How to Turn Your Passion into a Six Figure Side Hustle with Ashley Neidert

Most women start a side hustle to make a little extra money. Ashley Neidert started posting videos and built a six-figure business. She is here to tell you exactly how she did it and what nobody else is going to tell you before you start.

Meet Ashley Neidert, full-time cat content creator, pediatric doctor of physical therapy, and the world's only pet content creator coach. Through her brand Petfluencer Secrets, she helps aspiring and growing pet creators turn their pages into real income through brand deals, YouTube, and scalable online revenue streams. Known for its honest, no fluff approach, Petfluencer Secrets focuses on strategy, storytelling, and sustainable growth, giving creators the tools and confidence to build a profitable pet brand without relying on viral moments.

In this episode, we pull back the curtain on what it actually looks like to make real money as a pet content creator. This is not the highlight reel. This is the 4:00 AM Starbucks run, the algorithm shifts, the taxes nobody warned you about, and the real income timelines you need to hear before you start.

You will walk away with a clear-eyed, no-fluff picture of the pet influencer world, plus practical steps to start building your own channel the right way.

Want to start a side hustle? Join us for next week’s Money Talks “The Tax and Money Moves You Need to Make Now” Let’s talk about the financial side of actually running it. From estimated taxes to business structure to keeping your books right, we’re covering what every woman building a side income needs to know. Click here to register for FREE and bring your questions! 

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Want to take this conversation one step further? Join us for our next Money Talks, a free 30 minute live session where we’ll dig into a question we hear all the time from women business owners: Budgeting for Businesses to Offer Benefits. Click here to register for FREE and bring your questions! 

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Transcript

PS: Ashley Neidert (MP3)

[00:00:00] Social media is like the life these days, right? Everyone's on it, and so many people talk about being an influencer and how much money you can make off of there, which great, we love it. But I wanted to really dive into how easy is it? I mean, I'll be transparent. The dog content goes over much better than any financial content.

People love to go on Instagram or TikTok to get the drama, to get the pets, to get the cooking, maybe a workout. [00:00:30] The funnies, really. Nobody really wants to get financial information. But what does it look like to actually post your pet and make money on there? I did make an account for my dog, Sparky which was short-lived, and I realized how much dedication you need.

And after doing all of Purr Strength, I realized what dedication is really needed to maintain any social media account. So when Ashley reached out and she helps people be pet [00:01:00] influencers, I was like, " We've got to get this on the podcast," because it can be a great opportunity for those who don't wanna show their face on social media.

It can also be a great opportunity just to have your pets fund themselves. We know they can be expensive. I've been to the vet where it is five grand, and so man, if the pet could just pay that themselves, that would be really fantastic. So I'm excited to have Ashley on, share her expertise of what is all included in being a pet [00:01:30] influencer and how we can make money doing it.

 So let's dive in.

[00:02:00] 

Maggie: Ashley, welcome to Women and Money: The Sh*t We Don't Talk About. This is gonna be a great one because I am a sucker for pets. So before we dive in, let's share with the audience who you are and what you're up to

Ashley: Okay, there's a lot to this. So in general, I am a full-time cat content creator, and I am the essentially [00:02:30] the world's only pet content creator coach. So I do both of those things, but by trade I'm a pediatric doctor of physical therapy and with all that, my life is super chaotic.

Ashley: But it is so fun because I get to not only literally make a full-time income off of my cats, but I get to literally work with hundreds of content creators who are, you know, trying to figure out this world of side hustles. So yeah, it is so fun. 

Maggie: Okay, so like how many cats do [00:03:00] you have?

Ashley: So I have two cats, 

Maggie: that's a good limit

Ashley: Yeah, so one is Chip. We call him the famous one. He's the one who started all of this. He's Chip the Manx, so he's technically the world's most famous Manx cat. And it's Manx. It's M-A-N-X. A lot of people get confused with Minx, M-I-N-X. And then we have Biscuit. She's our second cat, and I've had a lot of people joke.

Ashley: They've asked they're like, "Did you just get a second cat so you can make twice as much money?" I was like, "No, no, no, our cat Chip needed a friend." But she does have her own channels and [00:03:30] her own socials as well. 

Maggie: Of course, of course. And so let's kinda start from the beginning. When did you go from, like, posting cute videos of, "I got this amazing cat," to, like, "This could be real money, actually"?

Ashley: Yes. So I actually am going to take a few steps back before the cute videos. So I uh, was in therapy schools years ago, and if you're familiar with how expensive graduate school is, it was about $100,000 for just in-state tuition. [00:04:00] And at the time, about two years in, I started freaking out because I actually did the calculations, unlike a lot of people in school.

Ashley: I actually did the calculations and started freaking out about how much it was gonna actually cost after graduation. And with graduate student loans, they start accumulating interest the moment you take them compared to the undergrad loans. So that was also terrifying watching that grow really fast. So I actually at the time had started a finance blog.

Ashley: So I was blogging about money and just my journey of [00:04:30] learning about money, how I was working. I made some YouTube videos. You can't look it up anymore. I deleted everything. But I know, it was so amateur back then. Nevertheless so yeah. So it was my journey for about two and a half years of this blog of learning literally the absolute basics.

