Luxury for Less! Best Friends Get Paid to Share Design Tips

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Welcome to episode 690 of Side Hustle School. My name is Chris Guillebeau. Today's lesson, luxury for less. Best friends get paid to share design tips. In a story, two friends realize that their savvy shopping is a skill.

They then dive into the world of affiliate marketing, earning a commission when they refer visitors to specific products. They invest a grand total of $46 in startup costs, big spenders here, and in their third month, they earned $1,200. When they started, they had no idea how to make a website, they were rejected by several affiliate programs, and they had to change the name of their website. I'll tell you why in the episode, but they figured it all out. Now this is a pretty new story.

We're highlighting this story in an early stage so that you can see what they learned through the process. Perhaps you could save yourself some of those mistakes and get a bit of a head start for yourself. That story, luxury for less, is coming right up. [Music]

Time and time again, Rachel Ingram and Laura Gill would hear their family and friends complain about the cost of decorating their homes. They would set a budget, but always end up blowing past it.

The friends felt that with a bit of searching, they could have beautiful statement pieces and stay in budget. They began to scour the internet for the best deals they could find. Their Pinterest boards were unmatchable. Along the way, they experienced a newfound sense of empowerment. Not only were they finding amazing deals, they were making their homes their own.

Rather than buying an entire room design out of a magazine, each corner of their living space was intentional. Then around the end of 2017, they began to talk about sharing all their finds and ideas with the world. They knew that what they considered to be a fun hobby was frustrating and difficult for others. Plus, they had already accumulated a database of valuable tips and less expensive look-alike items over the years. Six months later, they were still confident in their idea, so they decided to invest a whopping $46 into making it a reality.

They spent $10 to purchase a domain name, then they spent another $10 because that first domain name didn't work out, more on that in a moment, and with their official new business name, Follow the Find, they invested that last $26 into a Squarespace website. But how would they make money? Well, they committed to posting on Instagram at least once a day, every day, and as their audience grew, they began to consider affiliate partnerships. If people were purchasing items because of their work or something they said, they should earn a cut. But Rachel and Laura quickly realized that creating those partnerships was easier said than done.

You see, when they applied to join the programs, they were rejected again and again. Even Amazon, which has very low requirements, removed their associates account twice. According to Amazon and the other merchants, Follow the Find didn't have enough original content on their website. Up to that point, they only included the same images on their website that they had on their Instagram account. Rachel and Laura knew that the brands could trust them to make sales, but they had to do something to prove it.

So to change it up, they added more content, including an about page, a tips and tricks section, a list of all their favorite stores to shop at, and what kinds of products they buy at each one. As that content and their followers grew, they finally began to score those affiliate partnerships they craved. This August, Follow the Find brought in $127. The next month, they reached $916. And then last month, month number three of the operation, they pulled in at $1,200.

All of this money is profit since they have essentially no expenses. So as I said, it's an early stage project here, but they have learned some lessons. Maybe these lessons will help someone out there leap over some of the hurdles that trip them up. So here are four tips. The first tip is to do your research.

After many conversations with potential affiliate partners, Laura and Rachel learned that not all retailers offer the same commission rates. For the sales they refer, they earn a commission of anywhere from two to 25%. Now 2% is a lot different from 25%. And it just depends on the brand. It just depends on the process and the specific program.

They also had to learn to use the appropriate links to make sure they were getting credit for leading a customer to a purchase. Second, be aware that money doesn't come flying in immediately, even when you refer a sale. Usually only get paid when the return window closes for an item. So that means it could take 30 days or even longer to get paid. Laura said, if you're looking to make quick money, affiliate marketing might not be the best place to focus.

Third, be open to learning new technology. Rachel and Laura had never built a website before. They had to go through a lot of trial and error with Squarespace, but just like their brand promotes, they DIY their way through. It took determination. It took a lot of Google searching, but they figured it out.

Fourth, think about your branding. Remember when I mentioned that the team had to change their domain name? This was because they originally named themselves Wayfair Fines, since many of their products were coming from the store Wayfair. However, Wayfair itself didn't like that. They said that they couldn't associate their company's name with their brand.

And this ended up being a blessing in disguise because once they changed their name, they were no longer limited to just referring items from that one store. This kind of business model probably won't make you rich, but as an entry point, it's worth looking at. In their case, Rachel and Laura are also gaining a lot of experience. And instead of paying for these lessons, these lessons are paying them. [Music]

Awesome, just one more quick note about Amazon.

I mentioned this briefly earlier. First of all, actually, if you have a website and you include any links to Amazon at all, whether it's books or something else, you might as well sign up for their associates program. That's what it's called. They call their affiliate program associates. You might as well sign up for that to earn a commission because it's free money.

Just don't expect it to be significant. So the thing with Amazon is it's really easy to sign up, at least in most cases, but the commissions are low. So most people, if they're trying to pursue this model, they'll be more successful referring visitors to specific merchants and even specific items like what Laura and Rachel are doing. Now, I also mentioned something about how they have to make sure they have the right links. So often if you're doing affiliate marketing, you can find generic links to the store.

So if it's Wayfair, for example, you can find your generic link to refer people to Wayfair and you'll earn a commission. However, in those programs, at least the ones that are well done, you can kind of dig into the interface and find specific links to specific products. And in some cases, you'll earn a higher commission. The merchants will pay a higher rate, a higher percentage, if you send someone direct to a product and they purchase that product, as opposed to something else that they buy. And the theory there is that you really are referring this particular sale.

Like that person has learned about this item from you. They click through, they make the purchase, as opposed to just somebody surfing around. That's a little bit different than referring a specific sale. Anyway, as I said, it's not usually a pathway to riches, but it's a pretty easy experiment. If you haven't experimented at all in the world of side hustling, doing something like this or reselling, which is another category I talk about from time to time, these are just some super low risk, simple ways to jump in, which is good, right?

Because every experience you have is gonna help you along the way. So we'll check back in with them at some point, see what they've learned, if they have any other lessons for us or just some update. And as for you, I hope you enjoyed this one. I hope you're having a good day, wherever you are. I hope you're doing something to make progress toward a goal that you believe in.

Inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. The show notes for today are at sidehustleschool.com/690. That is episode 696.90. Thanks so much. I'll be back again tomorrow.

This is Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]