I know the title sounds like hype, but this is a true story of how I created a new side business that generated $688 per month in recurring revenue in 1 week. And better yet, it’s related to my main side business, WPamplify. As a result, I anticipate there will eventually be some nice synergy between the two services.
My hope is that my story in this blog post — what I did, how I did it and why I did it — will give you some ideas on what YOU can do and inspire you to take ACTION. I’m going to try to write this like we’re having a conversation. I know $688/month is not life-changing, but it’s a car payment plus some…or money for weekly dates with your gf/bf/husband/wife…or money towards your mortgage…so maybe it’s life-bettering. And it’s totally attainable for you.
Quick Summary
My main side hustle is WordPress SEO and online marketing services to small business owners. One of my strategies for connecting with potential clients is using Twitter. In fact, I wrote about it here.
I have a specific process I follow to build up my visibility on Twitter and attract new clients and it’s working for me (my 2 biggest clients thus far have come from Twitter). It recently struck me that my process could be applied to other small businesses pretty easily because I already had the system set up for myself. Well, the idea was nagging at me and I decided to just throw it out there and see if I got any bites.
My Thought Process
My idea was for a Twitter service for small businesses consisting of weekly tweeting and getting new followers. And the service would cost less than $100 per month. I knew it was something small businesses need, but don’t have the time for…the price was a no brainer…it’s a service I could provide without serious time required on my part (and I enjoy it)…and it could be a good lead generator for my SEO side business.
So this is why I was so intrigued by the idea. Once I got it in my head, it wouldn’t go away…so I knew I had to act on it. And I didn’t waste any time.
Execution
I’m already very busy with my main side gig…full-time career…and family of 4. So I wanted to approach this new initiative with the MVP (minimal viable product) approach. I didn’t spend months on a website. I just created a PayPal payment link and started emailing my clients and prospects with details of my new service.
Within 1 week I had 5 paying customers at $97 per month each…plus I had 2 clients upgrade to include some blogging help…for a total of $688 per month.
Now the one caveat here is that I had a pool of clients and prospects to reach out to because of my other established side business…but if I didn’t, I would have done targeted email outreach. In fact, that’s what I’m going to start doing now to get more clients
Idea Validated
I tried to go really bare bones with this idea so it didn’t become a distraction. I felt in my gut it was a good idea because:
- I was doing it for myself with some success.
- I had a system down pat that I could easily replicate.
- It’s something that my target audience needs, but don’t have time for.
- I knew I could get the price to where it becomes an irresistible offer.
My thinking was that if I got a few people to pay me money for the service, I would consider the idea validated and would then pursue it. But I’m going to take it in stages. Meaning, I’m still not going to create a website because that’s when the time-sucking starts.
As the next step, I created a name for the service, Flying Growth…registered a domain…set up a payment landing page using …and created a Twitter page. My plan is if I get up to more than 10 paying customers, I’ll build out a full website and and start marketing it more heavily.
Update (6/14/16): I’m at this point with Flying Growth so I’ve officially built out a website for this side hustle. I’ll create an full update on Flying Growth in the near future.
Update (12/3/16): My Twitter service is still going strong with over a dozen clients, but I decided to add it to my WPamplify side hustle to create a bigger and stronger brand.
Getting Clients
So as I mentioned, I got my first 5 customers from tapping into my existing contacts. I just sent out an email with details on the new service and a PayPal link! But moving forward, what will I do?
My plan is…
- I’m starting to push Twitter pretty heavily for the service which makes sense of course.
- Cold, but targeted email outreach.
- I will test Google AdWords.
- I will test Twitter Ads.
- I’m promoting the service on both of my websites (Sidepreneurial and WPamplify).
- I will continue to cross-promote Flying Growth to WPamplify clients…and vice versa.
- If I end up creating a full website for this service, I will blog on Twitter topics.
What Do You Think?
So that’s my story! I had an idea that I felt very strongly about…just threw the idea out to my contacts and got some paying customers…now I’m starting to promote it more heavily…and if all continues to go well, I will scale up my marketing and put more time into this side business.
Is there any idea or service you’re thinking about that you could apply some if these lessons and strategies to?
