We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Anna Cook a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Anna, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think some of the most important traits of being successful are grit and perseverance – especially if you want to run your own business. You are going to fail multiple times on the way to success. The key is to take your “failures” as learning experiences, pick yourself up, and move on to the next thing. The only way you can truly fail is if you quit. Choosing to pivot when you realize something isn’t working isn’t a bad thing. It just means you’re analyzing the data and trying to make good business decisions.

Anna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Anna and I run a travel blog, Stuck On The Go, that helps busy people incorporate more travel into their lives and encourages them to step out of their comfort zone on outdoor adventures. I focus heavily on destinations in the southern and midatlantic areas of the US as I’m based in North Carolina. I always knew that I wanted to run my own business but wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. I came across blogging a few years ago and loved the business model and freedom that it offered then I chose travel because it was a niche I was passionate about. My biggest goal is to show people that even if you have limited time or money, you can still travel. Weekend trips work wonders to recharge your soul. I also love sharing about the fun outdoor adventures in a destination especially since you can hike in so many places for free. My favorite part about this job is when I hear from someone who used one of my guides to plan their trips and they talk about how helpful it was and what a difference it made for them. I truly thank God everyday that this is what I get to do for a living.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

One of my biggest business goals was to get into one of the top-tier ad networks for bloggers. I knew this would mean consistent passive income for me but to get in, you have to reach 50k readers per month. In August of 2022, my website traffic reached 41k readers per month and I was so sure that I would get in later that year. However, after August, my traffic started on a slow decline and by December I had lost over half of my traffic. This was incredibly demoralizing as I had already been working toward my goal for a year and a half. I knew that if I just kept going, my traffic would turn around eventually. So I did, and while it took another six months for me to reach the goal of 50k, now I’m in the ad network I was working toward and make passive income each month just because people visit my website and read my articles.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

Absolutely! I think that’s one of the most important aspects of being an online business owner is to diversify your revenue streams. This year I’ve focused a lot on growing my ad and affiliate income. Affiliate income is when someone books a tour, hotel, or product through one of my links and I earn a commission at no extra cost to the reader. I also work with tourism boards to promote their destinations and get paid through some of those campaigns. Writing search engine optimized articles for other businesses is another income stream. I’m also considering creating digital products and courses for an additional income stream. There are so many different ways to make money in this industry that the sky is the limit really.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stuckonthego.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/stuckonthego
• Facebook: facebook.com/stuckonthego