About the Company

Money Tamer was created to help families take control of their finances through budgeting, debt payoff strategies, and earning extra income. The platform's flagship digital products include the Budget Binder and Christmas Budget Planner, which are designed to be reusable and customizable. Over time, the business has evolved to include blog posts, affiliate marketing, email newsletters, and ads, with plans to expand into courses and additional printables.

Steffa's approach to personal finance is rooted in her own experiences of paying off $40,000 in debt and creating user-friendly tools for financial management. The blog also educates readers on money behavior and management techniques, leveraging her certification as a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI).

Idea Behind Company

Before founding Money Tamer, Steffa worked as a senior zookeeper for over five years. Despite achieving her childhood dream, the demanding work hours and limited upward mobility made balancing family life difficult. Becoming a stay-at-home mom prompted her to explore a new career path.

Inspired by her own financial journey and jokingly referring to her interest in finance, she started a blog combining her family's debt payoff story with financial advice. The idea expanded into creating digital budget products when she noticed a gap in the market for reusable and customizable financial planners. Using her graphic design skills, she designed products that catered to her own money-tracking preferences.

Creating the Company

Steffa faced challenges designing her first products, such as digital budget binders. After experimenting with various design tools, she settled on Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher due to their one-time costs and user-friendly features. She iteratively refined her designs through trial and error, particularly for cash envelope templates.

Initially, she funded the business through side gigs like dog walking and pet sitting. Steffa also invested in affordable tools, such as Namecheap for domains and Bluehost for hosting. Her emphasis on SEO from the beginning helped her blog gain organic traffic, while her decision to niche down into personal finance improved her focus and audience engagement.

Launching the Business

At launch, Money Tamer covered a wide range of topics, including finance, food, and parenting. Realizing this diluted her content, Steffa narrowed her focus to personal finance after six months and redesigned her website using Astra for better customizability.

To monetize, she initially relied on affiliate marketing but later prioritized email marketing with targeted opt-ins for her two main product categories. This strategy allowed her to build a loyal audience more likely to convert into customers. Over time, she added ads to her site and focused on creating her own digital products, which now generate 30% of her income.

Earnings

Steffa currently earns around $7,000/month, with her income split between affiliates (50%), ads (20%), and digital products (30%). Her business expenses include website hosting, virtual assistants, and backend technical support.

Looking ahead, she plans to expand her product offerings, introduce courses, and launch her own affiliate program to increase revenue from digital products to 70%. Her journey highlights the importance of starting small, focusing on what's working, and continuously refining strategies to grow a business.