Nick (00:00): Today's episode is a pretty exciting one. We're going to be talking with Robbin Kleinpenning and we're bringing him on the show to talk about this business that he created in the puppy training niche. Yeah. You heard that right. Puppy training. And last year, Robbin brought in over $300,000 from this puppy training business. Probably one of the coolest things about this entire story that you'll hear on the episode is Robbin is not a expert in dogs or an expert in puppy training. You just leaned on experts within the puppy training industry, which allowed him to start a podcast, write several books ,and even create online courses, which all contribute to bringing in $300,000 last year. So we'll be talking about that story. And then since then Robbin has set his sights on financial freedom and sharing his journey, getting there. And he's doing this through his YouTube channel.

Nick (00:50): So if you were to go to IAmRobbin.com and Robbin has two B's, R O B B I N, that will direct you to his YouTube channel. And you can follow along on his journey there. But before we dive into this interview and learn how Robbin was able to create a puppy training business, that brings in $300,000, I want you to head over to iTunes and subscribe to the Nine-Five Podcast. There's a lot of amazing guests like Robbin coming on the podcast in the future. So you're not going to want to miss any of the interviews and stories that are coming up while you're over there. If you enjoy listening to the entrepreneurs and hearing their stories, leave a review of the Nine-Five Podcast. Your reviews help get the show found by more people. And if it has helped you in any way, I want to be able to maximize that reach and help even more people with that said, let's get into the interview with Robbin.

Nick (01:35): This is the Nine-Five Podcast, and I'm your host, Nick Nalbach. Where we get into the minds of entrepreneurs and people just like you. So you can start, build, and grow your own online business.

Nick (01:53): Hey, welcome back to the Nine-Five Podcast. I'm your host, Nick Nalbach. And this is the show where we bring on entrepreneurs and today's guest has started his own puppy training business and has grown that to the point where now he's looking to help spread the word about entrepreneurship and help others grow their own businesses. So on the show today, we are talking with Robbin Kleinpenning. Robbin, welcome to the Nine-Five Podcast.

Robbin (02:19): Thank you very much for, uh, the kind introduction, Nick. Uh, yeah. Nice to be here. Good to be here.

Nick (02:25): So before we get into your business and everything you have going on, I think it's awesome because it's a really cool success story in a very interesting niche. But before we do that, why don't you give the listeners a little bit of an idea of who you are and what it is you're doing in the online space?

Robbin (02:41): Yeah, thank you very much. Um, so my name is Robbin I'm from the Netherlands. I'm now 31 years old. Um, I live with my girlfriend in a rental property close to the forest. So that's a little bit background about myself, uh, like to walk there with my dog every day. And besides me walking my in the forest, I started three months ago, a new YouTube channel. Um, and basically on that YouTube channel, I'm explaining, uh, what I did with my puppy training blog. So that's just one of the things I explained on that YouTube channel. And as an, uh, as an example, uh, last year in, uh, 2020, I generated close to $300,000 in revenue. Uh, the sort of, there's no profits from my, for self published books. So I, I, I wrote for four books, those are available in eBooks, paperback and audio book, and I'm no dog expert myself.

Robbin (03:33): So I started this puppy training blog, uh, like a years ago, and then I started interviewing, uh, dog experts. So that's basically how I got started with, uh, with our websites. And, uh, because of those interviews, I got traction, you know, their new puppy owners started listening to those interviews. I did with a dog experts, veterinarians, and dog behaviorists. And basically that's how I got started. And, uh, yeah, that's how I got started. And eventually I ended up with four self-published books and that's ma that's basically the main income, the main income stream. So those are available in the Netherlands. So as I'm from the Netherlands myself. So I started with, uh, with a Dutch, uh, blog, uh, and announced, translated the books into English as well. So, uh, so they're available, uh, since last year in, in, uh, like world-wide, uh, on Amazon right now, I started a YouTube channel in the, uh, an English YouTube channel. That's basically going really well. Um, but there's, that's, uh, nothing near the, the income I have from my Dutch, my Dutch websites. It basically needs a lot of, uh, energy and work on the English part of it. But yeah, that's, that's it basically. So

Nick (04:44): Yeah, no, that's perfect, man. That is so crazy. $300,000 from the puppy training. Just the books that you self-published correct.

Robbin (04:52): I also have a, I also published an online course, uh, like, uh, in 2020, but that's, that's only like maybe 1% of the income. So basically it's, uh, it's it's most of the income is from the self-published books. Yes.

Nick (05:04): Okay. And then the online course, that's in the same niche, that's the puppy training issue as well.

Robbin (05:09): Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nick (05:10): That's very cool. Well, congratulations, man. That is not a, not something to scoff at. That's a, that's a big accomplishment.

Robbin (05:18): Yeah. This, uh, I'm, I'm, I'm very happy with it. And, uh, of course it's not, it's not all profits. I, I have some, I publish our YouTube videos on the profit margin of it's it's, it's still pretty high, like the profit margin, but, uh, yeah, so I can save a lot of money right now. So that's basically my, my goal. I'm now 31 years old, but my goal is to be like financially independent one day and rather sooner than later, same as your goal. You know, I, I w I wanted to, to escape the, the nine to five job, I, I think, uh, three years ago or something like that, uh, I quit on my, uh, my nine to five job. Basically. They, they fired me actually, I didn't quit. But it was a good

Robbin (05:58): Thing, you know, there was a good thing. So maybe they identify me by way they didn't extended my contract or Audi, Audi pronounce that in English. Like they didn't like they needed to, to extend my contracts or basically say their goodbyes. And it's like, it's like a law in the Netherlands that you can. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, there was a pretty good thing. Like there was three years ago and, uh, since then, I I've never worked for, uh, for someone else. Again, I started doing some consulting things, uh, as I'm, uh, I worked in the internet marketing space at a, at an internet marketing agency. So I do have a lot of experience with, uh, internet marketing, like a search engine optimization, like ranking a website, I and Google doing Google AdWords, Facebook ads, conversion optimization, and email marketing and all those stuff. I did it, I did all those things.

