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23y/o, Chronically Ill, Want to Shoot Higher

Hopeful

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Hey, everyone!

I'm a 23-year-old woman who just graduated from college in December. I've been living with a family member rent-free since then, but next month I'm moving out on my own. I've been doing freelance writing/editing, but not making enough to support myself, so I'll be taking at least one part-time job to supplement. Why am I choosing to scrape by on freelancing and part-time work instead of getting a "real job?" Because I have a chronic illness that prevents me from working a regular 9 to 5.

I had resigned myself to a life of penny-pinching because of my illness. But a few days ago, a guy I know mentioned a book called The Millionaire Fastlane , and said it changed his life. I got a free Audible subscription that day and listened to the book.

It gave me hope. (Hence my username. Haha.) Even when I work from home, my unpredictable flare-ups can severely curtail my productivity. Building a passive income source would give me security and flexibility. So, that is my "why"—I want to thrive, despite being sick. I don't want to make myself even sicker with stress because I have to push myself to make ends meet. I don't want to worry about money for medication and doctor's appointments.

My problem is, I don't know where to start. I know of a niche with a need, but I don't really know how to monetize that need. Should I post about that in this thread, or start a new thread tagged "Ideas?"

edit: Oops, forgot to tag @MJ DeMarco . Thank you for sharing what you've learned and for creating this forum too.
 
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Johnny boy

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If it's simple and just information to be shared, then people will be drawn to whoever gives it away for free on youtube. It's a small sub-category that a single beauty vlogger could explain in a single video and make your course or book obsolete.

Information is shared in blog posts and youtube videos for the most part. I would not monetize this part. I would make free content about it that attracts an audience on youtube, instagram and blog posts and have a brand based around the general larger category of beauty or fashion. Then, create a private program where women can pay you $86 a month to have you as their personal stylist who works with them for 6 month plans at a time who helps them with this and many other things related to fashion and beauty. You could take on 30 customers which isn't that many if you know how to provide valuable content and you'd be bringing in some decent supplemental income and doing it remotely. You could live anywhere and do that. Much better than trying to make a quick buck charging people $10 for something they really should have for free.
 
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Sadik

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Hiya @Hopeful

Welcome to the forum. At the outset first know with absolute certainty that you can make a very large sum of money working only a few hours online. It is possible and many people have done it. But there's a lot of work involved upfront. I work only about 3 hours / day freelancing and make what would be a full time salary even in the US. So don't fall to excuses.

There are multiple things you could do, but let me suggest to you the best in your situation. Earning solely from Blogging and relying on advertisement / affiliate sales requires a tremendous amount of hard work for a very long time. I would say it would take a couple of years of generating content regularly (blogs / videos) to actually get to a place where Blogging would just sustain you.

The styling concept you mentioned upfront was really interesting. I would suggest you build a course around it. If you can do this right, in about 6-8 months of regular working, you could start generating decent sales. Approximately, the steps would be:

  1. Create a Blog around styling specifically with the concepts you mentioned. odd intersection of Seasonal Color Analysis, Personal Styling, Body Shape Typing, and Personality Typing.
  2. Throw in some good quality posts about general styling and the likes. In total let's say you should have at least about 10 posts.
  3. Create a few free videos around the styling color concepts. I would say at least 3.
  4. Now create a video course aimed at absolute beginners which can take them from not knowing anything about what styling and colors etc etc (ME!) to them being able to do this confidently. Write down very clearly WHO your ideal customer is. Their hopes, dreams and fears!
  5. This video course should have at least 4 modules with 3-4 videos in each module of about 30 minutes to 90 mins (or at max 120 mins)
  6. Learn about Adwords from @Andy Black 's adwords course. Learn Copywriting from @Lex DeVille
  7. Learn about Facebook Advertising.
  8. Do Forum posting in your niche, guest posting, genuinely provide value and help people.
  9. Drive traffic to your Blog with the above, build an email list. Learn about AutoResponders and email marketing.
  10. Sell your course for at least $49. Research other beauty and styling courses to see how much they charge.
The above all can be done in 6-8 months, working for 4-6 hours per day. Within a year if you are irregular but still focused. You would need some money for Advertising. If you are totally broke, you can hit up influencers on Instagram, make friends online and ask people to recommend your course. Remember your course has to be good.

