Online Business

To make money online, you generally need 3 things:

A website (don’t worry, they’re not that hard to make)
An audience
Something to sell

There will always be exceptions to this rule, like the YouTube celebrities who don’t have their own site, but most of the successful entrepreneurs online (myself included) have figured out those 3 things.

An online business is a great asset; you can work from anywhere and serve people worldwide. Depending on how you have it set up, you can even earn money while you sleep. Ahh that elusive “passive income!”

The location-independent business models you’ll find here include blogging, podcasting, self-publishing, teaching online courses, and more.

If you’re not sure where to start, let me recommend this “Greatest Hits” collection:

172: Case Study: Creating a $1k per Week Online Authority Business and a Service Business From Scratch

April 26, 2024May 5, 2016

Carey Green had spent the last 20 years as a pastor, before making the leap into entrepreneurship. As he studied to become a licensed mortgage broker, an idea took hold to put his study notes online.

Today Carey helps other aspiring mortgage brokers pass their certification exam, a test he says was the hardest he ever took. That business, which actually derives most of its traffic from YouTube, generates $1000 a week!

But Carey didn’t stop there.

171: How to Get Paid to Create Content – Even When You’re Just Starting Out

August 25, 2023April 28, 2016

Want to get paid to create content? Jason Zook is the undisputed king when it comes to sponsored content.

You may know Jason as the IWearYourShirt guy, where he earned over $1,000,000 wearing t-shirts for various companies. He’s even sold his last name (twice — each for $40k+), formerly going as Jason Surfrapp and Jason Headsetsdotcom.

In this episode, he shares his tips for getting sponsors for your work, even if you’re just starting out. I think you’ll like it!

State of the Nation: 2016 Member Survey Results (Plus How to Run a Survey For Your Audience)

January 10, 2023April 4, 2016

One of the best ways to figure out how to better serve your customers or your audience is to, well, ask them.

So I set out to create my (annual?) member survey and see if I could get some insights into where readers and listeners are at in their side hustle journey, what types of businesses you’re working on, and what your biggest challenges are.

I also wanted to find out about how you were interacting with the Side Hustle Nation content; the blog, podcast, and email newsletter.

166: $10k a Month Blogging Part-Time

September 25, 2023March 31, 2016

We first heard from Robert Farrington back in 2013, on episode 10 of The Side Hustle Show. At that time, he was earning $3-4k a month from a portfolio of different sites, and looking to expand his online empire.

This week, we catch up on what’s changed since then. Robert’s doubled down on his main site, TheCollegeInvestor.com, narrowed his focus, and roughly tripled his earnings.

Oh, and he’s still working full-time too.

Quora for Bloggers: How to Accelerate Your Authority, Audience Growth, and Traffic

May 1, 2024March 14, 2016

On December 7th, 2015, I started posting answers on Quora.com every day.

By the beginning of March — less than 3 months later — my answers had been viewed more than 500,000 times. This has more than doubled traffic to my blog, 10x’d my email sign-ups, and resulted in an increase in book sales.

This post explores my tactics for using Quora to re-purpose old content, accelerate your authority, and rapidly build an audience.

163: How to Build a 6-Figure Blog in Less Than a Year, with Jon Dykstra

September 25, 2023March 10, 2016

Jon is a former attorney turned full-time entrepreneur, and he’s the master of building high quality niche blogs and monetizing them to $10k-20k per month in record time.

(Sixty days to $10k in one case.)

We’ve covered niche sites in the past, but the type of sites Jon focuses on are a different animal. In a way, he sets out to build an authoritative brand in a particular space.

The $7620 Blog Post (Plus, my First Real Facebook Ads Experiment)

December 27, 2021March 7, 2016

In January I published a post called The 134 Best Udemy Courses for Entrepreneurs, Freelancers, and Side Hustlers.

The post was a pretty blatant affiliate play, and I made a point to admit that at the very top. Still, it performed very well, earning $7620 in January.

After the first couple days, I realized I was on to something and it only made sense to try and drive more traffic to the page, even if it meant paying for it. So that gave birth to my first real experiment with Facebook ads.

160: Turning a Service Business into a Passive Income Stream

November 6, 2021February 25, 2016

A couple months ago, Matt Bochnak sent me a note about his motorcycle repair side hustle. As someone who is, shall we say, less-than-savvy when it comes to mechanics, I was impressed.

But Matt shared that the passive income from this service business now actually exceeds his revenue from “turning wrenches.”

The Pinterest Traffic Experiment: I’m Up 2350% In 60 Days

January 10, 2023February 1, 2016

From September 20th to November 20th, Side Hustle Nation generated 479 visits from Pinterest.

The next 2 months, from November 21st to January 21st, Side Hustle Nation generated 11,733 visits from Pinterest.

Why the sudden 25x increase?

It was anything but an accident.

Usually Hustling, Occasionally Social