What It's About
A Tour de France resource blog that brings in passive income.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
Cycling is an industry where people are passionate, and they buy gear. That gear is not inexpensive. For people who are hardcore, there are also training camps, extended activities like this L'Étape du Tour that is basically an amateur Tour de France. As with any passion-centric market, there's money to be made!
Fun Fact
Tim is a three-time Etape du Tourer. “I kinda had to put "doing Etape" on hold because Baby #1. Aiming for returning to France for a 10 year anniversary with the event in 2021.” He’s also tackled Mont Ventoux in one day three times. He says he likes to do “stupid things for fun” like a half marathon with no training, or a 260km/4000m Gran Fondo with no training, but really, it all ends up being source material for his side hustle.
Notes from Chris
Episode 329
In 2009, Tim Marsh took his first trip to France. He had a purpose: follow the Tour de France and do L'Étape du Tour, a mass participation cycle sporting event where amateur cyclists race the same route as a Tour de France. An admitted planning obsessive, Tim spent hours making all the arrangements. Had there been a guidebook to help him, it could have saved him a lot of time, but he couldn’t find one… you know what happens next. On his flight back to Australia from his French adventure, Tim wrote the first draft of that ebook. The job was easy. After laying it out on the plane, Tim tidied it up, added photos, then sent it off to a company that helped him publish. The publication process took a few months, so during that time, he decided that his experience would also make a great blog. That was the start of VeloNomad, a website for “cycling holidays and adventures” featuring ebooks/guides, product reviews, nutrition info, training insights, travel tips and more. Tim, as you could probably guess, is an avid cyclist. He works as an engineer in the health industry in Australia—a job that he loves—and uses his side hustle as supplemental income. But that’s not all. Tim is a Melbourne escapee. In 2011, he and his wife quit their (previous) jobs and with only a little savings, moved to the Far North Coast of New South Wales and now live on a 10-acre hobby farm with chooks (that’s slang for chicken), cows and goats. Time is of such great value to Tim and his side hustle so notable—it’s passive income. That is, Tim’s hustle requires minimal effort for him to maintain it as a source of income. His sales are about $400-700 a month through affiliate income (product reviews), plus sales of ebooks and prepaid SIMs, for cell phone use abroad—which isn’t a ton, of course, but it’s completely passive.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- VeloNomad: Ride on over to Tim’s blog to learn more about how to train for the Tour de France
- Wordpress: Tim used Wordpress to create VeloNomad, and here you can learn how to install your own Wordpress site in 5 minutes
- MailChimp: The email marketing platform that Tim used to connect with his readers and followers
- Stripe: A payment processing platform that Tim used to process his sales
- ActiveCampaign: The marketing automation platform that Tim used
- LeadPages, Landingi, AppSumo, ConvertPlayer: The various programs and platforms that Tim has used over time he's had VeloNomad
- British Man Earns $700/Month Writing Fish Tank Reviews: How a British man wrote a series of reviews about fish tanks and ended up building a completely passive income business as an Amazon affiliate. He now earns $700/month without doing anything for it at all
- Cruise Vacation Turns Into Highly-Profitable Hustle: After searching for answers to questions about his first cruise, a copywriter decides to take matters into his own hands by creating an informative blog
- Worm Composting Empire Brings in $400/Month:Texas man stumbles upon a worm composting method that turns into an interesting hobby and a fun side hustle. Don’t let your hustle idea wiggle away!
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Resources
CREATE YOUR ONLINE STORE
Create your online store with Shopify using an exclusive discount for Side Hustle School listeners. For a limited time, get a free 21-day trial and a 10% discount for a whole year.
Many Side Hustle School listeners are building sites using Shopify's easy-to-learn platform. Try it free today!
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GET YOUR FIRST 1,000 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS
Social media is nice, but building an email list is still the single best way to get customers and clients for your hustle. It's not hard to get started—sign up for a 30-day trial and join the list-building challenge! You’ll be up and running in no time.
Quote of the Day
Sponsors & Gratitude
Create a Stunning Website With Wordpress
Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Wordpress.com! Whether you’re looking to create a personal blog, business site, or both—you’ll make a big impact, when you build your website on WordPress.com. 💻
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To infinity and beyond,
