Sarah Krug: Helping Home Business Owners Have More Time with Family
Sarah Krug was a musician, raising a large family, and being crushed with surmounting debt when she turned to network marketing. Here is her powerful story in our exclusive interview.
Thanks so much for this interview, Sarah! I have been aware of your blog for some time and excited to learn more about you. So, let’s get started!
Where were you born and raised, what was childhood like, and what did you want to become when you grew up?
I was born and raised in Bernardsville, New Jersey. I have a younger sister and brother. My dad always worked and my mom stayed at home to raise the kids until my younger brother went to school.
With a stay at home mom, I remember we often went to the library, the town pool, my grandma’s house and had lots of playdates with friends.
I didn’t really know what I wanted to be grew up but I loved music, the arts, helping and serving people and solving problems.
~
What did your parents do for a living, and was there any Entrepreneurship in the family?
Both my parents have a very strong work ethic which I saw first-hand growing up.
My mom stayed at home once they started a family. Eventually once my brother went to school, she started volunteering at our school library and then got a job at the Bernardsville Public Library in the Children’s Department where she has been for over 20 years.
My dad has primarily worked in Corporate America for much of my childhood. He also loved music and was our church organist for many years. There were times that he freelanced as a substitute organist and was often called to play weddings and funerals. He has always had a love of the arts too, particularly dance, and now is currently employed with Pentacle (DanceWorks, Inc.) in New York City.
~
What kind of musician were you and how did you wind up on the bar scene?
I had lots of encouragement from my family in finding my musical niche which started with piano lessons at age 8. (I quit soon after because I hated to practice.) We had a piano which Dad played, especially during the holidays when the entire extended family was together.
At age 13, I really got involved in music when I convinced my parents that I needed to learn the cello so I could sit next to a boy I had a crush on. I also studied cello privately all through high school.
I was very active in our high school bands and orchestra as well and helped our school win competitions with our marching band and concert band and jazz band.
While in college, I fell in love with Irish music and taught myself how to play the fiddle. I also attended an accordion school for a year which is how I met my husband who’s also a musician.
He and I partnered with other area musicians in the Philadelphia area as freelance musicians in Irish bars and at local events. It was during this time that we started to play regularly in Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties and within a few years, were both part of one of the top Irish rock bands in Philadelphia.
~
You were near foreclosure twice and had skipped on groceries because of overwhelming debt. What eventually provided solace to this scenario?
Yes, we have had some rough patches when it came to our finances. We had mounting credit card debt, were carrying 2 mortgages and did not have enough income. My husband and I did not have steady work either along with a growing family and so things were really rocky when it came to deciding what bills to pay with the little money we had.
I’m an optimist though, always have been. What helped me stay positive through it all was knowing that things weren’t going to stay that way forever and that something would eventually give.
We had some help from friends and family. I attribute much of what motivated us to keep going through the tough times was that there had to be great things to come once we got through it.
When and how did you discover network marketing, and what were your first two years like?
I first joined a direct sales company in July 2012. It was a home party business that I felt would be able to bring in extra money for our family. We had just bought a new home and had another child on the way.
I had great success in my first three months, but quickly realized that when I treated my business like a hobby, it paid me like one.
I was working my business part-time while working full-time and taking care of my family but because I had no consistent office hours I felt constantly distracted and unfocused with my business. I was also physically exhausted as an expectant mother.
I also really struggled with lead generation. Hours after I signed up with my direct sales company, I was on the phone and getting bookings like crazy. This helped me have 3 very good months.
But lack of new bookings and timid to ask for referrals, I felt that I quickly went through my list of friends and family. Eventually, I felt that I had no one else to talk to.
One night I was on YouTube and stumbled across some videos by top marketers in the industry who were talking about lead generation using the internet. I loved the concept and was immediately hooked.
For months, I invested in learning how to build a business online, branding, how to set up a blog and lead generation. I used a lot of free online resources but eventually that slower pace led me to investing in coaching.