Ashley: What on earth is active income versus passive income? You know, like, what on earth is stock investing? Like, the basics that I just didn't know. So I was doing all that and learning how to make a little bit of money off of it from, like, the YouTube Partner Program and from affiliate links and stuff.

Ashley: So at the time, [00:05:00] I was like, "Oh my gosh, I can actually make money online. This is really cool." So then, okay, so like I said, I did that for about two and a half years, and at the end of my school by graduation, I had gotten this cat. And I was like, "Okay I've learned how to make posts by now. I know how to do basic stuff.

Ashley: Let me start making videos of my cat." So I started posting about him, and very quickly I learned that people love cat videos. And so I started posting more and more. Very quickly, again, I realized [00:05:30] that you could actually monetize from it. Now, there was a point where I had a mental shift, and I decided that this was going to be something that I was actually going to pursue, and that was literally...

Ashley: I was going through orientation at a job, so again, like, right after school. And I was... I remember this was orientation week, and I was sitting by myself eating lunch, and I was on my phone. I got accepted into the TikTok, like, Creator Fund. And I saw immediately that first day how much money that I made.

Ashley: It was around, like, $90 [00:06:00] in a day just from my cat videos. And I just stared at my phone, and I was like, "How on earth? Like, how is this reality? So at that time, I, again, I had this mental shift where I decided I'm going to actually pursue learning this, figuring this out, understanding marketing and sales and copywriting.

Ashley: Oh my gosh, so many things that I've had to learn over the years. I've been a content creator for seven and a half years now. Over time, I've learned all these things and figured out how to turn it into a [00:06:30] six-figure income.

Ashley: And then not just that, but then turn into a coaching business as well

Maggie: That's amazing. And so I, this was a question I wanted to ask is, like, is there opportunity to really make that six-figure income for most people without... Like, I know you have the coaching, which is, like, an additional thing, but just kind of with their pet you still made six figures

Ashley: So thankfully, I actually have, like, multiple examples of, I guess, proof of individuals that I have coached. I can't just say, "Oh, yeah, it's just myself if you do just exactly what I do." Like, there are multiple ways. [00:07:00] So the answer is yes, but also one thing I actually really appreciate about your podcast is you guys do talk about, like, the very real, like, we're not sugarcoating stuff here, and I don't wanna sugarcoat the reality of what it's like being a content crea- like a full-time content creator because it's extremely hard.

Ashley: I'd say what's most challenging about it is a lot of people get into it like I did with a full-time job, and you're trying to do it in the evenings and in the weekends. And the problem with content creating is it is a nonstop job. You [00:07:30] cannot stop. In fact, one thing that I teach is that if you don't post for about three days, all of a sudden you are going to be demoted in the algorithm, essentially.

Ashley: And so no matter what you have going on in life, you have to be proactive, you have to be scheduling content, you have to be learning. And the world of influencing is ever-changing. Another thing I tell my clients is the reality that What you do today is going to be absolutely different in six months from now, like the way you target, the way the platform is, and [00:08:00] that's just hard.

Ashley: So going back to your question of is it really possible? Yes, you just have to be hyper strategic. So excellent example of a girl who told me just recently, she actually is an Amazon influencer with pet products. So she has two cats, and what she has done is she... Okay, this is really cool how she does it.

Ashley: So she gets free samples on TikTok Shop of expensive pet products, such as automatic litter boxes, pet cages, things that cost hundreds of dollars. And then what she does is she makes [00:08:30] videos on TikTok Shop, and the product, like the brands, will pay to push the videos, so then she gets commission off those videos.

Ashley: Then she takes that product and she posts it on Amazon, and she gets about 10 different pieces of content per product, photos, videos, et cetera. And through just those, she only has around like 12,000 followers but through just those, she makes 10 to $12,000 a month. So that alone, it is wild.

Ashley: And then there's another girl who I've recently talked to 'cause she just had a...

Ashley: we call them [00:09:00] our wins, so we talk about our wins in our group coaching, and she recently talked about her win of, it was purely through brand deals. So, without really getting into how all sponsored and brand deals work what I advocate for is when you do have a lot more followers to do longer term partnerships that are three to six months long versus doing just like one video here and there.

Ashley: And with those I always structure them to be like a $10,000 plus package, essentially. And she was so excited to be able to announce [00:09:30] that she had just hit six figures just doing a few of those $10,000 packages throughout the past year. And so is it reality? Again, yes, but it's not the reality for everyone because if it was, everyone would be doing it.

Ashley: I know like everyone and their mother's trying to be a content creator, but not everyone is a six-figure content creator 

Maggie: And I appreciate, like, that transparency. I mean, you c- you shared about how, you know, you learned more marketing. You looked, you learned like copywriting, you know, all the things. It's not just like, "Wow, [00:10:00] I love this video. Let's post it," and, you know, this pet product is gonna reach out to me. Like, it's not A to B to B to C.

