So, you want to start a blog?
I don’t blame you! After all, it’s a great way to make money online and potentially begin to earn some of that elusive passive income.
And the good news is, it’s really not that hard (or expensive) to get started. In fact, you can be up and running in less than 15 minutes and for less than $3 a month.
As we move into 2017, on the surface, things are great. I had my best year financially since 2009, we managed to keep our little hustler alive 11 months in a row, and we went on quite a few cool adventures as a family.
Yet I’ve got some weird anxiety. Like I’m working every week, but maybe not on the right things. Like I could and should be taking on more or different projects. Like I’m letting people down who email me. Like I’m in maintenance mode and not growth mode — even though things are growing.
Productized service businesses are all the rage these days. They involve packing up a service traditionally sold on a freelance or hourly basis, and instead selling it at a fixed price or on a monthly retainer contract.
Examples include Dan Norris’ WP Curve, which offers unlimited WordPress support for $79 a month, or Russ Perry’s Design Pickle, which offers unlimited graphic design tasks for $370 a month.
These services are popping up in a ton of different niches, and for good reason. They have low startup costs, low overhead, and a simple to understand proposition for customers.
Last month I launched my latest book project, Buy Buttons, out into the world. On Day 1, it became an Amazon bestseller and has gone on to collect 75+ 5-star reviews and sell more than 2600 copies.
My process was much more involved this time around than it was two years ago for the launch of Work Smarter. A lot has changed during that time so I was excited to put some new ideas to the test.
In this post, I’ll break down the entire writing and launch process, step-by-step, start to finish.
For the past couple years, I’ve been doing these quarterly progress reports.
Why go through this exercise?
It’s time to evaluate what happened over the last 3 months, to see if you achieved your goals, and to ask if you’re happier or otherwise better off than you were when you started.
So am I?
We know that the attorneys, window washers, and web designers who earn the most money aren’t necessarily the ones who do the best work. Those who earn the most are those who know how to sell their service.
Realize that selling is a huge part of your side hustle.
If you are nervous about selling, this exercise will help.
In August I embarked on a personal challenge to develop a meditation habit. If I could do it every day for a month, maybe it would (finally) become a routine practice.
Inspiration for the challenge came from a conversation with Dan Harris, an Emmy award-winning journalist who discovered meditation as an effective way to calm the voices in his head.
Dan convinced me to give it another shot, citing scientific evidence that meditation has a whole host of benefits including lower blood pressure and increased focus. So I committed to meditating every day in August, and I recruited 47 side hustlers to join me for accountability.
A few people have been asking for an update on my Amazon FBA efforts, so here goes!
The bottom line is that this side hustle has been profitable, but not by a lifestyle-changing amount.
So far, I’ve only focused on local clearance arbitrage, with my best finds being from Walmart, Home Depot, Office Depot, and Babies ‘R Us.
What’s the most common piece of advice when it comes to online business? Let’s see if this sounds familiar.
See what else is out there, and create something 10x better.
And while creating the best / most helpful / most shareable / most awesomely epic 10x content ever is supposedly the golden ticket, I thought I’d put this advice to the test and share some results from a recent attempt at “epic-ness” of mine.
Does it really work? Is it worth the effort?
A few months ago, I looked for new ways to monetize my blog. I came across a post about selling sponsorship spots in my email newsletter.
I liked the idea so I thought that I would give it a shot.
The result? 3 days after reading the post, I landed a 3 month-contract with a couple of sponsors and made $300/month with only 30 min of work. Here’s how it works.
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