This AI-generated supermodel earns up to €10k/month 💃

Last summer, Rubén Cruz, her designer and founder of the agency The Clueless, was going through a rough patch because he didn't have many clients.

We started analysing how we were working and realised that many projects were being put on hold or cancelled due to problems beyond our control. Often it was the fault of the influencer or model and not due to design issues.

They decided to create their own influencer to use as a model for the brands that approached them.

The virtual model can earn up to €10,000 a month, according to her creator, but the average is around €3,000.

In the first month, we realised that people follow lives, not images. Since she is not alive, we had to give her a bit of reality so that people could relate to her in some way. We had to tell a story.

She was created as a fitness enthusiast, determined and with a complex character.

One day, a well-known Latin American actor texted to ask her out. This actor has about 5 million followers and some of our team watched his TV series when they were kids… He had no idea Aitana didn't exist.

The agency believes this could help bring down market prices [for models] and give a boost to small companies that cannot afford big advertising campaigns.

I have been earning a full-time income since May 2019 and have been building my business ever since. I live and run my agency full-time in my RV, traveling across the U.S. That would not be possible without Local Marketing Vault, Jason & James, and the incredible community they built.

[Rodney] started his side hustle for two reasons. His friend’s dog Molly died, and he happened to own a $15,000 engraver for his stone-carving hobby. Molly’s concrete headstone turned out well, and Melton decided to open an Etsy shop in March 2021.

The store brought in $207,000 in 2022 revenue… About 65% of that was profit, Melton estimates.

At first, he could only fulfill 16 Etsy orders per month.

The extra cash was great, he says, but he wanted to shorten his lead time. After researching online, he discovered that his process was somewhat obsolete.

Three months after opening his store, he spent $7,000 from his savings on sandblasting equipment, because an expert online told him he’d “be crazy” not to.

The equipment cut his production time down to 45 minutes. In the second half of the year, he brought in between $5,400 and $8,300 per month.

Melton invested [another] $38,000 — from both his savings and the previous year’s proceeds — in a laser engraver, further cutting down his production time.

[Rodney] quit his job and enlisted his wife to help him make pet headstones full-time. Last year, he hired his daughter and daughter-in-law, too.

Over the last several years or so I’ve completely moved away from hourly or project based pricing. Instead, I simply charge a flat weekly rate, usually in the range of 3-5K USD per week (I now have 15+ years experience).

Early on I found projects anywhere I could. One of the first sites I built was for a teacher at the time. I found then (and still do!) it helps a ton to let everyone around you know that you’re looking for projects or available for work. Essentially seed it and when a project comes up you’ll be top of mind.

The Broke Backpacker officially sprung into existence on January 30th, 2013. Before this, it had existed as an email newsletter to 40 or so friends at home who encouraged me to take it to the next level [to start blogging].

Our mission is to provide a blueprint for others to ditch their desks and discover the world. We want to show you that it’s possible to travel the world on a budget of $10 a day

[The site] was making about $1,000 in 2015.

I then launched a tour company which would give me cash injections of between $12K to $16K pretty easily while I was basically spending two weeks in the country leading a tour, and that enabled me to grow things further.

By the time we got to 2018 we were hitting $3.5K-$5K/month from all affiliates.

And then that just exploded… it quickly went to 5 figures and then it went to 6 figures [per month] and then it just kept climbing.

[Writing] around a theme that really wasn't being covered on the internet at the time which was extreme budget travel.

As The Broke Backpacker gained traction and became one of HostelWorld’s largest affiliates, it was clear that there was an opportunity to use the success of the blog to create something truly special.

The idea of building the ultimate hostel for aspiring entrepreneurs and digital nomads to [begin] their online journeys had been a dream of mine for many, many moons

we've recovered to about 50% of where we were which is good money it's not the crazy money we were on before

Travel blogging is the most visible digital nomad job, and it's what most people think of when they think of creating some kind of online income.

It's also one of the most competitive and one of the most difficult ones to actually do well in. It's a lot sexier than doing local SEO for, I don't know, a lawnmowing business, but you might be able to build that up much faster and get it onto autopilot much quicker.

… to do well on [as a travel blogger] you're going to need to work for 2 years with no expectation of making any money, and you're going to need to do something a bit different.

Go out somewhere special. Central Africa hasn't been done properly, parts of South America still aren't properly covered. There's still opportunity out there for sure.

Get a motorbike and drive it from the top of the world to the bottom, people will love that.

Discipline eats intelligence for breakfast… Forge a strong routine that ensures you have dedicated work time each day and keep chipping away. It takes TIME to build anything worthwhile, be consistent.

I'm aiming for exceptional success in my business, and that requires sacrifice. Definitely the #1 thing I've sacrificed over the years is friendship. I have very few close friends. And I don't spend much time with those I do have. I'm okay with this sacrifice for another few years. Can't have it all at the same time.

Last year, for example, Link sent a lead to an agent who closed a $7.2 million lake home in New Hampshire. He negotiated to get 30% of the agent’s commission, netting over $50,000.