The College Investor Robert Farrington created a side hustle in college and then turned into a big business. Now the College Investor helps over 3,000,000 people a month with their finances and allows Robert to be Successfully Unemployed.
Listen as he shows us how we can be successfully unemployed with a website that helps others be financially smart with their money.
Today, I am excited to have Robert on this podcast. He has a fantastic business, called The College Investor. Like Robert, you can be successfully unemployed.
Robert Farrington Started the College Investor As A Hobby
Robert was very comfortable at his day job and he was paid well. His hobby, The College Investor website, was enabling them to unlock their financial goals.
He was able to pay off his student loans in two and a half years, save and buy a house, and start investing.
Everything was great. He had health insurance and a 401(k) through his job. He always envisioned his website as a side hustle.
Show me your money, show me your time, and I’ll show you what you value. Robert valued his family, but he wasn’t able to show it. It became a conflict inside him, because he wasn’t living what he valued in the way he felt he should be living it.
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He marinated on this internal conflict for over two years. Everything was going well, but he wasn’t living what he felt was his truth.
He made the decision in January of the year and he planned for nine months. He set up a nine-month plan and gave a two month notice at his job at Target. It took a lot of courage.
Walking away from that paycheck is difficult.
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You started working at Target. Tell us what position you started in and what you worked yourself up to.
Robert started at Target when he was 16 years old as a cart attendant. He worked in every position: cashier, sales floor, in the back, and then he became an hourly supervisor when he was in college.
After college, he became an assistant manager and he promoted his way up, until he was a store manager.
He liked the job. It was a great job with great benefits. He worked there for 17 years. It became easy, because he knew it. He worked from the bottom up. It made it harder to leave, because he built a long career there.
During that time, Robert learned that he didn’t like office/desk jobs. He liked being out on the floor, being with people, and talking to people.
If, like us two, we start as cart pushers at a store and can make it to a point where we are successfully unemployed, anybody can do it, right?
It is all about your mindset and work ethic.
You need to do the work.
It is like weight loss. We all know how to do it, we just need to do it.
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You started The College Investor when you were in college and now it is a successful business. You get three million visitors a month?
Yes, The College Investor website gets three million visitors a month and it continues to grow.
Robert is trying to set it up as a financial resource for people to make those financial decisions in an unbiased way.
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If somebody was to start a website like yours, what should they do to have success?
Roberts started the website ten years ago. When he started the site, it took him a year and a half to make his first $10. Once he started searching and figuring it out he made it happen.
He made $7,000 during year number two and it grew from there. After that, he made $20,000, and then $30,000.
He learned there are a few things you need. The first is consistency. Robert was a terrible writer at first, but the more you do it, the better you get.
The second is that you need to do it over a period of time. Do it three times a week, every week, for at least a year. You get practice, you get better at it, and then it becomes a habit and you build a following.
The third is doing the best you can. Put in the work and strive for the best. When you are starting, your best is not the best, because you don’t have the skills, practice, or experience.
Keep trying, because you will learn as you grow and you will get feedback.
Start and be consistent.
If somebody wants to start a blog, is WordPress the way to go?
Robert recommends using WordPress, because it is customizable.
Create your own website, with your own host, and your own domain. Stuff changes. If you want to be an Instagrammer or YouTube host, that is great, but social media comes and goes. We love video today, but YouTube could die or you could change.
You need to have your own home base that you control.
If you have a medium where you distribute content, make sure you have a base that you own. It isn’t expensive to buy a domain and a host. Nobody can take that away from you.
What should we talk about if we want to create a site to help others?
You need to follow your passion to an extent. You need to create content around a topic you can write about consistently. If you aren’t passionate about your topic, you will burn yourself out in three months.
The topic needs to be interesting enough to create content three times a week. You don’t need to be the expert, but you have to be expert enough. If you have zero knowledge, someone who has a little knowledge is expert enough for them.
Be passionate. People care more about how you communicate, share, and relate to them. Those are the things that matter. There are so many topics, but nobody can take away who you are.
Data is data, but it is how you put it all together that is your unique selling advantage.
Realize it might not be fun to do some of the things that make you money. If you don’t do those things, it is a hobby. You can blog all day without making money and there is nothing wrong with that.
If you want to be successfully unemployed, you may have to do things you don’t like.
How do we start writing the content and how do we make sure we write the content people want to find?
Write the best content for your niche.
Is it long enough to answer who, what, when, where, why? Are you answering everything you can.
What are people searching for on that topic? Write it better than others.
Include pictures, charts, audio, and visuals. It is easier to share, when it is the best thing out there.
