Data Scientist Profits from Viral Article

What It’s About

A scientist finds her audience through a series of online publications.

Words of Wisdom

Nicole shares an important tip for those looking to do something similar: “Having a base of Medium blog posts to draw from helped me generate content to get started and helped establish my authority in the field. So if you want to get started, start a blog. You’ll refine your voice and find your audience.”

Fun Fact

Less than 0.5% of all the data people create is actually analyzed and used. [source]

Notes from Chris

Episode 1984
You remember March 2020. We all do. Just as the coronavirus pandemic began to surge around the world, Nicole Janeway Bills began publishing articles on Medium.

As a data scientist, she had a unique set of skills that were becoming increasingly valuable for a variety of fields. These articles featured both her detailed knowledge as well as her technical experience with programming languages like Python.

Then in August, she published a post about the Certified Data Management Practitioner Fundamentals Exam (CDMP). She called it “the best data certificate you’ve never heard of.” The reason CDMP is so great is that it’s an open book exam, centered around learning the concepts of data science, not just memorizing a bunch of facts. Not only that, but receiving this certificate bolsters the credibility of people who are new or old to the data management scene.

That post gained a wide readership, which got Nicole thinking about creating a community for anyone interested in her field. To begin, she started two Facebook groups. One is focused on helping those who are studying for the CDMP exam, and the other is a more general group for people who are looking to break into data science.

As those groups began to gain traction, Nicole added others on Linkedin and Meetup. She had cultivated both her own community and a captive audience for her writing.

With this much engagement, she figured that there would be a market for online courses. She had more knowledge to share, and wanted to do it in a structured manner. All of the other work was free, so it would be nice to get paid. Not only that, but she had already built a whole network of potential buyers. By blogging consistently for over six months, she’d established her authority in the field.

After a few months of research, Nicole learned how to sell a course through email using a system called Sendinblue. She launched it in February of 2021. In the first month, she made $172. Business picked up from there.

In terms of profit margin, this is a very good business. Payment services like Stripe and PayPal take just 3% of the revenue from each sale, which means that Nicole gets to keep 97% of the profits.

What she’s doing seems to be working—because her profits keep growing! In January of this year, DataStrategyPros.com had its biggest month of profits yet, at $1,500. This occurred after Nicole launched a new product, called the CDMP Fundamentals Notes.

Because one side hustle isn’t enough, next she’s experimenting with creating mobile apps centered around wellness.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Having a base of Medium blog posts to draw from helped me generate content to get started and helped establish my authority in the field. So if you want to get started, start a blog. You’ll refine your voice and find your audience."
—Nicole Janeway Bills #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by ShipStation, the #1 choice of online sellers. 📦

To get a 30-day trial AND an additional month free, click the microphone at the top of their page and enter the word HUSTLE.
Get it Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Travel Membership Program Earns $300,000/Year

What It’s About

A travel blogger helps families learn how to fly free.

Words of Wisdom

Lyn share’s important advice about where to spend your energy: “Focus on one thing and keep tweaking it until it works. It turns out there’s a way to make almost anything work! I would try one thing, give up, try something else, etc. And be persistent. It’s those of us who don’t give up who are ultimately successful.”

Fun Fact

Families Fly Free isn’t Lyn’s first side hustle. In fact, she’s had a company doing social media research for law firms, travel writing, travel public relations, paid blogging and more!

Notes from Chris

Episode 1949
In 2015, Lyn Mettler was working as a travel writer for outlets like U.S. News & World Report and The TODAY Show. One day, she received a pitch about a couple who were flying around the world using miles and points they’d collected in ways other than flying. As a self-described spendthrift and frugal couponer, she was intrigued.

Lyn investigated the couple’s techniques for herself, experimenting with them on her family of four. She tried different strategies and eventually patched together her own process that allowed them to fly six times a year using miles and points. It was life-changing. The family went from road trips to flying around the U.S., Caribbean and Europe, all within a year. Inspired, Lyn decided to show other families exactly how to do it.

Inspired by membership programs she followed in other spaces, Lyn created the Families Fly Free membership program. It gives members access to all of the content she’d created in one place. She also works with members 1-on-1 on Zoom to show them her process and craft a plan specifically for their family. But the membership didn’t take off right away. Why not? As she explains it, she wasn’t being disruptive enough and didn’t have full confidence in what she was selling. In other words, Families Fly Free was flying under the radar.

