017: How to grow your blog into a consulting business with Kristal Taylor

Kristal Lauren High co-founded and serves as Editor in Chief of Politic365, an online magazine focused on politics and public policy from a multicultural point of view. She also owns and operates a communications and creative engagement company, Digicon Ventures.


Prior to launching Politic365, Kristal developed an expertise in broadband adoption among minority, low-income and underserved populations through her work with the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies’ Media & Technology Institute.


Throughout her career, Kristal has worked with national civil rights and civic associations, business leaders, minority elected officials, and Fortune 500 brands on an array of issues pertaining to the leveraged use of the Internet for online coalition building, stakeholder outreach, political advocacy and multimedia production.


For her efforts in online advocacy and web publishing, Kristal received the New York Urban League Young Professionals Digital Renaissance Award and the NAACP’s Leadership 500 Chairman’s Leadership Award. She was also named to the Digital Sisterhood Network’s Top 100 Digital Sisters of the Year and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Black Broadcaster’s Association. Kristal is the recipient of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation’s Excellence in Communications award, was dubbed a Rainbow PUSH Coalition 25 Top Inspirational & Engaged Leaders honoree, and has been named to two top 40 Under 40 lists – the Lawyers of Color Hot List and the National Bar Association’s/IMPACT Nation’s Best Advocates list.


A former labor and employment litigator, Kristal obtained her Bachelor of Arts cum laude from Davidson College, and her Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee School of Law.


Kristal is a Vice President of the Charlotte NAACP. She is a former Advisory Board member of Blogging While Brown, the nation’s first conference and consortium for bloggers of color, and ColorComm, a networking and professional organization for women of color in communications. Her commentary has been featured on several media outlets, including TVOne, The Hill, RTTV, Ebony, CNN and SiriusXM.


In this episode we discussed:



How to build a blog and your unique skill set into a successful consulting business.
Overcoming inevitable obstacles and difficult patches as you grow your business.
How to build a successful business without sacrificing family time.

Resources


Politic365


Amanda Miller Littlejohn


Black and Married with Kids


Tyler New Media


Peter Theil, Zero to One (Crown Business, 2014)