Robbin (06:45): I consulted in those things during my, my job. And then after I got laid off, I started doing that on my own, like consultations on, on e-commerce stores and the moment my, my puppy training business, did better and better I started to quit those consulting jobs as well, because I, I, I don't really like spending. It's not that I don't, don't really like spending consultations, you know, all those hours by this it's, it's far more pleasing to do it on your own time and work on your own projects, then, then work on someone else's projects. So that's basically the idea. And now, uh, like in last December I quit the last client I had. So I said, I said, my goodbyes to the last client and I had a, so there was a good feeling, you know, like now I'm like totally on my own. And, uh, that's, uh, that's very nice.

Nick (07:36): That is a crazy story, man. So that lay off, it was kind of a blessing in disguise in a way.

Robbin (07:42): Yeah, it was a, that was pretty cool.

Robbin (07:44): I had some savings, so it was not that I, uh, that I had any, any trouble like, uh, w w what I'm going to do now, you know, uh, I had, I had a nice, decent savings in my bank accounts Uh, and the puppy training business that started like, like taking off a little bit, uh, back then, but, but not enough to sustain my lifestyle. So I needed those, uh, those clients, those internet marketing clients in the beginning, but now I don't need them anymore. And I can say like that the last few months I saved, like really am I in my pockets, like close to $13,000 per month. So that's really nice. So I can now save and invest a lot of that money. Uh, and that's, that's working towards my goal of being financially independent. You need to invest your money, uh, really aggressively, uh, or else. Yeah. You can only be financially independent, like when you're 60 you're or, you know, or 70. So I know my goal is to, to have a, like, maybe as 40, you know, as 40 at age 40. So, um,

Nick (08:47): That was great, man. And I want to get into the stories of both the puppy training and what you're working on now with this financial training, helping other people with their financial goals before we do that, something that I'd like to do with all the guests that I bring on the show, I like to ask them what their superpower is and by superpower. I mean, what is that one thing that you are just a rock star at? Maybe people come to you, if they have a question about this thing, or you just feel like you got this nailed.

Robbin (09:13): Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's a nice question. I think my superpower would be like self-discipline. I think so. Um, if I, if I'm focused on one thing, if I have a goal, you know, back in the day when I was still working my nine to five job, my goal was to write those books. You know, those, those self-published books, those four books. And, uh, that, that's what I did. So I, uh, I needed to be at work like at nine, at eight 30, for example, I woke up at five some days, and I started writing those books. And the first book I wrote the first book in seven months and the other three books I wrote in a wrote and published those books in three months. So I, I wrote them published one book a month in three months. So, uh, because of the dedication, I think, uh, I had,

Nick (09:58): That is awesome. So self-discipline definitely, yeah, I would definitely say that as a superpower, knock out that, yeah, that's amazing, man. Now, I'm curious, when you said you were laid off, you had some saved up and obviously being in the internet marketing space, you kind of had a good idea of what you needed to do to, I guess, be successful without your nine to five job. And you said you were already kind of growing the puppy training business while you were still working your nine to five job, or did you start that after you got laid off?

Robbin (10:28): Uh, now while I was, I was at my nine to five job. Yeah. So I started my nine to five job in the, I think in, I graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing in 2014. And then I started that nine to five job in the internet marketing consultancy in 2015. And then from 2015 to 2017, I worked at my nine to five job. And during that time from 2015 to 2017, I started working on that puppy training blog.

Nick (10:56): That's very cool.

Nick (10:58): Why, why puppy training? That seems like a very random niche to get into. Where did that come from?

Robbin (11:04): Yeah, it's like a, I think I started that blog, uh, in, in 2011, I think. So I started with a whole bunch of different projects, you know, there's, this is just one of the projects I, I, uh, I started, I started movie websites, news websites, a website about customer service, uh, whatever, you know, you name it. I started probably a website about it, and this was one of the websites I started. And it was just basically a friend of my and old friends. He was interviewed in sort of blogging and blogging scene and like making websites online and making some money there. And he told me like, you should make a website, you know, you can make what you can eat, you can make money with. And that's what I did. So I started with WordPress and, uh, but I didn't know like where to start a website about.

Robbin (11:48): So he asked me like, what, what topic are you interested in? So I said, yeah, I dogs, you know? And, uh, so that's what I did basically. So it's not like rocket science that I did, uh, like a really big business gaze or whatever. I just, I just, we did some keyword research, like what topics we could write about and stuff like that. And we saw some good topics we could write about. So we, we picked a domain name, uh, based upon those keywords back in the day, like it was still, still working pretty good if you had an exact keyword domain name as they call it, that's what we did actually. So that's how I got started with that. So I started in 2011 with, with a dog training website because I just was interested in dogs.

Nick (12:30): That you know, that's, that's really interesting because that's a big question that a lot of people have is I want to start an online business, but I don't know what to start a business about. And that's usually the first question you got to look at is what is my business going to be about? And there's a whole bunch of different ways to come up with what your business should be and what your niche should be in. And I love how simple it is. I liked dogs. So I'm just going to create a business about dogs.

Robbin (12:54): Yeah. And I'm not saying that that's the best thing, uh, to go about with creating a website or a business, you know, there are, it's better to, to think it through, like, what's your goal, you know, uh, if you're, if your goal is to make a million dollars a year, it's probably a lot harder to do in the dog training niche. Then in the, in the, in the marketing niche, you're in, for example, you know, in the entrepreneurial niche, if you have a, a big website and the entrepreneurial niche, marketing niche, whatever, you know, that they're making money online niche, it's far more lucrative than the dog training niche, I believe. Uh, so it's, I don't say it's the best, the best way to go about creating a blog or creating a website or whatever your goal is to create, um, both. Yeah. It is a way and it, and it worked out like a little bits, you know?

Nick (13:42): Oh, definitely. Man. Yeah. Do you mind, do you mind sharing what the dog training website is?

Robbin (13:47): Uh, it's, it's a Dutch, it's a Dutch website, so, uh, but I don't mind sharing. Um, maybe it's best that you just put it in the show notes because it's, uh, it's, it's hard to pronounce and a in English, I think.