Maggie: Like, it's also not one income stream. Like, yes, it's influencing all at once, but it sounds like you've done TikTok, TikTok Shop, which may be different, I'm not clear, Amazon. I know you have, like, Instagram, then there's YouTube. So it's like multiple streams that add up, but it's still, like, diversifying, like, like investing.

Maggie: But yeah it's never just one thing, one platform, just a [00:10:30] post. And like you said, my God, you have to keep posting. And I know batch your content, do the thing, but, like, man, if you get sick, if you wanna go on vacation, like, you can't take a step back. And a lot of people are like, "Oh my God, it's just posting a video," you know?

Maggie: And you're like, "It is so much more, though."

Ashley: Yes. I feel like it is so much more. It, there truly is so much to it. There is. Yes. So a lot of times, and I get this very often especially when people are like, "Mm, do I actually need coaching?" Or, "Oh, do I actually need to, like, take a course to learn this?" And I'm like, [00:11:00] "Okay, you definitely can spend one to two years figuring this out, learning it all."

Ashley: But through my lens of how much I've had to learn to get to the point to now where I can just watch a video and know exactly what to change, exactly what needs to be fixed, exactly your target audience, like, all those things, it takes so much time. Because it's not just, it's not just learning the platform, and it's not just creating the content, posting the content.

Ashley: There is, you have to learn how the algorithm works, how your target audience works. You have to [00:11:30] think and learn so much of, like, the psychological basis of things compared to just the basic technical aspects of clicking the buttons, videotaping your pet, and posting it.

Maggie: You have to learn to keep up with it as well. Like you said, everything changes every six months, so you have to either have a coach who's paying attention to that, or you have to pay attention to that of like, ooh, we're changing from reels to carousels, to longer videos, to shorter videos, to trending audios.

Maggie: Like, who knows what, you know? It's always something else.

Ashley: there's actually right now a big shift happening [00:12:00] between, So there was a big shift when we went from TikTok to Instagram, and now there's a big shift happening from Instagram over to YouTube. I'm seeing this with brands, collaborations, I'm seeing this with creators talking about their frustration with meta platforms.

Ashley: So yeah, it's never ending. It is never ending, and that's hard because a lot of things, a lot of times what happens is you spend all this time learning, learning, learning. You're experimenting, you're trial and error, and then you finally think you figured it out, and then all of a sudden things are shifting on you again, which again, it's one of those realities of like, do you have the mental [00:12:30] and emotional capacity to take on this side hustle where you know you can't just like, almost like hit repeat and just be able to, you know, keep getting, say, the passive income or something.

Ashley: Like, you actually have to actively be involved of it, in it constantly 

Maggie: Yeah it's really crazy. And so were you, like, recommend kind of chasing just best videos to go viral? Or, like, is there more of a method to the madness that, like, you know, slow and consistent is better? What are you seeing out there?

Ashley: I've [00:13:00] learned after actually myself going through, like, different coaching programs and courses, I've learned that my niche is just different, so I will just share about my experience. And so when it comes to the pet niche, posting about our dogs and cats and birds and turtles and stuff, it is actually a very emotional and relational niche.

Ashley: So it's not just about, you know, people posting about their fitness stuff or their health stuff and their cooking videos. Like, ours is just about creating emotional connection [00:13:30] with your audience. And storytelling, being able to get someone to actually not only emotionally connect with you, but think about your channel and share your channel and actually be invested into your story is the biggest skill that anyone can learn or try to figure out when it comes to being a content creator.

Ashley: Because nowadays, people just want to feel good. We're actually entering into what is being termed the cozy content phase or the cozy content [00:14:00] era, where as content creators and influencers, we unfortunately actually need to shift away from highly edited content very structured, voice-overed, you know, content, and actually shift into very hyper-authentic content, original audio.

Ashley: And that's the type of content that's actually right now doing better than the, like, heavily edited content. 

Ashley: So the days of hypervirality of what I would call, like, 2020 to 2023 are behind us. [00:14:30] So nowadays what, and especially, like, this is literally what Meta has even just put out and told us, and what YouTube has told us too, is that virality is an entirely different game now. It is about your channel engagement.

Ashley: So thankfully, I do have examples of pet content creators who do this, they're not huge content creators. Like, I would call them, like, a 10,000 to 40,000 follower range, and yet they have insane engagement with their viewers. Versus honestly, my channel, one of my channels that has, like, 125,000 [00:15:00] followers, unfortunately, because he's been around for so long and a lot of my chunks of followers, they are gone.

Ashley: They're not engaged. So when it comes to, like, chasing viral trends, that is behind us. Those days are over. And in fact, it's all about, again, building that emotional connection and trying to get every person who subscribes to you actually watching your content Because what happens is after about three times they're shown your content, if they do not engage with your content, they're not going to be shown your content almost ever again[00:15:30] 

Maggie: It's crazy. Like, I know those people on my feed. I'm like, "Didn't I follow them? Like, why don't I see anything from them anymore?"

Ashley: Yes

Maggie: It's a lot. It's a lot. So if someone wants to start making money from content but feels stuck, like, what are a couple, you know, one or two simple actions they can take to kind of get that momentum going?

