This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Musician creates a loop pack for video editors. Welcome to Side Hustle School. Welcome back if you've been listening for a while or welcome if it's your first time. Today's episode is part of a feature we call your first $1,000. It is in fact how somebody makes their first $1,000, how they go from idea to income.
Today's story specifically comes from a freelance musician who was tired of waiting on client work and decided to create a product he could sell over and over again, or at least that's the goal. This musician turns abandoned audio sketches into a product for content creators. Let's see here, what other notes do I have? He had built up this large backlog of unfinished ideas. Most of it wasn't suited for full length songs, but he realized there was value in the fragments, especially for content creators who need royalty-free audio for YouTube, TikTok, podcasts, and so on.
So he basically puts together a little pack, sells it for 25 bucks and then begins seeing sales. He hits his first $1,000 in just under three weeks. And he did this with no fancy marketing, no big audience, just a practical, well-targeted product that solved a specific problem. So we're all about solving problems here and there is a problem you can solve as well. You have a skill that just needs to be transformed in some monetizable way.
And what we're all about on Side Hustle School is featuring these stories, hopefully giving you a point of inspiration and maybe a nudge of motivation to actually take action on that inspiration. So that's what it's about. Let's hear today's story from Nick. I'll come back at the end with a few words of wrap-up. [Music]
My name is Nick and I've worked as a freelance musician for years, mostly doing mixing, live sessions, and the occasional project for indie games or short films.
It's decent work, but always inconsistent. I'd often find myself in between gigs with a lot of leftover material, half-finished loops, mood pieces that didn't quite fit a client brief or ambient sketches that never became songs. At some point I realized I had dozens of these short tracks sitting on my hard drive. Most were about 30 seconds long and looped cleanly, perfect for background music and videos. So I put together a simple loop pack, 12 30-second royalty-free background tracks.
I included a mix of lo-fi, chill hop, ambient synth, and a couple upbeat tempos for intros or transitions. I called it Loop Pack Volume 1, priced it at $25 and listed it on Gumroad. I didn't do any paid advertising. Instead, I posted in a few places where I already hung out. A Discord server for indie video editors, a subreddit for YouTube creators, and a Facebook group for beginner content marketers.
I made the pitch super clear. Need non-cheesy background music for your videos? I made 12 clean loops you can use forever. The first sale came that same day. Within a week, I'd sold 21 packs.
By the end of week three, I had made $1,025, minus about $70 in Gumroad fees. I kept things simple, no DRM, no watermarks, just clear language saying royalty-free, use in unlimited personal or commercial projects. I didn't offer an extended license because I figured most customers wouldn't need it at this stage. That also made the process frictionless, no complicated licensing tiers or usage caps. To drive more traffic, I updated my product page with a few embedded preview tracks so people could listen before buying.
I also added a basic FAQ and included a download link to a bonus loop if they joined my email list. Now that I had something working, I started planning follow-ups. I released a second pack about a month later with similar structure, but a different mood. Loop pack volume two, dark and moody. It didn't sell quite as fast, but it still brought in steady income, especially once I bundled both packs at a small discount.
I've also started collaborating with a few small creators who use my loops in their videos and tag me. That's helped with visibility and it's cool to see the music in action. What I like most is that this feels sustainable. I'm not constantly chasing new clients. I'm building a catalog that works while I sleep.
And those old project files I almost deleted, they're finally paying off. [Music]
Nick, thank you so much. I appreciate the story. I also appreciate the details. I love getting lots of business details in these stories.
If you ever give us a question or a case study or something, the more details, the better. In fact, I really want our listeners to be able to know how to do these things and not just like rah, rah, go for it, like I do want you to go for it, but also hopefully guiding you in the right step, the right direction. So listeners, let me know as well how we can help. If you have a question or an update about your hustle, sidehustleschool.com, you can leave a question there. You can access detailed show notes for every single episode.
And of course you can subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. That's it for today. I'll be back tomorrow and I hope you'll join in. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