During the pandemic, Lyn got an SBA loan and hired a business coach she’d worked with in a group setting. The coach affirmed that her product had value and helped hone her marketing and raise her prices. In fact, the price went from $199/year to $1,295, and that’s when the program finally caught some tailwinds!

Lyn says raising the price is the best thing she could have done. People finally valued the membership, and because they invested in it, they actually took the time to follow her advice. Members can save $3,000-$5,000 in just a few months following Lyn’s process and recommendations. That benefit led to powerful testimonials and word-of-mouth marketing.

These steps solved the crucial problem of monetization. In 2021, Lyn’s side hustle grew into a full-time hustle generating $300,000.

In the future, she aims to grow the membership to $1 million and help as many families as she possibly can. She’s also adding more features to the membership and continuing to grow her team. The sky’s the limit!

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Lyn and find out how your family can fly for free at her website, familiesflyfree.com.

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Focus on one thing and keep tweaking it until it works. It turns out there’s a way to make almost anything work!"
—Lyn Mettler #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by ShipStation, the #1 choice of online sellers. 📦

To get a 30-day trial AND an additional month free, click the microphone at the top of their page and enter the word HUSTLE.
Get it Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

“Geek Chic” Skincare Blogger’s Persona Pays Off

What It’s About

A young entrepreneur makes up a successful beauty blog.

Words of Wisdom

If you’re looking to start an online blog Jenny says, “Make SEO a priority from the start! And you don’t have to invest in expensive tools, there are a ton of free resources and tools available for you to get started!”

Fun Fact

Jenny was once an extra on the Soap Opera, One Life to Live.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1900
In 1999 while all the adults were worried about a glitch in their code that would lead to Y2K and the subsequent end to civilization, 11-year-old Jenny Wu was busy creating her very first website. The theme? Pokemon. Complete with sparkling purple background and comic sans font.

She loved collecting rocks and stickers, so Pokemon came naturally. Though she wasn’t yet coding, using a drag-and-drop tool to make the website, constructing it was fun and creative, an outlet that would inspire Jenny to become the successful developer (day job) and blogger (side job) she is today.

I should mention that Jenny was in Taiwan back then, where she was born. She now lives in Toronto.

After the Pokemon site, twelve-year-old Jenny decided to launch the blog that would eventually become her current side hustle. Approximately a decade later, she got serious about it and renamed it Geeky Posh.

As someone with a bit of a geek bent herself and who firmly lives by the saying that “knowledge is power,” she decided to focus her content on what truly mattered: do skincare products work, and are any of their wild claims founded on actual facts?

To answer these questions, she decided to dig into evidence-based studies to investigate whether or not the ingredients do what their packaging suggests. She then tested the products on herself and filmed the process. Her little lab of learning became fodder for her blog.

Though her messaging was in place, that wasn’t enough to make actual cash. To do that, Jenny decided to focus on ads.

The first ad provider she chose was Google Adsense, and it produced only pennies. She was relieved when another one invited her to their network. But her inner web developer was annoyed with their buggy platform. Finally, Jenny landed on Mediavine, who she still works with today.

Mediavine supplied her with support and training on best practices. It wasn’t long before her ad campaigns were optimized and turning profits. What used to be pennies climbed to an average of $2,000 dollars a month.

These days, Jenny’s considering a shift towards wellness work, yet another competitive industry that has a tendency to distort the facts. Instead, she plans to stand out in much the same way she’s done with Geeky Posh: by focusing on facts and engaging readers by guiding them towards proven results.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Get your makeup on and learn more about Jenny’s website, GeekyPosh.com.

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Make SEO a priority from the start! And you don’t have to invest in expensive tools, there are a ton of free resources and tools available for you to get started!"
—Jenny Wu #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by ShipStation, the #1 choice of online sellers. 📦

To get a 30-day trial AND an additional month free, click the microphone at the top of their page and enter the word HUSTLE.
Get it Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

“Overlanding” Blog Offers Long-Range Travel Tips

What It’s About

A blogger makes tracks sharing his love for adventurous road trips.