Ashley: Being in the space of influencing, there are so many ways to make money. And it gets extremely exciting but extremely overwhelming when you try to figure out where to start. And I'm gonna actually split [00:16:00] this into two different categories of your active income opportunities and your passive income opportunities, because again, totally different avenues and totally different outcomes.

Ashley: So your biggest active income opportunity is through brand collaborations and sponsorships. This is not just obviously in the pet niche, but this is, you know, across any influencer niche. And that's just because brands will pay hundreds to thousands of dollars for one video. It's wild, and it's still a very big reality.

Ashley: But you do have to at least have a higher follower count. You at least [00:16:30] need, I would say to even make $100 on a video, probably about 10 to 20,000 followers. So that is hard if you're brand new, for example. So that is like the biggest way to make active income.

Ashley: From there, you have other active income opportunities through like meta bonuses things that are like you do one time and you get that money. But a lot of the ways to make money are actually passive income opportunities. So I mentioned TikTok, TikTok Shop. TikTok does have a way for you to make money off your content if it's one minute or above [00:17:00] which is kind of challenging.

Ashley: There's TikTok Shop, which was very, very popular for about a year, year and a half, and actually is getting a lot less popular mostly because the problem with TikTok is it is such a shoppable platform that it actually annoys a lot of people. Like, you want to research or learn something, and all you see are ads, ads, ads, ads, ads.

Maggie: Well, And so many people's content is an ad, which I get you guys are getting paid for, but I was like, "I just wanted to follow her," and now it's like a food 

Maggie: ad, you know? 

Ashley: Yeah, no, it is the [00:17:30] consumers, the general people, and even me, we all can tell if a video's an ad very, very fast. But yeah, so there are things like the TikTok Shop. There's Amazon Influencing, which is one of my favorites because no one really talks about it, but it's a super easy way to, like, reuse your own content.

Ashley: From there, one thing that I actually remind a lot of people is that when you as a consumer see those videos that are, like, hyperviral, like on Instagram. Let's say it has a million views. The content creator's actually not making money off of that, which is crazy because [00:18:00] I think we're conditioned to think from, like, 10 years ago where if a video went viral, they would make, you know, let's say thousands of thousands of dollars.

Ashley: Then there's a YouTube Partner Program, which of any of the passive income opportunities is my favorite because it is more predictable, and it's been around the longest. So you know that you can predict the, in the future that you'll be able to earn that money.

Ashley: But yeah. So those are kind of, I'd say, like, the biggest ways to make money and where people would start. I right now am a huge proponent, like, just right now since we are shifting [00:18:30] from Instagram to YouTube, I'm the biggest proponent for being a YouTube content creator and making money through the YouTube Partner Program and doing brand deals over there if, again, someone were interested in actually getting into this and trying to make money off of it 

Maggie: I've heard a lot of great things about YouTube, and I think people like that it's not connected to the Meta platform. They've also been around for a while, so I feel like they've got most of their things down pat, like their processes and stuff like that. But you see, I mean, I see so many people who get a pet and wanna start making videos, and [00:19:00] sometimes those pets no longer are puppies, and they might stop or...

Maggie: But, like, to have something that pays just to cover your pet bills can be amazing. Like, dogs, oh my God, they eat something, and you're like, "Oh, that's a two grand surgery right there." You know? So I'm like, God, even if you could just pay for your own bills, that would be amazing

Ashley: I essentially guarantee people that if they at least follow the process, which I can definitely give a little bit of a tidbit of how not to start a pet channel.

Maggie: Yeah, give [00:19:30] us what not to do

Ashley: I can essentially guarantee that not only would it at least just pay for those bills, but it will pay for their food, maybe their litter, like at least maintaining.

Ashley: And some people are like, "No, I wanna like go part-time. I wanna go full-time doing this." And again, we can definitely like go into the realities of what that can look like and timelines and all that, because I've seen it. But I did mention just a little ago, so if you want, I can go into like the things...

Ashley: Like, if anyone were actually interested in becoming a pet content creator, like what not [00:20:00] to do. Like what not to do, because There is something that I continue to see people do over and over and over again that just, I don't know, it just kills me. 

Maggie: Let's hear it. Come on 

Ashley: Okay, so there is like a community.

Ashley: And again, all I have is my experience with the pet niche, so I don't know if this exists outside my niche, but it is very prevalent within the pet niche. So first off, the majority of people who I have found who become pet content creators are actually this like, [00:20:30] let's say 30 to 50-year-old crowd. Mostly it's these individuals who have...

Ashley: You know, they're struggling with the career that they've chosen. They want, they need, let's be honest, they need extra income. And they're just trying to find something where they're, don't have to participate in social videos like the Gen Z's are. 

Maggie: I was gonna say that's the generation that does not wanna show their

Maggie: face. 

Maggie: They 

Maggie: think it's cringe 

Ashley: Exactly. So that is truly... That is, like, the majority of, like, the age and the group of the people that I [00:21:00] work with. And the problem is there is this community, and I call them the pet newbies or the newbie creators, who all they do is follow each other. So they just go and follow tons of other small pet content creators, and then what they see is each other's content.

