by Blog Manager Robbi Hess

I had the opportunity recently to interview Lena West, a leading expert on how women entrepreneurs can monetize social media. She is also the Founder of InfluenceExpansion.com, the home of the Influence Expansion Academy, the only social media mastermind program created specifically for women entrepreneurs.

She will be part of “The Pet Blogging Business” panel with Chloe DiVita and Dino Dogan to kick off BlogPaws on Friday morning, May 9th. As we were connecting Lena said, “Why don’t we just record the interview for everyone rather than having you type everything I say?” Great idea, I thought, but then when doesn’t Lena put forth great ideas?

I asked her questions that ranged from:

What does a blogger have to do to think of her or himself as a business owner? Is there a tipping point from ‘blogger’ to business owner?
What can I do to make my blog a business?
Are there steps I should be taking on a regular basis to move myself toward being more of a business owner? Hint, you can’t say you have “no time to blog for yourself” if you’re spending your nights watching Game of Thrones. Great lesson for us all!
What should I do to put forth a more professional demeanor so that people will see me as a viable business and not just a blogger? Her advice, “Just because you’re at a pet conference and may be covered in pet hair, it’s no reason not to dress and present yourself like a professional.”
What trait do you think binds entrepreneurs together? IS there a trait that all of us, hungry, to be a business owner share? She says there is and she also discusses your “zone of unique brilliance.”
Is there something I should be doing every day that will make my blog regarded as a business endeavor?
One of my biggest takeaways from our talk is “If you don’t A.S.K. you don’t G.E.T”