I just found a clever Etsy shop that’s made over $1M in revenue by selling AI-generated travel artwork that looks like this 👇

The most absurd part?

The person running this shop never manufactures, ships, or even touches the thousands of posters that they’re selling. Instead, they focus on creating new designs, list those designs for sale on Etsy, and work with production partners to fulfill orders automatically.

This is also just one of thousands of Etsy shops utilizing this kind of strategy.

Today, I’m sharing how this side hustle works, the exact workflow you can copy, and how to ultimately decide if scaling this type of business is right for you.

Let’s get to it!

Welcome To Side Hustle Spotlight 😎

I’ve been teasing this for a while, but I’m super excited to start a brand new series: Side Hustle Spotlight.

I’ve been testing out side hustles and one-person business ideas ever since 2017. This is how I became financially free in my twenties. And over the years, I’ve tried and experimented with a lot of random ideas.

My goal for this new series: I want to cover more specific, actionable ways to make money online.

I’ll be diving into the specific workflows that make different income streams possible. I’m also breaking down revenue/profit figures, how you can copy the model, and the pros and cons of each idea I research and share.

I can’t wait to cover a lot more income ideas here on WiFi Wealth. Again, emphasis on actionable so you can try some of these wealth-building ideas for yourself.

Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss these weekly breakdowns. And if you’d like to support my writing here, upgrading to paid helps me continue to write these guides 😊

Side Hustle Breakdown: Creating A $1,000,000+ Etsy Poster Shop

Etsy is one of the largest online marketplaces for handmade, craft goods…Or at least, it used to be.

Over the years, Etsy has changed. These days, you can find thousands of sellers listing all sorts of products, ranging from Excel budget templates to various digital downloads.

Another popular category on Etsy are art prints.

People looking to upgrade their bathroom decor or find a trendy poster for their college dorm room head to Etsy for this stuff. It’s a massive niche within the marketplace.

And some sellers, like VelvetPrint, are taking advantage of this demand.

This Etsy shop is based in the UK and has been selling for 10 years.

They specialize in selling travel posters from famous cities and destinations around the world. Ones like this Cape Town poster, as an example:

You can see this particular poster is listed for $21.37 USD. This is their smallest size and price for a 8x10” print. They offer much larger prints and frames all the way up to $75 to $100 or so in cost.

Being super conservative, let’s assume an average product price of $40 for their prints.

💸 Well, with 42,200 sales in VelvetPrint’s lifetime as shown by Etsy, this is over $1,600,000 in total revenue.

Even if they’re running at around 30% profit margin, that’s over $500,000 in profit, right into their pockets.

This is, of course, picking an extremely successful Etsy shop as an example. They’ve been selling for a decade, and they have over 400 active listings.

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But you can do a quick search for any kind of poster on Etsy and find similar shops with thousands of sales. Many of them have also started within the last year or two.

And while VelvetPrint almost certainly started by making each poster design themselves, now, I’m certain they’re using AI to create their latest designs. PLUS they’re not actually manufacturing and shipping any of their posters themselves. This is the key to the entire workflow and business model.

Here’s how this model actually works and where AI tools and outsourcing come into play 👇

How Does This Side Hustle Work?

VelvetPrint and many other Etsy sellers are using print on demand (POD) companies to create and fulfill their orders.

Print on demand companies essentially let you upload your unique designs to a standardized catalog of products. Think stuff like posters, hats, t-shirts, stickers, coffee mugs, and other popular sellers.

You can then list those products for sale on your own shop on marketplaces like Etsy or ecommerce platforms like Shopify. When you get a sale, you pay your print on demand company to manufacture and ship the product to your customer.

Your customer pays you for that product. When it arrives in the mail, they have no idea a third-party provider was the one that made and shipped that product to them.

This is exactly how shops like VelvetPrint fulfill so many orders. Their Etsy page even explains how they have ‘production partners’ around the world. This is print on demand in action, and it’s how VelvetPrint fulfills orders in a few days to a global customer base.

Now I’ve actually launched print on demand shops before and tested this idea out when I was in college.

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Back then, it was a relatively easy hustle to try if you could do a bit of graphic design.

But NOW? AI image-generation tools have removed all barriers to entry. This workflow is now something anyone with an idea for a shop can try, even if you have absolutely zero graphic design skills.

Let me show you.

💸 Related: 7 Passive Income Ideas You Can Build.

Where’s The Opportunity?

Let’s say you want to start your own niche travel poster shop on Etsy.

To get started, you can use AI tools like i10X or Skywork and simply tell them to generate travel artwork posters for you in your desired style. You can even give them reference images from your Etsy competitors and tell them to make something similar.

For example, I made my own Cape Town travel poster in about 30 seconds with one single prompt:

This looks exactly like the posters other Etsy sellers are pushing.

Now for actually making the poster as a product I can sell on Etsy, I just need to create a free account with a print on demand company.

My favorite company for selling posters is Gelato. It has a catalog of 900+ popular products, but it also has numerous types of posters and framing options that are high quality.

Once you sign up for Gelato, you simply upload your poster design and choose the poster type you want to sell on Etsy.

Gelato has a drag-and-drop design tool where you can preview how your poster will look and choose the dimensions you want to sell as well 👇

From there, all that’s left is to set your prices.

💰 Gelato charges about $5 to $6 for most small prints and upwards of $15 for larger prints. Frames add a considerable amount to your cost, but you bake this into your final price on Etsy. All-in-all, you should be able to run at 20-35% margins on Etsy with this model when you factor in Gelato’s pricing and shipping costs.

Once you select your prices, Gelato lets you publish your new products to your Etsy shop with a single click. It integrates with Etsy natively and is a verified production partner, so no issues there.

Etsy doesn’t ban this kind of AI artwork either. Again, the proof is in the pudding if you spend 10 seconds scrolling through Etsy’s listings. I also have friends who run various niche Etsy POD businesses like this without issues.

If you publish dozens of posters per day, you’ll likely get flagged. But this is absolutely a side hustle you can scale slowly but surely on the side across any niche you can think of.

🧠 Thinking Bigger: Spend some time scrolling through different Etsy niches and product types and you’ll see this model in action everywhere. T-shirts, coffee mugs, funny phone cases, stickers…Print on demand sellers have taken over Etsy.

You see many POD sellers leveraging paid Etsy ads to acquire customers as well. This eats into their margins, but it also means they have enough margin to support paid media.

If you can get an Etsy shop up and running with a few dozen designs, give it 6 months to begin ranking and get out of the sandbox. Learn basic ‘Etsy SEO’ and optimize your listing titles and descriptions with keywords people search for. Additionally, pay 5 of your friends to make 5 orders, each one leaving a 5-star review so your shop looks like it has some life.

It takes time to get a brand-new shop up and running and to a point it’s discoverable. It’s the same on YouTube, growing social media theme pages, or trying any business that relies on algorithmic traffic really. This is why most people quit and why consistency is vital.

💻 Create your free Gelato account and starting selling your first products today!

Pros & Cons

Pros:

1. Low Risk: This is a low-risk side hustle to test. You’ll spend $15 or $29 on Etsy’s one-time setup fee (varies by region), $0.20 for each item you list, and that’s it for starting out.

2. Passive Nature (Eventually): Print on demand is very hands-off once you create enough designs

3. Variety: Etsy print on demand selling works for numerous product types and niches

4. Creative Control: This side hustle can be quite fun for people who enjoy creative outlets

5. Workflow Simplicity: AI tools have removed the need for graphic design skills

6. Global Audience: Print on demand companies like Gelato work with production partners across the world. This reduces shipping times and cost since they route customer orders to the most efficient production partner for the job.

Cons:

1. Capped Margins: Your margins are being squeezed. Print on demand companies take their share. Etsy also charges a 6.5% transaction fee, variable payment processing fees, and can take even extra if they run offsite ads that result in someone buying from you. Again, I’d expect around 20-30% margins for your print on demand business.

2. Ranking Time: It takes time and consistent publishing for your shop to rank and appear on marketplace results

3. Platform Risk: Etsy is extremely tolerant for AI-produced artwork. That doesn’t mean bans never happen or that their policies won’t change. However for travel posters, people are buying this stuff, which makes Etsy money. I doubt we’ll see mass bans across this kind of product unless you produce too many posters at once and trigger a review.

Related: 10 Micro-Income Streams You Can Start Today.

Is This AI Slop Or Capitalism At Work?

Print on demand isn’t a new business model. Neither is selling travel posters on marketplaces like Etsy.

Mixing AI into this workflow has simply made it easier for anyone to try this. This is why we’re seeing marketplaces like Etsy get flooded with new shops and products across all sorts of niches.

As someone who has very little graphic design skill myself, I like that AI is removing barriers to entry. And, ultimately, people seem to be voting with their wallets; I see many successful, AI-driven shops with thousands of sales and positive reviews. If a Cape Town travel poster catches your fancy, do you care if the shop you’re supporting made that poster from scratch, or if they used AI tools to generate it?

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I’m not sure there’s a correct answer. People like what they like.

Now, anyone selling handmade goods or artwork would disagree perhaps. The ‘enshitification’ argument of the internet is also pretty valid. But if my goal was to start a profitable Etsy shop these days, this is the workflow I would use because it’s viable for my skillset and knowledge.

I’ve also had content businesses wiped out by AI and changing technology trends. Part of making money online requires us to keep up with the times. If you’ve wanted to try selling physical products online but have been missing the design and fulfillment side, then this workflow bridges that gap quite nicely.

Of course, this doesn’t mean this is easy or that there are guarantees. Etsy is still a competitive marketplace across many niches. But this formula can work, and it’s also very easy to test across numerous niches until you find some traction.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this first edition of Side Hustle Spotlight.

Like I said in the intro, my goal with this series is to provide a bit of a behind-the-scenes look at different ways people are earning extra income. I’m always testing out new businesses and ideas. But I can’t test enough ideas at once 😂 This new series will let me share dozens of amazing business models and side hustles so you can try them out for yourself.

If there’s an idea you’d like me to research, please leave a comment as well. I’d also love to hear your thoughts about this new series and the style; I’m always open to suggestions.

As always, thank you for your readership and support.

I’ll catch you in the next one!

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 6 High-Income Skills To Dominate The Next Decade.

👉 7 Realistic Ways To Earn Online.

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The internet is full of tiny goldmines. Pieces of digital real estate that pay their owners around the clock.

I know this because I’ve started, bought, and sold these assets since 2018. And digital assets are how I actually gained financial and locational freedom in my twenties.

The great news is that there’s also plenty of digital asset classes to explore as an investment.

From content businesses to niche communities, there’s some truly amazing opportunities out there that can enable you to build wealth and launch your own one-person business.

However, this alternative asset class isn’t without risk. And not all digital assets are created equal.

That’s why this post is covering the digital asset classes I’m considering, where you can actually find these deals, and the crucial risk-versus-reward calculations you must make as an investor.

Let’s get to it!

1. Monetized YouTube Channels

One of my favorite digital assets to invest in are monetized YouTube channels.

I actually wrote about how I bought a travel YouTube channel for $2,500. But here’s an update on how this experiment is going.

Back in December 2024, I spotted a YouTube channel for sale called TravelEconomics. It focused on moving abroad, digital nomadism, and was made up of faceless content narrated by a human.

The channel also had about 35,000 subscribers and was making about $100 per month in Adsense revenue.

The listing was for $3,500. My bid of $2,500 got accepted, and all of a sudden, I was the proud owner of a stagnant travel YouTube channel! Hooray!

Since then, I honestly haven’t worked on the channel enough. Too many other projects going on 😅

Yet in this time, this new digital asset has:

1. Published 19 videos

2. Gained about 2,500 subscribers

3. Earned $2,195.55 in Adsense revenue

4. Earned $4,000 in brand sponsorship income (Wise, Airalo, and SafetyWing have sponsored videos on the channel)

5. Earned about $250 in affiliate income (I really need to step this up for this property)

As for costs, I’ve spent about $300 on thumbnails and new channel artwork. I bundle editing costs under my main channel Tom Blake Finance since it has an agency that edits videos. But if I had paid for these 19 videos to be edited, that would be about $1,000 in extra expenses ($50 a video.) And you could always learn to edit videos yourself of course (get that sweat equity in! 😉)

Let’s attribute all potential costs, however. Here’s how this digital investment has turned out so far:

• Total Investment: $3,800

• Total Income: $6,445

• Return (To-Date): 169% ROI

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Additionally, I still own this asset. I need to publish more regularly and grow the thing, but it makes money every month now with traffic from old videos.

Realistically, I could flip this channel for about $4,000 - $5,000 based on the new trailing 12 months of revenue data and the updated channel metrics.

Another advantage of this strategy: you skip the grind of reaching 1,000 subscribers and 8,000 hours of watch time and begin monetizing your content from day one.

PLUS, a YouTube channel opens plenty of monetization doors…There’s digital products, consulting/coaching, affiliate income, sponsorships…

Personally, I bought this channel on Motion Invest, a marketplace for digital assets. They botched the transfer actually. I ended up hopping on a call with the seller who is from Brazil and we proceeded on a handshake agreement kinda thing 😂

Other marketplaces like Flippa also have YouTube channels for sale. Same with Fameswap.

💸 If you’re curious about making money with niche YouTube channels, you can check out my post on how I made $250,000+ with my main YouTube channel for a comprehensive breakdown.

2. Content Websites

I have bought and sold content sites before. In fact, content sites are how I made $1M+ in my twenties to become financially free.

NOW, content sites aren’t what they used to be…The days of writing blog posts, ranking on Google for low-competition keywords, and printing free money are largely gone. Thanks ChatGPT & Google!

That said, a content site is still an incredible monetization vehicle. Every visitor who lands can generate revenue with display ads, affiliate links, and digital product sales.

I also find that content sites, historically, have some of the best flipping potential. There’s a lot of bloggers out there who know how to create excellent content but who don’t know how to market or monetize effectively.

Anyways, here’s an example of a website I saw go for sale today. It’s a food blog called GordanRamsayRecipes.uk 👇👇

It’s listed for $5,400, which is a 23x multiple on its $233 monthly average revenue.

But here’s the interesting part…If you visit the site, you’ll see it’s pretty thin AI content that’s monetized with just a few Adsense banner units. That’s it 👇

This is the kind of content site you can optimize very quickly to lift revenue. Here’s what I would do if I was buying it:

1. I’d offer a bid of $2,500 - $3,000 at most

2. I’d use AI tools like i10X to re-write the content so it’s longer and reads better than this ChatGPT stuff

3. I’d add more images throughout each post (increase length to add more ad units in-content)

4. I’d create a Pinterest graphic for each post and begin marketing on Pinterest

5. I’d apply to Mediavine with the updated, enhanced content and switch from Google Adsense

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With a Pinterest virtual assistant working away on this site (costs around $300 per month for an okay one), the site would immediately go to break-even or run at a slight loss.

However, as Pinterest traffic compounds alongside the search traffic this site has, I could see it easily reaching $500 to $1,500 per month with a bit of dedication over the next 6 months.

NOW I actually wouldn’t buy this site myself. I don’t like investing in a trademarked name that could cause issues later on. Food sites aren’t my favorite either.

But a site generating 70,000+ monthly visits that only pulls in $233 per month is ridiculously under-monetized. With a new site design and some work, this is an example of how you could buy and flip a content site pretty realistically.

Extra Reading: 10 Micro Income Streams You Can Build.

3. Mobile Apps

The rise of vibe coding means everyone is building apps right now.

Most apps I see for sale aren’t good buys. They’re usually asking for a very high multiple, rely on a handful of subscriptions to generate revenue, and don’t have much historical data.

That said, you can still find a lot of interesting buys. I almost bought one myself a couple of months ago in the class action lawsuit space.

Marketplaces like TrustMRR are where I’d suggest looking for mobile apps. Listings here integrate with Stripe to verify revenue, and TrustMRR also handles escrow for safe asset transfers.

There’s some pretty interesting apps for sale as well.

Like in this screenshot. You can see there’s everything from a Looksmaxxing app making $27,000 per month to a peptide shop making $16,000 per month. Lots of smaller and starter apps as well 👇

The thing about apps…Vibe coding is so much fun, but it would still help to know some coding before you acquire this digital asset class. Otherwise you risk dealing with spaghetti code without knowing how to fix bugs.

Not to mention, keeping up with updates between Google and Apple’s app store takes time or paying a developer. Personally, this one isn’t for me at this stage, and I prefer YouTube or other digital assets.

But if you’re into apps and want to acquire one that’s already app-store approved and generating revenue, this path could be worth exploring.

😎 Extra Reading: 7 Realistic Passive Income Streams To Build.

4. Niche Communities

Right now, I’m on the hunt for buying niche communities in the personal finance space (please message me if you’re selling!)

This could be Instagram theme pages, subreddits on Reddit, forum websites, X accounts, whatever.

The reason?

Niche audiences, when built organically, are incredibly high-value customers. They’re the type of audience who convert on affiliate offers, buy digital products, and actually engage with quality content you put out.

Currently, I’m browsing deals on PlayerUp and similar sites. These are marketplaces where you can buy social media accounts and other digital assets from people.

It’s an interesting world. After sending out just a few inquiries, I’m now chatting with several sellers on Telegram who create and flip these sorts of assets. They message me assets every single week, many of which cost just a couple hundred bucks.

Nothing has caught my eye yet. But this is another digital asset class that can have massive potential.

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Some of these sellers grow social communities to 10,000+ members but don’t have any monetization capabilities beyond the occasional sponsored post. Huge gap here to improve monetization, assuming you’re buying an authentic page and not one that’s been botted (more on this later!)

5. Newsletters

Another digital asset class that I’m eyeing these days are niche newsletters.

Like content sites, there’s a lot of newsletter operators who create amazing content and audiences. But, they don’t monetize these audiences effectively. For some operators, even hosting a newsletter on platforms like Kit or Beehiiv becomes a monthly negative from subscription fees.

You can find newsletters for sale on marketplaces like Flippa and LetterTrader.

The upside of this approach is that you don’t need to spend months or years building up your own niche list. You’re also getting a sending domain that, hopefully, has positive history and low spam reports.

The downside…Most newsletter listings you’ll see are probably overpriced. Or, they have such low open/click-through rates because the list is cold or wasn’t built well in the first place.

Plus, you can consider putting money into paid ads or buying subscribers with platforms like Sparkloop instead of buying a newsletter outright. Overall, this is an interesting asset class I’m keeping tabs on!

What Levers Can You Pull To Generate Profits?

The main reason you should invest in digital assets instead of traditional investments like stocks or ETFs is that you can actually impact the performance of digital assets. Good luck doing this with a Vanguard fund!

But this begs the question: which levers can you pull to make a positive impact on a digital asset after you acquire it?

Here are three levers I always think about:

• Better Monetization Pathways: Can you insert offers or monetization methods that instantly boost the asset’s monthly revenue? Same traffic, just more efficient monetization. If the answer is yes, you’re already adding value from day one.

• Increased Marketing Output: Has the owner-operator been slacking on the marketing and content output front? Sometimes an asset is primed to make money, it’s just not being managed properly.

• Lowering Operating Costs: Is it possible for you to gain margin by cutting costs? This is less common with a lot of these digital assets, but sometimes, you find assets that have an overly-complicated tech stack and too many freelancers getting paid for shoddy work.

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When I bought TravelEconomics, I knew I could leverage the channel to land brand deals because I’ve been working with brands for years through Tom Blake Finance. I also knew I could produce higher-quality videos than the original owner without changing any of my own workflows.

It felt like a no-brainer to buy at $2,500, and I’m happy I did.

In short, always think about the competitive advantages you can apply quickly to a digital asset you’re buying.

Extra Reading: 3 Levers To Pull To Make More Money.

Key Risks & Considerations of Digital Asset Investing

There’s a lot of upside to buying digital assets.

There’s also potential downsides and the risk your asset goes to zero while you’re left holding the bag. Liquidity isn’t guaranteed either, so selling isn’t guaranteed.

Here are some of the main risks and considerations you must keep in mind when exploring deals:

• Fake & Inflated Metrics: This is an issue with 90% of YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media pages you see for sale. The owners use bots to inflate subscriber/follower metrics, brute force a page into looking legit, and then list them for sale. Always look for real comments, genuine engagement, and human followers. Subscriber counts don’t mean anything.

• Keyman Risk: Sometimes the owner of a digital asset is the only thing keeping the machine together. If you can’t replace an owner-operator and do better than them, I’d stay away from buying.

• Algorithm Changes: I’ve had numerous content businesses wiped out by algorithm changes. If you’re buying an asset where all the traffic comes from one source, this is a significant risk.

• Revenue Concentration: Like algorithms, be careful of digital assets that have extreme revenue concentration with a handful of offers. Especially if it’s affiliate income!!! Imagine buying an asset and then the program pauses or slashes rates; you’re cooked!

• Bans & Trapdoors: Some sellers don’t act in good faith. They list digital assets for sale that are a house of cards, or are a few weeks away from getting banned. I’m seeing a lot of faceless YouTube channels go for sale these days, and this is a prime example. These channels are clinging on for dear life before they get hit with the ban/demonetization hammer, so owners are trying to offload ASAP.

Next Steps - Is Investing In Digital Assets Right For You?

Investing in digital assets have given me my greatest returns ever.

I mean, I spent $150 getting a WordPress site set up that ended up scaling to $1M+ in revenue. Investing in gear to start a YouTube channel was an amazing decision too. So was buying another monetized channel.

That said, buying digital assets isn’t how I would start if I was brand new to making money online.

When you build cool stuff first, your sweat equity and efforts are what sharpen your skills. You learn how to actually operate and grow an online business. You also make a ton of mistakes, most likely, and then figure out what not to do.

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If you skip this stage and jump right into buying a digital asset, this can work. But the cost of making mistakes is much higher. Your capital is now at risk!

Put this another way…If someone gave you $500,000 to open a restaurant, but you never worked in a restaurant in your entire life, would opening one be a wise move? Or would that money perform better, plopped into some ETFs and dividend stocks?

It’s hard to say. And again, the upside for certain digital assets is technically unlimited, whereas market returns are rarely so dramatic.

Ultimately, I think anyone exploring alternative investments should be looking at digital assets. I’d rather buy an income-generating asset like a website or a newsletter than a Pokemon card, for example. And if you’re looking to acquire a business and feel confident you can create meaningful upside with your knowledge, connections, and skills, then by all means, go for it! Doing so can genuinely change your life and income.

I know this post is a bit more niche. But part of my goal with WiFi Wealth is to cover the real strategies I’ve used and am using to build wealth using the internet. Asset sales and acquisitions are part of this, so I hope you have enjoyed!

Let me know if you have any questions as well. I absolutely love talking about digital assets and this kind of investing strategy.

Until then, thank you all for reading and for your continued support.

I’ll catch you in the next one!

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 High-Income Skills To Dominate The Next Decade.

👉 7 Real Ways To Make Money Online.

Note: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up for these products or services at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my writing.

Landing a remote job is one of the fastest and most realistic ways for people to increase their income and freedom.

This is how I started back in 2020. I quit my dead-end office job, went all-in on remote work and my one-person business, and started traveling the world. BEST decision I’ve ever made.

However, the job market is pretty brutal right now.

Between AI slop and ghost job posts, it’s difficult to even get your resume in front of hiring managers. And if you can actually get someone’s attention, you then get hit with the classic “we ask for 6 rounds of interviews and unpaid test assignments to make sure we find the right fit for our vibrant corporate culture. We really are like a family here…” (these people are sick, sick creatures!) 🫠

That’s why this post is breaking down 5 paths you can take to land a remote position that don’t involve the regular strategies.

NO LinkedIn. NO bottom-of-the-barrel pricing on Fiverr and Upwork.

Instead, these are platforms and strategies you can use to find real remote positions and opportunities.

I’ve used many of these myself over the years. And while I can’t make any promises, this is exactly how I’d start looking for high-paying remote work if I was starting over.

Let’s get to it! 👇

1. Find Remote Gigs On Reddit

Most people think of Reddit as a place to read Internet news, look at memes, and watch people on r/WallStreetBets YOLO their life savings.

Reddit is great for all these purposes. However, it has a surprising number of remote job communities, known as subreddits, where people post all kinds of opportunities.

Reddit’s r/ForHire is a perfect example. Full-time jobs, freelancing roles, and one-time gigs get posted here with a [HIRING] tag every day:

The most common roles are generally for virtual assistants, digital marketing, video editing, coding, website/QA testers, and data entry. But you can find all sorts of niche postings, ranging from remote accounting work to Redditors looking for co-founders for interesting projects.

Some of these roles can pay thousands of dollars per month and are full-time opportunities. Others are one-off projects. Rates are honestly all over the place, which may or may not work for your particular country and cost of living.

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I’ve found two freelance writing roles through r/ForHire back when this was my main income stream. Both were one-time writing projects, but one of these clients ended up turning into a business partner I still work with, even 6 years later. You never know who you’ll meet with Reddit.

The downside?

Communities like r/ForHire are self-managed. There’s some low-paying gigs and occasional scams. You need to figure out payment terms with whoever is hiring you as well.

This really isn’t an issue if you’re working with a larger company. But it’s worth noting if you’re applying for gigs with startups or solo-operators.

Anyways, r/ForHire is just the tip of the Reddit iceberg 😅 Other communities you can find remote opportunities on include:

• r/remotejobs

• r/freelance_forhire

• r/hireawriter

• r/designjobs

• r/virtualassistant

• r/artistsforhire

There’s many more. And if you look for online side hustles and less formal work, there’s even more dedicated subreddits to explore.

⭐ Pro Tip: Try to get 50% of payment upfront from Reddit clients, especially if it’s for significant work. You can potentially skip this step if you’re signing contracts with a real company and are becoming a W-2 employee, but always be cautious when you’re freelancing with random people on the internet.

Extra Reading 💻 10 Micro Income Streams That Quietly Build Wealth.

2. Search For Remote Jobs On X

Like Reddit, X is another rather platform where people throw out job postings and opportunities you won’t ever see on a traditional job board.

The easiest way to find these opportunities is to search for [hiring] + [your industry] or some similar set of keywords in the search bar. This displays a list of recent posts that often have hiring announcements:

You typically find programming and digital marketing opportunities on X. But I’ve also seen heaps for video editing, graphic design, YouTube channel management, and more.

Unlike Reddit, X also has CEOs and interesting startups posting jobs that again, you’re not going to stumble across on Indeed.

Just the other week, I saw Alex Lieberman, the co-founder of Morning Brew, post two open roles for his startup Tenex Labs. One of these is a writing job as well, which you really don’t find too often in the AI age 👇

The downside of finding remote work on X is that having a somewhat-active profile helps your chances. But you can fill your bio with your previous experience/accolades, add a nice profile photo, and that’s enough to start DMing people.

3. Build Cool Projects In Public

Starting a one-person business is how I became financially free in my twenties.

It’s also a decision that caused a chain-reaction of doors to open for me that I never would have discovered otherwise.

Once I started growing my finance blog, here’s a few of the things that ended up happening:

1. I started making a full-time income from freelance writing after about one year

2. I got a monthly contract doing recruiting and research work with The Motley Fool

3. I landed a few SEO clients on retainer over the years

4. I briefly returned to the job market for a six-figure, fully remote content marketing role

5. I became a content manager for a cryptocurrency publication for a bit

6. I became the head of content marketing at the company I sold my websites to during 2025

7. I landed a brand-ambassador role for one of the companies I made content about on YouTube

8. I started working with brands doing YouTube brand-building consulting

For many of these opportunities, I was contacted first by the other party. Tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential income literally appeared out of the ether. It’s wild what happens when you start documenting what you’re building.

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And for the opportunities I reached out for, I leveraged what I was creating as my application. No resume, no CV…I genuinely sent over links to my content and screenshots of Google Analytics data showing that my work generates traffic. That’s what worked.

This formula still works. I also believe it’s the best way to cut through all the AI slop, ghost job listings, and noise that’s going on. People can’t ignore results and proof that you’re capable (especially when you explain how your skills will improve their business and make them more money as well! Sell yourself!!)

So, try making money with YouTube. Create a niche newsletter on Substack. Launch a one-person business. Take a weekend and vibe-code a new income stream.

As the saying goes: if you build it, they will come!

Extra Reading: You Can Build Things And Rapidly Improve Your Life.

4. Use Niche Remote Job Boards

Speaking of AI slop and ghost jobs…The job market is SO cooked right now 😂🫠

Apparently, 1 in 4 LinkedIn job postings are ghost jobs. Tons of government jobs are fake too. For the jobs that are real, there’s immense competition from applicants on most platforms. The hiring manager you’re courting is dealing with hundreds if not 1,000+ applications.

This is why I’ve used and suggest using more tailored remote job boards than just relying on the likes of ZipRecruiter and Indeed.

Several remote job boards you can consider include:

1. FlexJobs: This is a paid remote job site where listings are hand-screened to remove scams and fake listings. Salary information is often posted too which is one reason I used FlexJobs in the past.

2. NoDesk: Another popular remote job platform that has job postings from a variety of industries and for various skill levels.

3. BuiltIn: Useful for finding remote tech jobs.

4. Working Nomads: Caters to full-time remote works and also digital nomads, as the name would suggest. You can find gigs here with more flexible time-zone requirements.

5. Authentic Jobs: This one specializes in jobs for designers, developers, and creatives.

6. PowerToFly: PowerToFly has a new jobs pipeline matching people with AI training gigs and related AI jobs. It also has a more generalized remote job board you can view.

I also put out a video on Tom Blake Finance covering some of these websites plus the Reddit strategy I mentioned above. You can watch this for more tips on applying to remote positions and to find some other interesting platforms.

Now, this route is still a grind. The job market is tough right now. But again, I’d pick this route over sifting through fake listings on LinkedIn.

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⭐ ALSO: You can find industry-specific job boards that are even more niche. There’s remote job sites for developers, graphic designers, digital marketers, you name it. There’s even country-specific job boards where again, you’re competing with a smaller applicant pool.

5. Join Niche Facebook Groups

Niche Facebook Groups can work similarly to Reddit. I’ve found writing and SEO work in various Facebook Groups in the past.

Back then, I was a member of many blogging Facebook groups. People mostly posted questions or self-promotion threads. But, occasionally, someone would post looking for freelance writing help or some other kind of freelancing role.

I pitched several of these people and landed work this way. One of my Facebook clients even turned into regular writing work for about 2 years.

You can do the same thing in your niche/industry. Join a bunch of groups, network with people, and keep an eye out for posts like this where people are directly hiring 👇

Currently, I prefer Reddit and X to Facebook. I find Facebook is harder to sift through spam posts, and the search results are worse. There are still some gems, but just a heads up!

💸 Related: Coast FIRE + Geo-Arbitrage Are How You Buy Your Freedom.

Useful Tools For Your Remote Job Search

As mentioned, the job market is a bit of a mess. So, I want to wrap up this post with some useful tools you can use to save time, search more efficiently, and increase your overall close rate with hiring managers.

Here are some of the top remote job tools I’d use right now:

1. Swooped — Use AI to find relevant job openings and surface opportunities that match your skills and experience. Swooped can also auto-apply to jobs for you with a single click and also helps you optimize your resume/CV for each position.

2. Google Alerts — Set up alerts for specific job titles, companies, skills, or phrases like “remote video editor” so Google sends you new opportunities as they appear. I suggest doing this for remote-friendly companies on your watchlist so you don’t get too many results.

3. Wise — Great for freelancers and remote workers who get paid internationally. You can receive money in different currencies and convert it at competitive exchange rates. Wise is how I’ve managed all of my remote and freelance income for years. I now run my businesses largely through Wise as well.

4. Simplify — This is a browser extension that helps you find jobs, autofill applications, and keep your job search organized so you spend less time filling out repetitive forms. The autofill function is the main reason to use this.

5. Hunter.io — Find professional email addresses so you can contact hiring managers or companies directly instead of relying entirely on job-board applications. If you’re trying to cold-email someone with a pitch, Hunter can help you.

6. Loom — Create quick personalized videos introducing yourself or pitching your services. For example, record a 60-second video showing a company how you would improve something they’re currently doing. This sets your application apart from 99% of other people.

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🥇 This Loom tip is actually the golden takeaway.

When I was in the process of selling my content business, I got tons of inquiries. I had over a dozen meetings with potential buyers and filtered through dozens of other requests.

I ended up selling to small US team of media buyers. The owner sent me a LinkedIn message expressing interest. He then sent me a 45 minute Loom video explaining everything from our synergistic advantages to how we could finance the deal and get things over the line. Guess what, I sold to those guys!

I’ve since used this Loom strategy and have landed consulting work this way. Again, you’re providing so much value and information upfront, and there’s something about putting a face and voice to a name that makes people stand out.

Related: 6 High-Income Skills That You Must Learn To Thrive.

Next Steps

For many people, getting a remote job is the fastest, most realistic path to achieving WiFi Wealth. It’s how you can increase your income, win-back your freedom, and also accelerate your path to financial independence.

If you’re currently looking for remote opportunities, I hope this list of resources helps you land one.

Again, there’s nothing wrong with turning to Fiverr, Upwork, LinkedIn, or Indeed. But in my experience, these aren’t the most efficient routes. Competition is immense, and it’s a race to the bottom for pricing. Plus, you’ll miss out on some hidden gems and opportunities that simply don’t get posted to these broader platforms.

Let me know if you have any questions. And if you have a remote job site or tactic you stand by, let me know as well in the comments. Part of my goal with WiFi Wealth is for people to share information about ways to earn online incomes. Let other people know what’s working for you!

Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful week 😎

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I have a lot of cool Substack content coming soon, including a very interesting case study or two for new income streams I’m building. I’m also on the road these days; I’ve traded the Cape Town mountains for the Namibian deserts and coastline, and it’s time for more adventure.

Thanks for reading and for your support. I can’t wait to share more experiments and ideas with you soon.

I’ll catch you in the next one!

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 7 Realistic Passive Income Ideas.

👉 7 Actual Ways To Make Money Online.

Note: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up for these products or services at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my writing.

In 2020, I was working a dead-end job at a digital marketing agency in my college town. My salary was about $40,000 Canadian, and man, I was miserable.

There was zero upwards mobility at the company. My salary was enough to ‘get by’ but never enough to get ahead. I had two weeks of annual vacation I had to beg to take. But, most importantly, the thought of working at that cubicle, day in, day out, filled me with absolute terror.

One day, I walked into my boss’ office and told him I was done.

A few weeks later, I was on a one-way flight to Medellin, Colombia. My plan was to go all-in on freelance writing and my blogging business. I had my backpack, I had some savings, and the time had come to take action.

At first I truly had no idea what I was doing.

Six months later, my freelancing income was surpassing my old day-job salary. A few years later, I was writing for publications like Forbes, had made $1M+ with my blogging business, and had become financially free from putting out content on the internet.

I’m sharing this story now because on the surface, this might seem like pure, dumb luck. And don’t get me wrong, there’s been a lot of lucky moments in my life.

But I’m a firm believer that we also build our own luck in life. You just need a gameplan and the dedication to pursue that gameplan to the ends of the earth.

That’s why today, I’m breaking down a realistic 5-phase plan to quitting your 9-5 job and replacing that income with your own one-person business.

This plan isn’t easy. For most, it will also take 12 to 24 months to play out. But it’s an actual roadmap to replacing your 9-5 income with an income stream you control that’s far more scalable and exciting.

There’s no guarantees here. But I can promise that pursuing this plan will leave you with more skills, confidence, and open doors ahead for the rest of your life.

This post is a long one…If you’re ready to take action, let’s dive in! 😎

Phase 1: Build A Financial Foundation

The first mistake people make when trying to quit their day job to start a business is assuming the journey starts with making more money. In reality, it starts with needing less.

If your monthly expenses are $7,500, replacing your income is a very different challenge than if your expenses are $3,000. After all, every recurring expense you eliminate is one less dollar your business must generate before you can walk away from your job.

My advice here is to create a basic financial foundation for yourself by:

1. Building An Emergency Fund: Build up an emergency fund of at least 6 months of living expenses. Park this in a high-yield savings account somewhere you don’t touch. This money is normally for covering expenses if you lose your job, but in this case, it’s for covering expenses when you make the leap and quit.

2. Eliminating High-Interest Debt: If you’re dealing with high-interest debt like credit card bills or personal loans, I don’t recommend quitting your job to start a business. Full stop. I recommend making money with side hustling and aggressively paying down this debt while you hold onto your job for dear life.

3. Cutting Out All Lifestyle Creep: Be ruthless with your budget. When you’re starting your own business, every dollar in your bank account counts. You’re not raising money from delusional VCs; keep costs low, and live like you’re broke.

4. Working With Your Partner (Optional): I moved to Colombia when I was 24 and single. If you have a spouse/kids, the math on all this changes naturally. But if your spouse has a decently-paying job, you should have an honest conversation about the potential upside of pursuing your new business venture and what life might look like if you lean on a single income for several months to a year.

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Again, this phase might take several months to upwards of one year. It truly depends on any current debt and your emergency fund/savings.

For me, quitting my job was relatively easy. I was a recent grad who was still living like a student. I didn’t have kids. My monthly expenses were low, and I was making them even lower by moving to Colombia (yay Coast FIRE + Geoarbitrage!)

Ultimately, the idea is to create a runway you’ll launch your business from. With savings in the bank, if your business has a slow month, you won’t be forced to take terrible clients or abandon your long-term strategy just to pay next month’s rent.

Phase 2: Choose One High-Income Skill To Learn

⭐ NOTE: Phase 2 is done simultaneously with Phase 1.

In this phase, it’s time to choose a high-income skill that you’re going to learn. This skill is the driving force behind the one-person business you’re creating, because as a new solo operator, you’re going to lean on this skill and trade your time for money until you’re able to build systems that help run your business for you.

Disclaimer: I’m focusing on online business ideas since I’ve made all of my money online. Of course, you could start a one-person mobile coffee cart business, or a small food truck, or a landscaping service.

I know someone who makes a full-time income selling scented candles and similar products on Etsy and at local markets, so they do both. There are many ways to skin a cat, as they say, so try to take the principles from this blueprint and apply them to your business idea 😊

Anyways…

MY ADVICE IS: Lean on your day job, if possible, to become an expert at something. This is essentially getting paid to learn and to build the exit ramp from your current job.

In my case, I started with freelance writing and affiliate marketing/blogging because I was learning SEO and paid ads at my day job.

This wasn’t a perfect overlap. But I picked up enough interest in making money online at my 9-5 job and some complimentary skills. The SEO skills I was learning also directly helped me scale my blog into an income source.

If you’re a programmer but your passion is to sell wooden tables on Etsy, this route can work. But if you have zero experience building wooden tables, and you have 20 years of programming experience, the odds are stacked against you with this approach…Unless you start dedicating a ton of free time to building wooden tables! 😂

In other words, develop skills you have a natural talent for and are already exposed to. Chasing your passion is generally poor advice, unless again, you can put in the hours to suddenly learn how to make wooden tables on Etsy.

Here are some particularly in-demand, high-income skills you can consider:

1. Paid Ads & Lead Generation

2. Affiliate Marketing

3. Ecommerce Optimization (CRO Specialist)

4. AI Automation

5. High-Ticket Sales

6. Data Science & Machine Learning

7. UX/UI Optimization

8. Email Marketing

9. Content Creation

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There’s many lucrative services and skills of course. Maybe you’re an accountant by trade, or perhaps you work in cloud infrastructure. Again, if your day job is teaching you any kind of high-income skill, I would prioritize becoming an expert in that field and finding your niche within that space.

Also note that ‘learning by doing’ is often best here. To learn SEO, I built a money-making blog. I built a YouTube channel to learn video production and to practice affiliate marketing. That opened the door for email marketing. Along the way I learned paid ads/PPC advertising.

The beautiful part about this is that sometimes, the thing you build in order to learn can become your one-person business. At the very least, you’ll be actively building portfolio pieces that you use to pitch future clients, which I’ll cover shortly.

🤖 Now if your job involves unskilled labor, or if you can’t leverage skills you already know, my first bet would be to learn AI automation and integration.

We have a few years left (I think) of upper management ramming all things AI down their poor employee’s throats unless compute costs get out of hand. Selling shovels during this time is a good bet. If I was starting from absolutely zero and was younger, this is what I’d try first.

Phase 3: Turn Your New Skill Into Income

Like I mentioned, Phase 1 and 2 might take upwards of 6 months to a year to learn. The goal is to develop a skill that people are willing to pay for. This also lets you develop some real-world examples you can use as portfolio pieces when pitching future clients.

For Phase 3, it’s all about landing your first customers and getting paid for the first time (the exciting part 😎)

However, depending on the skill you learn, you’ll likely head down a different path here…

Option 1: The Freelancing Route

Generally, the fastest path to making money with your new venture is to go the freelancing route versus actually building out a business.

This is still trading your time for money like with a day job. But the goal here is to create a new stable income stream that lets you quit your job. Plus, when you freelance, you can often earn way more money than a traditional salary anyways, all while having freedom over your time.

For me, I started out by moonlighting with freelance writing. I worked my 9-5 office job, and at night, I’d pitch clients I found on LinkedIn or various remote job boards. Once I had a couple clients under my belt, I’d work on projects in the morning before work, on my lunch break, and in the evening.

This process was enough for me to get 4-5 clients and about $2,000 in steady, monthly writing work.

Hardly a ‘business’. But certainly enough to get the ball rolling. It was tough work and a lot of hours, but it was necessary work. And every client I landed became a new testimonial and opportunity to sharpen my skills.

This is the mindset you must adopt in the early stages.

As for landing clients, I’ve written about ways to market your one-person business before. This guide includes many free options you can use to find clients, from joining niche Facebook Groups to finding clients with social media. You can use these tactics, but I also suggest looking for freelancer positions on LinkedIn. You can also check out remote job sites like FlexJobs.

Note: If you go down the freelancing route with a skill that overlaps with your day job, you risk violating any non-compete agreement that you’ve signed. Please don’t take my advice as legally-binding advice, but in my opinion, non-compete contracts are meant to be broken 😂

If your goal is to quit your job and make money for yourself, to hell with non-competes. Don’t be obvious and go after the same clients as the company you work for, but there’s so many ways to moonlight and make money on the side without stepping on toes.

You can find clients across the country or world and do contract work for them. I did this with both jobs I worked at, and when my blogging business eventually became a competitive issue, I was making enough money to quit anyways.

Option 2: The Content Creation Route

This is another viable path to turning your skills into income to quit your day job.

The difference is that you’re leveraging algorithms and free traffic to make money. You’re not relying on freelance contracts or regular customers to pay your bills.

The content creation route is actually what let me pivot from freelance writing into full-time blogging and YouTube. At its peak, my finance blog was receiving over 500,000 monthly readers, and my YouTube channel was growing quite steadily too.

Content creation is actually what made me financially free in my twenties. And I love content-driven businesses because you typically find massive margins and can also make life-changing income when you hit the right trends.

The downsides?

Most content creators don’t make a full-time income. And for the ones that do, it often takes years to build enough of an audience to cover your bills. AND even then, you probably need several platforms plus an email list to diversify platform risk.

For some more context, my blogging ‘business’ made $1,700 in its entire first year. It took several more years before it made $92,000 and could support my life. But in its last year, it made over $500,000 before I sold it.

That’s the name of the game with content creation: most people need consistent effort and years to figure out how to make a living out of it.

If you want to quit your day job in the next 6 months, freelancing is more realistic in my experience. However, building a content business on the side of your 9-5 job is absolutely possible, and even fun. Don’t be afraid to learn these skills and slow-burn your path to self employment.

Option 3: The Productizing Route

“Productizing” refers to turning the skills you have into a standardizes offering you can market to customers.

This is really the turning point from going from a freelancer who sells your time for money into an actual business that sells a repeatable service to people. And I’ve often seen people with significant industry experience and connection launch their new business under this format, skipping the freelancing stage entirely.

Example: Instead of ghost writing for executives on Substack as a freelancer, you start an agency that offers ghostwriting and personal-brand building services for executives.

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This is largely a positioning and fulfillment difference. It sounds stupid 😂 but this is an important distinction that enables you to charge way more and land repeat business.

It’s a bit frustrating because oftentimes, the work you’re doing doesn’t feel like it changes when you start making this switch. But it’s actually vital from a framing perspective because it helps you charge more and eventually outsource/delegate so you can step away from the daily operations of the business to focus on growth.

Here’s another personal example: my friend and I ran ecommerce ads for two local furniture stores when we were in college. We started out as freelancers and charged a flat-fee monthly retainer. But pretty soon we realized that while this was great money, we were capping our income and couldn’t participate in any of the upside we generated for these businesses, even as they started scaling like wildfire.

Eventually we pivoted to a performance marketing agency. No longer two college kids freelancing!

We were basically doing the same work as before. Except now, our positioning was more premium and we pitched an ads-management service with a monthly retainer + percentage of ad spend pricing model. Basically the same work, way more upside potential. And honestly, easier to close new businesses because your positioning looks the part.