Words of Wisdom

Ferenc has some great advice about creating content. “The method that works is simply to create quality content that people are looking for.”

Fun Fact

Ferenc’s overlanding trip from London to Mongolia in 2014 involved him abandoning his vehicle in Tajikistan. This was so memorable that it spurred him to continue traveling and eventually launch his side hustle.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1886
Since he was a boy living in Bucharest, Romania, Ferenc Elekes has been fascinated with cars. As he grew up, he realized he wasn’t just interested in makes and models, but going on road trips as well.

These weren’t just trips that lasted a couple of days to the countryside. No, they were long distance trips to less frequently visited areas, often taken along remote trails. This was called overlanding, and the whole point was not any particular destination, but to enjoy the journey itself.

Later, as an adult living in London, where he worked in investment banking, Ferenc and two friends drove from the U.K. to Mongolia. Although they had many unforeseen bumps along the way, including having to abandon their vehicle in Tajikistan because of a breakdown, Ferenc thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

A couple years later, Ference—and his girlfriend Evelin, who was now along for the ride—took an even longer overlanding trip, this one for an entire year. They first drove across the Sahara, and then from Europe to Singapore. Because the trip would be so long, Ferenc decided that it would be a good time to start writing about it.

After all, overlanding isn’t a simple feat. It requires off-road capable vehicles to reach places that are typically inaccessible due to terrain. You often need to camp off grid and be self-sustaining. There is a lot of specific knowledge required in order for an overlanding trip to be successful, and the trips Ferenc were undertaking provided a good platform to put what he knew to the test—and then share it with the world. He set up his blog, overlandsite.com, at the end of 2017.

Returning to his day job after the long journey, Ferenc knew that he wanted to monetize his project so that it would fund his travels, and maybe eventually lead to a new life. His research had shown that the best bet for monetizing the site was through affiliate marketing, especially since overlanding is gear-intensive. If you want to get into it, you have to buy stuff!

Today, Overlandsite generates $2,000/month in revenue, most of which is pure profit. Looking back, Ference wishes that he had kept things simple by making sure his site was clean and lean instead of relying on clunky plugins that only slowed down the loading time. But of course he’s learned along the way.

For Ferenc, starting this side hustle came from taking the path less traveled—quite literally in this case.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Quote of the Day
"The method that works is simply to create quality content that people are looking for."
—Ferenc Elekes #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by ShipStation, the #1 choice of online sellers. 📦

To get a 30-day trial AND an additional month free, click the microphone at the top of their page and enter the word HUSTLE.
Get it Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Nurse Quits Job for Six-Figure Parenting Blog

What It’s About

A former nurse and busy mother gives birth to a successful parenting blog.

Words of Wisdom

Hilary suggests “keeping the day job and simply dipping your toe into your side hustle to see if you like it. If you find you’re passionate about it, invest more time and maybe go down to part-time at work. Just make sure you really like your side hustle before you go all in!”

Fun Fact

In the United States, the average number of daily births in 2020 was 4.06% lower than in 2019, dropping from 10,267 births per day to 9,850 births per day. [Source]

Notes from Chris

Episode 1844
Hilary Erickson was passionate about her work as a nurse. But she loved writing too. She even enjoyed doing reports at nursing school…which most people can’t stand—even when she was criticized for the creative way she wrote them. (Apparently they’re supposed to be standardized.)

So when she discovered blogging in the prehistoric year of 2005, it seemed like a natural fit. Hilary began writing about family health and pregnancy, topics she knew about as a labor and delivery nurse.

Her blog, Pulling Curls, was all about family life. She chose the name because life was making her pull her curls in frustration. In addition to her work as a nurse, she was also a mom of three.

So in addition to writing about family health, she added posts on home organization and setting routines. In short, Pulling Curls was a self-described “mom blog” with the mission to help families create confident, simple lives.

Hilary started placing ads on her blog using Google Adsense and later BlogHer. She was bringing in some income but wanted more readers. In 2014, she began using Pinterest to grow her audience. That meant writing blog posts about a specific problem she could create a pin for and then drive readers to her blog.

The strategy worked and she moved to better ad networks, which brought in more money. She also uses affiliate links and has developed close relationships with some companies.

