In my early twenties I had to purchase renter’s insurance after my cat bit the mailman. I had nothing of value in my apartment; seriously, I was a baby-step out of college and borderline transient. I just needed to cover my feline liability. The insurance agent interrogated me on the value of my personal property. I’ll never forget him saying, “Come on, every woman is either into shoes, handbags, or jewelry.”
Not this (insanely cheap) woman. I went to art school; I can make jewelry out of compost.
What Eve Of Reduction Is All About
Resourcefulness and creativity are the essence of my personality and lifestyle. No, I’m not technically considered a financial guru, but I did use the aforementioned talents to pay off all my debt (mortgage, car, school loans) in less than seven years. And that PR sound bite landed me in Money Magazine, which prompted me to start my blog, Eve of Reduction.
At first, Eve of Reduction was more or less a diary of my upcycling and thrifty escapades. My real goal was to be a published author. I therefore put most of my effort into soliciting publishers, and in the meantime some of my furniture upcycling posts went viral. Those pageview numbers were exactly what I needed to land a publisher and write my first book, Living Simple, Free & Happy.
The Yakezie Challenge and Being an Author
At the time that I started writing my book, my publisher set forth their expectations of me as an author. If any of you have gone down the path of the non-fiction author, you know you cannot escape the word, “platform.” Well, hello? Remember I said I had a blog? Correction, a hobby blog. Rrrright. I had to make my blog more than a few fluke traffic surges.
So it was in my hyper search for blogging help that I came across a comment Samurai Sam wrote on another blog. The comment was a brief plug for the Yakezie Challenge. I signed up immediately!
My first step was to mark my current Alexa rank in a notebook. It was in the ballpark of 3.4 million. Clearly I knew nothing about link love, guest posting and blogging tribes. Luckily my publisher didn’t know that. (It was our secret, Yakezie.)
Little by little the formula started working. With each stride I was able to report back to my editor and at the same time really build my blog.
The Funny Thing About Goals
It’s been over a year since my book was released into bookstores nationwide. And it’s been six months since I broke through the 200,000 Alexa rank. But we all know those weren’t end lines. In that time I decided I wanted to be a self-published author and an entrepreneur.
The Yakezie forum had some compelling posts about ebooks, which prompted my to write my latest book, Rooms Repurposed: A Purposeful Home, A Purposeful Life. The best part about writing the book was that I had about twenty experts contribute to my ebook. I connected with these experts through the free publicity service, HARO. Now, in order to use HARO for sources, you must have an Alexa rank of under a million. Check…Thank you, Yakezie!
Funny renter’s insurance story! I’m actually looking to get a Siberian b/c I like cats too, but am allergic. But with Siberians, I don’t sneeze anymore. Pretty neat.
Very impressive you are a published author. I hope your next book does well and congrats for making it through the challenge!
Thank you! Cats are great and low maintenance if you keep them away from the mailman.
Congrats on making it through, glad to have you in the group!
As for renter’s insurance issue, that’s crazy! First because of the cat biting a mailman, and second because of the complete gender stereotyping that occurred with the company (not cool). Goes to show once again that we have to be prepared for the truly unexpected!
Yeah, I really had to hold my own with that guy. Thanks for the support!
Congrats on getting through the challenge and becoming a member Cristin! And thank you for sharing your experiences in the writing world. As someone who has intentions to write as well it’s helpful to hear the stories and experiences of others.
Hi Brian, I so glad that helped. Feel free to reach out directly if you have any publishing questions.
Congratulations! I think every renter should have renter’s insurance especially because it is so cheap. Liability, fire, and theft are 3 good reasons.
Yes, I totally agree. Even for being as thrifty as I am, it was an easy purchase.
Wonderful post, Eve, and welcome to the club. You know what? I’d like to talk to you more because I already had an idea when reading your post: I always saw HARO as offering my expertise; I should try putting myself on the other side and asking for others’ expertise and experience. Thanks again!
Hi Maria, I’d be happy to talk more! Yes, I’ve used HARO every now and then. I find it’s great for networking as much as building great content.
I enjoyed reading about your journey, and it’s terrific that you’ve built an author platform with your blog to sell your books. Congratulations!
Thank you! I’d love to talk to you more about how you bridge simple living and the financial world.
I totally love that you can make jewelry out of compost! Congrats on completing the challenge!
Thank you! I find frugal living to be so much fun!
Wow I never heard of a cat biting a mailman before! I’m thinking about getting a cat myself, maybe this summer. That’s really cool you are a published author. Congrats on becoming a Member!
The mailman’s hand was bit when he stuck it through the mail slot in my front door. So if you have a mailbox you can avoid the situation : ) So glad to be a member!