~
What was the biggest lesson you learned, and what is the best advice you have for new marketers?
I strongly encourage new marketers to invest in coaching. If you want only free, you’ll go broke trying to get rich. There is no fast track to success, no “easy button” to the top but if you invest in a coach to give you resources that they have used to be successful, you will ultimately save yourself time, frustration and reach your goals quicker.
I love your blog! When did you start blogging, how many posts are on your blog, and what is your traffic like?
Thank you so much! I launched my blog three years ago. It’s had many variations since it first went live. I have been slowly building up my content library for the last two years and have a little under 100 posts. I don’t use any paid advertising so a lot of my daily traffic is pretty varied and comes from what I do to promote it on social media.
~
What is your favorite platform right now for generating leads, and can you tell us how you use it?
Sure, my favorite way to generate leads is on Facebook. I love Facebook! It’s great because there are so many people on there and they are all posting about their lives all the time. It’s really a great platform to see what’s going on with people and to learn if what I have to offer can help them or not.
I like to actively prospect too. I focus on connecting with other home-based businesses owners who I find in Facebook groups and on fan pages.
I also generate leads by using my branded fan page to direct people back to my blog. I share blog posts or whatever it is I’m promoting on there and then share those posts into about 10 groups at a time. I’ve had a lot of success with that.
I don’t run any paid advertising but just actively adding new people into my circle every day just by saying hello and getting a conversation started.
~
You have a video on YouTube that caught my eye, called: “How to Easily Create a Value-Based Instagram Post.” Can you tell us how to do that?
Of course! Instagram is a great platform to share education and value with your audience and to help attract your perfect prospect to you.
In that video, I show you how I used a free online tool called Canva to create an Instagram post. Canva will allow you to manipulate graphics to create a very eye-catching post. The text on the post needs to be something that brings value to your audience. It may be tips or highlights from a recent blog post you’re read or written, a step by step method on how to get something done, or it could even be a motivational or success quote. A great graphic will make somebody stop and read your post but the real key is bringing value to your audience.
I just started Instagram again, but I’m a little lost when it comes to generating Leads. Is it by just posting a link under your bio, or is it more than that?
Great to hear you’re on Instagram again, Erik! I’ve only come onto Instagram recently as well.
My top suggestion is if you’re just getting started on Instagram again and you want to build up a following is to think of what your audience wants and create posts around it. You can use hashtags relevant to what your audience is searching so that your account comes up in their search.
Also, I’ve found that what really gets people to know, like and trust you is to be yourself so that your audience knows you’re a real person. I like to have conversations in the comments and build relationships with my followers.
And yes, you should have a call to action on your posts that leads people to your bio so they can connect with you either on your blog or jump on your list through a capture page.
~
What is your favorite book right now and why?
Oh my, so many favorites that it is going to be hard to choose just one!
I would have to say one of my favorite books that I recently read was Fearless Networking by Todd Falcone, who I had the privilege of meeting at an event last year.
I think there are a lot of great books on the market surrounding this industry, but I really enjoyed this particular book because he doesn’t make network marketing complicated.
Right from the beginning, he jumps in and gives simple stories, easy to learn techniques and you feel like you’ve gotten a ton of value without waiting around for it.
~
What are your goals for 2023?
I have a lot of goals this year!
I will continue expanding my network marketing team. I also plan to blog more.
My husband and I will launch American School Music Institute, an online sheet music company focusing on music for elementary school bands.
I am also an expert knitter and hope to launch an internet store with my handmade knitted wares.
~
What is your favorite quote and why?
It is going to be hard to pick just one, there are so many good ones but this is my favorite…
“It is not what you say out of your mouth that determines your life, it is what you whisper to yourself that has the most power!” – Robert Kiyosaki
I love this inspirational quote. You can have the life you want if. But you first have to believe that it is possible and belief starts in what you say to yourself.
Thanks so much for this interview, Sarah!
Other Awesome Interviews: