Side-Hustles From Scratch #20 — I Need An Upgrade
This computer ain’t gonna cut it no more
Photo by Musa Ortaç on Pexels
Intro
Another Thursday and another progress update. No miracles, just real, slow progress. Get future updates e-mailed to you every Thursday by signing up for my mailing list.
And if you missed the previous updates, here is a complete list for you:
Trying Popular Online Side-Hustles From Scratch View list
Hopefully, in a year or so, we can look back at this list as a roadmap to a successful side hustle.
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links, if you purchase something using them I might earn a commission.
Update #20
As I already mentioned last week. I am planning to start several new projects soon. Most notably I want to grow and monetize a YouTube channel in 2023. But I have already started working on the channel. And as soon as I got to work I faced some obstacles.
On a side note, I am doing pretty well at my writing side hustle which I haven’t included in this series. I have already published over 100 articles online. You can read more about that here:
Life Changing Experience of Starting Writing Online - 100th Story on Medium
Now let’s get into the regular stuff.
Earnings
Total: $117.98
Breakdown:
Print-on-demand: $0.61
Affiliate marketing: $117.37
This Week:
Affiliate marketing: $0
Accomplishments
Series started — April 21, 2022
First photos accepted to Shutterstock — April 26, 2022
First video published on Youtube — May 5, 2022
First sale on RedBubble — May 10, 2022
First referral on Medium — May 12, 2022
First actual affiliate sale 34$ — August 7, 2022
Crossing $100 mark — November 1, 2022
YouTube
I have added a new section to document my journey on YouTube. So far I have created the channel. Uploaded a couple of experimental shorts and one video.
But in the future, I want to focus on a more informative style of videos.
Last week I set a goal for myself to record a voiceover with a decent enough quality. And I did it. There is still a lot of improvement to do. But I could come up with something I can work with.
I used my Shure SM 57 microphone which I originally purchased to record my guitar. But after browsing the web I found out that it works well for voiceovers too. And a lot of podcasters use it.
One thing I need to upgrade the setup is a windscreen for the mic. Something like this should work.
This upgrade would eliminate unwanted popping noises.
And I should definitely work on my pronunciation and voice in general to get the audio to a level that I like.
But I have a bigger problem than this.
My current laptop is getting old and just won't cut it if I want to succeed on YouTube. Yesterday I was working on editing a video and not only it was painstakingly slow, but at one point the whole thing crashed and my progress was lost.
I need to upgrade my computer as soon as possible. And I am looking at a MacBook Air with an M1 chip. I know this might not be the top choice for video editing. But from the reviews I’ve looked at, I feel confident it will get the job done. If you’d like to support me in making this purchase you can leave me a tip on Ko-Fi. Everything helps.
Channel Stats
Subscribers: 6
Videos: 1
Shorts: 2
screenshot by HungryMinded
Affiliate Marketing
I haven’t made new sales this week. But I signed up for Amazon Associates which is their affiliate program. And I can now share links to Amazon products and if anyone buys something using my link, I will earn a commission.
I already shared some gear I use or plan to purchase in this article. And I will also be able to do this on YouTube. We will just have to wait and see how all of this works out.
Print-On-Demand
I haven’t been actively working on new designs for the past weeks. And I still have some designs to upload. But I haven’t seen any meaningful returns from this hustle so far. So I am currently focusing on other projects.
Here is my RedBubble store:
And here’s the traffic it got during the past 7 days:
screenshot by HungryMinded
As you can see it is not a lot.
Goals For The Week
Overall goals:
Start working on a Newsletter
Youtube:
Edit and publish a video
Affiliate marketing:
Come up with creative ideas to take advantage of Amazon’s affiliate program.
Print-On-Demand
keep uploading the old designs
In Future updates:
A transparent look at my progress
I will share what I have learned
I will share other valuable sources of information
Here is a list of all articles in the series:
Trying Popular Online Side-Hustles From Scratch
Feedback
If you have any suggestions or questions or want to share your thoughts, leave a comment below
Before you leave
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This article was originally posted by me on Medium