Nick (13:59): Okay. Yeah, no, that'll be perfect. We will put all the links to that in any links that we discuss in the show today will go in the show notes. So if we discuss anything and you might not have caught her, or you weren't able to take notes on it, don't worry about it. We got it in the show notes. So just make sure you check that out after the episode here. Yep. So you started growing this business, you created a blog around puppy training and something you mentioned earlier at the beginning of this episode, you are in no way an expert in dogs.

Robbin (14:28): No, exactly. So I started the blog on dog training on puppy training and the first, the first blog post I wrote where, uh, we're just like summaries of, uh, of chapters I read in different books or on different, uh, uh, different websites. So those were the first blogs I wrote myself, uh, just like summaries off of other, uh, auto websites and auto books. And at the beginning, I didn't really connected my name to the block. You know, it was just like a anonymous block about dogs. Uh, but when I was, when I started to be more serious with it, with the blog and I started connecting with, uh, I started reaching out to all the dog trainers and veterinarians, I needed to, to make a website more professional. So I really, uh, I went to a photographer and I took some, some nice pictures with my dog.

Robbin (15:16): And then, then I started the podcast basically. So I published like, I think, uh, around 25 podcast episodes. And that's a nice way to connect with, uh, with experts through a podcast. But, uh, in order to, to invite those experts to your podcast, you need to have some sort of a professional looking website or whatever, because was those people, they don't feel that they should be on their podcast. You know, they don't feel any reason to be on a podcast.

Nick (15:45): Doesn't seem like it was credible source.

Robbin (15:47): Yeah, exactly. That, that's what I mean. That's what I mean. Yeah.

Nick (15:49): Yeah. Well, that, that is very interesting. How did you actually start getting your name out there? You just start reaching out to people on your website and say you want to interview them, or how did all that kind of come about to make this thing grow?

Robbin (16:03): The benefit is I started the blog like a couple of years before. I think I had some, like a 10,000 visitors on the blog already. Um, so just, just on, on like organic visitors from, from blog posts. So I just, I, I created a nice looking website. I added some, some nice images for me and, uh, like it looked professional. And then I, then I sent a nice email to one of, uh, one of the dog trainers. I think I started with veterinarians. So, uh, with veterinarians and I just, uh, I think I just called them up and said, uh, I I'm, I'm, my name is Robbin I'm from, uh, from this poppy blog. Uh, we get a lot of questions about, uh, veterinarian topics. I will I, to, to interview one of your veterinarians on this particular topic, do you mind, uh, asking me some, allowing me to ask some questions?

Robbin (16:55): That's basically what I did. And when I got one, one interview, then I just asked that guy, like, do you know some other people, other great people to interview, and that's how I got the ball, the first ball rolling, actually. And, um, yeah, that's, that's, I think that's a pretty good way. So I think you're doing a good job with your website. So to, uh, to publish a podcast, I think it's a nice way to, uh, to, to get to know people and also to get other experts on your show. That's basically what I is, where my puppy training blog. I was no expert in dog training whatsoever, but I did started at puppy training blog and I, on my blog, it says, I'm no dog experts. You know, so I I'm really blindly led, I'm no dog and experts in my books. It says, uh, on the front and the first page of my book, I think it says, I'm no dog experts.

Robbin (17:45): I interviewed dog experts. My ambition wasn't to be a dog expert, you know, that's uh, so I think, I think you don't need to be an expert to start something like to start a business or whatever. Uh, but for example, if you want to start like a business in, uh, learning people to, to, to play guitar, uh, of course you cannot teach someone else to play guitar. If you cannot play guitar yourself, but that doesn't mean you can interview people or you can, uh, like, uh, go to other guitar experts and, you know, put a camera in front of you guys and, and ask them like some tips, you know, w w w what tips can he give you like to play guitar? Then you are to like the middleman who is connecting the, uh, the expert with the, uh, with the people who are trying to learn guitar. But of course you cannot like teach those guys how to play guitar, because you cannot play guitar yourself, but you can like invite experts on your show or, you know, to give tips. And, uh, that's, that's what I did when my blog, and that's what I did when my, where my books, I, I interviewed all those experts. So I, in total, I interviewed 30 dog experts for my four books. And I just summarized basically what they said in the, uh, survey. And I summarized it all and published those four books

Nick (19:02): Is amazing, man. And we were just talking for the listeners. We were kind of talking about this before we started recording this episode about how, like, exactly what Robbin was saying here. You don't have to be the expert. You can leverage other people's expertise and like what you did interviewing the veterinarians and the other dog people, and using that to craft your book and much like the podcast, I'm sure you did a very similar thing and what I'm doing with this podcast, I'm in no way, promoting myself as an expert of all things business, but I have a platform which is the podcast where I can bring other experts on to share their knowledge of online business and the listeners gain information and knowledge and hopefully helpful strategies and tips to grow their own businesses. And at the same time, I'm getting that same knowledge.

Nick (19:51): So in a way, I'm just as much a student as any listener of this podcast as well. And I think the big, important thing here is with a podcast or with what you did interviewing people, you're able to actually reach out, build connections, build relationships with people, and it allows you, it opens up the door for learning and figuring out better ways to do things or gain more information. I don't know. I think social media and the way that business and everything has kind of evolved. We've been pushed away from that relationship building the connections. So I think anything like this, if you're new in a niche, or you don't really know what you want to do, but it's something interesting to you and you'd like to try to create a business around it. I would highly recommend anybody who is interested in doing this to reach out on social media, find the experts, find what you did, find the veterinarians, that you can talk to the people that you know, that have this information and just kind of engage with them, create actual relationships with people that's really, what's going to your business grow.

Robbin (20:48): Yeah. And it also depends on what your what's your, uh, ideas which have been there, the business. So if you're a like, uh, the business, your, your, your podcast, for example, your Nine-Five Podcast, then you of course need to connect with other experts. But if you're, if your business idea is to maybe like an online business idea, like to create, uh, a news-related blog websites where you want it to have like, uh, affiliate with ads, you know, and once it's a half, like 5 million visitors a day on that website where you just share a news-related stuff around whatever, you know, that can be like economic stuff, or maybe gaming related stuff, or whatever topic you have in minds, then maybe you don't need to be like with an experts because you, you you're just sharing news. It depends on like, what was your business idea is?

