What It's About
A scientist finds her audience through a series of online publications.
Words of Wisdom
Nicole shares an important tip for those looking to do something similar: “Having a base of Medium blog posts to draw from helped me generate content to get started and helped establish my authority in the field. So if you want to get started, start a blog. You'll refine your voice and find your audience.”
Fun Fact
Less than 0.5% of all the data people create is actually analyzed and used. [source]
Notes from Chris
Episode 1984
You remember March 2020. We all do. Just as the coronavirus pandemic began to surge around the world, Nicole Janeway Bills began publishing articles on Medium. As a data scientist, she had a unique set of skills that were becoming increasingly valuable for a variety of fields. These articles featured both her detailed knowledge as well as her technical experience with programming languages like Python. Then in August, she published a post about the Certified Data Management Practitioner Fundamentals Exam (CDMP). She called it “the best data certificate you’ve never heard of.” The reason CDMP is so great is that it’s an open book exam, centered around learning the concepts of data science, not just memorizing a bunch of facts. Not only that, but receiving this certificate bolsters the credibility of people who are new or old to the data management scene. That post gained a wide readership, which got Nicole thinking about creating a community for anyone interested in her field. To begin, she started two Facebook groups. One is focused on helping those who are studying for the CDMP exam, and the other is a more general group for people who are looking to break into data science. As those groups began to gain traction, Nicole added others on Linkedin and Meetup. She had cultivated both her own community and a captive audience for her writing. With this much engagement, she figured that there would be a market for online courses. She had more knowledge to share, and wanted to do it in a structured manner. All of the other work was free, so it would be nice to get paid. Not only that, but she had already built a whole network of potential buyers. By blogging consistently for over six months, she’d established her authority in the field. After a few months of research, Nicole learned how to sell a course through email using a system called Sendinblue. She launched it in February of 2021. In the first month, she made $172. Business picked up from there. In terms of profit margin, this is a very good business. Payment services like Stripe and PayPal take just 3% of the revenue from each sale, which means that Nicole gets to keep 97% of the profits. What she’s doing seems to be working—because her profits keep growing! In January of this year, DataStrategyPros.com had its biggest month of profits yet, at $1,500. This occurred after Nicole launched a new product, called the CDMP Fundamentals Notes. Because one side hustle isn’t enough, next she’s experimenting with creating mobile apps centered around wellness.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Learn more about Nicole and her online courses at, DataStrategyPros.com.
- Data Scientist Profits from Viral Article: After her Medium article gains attention, a data scientist creates an online community and series of courses, resulting in a new source of reliable income.
- Freelance Writer Publishes Sixty Articles Each Month: A freelancer finds her niche in the financial world, bringing in over six figures a year writing part-time.
- PR Pro Writes Herself Into Screenwriting Career: An “only for fun” romance novel leads to a multiple six-figure side gig writing real-life screenplays for this PR and marketing whiz.
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