Read this thread -> GOLD! - A physicist's guide to learning hard things

Earning money is not difficult, keeping yourself disciplined is. Don't resign ever in life to anything. Not money, not disease, not time. You only lose when you give up. And All the Best.
 

rejis456

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Yes, I have! I have been editing for self-published authors for a few years (since my second year of college). I have been observing the self-publishing process and mentally filing my observations for future action. It is very easy to self-publish a book poorly—which could mean writing poorly, editing poorly, or marketing poorly. If any aspect is done shoddily, the professionalism of the book will suffer. So if I do it, I want to make sure I do it right. I would need to save up some money to pay for a good editor, good cover art, etc. I would also want to be very sure that I had a topic that would help people and that I could write authoritatively about.

The initial expense is the main thing that has kept me from writing a book. But that's a solve-able problem. :)

I also had several topics I wanted to write about, and I wasn't sure which was the best. But I think I have an idea worth running with here.

I think what I'm learning from this thread is that I need to have a multi-layered strategy. I can't just have a blog, or a book, or a course. I need marketing/social media to draw people in, valuable free content to keep their interest, and a valuable product and/or service to make a profit. (Like @Jeff Noel 's web metaphor.)
Don't get sucked into thinking you have to send $300 on a cover and a $1000 on an editor. If you can write decently, you can self edit or exchange with another author, and spend less $100 on a cover.
 

Hopeful

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The niche is this odd intersection of Seasonal Color Analysis, Personal Styling, Body Shape Typing, and Personality Typing. I don't think there's a name for it, but there's a group of women who are fiercely dedicated to finding out their style type in all these areas so they can dress in a more flattering way. The theory is that the more you dress to fit your coloring, personality, and body, the more beautiful you will look.

The problem? The information is scattered all over the web. And personal stylists, the purported experts in these diverse theories, are very expensive. Plus, every stylist concentrates on a different aspect of styling. Some concentrate only on color analysis, some only on personality, etc.

I have lurked on many a forum thread where women do mental gymnastics to find out what types they are in these various typing systems. It can take them months, sometimes years. It can take months just to understand all the information out there.

The need is for a simple way for women to understand and apply all this information.

I was very interested—okay, maybe obsessed—with understanding all these theories. After about 6 months, I came up with a simple system that connected all of them. (I won't go into the boring details, but it relies on a cartesian grid, and it's stupidly simple.)

I have been thinking of creating a website that not only aggregates information about all these style theories, but simplifies them. But I don't know how to monetize it. Web course? Book? Sell advertising or charge a finder's fee to personal stylists? I'm stuck.
 

Jeff Noel

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Do most of the bloggers you know make their money through sponsorships?
Hi Hopeful,

My girlfriend has been running a blog for over 5 years, and I would rather consider it as a marketing channel. People get hooked by all the free, high quality content that gives them value. Once they like your stuff, they'll most likely subscribe to your newsletter... and your blog posts most likely will contain link to your products/services (This seems like it needs to be defined... find a real need these women have, and provide value !).

Getting notorious on one platform gives you leverage to extend on others: Instagram, Facebook Pages, etc. The goal is to become omiscient to the user. Then, each different marketing channel can be used to advertize your brand new product/service, and with all the value you already provided for free, people will buy with confidence.

One thing to remember is that you're not the first blog out there. There's billions of them. Stay humble and focus on providing value, build your community... it may also end up as a closed Facebook Group where women can exchange on the specific subject... and you can sell advertizing on that group (this is what we do).

There's a lot of possibilities, but nowadays, sustaining people's interesting with ONLY a blog, unless each article is worth a solid gold brick , is hard. People aren't focused at all and that's why you need to be everywhere to catch them in your web.
 

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@Sadik, thank you so much for all the thought and detail you put into your reply. I think I could definitely execute all the steps you listed. Especially the video part, since I have a small bit of experience in professional video editing and audio narration! :) I really enjoy working with video, and it would be a pleasure to put together a course like the one you suggested. My learning curve would be Adwords/marketing. But hey, nothing worthwhile ever came without a learning curve!

I will look at those resources you listed, too. Thank you again.
Let us know what you did with all the information you received in this thread. Update your thread as you take action.
 
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Bekit

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Welcome to the forum, @Hopeful !

Sounds like you have something special there.

