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$1.2 million from a couple of side projects š
Welcome to a fresh edition of eBiz Insider, my free newsletter packed with tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business.
Today...
$1.2 Million From a Couple of Side Projects
Launch a VA Business From Scratch in 30 Days
The Hidden Business Opportunity on 600 Million iPhones
Millions of Followers Doing Voiceovers for Dogs
This Clever Strategy Helped Her Earn $3 Million Online
$3000/Month From His Directory of 400+ Job Boards
What Happened When He Retired At 32
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Before we get stuck in, a few more short videos I published recentlyā¦
$1.2 Million From a Couple of Side Projects
š A recent post on Redditā¦
Itās a post by Stuart Hall, founder of Appbot, who credits just two mobile apps for most of his successā¦
He shares a revenue graph in the Reddit post, showing he started in 2013.
$1.2 million over 11 years = a little over $100K/year.
Pretty damn good for a couple of "side projects" š¤Æ
Stuart writesā¦
7 Minute Workout was born because I wanted to run an experiment. Could I build an app, iterate, and build a story around it? It ended up getting millions of downloads, got acquired, given back to me and generated some content that was read by hundreds of thousands of people and helped propel Appbot in the early days.
I created WordBoard to scratch an itch. Apple had just announced custom keyboards for iOS and I was frustrated that I couldnāt easily re-use phrases and text. WordBoard has been a long slow burn, but has actually ended up being more successful than 7 Minute Workout.
ā His criteria for choosing the right side project to work onā¦
1. Is this something Iām actually interested enough in to keep at it for years?
2. Is anyone else likely to want this app?
3. Can I make version 1 in a reasonable time frame?
4. Can it exist for months on end without any intervention from me?
5. Is there a popular trend or technology to leverage at launch?
#1 is probably the most important, and Stuart elaboratesā¦
Success can take time and iterations. One of the advantages of a side project is there is less pressure to make it fly on a time frame (without it having to support you financially) compared to a startup or day job.
Do you have some ideas for side projects?
Do any of them meet Stuart's criteria above? š¤
Doesn't have to be an app. Could be a service, a website, a YouTube channel, whatever.
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Launch a VA Business From Scratch in 30 Days
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š¬ Justin Brooke tweets a business ideaā¦
Apple sells roughly 200 million iPhone units per year.
The shortcuts app runs on models made after 2021ā¦
This means > 600 million iPhones have the shortcuts app.
And I canāt find a single YouTube channel that solely focuses on Shortcut recipesā¦
Yes, there are plenty of tech review channels with āhow to use shortcuts appā or ā10 shortcut recipes I use.ā
But Iāve yet to find a channel that focuses specifically on going deep on shortcuts.
And itās actually a very impressive app..
For example, you can set it to search for a keyword or phrase in a text message and then trigger it to ask a question in ChatGPT.
This seems like a massively missed opportunity, and super easy to make YouTube shorts and TikToks around.
A commenter points out that r/Shortcuts has ~370,000 members to which Justin repliesā¦
Confirmation that the market wants more info.
Might sound strange to build a business around a single app, but we've seen plenty of examples of people doing it successfully šŖ
For exampleā¦
If Shortcuts isn't your thing, perhaps there's another app you like that you could build a business around.
Another idea here: what popular Subreddits donāt have an equivalent channel on YouTube? š§
As Justin pointed out, a popular Subreddit is often an indication that there's lots of interest in a topic.
Find popular and trending Subreddits here š
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š Millions of Followers Doing Voiceovers for Dogs
From the archive, published May 2023ā¦
The first video I saw from @therxckstxr on Instagramā¦
@therxckstxr basically takes funny videos of animals (mainly cats and dogs) and adds his own voiceover and sound effects to make them even funnier.
Looks like he started in 2019 and has built up a big following on several platformsā¦
He recently launched a subscription option for Instagram followers, where they can pay $3/month to get access to bonus content.
No idea how many people have subscribed but this was the text on a video from mid-Aprilā¦
Thank You Subscribers! Your Support is Changing My Life & This is Finally Becoming my Career!
Imagine meeting this guy at a dinner party and asking what he does for a livingā¦
Oh Iām just your typical animal voice over artist, no big deal.
š¤Æš¤£
My main takeaway from this one: doesnāt matter how absurd or non-commercial your talent is; thereās probably a way to make a living from it via the internet.
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