« Side Hustle School

#544 - Oh Snap! Photography Site Turns Into Passive Income Hustle

2018-06-28

A traffic engineer begins shooting wedding photography to make some cash on the side, but it’s his niche tutorial website that earns the real money… at least until it doesn’t. 

Side Hustle School features a new story EVERY DAY of someone who started a hustle without quitting their job. You’ll learn how they got the idea, how they overcame challenges along the way, and what the results are.  Share: #SideHustleSchoolShow notes: SideHustleSchool.comTwitter: @chrisguillebeauInstagram: @193countries

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This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
I was snap today we're gonna talk about a photography site that turns into a passive income us off now right off the bat. Let me just addressed something some people say hey: why don't? You about stories that don't work or a story that has some pretty major challenges to it. But my response is actually do that. All the time like story after story, there all kinds of challenges, and sometimes things don't work, and then a person usually turns it around us something different. I believe that adaptability and being willing to make a change is a predictor of success, much more than just Persistence so without in my welcome dishonest school, my name is Chris go about and that story today that photography site story is all about a try Engineer who begin shooting wedding photography himself, whose goal is to make some cash on the side, but then it is his niche tutorial website. It earns the real money. Romania is, in fact what he earns for a while, at least until it crashes and burns.
About adamant reminds you dont, build your business on someone else's platform unless you can accept the risks, so two important lessons there and also talk about White okay, sometimes to not be strategic. All that is illustrated well throughout the story. I think you're like this one, so do stay turn. Let me say thank you to today, sponsor and on with the show support for this pod cast comes from octet. What's your mother's maiden name? What Name of your first pet. We have another question: why are security solution still asking the same verification questions its twenty twenty? It's time you business, which is to a security solution that not only is bill for this decade. Booking guide you into the next one with an identity, centric approach to security act. Naples organizations to choose any technology integrated rapidly and deliver a security solutions that provides a seamless experience without making it harder for your employees. Often not Pushes you security forward, but it pushes your business It is well so we
Ask you one last question: what's your favorite security solution learn more about how you can improve your security PA share with the leader and identity, german security at Oxford, DOT, com, slash the answer: that's ok, tee a dot com, slash the answer. Vote Brian we as a man who loves his day. Job he's a traffic engineer, which means he helps to set speed limits, Bill Strategic Cross walks and make intersection safer. But while he loves the steady income a few years ago, he wanted a bit more a thousand dollars more to be precise. He had a goal. He also had a hobby one that is constantly evolving with all sorts of new techniques you coming out every year that obvious photography and a new camera lens had come out at Ryan, was captivated by Meanwhile, there wasn't an extra thousand dollars in the family budget to support China's hobby. So naturally he found
way to make that extra thousand dollars for it. He turned advertising himself to his friends and family as a part time wanting photographer it turned out. He was pretty good at it and I shall just over a dozen weddings over a couple of years and have to pay for that lends many times over which he eventually got. That's our story, because some else happened along the way that Ryan didn't expect and that something turned out to be a lot more profitable Ryan had received a request from other photographers about how he made his website. So he made a video tutorial for the programme. He used smug, mug and publish it on a blog for anyone else to learn from when he wrote that blog he attached them affiliate links for people interested in buying the product. He didn't anticipate much to happen there, but if people visiting click through and then made a purchase, he'd aren't a commission. Well, something happened. In fact, a lot of things happened. Price so remembers the rich satisfaction. He felt when a complete stranger left a comment on the blog saying how grateful they work for his tutorial.
You can also remember the satisfaction of that first affiliate sale within a few months. Rind video tutorial was ranking number one on both Google and you too, for a few popular search terms. His monthly affiliates earnings jump to five hundred dollars a month. A thousand dollars a month, and they just kept growing rang quickly, learned all he could about affiliate marketing. Clearly it was something he should focus on a couple more years and dozens of popular tutorials on photography, business tools later Ryan was making upwards of ten thousand dollars a month on the side through this affiliate income, and nearly all of it was profit, sounds amazing right. Why was amazing at least until disaster struck one day Rhine received an email from smug mug the software program. He was promoting as an affiliate. By the time he had a relationship or some of the folks at the business, so he anticipated a friendly hello.
