Divorce Turns Into Successful Content Tilt for Michelle Dempsey-Multack

Entrepreneur: Michelle Dempsey-Multack 

Biz: Moms Moving On

Tilt: Support for divorced women

Primary Channels: Website, podcast (nearly 1M downloads), Instagram (164K), book

Other Channels: Facebook (4.1K), Twitter (1.4K)

Time to First Dollar: Almost from the start of her content tilt shift

Rev Streams: Courses, coaching, podcast sponsorships, paid membership community, book 

Our Favorite Actionable Advice:

• Don’t monetize everything: Michelle wants to serve her audience with a range of products, from her free podcast to her $20 book and her workshops to one-on-one coaching. 
• Tie everything to your mission: Michelle makes every business decision based on her mission – to help moms take their emotions out of the co-parenting and divorce process and make the best decisions for themselves and their kids. 
• Become a trained expert: Michelle could answer her audience’s questions based on her personal experience, but she didn’t think that was enough. She furthered her education to become trained in the field and brings experts onto her podcast.

The Story of Michelle Dempsey-Multack 

A move from New York to Miami and the birth of her daughter prompted Michelle Dempsey-Multack to walk away from her teaching career and launch a content writing business.

The decision was partly practical – the cost of day care took up a large chunk of her paltry teaching salary. But it turned out to be serendipitous.

When she divorced in 2017, her writing business allowed her to support herself and her daughter. She already had begun to build a brand, writing about the ups and downs of motherhood. Now, as a single mom, she continued writing about her experience for blogs, online publications, and her social media channels, except now the subject centered on divorce and the trials and tribulations of co-parenting.

“Not a lot of people were doing that at the time, so my social media really started to grow,” Michelle says. “I kind of became the place where people would come with their divorce questions.”

@MichelleDWrites found a more successful #ContentTilt when her pivot changed from the ups and downs of motherhood to divorce and the trials and tribulations of co-parenting. #MomsMovingOn #ContentEntrepreneur Click To Tweet

Today, the content entrepreneur is the creator behind the Moms Moving On podcast and author of the new book, Moms Moving On: Real-Life Advice of Conquering Divorce, Co-Parenting Through Conflict, and Becoming Your Best Self.

“I am very connected to the goal and the objectives of what I’m doing,” she says. “I am a child of divorce. I’m obviously a woman of divorce. And I’m Jewish. In our religion, it’s very much what is your mitzvah? What are you giving back? And I feel like that’s what it is for me. If you can figure out how to make a difficult situation better, then it’s your job to share that with other people.”

Moms Moving On snowballs

Michelle’s content business grew organically but intentionally.

“I don’t think I ever came on social media and said, ‘I’m going to talk about divorce,’” says Michelle, who is now remarried – a topic she also talks about. “It just sort of snowballed into that, and all of my content was based around the questions people would send me … It was a natural progression. Everything I’ve done came from what people were asking for.”

Though she brought plenty of personal knowledge about divorce, she wanted to make sure she steered her followers in the right direction on such a tender topic.

Michelle earned certifications as a divorce specialist, co-parenting specialist, and life coach. “If you’re going to spend that much time on social media (as a content creator), I think it has to really make a difference,” she says.

After fielding divorce-related legal and financial questions from her followers, she designed the podcast to feature interviews with experts who have the background and expertise to provide guidance on those often-complicated issues.

The podcast launched in January 2020 – just months before the COVID-19 pandemic led couples to isolate together. She found her audience growing as listeners realized they were in unhappy marriages or abusive relationships. By summer 2022, the podcast had nearly 1M downloads.

She created her online courses in 2021 based on recordings of her in-person workshops. “It’s nice passive income, but it’s not my bread and butter,” Michelle says. Her primary revenue streams come from her divorce and co-parenting coaching and podcast sponsorships, plus a paid membership community and her book published in March 2022. 

Online courses based on recordings of #MomsMovingOn workshops are nice #PassiveIncome, but they're not the bread and butter of @MichelleDWrites #ContentBusiness Click To Tweet

“The book was the best thing I’ve ever done, personally and professionally,” she says. “It was very therapeutic, and it forced me to level up and focus in a way that is very different from writing blogs or articles. It helped me be really intentional in my messaging.”

Saying no to only paid subscribers

As Michelle builds her business and her brand, she is always mindful of the women she serves. Her team has encouraged her to make her podcast available only for paid subscribers. But her aim is to reach as many women as she can. She offers content products at different price points, from the free podcast to paid online courses and one-on-one coaching.

“The way I designed that was a good way to reach everybody without watering down what my goal is,” she says. “I can’t spread myself too thin. But I also don’t want to make myself that exclusive where it’s disheartening for somebody who is getting separated and has no money.”

Advice for content entrepreneurs

For serious content creators building a business, Michelle shares these tips:

Stay authentic

Don’t worry about the likes, she says. “Stay really authentic to your message and your objective. I’m a big believer that if you have something you want to share that you think will be helpful, share it, regardless of whether or not it’s going to hit the algorithm or be the right time of day. People who need you are going to be there and are going to listen and follow you, regardless.”

Be guided by your purpose

What drives Michelle is her goal: To help moms take their emotions out of their co-parenting and divorce process and make the best decisions for themselves and their kids. That goal guides every business decision.

“It’s really hard when you’re trying to monetize your social media to not take everything that comes your way,” she says. “But I take pride in my authenticity. I don’t know how much money I’ve been offered to promote vibrators, but I just don’t think that goes along with my message. And I think that’s how influencers start to water down their brands – by feeling it’s important to share a cleaning supply that has nothing to do with their [message].”

Ignore the negative

Pay no attention to the trolls. “Don’t spend your time trying to argue with these people or prove something because it really makes you look beneath what you’re trying to be,” she says. “Just ignore that kind of bullshit. And thank the people who share the love.”