A couple of thoughts...
1) It's not easy to make money blogging anymore. Not impossible, but not like it was.

2) If you build and attract an audience by providing valuable content (in whatever format), there will be multiple ways to monetize that.

3) Have you encountered Jon Morrow? He's someone who succeeded in building a livelihood through his writing despite an incurable illness. Might be a dose of inspiration for you as well as some solid advice on how to make it work.

4) I would encourage you to think bigger. Could you become the go-to, #1 person on the internet or your topic, thanks to the system you developed? Can you become the foremost authority on how people can meet this need? Shoot for the stars!
 
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2) Could you give some examples, please? I'm pretty new to all this. Do you mean like a course or a book?

Once you have built and attracted an audience by providing valuable content (in whatever format), then whatever offer you put together, you have a ready-made audience listening to your every word.

Instead of creating an offer, posting it on the internet, and **crickets**, you have the opportunity to...
  • Create an offer that resonates with you audience (because you know them and you've listened to their needs).
  • Have people lining up to buy from you as soon as you release something (because they already know, like, and trust you)
  • Sell more to strangers (because they see loads of social proof)
So monetizing this could really be done in countless ways... an online course, a book, affiliate sales, physical products, a membership, etc.

4) I think I probably could. I couldn't become the foremost authority on any particular theory, but I could become the #1 person on combining and applying all of them. So, going back to your first point... even though blogging isn't profitable, it could be a way to build my authority, right? And get higher in the search rankings?

The reason I ask is because if you take yourself seriously and build content where your very intention is to become that authority, the more SEO traction you'll get, the more other people will take you seriously, and the more you'll accelerate your progress towards your goals.

You've got this! I'm excited to see how it all plays out!
 
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Ax3

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Hey Hopeful! (Great name btw)

I'm also quite new around here and have mostly been lurking since i joined but felt that I might be of assistance with your questions. This is actually my first ever post on the forum.

I work with SEO inhouse at a company as my main profession, I also run a couple of my own websites.

There are lots of great tips in this thread that I think you should heed regarding monetization and the like. I have a small section about monetization at the bottom of this post but most of it has already been said in different forms.

Your first step no matter what is probably going to be building an audience. People you can connect with, give value to and eventually finding a way to trade that value for money. Having an audience also gives you the freedom to create a product that your audience needs instead of starting with a product and then finding out if people want it. Once you launch it you already(hopefully) have the trust of your customers which helps greatly in selling people on something.

Building your audience

I might be a bit biased since I work with SEO but I took a quick look over the industry you're targeting and there is definitely potential there.

A few observations:
  • The competition isn't very harsh ranking-wise, so you definitely have a good chance of ranking high
    • What I mean by this is that while there are a few sites that target this industry, they aren't very strong seo wise. Not in the optimization of the content or in the link/authority department. There are also loads of unserved keywords where sites like Pinterest rank well because content from others is lacking.
  • The keywords & topics all have quite a decent amount of search volume each month.
  • It also look like it's an industry on the rise with search volumes increasing consistently over the last few years.
  • If you manage to find ways to make money it's definitely a niche ripe for the taking. (Fashion/beauty is usually a great niche to monetize since it's a big spender in people's lives)
Since the competition isn't very harsh you can put almost all of your focus on creating great content, and loads of it. You will honestly be able to rank well without much more than proper optimization and targeting with your content. As you eventually learn more about seo and building links you can dominate completely.
Since you're a writer this is perfect for you since you can focus on producing a lot of great content.
Basically your job in the beginning is going to consist of the following: find what people are searching for and creating content targeting those searches.


What you wrote about creating a hub for the industry is definitely the way to go. Become the missing brand in your industry that people know and turn to.

While your argument about not being original is fair, nothing ever really is. Almost all websites and their content out there are just a mixture of things that already exist.
Your job isn't to reinvent the wheel, it's to collect, summarize and present this information in the best and easiest to understand way possible.
The same is true for courses & books, the good ones are just really clear and easy to understand for its readers, because the author has a good grasp of the material.

Creating content with a purpose
A lot of companies fall into the trap of thinking, "Oh, we need a blog with content that we regularly update". What they don't think about is how and if people actually want to read what they put out.
"Build it and they will come" is a favorite quote among many, but before people "come" they actually need to find out that you exist. You need an acquisition channel. For content that has a longer lifespan and attraction, that medium almost always is search engines in one way or another.
Therefore it's important that you create your content with purpose and don't just create without a real aim in sight.