Robbin (21:35): If you wanted to start a podcast, or if you wanted to, to, to, uh, to sell like products, you know, like information products, then you do, I think you do need to need to connect with experts. But if your goal is to, to just, um, sell, uh, advertisements, you know, uh, on your websites, then, then that's a different story. So it depends on your business model. If your business model is to sell information products, then of course you need to connect with experts. If your business model is something different than selling information products, then yeah. That could be something, something else, what you need to do, what you need to do. Yeah,

Nick (22:08): I agree. I just think it's so cool. And a lot of the guests on the podcast have brought up the same thing, like how important relationships have been in the success of their business. And I really don't think it matters what niche you're in or what your goal is with the business. If you are great at building relationships, like real genuine relationships, there's a long ways that you can go with that business just because you never know who that person might know, or this person might know, or what value you can bring to them and they can bring to you. Like, I think there's so much to be said about that relationship building aspect. But anyways, I had one more question that I wanted to ask you about the puppy training before we segue over into what you're currently working on right now. And my big question was what were the, I guess, biggest pains and challenges that you were faced with when you were trying to grow this puppy training business?

Robbin (23:00): I think the, the main thing was that I, uh, that I didn't know for sure whether it would work out or not, you know, like I spent so much hours into creating a, you know, creating a nice looking website, you know, uh, adding those pictures, uh, creating videos, YouTube videos, setting the alarm at 5:00 AM to wake up, you know, all those hours. And you, and I didn't know for sure whether it would work out or not. Uh that's that's, I think that's the psychological thing. The hardest thing, I think the pain, uh, that you don't know for sure whether you're like succeeding in that particular project. I think that's, that's a, that's, that's the hardest thing.

Nick (23:39): So that's a really great point because I think a lot of people will end up in the same position. At some point you're putting in all this and effort into something and you just, you're taking a leap of faith at some point. I'm curious too, for you, what kind of kept you motivated to keep pushing, even though you were unsure where it was going to end up?

Robbin (23:56): Uh, that that's, uh, that's also a good question. Uh, yeah. W w what was it that gave me a, I think, I think the, the thing was maybe, uh, it, that's basically a good thing. I think problem, I, or maybe the problem, maybe it's not a problem, but, um, I had already so much hours into the projects and it, and it was generating some income, you know, uh, at the end points, uh, but not like, uh, like life-changing money, but I already had so much hours into the projects. I, and, uh, I just don't, they didn't want it to quit their projects, you know, like, uh, I just, and that's not a good thing, you know, sometimes she needed to get a project. If you, if you, if, if you think it's not gonna work out, you don't want to like, spend all those hours, days, months, years on a projects, you know, for sure.

Robbin (24:41): It's, it's, it's the thing you don't know for sure, but that's, that's a really hard choice to make. Like where do you, where do you think it's going to work out and it's, uh, uh, coming back to your question, how did I like keep going, kept going? Uh, maybe, uh, I already left a lot of projects. You know, I, as I, as I explained earlier, I, I, uh, started a lot of different projects, uh, news, news websites, uh, customer service websites, like about as customer service, a blog and movie websites, all those, all those other projects I already like abandoned. And I think this was the only one who had some, some, some real traction. And I just told myself, you know, like, uh, I'm just going to go for it. I'm going to give it my all, you know, I'm gonna, I'm going to create the best products.

Robbin (25:26): I think that should be on. And that those were my self-published books. Uh, you know, I, I wanted to create awesome YouTube videos. So I, I created awesome YouTube videos. I, I learned myself how to do all of those things with a camera. I, I hired someone to teach me those things. So I just, I just gave it my all and I, and that's all by myself. What if, what if it doesn't work out like two years later, what's the big deal then? You know, like you, you lost two years maybe of your, uh, of your time. Uh, but you'll learn a lot of stuff. You know, I just, I just, all by myself, I needed to give it my all, you know, like I, I wanted to spend all those. That's the thing I want us to give it. My all that's. That's amazing. Yeah.

Nick (26:06): No, I think that's really interesting. And I wanted to ask that question because I feel like myself included kind of get into this realm, the shiny object syndrome, where you're starting to work on stuff, but you're not seeing a whole lot of progress. So then you're looking elsewhere and you're like, Ooh, look at that. That might be good. I'm going to start doing that instead. And you don't really give it time to really mature and don't put a whole lot of effort into making this thing actually happen. So that's why I was really curious what kind of motivated you to keep going and not just like jump to the next shiny object that was out there, but I think you, I think you said it, well, maybe

Robbin (26:41): One thing to answer to that story. Like I think back then when I was, when I was creating my self published books, I already had an audience. So I was not that I, that I wrote books for no audience. I already had an audience to, to, to sell the booster. But, um, yeah. Sorry, go ahead.

Nick (26:58): No, I was just gonna say, I think that is a really good point to make. So you had already built up this audience with the blog and with the podcast before you ended up selling these books.

Robbin (27:07): Yeah. So for instance, in your, in your example, you know what you're, uh, I'm not sure how many, how many visitors you have on your website. But I started with, uh, with selling products, you know, my own products, I try some affiliate products, but with my own products, I started selling my own products. When I had like 10 I think 10k visitors or something per month. So, um, and this, this it's the same. So I think you, you, you definitely needed to give it a chance to get to like a thousand or 5,000 or 10,000 visitors per month. And if you then still don't really like the project or have your doubts about the projects, then you still can abandon the project, but don't create a websites, uh, with an idea you have and publish one blog post on it. And a month later you don't see thousand visitors on your website, and then you think, well, why, why do I don't have those, those numbers on my website?