Ashley: So what I always tell people is if you're going to start one of these new channels, the first thing you do is just go and follow the people you are inspired to be or you aspire to be, and that way on your [00:21:30] own feed, Instagram will feed you, or TikTok, whatever, it will start feeding you the best content from those creators, and then you will start seeing what works really, really well for the people who know how to do it well.

Ashley: But unfortunately, again, what I see with this newbie creator community is they follow each other, and then all they see is the same type of content, and they literally, like, post the same stuff over and over and over again, and this type of content is like, "Oh, please follow me." I'm like, a brand won't [00:22:00] ever look at this and say, "Oh, I wanna be associated with this channel." So this is, like, the number one thing I always tell creators. I'm like, "Go unfollow all those channels with 200 subscribers. You're not learning from them. If you wanna follow that- with them on your personal channels, go ahead.

Ashley: But you're starting a business, and you need to aspire to be the big content creators. You're not here just to have fun." It is fun. But again, like, this is a business, and this is not you just supporting other small creators. Like, you need to set a foundation of [00:22:30] knowing what you aspire to be.

Ashley: So that's just, like, my first little tip because I see it all the time

Maggie: I mean, it's like any business. If you wanna be a millionaire, you gotta play in the realm of people who are millionaires. You can't be in the small business networking group where everyone's earning, you know, 100,000 a year. Like, you've got to, you've gotta play up. I can definitely see that, like, on my feed or see... Yeah, I've seen those go around where it's, I get all boats rise together, but it's also like, mm-mm, we [00:23:00] gotta get some tips from the big 

Ashley: Right. And I guess one thing that has helped me when it comes to giving that type of advice is I have personally talked to a handful of, like, marketing... they're like the third-party marketing individuals who, like, work for brands. Anyway and so I've personally asked them because it actually is common, just FYI, of how this works.

Ashley: So when you do collaborate with a big brand such as like I have with Amazon PetSmart, and brands like that, they work with a third party. Like, [00:23:30] they don't just use their in-house marketing. They work with a third-party marketing agency, and usually do, like, a Zoom with them to know that, you know, it's a legitimate thing.

Ashley: I straight-up ask them now every single time. I say, "How did you find my channel? Why did you decide on my channel, and how do you vet other channels?" And I have heard over and over and over again, the biggest things that brands care about looking for is good storytelling, so that understandably is good engagement.

Ashley: You're showcasing the relationship between, like, human and pet, and they do not like... And I've heard this thankfully s- and [00:24:00] I say thankfully so many times 'cause I educate people, like, "Don't do this," but they do not like those types of videos that tries to call out, "Please subscribe. Please subscribe."

Ashley: Kind of throwaway content where you just make something and just to thr- just to post it. They just really want intentional storytelling, intentional content on your channel

Maggie: It looks a little desperate

Ashley: It does. It does. And I completely understand it. Like, there have been phases in my life where, whether it was when I had my daughter or when moving where I'm like, "I don't have time to create [00:24:30] content.

Ashley: I can't. It's 9:00 PM, and I'm sitting in bed, and oh my gosh, I have to create a video today." And I've been there. Like, I completely understand. But when it comes to, like, looking desperate to please subscribe and stuff, it is just a whole nother type of category of content that I just never advocate for

Maggie: And it's kind of that learning curve of like they always say like, "Have a call to action," you know? And so you're like, "Great, that's my call to action." You know what I mean? Like, I get the learning curve 'cause there's so much noise around how to be a content creator and different coaching programs for either different [00:25:00] niches or whatever it may be.

Maggie: And so how did you translate then from, "Great, my content's going well, I should maybe teach others how to do this as well too," 

Ashley: Okay. So this was about two years into Chips' channel, and at that point, I had experimented with enough of diverse monetization opportunities. I was making enough to actually go part-time in my job at the time. And I was like, yeah, it was a huge milestone. I almost had a ton of guilt.

Ashley: Like, I felt a lot of guilt going [00:25:30] down to part-time just because, like, I had to convince my husband that this could last a while, that, you know, it was worthwhile. Nevertheless so yes, there was a point where I was like, "Okay, I have enough income predictably every month coming in." But I had gone through both coaching and courses trying to learn the nuances of how to grow bigger, how to make this a big, legitimate thing.

Ashley: But there were no resources for pet content creators. And I knew... Like, I tried a lot of [00:26:00] the different methods, strategies that I learned on YouTube. They were like, "How to blow up overnight," and all those things. I watched countless videos. I tried, but there was a lot that just didn't work for my niche.

Ashley: So I was like, "Okay, I have my experience from my blog where I learned a lot of graphic design and copywriting and sales and affiliate marketing. I learned all that. I even learned, like, how to literally build website and all that stuff." I was like, "Why don't I translate that into a business, into a space, a niche that [00:26:30] literally there is a hole that needs filled?"

Ashley: So, I started Petfluencer Secrets, and it by now has grown a lot, which is so exciting, but it still is a very, very small niche out there because it's like a person who, again, my target audience being more of that, like, 30 to 50-year-old. But I have learned that, oh my gosh, there is that need. There is a need because, again, taking the advice of how to, you know, blow up overnight of, like MrBeast style videos, like it just [00:27:00] doesn't translate to our niche.