But straight up blogging isn’t all Hilary does. She’s used her vast experience as a nurse to develop several online courses….including an online prenatal course for couples. The course provides three hours of everything you need to know about labor, delivery, postpartum and newborn care. Since expectant parents are busy, they can go through the material on demand with no deadline.

Since 2015, Hilary has helped 4,000 couples prepare for the birth of their child, a number she never could’ve reached if she’d been teaching couples offline.

Hilary also has an online course called The Organized Home and one called Family Systems. The courses build upon subjects she covered on the blog…and the blog works to drive customers to the courses.

As if she wasn’t doing enough, Hilary also started a weekly podcast where she shares tips from other health professionals such as chiropractors and physical therapists, as well as personal updates.

Between the blog, her courses, and the podcast, Hilary earned about $280,000 in 2020. When you break it down, 22% of her income came from ads, 12% came from affiliate sales, 1-2% from miscellaneous projects, and 65% from her courses.

Hilary finally took the leap to full-time self-employment and left nursing last year. She had held off going all in on the business for many years but loves all the options she has now… most of all, she’s thrilled at the huge difference she’s made by helping thousands of families prepare for their baby’s arrival.

She plans to keep updating the courses and nurturing the community. It’s been working very well so far!

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Hilary and check out her blog and courses at, PullingCurls.com.

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Keep the day job and simply dip your toe into your side hustle to see if you like it. Just make sure you really like your side hustle before you go all in!"
—Hilary Erickson #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by ShipStation, the #1 choice of online sellers. 📦

To get a 30-day trial AND an additional month free, click the microphone at the top of their page and enter the word HUSTLE.
Get it Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Marketing Analyst Serves Up Gluten-Free Profit

What It’s About

Seeing a lack of good tasting gluten-free food, this blogger creates and shares her own recipes.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Addison shares a fun life pro-tip: “Life is too short. Never quit your daydream!”

Fun Fact

Addison is not only a health-conscious, gluten-free chef. She’s also a former Division 1 soccer star, which she says is by far the most challenging and fulfilling experience of her life. Apparently, she doesn’t have an off switch because she’s also completed two full marathons as well!

Notes from Chris

Episode 1821
Many of us can’t imagine a life without bread, pasta, and pizza. The majority of eaters out there don’t consider gluten-free as a viable option.

Adding to the challenge, many alternative recipes get a bad reputation as being a poor substitute for foods we love. Enter Addison Labonte—today’s featured side hustler–who decided it was time to make gluten-free cooking approachable, fun, and most importantly, delicious, for everyday home cooks.

A marketing analyst by day, in 2018 Addison had the idea to start an online food photography and recipe blog. A few years earlier, she had gone gluten-free to address some medical issues. As she got used to her new diet, friends and family enjoyed her reports on what she was whipping up in the kitchen. Presto! The ingredients for a food focused blog began to blend together.

Though she was confident in her abilities to cook healthy and delicious recipes, Addison admits to not being computer savvy. She could write recipes, but didn’t know where to start to get her content online. So, she hired an agency to set up her blog, which she called Organically Addison.

To build her audience, social media (mostly Instagram) became her gluten-free bread and butter. And to grow that audience, Addison put on her analyst hat—because that’s what she does for her day job. Rather than just “try everything,” Addison choose to measure what worked and what didn’t.

How did it work out? Well, by consistently posting eye-catching photos and a new weekly recipe, Addison’s blog viewership grew and she was able to monetize it within the first year of launch. Through just a few different advertising channels, she’s taken an initial investment of $1,000 and turned it into a recurring $5,000 a month business.

As for what’s next, she’s content with keeping her main job while working on her blog. She loves the balance and benefits she gets from doing both. In a way, it’s like having your gluten-free cake and eating it too.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

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! Learn More

Quote of the Day
"put something into the world that you feel genuinely passionate about and proud of. If you are not passionate about what you are contributing to the world, you can’t reasonably expect that others will buy into it either."
—Nico Millado #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Learn More With Skillshare!

Supporting the sponsors keeps the show free. Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Skillshare. 📷

Skillshare is giving Side Hustle School listeners 2 months of unlimited access—for $0.99! Join the 2 million students learning everything from street photography to SEO on Skillshare today!
Get Started Here!