Robbin (27:57): That's, that's not the way to go about it. It's the same thing with my, with my new YouTube channel. I now have 34 subscribers on my, on my YouTube channel. That's like nothing, you know, like if you, if you compare us with other YouTube channels and I already published two videos every week, so I now have 27 YouTube videos on my, on my YouTube channel, the site, a lot of time I spend on their YouTube channel and I only have 34 subscribers, but it's like a really, that's the, that's the, uh, you know, the business niche, the, the investing niche, the, the, the Bitcoin niche, I'm creating some videos about Bitcoin. You know, that's a really, uh, high, competitive niche. And, uh, you can, you can expect like results immediately. So, but that is hard. Of course, it's hard to see. I, I don't see, like, I only see like a tiny fraction on my YouTube channel, but I, I needed to give it a chance. Right?

Nick (28:46): Yeah, absolutely. And what I really like about what you have going on with the puppy training stuff is that you have these books out there, those books now you've made them once. They're going to continue to make money for you. People are going to constantly be able to buy it, and it's no extra time spent on you other than if you want to further promote those books. So really those are out there for the world. And now you're able to focus on what we're going to be talking about next, growing your YouTube channel. I just think that's awesome that you have that set up to where, you know, that there's going to be money coming in from these books. And now you're able to focus on other things that you're interested in doing, but it took getting the blog established that website established the visitors, and then creating these books before you're able to, I guess, kind of open up and venture into different areas you stuck through with the puppy training very well. But now I do want to transition over to what you're working on right now, and that is the YouTube channel. So do you want to just tell everybody, I guess, for one, what the channel is called and what are you doing over there right now? What are you transitioning to?

Robbin (29:46): Yeah. Yeah. Okay. It's a good question for starters. My, my, my week now, nowadays, uh, it looks something like this. Um, I spent around, I think, five hours on my three, three to five hours, maybe on my puppy training blog, uh, each week and the rest actually of it's. I, I now spend on the new YouTube channel, like, uh, thinking about the new content I'm going to create and what the new YouTube channel is all about. Um, in, in the middle of this year or the beginning of this year, I was thinking like, what do I want to do next? You know, uh, because I, I, I taught by myself guide a YouTube. The, the, the, the puppy training website is doing pretty good. I have the English websites, uh, established a little bits and the, and the Dutch, the Dutch website is doing, doing, uh, doing well.

Robbin (30:34): What, what's the next thing I want to do? You know, I don't see myself creating blog posts about puppy training, like in five years from now. You know, that's not my, my, my real passion, like puppy puppy, puppy center, dog training. So I wanted to do like what my real passion is, or like, maybe my interests passion is maybe not the word, not the good word, maybe more, more of my interests. And my interest is more in the, you know, my, my, my background is in economics marketing. That's, that's the study I did. And, uh, that's, that's the thing I know most about. Uh, I liked talking about business investing and stuff like that. So I told myself, okay, what's, what's my goal in my life. You know, I, I wanted to be financially independent one day, you know, I, I don't want to, I want to go on vacations, uh, with my future children.

Robbin (31:19): I don't have children at the moment, but I would like to have some children that someday I would like to, uh, to go on vacations. You know, a couple of times per year, I want to live in a nice house with my, with my family. I don't want to have any money worries whatsoever. And if you, if you want to accomplish that goal, you, you, you need to have like some sort of financially independence. And in order to reach that goal, you need to invest money. And so that, that was my, my brain basically. And I was thinking, okay, maybe it's a, it's a good thing to, to create some money out of that, you know, by going through that journey of becoming financially independent and sharing their journey on YouTube, what, why not like creating YouTube videos about it, and also like talking about the topics I'm learning now, I'm learning, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm reading now about us, you know, so the other day I listened to an interview about Bitcoin and I created this video about my summary about that, uh, that particular interview. And that's the first video. It did well on the, on the YouTube channel. So out of the 27 50 hours, that's the first video go get this, got some first traction on YouTube, but that's okay. So, um, I'm, I'm pretty rambling here, uh,

Robbin (32:30): To answer your question, uh, like what's the, what's the idea of the YouTube channel? My idea is to, to share my, my income, you know, so, uh, one of the, a few of videos on my YouTube channel is about our, how much I'm making every month from, uh, from my puppy training blog, how much I invest every month into stocks and into some base going and what my plan is to becoming financially independence. Uh, so what, one of the videos I'm planning to publish is how much I, uh, I made, uh, last year. So in 2020, although all the different spots of it's how much time I spend on those things. And that's basically the idea maybe in the future. Uh, I don't know if there is going to be like a products I'm going to sell. I don't have a real vision for that. It's just at the moment.

Robbin (33:11): It's just like the YouTube channel. I'm creating two videos each week, Monday and Thursday, I'm publishing a new video and, uh, that's, that's basically gathering an audience. That's a, that's the first thing I, I, um, I I'm doing right now. And if someone would ask me, like, what will you advise me to, to start off with an online business? My first advice would be like to, to get an audience somewhere. I think that's the, that's the best thing to do and, you know, get the first thousand people in and then, uh, see whatever happens, next, I think.

Nick (33:42): What is the name of the YouTube channel?

Robbin (33:44): Uh, it's it's now it's a, it's a, Hello I am Robbin, but I think if you, if you search under the YouTube, I don't think you will find it. So, uh, the best things to do is like go to the websites. IAmRobbin.com and it's with, uh, it's it's with two Bs. Robbin is with two Bs, and I think it will redirect you to the YouTube channel at the moment.

Nick (34:04): Perfect. And just like all the other links discussed, I will put a link to that website in the show notes as well. So you can make sure that you can get there and check out the videos that Robbin is putting out. So really the whole premise behind the YouTube channel now is just really sharing your journey, doing basically exactly what we were talking about earlier. Not necessarily being an expert, but sharing the information that you're learning and trying to become financially independent.