Different types of content will serve different purposes.
They also serve different intents in people's search behavior, all might not have a viable path to long-term search traffic, but the important part is that they all serve a purpose.
When people are searching they're always looking for something specific and that something is reflected in the keywords they use.
Your job as a site owner is to find that "something", this is often called intent or search intent.
Let that be the filter for when you're deciding what you create.

Examples of content types & their purpose:
  • Evergreen/long lifespan content that targets search terms. Usually guides, faq pages
    • Brings in passive traffic in the long-run
  • Interviews
    • Short term traffic from sharing in community and social media, may also yield links if the people you interview have their own following. Interviews are usually also a great way to get a foot into the industry and building some relationships with key people.
  • Quizzes & Tools
    • These are great for attracting links. Your niche also has quite a few searches regarding quizzes and color pallets which means that they can also bring long-term traffic. Lastly, tools and quizzes are usually a great way to build an email list, which is the only true channel "in your control"
  • Review / Affiliate content
    • These pages usually target keywords such as best x 2019 or individual products and reviewing them. The people searching for these terms are eventually looking to purchase something. Therefore the purpose of the content is to help these people find out what they should buy and then doing so via your affiliate link.


Of course there are loads of small seo "tricks" and methods that could be used to speed things up. But, the most important thing is just getting started, right there you beat out a big part of the population.


A process for your content:
  • Write down words, questions & problems that you think describes the industry and it's different areas.
    • You already mentioned some before: Seasonal Color Analysis, Personal Styling, Body Shape Typing, and Personality Typing.
    • I looked through these quickly and "seasonal color analysis" is very relevant and specific to your industry. It's base keyword "color analysis" also seems to be mostly things related to that. Personal styling is broader but you can use more specific words after(these are called modifiers) "personal styling" to niche down to your industry. "Body shape typing" is broad and the intent seems to be mostly fitness without modifying the search. If you instead take the different body shapes(hourglass, pear etc.) and use a modifier, you'll find some relevant keywords. "Pear shape fashion", "hourglass fashion"
  • Read blogs and sites in your industry regularly, map out what common themes and words they use. Try to find patterns and things that seem universal.
    • I read through a few sites and posts and found things like the kibbe model which lead me to several great keywords such as: "Kibbe quiz" & "kibbe types"
  • Pop your list of words into some tools that give you keyword ideas
    • Keywordtool.io(Free)
    • Answer The public(Free)
      • Just enter a keyword and the tool gives you examples of real questions in which people use that keyword, perfect for topic ideation and getting a quick hang of the important parts of a topic
    • Keywords everywhere (Free)
      • This chrome extension overlays data about keywords in places like Google search. It shows you both volume per month as well as keyword suggestions that it gathers.
  • Get the montly search volume from Google keyword planner
    • Google's own planning tool created for their ad platform. This feature lets you paste in a list of keywords and it spits out the monthly search volume. Nowadays it does have a few more restrictions though, the main one being that to se detailed numbers instead of jsut intervals, you need to be spending some money on Google ads. Though I'm sure if you just ask someone on the forum nicely, such as @andyblack , they'll probably help you out through their own account.
  • Look these keywords up by googling them. What results come up, what type of content is it. Try to see if you can guess what intent a keyword has before Googling.
  • Group your keywords into topics by looking at which ones showed a significant amount of the same results in Google. It's a good way to get some quick insight but don't rely on it blindly. Your objective is to create a list of topics that you'll eventually make into real content.

I attached an excel sheet that I quickly put together with some keyword ideas and their volumes. It isn't sorted so there may be some really irrelevant ones. Some

Finding and using Keywords isn't about sprinkling some random words that have volume into your content. Many times the keywords you need aren't even what you personally call things. It's about finding the language, words and terms that your audience and industry use and then applying that to your site.
In short: learn to speak the language of your audience.


Your writing is definitely something I can see people really enjoying to read and therefore becoming returning readers as well. You just need to create some content that has the acquisition channel built in(search traffic).