Productizing your skill really shouldn’t scare you. You can build a simple website on WordPress or vibe code one with a tool like Lovable. You can actually use Lovable and have your website up and running this weekend if you want, and it will look pretty slick.

Don’t complicate pricing either.

You can start out with a single pricing tier or a three-tier pricing strategy that includes your base offering plus some offerings with upsells/add-ons.

Custom pricing can work, but it quickly becomes a headache because you have to spend more admin time creating custom quotes and explaining your quote. If you mess up pricing with your first few clients, consider it paying for education, and adjust your prices for the next round.

ALSO: You don’t always have to productize. I never did with my freelance writing service. I thought about it for ages and considered launching a content agency. But honestly, I was happy to make $5,000 - $10,000 a month as a freelancer at the time while focusing on my blogging business and traveling the world. Doors will open up as you land clients and develop your skills, and you can decide which path is best for your income goals and work/life balance.

Whatever Path You Choose…

Phase 3 is really where the focus shifts from learning to validating.

Your goal isn’t to build a huge audience, land 100 customers, or create the perfect product. It’s simply to get your first paying customers who stick around.

If you’re freelancing, land your first client.

If you’re creating content, publish consistently while building an email list.

If you’re launching an agency, nail a simple offering and send out enough cold pitches until you land your first customer.

It’s so easy to spend months tweaking logos, redesigning websites, or researching software without ever putting something in front of a customer. None of those things matter if nobody is willing to pay. And the last thing you want to do is waste months of effort learning something and never actually testing if the market cares what you’re doing.

The first sale changes the equation because you’re no longer operating on hope. You have proof that your skills create value, and every future improvement becomes much easier because you’re refining something that already works.

Phase 4: Build Your Exit Ramp (& Test It!)

By Phase 4, you should have consistent monthly revenue that lets you cover your living expenses, put money aside for taxes, and maybe have a bit left over to save. Ideally, your revenue also comes from a handful of sources (several freelance clients, social media platforms, or agency customers) so you’re not at the mercy of one employer, like with a 9-5 job.

This process can easily take 12-24+ months. You might get there way faster, or it could take years of iterating. There’s no cookie-cutter formula or guarantees.

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AT this stage, you can likely quit your day job and go all-in on what you’re building. If your model is working, there’s a decent chance that doing more of what’s working will add to your bottom line…More freelance pitches, more weekly content, more cold outreach…

However, making this leap feels scary.

I was here myself; making $3,000 - $4,000 per month, but feeling unwilling to ditch my day job because of the immediate income hit I’d take.

The funny thing is, sitting in this middle ground isn’t remotely helpful. You’re probably checked out of your day job by now, so promotions aren’t on the horizon. You’re also splitting your attention, so your one-person business idea that’s found success isn’t being nurtured fully.

If you’re in this position, here’s what I suggest doing:

1. Take a week off from your day job or several days (if possible) to just work on your new business. This will show you what full-time work on your new business feels like. If you’re hitting a wall within your first few days and lack stuff to work on, your business model probably needs some more specific direction. In contrast, if you’re making heaps of progress with the dedicated focus and have an endless to-do list, you’re likely on the right track.

2. Get your admin affairs in order. Open a business bank account if you haven’t yet. If you rely on your employer for health insurance or other coverages, explore private options and price this extra cost into the cost of leaving your job. As mentioned, ensure your emergency fund is built up. Iron out any invoicing and tax matters you have with clients so you’re not dealing with admin the moment you quit your job.

3. If you’re a freelancer, email existing clients that you have more bandwidth and would love to take on more work. If you’re going the content creator route, map out your next 30-60 days of content ahead of time so you can go full-steam ahead. If you’re selling a productized service, build up a list of leads you want to contact once you’re full-time focused. These actions help you hit the ground running once you go solo.

4. Outline a rough daily and weekly schedule for your business. Again, it’s all about planning what to do with the extra time you’re going to have and how you can maximize growth. You won’t have a boss emailing you weekly tasks, and every dollar you make requires your time and attention.

Ultimately, if the math checks out and you’re facing a worthwhile opportunity, you have to take the jump at some point. If you’re consistently hovering around 50% of your take-home salary, I’d argue this is enough of a positive signal for you to go all-in.

Think of it this way: The potential downside of all of this is limited to whatever salary and perks you’re giving up. The potential upside is far greater with these sorts of high-income skills.

Talk with your boss, and put in your 2 weeks. Don’t burn bridges when you do, even if it’s tempting. You never know when past relationships will help or hinder you in the future. If you can leave on good terms, you might even find yourself working again with your former employer in the future in some capacity.

Extra Reading: 10 Micro-Income Streams You Can Create This Month.

Phase 5: Building Systems & Scaling

By Phase 5, you’re doing it!

You’ve successfully left your job and are making money under your own terms.

Honestly, this is a massive ‘pause and take a minute to reflect on how far you’ve come’ sort of moment. And I hope by now you feel the confidence that regardless of what happens to you and your business, you will land on your feet and have developed the skills to figure things out.

That said, one common situation solo operators find themselves in after going all-in on their idea is that they basically replace their 9-5 job with a 7-10 job 😂 Basically, you build yourself a full-time job that takes even more time.

I know this is the case because this was me for years…Pretty much every family photo we have from 2020 to 2024 has me in front of my laptop…

Honestly, part of this is inevitable in my opinion. There’s growing pains you go through as you wear multiple hats to run your new business.

However, it’s difficult to exist in this situation for years. You also hit an earnings ceiling pretty quickly for most models once you’re clocking 70-80 hours per week.

The number one lever I started pulling to scale involved outsourcing. I did this with content writing and editing work for my blogs. Next, I outsourced YouTube editing and thumbnails. Finally, I got a virtual assistant who could handle weekly tasks like brand sponsorship outreach and even invoicing eventually.

Hiring talent to buy your time back is how you need to think about this once your revenue can support outsourcing. Again, I wouldn’t do this immediately; you should be an expert in most things you plan on outsourcing so you understand if they’re being outsourced correctly!

These days, you can also leverage AI tools to automate tasks and scale more efficiently. Implementing tools like i10X (for content creation), Lovable (for building web assets), and numerous other tools have all helped me win time back.

I plan on writing a more in-depth guide about how one-person business owners can approach this. For now, though, I suggest checking out my mega-guide on 20+ AI tools that can make you money and save you time.

Note: There’s Nothing Wrong With Returning To Employment

One more note: there’s nothing wrong with returning to the job market after starting your own solo business…Or even during the process.

In 2022, I felt tired and stuck with my media business. My blog made about $30,000 the year prior, YouTube was slowly chugging along, and freelance writing was paying my bills.

This was great, but I was burning out. I decided to travel to Cape Town for the first time while dipping my toes back into the job market.

After two months of searching and some back-and-forth on LinkedIn with a recruiter, I landed a commercial writing job to work on a finance/investing site that was part of some media company’s larger portfolio.

This was a six-figure, fully remote job. I still had enough time to run my blog and YouTube channel, and I kept a couple of writing clients. I was suddenly making the most money I’d ever made in my life, all while living in a city I loved. I was working a lot to do this, but hey, I wasn’t feeling the burnout anymore since things were new and exciting again.

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This new job taught me some new skills. I made valuable connections too.

7 months later, I told my new boss I was quitting. My blog had kept growing throughout this career change, and it was once again time to focus on my own opportunities because they had way more upside once again.

Social media makes it seem like having a job or returning to your job after a business venture is a failure. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If you’re satisfied with the money you’re making for the time you put in, that’s what matters. Titles or putting “CEO” in your LinkedIn bio (lol) really don’t matter at the end of it all 😂 Just make your money and live your life the way you want to.

💻 RELATED: 7 Realistic Ways To Make Money Online.

Next Steps

This post was a long one.

It’s also covering a path that, on average, doesn’t always work out. Not every business venture or foray into solopreneurship will be a success. Chances are, many of your business ideas will fail, and quite epically.

This has happened to me numerous times.

I’ve had two businesses destroyed by algorithm updates. Like, wiped off the face of the internet destroyed. I’ve been banned and shadow-banned. I’ve gone back to the job market because I was exhausted and uncertain.

The thing is, as you test and try out new ideas, you’ll find what sticks. You’ll develop skills that serve you for the rest of your life too.

None of this is easy. All of this is worthwhile. Bet on yourself and take the leap when it’s calling to you and your foundations are set. You got this.

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Thank you all for the support and for reading. I appreciate you all.

Until then, it’s more hiking and exploring for me. I’m off to Namibia soon to drive around the sand dunes while working on WiFi Wealth and some other projects. Life feels very full at the moment, in the best of ways.

I’m excited for the content that’s coming. Can’t wait to share it with you all soon.

Enjoy the day everyone, and I’ll catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

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👉 7 Realistic Passive Income Ideas.

👉 3 Competitive Advantages For One-Person Business Owners.

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Recently, I covered how you can start creating micro-income streams to accelerate your path to financial independence.

This post got a lot of views. It resonates with people who want to take action to build wealth and diversify their income so they’re not at the mercy of their employer.

BUT the most common question I got was this: “creating micro-income streams is great and all, but what do I do if I’m super busy and don’t have time to start a new side hustle?”

Well, that’s what this post is all about.

Today, I’m covering 7 realistic passive income streams that you can leverage to make your money and other assets work for you behind the scenes.

Now passive income gets a lot of hate. This is understandable since it’s often misrepresented as a surefire way to become super rich without lifting a finger.

This post isn’t making this promise.

Instead, you’ll find actionable, simple ways to put your money and assets to work for you. I’ll also share two ideas that you can begin with $0 to get the ball rolling, starting as soon as today.

If you want to diversify your income and put time + compound interest to work for your financial future, this one is for you.

Let’s get to it 😎

1. Get Paid For Your Data

Fun fact: when I was a college student, I ran a ‘phone farm’ of burner phones that ran a bunch of video reward apps 24/7.

These apps paid me for ‘watching’ videos and ads. Some of them also paid me for sharing my data or sharing my internet bandwidth. They also made my dorm room look interesting, to say the least.

Let me tell you, I have tested a ton of side hustles over the years 😂 But phone farming certainly takes the cake in terms of weirdness.

That said, I still use plenty of data reward apps to this day on my spare phone. And this is by far the easiest way to start earning a bit extra on the side, even if you’re starting out with $0.

Some of the best passive reward apps in this space I suggest checking out include:

1. Nielsen Pulse: This is a brand new rewards app that pays you for sharing data about the TV shows, movies, and content you stream. You can share data from your phone, laptop, and TV. The more data you share, the more you earn. Realistically this is a $50 to $200 per year side hustle depending on how much data you share.

2. Nielsen Computer & Mobile Panel: This one is also from Nielsen, a massive market research company that’s behind the Nielsen TV Ratings. Similar idea to Nielsen Pulse, except you’re paid to share data about the content you see around the web. This one pays about $60 per year.

3. MobileXpresion: This is an Android and iOS app that also lets you earn for sharing data about the websites you visit and the ads you see online. It can make about $30 to $50 per year in my experience.

4. Pogo: Pogo pays you with small amounts of money for sharing data about the products you shop for. It has more active earning methods too, like surveys, but its ‘data dividends’ program is what I like using it for.

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Of course, this one is just a small side hustle. A ‘beermoney’ idea, if you will. You also have to be comfortable sharing your data with market research companies for this option, which isn’t for everyone.

I’ve been doing this for years in the name of side hustle testing and because I enjoy trying random apps. And if you stack all of these, it’s a realistic $150 to $300+ per year.

You can decide if this is worth it for you or not! Just read the privacy policies and terms and conditions of these apps so you know which data is being collected.

2. Earn Cashback Rewards

Earning cashback rewards is another simple, fully passive income option you can mix into your life. It’s the sort of thing you have to spend 10 minutes researching and setting up, and then you don’t have to think about it again.

Personally, I earn most of my annual cashback through my credit card.

I know the Dave Ramsey crowd is absolutely against credit cards. But if you can spend responsibly and live within your means, I argue they’re absolutely worth using.

I have different cards for different purposes. One pays 2% cashback on pretty much every purchase category. I have another one that has better travel rewards and cashback, and one that has rotating categories with up to 5% cashback.

Again, if you’re prone to overspending, this idea isn’t for you. But at the very least, do some research and look for a rewards checking account if you prefer sticking with a debit card.

I’ll also note there’s other cashback methods out there that don’t involve your bank cards.

For example, I use several cashback reward apps alongside data reward apps. Again, I’m a sucker for this stuff and love testing them 😂

There’s apps like Upside which pay you with cashback when you refuel at thousands of gas stations across the country. I use ShopBack and Rakuten for online purchases to earn as well.

Independently, none of these apps make a real difference. But when you stack them alongside credit card rewards (especially ones with sign-up bonuses), you can realistically earn another $500 to $1,000 per year in cashback. Not too shabby if you ask me!

💸 Extra Reading - How To Make An Extra $1,000 Per Month.

3. Start Investing To Build Wealth

The first two ideas in this guide are the easiest ways to start earning passive income. Basically, the low-hanging fruit.

Once you start earning a bit of extra cash, a world of opportunities open up.

One of these is investing, which is absolutely something everyone should be doing if they want to begin building wealth and make their money work for them.

Now there’s all kinds of investing philosophies and routes you can go.

Personally, I keep my investments simple. I invest in a variety of growth-focused ETFs and index funds. I also mix-in some dividend-focused ETFs and individual stocks and reinvest those dividends into buying more shares.

The power of investing is that you get time and compound interest working on your side. Again, this is a key to building long-term wealth for most people.

Here’s a scenario to highlight this:

• Assume you’re starting with $0 in your portfolio

• Assume you contribute $500 per month to this portfolio

• Assume a 7% annual rate of return

• Assume you diligently invest this amount (and not a penny more, even) over 30 years

After 30 years, your portfolio will have grown to over $550,000 👇

This is once again assuming you’re staring at absolute zero and never contribute more than $500 per month over three decades…Unlikely if you begin earning more and put that money to work for you.

Of course you can get rich by starting a one-person business. You can get rich by working a 9-5 job too.

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However, stacking this with diligent investing is how you make your wealth compound. It’s something I wish they taught in schools, because once you see the impact of compounding on your own life, there’s absolutely no going back.

My advice is to ultimately keep things simple here. Read about basic index fund/ETF investing, dollar-cost averaging, and decide to become an investor if you haven’t yet. It might seem intimidating at first, but this is absolutely one of the most important financial life skills you’ll ever develop.

📲 Get a $5 free stock bonus from Stash and begin investing in portfolios that match your goals and risk tolerance.

4. Real Estate Crowdfunding

Real estate crowdfunding involves buying shares of income-generating real estate and then earning distributions from the cashflow these properties produce.

There’s been quite a rise in the whole real estate crowdfunding space over the last 5-10 years.

The main advantage is that they let you add real estate to your portfolio without actually buying a full-on property yourself. They’re fully managed too, so you’re not getting a call at midnight to change a lightbulb or deal with rowdy tenants.

This lets you earn monthly cashflow without taking on the risks and headaches of a landlord. If you’re investing in the market, real estate can also provide some hedging and diversification.

The downsides?

Real estate crowdfunding investments aren’t super liquid; you have to buy and hold these investments and rely on the cashflow for them to be worthwhile. Additionally, real estate crowdfunding platforms can underperform versus the general market, and often do.

There’s a surprising number of crowdfunding companies out there these days. Some of the leading options you can consider include:

• Ark7: This is a newer player in the crowdfunding world. You can buy shares of income-generating residential rentals starting at $20 per share. Ark7 distributes to investors monthly.

• Arrived: Another beginner-friendly option. There’s a $100 minimum investment requirement, and Arrived also pays investors monthly.

• Fundrise: Fundrise is one of the older companies in the real estate crowdfunding market. It’s known for its low $10 minimum investment requirement. Fundrise also invests in a combination of residential and commercial real estate properties. Fundrise makes distributions quarterly.

• EquityMultiple: EquityMultiple specializes in commercial real estate and has a $5,000 minimum investment requirement for certain properties. Distributions vary by deal but typically occur monthly or quarterly.

There’s even more options if you do a quick Google search. Many cater to first-time investors while others target accredited investors looking for diversification.

Personally, I put most of my money into the market. I prefer dividend stocks/ETFs and growth-focused investments to real estate. But this is one passive income route I’m exploring now, and it also has an element of fun to it.

Also note: real estate crowdfunding is different from investing in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). REITs also own and operate income-generating real estate and are required to distribute a certain percentage of taxable income back to investors as dividends. You can find a variety of publicly traded REITs and REIT ETFs.

5. Fixed-Income Investing

Fixed-income investing is what it sounds like: you invest your money into assets and securities that provide a reliable, fixed rate of return.

The upside of these investments are predictable income and, typically, less risk than investing in the market. The downside is your returns, on average, are far lower than the market.

For young adults, keeping some of your emergency fund and extra cash you have (that’s not invested) in fixed-income investments is a popular strategy. As people enter retirement, they tend to prioritize fixed income more and rely less on growth. Ultimately, the balance you pick is up to you, your goals, and your risk tolerance.

Examples of common fixed-income investments you can consider include:

• High Yield Savings Accounts (HYSA): Not technically fixed income, but it functions similarly. A HYSA is where I suggest parking your emergency fund and idle cash. I use Current for my emergency fund since it doesn’t have monthly fees and pays 4% APY on up to $6,000. You can also check out a list of top high-yield savings accounts for more options as rates change monthly.

• Bonds: This can include corporate bonds, government bonds, municipal bonds, and other classes. Bonds are essentially loans you’re making to another entity in exchange for a fixed interest rate.

• Certificates of Deposit (CDs): CDs are issued by banks and credit unions. You essentially lock-up your funds in a CD for a fixed period of time and earn a fixed interest rate. There’s also no-penalty CDs which let you withdraw your funds earlier, so you can find flexibility here.

• Treasury Bills: These are short-term debt securities that are issued by the U.S. government. Maturity lengths and interest rates vary.

• Money Market Funds: A money market fund is a fund that invests in a variety of lower-risk debt securities. This typically includes CDs, treasury bills, and other fixed-income investments.

• Cash Management Accounts (CMA): A CMA is like a mix between a HYSA and a checking account in that you earn interest on your deposits but also have the spending features of a checking account. Options like Empower’s Cash Account pay 3.30% APY currently, and I also like the net-worth tracking and investing features you get through Empower as well. Again, not technically a fixed-income vehicle, but functions similarly in that you earn predictable interest.

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There’s even more fixed-income securities out there, like preferred stocks, all kinds of bonds, debt investments, GICs, and more. But this is the generally gist of investing for fixed income.

My advice: start out by building up your emergency fund and opening a competitive HYSA. You can branch out into more fixed-income strategies afterwards, but don’t neglect growth-focused investing if you’re younger and have a longer time horizon than someone entering retirement.

Extra Reading: The 4 Automations That Make Me Money 24/7.

6. Start A Rental Side Hustle

I mention rental side hustles in my post on creating micro-income streams. The idea is to tap into the ‘sharing economy’ and monetize assets you own that other people want to rent from you.

Airbnb is the classic example. But most people don’t realize just how many niche rental marketplaces have sprung up in recent years.

Here’s just a few examples to get the ball rolling:

• Hygglo: A general rental marketplace for cameras, drones, electronics, sports equipment, and more.

• BabyQuip: Lets you rent out baby gear like strollers and cribs.

• Turo: This is the ‘Airbnb of car sharing'.’

• Neighbor: Rent out spare storage space you have, like a garage, attic, shed, backyard, etc.

• SpotHero: Rent out your extra parking space or driveway to people.

• Swimply: This platform lets you rent out your private swimming pool by the hour, if you can believe it 😂

• RVShare: A platform for renting out RVs and campervans.

Now each platform has its own rules regarding the rental process and, more importantly, your liability/insurance. Make sure you do your due diligence and research before listing any of your assets for rent.

But if you have a spare parking space, empty attic, and some other valuable assets laying around, you could always try monetizing them with these kinds of platforms.

7. P2P Lending

This passive income idea is pretty out-of-the-box. It’s also certainly outside my comfort zone, but it’s an interesting one.

P2P lending involves making loans to other people and earning interest on that loan. You’re essentially acting as the bank in this case.

The attraction of P2P loans is that you can earn a fixed interest rate and also create a diversified loan portfolio pretty quickly by spreading out your capital to numerous borrowers.

The downside? Borrowers can default, and then you’re left holding the bag.

Platforms like Mintos, Prosper, Lenme, and Funding Circle facilitate P2P lending. There’s even a Reddit community called r/Borrow that’s even more informal, where Redditors lend out money to each other.

This one isn’t my cup of tea. At all. I’d rather put my money into the market or fixed-income investments.

That said, if you’re chasing short-term loans with higher interest rates and can stomach the risk, this is a viable passive income path.

Active Income vs Passive Income - What Actually Matters At The End Of The Day?

I love creating multiple income streams. I have for years. And this is one reason I run two email newsletters, have several content sites, have 4 YouTube channels now, invest, and am pretty much always testing out some random side hustle at a given time 😂

That said, the bulk of my lifetime income has come from active work.

I started with a 9-5 job and then became a full-time freelance writer. Then I got into blogging, and this business ended up making $1M+ and let me become financially free. Again, all active income and work.

This is the case for most people out there. And it’s disingenuous to position passive income as a primary vehicle for building wealth. Passive income is how you compound wealth and make your money work for you. It’s rarely the main method people rely on to become wealthy.

My advice is therefore to max-out your active income streams, especially if you’re younger.

Focus on learning high-income skills and career hopping aggressively for higher salaries. Experiment with side hustles. Start building cool things to again, develop new skills and open more doors for yourself.

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This isn’t saying that investing $200 a month into index funds isn’t meaningful. This is an amazing habit you should continue building. But don’t let the passive income dream distract you from the power of active opportunities as well.

I included some beginner-friendly ideas in this post, like data and cashback rewards, for this reason. These routes let you scratch some of that passive income itch even if you’re starting at $0 right now. Simultaneously, ensure your active income is firing on all cylinders! Work on becoming debt free and then put your money to work for you and your future.

Extra Reading 👉 7 Easy Ways For Anyone To Make Money Online.

What’s Next?

Right now, I’m in full-on build mode.

I have some new YouTube channels in the works. There’s a new social media affiliate funnel I’m scaling quickly. And I am absolutely loving Substack these days. So for everyone reading, thank you for your support and for taking interesting in all of the WiFi Wealth ideas I cover. There’s a lot more experiments and topics I’m excited to share soon.