Robbin (34:32): Yeah. I think the best thing will be like, if I, if I started, if I looked back a better way will be like that. I started, the YouTube channel already like five years ago, you know, that will be better because now I, I already have that puppy training blog. It would be how nice would it be if I started that YouTube channel five years ago? And I, and I, the first video I made, I explained, and now we're going to write these books, you know, uh, these are my struggles right now. I'm having, I'm having these doubts that I'm, I'm not gonna make it. Then five years later, I have a dog training business. That's making $300,000. Uh, so last year that will be like an amazing journey to, to, to see for for people. But I didn't do that. So that,

Nick (35:14): I mean, regardless, you're still able to take people through that journey. I mean, now, now you've lived it. And you know, where, I guess, you know, where that story ends, or I guess up to this point, you know, where that story goes. So you're still able to share that journey and how you got there. So I still think that it's, regardless if you're sharing it as you go or you're coming back, I mean, it's still an awesome, I mean, you had awesome success with that. I'll training niche, and you're still continuing to grow. You're still contributing to that. So there's still, I mean, getting caught up with the story, but then continuing that story, that's still evolving at this point. So I still think it's an awesome premise for this entire channel.

Robbin (35:49): Yeah. Yeah. Thank you very much. I think, uh, I think so as well, but I think, um, uh, like, uh, my experience right now is that I'm, uh, uh, I'm enjoying creating content about things I'm, I'm, um, currently learning, um, more, uh, than creating content about the things I already learned like three years ago. You know, I think I have a lot of, a lot of knowledge about, uh, how to do email marketing, how to do search engine optimization, how to create Google ads, how to like all those specific things, how to create an ebook, how to launch on paperback back out to all those things. But I don't really like creating a video about those topics because I that's, that's like a, um, I already know no dose thing. So the content I'm publishing right now, it's, it's, it's, I'm in, in that, in that particular topic, I'm, I'm really interested right now.

Robbin (36:39): So I'm, I'm publishing content about Bitcoin for instance, and I'm no expert in Bitcoin and that's that, that's, that's more fun in my opinion, at least than creating content about the things you already know so much about, then, then, then you're, you're learning nothing new, you know, if you're, if you're, if you're creating, like if you're creating content about a particular topic for one year, you're already an expert in, then you're actually learning nothing new one year long. And I that's that's, uh, for me, it's, uh, it's pretty boring in my opinion. So I, yeah,

Nick (37:12): I listening to you talk about that. I, I can see, I definitely see where that mindset is. If you're just living in the past, talking about the stuff that you've done in the past. Yeah. You're not progressing. Um, but I'm, I'm thinking you have, you have this set of skills and this knowledge, and you're an expert in what you've already accomplished. And there's so many people that are out there that don't have that expertise that want to know how to do that. I think there, there is a good story within that. Maybe I mean, I guess, let me, let me back up a little bit here, obviously, if it's not something that you are passionate about and something that you're wanting to do, you're not going to enjoy doing that's a whole nother story, but I do think there is value and value to be brought to everyone else and other people who might be interested in doing the same thing you did by telling that story.

Nick (38:01): And you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't know. Maybe cause you do post, you said two times a week is when you post those YouTube videos. Yeah. So what if you were to like post one of those videos would be something about maybe writing an ebook or something like that. And then another video is like kind of teaching about the things that you're learning right now. So then you're almost hitting on two different audiences at the same time that may potentially, I don't know if it was spread you too thin or if it will increase the chances of finding a bigger audience.

Robbin (38:27): Yeah. Yeah. That's a really good really good point then I, uh, I, I did, uh, try to, uh, some videos on that. You like, if you, if you watch my earlier videos off those 27 videos, I published the first few, few videos were about email marketing about, uh, so many marketing tips, but the thing is that market is already so saturated. So, so much competition in the markets. Then if you want to rank on some particular like, uh, ebook, uh, email marketing related topics, uh, I know much about, I need, I need it to be like, uh, so niche, you know, I needed to make videos about such niche topics that only like maybe 10 people are searching, uh, on to rank as rank high in Google because YouTube, I mean, so there's this, and I do like the idea, you know, you use sketching like creating, uh, there's a nice story to tell.

Robbin (39:17): And I think, uh, I do want to want to do that, that that's the thing, like I am sharing my income streams, for instance, you know, I'm, I'm, it's not learning anything like, uh, maybe a little bit, but it's not that I learned really new stuff by sharing my income I made like in, in 2020. So those, those topics, those videos, I, I like to be personal, you know, with my story, I want to share my story in those, those videos. And I, hopefully my, my, my, my idea is that those Bitcoin videos I'm, I'm recently publishing that, that same audience. I think that same audience also wants to make money, you know, uh, because or else will not be interested in, in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. So I think it's that that audience also wants to make money. And I think hopefully a percentage of that same audience is interested in hearing my story about how much I make on, on with my puppy training blog.

Robbin (40:10): And maybe I can help them, you know, like including something similar in the future. Um, but I, I, I think I, uh, I would enjoy it more to create a products then, you know, like to, to, uh, to create some sort of course, instead of like creating a whole bunch of different YouTube videos. And maybe when you're bigger, you know, when you have a bigger YouTube channel, it's like the YouTube algorithm is, it's a really strange thing. If you're a small channel, there is no point in creating a video about how to start a blog. For instance, you will, you, you won't be recognized if you are like a small channel like me. So maybe the moment I, if I, if I, if I, if there is an, a future, a moment that I will reach there, like a 100,000 subscriber mark, then, then those videos definitely will pop up, like how to start a blog, how to, uh, you know, how to start a YouTube channel, how I did it with my pockets, raining a blog, how to, how to write a book. But, uh, at the moment there's no point in creating such videos because no one is watching those videos. So, and if I want to get some traction on YouTube, uh, by creating like, uh, topics I know already a lot about, then I needed to be like, what I, what I explained earlier I needed to be really niche. And that's, that's, that's the only, uh, that's, that's not fun to do. And definitely not really.

Nick (41:29): Yeah, no, I, I absolutely, I definitely do. Um, and I don't want that to seem like I was saying, you need to do it this way or do it this way.

Robbin (41:36): A really good point. Really good, really good feedback. Thank you very much.

