Symposium Power User Profile
Michael Dinich is Your Money Geek. He runs the finance blog of the same name and is an expert in taxation, personal finance and health insurance planning. His goal is to make personal finance fun and accessible for everyone. He was able to evolve his “accidental” blogging side hustle into a hugely successful full-time career, through which he is now able to lend expert insights to other bloggers and aspiring financial mavericks. Michael is in the Power User Spotlight as we get to know him better.
- Tell us about yourself and your work as a blogger.
The world’s only accidental blogger lol. My friends talked me into launching a blog by a marketing firm that claimed they would use it to drum up business for my financial planning practice. Eventually I agreed to let them run the blog as long as I could approve the content before it was published. However, once they started sending me the posts, I could tell they were of poor quality and did not reflect my opinions. Despite having no experience blogging or writing, I started creating my own posts.
I also took a different approach with my content. I decided to combine personal finance with my love for sci-fi and pop-culture. Surprisingly, this mash-up of genres worked. After a year of blogging as a side hustle, I left my job to focus on the blog full-time.
Today, I run YourMoneyGeek.com and another blogging mastermind group where we teach blogging, brand SEO and how to increase online traffic. Blogging has been an amazing – if unexpected – experience, and I have been blessed to work with brands/people such as Symposium, Dianne Franklin and Perez Hilton.
- What is one piece of personal financial advice everyone needs to know?
I’d want everyone to know that in personal finance, as in life, it is okay if you make mistakes. You are not defined by your mistakes; all that matters is that you start working on improving. This can be best summed up by one of my favorite movie quotes from the evil Kylo Ren in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi: “Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That’s the only way to become what you were meant to be.”
Yes – when starting a blog. expect to spend money! Aspiring bloggers are often attracted to blogging by the low startup costs and potential income. Building a profitable blog, however, requires spending some money on tools, software and promotion. When I was first growing Your Money Geek, I paid to be a member of a mastermind group. Without the mentorship and coaching I received from that group, I would not be where I am today. I believe that a great mentor/coach is one of the very best investments you can make.
- How are you using Symposium?
I use Symposium to host and market my SEO and blog coaching sessions. Symposium is ideal, as it handles listing the session, scheduling and marketing all in one place.
- What do you like about Symposium?
Symposium offers full functionality within its smartphone app. This allows me to still offer sessions while traveling or out of the office, significantly increasing the times I am available to coach.
- What advice do you have for Symposium experts?
Now is the ideal time to monetize your experience. Due to COVID and its social distancing protocols, people have become comfortable and familiar with meeting experts virtually and are willing to pay to improve and/or increase their skill sets and knowledge base.
Check out Michael Dinich on Symposium, or hear more from the best SymPros!
