This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Hello, hello, what's up? Good morning, afternoon, evening, whatever the case may be, wherever you are in the world, welcome to Side Hustle School, the only daily podcast, daily podcast, more than 2,000 days and running. It helps you make extra money without quitting your job. That is what it's all about. We have a global community of awesome listeners, side hustlers, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and just regular people out there who are trying to create security through the form of an income generating project.
And today I've got a question from a listener for you. There are lots of ways an online creator can get paid. Which are the most common and which are the most profitable? If you're looking to get started or start one of those additional sources of income, what should you pay attention to? That's what we're talking about in this quick action-packed episode, detailed question and my answer coming right up.
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Hey, Chris, this is Chase and I've been following your projects for a while. Congrats on putting on your 10th WDS recently. I hope it was an epic time for all. I'm calling today because I'm wondering what are the top ways that today's creators get paid? Do they make more money from courses or affiliate sales?
I guess the answer probably varies a lot depending on the individual or their topic or industry, but I'm wondering if there are some clear trends. Thanks, and I'm looking forward to hearing what your thoughts are about this. [Music]
Hey, Chase, what's up, man? Thanks for being out there. And yes, WDSX was pretty incredible.
I can't believe it has been, what has it been? I don't know, six weeks since then. Really a big high point of my year. I feel very fortunate about being able to produce that event. Now, let's focus on your question.
Revenue sources, creators. First of all, what do we mean by creator? I had to think about that a bit because it's one of these new terms. I mean, it's an old term, but it now has kind of a new meaning. I think to think of a creator as someone building a micro brand, typically based on their personality, their lifestyle, something they are sharing along the way in some fashion.
Could be through a blog, could be through a YouTube channel, lots of other mediums. And they also have some sort of monetization strategy. They're trying to actually make something, but then also make money. So when it comes to the revenue sources, Chase mentions a couple of them, courses and affiliate sales. We can put those in some broader categories, education and commissions, because there's more than one way to sell education besides courses.
There's more than one way to earn commissions besides affiliate sales. So I think about those big categories, advertising or sponsorships, another big category. And then finally, services such as coaching or consulting. So you've got four categories there. If you were trying to build a following, if you were trying to build that email list, those social media numbers, people who will keep up with you over time, I generally vote for education with that.
That's something that can scale. That's something you can build for a growing group of people. It's something that can be offered over and over. So we have a lot of stories that reflect that perspective. However, if you're trying to build a high traffic website, let's say based on SEO, like a website that's built around a specific topic, then in that case, commissions might be a better bet because a lot of people are gonna come to that website and not necessarily come back to it all the time.
They're not trying to connect with you or follow you. Maybe they want to do that and that's nice, but really they're looking for specific information. So we've had some stories of people who've built websites, focused around home exercise equipment, around different types of fashion, lots of other categories. So if you're trying to do that, then I think commissions might be a better bet. But when I hear creator, I tend to think more of the first category.
Someone who is trying to build that brand, they want people to follow them and they're trying to hopefully grow that over time. Now, lastly, here's something Chase didn't ask. If you're just getting started, what should you pursue? I would say generally speaking, there's a range, et cetera, but generally speaking, I focus on some aspect of education or a personal service. Again, those are broad categories.
There's a lot you can do with them, but I think that's a good direction when you're trying to figure out, okay, what's my side assault? How am I gonna actually make money? Look at education, look at some kind of personal service, coaching, consulting, and focus on your ideal customer. We've talked about that a bit in some other episodes. So we're gonna close this one out today.
If you've got a question, sidehustleschool.com/questions will feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch and grow their projects. I am cheering you on over here. I wish you every success. I really wanna help you create the project that's best for you. That's all for today.
More coming up tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
