Popular Online Side-Hustles From Scratch: Week #4: Different Approach

Intro

On April 21, 2022, I decided to start a series of articles to document the process of me trying out popular online side-hustles from scratch. I will share with you my struggles, successes, and learning process along this journey.

I will post updates on my progress and what I’ve learned along the way every Thursday. If you would like to follow along, use this link to get these stories directly to your inbox. If you just stumbled upon this you might be interested in reading some of the previous updates. Here is a list of all the articles in the series so far.

Week #4

This week I decided to focus on affiliate marketing. I was trying out a strategy I found on a YouTube video. And I realized it won’t work. Found a better strategy and this week I am changing my focus.

I had some success with affiliate marketing this week unrelated to the strategies mentioned. More on this further.

Earnings

Total: $2.88

Breakdown:

Print-on-demand: $0.61

Affiliate marketing: $2.27

This week: $2.27

Breakdown:

Affiliate marketing: $2.27

Accomplishments

• Series started — April 21, 2022

• First photos accepted to Shutterstock — April 26, 2022

• First video published on Youtube — May 5, 2022

• First sale on RedBubble — May 10, 2022

• First referral on Medium — May 12, 2022

Progress update

This week was quite busy for me and I didn’t have as much time as I would have wanted for the side hustles. And I managed to make some progress. I believe I will progress faster when I find the right strategies for me.

I am still learning a lot. And this week I realized that there are a lot of strategies out there, that are being promoted, that do not actually work. But there are better ones, which consequently take more time and effort. Nothing in this life is free.

Affiliate Marketing

Last week I watched this Youtube video, which suggests a strategy of reposting copyright-free articles on Academia.edu and Quora.

I gave the strategy a shot. And my conclusion is — it’s bad.

I got zero clicks on my affiliate links from using this strategy. And to be fair, I didn’t expect much. Because the strategy seems very ingenuine. Also after checking my academia.edu account today to see if my reposted articles got any views I found out that the account is suspended.

Screenshot by Author

I didn’t like this strategy but I am glad I tried it. It taught me a lesson. And now I won’t waste my time on stuff like this anymore.

This week I will be changing my approach. And focusing on products I actually like. Or at least am interested and would consider using myself. And I will be looking for direct affiliate offers from companies offering their products.

Here is a great video that offers some genuine advice and helped me find my way to this new approach:

I will be looking into affiliate offers for products like Jasper.Ai which I am very curious about myself. Stay tuned to see how this works out for me.

The success of the week: When I started this challenge I also began promoting Medium on other writing platforms like Read.cash, Publish0x, and others that I use. And this week I got my first referral here on Medium. This will add 2.27$ to my affiliate income every month that this person stays subscribed to Medium.

Faceless Youtube Channel

I didn’t have a lot of time for the video this week. But I managed to put something up. Check it out, subscribe to my channel and see how it evolves over time. Link.

I also installed a browser extension called TubeBuddy, which helps out creators with easily accessible statistics, tips, etc. But I haven’t used it that much just yet.

This week I will also try to promote my videos on different small YouTuber Facebook groups and see how it goes.

Stock Photography/Video (with my iPhone)

Nothing new here this week, unfortunately. But I am taking photos whenever I see something good. And over time they pile up.

Print-On-Demand

I didn’t add new designs last week. But I watched videos about print on demand, and I learned. And I want to focus on print-on-demand next week. I will be uploading at least five new designs each day. So by the next update, there should be at least 35 new designs. If I have the time I might even go for ten. I am excited for the next week because I have some new ideas for designs.

I also found this tool that helps to come up with tags on RedBubble. And tags are very important for your designs to get noticed. Let’s see if we get any new sales with better tags and more designs.

Goals For The Week

Overall goals:

Find more time for the side hustles. Focus on quality. And get quantity in once I get the hang of it.

Affiliate marketing:

• Find products/services I like with referral programs.

• Try the products

• Create content on them

Stock Photography:

• Keep taking photos whenever I can

Print-On-Demand

• At least 5 designs a day

• Focus on tags

Faceless Youtube Channel

• Create and upload another video

Closing Thoughts

Making money online is not easy, it takes a lot of learning. And a lot of determination. There is a lot of fluff out there selling false promises. I need to persist, find more time for this, and push myself harder to succeed.

In Future updates:

• A transparent look at my progress

• I will share what I have learned

• I will share other valuable sources of information