The model of your own creation that you mentioned, is that something that you've gone public with? If so, how has the response been?
If not, it's a perfect way to get a foot into the community on forums and sites like Reddit.
Create a nice graphic with a watermark and show it to the community. A great way to introduce something like this on a forum is usually to write what is essentially a full blog post but instead of publishing it on your site you publish it on the forum, graphics and all.
Do create a page for it on your website as well. If you succeed in making it popular you will have created a whole new search term that you now dominate because you created the term.


Other ways to get traffic(brief touch)
Of course seo isn't going to be your only way to get traffic, nor am I advocating it being.

Your niche is very community-driven which is perfect for driving traffic from other channels.
Traffic from search engines is a long-term strategy but there's no reason not to have the focus dialed in from the beginning. With that I mean to create your content with a purpose/focus, targeting what people are looking for through search.

Become an active part of your community(if you aren't already.) This includes being a regular contributor on sites and communitys that have your audience. To build a name the best idea is to find the most popular place and then putting a lot of your focus in being known on that platform.

....
Another interesting channel is Pinterest, which it always is for the fashion industry.
Pinterest as you said is definitely a huge channel in your industry. The nice thing about Pinterest is that it's also quite great at driving traffic.
As far as I can see, Pinterest also ranks well for a lot of the important keywords. That usually means that it's quite easy to rank with your own website, in your case it also means that you can get some wicked visibility if you manage to place your pins on these "category pages". I'm not an expert on Pinterest marketing but I am an avid personal user. Maybe someone from the forum with some Pinterest marketing experience could lend a hand?
Since Pinterest is a driving force all your posts should therefore have good looking images & graphics optimized for Pinterest. Install a pin button directly on your site as well to further encourage people to share your content.


------------------------------
I don't know if I'm allowed to recommend things on other forums but there is a particular 30 day guide which @eliquid among others helped write.
Does anybody know if I'm allowed to link it?

That guide would fit your situation perfectly, I personally keep coming back as well as referring to it since it so good.

It basically walks you through the whole process of starting a site like this, the ideation, planning, technical setup, content creation, marketing, monetization, mindset etc.


Monetization:

This has been covered a lot already so I'll keep it brief.

Ideas for monetization:
  • Affiliate
    • Affiliate for clothes that are included in different styles.
    • Reviewing clothes and different products
  • Courses & Ebooks, these work even better if you start out building a brand that people trust since these products do need a bit of trust for people to be willing to buy them from you.
  • Referrals to stylists - essentially selling leads, online ones are probably the easiest since you won't have to worry about location as much.
  • Marketing for stylists - Letting them advertise or even sponsor posts on your site.
  • Services such as color-analyze yourself like a PRO but more useful so that people are willing to pay for them.
The best ways usually aren't obvious straight away, but rather come from being a part of the community and finding the problems that need solving.




Hopefully you can use something from my rambling, if there's anything you wonder about, just ask. :)
 

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Hopeful

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Yeah... my gut was telling me that putting the information behind a paywall wasn't right. I guess I hadn't thought about being a stylist myself, since there are already so many. But if I set myself apart by having top-notch free content, then that will set me apart—is that what you're saying?
 

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It not right or wrong its just not profitable. And you said it yourself "stylists are expensive". If there were too many they would be cheap.

This is all assuming you would enjoy doing this. This type of online business can take a while to build up. If you want quicker money you could create a product and use influencer marketing to get sales rather quickly. But what you initially suggested would be a good piece of content instead of being sold.
 

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Hey, everyone!

I'm a 23-year-old woman who just graduated from college in December. I've been living with a family member rent-free since then, but next month I'm moving out on my own. I've been doing freelance writing/editing, but not making enough to support myself, so I'll be taking at least one part-time job to supplement. Why am I choosing to scrape by on freelancing and part-time work instead of getting a "real job?" Because I have a chronic illness that prevents me from working a regular 9 to 5.

I had resigned myself to a life of penny-pinching because of my illness. But a few days ago, a guy I know mentioned a book called The Millionaire Fastlane , and said it changed his life. I got a free Audible subscription that day and listened to the book.

It gave me hope. (Hence my username. Haha.) Even when I work from home, my unpredictable flare-ups can severely curtail my productivity. Building a passive income source would give me security and flexibility. So, that is my "why"—I want to thrive, despite being sick. I don't want to make myself even sicker with stress because I have to push myself to make ends meet. I don't want to worry about money for medication and doctor's appointments.