Nick (41:40): I, I do think, I mean, obviously with a new channel, obviously you're going to have to find that audience and that audiences, I don't know, it might be within the Bitcoin realm. Maybe that ends up being your audience, but I do like the way, so you're just taking in all this information, you're learning it and you're sharing it out with the world. It might be not all in one niche, like you're talking about, but that opens you up for other people to find your content and be like, I like what Robbin's putting out. I really like what he's doing right now. And that might even funnel you down into some kind of niche at a certain point, once you realize, Hey, everyone really likes when I talk about this stuff, I want to keep talking about that. I'm interested. Have you tried doing anything with TikTok?

Robbin (42:20): Uh, I've tried creating a TikTok account, but it's, uh, it's, uh, I, I published like one or two videos on it. Um, and, uh, I know for a fact, like with my, with my, uh, puppy training, uh, block, I also have a TikTok account, uh, not really an active one, but, uh, only I needed to create the videos and I already have like tons of a views on TikTok, but it's, I don't really know like what to say on TikTok basically like in the investing or, uh, making money online niche or

Nick (42:51): I I'm in the same process, man. Okay. So when I started, before I started this podcast, I jumped on TikTok and I used it as a way to like, try to get more comfortable in front of the camera because I, I couldn't do it every time I'd hit record I'd freak out. So I used TikTok as kind of a platform to just learn and get comfortable, putting myself on camera with kind of a low stakes realm inside that low stakes platform. And now I'm actually trying to focus on that and take that more seriously and try to grow on the platform. And I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I've spoken to and interacted with a lot of people about TikTok and what it takes to actually grow on there. And from everything that I can tell right now, it's all about pushing out massive amounts of content, especially at the beginning, until you hit those couple of viral videos that really send the algorithms and make them go crazy.

Nick (43:39): And you get a bunch of followers. Yeah. It's all about us pushing out content. And I kind of thinking like, with what you're doing with your YouTube channel, like you're covering a bunch of different topics even as possibly repurposing some of that content for TikTok. I'm fairly certain you can link YouTube to your TikTok account. Yeah. So if you started driving people to TikTok, then they'd ended up coming to your YouTube channel and maybe those TikTok videos about Bitcoin or something like that sparks someone's interest. And they're like, Oh, I'm going to check out what Robin's talking about on Bitcoin right now. Yeah. I dunno. It's just a thought, that's something that I've been messing around with. So

Robbin (44:12): It's definitely a, so how I would, uh, go about doing that because I, I, I don't, I don't want to spend like a lot of hours because now I already like, uh, needed to find hours through to create those YouTube videos, you know? So I, I w I would go about doing that. I think I, I think I would go to, um, to Upwork, uh, you know, familiar with that websites, so to freelance websites. And I think I, uh, it's, it's, it's a pretty good idea, actually. So, um, maybe I'm going to implement that idea of you like getting some pieces of the YouTube videos I already created. And I hire someone to, to, to edit those out and create some nice edits for, uh, for TikTok. And, uh, there are definitely stories that it's, uh, of examples, case studies, uh, of, of like investing people, people were talking about businesses or real estate or whatever. Uh, we have, we have some big TikTok accounts. So, uh, it definitely could work out, but you need to spend some time editing those videos and making those videos and the, and if you don't want to do it yourself, then, you know, you need to hire someone, but that's a, I think it's a, it's a good thing. A good, definitely, you know, repurpose repurposing, your content is as good advice

Nick (45:25): It's, it's something I'm like seeing it. And I'm seeing the growth people are having on the platform. And I'm like, ah, Dang,

Robbin (45:31): It's a new platform. So

Nick (45:33): I want to get in on that, but I'm still learning that, trying to figure it out, how to actually grow there. But I just want to bring that up being YouTube and video heavy, that could very well be a decent way to grow there.

Robbin (45:44): Yeah. Good point. Thank you.

Nick (45:45): Yeah. You've obviously seen success in the puppy training space, and now you're just trans transitioning over into teaching about financial freedom and taking people on your journey and everything you're learning to get financial freedom. I'm curious what you would recommend others do. If they're wanting to try to replicate some of the success that you've had in the puppy training niche, or with these videos that you're creating, you're obviously starting to catch a little bit of buzz at the topics you're writing, but, or topics you're recording, but how could someone kind of replicate what you're doing and create their own business around that same topic or not topic, but like in the same fashion.

Robbin (46:25): Yeah. Um, I think, uh, maybe you, you are a good example. I think with the project you're working on right now with the Nine-Five Podcast, I think that's a, that's a, I think that's a decent example of how I would go about doing that. So you can, you can start with a podcast like how you're starting right now. Uh, that's, that's one, one way about, uh, going to do it and you can also start a YouTube channel. That's the thing is if you, if you want, if you want to sell information products, you know, that's what I'm doing with my four self-published books. Then the best thing is I think to, yeah, to either start a blog, slash podcast or a YouTube channel, that's what I know most about. You know, maybe other people are big on, on Instagram and TikTok or whatever they would suggest, uh, starting an Instagram, uh, and such things.

Robbin (47:13): But, um, yeah, I know most about creating a blog. I have, I have success in creating a blog and starting a business on that, on that channel. Uh, so there, there are different ways to go about reaching your goal. Of course, if I would do it again, I will start either a blog slash podcast. You know, if you're not an expert in the few experts, like what you're doing right now, like with your podcast, you interview people and let them tell their story. That's what I did with the dog training niche. So either do that or start a YouTube channel. That's a, and that, that's basically what I'm doing right now. So I don't have a blog yet with my, with my new YouTube channel where I'm talking about business and stuff like that. I do want to create a website around it. But the main thing is YouTube.

Robbin (47:55): I want to create like real connections with people. And I think the best, best way to do it is through video to create a real, you know, real followers instead of like just random people visiting my website. Uh, I want to create a real, real followers who are willing to, you know, to, to wait another day for my video. That's the, that's the thing I, uh, I wanted to do. Uh, so I started to, I started with a YouTube channel, but you know, to coming back to your question, what, what's the one thing I would do when you will go about creating a similar thing, either start a blog slash podcast and interview experts. If you're not an expert yourself or start a YouTube channel. Yeah.

