Ever since I was in college, I was looking to escape.
I knew that working for 40+ hours a week for 40+ years to make someone else rich was not the way I wanted to live my life. I just didn't know how to do it successfully. As a result, I languished in failure for several years.
You see, I had big dreams that I knew couldn't be realized if I didn't have time freedom.
I wanted to travel the world, be there for my children, etc. There were personal hobbies that I wanted to focus on like language learning, weightlifting, writing books, etc.
I did MLM, drop shipping, selling digital marketing, selling business financing, manual and automated trading, freelancing, wholesaling real estate, selling mortgage notes, betting on horse races, casino gambling, rank and rent, buying a laundromat with credit cards, and then filing for bankruptcy, solo ads, etc.
It all failed. I was about to give up, but everything changed for me when I finally discovered what actually works. You see, throughout my life, people have always complimented me on my deep, melodious voice, often comparing it to Barry White.
While working in customer service, my co-worker who sat next to me constantly told me I should do something with my voice. Let that be a lesson, we all have a special talent that we should take advantage of.
So a few years ago, I created my own podcast, "The Deep Voice Man Show."
As I interviewed people, the listenership expanded rapidly, as I began sharing the episodes on my social media profiles. People have listened to my show from all 50 states and 110+ nations in 6 continents.
I had finally solved the riddle that flummoxed me for so long. The key side hustle one needs is building an audience of diehard fans who know, like, and trust you by producing content that is both educational and/or entertaining.
Your tribe is a readily available group to sell products and services to. You can also sell access to them to marketers and be paid for endorsements.
It doesn't have to be a lot of followers. Having 50 fans, which is doable, paying you $1000 a year adds up to $50k. On average, everyone knows 250 folks in their network that can be potential referrals. So even a small audience is big.
However, podcasting is not for everyone. For most folks, my top recommendation is to do what I am doing now, which is to start as a writer. Writing is the foundation of all content. It is also not as labor-intensive as creating videos or podcasts. The key to making it is to be patient and consistent, as your audience grows bigger and bigger.
Your ancestors survived centuries of floods, wars, famine, slavery, and plagues for you to sit on the toilet and compare your life to people on the internet you’ve never met. Be grateful.