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How I Built a Business Out of Things I Did for Fun · Abbey the Podcast Lady

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  Thank you. This week's podcast episode is a little
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  bit different than what I have been doing recently,
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  which is more guest interviews and sharing like
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  FAQs and that sort of thing. Today, I want to
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  spend some time talking about a milestone that
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  I just hit because I think it's important to
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  celebrate these milestones. I am always encouraging
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  other people to celebrate theirs. And I'm like,
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  you know what? I'm not doing a very good job
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  of celebrating my own. So we are going to be
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  celebrating a milestone today for Abby Graves
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  Productions. On June 1st, I will have officially
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  been self -employed for two full years, which
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  is crazy to think about if I were to rewind in
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  time even. gosh, to 2022 and would have told
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  that version of Abby that you would be full -time
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  self -employed for two years in 2026 and you
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  would be just having the time of your life doing
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  it, she would have looked at you like you were
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  insane because that girl still thought that she
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  was going to be a radio DJ forever and ever and
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  ever. And that's just not who I am anymore. I
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  feel like I've lived a lot of lives since then.
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  So we're just going to be having a little yap
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  about that today. I did find an interesting statistic
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  on the internet and it is The odds of making
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  it two years self -employed in Minnesota are
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  roughly 78 to 80 percent. This slightly beats
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  the national average as Minnesota consistently
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  ranks among the top states in the country for
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  small business and startup longevity, which is
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  good to know because, you know, I am in Minnesota
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  and running a small business after all. The odds
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  of survival break down like this year one, 20
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  percent of new businesses fail. Year two, 30
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  to 32 percent of those remaining fail. And then
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  beyond year two, once a self -employed business
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  or startup makes it. past that two -year mark,
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  the survival rate stabilizes significantly. So
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  that is very promising to hear. I mean, running
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  a small business definitely comes with its struggles.
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  Every day is so incredibly different from the
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  next, especially in my industry. My primary industry,
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  I would say, is podcasting. That is what I do
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  for like my weekday job, I would say, but it
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  bleeds out into the weekends and pretty much
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  every free second that I have. But I also supplement
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  my income with wedding DJing. I run a photo booth.
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  rental business, a video guest book rental business,
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  and I host music bingo services. They all fall
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  under the umbrella of Abby Graves Productions.
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  It's been fun to like figure out what does Abby
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  Graves Productions entail. Let's rewind even
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  to June 1st of 2024 when I went full -time self
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  -employed. At that time, I think I had a roster
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  of about seven clients, I want to say, and I
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  was producing podcasts for them every single
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  week. And at the time, I was DJing weddings,
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  but I didn't have my photo booth business I didn't
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  have my video guest book business I didn't have
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  my music bingo business I was still hosting bar
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  trivia at that time but that was just as a contractor
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  for trivia ninjas that wasn't my own company
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  I was doing that kind of as a side thing the
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  music bingo thing is all on me that is my business
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  that is what I do I have a couple of contractors
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  that can go out if I get in a pinch and I double
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  book myself but for the most part it's all Me
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  doing it. So my business really has grown and
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  evolved over the past two years. I just think
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  about where I sit now on a monthly basis for
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  like what I'm billing, what I'm doing. And I'm
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  like, oh, that girl two years ago, she was not
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  doing as much as I'm doing now. It's like, how
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  did I think I was going to survive? And that's
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  the thing. Like when you take a risk and a gamble
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  on yourself. It's sink or swim. You're going
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  to figure it out. It might not pan out how you
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  wanted it to. Luckily for me, it's been panning
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  out pretty well. That's not to say there hasn't
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  been struggles. I mean, I've lost clients due
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  to them having budget cutbacks, due to them supporting
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  their families in different ways, due to it just
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  not being the right time for them to be podcasting.
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  And I miss the ones that I've lost dearly. We
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  still stay in touch. But there's been times where
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  it's like, oh my gosh, what am I going to do?
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  There was... One week, just this winter where
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  I lost two clients in a matter of a week. And
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  it was like a $1 ,500 a month hit that I took.