Ashley: So yeah, so it was about, you know, two, two and a half years in, and it is a huge passion of mine because again, there are more resources now that I know a lot of content creators have been like, "Ooh, let's make money off of this." But still, it's still such a small niche, but I love 

Ashley: it. I love it so much.

Maggie: I mean, a small niche is great, right? Like, you don't have as many competitors, which is awesome. But I appreciate you bringing, like, the truth on all these things, 'cause I think so many people, they're like, "We have a lot of dog videos. Just post them, and people will reach [00:27:30] out." And like, it is more than that, and I think we also gotta give people like you who are the influencers, like, props, you know?

Maggie: It's not just like this hoity-toity thing. Like, no it's work, but I'm making money for it, so don't feel guilty 

Maggie: about going part-time.

Maggie: I've gotta ask, do you have, like, insurance on your pet?

Ashley: So, I've actually been asked that a lot. I have influencer insurance, Yes, there's a thing. In fact, I learned it was a thing when I got into a, my largest brand deal ever about a year and a half ago, [00:28:00] and on the contract it said I needed influencer insurance. I said, "What?" I didn't know this existed, but this, there is influencer insurance where it, no, it does not cover like my vet bills and like my pet stuff, but it does make it so that if I post, let's say, controversial content or I post content about a product that someone claims that they watched my video, they bought the product, and then it, you know, like killed their dog or something, that they could not sue me, right?

Ashley: Like, it's insurance against that. [00:28:30] It's crazy. So yeah. So I do have ins- influencer insurance. No, I don't have... I did for a while have insurance on my pets because I did a collaboration with an insurance brand, and I was offered insurance for a while. But right now I don't, which to be honest, I had quite one of m- my non, my less famous cat we had massive bills 'cause we had to have a surgery this past year, and at that time I thought, "Darn it.

Ashley: I should have them under insurance."

Maggie: It always happens once you need something, which I know, like, some people just carry pet insurance. I know it's a great [00:29:00] idea. My dog's 14 and a half. We don't qualify. But that's interesting that there's influencer insurance. I've never heard of that, but it makes sense. People are... When people have a bad mood, they're out to get you these days.

Ashley: Oh. People are mean online. Oh my gosh. And I tell people, "So you are more likely to have hater comments if you, if a human is on your video compared to your pet." But one of my cats, so my famous cat, Chip, the Manx breed for those of you who are unfamiliar, they are born with either a half tail or no tail, and that's [00:29:30] just like a distincting, distinctive thing about their breed.

Ashley: And I... It is almost daily where people comment hate comments about the fact that I cut off my cat's tail, which again, is not true. He was born that way. But people, and especially on YouTube, I don't know, a lot of people on YouTube, for whatever reason they're just posting hater comments all the time.

Ashley: And especially like people... I've had people talk about my voice, like they don't like my voice. They don't like what I wear. I mean, people are so mean online. But at least I at least tell my clients, I'm like, "You know what? In the [00:30:00] pet niche, what's really nice is we have less hater comments," but you are not exempt from hater comments even though it's just your dog on there.

Ashley: People will hate 

Ashley: on your dog. 

Maggie: It's rough out there, but you gotta remember, like, engagement's engagement, right?

Ashley: I know, I know. That's why I say I tell people, I'm like, "If it truly, truly makes you feel uncomfortable, just block them and move on. But if they're saying something just a little bit mean, comment back." And always, I always say, "Always comment with a question, [00:30:30] because that way they'll feel prompted to engage back, and then all of a sudden you have twice as many comments."

Ashley: So yeah, it is it's engagement, just may not feel too good. And so what I've done, thankfully, at this point with my business, I've been able to hire a virtual assistant to manage a lot of my cat side of things, my cat businesses, whatever we wanna call it. And so whenever there's hater comments, I just let her do it and I don't have to take on that emotional, mental toll of seeing negative comments anymore 

Maggie: It's so much better to outsource. Like, anything that I don't like to [00:31:00] do, it's like there's some weird emotional attachment, you know? But I like, if I was commenting back for you, I'd be like, "Okay, I could do that for Ashley," and go stick up for her, you know? Like, but like, if they were commenting on my voice, I'd be like, "Oh, well,

Maggie: okay then." 

Ashley: Exactly. Yeah, for sure 

Maggie: This has been so much information. Is there anything that we haven't touched on that, like, you feel the audience needs to know about pet influencer secrets or just being an influencer at all?

Ashley: Yeah. So I do wanna [00:31:30] touch on just the reality of the income. So I know a lot of your audience is obviously, like, learning about money and trying to just try to make it through this world. And especially because we're women, like, the way that we have to approach everything is just different.

