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:

89: 15,000 Subscribers in 6 Months: How to Build Your Email List From Amazon

January 5, 2023January 15, 2015

You want traffic? You want readers? You want customers?

You’ll want to listen to this episode.

Your free book is essentially your epic “guest post” — only a MUCH bigger site than you could ever hope to publish on regularly. Like a good guest post, it leads readers back to more of your content, where they opt-in with their email to continue their relationship with you.

This works for authors and non-authors alike. In fact, Nick pretty much convinced me I need to be doing this as well!

87: The 5 Step System to Quit Your Job In the Next 12 Months

January 5, 2023January 1, 2015

If you’re not already following Bryan Harris, I recommend you do. The guy is super smart and has a unique way of breaking things down so that they’re easy to understand and implement.

He doesn’t mess around, and gives super-detailed actionable advice with some awesome examples, but gives the caveat that it takes real work. This is not a 4-hour workweek passive income system — at least not at first.

But that’s OK, because we’re hustlers and ready to make something happen in 2015, right?

85: Part-Time Podcasting for Profit ($1900 in Week 3?)

August 25, 2023December 18, 2014

Scott Oldford sent me a proposal for a podcast episode about part-time podcasting, and included the hook, “I’ve made $1900 in revenue from my first episode.”

OK, I’m listening!

In this episode we discuss how a podcast can be a very part-time venture but still reach a wide audience and begin to earn revenue on its own.

Killing My Baby: Why I Shut Down My Longest-Running Business

March 17, 2023November 24, 2014

This is a tough post to write.

This summer I pulled the plug on ShoeSniper, my original side hustle and my longest running and most successful business.

A moment of silence.

It wasn’t an easy decision, but I was confident it was time to move on. I think this is an important story to share because most of what you read in the entrepreneurship world is about perseverance and “never giving up.”

73: How to Build and Monetize an Authority Site

August 25, 2023September 25, 2014

Everybody’s an expert in something, right?

Well this week’s guest, Matt Giovanisci, is an expert in pool care. He describes it as the most boring industry that serves such a fun product.

He’s taken an innovative approach to rank his site, SwimUniversity.com, in Google and monetize it with affiliate relationships and private advertising.

I feel like Matt’s process is proven and repeatable — but takes real work.

71: One Page Adsense Sites and Productized Consulting

August 28, 2023September 11, 2014

If you’ve been in the “niche site” game at all over the past few years, this week’s conversation will open your eyes to a whole new world of possibility in the realm of making money with Adsense.

Kurt Elster is the co-founder of EtherCycle, an online marketing strategy and web design and development firm. But on top of that, his company also runs a plethora of one-page micro-sites that earn advertising revenue with Adsense.

How to Re-Purpose and Syndicate Content Like a Boss

November 22, 2019September 8, 2014

Since side hustlers are pressed for time, one of the smartest things you can do is make the most out of everything you create.

This post will walk through how ONE project fueled:

A bestselling book on Amazon.
4 guest blog posts.
3 podcast guest appearances.
1 podcast episode on The Side Hustle Show.
An infographic.
A “featured” SlideShare presentation.
And this post, if you want to get really meta.

70: Software as a Side Hustle: Mistakes, Market Validation, and Massive Scale

April 14, 2022September 4, 2014

I’m excited to welcome Spencer Haws back to the show this week!

Longtime listeners may remember Spencer from episode 18 of the show, where he gave us a step-by-step walkthrough of how he builds profitable niche sites from scratch.

But in addition to his niche site empire, Spencer is also an accomplished software entrepreneur. His popular Long Tail Pro software powers the keyword research for thousands of customers.

67: The Hustler’s Path: From Freelance to Agency to Product

January 10, 2023August 21, 2014

It’s been quite a while since our last discussion of a software business here on the show. Even though we touched briefly on Long Tail Pro with Spencer Haws, I really have to go all the way back to Josh Isaak in episode 12 to find an in-depth breakdown of a Software as a service business.
So that means today’s conversation with Garrett Moon from CoSchedule is long overdue! After all, the low incremental cost and recurring revenue potential of the SaaS model is such a trendy holy grail of business right now.

65: How to Reverse Engineer Your Blog to Get Paying Clients (and 10x Your Hourly Rate)

August 28, 2023August 7, 2014

Corrina Gordon-Barnes is a sought-after coach and mentor, and today she shares with Side Hustle Nation exactly how she built her business from the ground up.

There are some surprising turns and some eye-opening responses in this one, as I ask Corrina about how she prices her services, how she landed her first clients, how she’s scaling her business, and how she made blogging work as an effective marketing channel.

Usually Hustling, Occasionally Social