My problem is, I don't know where to start. I know of a niche with a need, but I don't really know how to monetize that need. Should I post about that in this thread, or start a new thread tagged "Ideas?"

edit: Oops, forgot to tag @MJ DeMarco . Thank you for sharing what you've learned and for creating this forum too.
Welcome. One of my client is a swimming instructor who has epilepsy. I know that it is not easy to run a business with a chronic health issue.

You do write really well. If you can write an education blog really well it can drive traffic and you can make money from advertisement. I am in finance and I know famous bloggers (in Singapore) who make a living creating contents on how to save money and they do reviews on financial products. Millennials love being educated and receive free tips to make them wiser.
 
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Hopeful

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Welcome. One of my client is a swimming instructor who has epilepsy. I know that it is not easy to run a business with a chronic health issue.

You do write really well. If you can write an education blog really well it can drive traffic and you can make money from advertisement. I am in finance and I know famous bloggers (in Singapore) who make a living creating contents on how to save money and they do reviews on financial products. Millennials love being educated and receive free tips to make them wiser.

Wow, good for your client. That sounds like a challenge!

Thank you! I never understood how bloggers can actually make good money. Before replying to you, I read these threads to get some more context.



Anyway, now that I am decently educated:

Do most of the bloggers you know make their money through sponsorships?
 

Hopeful

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Welcome to the forum, @Hopeful !

Sounds like you have something special there.

A couple of thoughts...
1) It's not easy to make money blogging anymore. Not impossible, but not like it was.

2) If you build and attract an audience by providing valuable content (in whatever format), there will be multiple ways to monetize that.

3) Have you encountered Jon Morrow? He's someone who succeeded in building a livelihood through his writing despite an incurable illness. Might be a dose of inspiration for you as well as some solid advice on how to make it work.

4) I would encourage you to think bigger. Could you become the go-to, #1 person on the internet or your topic, thanks to the system you developed? Can you become the foremost authority on how people can meet this need? Shoot for the stars!

Thanks for the warm welcome!

1) Hm, okay.

2) Could you give some examples, please? I'm pretty new to all this. Do you mean like a course or a book?

3) I hadn't, but I looked him up! Amazing story. This was my favorite quote from him: "The people we think of as heroes don’t have a mystical ability to transcend fear. To them, the alternative to taking action is simply unacceptable. They do what needs to be done, not because they want to, but because they feel there is no other choice."

4) I think I probably could. I couldn't become the foremost authority on any particular theory, but I could become the #1 person on combining and applying all of them. So, going back to your first point... even though blogging isn't profitable, it could be a way to build my authority, right? And get higher in the search rankings?
 

socaldude

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welcome to the forum. sorry to hear about your health problems. we are here to help in any way we can.;)
 
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Hopeful

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Hiya @Hopeful

Welcome to the forum. At the outset first know with absolute certainty that you can make a very large sum of money working only a few hours online. It is possible and many people have done it. But there's a lot of work involved upfront. I work only about 3 hours / day freelancing and make what would be a full time salary even in the US. So don't fall to excuses.

There are multiple things you could do, but let me suggest to you the best in your situation. Earning solely from Blogging and relying on advertisement / affiliate sales requires a tremendous amount of hard work for a very long time. I would say it would take a couple of years of generating content regularly (blogs / videos) to actually get to a place where Blogging would just sustain you.

The styling concept you mentioned upfront was really interesting. I would suggest you build a course around it. If you can do this right, in about 6-8 months of regular working, you could start generating decent sales. Approximately, the steps would be:

  1. Create a Blog around styling specifically with the concepts you mentioned. odd intersection of Seasonal Color Analysis, Personal Styling, Body Shape Typing, and Personality Typing.
  2. Throw in some good quality posts about general styling and the likes. In total let's say you should have at least about 10 posts.
  3. Create a few free videos around the styling color concepts. I would say at least 3.
  4. Now create a video course aimed at absolute beginners which can take them from not knowing anything about what styling and colors etc etc (ME!) to them being able to do this confidently. Write down very clearly WHO your ideal customer is. Their hopes, dreams and fears!
  5. This video course should have at least 4 modules with 3-4 videos in each module of about 30 minutes to 90 mins (or at max 120 mins)
  6. Learn about Adwords from @Andy Black 's adwords course. Learn Copywriting from @Lex DeVille
  7. Learn about Facebook Advertising.
  8. Do Forum posting in your niche, guest posting, genuinely provide value and help people.
  9. Drive traffic to your Blog with the above, build an email list. Learn about AutoResponders and email marketing.
  10. Sell your course for at least $49. Research other beauty and styling courses to see how much they charge.
The above all can be done in 6-8 months, working for 4-6 hours per day. Within a year if you are irregular but still focused. You would need some money for Advertising. If you are totally broke, you can hit up influencers on Instagram, make friends online and ask people to recommend your course. Remember your course has to be good.

Read this thread -> GOLD! - A physicist's guide to learning hard things

Earning money is not difficult, keeping yourself disciplined is. Don't resign ever in life to anything. Not money, not disease, not time. You only lose when you give up. And All the Best.
@Sadik, thank you so much for all the thought and detail you put into your reply. I think I could definitely execute all the steps you listed. Especially the video part, since I have a small bit of experience in professional video editing and audio narration! :) I really enjoy working with video, and it would be a pleasure to put together a course like the one you suggested. My learning curve would be Adwords/marketing. But hey, nothing worthwhile ever came without a learning curve!

I will look at those resources you listed, too. Thank you again.
 
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Have you considered writing books and self publishing?
 

Jeff Noel

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I think what I'm learning from this thread is that I need to have a multi-layered strategy.
If you want inspiration in that matter, and a working example, start analyzing Tai Lopez' web presence.
Not only is he focussing really hard on retargetting (if you start watching his content, you'll see his face everywhere), but everything you see has been selected for you.

He's gone as far as targetting specific emotions in specific videos, without most people seeing it.
His original "Here in my garage" ad on YouTube linked to a page with a 1 hour video targetting 7 different emotions... and value ! Someone who watched the whole video would learn a lot about web marketing. Everytime he starts rambling, think about who he's talking to in that story. Think about why he's using paper and pen, why he recorded this in his largest living room, etc.

"I won't keep this video up for long, you know me I like testing various things..." (urgency).
 
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cautiouscapy

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The niche is this odd intersection of Seasonal Color Analysis, Personal Styling, Body Shape Typing, and Personality Typing.
Then, create a private program where women can pay you $86 a month to have you as their personal stylist who works with them for 6 month plans at a time who helps them with this and many other things related to fashion and beauty.

I'm a woman, just saying I like your niche idea and Johnny boy's program model or something similar. It's true that the relevant resources are scattered everywhere; I'm sure you can craft something out of this.
 

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Once you have built and attracted an audience by providing valuable content (in whatever format), then whatever offer you put together, you have a ready-made audience listening to your every word.

Instead of creating an offer, posting it on the internet, and **crickets**, you have the opportunity to...
  • Create an offer that resonates with you audience (because you know them and you've listened to their needs).
  • Have people lining up to buy from you as soon as you release something (because they already know, like, and trust you)
  • Sell more to strangers (because they see loads of social proof)
So monetizing this could really be done in countless ways... an online course, a book, affiliate sales, physical products, a membership, etc.



The reason I ask is because if you take yourself seriously and build content where your very intention is to become that authority, the more SEO traction you'll get, the more other people will take you seriously, and the more you'll accelerate your progress towards your goals.

You've got this! I'm excited to see how it all plays out!
Okay, I see what you're saying! Thanks for explaining and thanks for the encouragement.

Based on all the advice I've gotten so far, my first step is going to be market research. I already have a casual knowledge of the market since this is a topic I'm interested in, but I need to do a deep dive to see where the needs are.
 
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Hopeful

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Doing market research and thinking.

The most glaring lack I see in this niche is that there's no hub* for all the info about style theories. I think I could create that hub. I could interview stylists and authors and create a one-stop shop for all things color analysis, personal styling, etc. Then once I gain visibility and credibility, I can create a course or ebook that ties all the theories together and teaches women how to apply them.

I could use interviews not only to promote my brand, but also as research for creating my product.

I don't think I can become the #1 stylist in the industry. I don't want to make that my goal. So I'm asking myself, "What can I be the #1 at?" I think I can be the #1 source of information and clarification about these style theories.

Does that sound like a viable plan?

*There are some small hubs, but they're very disorganized.

Edit: These are what I would consider the informational hubs of this niche:

Pinterest is also a major information-gathering place. But again, not very organized.
 

