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4 Untapped Money-Making Side Hustles You Should Take Another Look At

Here are 4 online side hustles you're probably flat-out tired of hearing about but are still highly profitable.


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Jon Brosio

2 years ago | 7 min read

Plus guidance to *actually* get them off the ground

The longer you're In the online business world, the more you're able to predict what newcomers will be successful and what newcomers will fizzle out.

How do I have the confidence to make such a claim?

There's one defining tell that, when I spot it, I would bet my entire online business fortune that the person isn't going to make it. Want to know what that tell is?

The person believes that because they did something good or are a good person, that they deserve success. The common psychological term for this phenomenon is "Heaven's Reward Fallacyor,

"expecting all sacrifice and self-denial to pay off, as if there were someone keeping score, and feeling disappointed and even bitter when the reward does not come."

I get it. You put in all this work. You had all the right intentions. You are grateful for your position in life. You're doing good for your audience. You do deserve the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Right?

Only, like the Cosmos, online business is impartial to your feelings. Business is about more. It's about testing. It's about understanding your audience. It's about consistency.

Although you're probably tired of hearing about it, obsessing over a side hustle can change your life. Maybe you've tried your hand in these 4 side hustles. Maybe they've started to pick up some steam. If you're like a lot of people reading it, maybe they've amounted to nothing.

I'm on my hands and knees, begging you to take another look.

Here are 4 online side hustles you're probably flat-out tired of hearing about but are still highly profitable.

This is how you should start (if you don't know what you're doing)

Side hustling can be overwhelming. After you finally make up your mind that you do want to try your hand with a side hustle, you're met with an onslaught of paralyzing existential questions:

  • What is my side hustle going to be about?
  • How often do I need to create content?
  • What are the best things to write about?

While all those questions are important (maybe), they don't address the most important question when it comes to online writing,

"Where should I be focusing my efforts?"

Why is this important? Well, to figure this out, let's backtrack a little. The two big players in the online writing space are Medium and Quora (there are other auxiliary platforms as well that we'll touch on later). These platforms made game-changing announcements in 2021:

What do these two changes mean? That the online content writing space is more than legit.

Considering that research from McKinsey indicates approximately 400 to 800 million individuals will have their jobs displaced due to automation come 2030, these platforms are offering a launch-pad for people like you and me who want to share their expertise with an audience looking for it.

So to answer the most important question, "where should I focus my efforts" I think the answer becomes quite clear: Medium and Quora. However, I would suggest focusing on just one platform in your first 6–12 months. Studies show that when you overwhelm yourself with too many choices — you actually take less action.

People are getting paid for their thoughts (and you should copy them)

Traditional institutions are crumbling before our eyes. Fewer Americans trust what the corporate media tells them. Year after year, traditional universities are seeing their overall enrollment rates decline.

But like they say in physics:

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction"

The same holds for the world of online content. The consumption of knowledge is a human-universal.

  • We need to know what is going on in the world.
  • We need to learn.
  • We need to level up our skillsets.

These institutional changes have made way for a new opportunity for people like you and me. The paid newsletter. Now, before we get too excited with the paid newsletter, let me be frank: this is one of the more time-consuming and harder to grow writing side hustles. But it's completely worth it.

Going back to the last section, every time you write a piece of online content, you should be inviting your reader to join a free newsletter. You can do this via Substack or something like Convertkit (I chose the latter).

From there, you tell your new subscriber what to expect with the free newsletter. On top of that, you can pitch them a paid newsletter where they'll get more:

  • Maybe they get video/podcast content
  • Maybe they get an extra weekly written newsletter
  • Maybe they get case-studies
  • Maybe they get exclusive access to your courses (more of a membership style)

While the earnings aren't publicly available, with some educated guesswork — we can confidently say the top Substack publications are raking in anywhere from $5-$30k a month.

Are you going to be a top publication straight out of the gate? No. But think about what an extra $200 a month could bring you. Then think about growing that, month over month. I make a modest $1,000 a month just from my paid newsletter alone.

This tiny side hustle will grow into something special

One of my favorite musical artists is Mackelmore.

It's not because of his music (don't get me wrong — it's pretty cool). It's also not because of the positive things he's done for his community.

It's because he is and has always been a 100% independent artist.

"Trust me, on my I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T shit, hustlin’
Chasing dreams since I was fourteen
With the four-track, bussin’

Fat cat, crushing labels out here, nah, they can’t tell me nothin’
We give that to the people, spread it across the country
Labels out here, nah, they can’t tell me nothin’"

— Macklemore, Can't Hold Us

Whenever I listen to that song, it makes me think of my dreams of becoming a published author. Years ago, I used to look at the Best-Seller's list and revel at the authors and the publishers that helped them get there.

After I read about the author, James Altucher, and how he became a Wall Street Journal Best-Selling author after self-publishing his bookChoose Yourself on Amazon — my life turned upside down…

It made me think about what was possible in the blogging space. You don't need permission to write and sell a book. So that's what I did. Over the years, I've made tens of thousands of dollars selling different ebooks to my audience. To do this:

  • I asked me email list what they wanted from me (what challenges they were working on)
  • I wrote, designed, and packaged the ebooks
  • I sold them via article footers and my email list
  • I tested the price point to see how much they should be sold for

This isn't an anomaly. Thousands of writers are self-publishing and making sizable side income money through the sale of their ebooks either via their email list or by listing it on sites like Amazon.

When you have a body of work, you're ready for this

Did you know that more than half of Americans report listening to podcasts? What's even crazier, is of that population, 45% of them report having an annual income of over $75,000.

That's a lot of people with money who are looking to be entertained, learn new things, and level up their lives. This is a sweet opportunity for you.

And before you get all cynical about not having the time and resources to start up a podcast — let me stop you right there.

I'm not advocating that you start a podcast (I don't even have one — that would make me a hypocrite). Instead, I'm advocating that you take a backdoor approach to the podcast game.

Pitching yourself as a podcast guest has an incredible opportunity. What you're doing is putting yourself in front of a brand new [warm] audience that is looking for content akin to what you can provide.

I say it's "warm" because the audience probably already has trust in the podcast creator. You're just sending them an email pitch and telling them how you can help benefit them and the audience.

In the interview, when the podcast is winding down (or if you're savvy, throughout) you're always pointing the listener back to your site/landing page. From there, you can lead them to the paid newsletter, ebook, your paywall content, etc.

You can say something simple like,

"Everything that we've talked about can be found at:

www.[nameofyoursiteorlandingpage].com.

I have free resources available for download that help people looking to accomplish [target desire]."

Before you take yourself off the hook and claim no one would want to feature you, thousands of podcasts are actively begging for people like you to be featured on their show.

I say "after you have a body of work" because this is hard to do with nothing to back up the claims you make when pitching the podcast creator. From my experience, creators want something to point to.

Many of these people have been working on these pods for years. They don't want someone to just come on and "shoot the shit." When you have worked on the first three that we talked about, however, you actively build that body of work.

Closing takeaways

Shiny object syndrome kills too many side hustle dreams.

People get so caught up in the fancy new way to make money, they abandon the proven strategies that work and chase empty opportunities. I have a suspicion that a lot of what's happening in the NFT and crypto investment world is going to end in heartbreak…

But that's getting us off track. When you follow a proven template, you unlock money-making opportunities that propel you to a better life. Here are 4 money-making side hustles you should probably revisit:

  • Focus on creating content on platforms that pay you. Work diligently for 12 months and create a killer portfolio of your work.
  • Build a paid newsletter/membership platform. Traditional methods of consuming information are dying. This is your opportunity to create a tribe of like-minded people.
  • Creating an ebook can change your life. You don't have to have an agent to publish and sell the next best-seller. Of course, start small. But then watch it grow.
  • Share your body of work with new audiences via podcasts. Pitch hosts and let them know the value you can bring to their audience.

Start at square one. Keep pushing. Unfortunately, you don't deserve anything.

However, with the right approach and work ethic — you'll be given everything.

Ready to make more?

If you want to excel and earn more than what you’re currently making by doing what you love — regardless of your experience — check out my guide.

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