Dayne Shuda runs GhostBlogWriters.com, a done-for-you blogging service that commands premium prices, and oversees a team of 20 part-time writers to deliver the work for clients around the country.
But like most businesses, Ghost Blog Writers came from some pretty humble beginnings. In fact, Dayne started it as a side hustle with $0 upfront investment.
Digging a little more into Dayne’s background, I discovered he worked at a footwear retailer in Wisconsin that was actually one of my largest advertising partners when I was running the shoe business. Small world!
In this episode, we dig into the early days of his ghost blogging business, including how he hustled for his first clients, the smart ways he began to attract customers to his virtual doorstep, and he’s grown the enterprise beyond a traditional time-for-dollars freelance operation.
Need a website for your service side hustle? Here’s the fastest and cheapest way to get one online.
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Learn:
- The fallacy of looking for “business ideas” and how this opportunity presented itself to Dayne.
- How Dayne’s pricing ignorance turned out to be a blessing and a big win.
- How he hustled on social media and jobs boards for his first few clients.
- His “practice what you preach” content marketing approach to reach his exact target clients through blogging.
- Why he felt comfortable quitting his job before the side hustle income matched his day job paycheck.
- How Dayne transitioned from doing all the work himself to having a team of writers deliver the goods for customers.
- How he spends his days now, and next steps for the business.
- Dayne’s #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation.
Links:
- GhostBlogWriters.com
- Problogger Jobs Board
- The Side Hustle Show with Rob Cubbon
- The Side Hustle Show with Bryan Harris
- Quora <– look for questions related to your niche for blog post topic ideas
What do you think? Could Dayne’s tactics be applied to your area of expertise?
I thought this was a good illustration of Bryan Harris’ theory of selling a service being the fastest path to escape corporate life, plus it follows the “Hustler’s Path” from Employee to Freelancer to Agency that we laid out in episode 67 with Garrett Moon.
Need a website for your service side hustle? Here’s the fastest and cheapest way to get one online.
Download the Free PDF "Highlight Reel" from this Episode
With all of my guest's top tips and resources included.
Enter your email to access it now:
Success! You just unlocked the highlight reel from this episode ... AND over 200 other subscriber-only bonuses. Check your email for details :)
(If it doesn't show up in 5-10 minutes, check spam/promotions.)
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Kind of a bummer. Blog posts for pretty low money. Thought about freelance writer doing blog posts for more money that’s listed in his web site.
Hey Joe, go for it! As with anything, if you can niche down your writing biz to a specific industry or genre, you’ll be able to command higher prices — like Carrie did in episode 78.
And the other bit of good news is I think Dayne’s service model could be applied to a wide range of businesses, not just writing.
Still, that’s some ok money for the posts he offers, but he is providing a total service, including scheduling etc.
I think it’s a good model actually, and I’d expect the margins on this to be pretty ok really. One could definitely progress into more expert writing services, with a bank of professionals, writing in a range of professional and technical areas. Medical, finance, software etc, those sorts of posts for business and corporate sites and magazines could demand some really hefty prices.
Of course, if one is writing blog posts, then writing on your own blog provides a great deal of proof about the ‘goods’ you provide, but I would imagine that guest posting to high traffic sites, frelance writing on Elance or Odesk would provide a quicker way to reach the people that you want to turn into customers.
These are just some ideas that ran through my head after reading Joe’s comment, I’m gonna listen to the episode now and come back here when I have more to offer.
Cheers
-S
Learning you can not do it all is the lesson i got out of this side hustle post-thanks!