We were lucky to catch up with Marnie Kunz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Marnie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?

Covid disrupted my event business and I lost all my sponsors for our events. I tried some comeback events but they didn’t attract enough support. I decided to pivot and focus on my blog and I used my journalism background. I took some SEO (search engine optimization) classes in 2020 and that helped me grow my blog faster. I also started freelancing writing for others’ blogs to help grow their sites with my SEO techniques. Now my Runstreet.com site is one of the top running and fitness blogs and I earn most of my business revenue from the ads on my site. I also started a dog blog, www.bookofdog.co, where I write about one of my other passions, dogs.

Marnie, 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?

I majored in English in college and then went into journalism. It was a bad time to go into print journalism. Eventually I did some freelance writing online while also working on my own company, Runstreet.com. I’m a running coach and certified trainer and I started leading some fun 5k Art Run events in NYC. Eventually it grew to attract sponsors in cities around the country. We had our first big LA Art Run in 2020 right before Covid hit. After that I had to pivot as all events were canceled and I lost all our sponsors. I focused on growing Runstreet as a blog and fitness resource to offer free workouts, training tips, and more from my experience as a NYC trainer and running coach. I took SEO classes and developed my own techniques as well to build my site traffic. I qualified for a higher paying ad network once I reached 100k hits a month on my site, which was a great milestone for me. I also do some freelance writing work for other small business’ websites to help their site grow.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Yes! The Freelancer’s Union is a great resource for creative professionals. They have a free coworking space in Brooklyn and many helpful online seminars on topics that can assist freelancers with growing their businesses.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

After I tried relaunching events in 2021, I realized I couldn’t make enough money to survive doing my events business anymore. I was doing blogging but hadn’t qualified for a well paying ad network yet. I was at the end of my savings and decided to post my SEO writing services on Fiverr for $15 to write an article. Once I got my first orders, my Fiverr business actually grew pretty fast and before I knew it, I had so many orders I could raise my prices. Freelancing really saved me during this crunch time when I was trying to figure out how to rework my business. I now write articles for Real Simple and some excellent repeat clients while also doing my Runstreet blogging business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.runstreet.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/Runstreet
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/runstreet1
• Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/marniekunz
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@runstreet
• Other: www.marniekunz.com www.bookofdog.co

Image Credits
Running photos by Marques Jackson Photography