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  And I'm like, what am I going to do? And you
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  just figure it out. You figure out ways to supplement
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  that income. In my case, it was, okay, well,
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  if that's the hit that I'm taking, I'll DJ more
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  weddings. I'll book more music bingo events.
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  I will figure out a way to make this work. I
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  have not once in this two -year stretch of time
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  gotten to the point. where I'm like, I need to
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  apply for a job. I have just been going all in
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  on what I'm doing for my production company.
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  And it's insane to think about, like I have kept
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  my bills paid for two years based on solely the
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  work that I am doing for myself and for my clients.
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  What a wild. concept what a wild thing to say
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  and I am just so proud of myself I know that
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  it's not cool to be like braggy and like look
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  at me look at all that I've accomplished but
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  I feel like this is something that we all need
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  to be a little more braggy about especially if
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  you're running a small business even if you're
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  running it part -time if you are doing something
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  like this to pay your bills and support your
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  family no matter what that family looks like
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  you need to be bragging about it more you need
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  to own the fact that you are doing this super
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  cool thing you are putting your heart, your soul,
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  your blood, your sweat, your tears into this
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  thing and making it happen. Part -time, full
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  -time, even 20 % of the time. If you're doing
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  something like this. Brag about it. Don't be
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  humble about it anymore. The time to be humble
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  is long gone. It is time to own the fact that
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  we are doing cool things and we are providing
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  for ourselves and our families by doing those
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  cool things. That is the benefit to living in
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  this era. Like it is 2026. We don't need to be
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  doing the same old, same old things that our
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  grandparents did. We have AI, we have the internet,
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  like the options to take care of yourself and
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  take care of your family are truly... limitless
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  if you are just willing to put in the work. There's
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  no shortage of work to be done. Trust me. I was
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  working. I put in a 17 -hour day on Saturday.
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  I put in a six -hour day on Sunday. I worked
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  from 8 a .m. to 10 p .m. last night. There was
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  a couple of breaks in there, but not super long
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  ones. It is a grind. There is a lot of work to
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  be done if you want to make your dreams happen,
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  but it is so... worth it to put in that work
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  and make it happen because I get to sit here
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  and talk about it I'm feeling really in my feels
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  this week with it being my two -year anniversary
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  of self -employment my business coach told me
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  to go do something fun to celebrate and this
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  is my idea what that something fun was she's
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  like what are you doing to celebrate I'm like
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  not sure. I think I'm going to record a podcast
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  episode about it because I have built my life
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  around the things that I want to do for fun.
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  Podcasting, DJing, music bingo, photo booths,
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  video guest book, like editing things. That is
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  what I did in my free time and turned it into
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  a full -time business. And I am just incredibly
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  proud of myself. I am so grateful for the amazing
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  support that I've had in all of this. I truly
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  would not have been able to do this without...
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  My husband being behind me 100 % and also believing
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  in me and believing in my work ethic and my ability
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  to pivot and figure things out when I need to.
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  I wouldn't be able to do it without my family
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  understanding that this is my life and I'm going
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  to be busy and I won't make it to everything
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  that they want me at. But it's for my dream and
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  my vision. I wouldn't be able to do it without
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  my amazing clients. I have a roster of truly
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  talented, incredible difference makers in the
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  world. I cherish each and every one of them so
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  deeply in my heart. And what's so cool is that
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  they all do different things. I have a cattle
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  rancher. I have public speakers. I have authors.
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  I have business owners. I have... thought leaders.
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  I have nonprofit founders. I work with the coolest
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  people and I'm so grateful for each and every
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  one of them, for them trusting me to help share
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  their stories every single week and create content
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  for them and get their message out into the world.
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  I just think they're the coolest people. I might
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  be a little biased, but truly they are just wonderful
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  humans that I get to work with every single week.
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  And I love them all so much. They're like my
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  kids. I don't have kids, so my clients have become
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  my children that I just love and want to see
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  them. thrive and succeed in this world. And I
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  get to be part of that success story for them.