What he discovered, an email wasn't friendly and it wasn't good news at all smugglers altering its affiliate agreement. Significant me, instead of allowing affiliates to take commissions for people already signed up for their free trial, the company would only pay out for a hundred per cent new leaves. This was a huge hit, derives income. Many of his readers were coming for help after they had signed up for the free trial. They realize they needed some help to get things going. That may perfect sense to Ryan, but smug mug didn't see it the same way. Just like that Ryan Side Project went earning at least several thousand dollars a month to earning more like several hundred, he was furious, but he also knew he had no control over the situation. You realize you would have to refrain that situation and see as affiliate income as a bonus rather than something he was entitled to it took some time, but that realisation helped him move for without a lot of bitter
he looked back at all the money he made me said. Well, you know I like to keep it going of course, but that was still pretty good. His blogging website, or still up rainest still creating video tutorials once in awhile for tools and software that photographers using their business motive is content. Still ranks high on Google on you too, he admit, he's not done. A great job is going to hustle since losing those big bonus. Paychecks. It's always been an aside thing for him whenever yet time and he imagines it'll stay. That way still appreciates the positive feedback he gets from yours and he says that the best part of the whole thing is well, it's gravy money, but what he calls the civilian income outside of his paycheck from the day job and with very little hands on work Ryan is building an emergency fund for his family and helping us Ex Wife Paper nursing school. It's not ten thousand dollars a month anymore, but it still making a real difference.
There are a lot of things to take away from this story and they're all kind of related, they're kind of lessons in in gratitude lessons inside hustling lessons and not counting on anything just a kind of star with an overall framing point, just because something works for awhile doesn't mean it's gonna work forever, and that can be ok, you know. So, as I the story I was reminded of a similar when we did episode four hundred and seventy two. We call that the Netflix of restaurant site hustle earns fifty thousand dollars a year. Now is a story of a guy who built his business on Google search rankings and then one day Google change its algorithm and he lost more than half of his business, like the value of his business was cut in half, essentially because Google stop sending so many people to his website and just like today, story heated up, ok,
two, he had a ritual is my way to get to work and you some things differently, but it certainly was a bad day to wake up and realize I argued just lost half the value of this thing that you ve been building. There are two different perspectives here and in their both accurate com depends on what you want to do. First lesson and first perspective is: if you build your business on someone else's platform, be prepared to be disappointed when it's all taken away from you like this guy today Story Ryanair, he was making up to ten thousand dollars a month and all of a sudden went to several hundred dollars a month.
Damn you know just like that and in I've heard this, this same kind of story over and over with different platforms with people who build their business on Facebook or Instagram, or even a direct selling site like Ebay or some kind of affiliate story like we had today. If there's some key elements of your business that you don't have control over and somebody else can take them away what it does happen that they actually do come and take it away, that's what these companies can do. So, if you want to insulate yourself in this risk, then you need a different business model or in this case maybe he could have had some different Ophelia partners. I'm not that would have been possible, given the nets that he was working in the reason why people are visiting his sight, etc, but that might have been away to kind of mitigate that risk. The second lesson or the second perspective, is just to say: you know what it's ok, that has happened because he made
that money in the first place like that was great? No, I didn't continue forever, but still no nice work. While you can get it, and I often use this phrase like if you see money lying under a rock, you should pick it up. You dont have to ask yourself a thousand questions about it like. If you see an opportunity to make some money using your skills, you know you ve got the time are able to make it work. Does it matter if it's not sustainable, does it matter? If it's not scalable, I would say for a lot of people, and a lot of situations
matter at all. So the reforming the needed at the end was really key because, instead of being better and saying like wisest company taking away this this opportunity for me to have to make money, he said you know what I wish it was still going of course, but now here we are and let's look back and have been able to save this money and I'm still making some might just not as much maybe I can find a different way to make money next. That is my overall perspective, but of course I also empathize and appreciate the paint point of seeing something taken away. You know all of a sudden dislike that. Maybe that's why you need aside hustle for your site hustle now that gives me an idea. Maybe I should start side hustle side hustle school, which might get a little matter. So perhaps has not one of my greatest ideas. Perhaps I should stop here and sign off. Thank you so much for listening to day, thanks for being part of this community, Dont, forget inspiration is good, but inspiration. What action is better than today show notes are inside us with Godaddy COM, slash five, four four, that is for episode. Five hundred and forty four and much more is on the way. I hope we will continue to join may do subscribed. You tell your friends of yours.
Every day with a different story. My name is critical about or side.
Transcript generated on 2020-04-28.