Contact: motivatethyself [at] gmail.com
Twitter: @EricHamm
Websites: http://motivatethyself.com/, http://frugaltheme.com/
Career: “So my full time job is to find new sources of income streams to add to the current ones, ideally done in front of my home computer, so I can eventually spend less time working all together.”
Passions: “FREEDOM  My tagline at Motivate Thyself is ‘Your freedom depends on it!’  I know it may sound a bit corny to some, but it’s what I’m after.  I love to work and work hard, but I want to be able to work at the things that get me most excited.  The things that wake me up before the alarm, as I’m going over my next plan of attack or way of solving a particular challenge.

I certainly love the outdoors, and good health and cartoons and of course, my family, but without the freedom to enjoy these things, what’s the point?”

Eric Hamm really impressed me during this interview.  In just 10 short months, he has been able to carve out a niche for himself in the personal development world (which is huge) and has built a concrete revenue model.  He’s not dependant on ads; instead, he has built his own Premium Wordpress Theme that is now generating him some solid revenue.

We talk about how Eric’s passed has shaped him into who he is today.  His writing is sincere, and people from all backgrounds of life can truly learn how to liberate themselves from a common life.  Enjoy the video!

Conversation Breakdown

1:35 - Now that you’re posting once a week, do you notice a drop or an increase in your readership?

Eric has noticed a large increase in both his traffic, subscribers, and comment count.

2:43 - Would you recommend others to switch to a similar model of posting once a week?

It truly depends on what you’re blogging about.  If your topic can be written about every single day (perhaps a news blog), then you should write everyday.  However, when it comes to productivity, healthy living, or personal development, once a week could potentially increase your reach.

3:20 -  Can you tell us how your experiences have shaped you into who you are today

Eric talks about how his life was so incredibly different before making the transition into who he is today

4:26 - How hard was it to make the transition from working for someone else to now owning your own company

Eric has done so many jobs, and he couldn’t last more than 6 months without thinking that “a monkey could do this.”  Starting his business took a lot of assistance from his family, but he was able to successfully transition his business into an online model, work less, and make more.

6:23 - How did you get the advertisement on ZenHabits.net

Eric and Leo were friends from blogging, and it just so happened that Leo had an open advertisement at the right time for Eric.  It made sense for Eric to purchase an ad spot to drive very targeted traffic.

7:10 - What is the traffic one can expect?

It’s about 300 hits a day of VERY targeted traffic.

7:51 - How can someone else do the same things that you have been doing in terms of living freely

It’s all about patience.  No one becomes free overnight.

8:56 - How long did it take you to build Frugal Themes and start generating revenue from it?

Eric has only been blogging for 10 months.

9:46 - Why do you highly recommend having a separate url for your business when you have a blog that generates traffic?

It’s a change of mindset.  When people are on a blog, they’re looking for free material.  When people are on a site that is selling a product, they’re looking to either purchase or not purchase that product.

10:53 - What are the first steps a person should take to breakaway from the cubicle

Define what you want to be able to do in life, and then list out all of the things that you are good at that people may want to pay money for.

12:17 - Why is it not enough to just start a blog on a topic you’re passionate about?

You have to start a business that either solves a problem, or have something that people will go out of their way for to get.