How She Built a $5K/Month Business Serving Rural Creators

This is an interview with Jen Kibler of JenKibler.com

Hey, Jen. Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.

Hello! I’m Jen Kibler. I live on a hobby farm in Northeast Ohio, Steel Spoon Farm, and I teach homesteader content creators how to monetize their content without relying on social media in my online business coaching group, Content Seeds Collective. I offer 1:1 services for websites, email, Pinterest, and overall Online Business Management over at JenKibler.com.

How did your business journey start?

I’ve always been self-employed and I’ve been in the online business space for over a decade now.

I got my start building Wix websites for local small businesses. Back then I had a simple lifestyle blog and was using the same WordPress themes as I do now.

It’s all come around full circle back to where I started, now supporting content creators with their own blogging and online businesses.

How long did it take you to make your first money online?

I’ve always been able to book clients quickly, within a month of hanging up the open sign.

My first client back then came from an Upwork job posting for website updates. Freelancing sites are a great place to start.

What pushed you to start supporting rural entrepreneurs specifically?

This lifestyle has so many more layers that need to be taken into consideration – weather, seasonal routines, animal care, property maintenance – that most online business advice just doesn’t quite fit.

I bring to the table this specific nuance because I live it myself.

I know I won’t get an email response from my clients or coaching group members when we have the first nice sunny day after a stretch of rain! They’re outside enjoying the weather and catching up on projects that got put off.

I know when it’s baby goat season, when it’s garden planting or harvesting time, and when everyone is going stir crazy during the winter months.

This is why I emphasize the importance of websites, email, and Pinterest, because it’s all work that can be done in batches when you are stuck in the house and carries you through those busier seasons of farm life with content scheduled to autopost for you.

Also read: 12 Tips for Beginner Bloggers to Kickstart Your Blogging Journey

How did you land your very first client?

Referrals!

I was a barefoot trimmer years ago (farrier, maintaining horses’ hooves) and my entire business then was built on referrals so it’s my primary method for finding new clients now.

These clients are always so much more aligned because the referral already sold them on me. They usually book while still on the disco call!

I also have an affiliate program for Content Seeds Collective so my members can receive commissions for sharing about the group.

What are your main revenue streams?

I’ve been consistently receiving $2k-$5k every month since I really started promoting my business this past year, and I’m on track to 5-figure months by Q3 2026.

My main income stream right now is 1:1 services, about 80% of my income.

My coaching group currently makes up around 10% and affiliate commissions 10%. My focus is to increase the coaching group ratio to about 50% of my income, increasing my affiliate income, and adding ad revenue on my farm blog, so I can focus my 1:1 services on OBM retainer clients.

I am also adding some low-ticket digital products as tripwires to cover my ad spend for growing my Ground Work email newsletter list.

Also read: Boost Your Blog Income: Top 6 Affiliate Programs You Can’t Miss

Where do most clients discover you today?

Referrals and Threads!

I have been loving Threads lately. It’s so much easier to show up there without having to film video, pick trending audio, make a whole reel, worry about on screen hooks, write the perfect caption and CTA, or spend hours in Canva making the perfect carousel.

Just hop on Threads, post what’s on your mind, engage with others, that’s it.

I have my biz besties over there and we are constantly tagging each other on posts looking for experts and service providers in our respective fields.

If you’re not on Threads yet, get over there!

What’s your current content strategy like? 

A big BLANK spreadsheet of hopes and dreams!

I don’t have a set content strategy currently. I do try to be my own best client and keep up on publishing new blog posts, mainly so I have new content to schedule on Pinterest.

Practice what I preach about not relying on socials!

I LOVE my email newsletter Ground Work and write that without fail every week.

I try to show up consistently on Threads, and I was scheduling 3x Threads per day for a few months, but have recently taken a break from scheduling and just posting as inspiration strikes.

When I have my new low-ticket digital product created for my farm IG, I will be posting more consistently there to drive traffic to that offer with automated comment keywords. I will also use this as a tripwire on my thank you page for subscribing to Ground Work, which I do run paid ads to grow.

When did you start using Pinterest for business growth?

I started intentionally using Pinterest in Fall 2024 when I started a Shopify website for my farm shop and knew I needed another source of traffic for sales that was not relying on social media.

I had my first pin conversion to a sale within 2 months!

What makes Pinterest different from social media platforms?

Pinterest is different because it is NOT social media! Pinterest is a SEARCH ENGINE.

The user behavior is completely different. Pinterest users are looking for answers, and you need to position your pins as the answer to their questions.

Pinterest is also the only platform designed to take people OFF the platform. Social media platforms ding you for any links going out, vs Pinterest wants you to link out on every single pin.

These should go to your website, which should be claimed on your account so you can accurately track the traffic, and then secure the lead by getting them to join your email list or purchase your product.

What actually works on Pinterest in 2026?

Consistency has always and will most likely always in the future be the best strategy for Pinterest.

Don’t just dump 10 pins for a new blog post all at once then ghost for a month. Schedule those pins to autopost one per day over 10 days instead.