I hope that these guides encourage you to start testing, experimenting, and taking charge of your income and future.

Even if you start out with small wins, it’s consistency + time that compound and make a difference. Plus, the journey of experimenting and building new things is incredibly enjoyable. Pick an idea or two, put them into action, and start stacking those wins!

Thanks for reading everyone. And again, for all the recent support. It really does mean a lot.

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I have some exciting new content coming out shortly, plus the start of a new series and new project involving Substack. I can’t wait to share more soon.

Have a wonderful day and weekend.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

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👉 20+ Cool AI Tools To Make Money With.

👉 How To Vibe Code A New Income Stream.

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We’ve all seen the doom and gloom reports about AI stealing everyone’s job in the not-too-distant-future.

Some of this AI anxiety is driven by very real concerns.

We’re seeing mass layoffs in tech and other white-collar sectors. The nature of media and how we search for content is changing. The CEO of Anthropic has even stated that AI could eliminate 50% of entry-level, white-collar jobs within the next year or two.

Now, I’d take anything a CEO says with a grain of salt…Or perhaps a few grains. And I’m not even going to get into other counterpoints, like AI’s current lack of profitability, energy grid constraints, enterprise clients burning through their annual token budgets without any meaningful gains to show for it (lol), or a myriad of other concerns.

BUT whatever side of the fence you’re on, it’s clear that AI is here and it’s here to stay.

Some industries and people will be disrupted by this technology. Others will find a way to thrive in this new environment. The same situation plays out in history whenever new technology is adopted.

If you want to excel in the AI-age, having the right tools in your toolkit is essential. And that’s why this post is covering 6 high-value skills you must develop to future proof yourself and your interests for whatever waits ahead.

These are largely hard skills you develop through intentional education and by building really cool stuff. No nonsense, no coping, just developing tools and assets to help you succeed and ultimately make more money.

Let’s go!

1. How Algorithms Work & Content Distribution

In this world, algorithms drive attention, and attention largely drives success. It’s the whole “loudest person in the room is right” reality. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to get hired, make money online, win an election; the more eyeballs you have on your offering, the better. Volume negates luck to a large degree here.

Right now, digital marketers, freelance writers, and graphic designers are losing work and clients. AI tools can output so much decent-quality content, it just doesn’t make economical sense to pay a human to do much of this work. Take this from a former freelance writer; that industry has been gutted, and media companies have culled content teams.

However, pumping out AI slop doesn’t get results. You still need a deep understanding of how algorithms work so your content gets seen; whether it’s produced by a human or by AI.

This means learning:

• How to craft hooks that engage viewers

• How to create CTAs that actually drive conversions

• Content formats and topics that are working currently (this shifts based on platform and trends)

• Editing tricks that help with viewer retention

• How to repurpose content across multiple platforms

• How to double-down on winning content pieces once you create them

I’m not just talking about recording funny TikTok dances here. These are meaningful skills that can change your life.

Understanding algorithms is how I became financially free. I cover exactly how in my post on becoming stupidly wealthy with a one-person business. But the gist is that I’ve leveraged Google, YouTube, and social media to sell stuff. If you run your own business, you need this skill too. And if you’re an employee who understands these concepts, you’re immensely valuable.

Understanding algorithms also helps you be a smarter consumer. You know when and how you’re being marketed to much more clearly. Even if you don’t apply this knowledge to a career, it’s useful.

Simply put, if you work in marketing or content of any kind, this skill is essential for the road ahead. Otherwise, you’re stuck producing general content any AI tool and operator can replace in a few minutes.

How To Learn This Skill: Start creating online content. This could be a YouTube channel, a niche theme page on social media, a Substack newsletter, anything. You’ll develop valuable skills and insights doing so, and you might even create an income-generating asset!

2. Complete Marketing Funnels + Being Close To The Revenue

I’m convinced that people who understand how complete systems and funnels work within a business are the ones who will be left employed.

This is especially true the closer you are to where the revenue gets generated (or at least talked about) within an organization.

Here’s why: when you can view a system from a complete, top-down view, you can actually come up with suggestions and take actions that influence the entire system. This makes you valuable, whether you’re using AI tools to take these actions or not.

Picture scenario one: you’re a mid-level developer who gets JIRA tickets assigned to you from your senior manager every week. You work on these tickets diligently, use the AI tools you’re told to use to speed up your workflow, and you fix bugs and close tickets and go about your day.

Now, picture scenario two.

Same mid-level dev. Except you’ve taken the time to learn some basic marketing concepts and also stay curious to keep learning. You get that same JIRA ticket and complete it. But you also spot something on the product checkout page that could be optimized slightly to help with conversions. Or, at least, you could split-test the idea to find out. You bring up this observation to your senior manager. They loop in the product team, or media buyer, or whoever else is involved with conversions and revenue, and all of a sudden, you’re in a different conversation that’s a step above what you were doing before.

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Scenario one dev is highly replaceable. They are a cog in a machine. Scenario two dev can connect ideas and departments together and is starting to influence business levers that make money. Far less likely to be replaced.

Now this is a random scenario I made up this morning. It also requires having a manager who’s not a moron, which is easier said than done sometimes!

But you get the idea. If you can develop an understanding of your company from a broader viewpoint, you’ll generate better ideas. You’ll have the context to think more effectively, and then you can use AI tools more effectively as well.

It’s really no coincidence that senior and upper management are often far less technical than their subordinates, or quickly become less technical. They’re spending more time pulling bigger levers for the business and aren’t stuck in the trenches.

How To Learn This Skill: This one is highly industry dependent. Many companies also try to obfuscate revenue from most employees. Still, you can read about how companies operate, how marketing funnels work, and talk with colleagues in different departments to learn from them. And if you think of an idea that would improve the business in some way, voice that opinion. Try to make it happen and make an impact.

Again, platforms like Coursera have comprehensive digital marketing courses. Meta and Google also have certification programs you can take.

3. In-Person Sales & Better Communication

Apparently, there’s more in-person conferences and networking events than ever these days.

The world is changing, but in-person connection remains. People who work directly in sales and with other people matter.

Sure, a thousand different companies are promising the next generation of autonomous AI agents that will replace entire salesforces, but I won’t hold my breath for this.

Instead, if you can attend industry events or even networking nights within your industry, do so. This is even better if you can attend tradeshows/events and once again have a direct impact on the bottom line for your company (i.e. prospecting/getting new clients, competitor research, hiring or scouting talent, that sort of stuff.)

If attending industry events is unlikely or really not part of your job description, I hear you. But you can still develop better ‘in-person sales’ skills by becoming a better communicator.

After all, we sell ourselves to other people all the time…When we ask for a promotion, when we apply for new jobs, and really in any social negotiation.

This post is an excellent read on how to have higher quality, more interesting conversations. It might sound silly, but you can read posts and books on this topic and get actionable takeaways 👇

Life, A Series of Experiments

How to have more interesting conversations

Quick note: as you can probably tell, we’re in a period of experimentation here with this newsletter/blog. Due to popular demand, I’m bringing back the music recommendations at the bottom. If the cacophonous call for more recommendations continues, I’ll have to see about creating a monthly “inspiration” column with some of the things I’ve enjoyed watchi…

Read more

2 years ago · 270 likes · 18 comments · Nathaniel Drew

Also, don’t be afraid to play matchmaker/rainmaker. Sometimes, connecting other people/businesses with mutual interests is how you can best add value. I’ve done this numerous times throughout my time consulting or as a freelancer. It almost-always comes back as good karma, more opportunities, and increased income. It’s crazy.

How To Learn This Skill: The key, of course, is to apply these lessons. Make small talk with people at the store/strangers. Contribute more meaningfully to meetings. Ask thoughtful questions. And if you can attend work events, do so with concrete goals in mind (i.e. talk to 10 prospects and close 1) rather than going begrudgingly.

Related: These 4 Automations Make Me Money Every Day.

4. AI Automation

AI automations are all the rage these days. It’s the whole, ‘automate your workflow and get AI Agents to do all of your work for you’ kind of vibe.

There’s all sorts of automation-driven tools out there now. Make.com, N8N, Zapier, Gumloop, and more.

I think a lot of automation is smoke and mirrors. Metrics managers use to ensure they don’t get fired.

Like cool, you’ve automated a weekly Slack thread and you get industry news delivered to your Telegram via OpenClaw or whatever. COOOOOOOOOL story. This is absolutely why we need data centers and billions of dollars invested into this whole thing 😅

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However, automations can also deliver immense value. You can save time, money, and also produce far more output when you use AI automations correctly. They’re also one of the most direct routes to firing a human and replacing that role with AI, so it’s helpful to know how these systems work.

My advice is to look at your weekly task list and to consciously look for ways to automate certain things. Email flows, data entry, social media tasks, content creation…

This will feel annoying and intimidating at first. You’ll have to watch tutorials and actually commit to doing this. But once you spend an hour or two playing around with Make.com or N8N or whatever tool you’re using, you’ll get the ball rolling.

I’m far from an advanced automations guy. I have some basic ones running that basically do a bunch of publishing tasks after I have some content prepped for my different media businesses. I’m playing around with some for automating Pinterest graphic creation/posting and some other social media marketing slop (an affiliate marketer’s gotta eat!) but these aren’t too impressive yet.

One final thing I’ll say: playing the smoke and mirrors game yourself is a skill.

Your organization hellbent on AI automations and being an AI-first company?

Sure.

Play the game.

Build the stupid Telegram news bot and post it in the company AI Slack channel. You’re now one of the ‘AI guys’ at said company. Or at least, you’re learning the language and concepts to talk about this stuff. If you want to avoid getting fired, all this buys you time.

How To Learn This Skill: As mentioned, pick one weekly task you always ‘waste’ time on and learn how to automate it. This requires watching some tutorials and learning a platform like N8N, Make.com, or something similar.

You can also find affordable AI automation courses or plenty of in-depth tutorials on YouTube to get started.

5. Moving Fast & Failing Faster

Less of a hard skill, but a vital skill nevertheless.

AI enhances the speed at which people and organizations can move. But many organizations still get stuck with bureaucracy and red tape that nullifies this potential.

I’ve done a fair bit of consulting these last two-ish years. A lot of it involves helping media companies branch into YouTube content and some SEO/AEO work.

Most of these companies still move at a snail’s pace. There’s strategy calls, endless meetings, approval requests, someone from compliance being an absolute pain for everyone else (I hate compliance with a burning passion, who invented this department?) and the list goes on and on.

And yet, there’s always someone at these companies who takes initiatives and forces the ball to roll faster.

Seriously. I’ve seen employees create entire YouTube videos, write more scripts, research competitors, compile a list of keywords, and get excited about new stuff in the pipeline while everyone else is still scratching their heads.

They just start experimenting and getting ahead. While the broader organization is busy talking, they’re actually learning, testing, and doing stuff. Some of it is completely useless, but they’re in motion. Their willingness to try, fail, and try again at speed is what makes them unique. By the time the organization decides on which direction to go, they always pick this person to spearhead the new initiative.

I’ve seen layoffs happen too within some of these clients/orgs. This person who got the ball rolling doesn’t get fired.

The main risk here I’ll say is that you’re pouring all of your energy into a company instead of yourself. This is why building things for yourself matters more. But if you’re in a position to influence speed at your company, influence it. People will notice and it’s more enjoyable than waiting around.

How To Learn This Skill: Again, maintain a sense of curiosity and build stuff. Whatever skills you’re developing will serve you.

6. Conviction In Your Ideas & Actions

Not a hard skill, and not something that’s necessarily teachable. But conviction in your ideas, action, and self is critical if you want to take control of your life and where you’re heading.

Carl Jung has a lot of writing on this. It centers on integrating your doubts/shadow, sitting in the tension, and focusing on taking action to do the next right thing.

It’s an interesting concept I encourage you to read more about. But really, a key takeaway is the importance of taking repetitive action that’s productive and good.

This is how you gain conviction. You need enough data and examples of you being successful at something to gain conviction in that field and in yourself. You can’t just wake up and decide to think this way; your brain needs to see this pattern play out.

If you work on learning the skills I just mentioned, conviction should follow naturally. Again, you’re developing new skills, building things, and staying in motion. This is the key.

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AI lets people create and move faster than ever. But how many people actually have enough conviction to stand behind their ideas? To speak up first and to voice their honest opinions? Or, to even express an unpopular idea in front of others because they believe that they are right?

Again, if you’re trying to future proof your career, conviction will serve you well. It should be built on confidence that comes from proof of success. But it must be present. Suppress the doubt and tiny voice inside your head that says you’re not capable!

How To Learn This Skill: Again, repetitive, positive action. Bonus points if you target the doubts that tend to creep inside your mind. Feel like AI is too complicated, or that you can’t learn new skills and keep up? Accept this doubt and then tackle it head on. Develop new skills, watch yourself succeed with tiny, repetitive actions, and build your conviction.

Related: This Psychological Trap Keeps People Stuck Forever.

The Fastest Way To Obtain These Skills Is To Begin Creating

A common theme in developing the 6 high-value skills I just outlined is to take action.

Learn by doing, in other words. Be intentional about upskilling and begin stacking small wins that prove you’re capable. You can treat the whole process like a video game if you want to, leveling-up your own character.

The greatest moments of stress and worry I’ve had in my life come when I’m not doing things. Of course people are anxious AI is going to take their job. When you’re motionless, you’re waiting for stuff to happen to you. And if you turn on the news, you’re told everything is bad and the future is a disaster (shut off the news, by the way!)

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The funny part about this taking-action-process is that you might even build a business, side hustle, or asset that insulates you further from a job loss. This is why I love building micro income streams, and making money online in general. Everything you learn and try is a new door you’re opening, and they can lead to some pretty awesome places.

Read More: The $1,000/Month Extra Income Playbook.

What’s Next?

I’ve read a lot of content recently that talks about the most important skills to learn to stay ahead of AI and the world ahead.

A lot of this content is doom and gloom. This content also frustrated me enough to write this post; these pieces tend to talk about soft skills like having taste, or being a deep generalist or whatever else sounds nice on paper. Try telling someone who’s losing their job to ‘have better taste’ and see how much that helps 😅

I think people should do the opposite. Learn hard skills and how specific systems work that are relevant to your industry and interests. Experiment relentlessly and build real assets. In doing so, you’ll develop soft skills anyways while broadening your surface area for luck.

Inevitably, people and industries will keep getting disrupted. But I think new opportunities will continue to present themselves to those who are ready.

I can’t say if this will be an equal exchange, the disrupted versus the opportunists who thrive. But what I can say is that being intentional and taking positive action right now is your best bet.

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I hope these skills and ideas point you in the right direction.

And if I’m wrong an autonomous AI Agent overlords replace us all in the next 24 months, I’ll see you guys in the mountains anyways. Let’s live a little 😅

Thanks for reading all, and for the recent support. It honestly means the world and I am absolutely loving Substack right now.

Have a great week.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 7 Easy Ways For Anyone To Make Money Online.

👉 How To Vibe Code A New Income Stream.

Note: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up for these products or services at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my writing.

You can become financially free way faster than society tells you. And you don’t have to build the next million-dollar startup.

Instead, you can leverage your 9-5 income plus various micro income streams to accelerate wealth building.

After all, an extra $300 per month helps cover your groceries.

An extra $1,000 per month could pay your rent or part of your mortgage.

And an extra few thousand dollars per month can completely change your lifestyle and the opportunities ahead.

The best part is that these income streams don’t require quitting your job, investing a ton of money, or learning highly technical skills. You can build them in your spare time and let them grow from there.

This is always what I’ve done throughout my twenties. I started side hustle experiments, I threw stuff against the wall to see what sticks, and I scaled my income year over year as I figured out what worked.

You can do the exact same thing. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on tech, equipment, or coaching either.

Below are 10 of my favorite micro income streams that almost anyone can start today. I’ve either built these myself, know people making real money with them, or would happily pursue them if I were starting from scratch today.

Let’s go!

1. Run Niche YouTube Channels

Making money on YouTube remains one of my favorite income streams you can build, even while holding down your day job.

I started my main YouTube channel Tom Blake Finance in 2020. I knew nothing about video editing and filming.

Despite being new, my 7th video ended up going semi-viral. It was packed with valuable information and was hitting on a trending topic. The algorithm and comment section loved it.

The result?

My channel got monetized. Within a few months, my new YouTube channel was making $300 to $500 per month just in ad revenue.

This is the beautiful part about YouTube: you just need one video to get picked up in the algorithm, and you now have a new income stream with immense scaling potential. No other platform comes closes to this right now.

Since then, my main channel has passed 145,000 subscribers and made $250,000+ in lifetime income. This comes from YouTube ads, affiliate income, brand deals, and selling my own digital products.

I’m so optimistic about YouTube I’ve even bought a niche travel channel and am working on flipping it. I’ve launched a new channel as well and will continue building new channels and buying monetized ones because this platform is insane.

You can also get started with your smartphone and a budget USB microphone and light. That’s it. Putting out one video every 1-2 weeks is enough to get the ball rolling as you learn the ropes. If you can make each video you produce 1% better than the last, your channel will inevitably grow.

😎 ALSO: You can get my YouTube Freedom Launchpad today to learn the step-by-step process I use to launch and scale niche YouTube channels.

2. Referral Marketing On Social Media

I know people making anywhere from $250 to $5,000+ per month right now by spamming referral links on Quora, Reddit, Facebook Groups, and other social platforms.

This micro income stream is also incredibly beginner friendly.

Here’s how it works:

1. Look for referral programs from products, apps, and services you already use

2. Search forums and social media for threads that talk about these companies or for the niche these companies operate in

3. Respond to questions with valuable advice and drop your referral link along the way

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I did this for years on Quora and Facebook. I made thousands of dollars in the process and got over 1.1M views on Quora alone, just by dropping referral links to different FinTech apps and services.

I still do this today. On Reddit, Facebook Groups, and even niche forums when I spot a thread ranking on Google or AI responses where I can drop a monetized link.

Now, you will get banned doing this. Especially on Reddit and Quora 😅 But you can always make another profile, tone things down slightly, and proceed with more experience than before.

Just make sure you’re adding real value; this is how you reduce bans and provide actually useful advice to people.

As for where to find referral bonuses, again, check all of the services/software/apps you use. Many have referral programs that pay cash bonuses when you drive a conversion.

Your bank/credit card issuer probably has a program too, and these are especially lucrative and can pay hundreds of dollars in some cases per referral. I see people promote their Chase referral links online all the time as an example; very easy hustle to test out.

Extra Reading - How To Make An Extra $1,000 Per Month.

3. Bonus Churning

I cover this idea in my post on 7 easy ways to make your first dollar online. But I want to cover it again here since this is another low-effort hustle that makes a meaningful difference.

If you live in the United States (or Canada/UK to some extent), there are heaps of banks, credit unions, and investing brokers that will pay you for your deposits and business.

In some cases, you can get around $150 to $300 just for opening a free bank account and moving your direct deposits over. In other cases, you can get around $300-$500+ for opening a new account and depositing a certain amount of cash.

You can find a list of the top banking bonuses running right now to get started.

Most of these bonuses require keeping your deposits with your new bank account for 60-90 days. Afterwards, you can move your money out and do whatever you want.

I typically complete 2-3 banking bonuses annually. Some people geek out on this and churn through way more, but you can start out small. And I like this income stream since it only takes a couple of hours per year to operate, really.

Broker bonuses are awesome too. There’s companies like Moomoo paying up to $1,000 in free Nvidia stock plus 8.1% APY on uninvested cash right now, it’s nuts!

😎 ALSO: Check out my list of top money-making tools to help increase and manage your income.

4. Vibe-Coded Websites & Apps

Last year, I created a money-making website by vibe coding an idea with Lovable.

Lovable lets you create websites and mobile apps with basic prompting. It’s like chatting with ChatGPT, except you’re building an online asset.

I ended up making a website called Hustle Buddy, a side hustle directory people can visit to find new income opportunities. To monetize, I added some affiliate/referral links. I then posted about HustleBuddy on Reddit and other online forums alongside my YouTube channel to drive the first users.

This entire idea took under 150 prompts with Lovable to get up and running. The marketing funnel is also quite basic.

This is only V1 as well. I want to add a sign-up system, more side hustles, a submission tool, and a bunch of other features. But you can genuinely get an idea up and running in a day or two of work.

This is why I love making money with AI tools. Barriers to entry are gone, and anyone can launch a website or online business these days.

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Is this better than paying a development team to launch a custom-coded solution?

No. You’ll probably break something and deal with spaghetti code once you scale. But this strategy is perfect for testing proof of concept and getting your first business live.

You can make your own sort of directory website like I did. You could also launch a website for a service-based business you’ve had in mind, or try out making a mobile app.

This route is tougher to monetize because you still need to know how to market your new business. But vibe-coding solutions let you build the framework you need to launch without spending months of development time or a fortune outsourcing.

5. Post Videos On Amazon

Amazon’s affiliate program was gated to bloggers and influencers for years. But now, even micro-creators with a modest following can apply for the Amazon Influencer Program and likely get in.

This program lets you set up an Amazon storefront where you get paid commissions for recommending Amazon products.

BUT this program also lets you create videos of Amazon products you’ve purchased. Amazon shows these videos on its marketplace (they’re investing increasingly into video shopping.) If your video causes someone to make a purchase, you also get a commission.

Clever side hustlers have basically spammed short UGC-style reviews of the Amazon products they’ve purchased. With enough videos and some time, they turn into a pretty nice source of passive income.

I like this micro-income stream because many people have loads of Amazon products around their house. It’s free to join, and you can get started with your smartphone. If I had more time right now, I’d pump out 25-50+ videos and see how this one performs.

6. Gig App Stacking

I stumbled across someone on Reddit sharing the gig economy side hustles that pay them around $1,000 every month.

Firstly, they walk dogs and pet sit for Rover. They also work part-time as a phone operator on a mental health crisis hotline. On the side, they house-sit and do home cleaning as well.

What I find cool about this story is sometimes, this guy is double-dipping on earnings; he’s getting paid to be a phone operator while pet sitting at someone’s house for the weekend. Talk about efficiency!

This isn’t a scenario everyone can copy. But the idea of gig app stacking is viable in many areas. You can hustle a few hours per week and then use the extra income to pay down debt, build up savings, or invest more.

