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Branding Yourself: Interview with Caleb Wojcik from Pocket Changed

  • Danny InyDanny Iny

It can be fun to listen to the success stories of people like Brian Clark, Leo Babauta, Darren Rowse, Guy Kawasaki, and others.

But it can also be a little bit frustrating, because they’re soooo far ahead of you, and what you really need is to hear from someone who did what you’re doing just a little while ago.

Enter Caleb. Caleb Wojcik, that is – from Pocket Changed.

Caleb started Pocket Changed just a few months ago, and he’s built a steadily growing blog with excellent design and great content. He’s building a brand from scratch – does that sound familiar? Do you want to brand yourself?

Well, we thought you might like to know how he did it…

Let’s start off with an introduction. What is Pocket Changed all about? Who is it for?

Pocket Changed is a blog that I write for anyone trying to learn more about personal finance, career development or improving their life. In the past three years since I graduated college I have moved across the country for work, saved enough money to get out of debt, found my underlying passions and simplified my life. I write to help people do the same kinds of things.

When people come to Pocket Changed I want them to see that there are other people all over the world that are in similar situations and that there is always hope for bettering themselves. Whether they are trying to get out of debt, switch careers or minimize their possessions, I am there to help with tips, action plans and motivation tactics.

My target audience is young adults between the ages of 18 and 30, but my articles can relate to people of all ages. Many of the topics I discuss are most relevant to young professionals or recent college graduates that are just learning about different aspects of the “real world” they were never taught about in school. I focus on reaching out to readers that are going through their own quarter-life crises, like the ones I have personally experienced.  I want to give them that extra push to listen to their hearts and follow their dreams.

Tell us about the fit between the brand and the audience. What sort of brand were you trying to create?

The brand that I was trying to create for Pocket Changed was initially just based on personal finance. I first wrote solely about ways to be frugal, how student loans work, etc. After about seven weeks of writing posts every single day around that kind of brand I realized that there are already great bloggers and writers that can be that resource for people that want to learn financial principles. I determined that I was most passionate about helping people become the most awesome possible version of themselves.

One day I realized that if I was going to be the one website and brand that people would come to rely on for giving their life a big push in the right direction then I needed to adjust my focus a bit. By writing about not only money, but also about careers and life principles I would have a more well-rounded focus. Finding my own voice allowed me to turn my brand into one of trust, community and motivation. To be the best you possibly can be, it takes dedication in all areas of your life, not just one, and that is why I write about different topics.

How does the design of your blog reflect that brand? Can you talk about some specific elements, and why you chose them?

The design of my blog shows the amount of passion that I have about the topics. I don’t think that anything that I write about should be taken too seriously. Talking about money, careers and lives can be fun and I relate that through my design. For example, I designed the title image, header and tagline to jump out at the reader. I want those to be the first things they notice when they visit the website and immediately understand what Pocket Changed is all about.

I also make sure my site is as easy to navigate as possible without any intrusive advertisements. I want visitors to find my content, read it and then want to read more. I don’t want to trick readers into clicking affiliate links or leaving my site. Whenever I spend time optimizing my layout I pretend like I am a first time visitor because I want the design of my blog to be free of frustration and have intuitive navigation.

What about content? How does your selection of content fit into your brand?

I don’t think that talking about money or personal development should be as dry or boring as some people think it is. My posts are filled with as much personality as possible through the images, stories, graphics and humor I inject. I chose to write as if I was sitting in a coffee shop talking with someone or a group of people about aspects of their lives that are really personal to them. By approaching my writing in this way, I can open up and write about my beliefs without sugar coating my thoughts for the reader. I think being honest, especially online, is the best way to communicate with anyone.

When I select content I always make sure that it would help someone during their young professional years. If I think of a great topic for a post but it doesn’t apply to my audience I don’t post it. By always putting my audience first, I can make sure I never lose touch with them. As my readership grows I will continue to interact with them and determine what else they want me to write about.

What is the biggest brand “mistake” you’ve made? What’s the story, and what did you learn from it?

I’d say the biggest branding mistake I made was taking so long to establish a brand. I delayed purchasing a premium theme and developing branding for my site for multiple weeks. I was so focused on publishing content everyday that I put branding on the backburner for far too long. Once I purchased a premium theme I then put off creating a logo, color scheme and other features for another few weeks!

I learned that a website needs to differentiate itself enough from others so that visitors have a reason to come back. By creating a brand around what you offer you are able to connect with the readers or customers immediately. People sometimes make a split second decision when they see your header logo or the layout of your home page whether or not they trust you and what you are trying to provide.

What’s the biggest takeaway that readers can get from your experience branding Pocket Changed?

The small business branding and marketing that you have been putting off for so long? Do it now. You are losing future visitors, customers and business by not having a brand that they can connect with. When you are able to create a brand around what you do it makes leveraging the customer connection into a conversion that much easier.