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.


Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

Writing About Reality TV Becomes Rite of Passion

What It’s About

A journalism professor earns real money covering all those reality TV shows the world loves to watch.

Words of Wisdom

Andy shares an important reminder for content creators, “Keeping up the energy to produce content every day is a struggle sometimes. But the more honest you are to yourself and to your readers, the easier it is to handle the challenge. It’s okay to take a break!”

Fun Fact

Andy was once a guest on Katie Couric’s daytime TV talk show for an episode about Duck Dynasty.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1809
Back in the 90s when Andy Dehnart was in college, there were only two reality shows on network TV: Survivor and Big Brother, and two others on cable: The Real World and Road Rules. There were no websites covering these new shows. And of course, networks like Twitter and Facebook didn’t exist.

As a college intern at Student.com, Andy would talk for hours about his love for The Real World…even though the other interns made fun of his passion. The obsession paid off, though. A year later one of those old co-workers became an editor for a web magazine and suggested Andy write about the new season of the show.

This was 1999 and Andy wrote a weekly column about The Real World Hawaii. But when a new editor came along, Andy was fired. Depressed and missing the chance to write and joke about the shows he loved, he went online but could only find bits of news and gossip scattered around the web. There just wasn’t one central place of information.

You know what happens next: Andy Dehnart created it.

He called it Reality Blurred, and it officially launched on July 9, 2000 with a grand total of three posts. Although he never marketed the site, he did submit it to Google and Yahoo and other search engines. People found it because they were looking for news about reality TV and there just wasn’t a lot of competition. Over time, the site’s popularity grew.

At this point Andy was a year out of college and writing for a couple of hours in the morning and another hour or two after work. Over time, he went from simply providing links to reality TV news to recapping episodes and giving his opinion about what was really going on with various shows, always fact-checking the information he shared and providing links to all sources.

So far it had just been a labor of love. But in 2003, he began running ads. A TV network representative reached out and asked about running an ad for a new show. Andy had no idea how to price an ad, but he needed a new computer that was going to cost him $2,000—so he gave the rep that price and they immediately said yes. Andy was shocked but cashed the check and ordered the computer.

The website is still mainly a passion project for Andy. Since 2002, he’s been teaching writing and journalism at Stetson University in Florida. But let’s be clear, this is a very profitable passion project.

On average, he earns $10,000 per month from the project’s various income streams. He’s had to fight to keep traffic coming to his site since there’s now a lot of online competition now from content farms, which produce a ton of low-quality pages. But being first—and being so consistent—has certainly helped.

Andy’s currently working on a memoir that details his side hustle journey and goes behind the scenes of reality TV.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

  • Learn more about Andy and see if he covers your favorite reality tv show at his website, RealityBlurred.com.

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Keeping up the energy to produce content every day is a struggle sometimes. But the more honest you are to yourself and to your readers, the easier it is to handle the challenge. It’s okay to take a break!"
—Andy Dehnart #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by ShipStation, the #1 choice of online sellers. 📦

To get a 30-day trial AND an additional month free, click the microphone at the top of their page and enter the word HUSTLE.
Get it Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

The Blog That Laid the Golden Egg

What It’s About

An accountant hatches a media empire centered on eggs.

[podcast_details]

Words of Wisdom

Lisa has shares some great advice about monetizing a blog, “Diversification is key! Don’t rely on one revenue source. And it’s important to write about something you really care about. It’s easy to get burned out writing about the same topic year after year.”

Fun Fact

A 2015 study showed that 93% of the 150 most populated cities in the United States allow backyard chickens. [Source]

Notes from Chris

Episode 1800
Lisa Steele was bored after leaving her accounting job on Wall Street. Her husband was in the Navy and had recently been stationed in Florida, which led Lisa to make a big change as well.

That year—2009—she bought some chickens to raise in her backyard. The next year she started posting photos on Facebook, sharing stories about her backyard flock. People loved learning how to raise chickens, but Lisa noticed she was answering the same questions over and over.