I’ve written a guide covering the 30+ highest paying gig economy apps. Here are some general gig economy niches you can consider:

1. Food delivery apps (Uber, DoorDash, Shipt, Instacart)

2. Pet sitting apps (Rover, Wag)

3. Package delivery apps (Amazon Flex, Roadie)

4. Furniture flipping (Sharetown)

5. Odd jobs apps (Taskrabbit, Oppizi)

6. Helping people move (Lugg, Dolly)

7. Temp work apps (Wonolo, Instawork, Bluecrew, GigSmart)

Craigslist cash gigs are also a goldmine in some areas. You can find gigs paying you to help people move, clean stuff, haul junk, or help out with random projects.

This is absolutely trading your time for money. But again, you can work efficiently. I’ve met someone who Ubers on the way back home from work for an hour to make extra money. Same with someone who walks dogs on the weekend because they want to exercise and they like spending time with animals.

Extra Reading: How To Become Rich With A One-Person Business.

7. Run Niche Newsletters

Niche newsletters are another micro income stream that have numerous monetization routes.

For starters, platforms like Substack let you earn paid subscription revenue from day one. But that’s just one option.

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You can also make money through sponsorships, affiliate marketing, selling digital products, consulting, and launching premium communities. In many cases, you don’t need tens of thousands of subscribers either. A highly engaged newsletter with 1,000 to 5,000 readers can become a surprisingly valuable business.

The nice thing about newsletters is they’re simple to operate as well. Write one useful email every week, keep showing up, and over time you build an audience. Consistency is the name of the game here.

In some cases, a niche newsletter can also turn into a full-time business.

The story of how Ryan Sneddon turned a hyper-local newsletter, Naptown Scoop, into a 6-figure business is one of my favorite examples.

Sneddon started a niche newsletter covering news going on in Annapolis, a city with just 40,000 residents. He used Facebook Ads to acquire his first readers, sold sponsored slots to local businesses, and grew organically from there 👇

This is a model anyone can copy. A newsletter is a media business at the end of the day. Once you establish an audience, numerous revenue streams open up.

Also, if you’re already posting on social media or YouTube, starting a newsletter is one of the smartest additions you can make.

💸 RELATED: How To Build Financial Freedom With A One-Person Business.

8. Sell Digital Products

Everyone talks about making money online with digital products. The whole “create something once, sell forever” dream.

In reality, making money with digital products is hard. Most people can’t drive enough traffic to their products to make meaningful sales.

That said, this is a viable micro income stream. And you can still generate sales with organic marketplace traffic on platforms like Etsy and Gumroad. Mix in a bit of social media promotion (or Reddit/Quora thread hijacking like I mentioned earlier), and you can turn a few digital products into a nice income source.

As for what to create, there’s plenty of popular options, including:

• Notion templates

• Excel spreadsheets/templates

• Digital artwork

• Printable planners

• Ebooks

• Online courses

• Canva templates

• Budget templates

• Checklists

• Swipe files

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My main piece of advice here is to create something simple at first to test demand. If you get a few sales, you can create a higher-ticket offering in the same niche to upsell those customers. This beats spendings months working on a high-ticket offer from the start without ever validating the idea or niche.

9. Rent Out Assets You Own

One of the lowest-effort ways to earn extra money is by renting out things you already own.

Most people immediately think of an Airbnb for rental hustles, but there are dozens of platforms that let you monetize cars, storage space, equipment, RVs, and more.

Some of the best options include:

• Turo – Rent out your car when you’re not using it.

• Neighbor – Rent out your garage, driveway, basement, attic, or other storage space.

• RVshare and Outdoorsy – Rent out your RV or camper.

• Swimply – Let people book your swimming pool by the hour.

• Fat Llama – Rent out camera gear, drones, tools, laptops, musical instruments, and other expensive equipment.

• SpotHero - Rent out a parking space you’re not using.

I like this income stream because the work is mostly front-loaded. You create a listing, respond to inquiries, and then let your assets earn money instead of collecting dust.

My buddies and I rented out our extra parking spot in college since none of use had a car. This was an easy $100 a month, and no extra work once we had an agreement in place.

10. AI Training & Chatting Gigs

A newer side hustle opportunity that’s emerged is becoming an “AI trainer.” Basically, someone who helps improve AI models by rating responses, fact-checking answers, writing prompts, reviewing code, or simply chatting with AI systems.

What’s interesting about this side hustle is that it’s globally-friendly and in massive demand. SO many AI training platforms have popped up, seemingly always hiring eople.

Some of the most popular companies hiring include:

• DataAnnotation – Pays people to evaluate AI responses, write prompts, and complete coding and writing tasks.

• Micro1 - Another massive company in this space that’s hiring for multiple languages and backgrounds.

• Outlier – Hires writers, coders, teachers, and subject matter experts to improve AI models.

• Alignerr – Focuses on expert contributors across fields like STEM, languages, business, and coding.

• Appen – One of the oldest remote work companies, offering AI training, search evaluation, and data collection projects.

• Toloka – Offers microtasks like AI data labeling, image annotation, and search evaluation.

The main downside is that work isn’t always consistent. You also have to pass interviews with these companies and then find gigs/projects, so it’s a slow ramp. This is ultimately a remote side hustle I’d consider if you have a high level of attention to detail and want something flexible, but it’s not guaranteed income.

Splitting Attention vs Going All-In - What’s Best?

One quick note about micro income streams: building them is great, but don’t spread yourself too thin.

Trying to create 10 different income streams because millionaires have multiple income streams is the same as flying first class because “rich people fly first class"…This is copying the outcome, not the actual roadmap that got someone there.

Personally, if I’m creating a new income stream or business, I want to leverage the skills and businesses I’ve built before, if possible. This increases my chances for success and keeps me from getting distracted.

I started out with freelance writing. That taught me how to communicate and some basic SEO skills, so I started blogging. Once my blog grew and I could outsource certain tasks, I used that extra time to start a YouTube channel so both platforms could cross-promote each other. Once YouTube made money, I outsourced video editing…Next came Substack, then buying another YouTube channel, then some more online experiments…Dividend investing running in the background the whole time.

You can do the same thing.

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Start out by maximizing your active income. For most people, this is a 9-5 job, which is awesome. Career hop, ask for promotions, and make sure the time you’re spending here serves you and your interests as much as possible.

When that’s maxed out, mix in something else…Learn how to invest, start a small side business, or just try something new that excites you. As that side hustle grows, you can use the income to buy back more of your time to focus on something higher up the food chain, or something new that excites you. Or you can decide to stick with one idea if it’s really rocking.

Ultimately, you don’t have to dive into having a bunch of micro income streams if it doesn’t make sense.

But you also shouldn’t feel bad if you don’t start the next ecommerce unicorn or some wildly successful mobile app. You can make meaningful, positive changes to your finances just by stacking up small wins over time.

Testing out a bunch of random ideas to see what sticks also has merit. I failed plenty of side income experiments during school. Eventually, my blog started taking off, and I knew I finally had a winner on my hands.

Experiment with life and keep on building things. You’ll find your winner too and have a blast along the way.

What’s Next?

Right now, I’m having an incredible amount of fun building things online again.

I have some Reddit/Quora funnels that are cooking, a new YouTube channel in the works, WiFi Wealth articles to write, and about 10+ other ideas I’d love to find the time for.

Honestly, a bunch of these ideas won’t materialize. Some will make money and then fizzle out. Others might teach me some interesting stuff but never really turn into anything more than a lesson.

This is just part of the process. But it’s an exciting one.

You can experiment too. Spend time building stuff instead of consuming. You never know where you’ll end up, and everything you build is another swing at bat.

Thanks for reading and for your support, as always.

I’m blown away by how quickly WiFi Wealth has been growing. Thanks to everyone who has read since the start, and hello to all the new subscribers! I have some very exciting content coming as well as a new series that’s releasing soon, and I think you’ll like what’s next 😊

I’m back in Cape Town these days. Still writing, still creating, still hiking. And there’s a whole lot more experiments to run. I can’t wait to tell you about some of them, very soon.

I’ll catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 The 4 Automations That Make Money While I Sleep.

👉 How I Vibe Coded A New Income Streams.

Note: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up for these products or services at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my writing.

Most people never start building towards the life they actually want to build because they’re worried about what everyone else will think.

That first YouTube video never gets uploaded. A newsletter never gets published. A business idea remains hidden in a notebook for years because someone is convinced their friends, coworkers, or old classmates are going to judge them for trying.

Psychologists have a name for this: The Spotlight Effect.

It’s the tendency to overestimate how much other people notice, remember, and think about us. We feel like we’re constantly on stage, with a spotlight fixed on us. Yet in reality, everyone else is busy dealing with their own lives, problems, dreams, and rarely think about us.

I learned about the Spotlight Effect in my first year psychology class back at university. I don’t remember much from my degree, but this lesson has stuck with me since that lecture.

In fact, simply knowing the Spotlight Effect exists is one of the most freeing ideas I’ve come across. Once you understand it, you realize just how much time you’ve wasted worrying about an audience that barely exists.

You also realize that you have the power to do anything you put your mind to. And this means you can build the exact kind of life you’re dreaming of without holding back.

How cool is that?

You Can Truly Build Whatever You Want

I wrote a piece recently covering how we can just start building stuff to make our life better.

This is such a core component of what WiFi Wealth is all about; taking autonomy over your life and destiny and building assets and habits that serve your lifestyle and goals.

However, in order to start building stuff, you must accept that you’ll probably be terrible at whatever new endeavor you’re trying. At least at the start. You will make mistakes, stumble, fail (perhaps quite spectacularly as well.)

This is the nature of trying something new. We have to learn the ropes through trial and error to develop skills.

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Since this is just how learning goes, letting the fear of failure and public opinion stop you from pursuing your dreams is an incredible shame. Plus, it doesn’t make any logical sense!

Think about the last time someone you know embarrassed themselves. Maybe they tripped in public, said something awkward in a meeting, or posted something a little cringey online.

You probably forgot about it pretty quickly.

Meanwhile, there’s a good chance they’re still thinking about it…Letting self-doubt creep in, clouding their judgment and confidence.

That’s the spotlight effect.

The same thing happens when you’re building something online. We imagine everyone will have an opinion if we start a business or promote our work. We assume people will laugh if our first videos are bad or if our business doesn’t work out.

But most people simply don’t care that much.

They’re busy worrying about their own careers, relationships, finances, and insecurities. Even if they do notice what you’re doing, they’ll probably think about it for thirty seconds before getting back to their own lives.

And if someone does spend their time mocking you for trying to improve your life, that’s probably not someone whose opinion should carry much weight.

Anyways, here’s a little trip down memory lane.

I filmed my first YouTube video finally after years of putting off that dream (it had truly been something I wanted to do since I was a kid.)

Seriously…YEARS. I had always wanted to make money with YouTube, but I started out with blogging because I didn’t want to be on camera. Even as my blogging business was growing, I delayed YouTube for a few more years until a friend really convinced me it was worth pursuing.

I filmed my first video in a poorly lit, echoing room at a co-working space in Medellin, Colombia. The audio was SO bad. Decent information, but man, the video made me cringe just watching it.

I posted it anyways.

That was the first video.

That was 2020.

Since then, that YouTube channel passed $250,000 in revenue (ads, sponsorships, affiliate income) and unlocked a host of other businesses and opportunities I’m still benefitting from.

The bottom line is that almost everyone who has built something meaningful started by looking inexperienced. They published articles nobody read. They uploaded videos with terrible lighting. They launched products that barely sold.

Yet in the end, these people keep showing up. They humble themselves, accept the mistakes they make along the way, and they keep putting one foot in front of the other regardless of what happens.

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SO, if you' have a dream that’s been bubbling inside your brain for a while, I encourage you to begin taking meaningful action.

Start the side hustle or business idea you’ve been dreaming about.

Take on the new workout routine or fitness challenge that’s been sitting on your to-do list for months.

Ask the girl out. Ask for the promotion. ASK the world for wonderful things and put in the effort so they materialize exactly how you envision.

You know what you want to do with this life, so go out there and make it happen! Never fear the judgement or opinions of other people, and do what you must do.

Related: The Opportunity Cost Of Ignoring Your Dreams.

A Note On Building In Public vs Working In Private

I’ll say one more thing about the Spotlight Effect; oftentimes, we put the most pressure on ourselves and are the ones turning on a spotlight in the first place.

A lot of this has to do with social media and the whole ‘build in public’ trend. People naturally get excited about an idea and post a lot about it. If it starts to fizzle out, they feel terrible because they’ve recently announced their plans to the entire internet.

I think building in public can be awesome. I’ve done it in the past and still do it now to create interesting content that’s also transparent. Sharing your work can attract customers, help you meet interesting people, and keep you accountable.

But there’s a difference between sharing work you’ve actually done and telling everyone you’re about to do something.

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When you announce a new business idea before you’ve started, you get a small dopamine hit. Friends congratulate you. Family tells you it’s a great idea. It feels like you’ve made progress, even though nothing material has actually changed.

But you also invite opinions before you’ve developed enough conviction in your own idea. Well-meaning friends might tell you it’s too risky. Family members ask how you’ll make money. Suddenly you’re defending a business that doesn’t even exist yet and complicating the entire process.

I’ve found it’s much easier to stay motivated when you keep your plans relatively quiet in the beginning and just put in the work.

Spend your energy building instead of explaining. Test your ideas on your actual customers; your friends and family are great and all, but most businesses don’t last if you’re just relying on your immediate circle to constantly buy from you. Bring value to your target audience, keep iterating, and if you need to connect with people to talk about your idea, you can find like-minded people on Substack, Reddit, Facebook Groups, LinkedIn, and a host of other places.

In short, let people discover what you’ve created after it exists, not while it’s still just an idea.

Extra Reading: 7 Real Ways To Make Money Online.

What’s Next?

A bit of a shorter post today. But I realized a lot of my recent writing covers the idea of building things and taking on risk and adventure. When you feel like everyone is watching and judging you, taking this kind of action is much harder.

In reality, The Spotlight Effect is immensely powerful. It’s often paralyzing. Yet once you understand that it exists, doing whatever you want with your life becomes significantly easier. After all, there is rarely a spotlight on you, so do what you want with your life.

I hope you start building things, learning new skills, and taking on challenges. Your greatest critic is your own mind, so flip the switch, up the confidence levels, and start taking action!

Thanks for reading as always.

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I’m very excited to be writing more on Substack these days. And I have an exciting new series coming soon that’s covering niche income ideas people can start/copy. Super pumped for this one and what’s around the corner.

Until then, it’s back to Cape Town for me. I’m hiking a lot these days and settling into the routine here after some long flights. There’s another video-related project I’m starting soon too, and creating things is feeling energizing again.

I appreciate all of the support recently. Hopefully, this piece encourages you to start something new this year.

I’ll catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 20+ AI Tools To Make Money.

👉 5 Profitable One-Person Business Examples.

Note: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up for these products or services at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my writing.

I’m turning 30 in a couple of months.

And lately, I’ve been thinking a lot less about goals… and more about lifestyle.

What kind of days do I actually want to live?

Where do I want to wake up? Who do I want around me?

And what kind of work, habits, and mindset makes for a good life?

Because if you get the lifestyle wrong, no amount of money can really fix things. There’s no shiny job title or brand-new car that will make you feel at peace.

Admittedly, much of this reflection has been uncomfortable, but useful. It’s forced me to analyze what’s worked, what hasn’t, and outline the habits that quietly moved my life forward over the last few years… or held me back.

So in this post, I’m sharing 10 lessons, stories, wins/fails, and hard-earned realizations I wish I understood way earlier.

If you’re navigating your 20s or even your 30s and beyond and want to intentionally build your life, this one is for you.

I hope some of these ideas help you create a lifestyle that’s fulfilling and feels like freedom.

1. Seek Out Intensity - Balance Is Overrated & Often Misleading

The number one lesson I’ve learned over the last decade is that choosing intensity for aspects of your life is vital for fulfillment, success, and overall happiness.

And yes, this is absolutely a choice.

Society wants us sedated these days.

We’re told to play it safe. Don’t stray off the beaten path too much. Play it cool, stay in your lane, and stick to the plan. Make sure you’re ‘balanced’ because it’s good for you and it’s what you’re supposed to do.

Balance can be great. But for certain seasons of your life, not as a general mode of operation. Especially not in your 20s.

You need to experience months and years where you wake up with a fire inside of you because you’re bursting with motivation to do something with your life. This could be starting a business, reaching a fitness goal, learning a new skill, traveling somewhere new…Whatever it might be, there must be something out there in this massive world that makes you feel alive!

Diving into something and cultivating passions is how you make this decade count. Don’t be afraid to be extreme. You can work long hours, or be hyper-focused on certain goals at different times. Let a hobby or niche interest consume your attention for a season. All of this is okay.

Your extremity often serves as a compass for acting like your true self and doing what’s best for you. It’s way more fun to live this way too.

Just please don’t live like an NPC.

You’re allowed to be imbalanced in your pursuit of something wonderful and empowering. And it’s only by diving head-first into these kinds of pursuits that you’ll accomplish them.

2. Practice Saying ‘Yes’ To Things That Scare You

Get in the habit of saying ‘yes’ to new experiences. Bonus points if it’s something uncomfortable or even frightening.

I’ve written about this sort of idea a few times, but it’s crucial.

When we’re kids, we have endless novel experiences. This is a massive part of why childhood seem to stretch forever, while seasons flash by in an instant as we age…We stop seeking out new experiences, and our perception of time accelerates accordingly.

If your weekly routine revolves around the latest Netflix special and waiting for Friday night to roll around so you can drink or order DoorDash, you must break this cycle.

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It doesn’t even have to be anything too crazy. Try a new recreational sports league, explore a new hiking trail nearby, go to a language exchange. Just do stuff that’s outside of your normal routine.

Once you do that, taking on scary things becomes easier. This is a legitimate muscle you have to build.

I had a pretty tough period throughout 2024 for several reasons. I was all doom and gloom for a while there.

I decided to hike Kilimanjaro after a particularly bad day. I booked the hike in late October and was on Base Camp by Christmas Day.

Since then I’ve moved cities a couple of times. I’ve started boxing too, and I’m learning Dutch now. I took a first aid course recently too and want to start volunteering with my local mountain club more.

You can genuinely start any new hobby or take off on random adventures.

Do it solo if you have to. Treat the world like it’s yours to explore, and build back that childlike curiosity and sense of adventure. There’s no greater hack to improving your mood and outlook.

3. Remember That You Can Build Your Own Luck

I am convinced we can build our own luck.

There’s two main ways to do this:

1. Be Endlessly Optimistic: Pessimists are often right, but it’s the optimist who has the most fun and best life. If you approach life with the best case scenario in mind, it will unfold that way for you. If you approach with fear of failure, you’ll fall short. This has consistently happened to me in all aspects of my life.

2. Encourage Serendipity In Your Life: Serendipity basically means having a happy accident. It’s when fortunate stuff happens to you that sort of just falls into your lap. But here’s the thing…You can program serendipitous moments into your life! Again, this happens when you say yes to new things, take on life with a sense of adventure, and live with some fire in your veins. Random, positive things happen to you the more you experiment with life.

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I write about this kind of stuff all the time on WiFi Wealth, but it’s true!

I experimented with dozens of side hustles in my twenties before I found blogging. That blog ended up making me $1M+ and helped me become financially free.

Same story happened with YouTube. I believed I could make something happen, tried a bunch of random stuff, and a couple years later I had made $250,000+ from YouTube and started a whole new business.

Random emails I’ve sent have turned into opportunities. Talking to a dude in Florida on a podcast one time ended up with me writing for Forbes…

You never know what will happen, but you can increase your luck and the odds good things happen.

4. The Spotlight Effect Is Real - Don’t Let It Stop You From Pursuing Your Goals

The spotlight effect refers to a phycological phenomenon whereby people significantly overestimate how much other people notice them, judge them, monitor them, etc.

In other words, we all think the world cares about us.

It truly doesn’t 😅

How freeing is this realization?

Again, you can literally build whatever you want, try new things, and fail spectacularly along the way. No one gives a shit.

I’ve talked to so many people who want to start a one-person business, post content on social media, make money with YouTube, write a newsletter…

Their main reason for never starting?

It’s always the feared perception of others. I’m not joking. People think they have haters or enemies or a crowd or something…NO ONE ACTUALLY THINKS ABOUT YOU EVER.

I used to worry endlessly about what other people thought about me. This worry still creeps in sometimes, which I think is natural. But you must remember that you owe it to yourself to pursue what excites you.

Also remember: most things don’t matter in 5 years, let alone 5 weeks. Live the life you want to live.

5. Learn Basic Personal Finance

If you’re in your 20s, or any age really, it’s vital you learn basic personal financial management.

This includes:

1. How to create a simple budget (you can use a simple Excel spreadsheet, journal, apps like Monarch Money)

2. Building an emergency fund

3. Managing credit cards/debt if you’re using credit cards

4. How to make extra money with side hustling

5. Learning how to invest

6. Reading about the types of FIRE and what investing + compound interest can do for people

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Spending 30 minutes a week reading about this stuff on Reddit or asking ChatGPT to explain these concepts to you is an excellent starting point.

Treat it like homework. It might be boring or intimidating, but this is one of the most important skills you’ll develop. If you can’t control your finances, you’re at the mercy of other systems (boss, debt, family help, whatever else.)

💸 My Top Money Making & Saving Tools To Get Started.

6. Avoid Vices & Stop Robbing Your Future Self Of Your Own Potential

I think partying in your 20s is awesome. I’ve done my fair share, especially in my earlier digital nomad days when I was traveling around the world, meeting new people all the time in exotic locations.

I’m not talking about giving up a healthy dose of debauchery many twenty-something-year-olds experience. In fact, this stuff adds color to life and also gives you the context to know what certain parts of life are like.

What I am talking about is giving up vices; behavioral patterns you know you want to break, but haven’t.

This could be drinking, drugs, porn, not working out, gambling…You already know what they are.

Here’s the mindset shift I hope helps: when you pursue your vices, you’re not only hurting yourself in the moment. You’re literally robbing your future self of your full potential.

How many times have you had a bender, and then missed out on goals you say are important to you?

When you fall back on vices, you’re betraying yourself. You’re proving to yourself, time and time again, that you can’t keep your word or be trusted. This is SO damaging, so it needs to be dealt with ASAP.

7. Read More

I wish I read a lot more in my twenties.

I stopped reading during college. I hated my psychology classes, and I justified my lack of external reading with the amount of studying and note-taking I was doing. This was definitely a mistake.

I’ve started reading again this last year. It’s so enjoyable. Sure I just finished Crime and Punishment recently and was in a dark funk for three days over it (Russian Lit just hits), but that’s the point.

We have access to the best minds in all of human history, ranging from literal Roman Emperors to philosophers whose work has stood the test of time. But most of what we read comes from Instagram these days.

