The popular saying that content is king comes to mind when you are thinking of marketing campaigns and ad copies. Do you know you can leverage content creation in a way that is both practical for you and build a sustainable income stream? You must be thinking that content creation is for ‘Gen Z’ or ‘Tiktokers’ but that is not true. If you have anything to say, in a compelling way then you can monetise and earn from it.
Let’s start with the truth! Building passive income streams looks different for everyone. However, the most important thing is to have a long-term plan in view. There are three things you must bear in mind as you build your passive income empire:
Live below your means
It does not matter how much you earn if you spend it all. You must discipline yourself to live below your income in a sustainable way. Your relationship with money will largely determine if you have enough to fund your side hustle or not. The popular saying that Wealth begets Wealth is true.
- Apply the 50/30/20 rule
To achieve the first step, apply the 50/30/20 rule. Live off 50% of your income and evenly distribute the 30% to repay debt, give and invest. Pay off 10% monthly, give another 10% to causes you to believe in and invest the remaining 10% in your side hustle. The last 20% is for savings which help to maintain liquidity and build emergency funds. Giving builds a wealthy mindset that helps you make better financial decisions. As a bonus, you build useful networks with successful people when you support causes they have an interest in. If you cannot give cash, give your time and skills.
- Leverage your assets, don’t sell
In applying the 50/30/20 rule, your debt reduces over time which means more money for investments. Go a step further by leveraging your investment assets in a way that builds more wealth. The most important word in business circles is ‘leverage’. Successful people are constantly looking for ways to leverage their assets instead of selling them.
For instance, improve the value of your investment property and increase the rent, or take a mortgage loan for a property whose rent completely covers the cost and perhaps some more. You can flip properties if you like but the idea is, don’t just sell your assets. As Warren Buffet has demonstrated, you cannot control stock prices but if you hold out long enough, you will gain the most.
Why you should consider content creation as a side hustle
Did you know the global content creation industry as of 2021 was valued at $12.2 Billion? Due to increasing demands for content across industries and the robust internet infrastructure, the market is projected to $24.73 Billion by 2027 growing at 12.5% per year. If you have anything to say, in a compelling way then you can monetise and earn from it.
Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.
Leo Burnett
How to monetise content
When you create content, you attract two kinds of people, those who are interested in what you offer and those who are curious about it. Your focus is on keeping both groups interested over a long time. This means delivering high-quality content in a unique way. The market may be saturated but people are constantly searching for something fresh and unique. Content is evolving and you should cash in on it.
There are so many ways to add value to peoples lives. But what’s also important is monetisation. The key is to find that balance where your business is efficiently monetising the value that it’s adding.
Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, CEO of Mayflower-Plymouth
Build your content for a year, and you will have a database that you can sell anything. The best part is that people pay you to showcase their products and services to your audience. The challenge is often how to monetise and market the content. This is why you should have a genuine interest in the niche area you choose as you may not earn much in the first few months. To earn with content, set up a monetisation funnel while you focus on driving traffic.
Content monetisation is in three phases – acquisition, research and launch.
- Acquisition phase is when you earn your audience. The measurable indicators to look out for are attention (reach), response (engagements, likes, shares) and subscription (an indicator that the audience wants more of your content).
- Research phase is when you develop a product you can sell to your subscribers. Use surveys and feedback from existing subscribers from your database to get relevant information. At this phase, ROI may be zero but it is a key step when designing a content product.
- Launch phase is when your content product is ready for the market. This phase delivers short, medium and long-term ROI.
4 Practical Content Side Hustles You Can Start in 2023
Starting a side hustle does not mean you have financial constraints, in fact, almost 50% of people with a side hustle do it because they want to. You can simply explore things you enjoy and cash in on them while you can. Recent stats show that people who dedicate as little as 12 hours per week on their side business earn a median of $1,122 per month. Currently, the U.S. side hustle market value is at least $2.58 trillion and this figure is expected to increase exponentially over the next 4 years. If you are looking to start, here are 4 content creation side hustles you can start:
1. Vlogging
If content is king, visual content is the king maker! Did you know you can make up to $18 per ad view on youtube? Imagine if you have 10,000 views, that’s $18000 earned. When you create video content, you can share it and earn unrestricted income through google ads. In 2021, the highest-paid YouTubers earned $50 million even though only 17% of YouTubers monetise their content. To earn, you need to monetise your channel which means an acceptance into the Youtube Partners Program (YPP), at least 4000 public views, 1000 subscribers and a linked AdSense account. If you are reading this, then this is your chance to cash in on this booming industry because you monetise your content from the start. As long as the video stays on youtube, you keep earning!
2. Blogging
If you enjoy writing, then starting a blog can be a useful way to earn passive income. The truth is, blogs do not earn money on their own but realistically, you can earn $500 – $2,000 per month blogging in your first year. While building your database, you have an audience who can sell any product to you in the long run. This is why it is important to build a database of interested audiences who you can sell anything to. In addition, you can sign up for ad programs like google AdSense, sponsored ads and affiliate marketing where your earning potential is limitless.
If you are a working professional, leverage the newsletter feature on LinkedIn to start building your database. As a bonus, you are positioning yourself as an industry expert/thought leader for more income-earning opportunities.
3. Membership site
A membership site allows you to earn when people pay to access your content. Instead of waiting till you have a database to earn from, you can monetise from the beginning and earn up to $10,000 monthly in membership fees. If you have seen the movie, Inventing Anna on Netflix, this strategy may be familiar to you. The task is to create exclusivity for your content in a way that people are willing to pay for access. If you set your fee at $20 and have 100 subscribers/members, you can earn $2000 a month.
People often ask how to keep membership locked in. You can offer more value for an upfront payment or reduce the monthly fee when for an annual subscription. The key is to build the sales funnel from the beginning and focus on driving traffic to your site.
4. eBooks
You can write and publish an ebook on amazon, where you earn every time it is read or purchased. For instance, an author with a 100-page Kindle eBook that was borrowed and read completely 100 times would earn $1,000 ($10 million x 10,000 pages for this author / 100,000,000 total pages).
If you have free resources and guides at your disposal, create an ebook and create traffic by allowing users to download them free for the first 3 days. This will get your eBook up the chart in its listed category on Amazon. After which, you can sell at your desired price.
We hope you found this guide very helpful for monetising content creation. Subsequent articles will discuss specific content types and how to earn from them. Until then, Good luck!