So in 2012 she started a blog called Fresh Eggs Daily. When someone on Facebook asked a question, she’d write an answer and post it online, along with a link to her blog where the post would remain available for years to come. When she learned she could earn money selling ads on her blog, that changed everything. Lisa began reaching out to some brands she liked to see if they wanted to advertise. She started charging $10 a month for an ad. Over the years she added more sponsors and raised her rates as her blog traffic grew. Today, the least expensive ad on her blog costs more than $400 a month. Now brands contact her instead of the other way around—and she’s very picky about who she works with.

Her first posts continue to be some of her most popular topics because they answer the most common questions about raising chickens. Things like healthy treats, how to raise baby chicks and what is molting? One of her posts about how to figure out how old store-bought eggs are went viral and was mentioned on Dr. Oz as well as in Cosmo. So what about the money? Well, get this! Lisa earned $23,000 that first year… and now a decade later she’s on track to gross $1 million, netting about $500,000 in profit.

Where’s the money coming from? Her ad revenue is her best earner, but she also sells a product line on Chewy and Amazon. She’s an Amazon affiliate and does sponsored posts.

Last but definitely not least are the royalties from the six books she’s written so far about raising poultry, including a children’s book and forthcoming cookbook.

It’s been a fun ride for Lisa, who now gets recognized on the street thanks to a local TV show she was featured on for a couple of years.

This side hustle allowed her husband to retire early from the Navy, making her the main breadwinner for their family. Going forward, she wants to bring her expertise to a national TV show. She still has the first dollar she earned framed and hanging in her chicken coop.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

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! Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Diversification is key! Don’t rely on one revenue source. And it’s important to write about something you really care about. It’s easy to get burned out writing about the same topic year after year."
—Lisa Steele #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Learn More With Skillshare!

Supporting the sponsors keeps the show free. Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by Skillshare. 📷

Skillshare is giving Side Hustle School listeners 2 months of unlimited access—for $0.99! Join the 2 million students learning everything from street photography to SEO on Skillshare today!
Get Started Here!

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.


Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

“Going Gray” Blog Brings in $6,000/Month

What It’s About

By embracing her natural gray, this aerospace manager is making a lot of extra green.

Words of Wisdom

Katie has important advice for those seeking to start their own blog, “Learn SEO ASAP—it’s more valuable than social media traffic.”

Fun Fact

When your hair begins to turn gray is caused by genetics, and predetermined even before you were born! This means that qualities like premature graying tend to run in families, but most of the time, people start to notice gray hair in their late 30s and 40s.

Notes from Chris

Episode 1732
In 2015, Katie Emery’s world turned upside down. Her husband lost his job, and her son nearly lost his life.

She says that those traumatic events led her to a period of “brain fog.” She didn’t feel like herself, and was constantly stressed.

But she had always loved being creative, and so, facing the uncertainty of her husband’s career, she decided to find her way out by starting a new project. One day around that time, she was listening to the audiobook of “You Are a Badass at Making Money” by Jen Sincero when the book covered the art of getting paid through blogging.

Katie was interested, so she began to learn more about WordPress. Instead of learning on her own, however, she found a WordPress tutor (yes, those exist!) and spent $300 to gain as much competence as she could.

Inspired, she decided to start a new blog, Katie Goes Platinum, to document her journey of going gray and perhaps encourage others along the way. She spent about $100 on the hair necessities—$50 on a blog theme, $15 on a domain name, and $35 for web hosting.

In July of 2018, the blog officially launched with a few posts. In an ideal world, she wanted to wait to launch until she had several in depth, well-written articles, but in the end she decided not to overthink it. Good choice!

Three years in, about 50% of her traffic is organic, and she is hoping to continue to grow that number. Katie makes more than $6,000 a month from her side hustle, and she is still working her day job as an aerospace marketing coordinator.

Katie says that above all else, she’s grateful that her side hustle has eased her family’s financial strain. Living in Los Angeles, the extra income has been critical.

She’s also glad that this is the blog that took off, rather than one of her first two attempts. She hopes it will inspire others in their 50s to think outside the box. Coming up next: a line of e-books, and maybe even a podcast.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Quote of the Day
"Learn SEO ASAP – it’s more valuable than social media traffic."
—Katie Emery #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by ShipStation, the #1 choice of online sellers. 📦

To get a 30-day trial AND an additional month free, click the microphone at the top of their page and enter the word HUSTLE.
Get it Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau

The $30,000/Month Women’s Fitness Website

What It’s About

An office administrator experiences a huge return on her fitness blog.