Pinterest loves fresh content so this is where a good blog strategy comes into play.

How often should someone realistically pin each week?

If you don’t have a ton of content or product pages, 1 pin per day is plenty to keep Pinterest happy.

If you have a huge library of blog posts or tons of product listings on an e-commerce site, you may be in the 5-10 pins per day range.

It all depends on your unique content situation, this is what I help you determine in my Pinterest Strategy Sessions or do for you with Pinterest Management.

Should bloggers embed pins directly inside blog posts?

It is helpful to have a designated pin image directly inside your blog posts because the other images in your blog may not be sized or optimized properly for Pinterest.

Plugins like TastyPins can help you set the correct meta data for your blog images including the title, description, and correct linking back to you.

Most social media sharing plugins should also have a Pinterest button, check your settings to make sure it at least links back to your account.

What design trends are performing best right now?

Design trends vary by niche but the most important aspect is stopping the scroll. You want your pin to be the one that Pinterest users SEE when they are scrolling their home feed or search results.

This might be amazing photography, especially for the food or home decor niches, or it might be an attention grabbing headline and font and colors for a blog post by a service provider.

Use your branding so the pin matches what your website looks like. You want a nice streamlined transition from pin to website so the user knows they followed the right link.

Also read: How Debbie Went from $68K in Debt to Earning $22K/Month with a Home Decor Blog in 2 Years

How long does it take to see traffic results from Pinterest?

You can expect to see traffic results from Pinterest in 3-6 months.

Pinterest is for the long game and does not have an immediate ROI. Content shared on Pinterest though will serve you for YEARS vs social media content that disappears in 24 hours.

The same with investing, the earlier you get started on Pinterest, the more you will see the results compounding over time.

What are common mistakes beginners make on Pinterest?

Having a board named “yummy” LOL! This is an inside joke for me because every client I’ve worked with on their Pinterest has some random board named “yummy”.

Pinterest needs KEYWORDS not cutesy. Your board names need to describe exactly what is going to be on that board.

This helps tell Pinterest what you are about which helps the Pinterest algorithm show your pins to the right people.

Not claiming your website, not having a solid keyword rich profile, and not having board descriptions are other common beginner mistakes.

How has AI changed your workflow and productivity?

AI has definitely sped up some parts of my workflow and given me more capacity for productivity.

I use specially trained Pinterest GPTs to write pin titles and descriptions. I do the keyword research for the blog post or product listing and then tell the GPTs exactly which keywords I want to use.

It delivers an optimized list of titles and descriptions using these keywords for me to mix and match when creating the pin graphics and scheduling the pins. This has saved me so much time!

How can service providers use AI without losing authenticity?

When AI is used to save time, speeding up workflows and doing repeatable tasks, this helps service providers spend more time doing the things that only THEY can do.

AI usage is such a hot debated topic and rightfully so. I don’t want to read a blog post that is entirely AI generated, or worse, buy a digital product that is entirely AI generated!

But using it strategically to save you time, so you have more time to do your best work, or just go have more time to enjoy the life you’re working so hard to build, then hell yes use it.

I love a high tech business that allows me to live a low tech lifestyle.

Do you see AI improving Pinterest marketing or creating more noise?

Pinterest has gotten lots of slack over the past few years for the AI slop on the platform. I can spot an AI generated image a mile away, but they are getting better by the day and that to me is scary.

Pinterest recently rolled out more changes to their platform so you can now turn off AI recommendations for pins. However, a recent glitch was causing TONS of not AI pins to be wrongly labeled, links being marked as spam, and lots of other errors, so it’s still not a perfect platform, as if any are. 

What would you do differently if starting today?

Invest in services for my own business right from the beginning.

I spent a long time DIYing everything, due to both budget and personal stubbornness wanting to do everything myself. I bought every course, workbook, you name it, and wasted too much time trudging along on my own.

Last year I finally moved up a notch and invested in closer 1:1 mentorship and that was a game changer to get that level of support. But it still comes down to me doing the work.

My first big service hire was a team to bring my Ground Work newsletter to life to start 2026. BEST INVESTMENT TO DATE!

I will absolutely be hiring more services this year so I can keep my foot on the gas pedal doing the things I am good at while people who are great at doing the things I’m not great at help me build my business while supporting theirs.

Hiring service providers really is win win!

What’s next for you and your business?

Growing this to a full time income to retire my husband! I know probably everybody says that, but for reals, we have a set date and I’ll be damned if I don’t work best with a deadline.

He has worked swing shift at a steel mill for 14 years, which has been fine and got us everything we have. But now having a young child and seeing how fast kids grow up really changes your perspective of time and priorities.

First your time makes money, then your skills make money, then your money makes money.

His job was phase one, I am phase two, and then working towards investments for phase three.

I have always been a big picture thinker and I help my clients through this mindset work as well. The biggest hurdle is always your own mind and my favorite part is seeing my clients have those breakthroughs!