Building a business presence and creating income on social media are commonly associated with big names like Facebook, and YouTube.

‍

There’s one designer turned entrepreneur who took a platform mostly known for home inspiration, recipes, and crafts, and turned it into a medium for collaboration that helped her earn as much as $7,000 per post.

‍

More than 30 years ago, a US immigrant family from Thailand was building their restaurant business in Philadelphia. Their daughter, Joy Cho, was 11 years old at the time and had a lot of time to explore her crafty side. She took calligraphy classes and wanted to offer writing services to her neighbors. 

‍

This was her first foray into business. No one responded after she dropped her business cards in their mailboxes.

‍

She saw the opportunity at her karate class's belt ceremony certificates. She asked if she could write the names of the students, which eventually brought in requests for invitation writing projects. This gave her a good sense of how marketing works and how to acquire prospective clients.

‍

At the university, she studied graphic design and eventually worked at a small ad agency in New York, which exposed her to fashion accounts. She transitioned to working with Cynthia Rowley, one of the first designers at Target. 

‍

She moved back to Philadelphia in 2005 and started looking for design jobs locally. After some time, rejections came along and luck wasn’t on her side. She had bills to pay so she started getting freelance jobs and also got into blogging.

‍

She wanted to earn $100,000 and had a lot of doubts about herself, her capabilities, and her craft.

‍

“Who says you can’t?” 

‍

These words from her brother-in-law made her realize how she can be limiting herself out of simply worrying. She kept these in mind and has always reminded herself whenever she starts to doubt herself.

‍

In 2007, since she didn’t have any money nor any savings, she took out $10k–15k on a credit card to fund the production of her first line of manufactured products and joined a stationery show in New York.

‍

Through this venture, she saw which parts she didn’t like in this business. By the second run, she learned about licensing and earned $10,000 in good months just for royalties. She decided to shut down the stationery line and focus on licensing collaborations instead.

‍

How did she start getting all those licensing collaborations? She pitched her way through! She created unique pitches for each company, giving them a glimpse of what she had to offer differently and how she could complement their brand. 

‍

She monetized her blog previously through banner ads, but she wanted to provide better content for her readers and make brand collaborations more meaningful. She worked her magic by pitching again to brands and getting help from an ad network. 

‍

She had the opportunity to be one of the beta testers for Pinterest in 2010 and enjoyed using the platform to share her work and find inspiration. When it was launched to the public, her profile followers instantly snowballed year after year because of the beautiful images she created her consistency in posting, the engaging topics, and again, her constant self-promotion.

‍

Her colorful empire has 15.2 million followers and 2.8 million monthly views on Pinterest, 452K followers on Instagram, and 92K on Facebook. They have an online store selling their own designs on apparel, home decor, kitchenware, travel items, and books.

‍

She shares on her blog that Pinterest can benefit your business by getting more traffic and reaching beyond your followers whenever they see and engage with your ideas. Lastly, unlike other social media platforms where posts tend to die off, your Pins can continue to live on and be discovered.

‍

Her Pinterest brand posts can go as high as $7,000 per post. She has collaborated with huge brands like Target, Microsoft, Bounty, Johnson & Johnson, and Anthropology.

‍

She has been named one of Time’s 30 Most Influential People on the Internet twice and has delivered keynote speeches on entrepreneurship, leadership, and business. She has published three books about blogging, freelancing, and creative inspiration.

‍

If you felt inspired, get access to a FREE masterclass to help you grow your business NOW.