Bekit

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Doing market research and thinking.

The most glaring lack I see in this niche is that there's no hub* for all the info about style theories. I think I could create that hub. I could interview stylists and authors and create a one-stop shop for all things color analysis, personal styling, etc. Then once I gain visibility and credibility, I can create a course or ebook that ties all the theories together and teaches women how to apply them.

I could use interviews not only to promote my brand, but also as research for creating my product.

I don't think I can become the #1 stylist in the industry. I don't want to make that my goal. So I'm asking myself, "What can I be the #1 at?" I think I can be the #1 source of information and clarification about these style theories.

Does that sound like a viable plan?

*There are some small hubs, but they're very disorganized.

Edit: These are what I would consider the informational hubs of this niche:

Pinterest is also a major information-gathering place. But again, not very organized.
I like it. Thumbs up!!

The beauty of being a hub is that you don't have to be the expert at style... You can just be the person who pulls together a lot of (sometimes) conflicting information and synthesizes it for people. That is a huge role! I love it!
 
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Hopeful

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Update:

I'm combining research and marketing by going on Pinterest and following every single board that pertains to my niche. (It's tedious, but I think it will be worth it.) Then I'll create my own boards and repin from the boards I followed. This will double as research for my blog posts, which I will create pins for once I write. Then I'll do basically the same thing with YouTube for my video content. (The free videos, not the web course.)
 

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@Ax3 , I'm re-reading my reply to you, and I hope I didn't come across as a know-it-all. I was trying to tell you the ways that I'm implementing your advice or planning to implement it, but it might've come across as cocky. Thanks again for your detailed write-up; it was hugely helpful and very timely for the next stage of my plan!

Not at all, it sounds like you're ready to start with a plan in mind. Which is great! No worries, glad to help :)
 
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Hopeful

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The rest of the week of June 17 (when I last posted), I continued to actively post on a popular forum for my niche. I learned a lot, but I also got discouraged, because I encountered a lot of people who know more than I do about color analysis, Kibbe types, etc. That discouragement slowed my momentum. However, I remembered that my job is to curate and simplify, not to know every detail about every theory. Plus, if I don't know something, I can learn it.

Then, for the past three weeks, I prepared for an out-of-state move, said goodbye to everyone in my hometown, and settled into my new place. I took a training course to become a substitute teacher, which will be a flexible slowlane job for me!

While I was moving, I pretty much dropped everything else in my life. So it's been three weeks since I've worked on this project. Bleh. Not a good feeling. However, it was a choice. I feel that I did need to focus completely on moving. But now I'm settled, and it's time to get back to work. :)

Launch date for my web course: January 2020

What I Need to Do Before Then:

Write Blog Posts/Create Videos (the content will be basically the same for both):
  • Overview of the Different Style Typing Systems
  • How All the Style Typing Systems Connect
  • Spring/Ingenue/Sanguine Style*
  • Summer/Romantic/Phlegmatic Style*
  • Autumn/Natural/Choleric Style*
  • Winter/Dramatic/Melancholy Style*
  • I Can't Find my Type/Season! Where the Classic Type Fits
*My unifying system relies on the ancient Greek Four Humors.

These are not final titles, but topics. :) I'm looking forward to writing the first two blog posts, in particular, because they will help me figure out exactly where I'm going with this brand and with the web course.

Create more Pinterest boards and get more active on the site (repinning, etc.). I'm not sure how active to be on Pinterest; gotta take 10 minutes to read about that and decide.

Post on forum(s) every day. I'm debating whether or not to join Facebook groups in addition to the forum I'm currently on. Pro: more exposure. Con: Potential privacy issue; blurring lines between business and personal.

Create the web course! Need to do more research on how to do this. (Edit: may do an ebook instead, if I think the market would respond better to it.)
 
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ChrisV

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Oof, an exgirlfriend of mine had Autoimmune issues. They can be brutal.

As I'm sure you now that happens when your immune system doesn't know which cells are yours and which are foreign, so it just attacks your own body.

Here are a couple resources that can hopefully be helpful:



 

Hopeful

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Ok, I've hit a wall again. Working on my website.

I've set up a feed that shows all the latest posts and videos from bloggers in my niche. So now my question is: where does my content come in? How can I be an aggregator and create original content?
 

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