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  So I'm just so grateful for them. I'm grateful
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  for my friends. It's been an insane two years.
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  It has gone in the blink of an eye. Even two
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  years ago, I didn't have the studio that I'm
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  recording in. I didn't get my studio in downtown
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  until January of 2025. I kind of want to rewind
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  two years ago to Abby on June 1st, walking out
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  of the county building and being full -time self
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  -employed and go, hey, guess what? A block from
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  this door that you're walking out of, you're
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  going to have a studio space. It's going to be
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  all yours. And it's going to be a 9 by 12 room
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  that Xcel Energy considers legally to be a closet,
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  but it's going to be your studio space. It is
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  your brick and mortar business that you're running
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  in downtown St. Cloud. Like she would have been
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  floored because she wanted a studio space. She
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  wanted to be in downtown, but... This version
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  of her made it happen. So it's really cool to
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  look back and see how far I've come. I actually
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  tried to count how many podcasts that I've made
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  for people in my time doing this. And I got to
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  about 800. And then I'm like, okay, I can't count
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  any more than this. I've made over 800 podcasts
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  for people. That is crazy. That is so many shows
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  and so much supporting content to go with it.
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  That includes... reels and Pinterest pins and
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  static graphics and carousel posts and full videos.
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  There's just so much that goes into all this.
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  And I love helping guide people through it. I
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  just literally, as I'm recording this this morning,
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  I got to help launch another show. And we were
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  working on the intro and the trailer. And I know
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  how all this stuff works now. And I get to help
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  guide people through it that don't know. And
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  I didn't have that guide when I was first starting
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  the Small Town Tourist. I had no idea what I
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  was doing. figuring it out as I went but now
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  I get to be the person leading the people and
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  be like nope this is what we do next this is
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  best practice it's gonna be so much easier if
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  we do x y and z and it's saving them time it's
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  saving them having to figure it out and google
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  things like it's just so wonderful to get to
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  be that helpful person for people and this is
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  actually the one that i just recorded today is
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  the third new show that i'm working on just this
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  week and it's only tuesday like i am helping
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  launch an ice cream related podcast and an astrological
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  related podcast and it's just so much cool stuff
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  that i I'm learning and experiencing on a weekly
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  basis. And I just can't imagine doing anything
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  else. I was talking with my neighbors last night
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  and they're like, oh yeah, you're... seem to
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  be doing good. We see you post on the internet
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  all the time. I'm like, truly, I have become
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  unemployable. I don't think I'll be able to do
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  anything else for the foreseeable future other
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  than what I'm doing right now, which is building
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  and growing Abby Graves Productions. And I wake
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  up every day excited about what the day is going
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  to bring. And that's such a good feeling because
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  I remember waking up and going to a job that
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  just didn't feel like it was right or aligned
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  for me. And now I get to wake up and essentially
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  do what I want. I mean, I am working with clients
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  and making what they want, but I'm doing it in
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  a matter of how I can help serve people. So it's
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  just been fun. Two years, full time. It's been
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  more than that. on the side, but two years full
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  -time of Abby Graves Productions is what we are
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  celebrating this week. And I am just so grateful.
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  Thank you for being along the ride with me and
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  checking out this podcast. I didn't see myself
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  making a podcast about podcasting when I started
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  or went full -time in June of 2024, but here
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  we are. And I am launching another podcast later
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  this summer, which I'm really excited about kind
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  of getting back to my roots of how I kind of
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  started. this journey so be on the lookout for
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  that i'm really excited i got some cool people
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  lined up for that show and just yeah i'm thankful
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  i'm very thankful for everything that has come
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  in my life and two years full -time self -employed
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  is nothing to turn your nose up at it's been
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  a lot of long hours grinding it out, hoping things
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  work out. And sometimes they did, sometimes they
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  didn't, but that's just all part of the journey
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  and I wouldn't have it any other way. So thank
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  you for tuning into this episode of Abby the
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  Podcast Lady. I will catch you next week on another
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  episode. Bye.