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☕ DO This: Get a new book from a local bookstore, not Amazon. There’s a massive difference and I have no idea why lol. Then take that book, get a nice cup of coffee at your favorite cafe, and read there a while. Then read at a nearby park. This will do things to your brain I don’t understand but certainly encourage 😅

8. Take Finding A Partner Seriously

There’s an emerging trend, particularly for people in their 20s, that discourages dating.

Men often reject dating in the name of ‘staying on their grind’ and focusing on their goals. Women often reject it in the name of hyper-independence or because having a boyfriend is embarrassing, according to TikTok.

I think both lines of thinking are pretty toxic. I spent some years in my twenties being a bit aloof with dating. I didn’t treat certain people how they should have been treated. At the time, I justified my behavior as ‘being normal’ for the dating market.

I regret this period of time. This kind of behavior poisons your character. It’s not irreversible, but man, it’s a slippery slope.

Choosing a person to date and potentially marry is actually one of the most important things people do. If you choose poorly, your world will devolve into absolute madness. If you choose well, you’ll have the adventure of a lifetime that would otherwise be impossible.

Considering how important this decision is, approach it with care and intention.

Don’t neglect your goals. Don’t chase people who won’t give you the time of day. But avoid becoming jaded or disdainful regardless of what the dating market shows you. You’re only hurting yourself.

9. Mental Affirmations Are No Joke

You can train the voice inside your head to be kinder to you.

Seriously.

Our brains are excellent at predicting worst-case scenarios. This is a defense mechanism, but it’s not very helpful when you’re chasing big dreams and want to take on the world, full speed ahead.

When you catch yourself catastrophizing a situation or doubting yourself, make a conscious effort to reframe the voice inside your head.

Start your day off this way. Reaffirm that it will be a good day, you are capable, and you are working towards your goals.

One of the weirdest realizations I’ve had over my twenties has been this: your life increasingly turns out exactly how you picture it.

10. Decide To Fall In Love With Your Life

Fall in love with someone.

Fall in love with your hobbies and interests.

Fall in love with the small daily habits that bring you joy, the thrill you get from new experiences, and the realization that the present is precious.

This relates to the whole intensity idea again. But falling in love with people and aspects of your life is a choice.

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It’s so easy to take people, places, and moments for granted. Parts of our life we once dreamed of obtaining no longer fill us with that same excitement. The grass always looks greener, and we’re so good at moving goal posts once we get what we say we want.

These days, one of the main goals I’m working on is being more grateful and passionate about my daily life. I know this isn’t exactly a goal you measure with KPIs or metrics, but it feels like one of the most important goals I have right now.

I’ve spent so much of my twenties chasing dopamine hits, new places, new people…A lot of this came from my love for adventure, but part of it came from a consistent sense of restlessness I’ve struggled to shake. For much of my twenties, this restlessness caused a lot of anxiety and unhappiness that was honestly self-inflicted.

Falling in love with your life around you is how you build a life you enjoy and a routine that’s fulfilling. It’s how you stop endlessly chasing what’s around the corner and actually enjoy what you’ve already cultivated. It’s really the whole point of what we’re all doing!

Next Steps

I’m honestly loving Substack these days.

Thanks to all of you who have subscribed and are reading my writing; especially the influx of new subscribers. There’s a lot more content I’m excited to create, and I’m grateful you’re reading it.

Now, a massive part of WiFi Wealth is dedicated to building online income and systems that help you achieve freedom.

BUT how we think about our life and our goals is even more important. After all, building cool stuff and making money is great, but none of that stuff matters if you’re endlessly miserable and lost.

My twenties have been an interesting chapter of life to say the least. I’ve been fortunate enough to build a few businesses, live and travel across 6 continents, and have genuinely had a blast along the way. But I’ve also made a ton of mistakes and don’t know everything. I’m figuring out this stuff as much as the next person and still make tons of mistakes or doubt my decisions sometimes 😅 But I find that writing and reflecting helps.

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If you’re in your 20s or you’re a young adult who’s figuring stuff out, I hope some of these reflections have been helpful to you as well. And if you’re a little older, I hope some of these lessons still ring true or inspire you to make some positive changes.

There’s a lot more content coming soon, including many more guides to help you scale your income and freedom. I hope you’ll stick around to see what’s next 😎

Anyways, wrapping up a short Canada trip. Back to Cape Town and the mountains soon, plus many more adventures.

Catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

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👉 What To Do When You Feel Behind In Life.

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Making money online can completely transform your life.

It unlocks financial and locational freedom. It also gives you control over your destiny because you learn to make money out of nothing.

But here’s the thing…Figuring out how to make your first dollar online can be intimidating. There’s seemingly thousands of business models and ‘best ways’ for people to get started.

That’s why today, I’m sharing 7 realistic and actionable paths you can take to begin earning money online.

I’m focusing on beginner-friendly methods you can use to get the ball rolling. This includes methods you can start in the next few minutes that can easily pay a couple hundred bucks to $1,000+ per year with little effort.

At the end of the list, I’ll also explain how you can snowball these methods and the skills you develop into bigger-picture, lucrative opportunities.

Let’s get to it!

1. Start Bonus Churning

Bonus churning involves taking advantage of sign-up bonus offers that banks and credit card issuers often run to attract new customers.

This is one of my favorite beginner-friendly ways to make money online. It’s something I do annually, and it’s awesome…You can genuinely get paid just for moving your money around or changing where your paychecks deposit.

Right now, banks like Chase, SoFi, Chime, Bank of America, Current and dozens of other banks and credit unions have cash bonuses for opening accounts with them. A quick Google Search for ‘banking bonuses’ gives you the latest results in your country/state.

You can also find banking bonuses on reward platforms, such as Kashkick. This is a free rewards website and app that pays you when you complete certain actions, which is a growing form of incentivized marketing.

Here’s some of the current offers Kashkick has, including a $250 bonus for opening a free Chime checking account and moving your direct deposit to it 👇

Moving direct deposits and money around does take a bit of work. But you can realistically open a few free bank accounts per year, earn $50 to $500+ in the process based on the current promo, and then move your money/deposits back to your desired account after 60-90 days, give or take.

Credit cards often have similar intro bonuses…You can get boosted cashback rates or free points to use as statement credits when you hit certain spending thresholds.

The only catch here is you need to avoid overspending, so I’d only go for credit churning bonuses when you’re spending money you’d be spending anyways. I did this when I had to spend a lot of money moving into a new apartment, and the cashback promo was definitely worth it.

Investing apps and brokerages do this too. There’s SO much free money out there you can claim just by moving your own funds around.

For example, Moomoo is giving up to $1,000 in free Nvidia stock plus 8.1% APY on uninvested cash for your first 2 months.

You can see the reward tiers here…Honestly, it’s a bit of work to open a new broker and move funds around, but I would do this for the $100 - $200 tier at least, and you can earn larger bonuses of course.

Bonus churning even works if you’re starting with $0, provided you’re employed. You can start by claiming direct-deposit based offers like the $250 Chime offer I mentioned and other bonuses that only look for your paycheck deposit as a requirement. Next, bankroll that starting cash into deposit-based bonuses to earn more. Rinse and repeat several times a year.

Realistically, this is a $500 to $2,000 per year side hustle opportunity that anyone with a job can try, provided you live in the United States (Canada and the UK have some bonuses, but they’re smaller industries.) Some people take this to the next level with credit card points and travel rewards too, so there’s levels to this.

2. Try Basic Freelancing Work

Freelancing is how I earned some of my first reliable online income.

At the time, I was writing short articles for a BuzzFeed competitor. I was getting $20 to $30 an article, which was honestly pretty nice for a college student trying to get by!

Freelance writing and freelancing in general is tougher these days. AI has taken a lot of rolls. Competition is at all-time highs.

That said, you can still find beginner-friendly freelancing roles or one-time gigs if you look beyond LinkedIn and Indeed.

Reddit is a surprising goldmine. It has communities like r/forhire where people post all sorts of gigs you can apply for. Many of these pay $20 to $40+ per hour, and you can also find decent retainer gigs or jobs.

Many of these roles involve virtual assistant work, marketing, development/coding, and social media content creation. But there’s plenty of niche opportunities as well, especially in AI and ecommerce right now.

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I’ve found writing gigs on Reddit in the past. It’s certainly weird; you’re connecting with strangers on the Internet and trying to work out how to do work while getting paid for it…There’s a level of trust you need to build, but there’s plenty of legitimate gigs and companies looking for talent here.

3. Earn Cashback Rewards

This one is sort of like bonus churning…It’s something anyone can try, and it helps you keep more of your hard-earned money in your wallet at the end of the day.

Personally, I earn cashback in a couple of ways:

1. I use a cashback credit card on all my purchases (you can use cards like the Discover It Cash Back card and earn up to 5% cash back on rotating quarterly categories, with a $0 annual fee, it’s awesome!)

2. I shop online with cashback reward platforms like Rakuten and ShopBack.

3. I use smartphone cashback apps like Pogo and Upside which pay me with automatic cashback whenever I shop with my linked cards.

My favorite part of this side hustle is that once you do the research and set this stuff up, you basically earn on autopilot.

Now, the Dave Ramsey crowd will say that credit cards are evil and cashback rewards are a slippery slope. You can subscribe to this school of thought, nothing wrong there. But I’m always going to charge groceries, gas, and my everyday expenses to a cashback platform. This is my advice for others, provided you’re spending responsibly and not struggling with debt.

4. Take Part In Paid Focus Groups

There’s numerous paid focus group websites and apps where you can make pretty decent money chatting with researchers about various topics.

For example, I’ve made $500+ with User Interviews so far in the last 2 years or so. This is an older video I’ve made on my earnings and this side hustle in general 👇

All I did was create a free account, connect my LinkedIn to it, and then look for study opportunities I thought I was a match for.

I applied for a couple, and some researchers ended up wanting to chat with me on Zoom for an hour. One study paid me $200 for talking about AI, and then I had several smaller studies that paid in the $40 to $80 range.

This is an occasional side hustle. But there’s so many platforms out there you can join for free and then find studies.

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Respondent.io is another popular one I’ve found one study on. You can also check out this list of the top paid focus group sites for another 10+ options with solid reviews.

Extra Reading 👉 4 Automations That Make Me Money Every Week.

5. Make Money With AI Training Gigs

This is a newer online side hustle that’s also something anyone can apply for.

Numerous companies have popped up essentially looking for people to help train AI models. The work generally involves analyzing prompt responses, fact checking them, and rating overall quality.

Some of this work is general and pays in the $15 to $20 per hour range. You can also find AI training projects that require specific skills, occupations, or languages. These tend to pay more, and I’ve seen listings in the $40 to $75 per hour range.

There’s heaps of companies out there. DataAnnotation, Micro1, Mercor, Stellar AI and tons of others.

I tested out DataAnnotation and Micro1 to make content for my main YouTube channel. DataAnnotation never got back to me after my test interview. Micro1 approved me as a ‘training expert’ so I can apply to gigs now.

This is the real downside of AI training gigs; applying takes time, and landing a role can be a bit tricky.

However, this is a newer remote side hustle opportunity that is also fairly beginner- and remote-friendly.

Extra Reading - How To Make An Extra $1,000 Per Month.

6. Make Money With The Amazon Influencer Program

This idea is more niche, but if you have a small social media following somewhere, you could apply for the Amazon Influencer Program.

This program lets you create a storefront where you share Amazon products you use and like. If people purchase products you recommend, you earn a commission. Here’s my Amazon Storefront as an example.

What’s also cool is that Amazon now has a feature where you can create short product reviews of Amazon products you’ve purchased. If a customer watches your video on an Amazon product listing and ends up buying, you also get credited and earn a commission.

There’s creators out there now earning a couple hundred bucks per month or even $1,000+ monthly, just by building up a catalog of simple product review videos on Amazon. Super niche like I said, but honestly, pretty neat!

What I like about this side hustle is that you can start by creating short UGC videos about Amazon products you have around your house…So you don’t need to invest in anything to give it a go. And every piece of content you make is a mini asset that can pay you over and over again.

Again, you likely need some social media followers to get approved for the Amazon Influencer Program. But this is a pretty neat idea overall!

7. Try User Testing Gigs

User-testing gigs involve testing apps, websites, and products that are in development and giving your feedback. You’re basically doing QA work, and testing sessions generally pay $10 to $20 per test, with tests taking about 15 to 20 minutes. Although you can find testing opportunities in the $25-$50+ range that are a bit more involved.

This is actually something I did back in college. There’s heaps of companies you can join for free, including:

• UserTesting

• PlaytestCloud

• Userlytics

• User Crowd

• TestingTime

• Userbrain

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The downside of this gig is that tests are often given out on a first-come, first-serve basis. So you need to claim open tests quickly before other testers do. Applying for several of these platforms and turning on email notifications is pretty key to land gigs consistently.

Earn More: You Can Just Start Building Stuff To Improve Your Life.

Next Steps + The Bigger Picture

I still remember when I earned my first dollar of online income.

I was a college student who was experimenting with all sorts of side hustles while working at Starbucks and getting through classes. One day, I tested out some paid survey website and ended up making like, $2.50, answering surveys in-between classes.

This was absolute peanuts. Earning $2.50 wasn’t worth the time I put into answering those surveys at all.

And yet…This simple action flipped a switch in my brain. Suddenly, I was someone who could make money out of thin air as long as I had an internet connection.

This realization is such a vital component of WiFI Wealth and why I write this newsletter in general.

We’re taught from day one that we need to rely on an employer and a stable job to make ends meet. We’re conditioned to think of traditional employment and having one income stream as being the only path forwards.

There’s nothing wrong with this path.

BUT you don’t have to rely on one boss, one company, or even one country to build the lifestyle you want. You have the autonomy to experiment, build, create, learn, and iterate yourself into any kind of life you desire.

I swear, the moment you can earn your first dollar online, the wheels start to turn. And this is what this post is about.

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I don’t think anyone is going to dramatically change their life by using cashback reward apps, or by trying out paid focus groups. But you will begin viewing income and opportunities differently because you’re someone who actively looks for them instead of waiting for life to happen to you.

Over time, this metamorphosis can change your entire life.

Maybe you start out with paid focus groups, or bonus churning…Then, maybe you start some kind of one-person business, like a YouTube channel or a paid newsletter. Maybe that tiny freelancing gig you landed off Reddit turns into a portfolio piece you leverage into a higher-paying client.

I have zero idea what path you’ll end up on. No promises or guarantees here.

But what I will say is that constantly trying new things and maintaining your optimism and curiosity is really what this is all about. This is how you build your own luck, one experiment at a time.

When I started out blogging, I made $1,700 in my first year after hundreds of hours of work. My girlfriend at the time hated how much time I spent on it and thought it was pretty stupid. I had a lot of doubt too at different stages.

That experiment ended up making $1M+ in revenue in my twenties, let me travel the world, unlocked financial freedom, and taught me some super cool skills I then made more money with…You never know where any of this stuff will take you until you get moving.

If you’re new to making money online, I hope this guide serves as a a launchpad for you to get started.

You don’t have to stick with these ideas forever. I also encourage you all to ‘dream big’ and build things that excite you. But if you need the stepping stones to work towards these ideas, try out a couple of these methods. You might be surprised at what you learn and where you ultimately end up.

Thanks for reading everyone and for your continued support. I’ll catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 I Built A Simple Website That Makes Money Every Day.

👉 Why Coast FIRE Is The Fastest Path To Freedom.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this content are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up with these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my writing.

Last week, I posted how you can just start building stuff to rapidly improve your life.

Today, I’m sharing an example of this in action.

Real numbers, and the process I use to create niche income-generating assets.

This time, I vibe-coded a simple website that now makes money every single day.

It’s not making me rich, but it’s the start of a new business. And getting it off the ground just took some creative thinking, 125-ish prompts, and creating some basic marketing funnels.

I’m going to walk through the process of scaling this new project plus examples of how you can build your own income-generating assets with this strategy.

Let’s go!

A Quick Recap On My Vibe-Coding Experiment

Last summer, I took a weekend and used Lovable to vibe-code a new income stream.

Well, that was the general idea.

I basically took 48 hours, drank a bunch of coffee, and built out a side hustle directory website called HustleBuddy.me.

In a nutshell, Hustle Buddy helps people find side hustle and income ideas that match their goals, skills, and location.

As a personal finance YouTuber, people ask me for side hustle ideas all the time. After getting the question “does X side hustle work in Y country” for the millionth time, I decided to build a simple directory to help solve this problem.

There was some trial and error, a couple of bugs, but overall, I built out a pretty workable website in a weekend of tinkering and about 125 prompts.

You can see Lovable’s interface here, and you basically chat with it and ask it to do/fix things and preview everything in real-time:

After building V1, I kind of let the project sit for a while. Classic 😅

I sent a few email blasts at it and shared it on Reddit. Made $20 or so, and then shelved any real marketing efforts since I had some other projects and consulting work pop up.

NOW, I’ve put a bit more effort into things these last couple of months, and things are starting to cook!

Let me walk you through some of the new marketing tactics/lessons, monetization insights, and more importantly how you can start vibe-coding income-generating assets for yourself.

Growing Traffic & User Engagement Signals

In the last 90 days, Hustle Buddy went from getting very little traffic to receiving 4,500 visitors and about 9,300 pageviews.

This isn’t massive by any means.

BUT what’s interesting is that most of this traffic has come from:

• Posting about Hustle Buddy on Reddit a few times

• Including Hustle Buddy in my YouTube video description boxes

• Putting Hustle Buddy in a few emails I send to my main email list, which I run with Kit

This is one of my favorite parts about vibe-coding with Lovable: when you build something new, you actually have something to market that’s fresh and exciting.

I’ve sent thousands of emails and posted 200+ videos talking about side hustles and personal finance advice.

Now I can show my audience something new and interactive; this isn’t just another blog post or newsletter segment, it’s an actual tool people can use to solve a problem.

I think the Views Per Visit and Visit Duration metrics reflect this…People are visiting Hustle Buddy and actually dive into the website and spend time researching ideas. This doesn’t happen with my niche blogs nearly as much.

What I find awesome about all of this is that I built this with Lovable in under 150 prompts.

And there’s still tons of features I want to add to make this thing stickier, like:

• A login / user account feature

• A side hustle income tracking dashboard people can use

• The ability to favorite side hustles

• More resources and guides to help people launch more complex hustles or one-person businesses

• A contribute-a-side-hustle feature

This is all on my to-do list.

I’m confident that as I add more value and functionality, user engagement metrics will improve further. This should also improve monetization, which I’ll cover now 👇

Improving Monetization & Adding Email Capture

Initially, Hustle Buddy made $20 after some brief promotion.

Since then, I’ve added more side hustle ideas. I’ve made some bonus pages as well and drive traffic there from YouTube and Reddit, and these pages are certainly more revenue-focused (basically, I funnel to some strong affiliate offers.)

Since Hustle Buddy is now hitting 50 - 100+ users daily pretty consistently, it’s making money every single day, even if small amounts, which is very fun to see.

Here’s a snapshot of one of my Impact Radius accounts from Jan 2026 to today with about $3,000 in total revenue:

This Impact account holds a lot of the offers I run on Hustle Buddy.

Most of this revenue comes from one niche blog, but about $600 - $700 is attributable to Hustle Buddy now.

Again, a small amount in the grand scheme of things. But very encouraging to see after just a bit of traffic scaling.

What’s also cool is that Hustle Buddy now has an email capture form where people can sign up with their email to get a free eBook breaking down realistic paths to making an extra $200:

This is working too, and Hustle Buddy has captured over 200 emails already with a basic lead magnet pop-up that fires when people visit the website.

These emails then flow into a Welcome Series Automation I built on Kit that sends people more useful guides, side hustle ideas, and offers:

This is one of my money-making automations.

People find my newsletter somewhere online, be it Hustle Buddy, a niche content site, YouTube, whatever. They get a freebie, and then they receive more guides, tips, resources, and affiliate offers.

This is another advantage of vibe-coding something new. Once again, it’s a new way to package your offers and info, and it can also help you collect more emails in the process!

Related 👉 My Top Money-Making Tools & Apps.

What Can You Build This Month?

I’m sharing this vibe-coding update to highlight what’s working for me, how I’m building traffic, and what I’m learning about user monetization.

BUT this is just my vibe-coding experiment. There’s so much you can build for your own side hustle or business 😎

Here’s a few ideas that you can dive into. Some of them would genuinely take a weekend of work to get up and running as well, which is awesome.

1. An Interactive Tool For Your Audience

I built a side hustle directory for people interested in side hustles. But what problem does your audience have? What questions does your ideal customer constantly ask?

You can build any interactive tool you need to these days. Some examples could include:

• A fitness planner or tracker (if you’re a personal trainer or in the fitness niche)

• A net-worth tracking database (if you’re a financial planner)

• A tax-estimation tool (if you’re an accountant)

• A time-auditing tool (if you’re some kind of business coach or consultant)

• A home affordability calculator (if you’re a real estate agent)

• A quiz to help people match themselves to one of your service offerings based on their needs, budget, goals etc.

These tools already exist. There’s a million fitness apps and trackers out there, for example, so this isn’t reinventing the wheel.

BUT your audience trusts you and wants your products.

If you build something useful and give it to your people, they will use it. This in turn boosts engagement and can also reduce churn if what you build is actually cool.

Plus like I said, building new stuff gives you marketing material and lets you present your offers in a new way, which might help conversions.

2. Websites For Small Business Owners

This one is more of a services play, but it’s an interesting one.

Right now, some agencies are packaging vibe-coded websites as a service and pitching this to small business owners.

The process looks like this:

1. Search Google Maps and compile a list of businesses that don’t have websites or have severely outdated websites

2. Make them a new website in a few minutes using Lovable

3. Cold-email or DM them a demo link to the new website

4. Offer to build out the full website and to provide ongoing maintenance for a flat fee + ongoing retainer

When I first heard about this side hustle, this was my genuine reaction:

This is honestly pretty true still 😅 You can’t just DM 10 business owners, pitch them some demo websites, and expect to make money.

But then I dug into things…

Did you know there’s agencies out there that have productized this entire thing and are actually making money? It’s insane.

Like this guy named Jacob started an agency called Creme Digital. They’ll “build your idea into a ready to launch MVP in 2-weeks” according to the website.

Apparently, the agency hit $250,000 per month and is now a Lovable Gold Partner.

Lovable actually has a whole “Services Partner” section of the website that targets this idea…Use Lovable to productize a service and then market it to people.

This is such an old playbook. Create shiny carrot, dangle carrot in front of client, get client to pay for carrot.

Not easy, granted. This requires immense amounts of cold-outreach or getting inbound leads somehow.

But there is a wave of agencies popping up offering web design, app building, MVP creation and all sorts of productized services with this strategy.

Interesting how much runway this has and how much money people can make basically selling vibe-coding implementation. This really feels like a game of positioning/packaging and then building an outreach system and working on close rates, which could be something you’re into.

3. Time-Saving Tools

I read a great post from the other day about how to vibe-code small apps that make your life easier.

I like Melvin’s writing and recommend you check him out also. And the main idea of this post of his involves vibe-coding apps that help simplify your life in some way.

If you run a one-person business, this is where automating repetitive tasks is an excellent starting point. You could also just vibe-code something that helps you solve a problem in your own life.

This sounds like absolute hocus pocus. But take a look at this Reddit thread where people share stuff they’ve vibe coded that’s actually useful:

People are building all kinds of things, from an app to track their kid’s finances to a WiFi-multicam video streaming integration for iPhone, it’s super cool! Someone even made a POS system for a non-profit they volunteer at and replaced hours of manual paper and pen recording.

Again, the limit here really is creativity. Barriers to entry for building cool things are rapidly disappearing as these AI tools get better.

Next Steps

I think a lot of ‘make money with AI’ content is pretty overhyped. You can’t just type in a prompt and magically make a business work or create new income out of nothing.

BUT you can supplement businesses and side hustles that work with AI and strategies like vibe-coding. This is what I find exciting these days.

It doesn’t matter if you work in ecommerce, affiliate marketing, coaching, sell a service, or something else. There’s likely some aspect of your business and workflow that you can enhance with platforms like Lovable or other AI tools.

The fundamentals of your business/side hustle still need to stand on their own. But if you’re in a creative rut and want to try something new this month, I certainly encourage you to give this vibe-coding thing a try.

Anyways, I’m going to start working more on Hustle Buddy and build out some new features. There might be a part III in this series coming down the line, so I’d love if you could subscribe if this is the kind of content you’re into 😊

Until then, I’ll be enjoying a bit more Cape Town time before some travel. Still have some niche sites and experiments underway I’m excited to share here soon, so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading all.

I’ll catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 The Opportunity Cost Of Ignoring Your Dreams.

👉 5 Profitable One-Person Business Examples.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this content are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up with these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my writing.

One of the most useful realizations I’ve had over the last few years is that you can just build stuff and dramatically improve your life in the process.

This sounds obvious.

But most people don’t live like this is possible.

Instead, they wait for opportunities, motivation, confidence, circumstances, whatever to come their way.

Meanwhile, time passes anyways. Dreams become a soft “it will happen next year” promise that fade almost as quickly as they were uttered.

Living like this is an absolute death sentence for autonomy, freedom, and happiness. Yet it’s so easy to slip into this mindset and to become addicted to comfort and stability, even when we’re unhappy.

In reality, you can build the exact lifestyle you want, brick by brick, and have an absolutely amazing time along the way.

This includes making way more money. It also includes being happier, having higher quality relationships, and just becoming a fuller version of yourself who walks with purpose.

If you want to take control and start building yourself, this one is for you.

I’m covering some real examples of areas you can start building in, why they matter, and how to get started.

Let’s go!

💵 Want to launch your next business idea? It’s time to take action.

Lovable is the best tool for the job. You can build entire websites and mobile apps in minutes with simple prompting.

This is my vibe-coding tool of choice I’ve used to build profitable websites in the course of a weekend. It’s honestly insane how quickly you can create and go-live with this thing.

Turn your idea into reality and launch fast. Get started with Lovable to take action.

1. Build Income & Assets

Building new income streams and assets is a massive part of what I write about at WiFi Wealth. I think this is one of the smartest things people can do these days, especially if you’re young and are wondering what to do for a career and with your life.

The great news?

It has never been easier to create additional income streams than right now.

I’ll share a few personal stories to highlight this fact.

When I started blogging in 2018, I didn’t know anything about running a WordPress website. In my first year of blogging, I only made $1,700…After hundreds of hours of work.

Next year was better, and I hit about $7,000.

To me, this was already a massive success. Percentage wise, a $7,000 increase in income wasn’t too shabby considering my office job salary out of college was about $45,000 Canadian. Taking action here also beat waiting for my boss to maybe give me a salary bump.

But next year, I hit $22,000.

Then $92,000.

By now I had quit my job, was going all-in on the new asset I had built, and ended up scaling this first website to $1M+ in revenue before selling the business.

You can just build things.

Out of thin air and whatever is going on inside your brain. You don’t need an expensive degree or a business plan or a mentor; you can just start trying stuff and see what sticks.

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The same thing happened with YouTube.

First year was a grind to learn how to create videos and get monetized.

About 6 years later, and the channel has passed $250,000 in revenue between ads and sponsorships. I’ve bought a niche travel channel now and am scaling some new channels as well.

You can just build things.

A few months ago I used Lovable to vibe-code a new side hustle directory website. This is now making money because I promote it on the assets I’ve already built, like my email newsletter (the advantage of building things is that they tend to help each other out as well, or give you the skills for your next project to succeed!)

I’ve also started posting content on Reddit. You can get hundreds of thousands of monthly views, just for sharing your ideas and by being a nice person. It’s insane.

For reference, this project is a few months old. And LOOK at what’s possible 👇

Smart AI tools and tech have removed all barriers to entry. The job market also sucks right now. I believe you owe it to yourself to build financial security. You can’t rely on anyone else to do this, especially not some company that would sell you down the river in a heartbeat if it meant reaching quarterly KPIs.

Now if you’re thinking it’s too hard or difficult to build these kinds of online assets, or that you need years for them to turn into serious businesses, you’re probably right.

But this time will pass anyways.

The skills you develop along the way will also pay you in spades, even if what you’re building never makes a penny. Trust me, everything we learn and spend time practicing comes back to serve us, one way or the other.

There’s also plenty of simpler side hustles that have faster payout periods. So again, you can build a new income stream and increase your financial security just by taking action.

I won’t harp on this too much 😅 Here are some of the best guides I’ve written on income generation instead so you can get started today:

• How To Become Stupidly Wealthy With A One-Person Business.

• How To Make An Extra $1,000 Per Month.

• The 4 Automations That Make Me Money While I Sleep.

2. Build Skills & Confidence

An inevitable part of building up your income is developing more skills and confidence.

Starting a new challenge and figuring things out, bit by bit, is incredibly rewarding. Making your first dollar on your own also proves to yourself that you are capable and have autonomy over your life. I swear, there’s a mental switch that flips once you realize you can make money out of nothing and can rely on your abilities.

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You can extend this to other areas of life as well.

We really thrive in the process of learning and mastering a new skill. This is encouraged in kids, but somehow, it falls by the wayside for adults once we hit the job market.

Recently, I started boxing here in Cape Town. I’m pretty bad. I don’t know proper footwork and I’m pretty sluggish overall.

It was also pretty nerve-wracking walking into a boxing gym and asking for lessons. Some people there have boxed for years. You feel as if everyone is watching you as you blunder through different exercises.

But after going to just one lesson, you learn that no one actually cares what you do or how you look. Things that seem scary are actually invigorating. We can also enjoy the process of being bad at something and slowly improving.

I encourage you to start something new this month.

Start weightlifting. Try learning a new language. Actually start that one DIY project you have saved on your phone but have been putting off for months. Give a new hobby a go.

YouTube and the internet can teach just about anything for free. There’s probably loads of in-person events or classes in your city too that can teach you another skill you’re interested in. Maybe you can ask a friend or colleague to show you something new.

Mixing up your routine and proving you can learn new skills is an absolute game-changer for your mood and outlook on life. So don’t wait, take on something new and exciting this month!

Related: What To Do When You Feel Chronically Behind In Life.

3. Build Better Self-Talk

One of my best friends is on a mission to do a million push-ups.

This sounds insane, and it sorta is. But he basically does a 500 push-up workout, twice a week, alongside his other workouts. In about 20 years, he’ll hit his million push-up goal.

He’s actually documenting the process on YouTube, alongside his weekly thoughts and journal entries.

Currently, he’s at 171,000 push-ups.

When he started this project, a lot of people thought it was crazy, or a bad way to workout, or just thought he wouldn’t stick with it.

Let me tell you, he’s stuck with it. The guy doesn’t miss a workout. It doesn’t matter what crazy stuff is going on in life, or if he’s tired, or if it’s the weekend; he doesn’t miss.

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And what’s interesting is this dedication to his weekly push-ups has helped transform how he speaks and thinks.

Now, he’s the most positive, self-believing individual I know. He is full of energy, has goals, and genuinely brightens the room whenever he walks in. You feel great after spending just a bit of time hanging out.

When I’ve asked him about this project and the impact it’s had, so much of it boils down to self-talk and the voice inside his head.

According to him, the push-ups are really just a challenge that has to be overcome each week. Along the way, he tells himself he’s capable of doing them and just about anything he sets his mind to. It doesn’t really matter if it’s push-ups, or landing that job, or trying something new and difficult.

For years I assumed confidence and optimism were personality traits.

Now, I think it’s largely a construction project. You can literally build this into your way of life and how you operate.

In other words, the voice in your head is trainable.

If you repeatedly tell yourself you’re lazy, unlucky, behind, or incapable, eventually your brain starts accepting that as fact.

In contrast, if you repeatedly tell yourself that you have skills, you will figure things out, and that you can achieve great things, you accept this as fact.

Call it self-affirmation, manifestation, or whatever you want. The stories we tell ourselves become the foundation we build on. They set the pace and energy for every waking moment of our life.

Many people are accidentally constructing a mental environment that works against them. They begin planning with anxiety and worst-case scenarios. The voice inside their head sabotages them from the start.

If you hear this doubt creeping in, kill it. You can train yourself over time to picture the best-case scenario and what it feels like when you get there. Do this for long enough, and I swear how you operate on a day-to-day basis changes for the better, and visualization turns into reality.

4. Build Better Relationships

Relationships don’t magically stay strong. They are maintained. It takes mutual effort, and consistent effort at that.

I’m appreciating this more since moving to Cape Town. I haven’t been in Canada for over one year now. While I love the digital nomad life, I miss the close relationships I have in North America.

I’m starting to call close friends more, at least once per week. Same with my family. Even with the distance, it makes a massive difference for mood and quality of life overall.

This is an underrated habit. Even if you live in the country you were born in, I encourage you to call a friend or family member at least once per week.

Make plans too! Time is precious, so use it while you have it.

Plan the trip, go grab that beer, send the first message. Resist the urge to become more isolated.

Technology is pushing us farther apart these days, but following someone on Instagram isn’t the same as maintaining a real relationship. Do the work.

5. Build Better Habits

I’m not a fan of the over-optimization of life and endless self-improvement routines. We’re human, not machines.

That said, there are some pretty basic habits you can build into your daily routine that have massive upside for quality of life. Some of these include:

• Drinking enough water

• Waking up at the same time

• Going to the gym 2-3 times per week

• Walking to the grocery store, or after meals, or just more often in daily life

• Reading a few pages before bed

• Eating whole foods

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Again, it sounds simple. But it’s important to be intentional about building these kinds of habits and then maintaining them as well.

After all, it’s so easy to let these basics slip when life gets busy. I do this all the time; I’m busy with work, I end up skipping two meals, downing 4 coffees, and then I wonder why my head and body are a mess by the time 5pm rolls around.

Stick to the basics. Build them into your daily routine. Don’t overcomplicate things.

The Real Superpower - Build Delusional Optimism

I’ll wrap up this post by saying this: building delusional optimism is a superpower.

The news makes it seem like the world is going mad. Things move faster than ever. Times are changing.

Amidst all of this, it’s easy to feel discouraged or uncertain. This is why it’s more important than ever to instill a sense of optimism and autonomy in your life in whatever way you can.

This could be as small as making your bed every morning and ironing your shirt.

Or, maybe, it could mean starting a side hustle, or learning a new skill you’ve been thinking about for a while.

Whatever you do, you’ll start to believe that you’re capable of making change. You can then analyze areas of your life, pick out things you like and dislike, and start building towards the version of life you actually want.

Stack enough bricks with positive momentum and it’s impossible not to become incredibly optimistic. You start setting larger and larger goals, you dream bigger, and you feel way more alive. When you start operating like this, you think and perform better too, so you’re actually increasing the chances you accomplish what you desire.

Since starting my business in 2018, living on 6 continents, and having some massive wins and fails along the way, I genuinely believe we can turn our life into whatever we want.

It will take heaps of work. You’ll probably end up with a much different version than what you had in mind at the start as well. But this journey is the only one worth taking with the time we are given, so start dreaming and start building!

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Anyways, I’ll be heading out from Cape Town for a bit soon. I am keen to return here, but I’m also itching to spend some time at home and to explore new parts of the world. I don’t really know what comes next. This used to frighten me, now it mostly excites me. Time to do some building of my own!

Thanks for reading all.

I’ll catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 The Opportunity Cost Of Ignoring Your Dreams.

👉 5 Profitable One-Person Business Examples.

Note: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up for these products or services at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my writing.

Deals.

Data.

Distribution.

You only need to pick one and master it to make money with your one-person business.

This is an interesting concept I heard in a recent podcast episode from Jacky Chou, an online entrepreneur and SEO expert I’ve followed for a while.

The premise intrigued me immediately…what do you mean, you only need one of these three components to win with your one-person business?

But the more I thought about this concept, the more I agreed.

Mastering one of these elements for your own one-person business is a recipe success. Each one is its own unique moat that helps you capture customers and ultimately make more money, just in different ways.

That said, it’s crucial you pick the right competitive edge to build based on your business’ current stage, income goals, and your own skillset.

Personally, I’m going for number #3 to grow my businesses. This is also that strategy I used to make $1M+ in my twenties with my media business. I’m avoiding #2, and think the first option is easiest to implement.

Let’s break down these 3 strategies and how you can implement them for your own business.

💸 A couple fun updates before I get into things…

1️⃣ I just put out an updated list of my top money-making tools and platforms. This includes some easy wins you can use to boost your income plus powerful tools I’m using to run my numerous online businesses more efficiently.

2️⃣ I’m also opening consulting calls again with limited availability. If you want to develop a strategy to scale your traffic and revenue, you can book a paid call with me here. Let’s chat about ways to begin growing your business!

Strategy #1: Win With Deals

In the Fortune 500 world, winning with deals generally means landing a massive partnership with another company that can:

• Bring an enhanced service offering to customers

• Lower costs for customers

• Provides more overall value than what competitors are doing

We’re seeing this happen all the time these days, especially in the AI arms race. Just look at the Anthropic-SpaceX deal recently, or how Nvidia is pouring money back into the AI boom.

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Now if you’re running a small team or one-person business, you probably can’t bankroll angel investments or insane business development deals like these…So, what can you do?

Well, there’s a few routes you can take.

Option 1: Offer Pricing Deals

When I started freelance writing, I took on a lot of bottom-of-the-barrel pricing clients.

This was frankly to pay my bills and gain experience. But something funny happened to me after a few months of writing for $0.05 per word while writers I knew were commanding anywhere $0.15 to $0.50 per word.

My monthly income kept increasing.

I was getting tons of business through word-of-mouth referrals. I landed a couple of clients at $0.07 and $0.10 per word as well. Eventually, I brought on a sneaky ghostwriter to help me with some of my cheapest clients so I could focus on pitching upwards.

Another funny thing?

My hourly rate for the bottom-of-the-barrel pricing clients was still solid. The content was so easy to create, I’d bust out two articles while watching Netflix without breaking a sweat. A quick $100 just like that, which meant a lot to someone who had quit their office job recently to try the whole digital nomad thing.

Now, this pricing strategy didn’t last forever. I eventually started writing for Forbes and several larger publications or premium finance brands. The pay was excellent, and it wasn’t long before I was making $10,000+ per month with my writing. But to land the whale clients, I had to secure my income first and also develop enough connections in the industry to move up the food chain.

Freelance writing ain’t what it used to be (thanks ChatGPT!) But there’s some takeaways here.

Firstly, if you’re just starting out, don’t snub your nose at playing the pricing game.

Your #1 goal is to not go out of business. You need to put food on the table. It is okay to trade time for money at the start to develop proof of concept, sharpen your skills, and to get some income flowing.

Secondly, if you’re young, you can absolutely trade sweat equity for money. This is what I did for several years in my early and mid-twenties and would absolutely do it again. Try working 60-80 hours one week and see what you can accomplish. You won’t die.

Finally, it’s true that cheap clients can often cause more headaches than they’re worth. But there’s also plenty of cheap clients out there that know exactly what they’re paying for and set expectations accordingly. Pre-vetting clients and setting measurable deliverables is important. My most difficult clients have always been in the mid-pricing tier for whatever business I’m operating, which is interesting.

The Takeaway: I argue you should be hungrier for business than ever, especially in the current environment with AI and automation. If I was starting from $0 and wanted to hit $10K/month, I would productize a service I know how to fulfill, discount my pricing, and grind it out. Eventually you can build up enough cash to hire or outsource so you’re less in the trenches.

The Writing Rules That Made Me $1,000,000+ Online

Option 2: Offer Quality & Peace of Mind Deals

This one is the flip side to discounted pricing deals…You offer a quality deal instead.

Premium pricing generally has this worked in. It looks like:

• ‘X-days satisfaction guarantee or your money back

• Warranties (i.e. if what I give you breaks or stops working within X days, you get compensated)

• ‘Only paid if X happens’ → I.e. performance-based pricing

• Tailored offerings (i.e. going above and beyond for the client with some tailored service they ask for)

• Delivery speed (I’ll do X faster than competitor Y)

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What’s nice about many of these strategies is that customers don’t always take advantage of the deal they pay extra for.

People won’t be fully satisfied sometimes for whatever reason, yet they don’t request a refund. Or, a client asks for delivery at certain speed, but they create enough bottlenecks on their own so your workload never actually changes.

I see this with consulting all the time. I’m paid monthly retainers to consult on SEO, YouTube content, or whatever, and I end up getting two paychecks just going through onboarding and some basic intro calls.

The Takeaway: If you don’t have premium upsell in your lineup, create one. This is what I did when I created consulting offerings alongside my basic freelance writing work. Some percentage of your customer base is likely willing to pay extra to get ‘better’ results or ‘faster’ results or whatever they associate paying more will achieve.

Related: 10 Ways Solopreneurs Can Instantly Make More Money.

Option 3: Offer Deals Through Strategic Partnerships

This option is the business development route to landing more customers and making more money…This isn’t just for Fortune 500 companies or massive teams.

Here’s a pretty simple example.

I’m living in Cape Town at the moment. Some of my friends here work in the booming tourism industry. It’s ultra competitive, especially for services like guided hikes or day tours.

One of my friends offers these kinds of tours. To get more business, they’ve networked with dozens of related tour operators who aren’t direct competitors. They now send each other business and each give each other a small kickback per new customer.

It’s a win-win scenario. Actually, a win-win-win scenario since they’ve all agreed to give customers slight discounts through this referral path.

You can do this for tons of service-based businesses. I’ve done it for my content business’ as well and connected other media businesses with brands for a kickback.

What I find crazy about this path is sometimes, building a new referral path literally takes a few emails back and forth or a call.

Many of these relationships fizzle or become one-sided over time. But when you land a good one where both parties profit, it’s incredible.

The Takeaway: If you go down this path, dedicated a few hours per week to outreach and networking with this goal in mind. You need to be intentional here; this isn’t something that magically happens.

Extra Reading: Why Coast FIRE + Geo Arbitrage Is The Fastest Path To Freedom.

Strategy #2: Win With Data

Winning with data generally means:

• Having enough data about your customers to offer exceptional personalized services (i.e. upsells at the right time, personalized offerings, and really drilling into your customer segments to create a unique experience for people)

• Having enough data about customer acquisition costs to nail marketing and your paid funnels (i.e. you can pay $100 for leads all day long because you know your customer LTV is $450 and how the math works out for your margins)

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I dislike this route for my own businesses and most one-person businesses or small teams.

Here’s why: Data can absolutely be a moat. But you need enough data and infrastructure to make this happen, which is incredibly hard to pull off, especially as a one-person business or small team.

I’ve met people who agonize over conversion-rate optimization for a mobile app with 5 paying users. I used to spend hours optimizing AdSense ads on my first blog that got a couple thousand visitors per month at the time.

Until you reach a certain stage of traffic, revenue, and deal-flow, it’s hard to have enough data to do anything meaningful. Perhaps coaches can go down the ultra-personalized service offering route if they collect enough data with intake forms, but for most businesses, I think this is barking up the wrong tree.

PLUS to make the data play possible in the first place, I argue strategy #3 is what many entrepreneurs should focus on…

Strategy #3: Win With Distribution - What I’m Chasing

Most of your customers have zero idea that you exist.

It doesn’t matter if you’re posting daily, running paid ads, speaking at conferences, and are even going viral on social media regularly.

For most industries, you don’t own a drop in the bucket of market share. Not even close.

It took me years for this fact to sink in.

I was running a profitable blog, I was growing on YouTube, but revenue was pretty slow-growing. I was spending time trying to optimize revenue and find new brands to work with, but this didn’t really move the needle.

Eventually, I decided to basically 5X my content output and just do more, and guess what? Revenue followed pretty quickly.

The Pareto Principle (i.e. the 80/20 rule) is good to follow here: What would 5-10xing your 20% most valuable marketing strategy do for your business?

For me, this looked like publishing daily on my blog instead of weekly. I send out daily newsletters instead of bi-weekly ones. On the YouTube side, I publish twice per week now and also send out dozens of brand pitches per week instead of waiting for them to come to me.

Simultaneously, I stopped posting on Instagram since it never drove clicks. I worked with fewer affiliate offers but focused on the ones that worked. I didn’t really go down the courses path because it’s not an investment I could spare. I also stopped accepting stupid 1:1 intro calls with people I already knew weren’t going to go anywhere. I stopped replying to a lot of emails too. Huge time save.

To be fair, saying “just do 5-10x more of the most important aspect of your marketing funnel” might sound easier said than done.

But to counter, there’s a solid chance you know deep down what you need to do more of. You’re just hesitating because building out systems to make this happen feels uncomfortable and risky.

This was how I operated for years. Then I started outsourcing and building actual systems that can scale, and this changed everything.

These days, you can use AI tools to accelerate your marketing efforts. I also cover some creative and free marketing tactics for one-person business owners you can try too.

Unless you are absolutely drowning in business and turning paying customers away, unlocking more distribution will likely help.