Words of Wisdom

Tami offers an important insight to starting a successful affiliate blog, “I created A LOT of content. There was a time that I was writing and posting one article per day to my blog. It was a lot of work, but I think it helped me to build my site up and get traffic. I also tried to cover brand reviews from all angles, writing a lot of comparison style posts that were made to help the searcher make an informed decision.”

Fun Fact

Home gym equipment has been around for years, but 2020 saw the rise of the smart home gym equipment. This niche turned into a billion dollar industry seemingly overnight. What upcoming industries might you be able to capitalize on?

Notes from Chris

Episode 1718
Tami Smith spent seven years working as the office administrator for a physical therapy company. Around half that time was spent working from home, which was a great perk. But even the time saved from commuting wasn’t enough for her to achieve true work life satisfaction. This became clear after the birth of her second child in late 2018.

Tami soon realized that to keep her full time job, she’d have to put both her kids into daycare full-time. It was that, or figure out a way to make money at home while also being a full-time mom.

Around the same time, Tami started writing for a women’s fitness site. The client soon became Tami’s favorite, since she loved the topic and found the writing flowed effortlessly. That’s when an idea came along that gave her a run for her money.

Tami had been writing articles for the site, and earning a one-off fee. They’d take those articles, and continue to make affiliate commissions month after month. She realized she could build her own site, and produce her own content and probably earn a lot more. So without hesitation, on November 2019 she registered the domain FitHealthyMomma.com to do just that.

Tami didn’t take things too seriously in the beginning, posting a few articles over the next few months. However, in April 2020 she really started to sprint. The COVID-19 pandemic hit and a lot of her clients could no longer afford her. With writing skills and a lot of time on her hands, it was time to get to work.

And it worked, her first commission came through … for five dollars. Small, yet meaningful. Tami was ecstatic, and hooked on the concept of using her own blog for affiliate marketing.

She also started a YouTube channel and began cross posting all of her content there in video form. All this output took the site from humble beginnings and five dollar commissions, to over one hundred thousand visits per month and thirty thousand dollars in revenue today. Quite the transformation in one year’s time.

Not surprisingly, Tami wants to focus on growing Fit Healthy Momma even more. She’s since created a private Facebook Group and worked to build a community of like minded people who value her reviews and opinion. Down the line, she may introduce a course or program to help others achieve what she has: one word, one article and one affiliate commission at a time.

 


 

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

cg-sig-newsletter

Resources

WEB HOSTING @ $2.49/MONTH

Want to build any kind of website for your hustle? If so, you'll need somewhere to host it! This is the reliable company I've used for many websites. It's cheap, flexible, and offers support 24-7.

Get your own hosting plan for just $2.49 a month!
Learn More

GET $625 IN FREE TRAVEL

Earn 50,000 travel rewards points (enough for 2 round-trip plane tickets or $625 in travel credit). You'll also earn 2x points on all travel and dining spend, with zero foreign transaction fees.

I use this card every day all over the world! ✈️ Learn More

Quote of the Day
"I created A LOT of content. There was a time that I was writing and posting one article per day to my blog. It was a lot of work, but I think it helped me to build my site up and get traffic."
—Tami Smith #SideHustleSchool

Sponsors & Gratitude

Try ShipStation for 60 Days FREE!

Today’s episode of Side Hustle School is brought to you by ShipStation, the #1 choice of online sellers. 📦

To get a 30-day trial AND an additional month free, click the microphone at the top of their page and enter the word HUSTLE.
Get it Here

Like the Show? Leave a Rating!

Side Hustle School is for you! If you’re enjoying it, please take a quick moment to leave a rating or write a quick review. It's really easy and it makes a difference! ✅

It also makes a huge difference when you tell your friends about the show. Remember, it's 100% free and listener-supported.
Here's How

Keep in Touch

There’s a new story every single day on Side Hustle School. Episodes are produced to be short and to the point—I know you’re busy. Be sure you subscribe to get instant notification of the day’s broadcast!


To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau