This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
I don't remember the first time I heard the word blog. You remember? For me, it was probably when I was living in West Africa sometime between 2002 and 2006. I was working as an aid worker there, so I wasn't always super up on everything that was happening online. But sometime in that time period, I noticed that there were these things where people were writing various entries and publishing them, and it was a whole new world.
So I actually started my blog in 2008, and at the time, I worried I was too late. I was thinking, well, whatever this thing is, it has passed me by, but I'm gonna try anyway because I feel like I have something to say, and I started this blog called The Art of Nonconformity, which led to all kinds of stuff that happened later, and ultimately what led to this conversation right now. So there's probably an implied lesson there already, but today's listener is wondering if he has missed out on the golden age of blogging. He wants to start a blog, but is it too late now for him? Have we, in fact, reached maximum blogging capacity of the internet?
He also has an idea for his topic and some pretty clear questions. So I love all those things. Let's hear now from John. [Music]
Hey, Chris, this is John Fisher from beautiful Atlanta, Georgia, and I've been listening to the show since the inception, since the beginning. I was a huge fan of the book and really all your books.
I'm a big fan. So my day job is in software sales, but I'm interested in helping people who hate sales, like freelancers, for example. This is something that I spend all day doing. I love sales, I love talking about it, I love learning more, but I can definitely see a need for people that really kind of find it icky or gross. I've been thinking about starting a blog because it would give me the freedom to work on it whenever I can, but I'm wondering if that's the right path.
I'm also wondering if I've already missed that boat. There seems to be millions of blogs out there, and I'm not sure I understand the best way I could really monetize that blog. If you don't think a blog would be the right path, should I consider something like, say, I don't know, online courses, in-person trainings, workshops, stuff like that. My goal is to provide helpful and valuable content regarding the principles of sales, really distilling that down. Not everybody needs to be the wolf of Wall Street.
So I'm open to any suggestions on how to start a hustle with this idea. Thanks, Chris, and the entire side hustle school. You guys rock, love the content. Keep cranking it out. Keep fighting the good fight for us, thinking about making the leap.
Great question, thank you so much, John in the ATL. Look forward to visiting Atlanta again soon. All right, let's break this down. So first of all, I don't think John has missed the boat, and not everything has been said. Yes, there are millions of blogs.
There are apparently now a million podcasts, one million podcasts. We crossed that mark at some point in the past few months or whatever. But it's okay, there's a lot of TV shows. There's a lot of all kinds of media. It's really a question of what is best for you, just like you said, because somehow you have to build authority and trust in this area, this topic, which we'll talk about.
And then from there, you sell some sort of product or service. Now there's more than one way to build authority and trust. But let's just assume for the sake of this episode, we're gonna focus on blogging. Because I do believe if you wanna start a blog, there's no reason not to. Like if you actually want to do that, if you think that's the medium I'm attracted to, I would be the last person to say, "No, don't do that, it is too late." Because as I said, I thought it was too late, more than 10 years ago.
And I'll give you some examples at the end of the episode of people who have made blogging work really, really well for them. Let's also make sure if you're in the same place as John, for example, that your goals are aligned. Because in this example, John said, "I'm attracted to starting my own blog as it would allow me to work remotely." I'm not sure those things are always connected. Like if your main goal is to work remotely, there might be an easier way. But to make assumptions again, let's assume John's already thought that through.
He really does wanna start a blog in 2020. And further, because he's listening to Side Hustle School, he doesn't wanna just do it as a hobby, he wants to make money from it, which conveniently helps with working remotely. So in that case, what does he or anyone else need to know? Well, I think John should become the world's leading expert on a specific topic. He's already got one.
And he should make sure there's an obvious way to make money from that topic, because some are much easier than others. So John actually has chosen well here because this topic, people who hate sales, but need to be able to sell freelancers, et cetera, as he said, that is a big market. I probably hear from people who identify with that just about every day. And also, the obvious way to make money from that topic, there's a direct connection between being able to sell and making money, especially if you are a freelancer. So definitely no problem there.
My suggestion would be, if we're at this point, he should prepare two to three months of content in advance. This will help him develop his thinking and make sure it's what he really wants to blog about. And it will give him a boost when he gets started, because he'll have a backlog of posts to pull from and publish. And if he's got this weekly schedule or daily schedule, whatever he chooses, and he gets busy at some point, he gets busy one day or one week, and whenever he's supposed to post, he's like, "I'm not sure what to post." Because he has a backlog he can pull from, he won't miss the schedule and get to motivate it. Now, every day, regardless, he should do two things.
He should write something. So he's gonna create something, some kind of blog post in this example. And number two, reach out to someone. So write something every day or create every day, let's say, if it's a different medium, and reach out to someone every day. These are the two tasks that will grow the blog over time.
Now, here's a couple of examples. If you're interested in this model, episode 247, Target Store Manager makes $45,000 a month. That was through a personal finance blog. Obviously, a tremendous, tremendous success. Episode 595, HealthScare Pushes Marketer to Start Profitable Blog.
And more recently, episode 1082, Modest Men's Style Blog, Nets Six Figure Income. So that's 247-595-1082. You can always access any episode I mention in the archives by just going to sidehustleschool.com/thenumber, so slash 247, for example. [Music]
In conclusion, it's not too late. While there are usually easier ways to make money, I personally remain a fan of online writing and sharing.
Even in this age of the podcast, and YouTube, and TikTok, and everything else, whatever new platform has been invented in the past, you know, four and a half minutes since I've been talking. So I remain a fan of blogging. If you want to do it, there's no reason not to. Listeners, do you have a question? Come to sidehustleschool.com/questions.
We'll be featuring them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects. Today's notes are at sidehustleschool.com/1103. That's 1103. We'll include links to those other episodes I mentioned, and a free large mushroom pizza, at least while supplies last. Thanks again to John, and thanks to you for listening.
My name is Chris Guillebeau for Saddiselschool. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
