ITT 061: How to Build a 6-Figure Membership Site with Bjork Ostrom

Bjork Ostrom, together with his wife Lindsay, are the founders of both foodbloggerpro.com and pinchofyum.com. In less than 5 years, he and his wife built a side hobby - food blogging - into a $300,000+ per year (and growing) online membership site.  As a non-profit employee and 4th grade teacher by day, Bjork and his wife navigated the early challenges of developing their passions into both a successful business and something they would enjoy doing on a daily basis. Based out of St. Paul, Minnesota, Bjork and his wife are now working together to take the business to the next level (and to see if they can't crack the 7-figure revenue mark). Bjork's wife, Lindsay, started Pinch of Yum in 2010, making their first dollar through an ad network. They started doing income reports in 2013. This instigated a lot of questions, which led to the development of Foodbloggerpro, which they rolled out over the course of 3 months from November 2012 to January 2013, raising over $10,000 in pre-sales. Foodbloggerpro now makes $300,000 a year and they're working on ways to grow the platform to 1 million / year. What Bjork Ostrom and I talk about in this broadcast:

• How a teacher and a non profit employee turned his skills into building a 6-figure membership site
• How he and his wife worked together to combine their passions for food and software
• Why reinvesting your initial revenue is so important when you're just starting out
• How to determine what to pay yourself vs. reinvest in your growing business
• How Bjork turned 500 page views a day into a $300,000 in annual revenue
• How monthly income reports attracted attention and led to the creation of FoodBloggerPro
• How Bjork is able to maintain the massive website only investing 20 hours per month
• Why you should look for ways to sharpen your skills in your current job to compliment your side hustle
• How to double the benefits of your current job by honing your skills for entrepreneurial ventures
• What Bjork did to prepare to build his very first membership site
• How he self raised $10,000 to begin the membership site (without using a crowdfunding site)
• The difference of viewing something as a business vs. an income stream
• The 3 part filter he uses to collaborate with his wife on what the next steps should be
• “1% infinity” (a philosophy that Bjork lives by)
• Why long term vision trumps short term vision for building a successful business

Bjork Ostrom on building your skill set and maximizing your time: “Any time that people are doing anything, there is always the potential to double whatever it is” Bjork Ostrom on what the big idea is: “What has gotten us here won’t get us to the next level.” Bjork Ostrom's biggest piece of advice: “Feel the burden of doing a little bit each day to make it a little bit better and to make yourself a little bit better.” Find Bjork Ostrom online:

• pinchofyum.com
• foodbloggerpro.com
• Twitter: @bjorkostrom

Other resources mentioned:

• Expression Engine
• Kicktastic
• Screenflow
• Wishlist
• Austin Kleon "life of a project"

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