Ashley: I just wanted to touch on the absolute reality of how much money you can make, and I definitely, again, don't wanna sugarcoat it because, yeah. So when it comes to being a content creator in general, and I've seen this cross [00:32:00] platforms because I thankfully have actually had the opportunity to coach people outside of the pet niche, so I've seen it a little bit in other niches. You have to mentally prepare yourself for at least a minimum of six months to, up to, like, 24 months of consistent effort before you can, be able to go part-time on a job. Six months is very, very unlikely. In fact, it still takes anywhere from, about a year to a year and a half to even get into that YouTube Partner Program.

Ashley: There's one gal who thankfully she was [00:32:30] like, she has like the record in my group coaching where she got it in four months. But still that's not going to pay your mortgage. I always say, if you wanna be a content creator, don't bet on it being a full-time job. Almost like don't ever bet on it being a full-time job just because again, the moment, like I've experienced it being a full-time job, it can get extremely isolating.

Ashley: So, because you're by yourself, no one can do it for you.

Ashley: so it's isolating. It is mentally challenging 'cause again, even like negative [00:33:00] comments and whatnot. And you have to just, before you get into it, brace yourself in knowing that this can be like an emotionally taxing thing mentally taxing, and to be honest, really time-consuming to where it's taking away from your precious weekends.

Ashley: Okay, I have a routine. On Saturday mornings, I wake up at 4:00 in the morning, and I try to go through emails. I go to my local Starbucks, and I spend three hours every single Saturday before my kids wake up, before my husband wakes up, just trying to get extra work [00:33:30] done so that I can spend time with my family.

Ashley: So there is so much sacrifice that comes with, if and when you get to that point to where it is a legitimate full-time job, and I know that I run like multiple channels and my coaching business, like I know I'm a little... I have a little bit more on my plate than what would be the average just pet content creator.

Ashley: But there's a lot of sacrifice to it, and I think just a lot of people think that you can just start posting, start making money, and although there's a very, very small, small reality [00:34:00] to that, the biggest reality is that you likely are unable to sustain. So a big problem that I tend to see are when people casually post, and then all of a sudden they go viral, or all of a sudden they have content where their followers are skyrocketing, and they're unable to sustain that.

Ashley: That's usually when people reach out to me. They're like, "Oh my gosh, I had a few videos go viral. This is so exciting. How do I make money off of this?" But people's lifestyles, you have to know that you have to [00:34:30] alter your lifestyle to be able to sustain this level of virality, this level of engagement, and the the maintenance of your channel.

Ashley: And that's where I see, I don't know if you've heard, but the biggest statistic with longevity of content creators is that a solid half of content creators won't even make it past the first year of being a content creator. But then a huge chunk of even 50%, they won't even make it past the first 90 days because it's habit building, right?

Ashley: It's habit building, and that's [00:35:00] where the, you know, first 90 days comes from. And then after a year, just people realize that it is just unsustainable or not worth the time investment into it.

Maggie: I appreciate the transparency. There's so much online where you just do these two things, and in, in 90 days you're earning six figures or, you know, all these things, which man, they are great clickbait. But we have to be honest about it, and I think sometimes so many women are like, I mean, and men too, are just feel that shame of like, "I'm doing something wrong.

Maggie: I'm not good enough. It's all on me." Where it's like, no, no, no. This is [00:35:30] fake advertising, and it's not as, like, fluffy and effortless as it looks. Like, the video's supposed to make you feel like that, yes. But it didn't show Ashley at 4:00 in the morning at the Starbucks. 

Ashley: Exactly. Yes, the Starbucks knows me very well. But I will say, even just to give, like, true transparency, okay, so out of the multiple hundreds of people who I've had, like, true one-on-one work with, so this guy, he has had the best and highest success, and it took him eight months, and he was able to make $80,000 through his dog. But he's, like, the [00:36:00] one person who actually, like, had that, like, true viral wild success that people talk about in the ads and in those YouTube videos.

Ashley: Everyone else, everyone else has been slow and steady wins the race. Everyone. And even my story. Yes, I've had countless videos that get millions or tens of millions of views, but even that doesn't show, you know, seven and a half years of all the stuff that I've gone through to get to where I'm at.

Ashley: A lot of people, when I say, "Oh, yeah, I'm a full-time cat influencer and [00:36:30] content coach," they're just How can I do that?" I'm like, "No, you can't." Like, do you want to invest seven years of your life and all your weekends and every evening of your life into this for seven years? I don't think you do.

Maggie: It doesn't sound much different from you going to grad school, committing that time to get your undergrad and your graduate degree to go get a job. Like, it's very in sync, you know? There's no magic quick win, do this, you'll earn $100,000

Ashley: just hope that story of just one person actually was able to, like, [00:37:00] make good money in a shorter period of time. Everyone else, it's slow and steady. And because most of it you have to learn in trial and error and experiment over such a long period of time and things are ever-changing.

Ashley: It's frustrating, it's overwhelming. You're doing it in your evenings. Like, it just takes time. But I don't wanna discourage anyone as well, because it is a super fun side hustle. Like, it is a very real reality for every- I say, like, everyday people, because I haven't... There's only been one person. So aside from this one other guy [00:37:30] 'cause I primarily, I'd say it's like 95% of the people I work with are women.

