I Have a New Project For Local Creators

Howdy!

^{I’m excited to hang out with you and 4,673 4,709 other box destroyers today! I’ll share my projects, the strategies I’m trying, and what I’m learning — all based on those business ideas I originally sent you.}

^{Note: I’m often asked what tools I use in my business. Here’s my current list of tools to help you with your money-making ideas. I’m also tracking the AI tools I’m using. Reply to this email and ask me anything about them—I'm happy to help. Also, I always use referral links when I have them. I may make a commission if you purchase through the links.}

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Before we get going, I had the opportunity to co-host the Niche Pursuits Podcast this past week — it was a fun episode as we talked about current news stories in the SEO space and even brainstormed a new side hustle idea!

I also launched a hangout for local media creators (blog, newsletters, etc.) called The Local Media Crew.

If this is you, come hang out with us!

🤖 How I’m Using AI This Week

It’s funny, I’ve started to be a user of my own tools — when I need a YouTube thumbnail or to know a character count, I just hop to my tool list.

I am also in the middle of working on a side hustle tool I think I may sell — as I think it will be quite helpful for folks.

I could sell it here in my newsletter, on Etsy, or via Facebook ads — we’ll see!

Either way, I’ll be sure to share what I learn through the process.

I also recently built a salary to hourly calculator and an hourly to salary calculator.

I also keep a running list for potential tools to build.

What I am debating is whether or not to set them up as simple websites or not.

I think I will do it with a few of them, just to see if they possibly rank over time.

I have talked about how crazy good AI voices are getting.

If you use the Elevenlabs paid plan, you can train your voice with 30 minutes of content.

And - it - gets - freakishly - creepily - good.

Here’s a sample for you of my voice.

Yep, that's my AI voice that I’ll use in some of my content.

If you want to do something similar, definitely check out ElevenLabs.

And with so many AI tools coming out that I need to test, I also launched this doc to keep up with it all.

Feel free to bookmark - let me know what tools I need to add.

Domain Name Flipping [09/21/24 Update]

I bought a number of .chat domains because there was a promotion deal.

If I don’t sell any of these in the first year, I’ll only renew the best ones.

I think a few of them are pretty great, but of course, I’m a bit biased 😁

I talk about my domain flipping challenge more in this YouTube video.

I’ve purchased 79 90 domain names (I’m buying at least 10 more if you have names you no longer need or want).

What I’m Learning: Once you have your strategy dialed in and everything set up properly, it can be passive. And then you can choose how active you want to be. For example, once I grow my portfolio to 100 domains and have them all for sale, I can just go about my business and see what sells over the 12 months. Or… I can spend more time hunting for more deals. My choice.

[2x] Facebook Page Growth Project [09/21/24 Update]

[if you’re looking for more tools for growing Facebook pages, I took this course (referral link) — pretty solid].

Note: I just made a video talking about some of my strategy for growing my Facebook pages using AI tools.

You can watch it here or watch below.

Here are my updates.

Corporate Rain is still averaging $.02-$.03 per like, and we just crossed 2.8k 3.2k fans on this one.

New Thing: I just started ads to this same audience to grow this email community (so hello if you’re from those ads!) Currently, it’s costing me about $.50-60 cents, which I think is pretty good.

Our other page is continuing to rock on as well.

We’ve passed 10,000 11,000!

And I’m still gaining followers for $.02-$.03 each, but I’ve slowed spending on this page to figure out organic growth.

I also tested an ad arbitrage deal and failed.

Granted, I only spent $6, I still knew it was heading in the wrong direction (less than 40 clicks). I think I made like $.50 or so —- I don’t need to be a math pro to put a pause on that one!

I’m game to try again with some fresh ideas.

Now I’m testing different post types, linking to blog posts, etc. - in the video above, I talk about some of the things we’re finding successful.

What I’m Learning: I’m still waiting on an invite to the Facebook bonus program. I hope that this will cover the cost of growth as I expand into other revenue streams. I’ll keep you posted.

Amazon Influencer Program [09/21/24 Update]

I was just invited to make special types of videos within the program. I am going to treat it like a job as it should be well worth the effort. I’m not allowed to discuss the terms, but it’s an interesting reason you may want to join the program.

I made a post in a group I’m in.

I said, “Tell me you’re an Amazon Influencer without telling me you’re an Amazon Influencer.”

I showed up to my house on Friday with a lot of boxes on the doorstep😅

If you want to learn a bit more, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

I’m also thinking to create a simple digital product with some strategy.

Should I create this?

(and if you want, you can check each weekly update since. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

I now have103 107 videos.

I’ve hired freelancers to make 30 videos.

My total earnings equal $1,560.27 $1,642.62

When you factor in my expenses for video creation, I’m now at $47.37 per hour.

Cool, because $47/hr is a $94k per year job pay rate.

What I’m Learning: You may receive special offers to make certain types of content by being in the program. It’s content that Amazon wants more of in certain categories. The only way to get these offers is to be in the program.

YouTube Music Channel [09/21/24 Update]

Slow and Steady…

The Story: When I work, I usually listen to LoFi hip hop or Chillstep or Ambient tunes that help me focus. I launched my own channel with the idea that I would listen to my own channel and be my own best customer.

We signed up for a month of Suno and created 100+ songs for our videos. I created a template using Descript that allows for quicker song creation.
I made a vid showing my process if you’d like to check it out…

Updated Stats:

92 videos
94 videos

97 subscribers
99 subscribers

What I’m Learning: We will keep creating different types of vids (just made a beach waves video that’s pretty great) and assess where we are once we cross 100 videos. At that point, I’ll take a hard look and decide how to proceed with this project. Whether to Pause or Keep Going.

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Until next time!

(keep destroying that box 😉)

Helpful Resources 👀