Nick (48:33): And really what Robbin here is saying, I mean, in order to start you for one, you have to start. Putting, putting content out there into the world is really the basis. I mean, every business that you hear about, there's some kind of content creation process in that. And just like what you did, you started out by creating the content, and then you built an audience around the content. You were creating the content you were putting out into the world and they are, like you said, it wasn't anything that you just knew or that specifically you knew, but it was something that you were able to research, find information, get answers, probably answer people's questions that they have on that topic. And you were able to build an audience around that content itself.

Robbin (49:17): That's the first step, of course, you know, creating an audience. Now the next step will be like a survey your audience, and try to come up with a product to sell. You know, if you're, if you're, if your goal is to sell information products, uh, but think about your business model. You know, if the business model is cre- uh, selling information products, uh, then that's, I think that's the best way to go about doing that, you know, create an audience first. Then when you have an audience, when you have some loyal audience, when you have, uh, some decent newsletter subscribers, subscriber base, survey that audience and ask them the right questions to find an answer for whatever, for their problem, basically, but maybe another business model, you know, where a lot of people trying their, uh, success is affiliate marketing. For instance, you know, there are a lot of success stories in affiliate marketing, especially in their business, the business products, you know, software products, uh, stuff like that.

Robbin (50:09): There are a lot of success story in that niche. So if, if that's your goal, then a podcast wouldn't be the best, uh, best place to start. Then the best thing is to start with doing the keyword research, you know, where are people looking for? What are people looking for and start creating content on those money related search terms. You it's, you need to think about like, what's your business model. That's, that's the first, maybe that's the first step. Think about your business model. If it's a, if it's your goal, creating information products, then create an audience, you know, interview experts or create information videos. If it's another, if it's not information products, if it's affiliate products, then you need to do keyword research. If you're not, if you don't know what keyword research is, you need to Google keyword research. There's a lot of, a lot of, probably a lot of blogs about that topic.

Nick (51:01): Excellent. Now, before we wrap up here, are there any final tips? I know we just covered quite a few here, right at the end, but any other final words of wisdom or tips that you want to leave the audience who are trying to start their own online business?

Robbin (51:15): I think the best thing is, uh, you need the, you need to focus yourself on one project before I think before 2015 and 2015, when I started working my nine to five job, I had, uh, like maybe a five, six, seven, maybe 10 different projects. And because of my lack of time, you know, because of my nine to five job, I needed to choose one project to go, uh, to continue with. And then that's the moment when I, when I saw more success, when I started to focus on one, one project is so don't try to divide your time to a lot of different projects if I just add it to one single project. And, uh, that's the, that will work out for the best.

Nick (51:56): Try not to spread yourself too thin.

Robbin (51:58): Yeah. That's the thing.

Nick (51:59): That is an excellent point. All right, man. Where do you want people to go to follow your journey towards financial freedom and get in contact with you? Maybe they have questions about starting their own niche site, or they're interested in what you're doing over on your YouTube channel. Where do you want people to go to get in touch with you?

Robbin (52:18): Yeah. The best thing is to go to my website. IAmRobbin.com. So it is with a two B's Robbin two B's. IAmRobbin.com. And then now a days that link is redirected to my YouTube channel, but in the future there's probably a blog there with a lot of information, um, regarding my, uh, my income sources and stuff like that. So that's, that's, that is the thing. And I do have some insight. I do have Instagram and some other socials, but the best thing is to go to, IAmRobbin.com

Nick (52:48): Perfect. And like mentioned previously all the links to this will be in the show notes, including social media channels, all that to get in contact with Robbin, I highly recommend you go check out his channel and see what he's got going on over there. Robbin, man, I just want to thank you for coming on the show. I had a lot of fun. I feel like we covered a lot of really interesting topics and it was just really cool hearing your story.

Robbin (53:09): Thank you very much for having me.

Nick (53:12): Yeah, man. Well, good luck on everything you're doing. I'm going to be keeping an eye on your YouTube channel. So when that thing explodes, that can be like, Hey, this guy came on my podcast. Absolutely go subscribe to channel. You have a great rest of your night, man. Hey, that is the interview. I just loved Robbin's story. And I think it's so fascinating, the way that all these entrepreneurs are able to make money and set themselves up for financial freedom. It just goes to show like everything that I've been trying to do with this podcast is just get you to realize that entrepreneurship and starting something of your own and building this thing that you've created is possible for you. Even if you have never thought that it was something that you could do, the guests that are coming on each week are proving that it's more than possible for anyone to do this thing.

Nick (53:59): Now, I completely agree with Robbin in that if starting a business is something that you're interested in, you need to start focusing on how you're going to reach your audience. Robbin mentioned podcasting as being one of those ways. And I think podcasting is a very valuable option for anyone, regardless of where you're at in your journey. Even if you have no followers. When I started this podcast, I did not have that many people that were following me. And since starting and launching the podcast, I've had several people come to me and say that they found me from the podcast. So it can be a great way to start and grow an audience. If starting a podcast is something that you'd be interested in. I do have a free Podcasting Quick-Start Guide that you can get your hands on and it will walk you through the steps of finding the right equipment and software as well as how to get your podcast recorded, edited, and then pushed out to the various podcasting apps and directories like Apple and Spotify.

Nick (54:51): If you want to snag a copy of that guide, just head over to ninefivepodcast.com/podcastguide. And there's no space in there. There's no space between podcast or guide or any hyphens or anything. It's just ninefivepodcast.com/podcastguide. Now, if you want to check out the show notes for this episode or the transcripts, you can head over to ninefivepodcast.com/episode30. And on that page, like I said, you'll find the transcripts, the links to get in contact with Robbin. And I will also throw a link in there to that podcasting guide as well. So if you just want to get all of that all at one time, just go to ninefivepodcast.com/episode30. I hope you enjoyed that interview. I look forward to continue serving you awesome stories of entrepreneurial success, just like Robbin's, but that is it for this week. I will catch you all on next week's episode

Nick (55:41): Where we will be diving more into podcasting and how you can get featured on other podcasts. If you don't have one of your own yet. So stay safe and have a great rest of your week.