Who are you, and what do you do?
My name is Logan Allec. I’m a 31-year-old husband and father from the Los Angeles area. For nearly a decade I was a practicing CPA in the corporate world helping big businesses save money. Now I’m a personal finance blogger helping everyday Americans earn, save, and invest their money. I own the website Money Done Right.
What has been one insight or lesson that has been most helpful in your career?
Remember that it’s not the end of the world, or even close. I think a lot of times when I feel stressed because it feels like I have so much to do, I just have to remind myself that even if this project/deal/job/business doesn’t work out, it’s ultimately going to be OK. This isn’t a life-or-death situation, and whatever happens, I’m going to make it. I find that thinking through my situation with this perspective really helps clear my head and helps me to view whatever I’m going through in the grand scheme of things.
What has been your favorite mistake? A mistake that in retrospect led to a great lesson and progress.
As a full-time blogger, my business rises and falls based on my content. The biggest mistake I made in my business was outsourcing my content production an agency and providing very little oversight over what they were doing. I had built my blog to the point where I thought it was best for me to outsource the content part of my business so that I could focus on “bigger” things like developing new revenue streams and promoting my brand. I was wrong. As a blogger, you can never really divorce yourself from your content, and I paid the price for doing so. My readers started noticing a distinct change in the quality of the content on my site, and when I took a closer look at the content the agency was producing, I can’t say I was impressed. The articles the agency had produced were neither ranking well from an SEO standpoint nor were they converting well from a monetization standpoint, and it was at this point that I realized the mistake I had made. I immediately fired the agency and went back to my old content model, which consisted of me working directly with experienced freelance writers that I trusted and being very much involved in the content production for my site. And now, our content is better than ever, hence why this is my “favorite” mistake.
Project forward ten years. How will your industry or field be fundamentally different then? What opportunities do you see?
In ten years, it won’t be enough for sites like mine to just put out great written and visual content for their audiences. We will have to make the whole action of visiting websites an experience, not just an information exchange. I think those that are ahead of the curve on this will do very well, and there are opportunities here for smaller brands to get ahead of the curve.
What are some bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
There are so many bad recommendations in the realm of personal finance! One I hear all the time is that credit cards are fundamentally bad. This just isn’t true! Credit cards, when used responsibly, can be a great way to track your spending and rack up some sweet rewards points.
In the last two years, what have you become better at saying no to?
In the last two years, I’ve become much better at saying no to new monetization opportunities. When I first started my website, I was looking to monetize my site anyway I could, from affiliate marketing to display ads to sponsorships. Now I’m much more particular about saying “no” to monetization opportunities if they don’t fit the brand I’m seeking to build.
What is the one book you recommend most often and why?
One book I recommend is “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions” by Dan Ariely. This book helps you understand what makes people tick. Fundamentally, to be successful at business or in any career, you can’t view people’s decision making processes logically because that’s just not how (most) people operate. This book helps business owners understand the often irrational choices that people make.
What advice would you give a smart and ambitious recent college graduate? What advice should they ignore?
If you want to be successful, you need to work hard from day one. Work that overtime. Get that promotion. Work earlier and work later than your peers. And don’t blow your money: save and invest as much as you can, as early as you can. And when the time is right, if you’re so inclined, start a business, hopefully when your time is still your own before you have family responsibilities.
What is your favorite quote, one you aim to live by?
“Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that.” Anthony Volodkin.