Ashley: But aside from another guy, everyone, like, their jobs are super traditional jobs. I mean, like, teachers, and there's like, all these, like, clerical workers. Like, people who just want to earn some extra money. And so it is an absolute reality. It just takes extreme intentionality

Maggie: Yeah, I love that. And so are you still a physical therapist as well?

Ashley: So just because I spent $100,000 on it, I could not emotionally [00:38:00] truly give it up. so I do work two mornings a week, and I do it purely out of passion and not out of, like, a need for income. And I did it at a c- clinic that's four minutes from my house. So yeah. So I do it as my way to get out of the house, socialize and I love it.

Ashley: So yes I do still do physical therapy. But again, it is by no means, like, because I need to, I guess.

Maggie: Yeah. No, I mean, it all comes together and, I mean, the other thing I like to remind people is, like, that $80,000, you're still paying taxes on [00:38:30] too. So it's not just $80,000 in your pocket. That's 1099 work.

Ashley: That, oh my gosh. 

Maggie: goodbye to a third of it.

Ashley: See, and yes, yes, yes, yes. In fact, oh, we talk about this a lot with my group coaching clients where they're like, "Oh my gosh, I just, you know, landed $100 deal." I'm like, "Let's translate that. That's actually not $100." Or even those big ones, like $5,000 deals, $10,000 deals. Like, yeah, you have...

Ashley: Like, the self-employment taxes here in the States, like, it surprises many, many people. I heard [00:39:00] a story from a friend who, this guy became a big YouTuber. So this was a local guy where I live. He became a big YouTuber last year, and made enough... He made about half a million dollars off of the YouTube Partner Program, which again, super cool, but spent all of his money.

Ashley: And then was just recently got his tax bill, and it has been quite a problem. But yeah you almost think, like, when you receive this money, like, into your PayPal account, you're like, "Oh my gosh, this is so exciting. Like, I'm $100 richer." But then you're like, [00:39:30] "I have to pay taxes." And that is a scary amount of money to have to just fork back away when you're not used to doing that

Maggie: Yeah, when it's 1099 work and you go independent, that's your own insurance coming out of there, that's your own, you're matching your own 401, like, all the things. And you're like, "Wow, maybe I'm not charging enough," because there's no money left. 

Ashley: Exactly. 

Maggie: no, this has been great, and I appreciate, again, like, that honesty.

Maggie: Just so when people go out there and try it, 'cause I'm not saying don't do it. I love your pet [00:40:00] videos. Please produce them, because I wanna watch them. But it's hard work, and so we gotta be honest about that, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to have this conversation, is there's so much influencers, so much ways to make money out there.

Maggie: People wanna know the quick ways. And so this is another opportunity. There's always different ways to do it, it's just what you're willing to do, the time you're willing to commit, what you enjoy to do. So Ashley, after all of these adventures, what does financial freedom look like for you?

Ashley: Yep. [00:40:30] So the biggest thing to me... Because actually, if you remember, so I was writing a finance blog, and I talked about financial freedom all the time. And to me, financial freedom is equivalent to time freedom. So because I've spent so much time in school and sacrificing my time, time freedom is the biggest thing for me.

Ashley: And I have gotten to the point where I know I've kind of made it sound like I have no time at all but I have structured my schedule to where I do have a lot of time. I have a daughter. I love family time. I love friend time. And so [00:41:00] time to me is the biggest thing. I will say, have I achieved true, like, financial time freedom?

Ashley: No, because I am super, you know, heads in deep with my businesses and everything. But I have at least achieved a point in my life now, thankfully, that I love everything that I do. And I know a lot of people can't say that. Like, you know, they're stuck at a job where they're just, you know, making it by every day, and it's hard emotionally.

Ashley: But I love, genuinely love everything I do. So for me, financial freedom, I envision [00:41:30] one day will be passive income coming in that I'm able to... Like, I'm really big, I know we haven't talked about this, and I don't want to go into it necessarily, but I have, like, rental investing and into, like, different investments.

Ashley: And so getting to the point to where I do have a diverse portfolio to be able to pay for my op- ability to just do a little bit of everything that I love. 'Cause right now I'm doing a lot a bit of everything that I love. 

Maggie: And I think the biggest thing I wanna highlight from this whole episode is so many women say, "I don't know much about money. I don't know. [00:42:00] I should know this." You started off not knowing anything and doing a little bit of research and a little bit of blogs. Now you're a graduate running this business, running these accounts, having investment properties.

Maggie: Like, 

Maggie: look 

Maggie: at that growth. That's 

Ashley: truly, like the past seven years of my life I've thought multiple times, if I, when I look back at who I was, what I knew, it is insane. And all it took was just personal drive. 

Maggie: And just getting started, 

Ashley: Yes, and I started at the absolute [00:42:30] bare minimum of like the super basics of learning what even is money, and it's taken a long time.

Ashley: And I think a lot of people want to just, boom, know everything right now or know everything in the next three months. But it has taken years, and I'm still not perfect.

Maggie: Well, congratulations on all your success. Thank you for coming and sharing your expertise. We're gonna have the Pet Influencer Secrets linked below as well as your social posts so we can check out more of your cats. And so until next time, be financially fearless. 

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