This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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What if your next vacation could lead to a $3,000 a month income stream? That's exactly what happened to Tanner Kalay, who turned a single cruise gift into a thriving side business that now provides a lot of income. In fact, I think it's actually more than $3,000 a month. Now it's probably a good bit more. When we first wrote about Tanner in the side hustle book, that's where it was at.
And this new segment, Weekend Workshop, is all about helping you learn the key steps to a new side hustle, one step or concept per week. It includes activities, examples, and more. And of course, it's all free. Today, we're gonna talk about turning a personal experience into profit. And let's just get into it with Tanner's story.
Oh, I should have mentioned we're using the book, Side Hustle, from idea to income in 27 days. In the first half of the year, we covered one step per week. In the second half of the year, some more detailed case studies. So Tanner Kalay, he is working as a copywriter in Austin, Texas, and his life took an unexpected turn when his in-laws gave him and his wife a cruise as a wedding gift. Now Tanner was a first-time cruiser and he had lots of questions.
He was like, which cruise line should we choose? What should we pack? What's worth spending extra on? You know, the cruise companies, they want you to spend money on all kinds of things. Maybe some of those things are actually worth it, but a lot of them are probably not.
So how do I make that choice? Like, how do I know? So he goes online to search for answers, but the information he finds is scattered, it's outdated, it's biased towards certain cruise lines, or there's just an overwhelming amount of information. So he's like, how do I know who to trust? And Tanner ended up having to piece together the information he needed from dozens of sources to prepare for his trip.
Now the cruise itself was a revelation. He found himself fascinated by the entire experience, the operations, the economics, the entertainment options. But more importantly, at least for our story, he recognized a gap in the market. There wasn't a single trustworthy source providing comprehensive information for first time cruisers. This realization came at a perfect time.
Tanner was getting tired of his copywriting job. He was looking for kind of an off ramp or a way to use his skills to create additional income, which is what we're all about here on the podcast, of course, and he wondered if he could create the very resource he'd been searching for, maybe even make some money in the process. Now last week I told you the story of Max and his fish tank blog. That one began almost by accident, but Tanner made a deliberate decision to create a cruise information website. He called it Cruisely, and he was like, okay, what do I need to do first?
I need to assess the competition. Like there are other cruise websites, but most were run by the cruise lines themselves or by travel agencies. They have, of course, their own sales agenda. Very few offered truly unbiased, comprehensive info. Next, he examined the market size.
And he was like, wow, there's over 30 million people taking cruises each year. Potential audience is substantial. And then next he thought about monetization, from affiliate commissions on bookings to advertising and eventually digital products. He's like, there's actually multiple revenue streams available, like this could be really cool. So after doing that analysis, Tanner took the plunge.
He named that site Cruisely, as noted, a combination of cruise and wisely, reflecting his mission to help people make smarter cruise decisions. Sets up the website, it provides unbiased information, practical expertise. He also focused on answering specific questions first time cruisers actually have. This is really important actually for SEO if you're building websites. He wrote articles like 37 things to pack for your cruise and hidden costs to expect on your first cruise.
So this directly addresses pain points that he himself had experienced. And then content consistency. Rather than trying to cover everything at once, Tanner established a sustainable publishing schedule, just two to three high quality articles per week. And that consistency gradually built his site's authority with both readers and search engines. Now, what's particularly notable is that Tanner started this project with minimal investment, just basic website hosting costs, probably less than $25 a month in his own time.
He uses his copywriting skills to create this compelling content. He learns the technical aspects of running a website as he goes, and what happened? Well, let's talk about it. Let's talk about the results and how you might apply this in your own side hustle or your side hustle idea right after this quick. Thank you to our sponsor.
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Tanner's cruisely site didn't take off overnight. For the first six months, in fact, traffic was minimal, revenue was virtually non-existent. And this is where many side hustlers would have quit. Just deciding, okay, this idea didn't work out, it wasn't viable. But instead, Tanner persisted, continually refining his content strategy based on which articles resonated most with readers.
He noticed that comprehensive guides covering specific aspects of cruising, like choosing cabins or understanding drink packages, performed particularly well. A turning point came when one of his articles was shared in a popular cruise forum, bringing a surge of traffic. This gave him even more insights into what his audience was looking for. So he doubled down on creating in-depth resources that address their most common questions. After that, he was soon earning around $1,000 a month, and then a bit later, up to $3,000 a month, which is when he started thinking, okay, I need to really get serious about this site.
It's definitely on track for a big success. And that's when we first wrote about him in the book. As I said, cruisely is still going. It now has a YouTube channel with 100,000 subscribers. He's got a lot more articles and no doubt a good amount of traffic coming to the site.
So I'm sure he's doing well over $3,000 a month at this point. But we're focused on how you can get going, right? So how can you use this mindset, this approach, this strategy to get going? Well, step one is to identify an information gap in an area you're genuinely interested in exploring. So for Tanner, it was cruises, especially first-time cruisers trying to figure out this information amidst a bunch of biased sources.
Step two, start creating content that directly addresses those questions. And focus on quality and depth more than quantity. These days with AI in particular, there's so much quantity, but you can really win on quality and depth. So aim to create the definitive resource on each specific topic you cover. Step three, be patient and consistent.
Content-based businesses take some time to gain traction. Commit to that sustainable publishing schedule just like Tanner did. Stick with it even when initial results are modest. And step four, listen to your audience. Pay attention to which content resonates the most and adapt your strategy accordingly.
You can do this across all kinds of industries, whatever you're into. If you're a home cook, a fitness enthusiast, a video game lover, a parent, those are just like a few ideas, right? It could be anything. The pattern remains consistent. Identify specific needs, specific information needs people are searching for.
Create genuinely helpful content. Establish yourself as the trusted resource and monetize through relevant partnerships and products. What's your version of Cruisley? Which information gap could you fill? There's an opportunity waiting.
You just need to recognize it and take that first step. I hope you will do that. And as always, it's better to have a simple idea. You can start right away than a brilliant idea that never launches. I hope you will pursue at least one simple idea.
Let me know how it goes. Let me know how we can support as well. New episode of the podcast comes out every day. Complete archives, 3,000 plus episodes available for free download on the website, sidehustleschool.com. That's all for now.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