While I don’t recommend just spending all of your time on branding in the beginning, putting it off for too long can be detrimental to your growth. Once I created my logo, tweaked my layout and re-launched my website with the new branding my traffic grew substantially faster than it did before. Sure, not everything about my website was perfect right after the first round of designing it, but making my website stand out was a big step that I put off for far too long. If I did it all again I would focus more on the branding in the first few weeks to start off strong.

 

23 thoughts on Branding Yourself: Interview with Caleb Wojcik from Pocket Changed

Shane

Thanks for introducing such a great guest blogger. Caleb’s story is inspiring and shows that with hard work and lots of articles anyone can do it. I am still in the infintile stages of my learning, but have taken some of the principles Caleb speaks of and going to move in similar directions. Though my business has been in operation for many years, it’s web presence is very young.
I’ll look forward to reading more posts both from you Danny and Caleb.

Timo Kiander

Caleb,

Great tips and thanks for sharing your branding strategy! I think that we can all learn from your story when building a brand in our businesses.

Ruthy107

I really enjoyed reading this post. It is so clear that Caleb is doing what he loves doing, that when he says “I was most passionate about helping people become the most awesome possible version of themselves” – there is no question that he ‘tried it at home first’ 🙂

Caleb Wojcik

Its not work when you enjoy what you do and try to live that way every day.

Angela C.

This is a great article! Incredibly informative and I am a huge fan of Pocket Changed!

Caleb Wojcik

Thanks Angela. I enjoy your comments!

Tenis Oakley

And of course Im now subscribing your blog to dont lose nothing. Brands for me is the simple way of make money in long term.

Caleb Wojcik

Thanks for signing up! I’m excited to hear about what new ideas and improvements you came up with.

Masafumi Matsumoto

I enjoyed reading the interview, Caleb and Danny. Caleb, I like how you write your posts in a light and casual way rather than a dry and serious tone, and your attitude towards your readers. I also like the overall feeling of your site design.

“By always putting my audience first, I can make sure I never lose touch with them. As my readership grows I will continue to interact with them and determine what else they want me to write about.”

This is something I need to remind myself of as well!

Danny Iny

Hey Masa, thanks for stopping by, it’s great to see you here. 🙂

Caleb Wojcik

Thanks Masa, I try not to make finances and personal development any boring than it needs to be. 🙂

For me, readers are the #1 priority.

Vic Magary

Great interview! I especially appreciate your thoughts on branding and “mistakes”. And also how you expanded your content area from just finance to other areas. Thanks!

Caleb Wojcik

Thanks Vic. I think sharing mistakes is one of the most helpful things someone can tell others about. Mistakes are always remembered more!

Tenis Oakley

Awesome interview and thanks for do it. Some thoughts really give me incredibles ideas and Im sure that will make good improves with it.

Anonymous

Hey Danny and Caleb

Great post – and it’s instructive for up and coming bloggers (like me!) to look at our contemporaries as well as our peers.

Great work.

Paul

Caleb Wojcik

Thanks Paul. I enjoyed sharing my story as well as taking a step back to see why it is my site is branded the way it is.

Anonymous

Caleb ~ I like how you explain your blog and brand here – it’s helpful to see it in outline form. It’s great for people trying to execute on idea to see other approaches, even if they”re done in a completely different form or context. I don’t think there’s an example out there of someone who was timely on every single component of an overall effort. Pretty much everything I’ve seen and read says, in one way or another, to start somewhere, with something, and add and build from there. I think trying to address everything from the start is the most likely thing to drain energy and effectiveness. I can think of one hugely popular blog where one of the key things needed (as I see it) came many years after the start. The blog prospered anyway. Good to keep in mind, especially when feeling overwhelmed with all we want to accomplish you know? Very good work on your part. I look forward to reading and finding out more. Susan

Caleb Wojcik

Thank you Susan for the kind words!

I agree with your point on worrying about being timely with everything you do. It is better to get yourself out there and just start seeing where things take you than to try and worry about the sequence of events.

Jon

Caleb,

I like the name of your site, great play on words. Plus, the age group you target (18-30) is perfect because all the poor spending habits start in this age bracket. If you can help educate those of us under 30 we’ll be able to reap the rewards of wise money management for decades to come.

Also, an engaging and entertaining approach to content seems to win out over the stuffy, step-by-step how to type of information. Good job, Caleb, and great points about the importance of branding.

Jon

Caleb Wojcik

Thank you Jon for the kind words. I agree with you that personal finance and career development writings can be rather boring at times. With my site I add as much personality to the posts and describe my own journey as well.

Peter Vogopoulos

Wow, thanks for this post, Caleb. I think you’ve done a marvelous job with your branding and in reading this post I recognized some of my earlier, sputtering efforts to grow a business without having focused enough on the brand.
Thanks for being our guest!

Caleb Wojcik

Anytime Peter. I hope to continue to focus my brand over the next few months with the release of my first product. I want to make it very evident who I am writing for and trying to help.

Caleb Wojcik

Thank you Danny for the opportunity to share my insights with your audience. I look forward to feedback from your readers!

Comments are closed.