You can put a bunch of marketing behind a turd, but all it will do is shine a light on a turd.
How do we know what people are searching for?
Robert doesn’t worry about it. Find your niche and answer the questions people care about in your niche.
There are limitless topics, just Google it. When you are starting out, answer the questions you want to learn. That is what other beginners will want to know.
Keep it simple, but do it the best.
How long should we wait to monetize, and how should we monetize?
Start trying to monetize from day one.
Some of the most popular ways to monetize are through display advertisements, affiliates, brand partnerships, or build a course or product, like an ebook.
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People can be coaches in all niches.
If you don’t try, practice, and learn, you won’t know what will take off.
How does The College Investor website make money?
They are advertisement driven. They do mostly affiliates, brand partnerships, and some display ads. They sell a little of their own products and services, but that is a small part of it.
In the financial services industry, people don’t want to pay for advice, especially if they are in debt.
If you sign up for a bank account, the bank will pay Robert, but he will not advertise a bad product.
Do you use Google ads?
Robert does a small amount of display ads. Google is one of those providers and they are a great starting point.
The world is moving away from display ads, because they make your site look ugly, but they do serve a purpose.
Robert has eliminated about 95 to 98 percent of their display ads over the last few years, in favor of other formats.
How much time do you spend on The College Investor per week.
Robert puts in about 20 to 30 hours of work a week. It is on his time and it is done remotely. He schedules it around his life.
He is on his phone and social media all the time, but it is flexible and he can say no.
If somebody wants to get started, what would you tell them that you would have done differently?
The biggest reason he failed during the first year and a half is that he didn’t network. He didn’t connect with anyone.
He started a blog, because he read a blog post about starting a blog, and then he siloed himself. He took the initial action and didn’t think to reach out and connect with other bloggers, other influencers, in that space.
Once he started networking in the personal finance space and getting to know others, his blog took off.
Networking would be one of the first things he would have done.
Follow people online, go to events, and connect with people in your local area. Be a part of the space. They will get to know you and it will become mutually beneficial.
What are the steps to start a business?
Figure out what you want to write about. You don’t need to dial it down right away. If you don’t like your topic, delete it or change it.
As you see what is working well, you can narrow it down. You can go back and change it, so just start.
Get the domain, the hosting site, and start putting out content that people are searching for. Don’t get hung up on your site design, name, or logo, because you can change it.
Nobody cares what you name your site. You aren’t starting as Apple. People will find you from your content. If they like you, they are going to bookmark your site and they won’t remember your name.
Nobody is going to read your first blog post or Instagram story, so just get it out there. After six months, you can re-share that content.
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Robert is a fan of it and he does it, but he likes to meet people where they are.
That is challenging when you start out. Pick a medium or two and start there.
Every industry and niche is different. Where are you?
People digest content differently
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If someone is consistent, what would you expect to be the timeframe for them to be successfully unemployed?
This is different for everyone, depending on your number.
If you are consistent at three times of content per week, and you network, at the one year mark, you are probably going to be at $500 or $1,000 a year in income and covering expenses.
What this means for you financially is on you. It is a great side hustle income and will put you on the path to do more, but you may not want to do more.
Set the goal and focus on this week to be consistent. It is challenging, because we are living in such an instantaneous culture. It can be demoralizing at first, but realize it gets easier over time, with practice.
The Successfully Unemployed Rapid Fire Round
With having more time, and wanting to stay busy, how are you giving back to make the world or the people around you better?
Robert tries to give back to his community and he is teaching his kids this as well.
He doesn’t care what his kids do when they grow up, but he wants them to be kind and understand financial principles.
If you were to go back to your younger self and give yourself advice, what would it be?
You have the time to do whatever it is you want to do. How are you spending your time?
You can sit around watching Netflix or you can go out and side hustle, educate yourself, and try to make money.
You have more energy now when you are 16 than you will the rest of your life. It is the time to burn the candle at both ends and try out new things and put the work in.
You will reap the dividends of that work for the rest of your life.
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What tools do you use in your business or life that make you better or more successful?
Robert uses the Google Suite for everything and he combines it with Asana.
Everyone needs some sort of task management system, even in their personal life. This could be a calendar or planner.
Everyone needs a tool to organize their financial life. The number one reason people fail with money is they are not organized. Robert is using Personal Capital, but he like Quicken. There is Mint, Tiller, and great spreadsheets. You need to get financially organized or you won’t achieve any financial goals.
What is one non-fiction book that has helped you in your life or business that you would recommend to others?
I Will Teach You to be Rich, by Ramit Sethi
How can listeners find you?
Website: thecollegeinvestor.com
Podcast: The College Investor