There’s a story I love here too: how Matt Paulson built MarketBeat into a $60M/year finance publication with just 19 employees and zero outside investment.

This is such an awesome example of what can happen when you win at distribution.

MarketBeat is a newsletter with around 5 million email subscribers. It has a series of related newsletters as well, SMS lists, Push Notification lists, and a YouTube channel with 600,000+ subscribers.

MarketBeat is crushing distribution. They literally send billions of emails a year. And newer channels like SMS and YouTube are printing cash.

In a nutshell, MarketBeat has built so many sticky distribution channels that they aren’t at the mercy of a single platform or algorithm. They monetize customers as soon as they walk through the door, and then they upsell them continuously.

The beautiful part is that this unlocks strategy #2, the ‘win with data’ play. MarketBeat can now spend around $1.5M per month in paid acquisition to their newsletter because they know exactly how much their subscribers are worth and what they can afford to spend on each platform.

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How insane is that?

They’re spending $1M+ monthly on getting new people on their email list. Within 90 days or sooner, MarketBeat breaks even. From there, it’s all gravy since deliverability costs in online media are miniscule.

This is an ultimate example of how powerful nailing distribution can be.

The Takeaway: Take a few hours this week and analyze your most valuable marketing efforts. Outline the bottlenecks that are keeping you from ramping this. You might need to hire or invest in outsourcing. Alternatively, you could leverage automation to win back some time. Or, bluntly, you could sink more time into it and give up some free time. There’s no right answer here, but tracking your output and having distribution goals is vital.

Next Steps

I love writing about one-person businesses. After all, starting a one-person business can change your life. It changed mine, and it’s easier to start one than ever before thanks to AI and tech.

This doesn’t mean this is easy.

Plenty of businesses go under. You can have slow years too or slide backwards. I’m down this year versus last, but you roll with the punches and keep things moving.

What’s encouraging is that you don’t need to win on all fronts to make money here. Unlocking one competitive advantage and dialing in on it is likely enough to succeed.

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Personally, I’m chasing distribution. I want more email subscribers here and on Kit. I want to grow more YouTube channels and improve viewer retention/subscriber loyalty. I’m building a new Reddit funnel that’s already making money, and this cross-promotes my new vibe-coded project and Skool community. When I publish something or promote an offer, I want to land in front of as many people as possible.

If you take a critical look at your own business, you probably know what you should be chasing. Time to make a gameplan and make it happen!

Hope you liked this article. I always appreciate shares/restacks/comments if you did. Let me know what you think as well.

Catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 The 4 Automations That Make Me Money While I Sleep.

👉 How To Make An Extra $1,000 Per Month.

Modern life constantly exposes you to people who seem ahead of you.

And it’s not just your friends or coworkers either…It’s seemingly millions of people, all of whom have it better than you.

You open Instagram and see entrepreneurs in Dubai driving around in Lambos.

You check YouTube and see 23-year-olds making $100,000/month.

You browse LinkedIn and someone announces a promotion every six minutes.

All of this noise creates the illusion that everyone is progressing smoothly except you. Hell, my content is guilty of this too sometimes (my bad lol).

The thing is, after enough exposure to all of this, your brain starts treating extraordinary outcomes as normal. Naturally, in comparison, your life looks pretty lackluster.

This line of thinking is a trap. Quite a deadly one, too.

If you let it fester, it deters you from taking meaningful action to create the life you desire. After all, if you’re so far behind, what’s the point of even starting?

In reality, many successful people have spent years feeling lost. Many confident people you see online are faking it until they make it. And the “overnight” success stories you see don’t share the years of work behind the scenes that made everything possible.

And so if you’re feeling behind but want to excel, this one is for you.

I’m covering actionable steps you can take today to begin working towards your goals.

From small steps that compound into larger wins to reframing certain modes of thinking; this is for anyone feeling lost and unmotivated who wants to get back to dreaming big.

😎 Want to land a remote job that gives you freedom over your time and location?

Then I suggest checking out FlexJobs.

This premium job board is one of the leading places to find remote positions, freelancing roles, and flexible working arrangements. Jobs are hand-picked so there’s no AI slop, and you get salary/pay information as well.

I’ve worked online since 2019, and the freedom you get versus sitting in a cubicle all day is game-changing. Hopefully, you can find a remote position with FlexJobs as well and work from wherever you want in the world.

1. Start Stacking Small Wins

When people feel stuck in life, they often think they need some massive transformation.

New city. New relationship. New business idea. New personality, even.

Usually, what actually changes people is much less dramatic. It’s the implementation of small routines, small improvements, and small moments of discipline that gradually build up positive momentum in your life.

I talk about this concept in my post on the opportunity cost of not following your dreams.

Jordan Peterson talks about the importance of “aiming low enough” as well. Basically, setting goals small enough that you can actually achieve them consistently.

There’s a lot of truth to that, especially when you feel overwhelmed.

This can look like:

• Going to bed at the same time every night

• Drinking water and stretching in the morning

• Cooking basic meals instead of ordering takeout

• Walking every day

• Cleaning your apartment for 10 minutes

• Calling a friend once a week

• Reading for 20 minutes before bed

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These habits sound almost insultingly simple. But when you follow through on them consistently, you prove something important to yourself: you are capable of changing your life for the better.

That sense of agency matters more than people realize. You need to believe you have autonomy and agency over your life if you actually want to control your life and outcomes.

2. Save Money & Buy Back Your Capacity To Take Risk

When you’re feeling stuck and don’t know where to go, I urge you to default to saving money.

There’s a few reasons for this.

Firstly, if your expenses outpace your income, you will always feel behind. You even see this with high-earning professions like doctors and lawyers; when you live paycheck to paycheck, no amount of keeping up with the Joneses will bring happiness or fulfillment.

Secondly, building up your savings buys you the capacity to take action when you know where you want to go.

In other words, if you have a few months’ of living expenses saved up, you buy the ability to take risk and action when it counts.

Here’s a personal example: I landed a ~$40,000 a year office job shortly out of college. Yet I was miserable, stuck in the same town I’d been in for years, working on a job that was deeply unfulfilling with no upward mobility.

I ended up quitting that job within a few months and booked a one-way ticket to Colombia. I had some savings and was beginning my freelance writing and blogging career.

Quitting my day job was an immediate hit to my income. But I had enough savings to place a bet on myself, at least for the next few months.

A couple months came and went, and you know what?

My writing income was surpassing my old day job, I had freedom over my time, and I had never felt more alive. And the businesses I started ended up making $1M+ along the way.

This is what buying capacity gets you; you can take shots on net when it matters.

I have met many people during my years of being a digital nomad who want to start a business, who want to move somewhere new, or who want to have a career shift. Many never take action, and the reason is almost-always due to lack of capacity.

Bottom line: if you feel lost, save money and make this a priority.

Put your emergency fund in a high-yield savings account you don’t touch (you can use something like Current and earn 4% APY right now, easy freebie!)

Slash spending on stupid stuff. Bide your time and plan. When you find clarity, you’ll be able to take action and pull the trigger.

😎 PS: You can join me over on Reddit at r/SaveMoneyClub for awesome saving advice, discussions, and tips posted every single day.

💸 Extra Reading - 6 Simple Steps To Making $1,000 More Per Month.

3. Learn Something New & Reignite Your Curiosity

One of the worst parts about feeling stuck is that life starts becoming repetitive.

Wake up.

Work.

Scroll.

Sleep.

Repeat.

Days blur together. Weeks disappear. They’ve actually studied this, and it’s terrifying, but the fewer novel experiences you have in your life, the faster life seems to pass you by. You legitimate feel like you’re living less life if you remain stagnant.

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I’ve found the best way to break this monotonous cycle is to learn something new, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with money or productivity.

Recently, I started learning boxing because it always interested me.

I’m objectively terrible at it.

But there’s something incredibly healthy about being a beginner again. It forces your brain to wake up. You become present. You struggle. You improve slightly. You get humbled. And any progress you make at this new skill makes you feel like you’re conquering an absolute mountain.

I’ve also been slowly learning Dutch. The other day I bought a whole chicken from the grocery store and watched a YouTube video on how to properly break it down and cook it.

None of these things are life-changing on their own.

But together, they create a feeling that life is expanding again instead of shrinking. And once again, you prove to yourself with small wins that you’re capable and have the power to do cool stuff with your life.

Again, this doesn’t have to relate to business or money in any way. You could learn programming, vibe code something, how to edit YouTube videos, or some other highly-monetizable skill, but you don’t have to.

Learn how to dance salsa, how to bake break, or how to make a great cup of coffee. Just do something new

4. Find Your Ikigai - Your “Reason For Being”

Ikigai is a Japanese concept that roughly means “reason for being.”

It’s a very powerful concept. Typically, it relates to four elements: finding what you love, what the world needs, what you’re good at, and what you can get paid for:

However there’s also an element of Ikigai that emphasizes finding joy and beauty in everyday, mundane actions.

In the West, we’d probably call this mindset “practicing gratefulness” or something similar. But I think Ikigai is slightly more intentional, especially for everyday routines.

I encourage you to stay off your phone in the morning and to give this thing a try, even if it sounds silly.

Take notice of how your coffee machine gurgles and smells when you flip it on. Watch how the sun hits the leaves of that tree in your backyard slightly differently each morning. Spend a few minutes talking with someone at the dinner table instead of scrolling, and be present for the conversation.

Lately I have felt very behind in my various online businesses. I’m not producing as much as I could. Other people are using AI tools ‘better’ than I am. Views are down on many of my accounts. The feeling is bleh.

Yet somehow, this stress evaporates when I spend time watching how the sun reflects off the ocean in the evenings, or when I cook a simple meal without checking my phone.

Besides stress evaporating, your mind will clear when you practice Ikigai. You’ll have space to make clearer, better decisions for the road ahead. This alone can have a massive ROI for your life as you tackle difficult choices and forks in the road.

Related: Everything You Desire Waits On The Other Side Of Risk & Fear.

5. Start Optimizing For Freedom Instead Of Status

Part of the comparison trap and feeling endlessly behind comes from confusing visible status with actual quality of life.

We’ve been conditioned to assume:

• Expensive = successful

• Busy = important

• Famous = fulfilled

But these things are often loosely connected at best. And I’ve met plenty of people who have impressive-looking lives on the surface or their Instagram feed but are actually miserable in reality.

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SO before you go off chasing a life that was pitched and sold to you on social media, ask yourself this question: is your decision building towards status, or freedom?

Trust me, making decisions that reduce complications in your life and give you more control over your time and energy is how you ‘lifemax.’

I’ve lived in Dubai and tried living a lavish lifestyle for YouTube.

I’ve done the whole ‘grind out a business —> work 80 hours a week —> try and sell that business —> roll that money into a NEW business —> work even MORE —> Don’t forget NETWORKING HAHAHA —> Did you buy a Rolex yet bro? —> I LOVE LINKEDIN SHIT POSTING —> AHHHRHRHGHGHGHHFH

All of this made me stressed and miserable. I ended up making worse decisions too because I couldn’t think straight anymore.

Alternatively, you can build a more ‘boring’ life that focuses on maintaining a flexible schedule, limited meetings, meaningful relationships, and more freedom over your time and creative pursuits.

This is why I’m such a fan of Coast FIRE and living in cheap places.

You can skip chasing status symbols that don’t have any impact on your happiness. Simplify your life. Unlock freedom and control over chasing a shiny business model you see online. Chances are, you’ll need a way lower annual income to do this and you’ll be happier, so this path is both easier and more fun 😉

This isn’t to say you can’t set ambitious goals. Just be careful for what you’re optimizing for.

6. Change Your Environment If You Need To

Sometimes feeling behind has less to do with you and more to do with your environment.

Certain places, routines, and social circles slowly drain people without them realizing. But you actually feel the drain physically after enough time passes, and your ideas lose their sharpness.

Every day beings looking the same. Your conversations are repetitive, you stop meeting new people, and bit by bit, your worldview and sense of adventure shrink.

A simple change in scenery can be surprisingly powerful here. And even though I’m basically a full-time nomad now, I’m not saying you have to move to the other side of the world.

Sometimes it’s as simple as:

• Working from a new coffee shop

• Joining a gym

• Spending more time outside

• Traveling somewhere unfamiliar, even a couple hours away

• Rearranging your apartment

• Driving a new way home

Humans adapt very quickly to stagnant environments. Novelty wakes the brain back up.

7. Don’t Quit The Comparison Game…Reframe It Instead

When people say “comparison is the thief of joy” I think they’re right.

But I disagree with people who say you shouldn’t play the comparison game whatsoever.

The comparison game is hardwired into our DNA. It’s human nature to compare everything around us to other stimuli and to ourselves. This could be for threat detection, to determine status, or just because our brains can’t help but pick winner and losers. Whatever the case, don’t feel bad for comparing your current life to what you see around you because this is totally normal.

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Where we’ve lost the plot is comparing ourselves to curated depictions we see on social media that, of course, make us feel bad about ourselves.

I used to do this all the time when I looked at bloggers and YouTubers (two of my main businesses) who were all making way more money than me. I would feel so behind and like I didn’t have the knowledge to succeed or keep my businesses running profitably.

Eventually, I realized that comparing my businesses and life to theirs was useful, but only in terms of reverse engineering some of the things they had that I wanted.

I learned to separate the fancy cars, watches, and social media flexing that was going on from the actual business models. The meat and potatoes of the whole thing.

I focused on tactics they were using to scale their traffic, which offers they were monetizing, how they built out funnels, and other stuff that actually mattered.

In other words, when you play the comparison game with people who make you feel behind, try to take a step back and view things more tactically. You can learn heaps from people who are ahead of you. It doesn’t detract from your position in life, and it can even inspire you to chase after some bigger fish in the pond.

On the flip side, you can also play the comparison game with the person you were a few years ago, or even a couple of months ago.

We forget to do this too often. But when you feel behind and lost, ask yourself: what would the teenage version of yourself say about your life right now? Or the person you were a couple of years ago?

Maybe they’d be pretty damn impressed. And, maybe, you can cut yourself a little slack as you keep marching onwards.

Extra Reading - How To Actually Change Your Life With A One-Person Business.

Final Thoughts

Feeling behind in life is an almost universal experience now. Modern culture monetizes insecurity extremely well.

But there will always be someone out there seemingly more successful, attractive, funnier, further ahead, whatever than you.

You cannot win this kind of comparison game in the long run. It’s also the wrong game to play.

Instead, focus on taking slow, consistent steps that are small wins. Compound those small wins into larger ones. Learn that you have autonomy over your destiny, and this life is what you make of it. Optimize for freedom and peace over status and the rat race. Give yourself a bit of grace, but don’t mistake this for a blank check to stop chasing your dreams.

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When I look back on even the last few years, it’s crazy how much your life can change if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Sure, you’ll slip and backslide at times. Sometimes pretty far back, too.

But consistent optimism and action leads us to the right place for us. It’s not always easy, but it’s possible, and you’re in the driver’s seat after all! Take the wheel and go where you want to go. Even if there’s some detours along the way, you’ll have a way better time if you’re the one driving!

Thanks for reading all. Back to writing on Substack, feeling good!

Catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 The 4 Automations That Make Me Money While I Sleep.

👉 The Writing Rules That Made Me $1,000,000+ Online

There’s a version of your life that only exists if you say yes.

But this version takes risk. It takes action.

It’s the version that sends that email, books that one-way flight, and that quits the thing that slowly drains the color and life out of everything around you.

The funny thing is that you can probably picture this version of you in your mind’s eye with crystal clarity, almost as if you’ve met before.

You know how you’ll feel, how you’ll move, how your morning routine will look like…

Yet despite this clarity, nothing changes.

Stagnation and complacency set in instead. But this is a quiet tax we pay for the life we’re not living.

This tax builds slowly, too.

It begins with a little less curiosity. A little less fire behind your eyes. A little more ‘maybe next year’ or ‘I’ll get to it when I have time.’

Our brains are excellent at disguising this tax as sensibility. We should do what’s expected of us. We should stay in our lane. We should play it safe because risk is scary.

This formula is how years pass without anything meaningful happening. It’s how people start living like NPCs.

But over time, this quiet tax we pay creates a distance between who we are and who we felt we could become.

This is the opportunity cost of not following your dreams.

It’s the late, sleepless nights you spend asking yourself “I wonder what would have happened if…”

It’s the sinking feeling you have knowing that you traded a future version of yourself for safety, and that you never risked enough to find out what could have been.

It’s also the devaluing of your instincts.

You knew what you wanted out of this life. But you ignored the voice inside of your head until it stopped speaking to you entirely, because speaking with you became a waste of time.

Now here’s the thing…

This quiet tax, this opportunity cost, it’s a slow poison. It only kills you once you’re out of time and out of options.

The antidote?

Taking action.

Listening to the gut feeling you have, taking risks you know you should take, and moving with purpose instead of letting life pass you by.

The question isn’t whether your dreams will work out. It’s whether you’re willing to pay the price of ignoring them or not.

Either way, you’re paying something. Just in different currencies. So you might as well take a shot and make it count.

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How To Take Meaningful, Sustained Action When Paralyzed By Choices

I realize this is a different style of post than what I usual write on WiFi Wealth.

I also dislike posts that ramble about dreams, what-ifs, passion and all that without giving actionable steps to get there.

SO, here are some realistic steps you can take to start improving your life and to work towards those dreams of yours:

1: Learn Basic Financial Literacy: Income and savings unlock freedom while debt destroys it. Learn basic financial literacy like how to budget, how to build up an emergency fund, and how simple dollar-cost averaging works for investing. Ignore shiny objects and what people on WallStreetBets do. Read voraciously about financial independence, how to retire well, Coast FIRE, and other lines of thinking. You can watch 10 minutes a day of YouTube lessons from people like The Plain Bagel, Dave Ramsey, Graham Stephan, and many others. Alternatively, ask ChatGPT to start teaching you (it breaks down things remarkably well and is quite organized…I’m learning Dutch currently with AI and it’s awesome.)

2: Spend 15 Minutes Per Day Learning AI Skills: I miss the pre-AI world like many people. But AI is here, it’s disruptive, and it’s a costly skill to ignore. The difference between understanding how some money-making AI tools work and never touching them is also massive. You’ll legitimately make yourself more valuable and efficient if you spend just 15 minutes per day for a couple of weeks trying out some tools. Learn to automate something for your day job too. You’ll be miles ahead of your colleagues and you can probably work fewer hours moving forwards. Or, try vibe coding an idea you had. Even if it fails, the education is immensely valuable.

3: Stop Overconsuming: Most phones let you set app-usage limits. Block yourself from social media and other crappy apps, or limit yourself to 10 minutes per day. If you have apps like DoorDash/Uber Eats, gambling apps, or other stupid shit on your phone, delete them too. You can try a no-spend challenge and see how many days you can go in a row without spending a penny. This will actually force you to clear out your pantry and kitchen. It’s honestly amazing just how much stuff many of us have laying around that we never use.

4: Build Up Positive Momentum: People give up because they go into something saying “I want to build a six-figure business” or “I want to become super fit” but are starting from zero. Start out smaller and more humbly. Try working on your new one-person business idea for 30 minutes before work and 30 minutes before bed, but do this for 30 days in a row. Same for fitness. There’s no use in killing yourself over a 2 hour workout if it’s the only movement you have that week. Consistent, small wins are what matter, so plan your schedule around them. If you can’t stick to something for a week, you won’t form the habit.

5: Change Your Environment: When you lack motivation, an environment change is one of the fastest ways to get out of a rut. You don’t have to fly to Bali either. Take your laptop, buy a $4 coffee at a nice cafe, and sit there for a couple of hours and work. Or do this at the park, the library, or somewhere that isn’t home. Some of the most productive work I’ve done for my businesses have been in cafes, or in countries where I don’t know a single person.

6: Make Your First Dollar Of Side Hustle Income: Something genuinely snaps in your brain when you make your first dollar of non-employment income. I swear, the happiest I’ve been is when my blog made like, $3.47 in its first month back in 2018 (my mom bought something through my Amazon affiliate link lol. MVP mom!) But seriously, this teaches you that you can create new income streams and that your boss doesn’t control your peace and destiny. And in some cases, side hustling can turn into a full-time business or change your life. This is how I made $1M+ in my twenties, and if I can do it, you can too. I also have a guide on how to make $1,000/month through side hustling that has some super beginner-friendly options to try.

7: Start A New Hobby: This is about pattern disruption. NPCs live the same day, weeks, and months over and over again until they die. Imagine, then, what happens to your brain and chemistry when you end up at a beginner kickboxing class on a Wednesday evening after work, or a language exchange meetup. You will legitimately feel alive again if you’ve been in a slump. I’ve started boxing recently here in Cape Town, and every other aspect of my life (work, energy, relationships, mood) has improved. If you can’t afford a new hobby, this is very understandable, so I’d encourage free activities like hiking groups, running groups, etc.

8: Talk About The Future With Someone You Respect: This step is critical for building dreams and keeping them alive. Talk is cheap honestly, but it also lets us paint a picture of what we want and what we think is possible for the future. If you have a partner, spend time talking about your individual and shared dreams. You should still enjoy the present. But there’s value is dreaming about the kind of lifestyle you want to live, how you want your mornings to look, what your family might become, and what you ultimately want out of the years you have. If you’re single, perhaps you can talk about similar things with a friend or family member you respect.

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Overall, it probably takes an hour a day or a couple hours per week to put a lot of these steps into action.

But if you’re trying to build a life of your dreams, it all starts with saying yes and making decisions. We’re all in the driver’s seat after all, so set your sights on where you want to go and floor it.

Extra Reading - How To Build Financial Freedom With A One-Person Business.

What’s Next?

I’ve been a bit absent from Substack the last month or two. I’m very happy to be back and have a lot I want to write about.

Some of this content will be different than my regular tutorials or guides. But more guides and how-to resources are coming as well.

Aside from that, it’s life as usual.

I’m still in Cape Town, I’m still hiking, and I’m still building new online businesses and money-making funnels. I’m not sure where I’ll be later this year or next year exactly, but the number of open doors is exciting.

If you’ve been in a rut, I hope this post is helpful. And if you have ideas you’d like to add, feel free to comment as well.

Happy to be back. Thanks for reading and for your support as always.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Want More Useful Guides? Checkout:

👉 The 4 Automations That Make Me Money While I Sleep.

👉 I Spent 7 Years Chasing Passive Income…Here’s What I Learned.

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What would an extra $1,000 in your wallet do for you each month?

This is the kind of income that can pay down bills, help wipe out debt, and make a massive difference for someone’s finances.

Today, I’m sharing 6 actionable steps to earning this kind of monthly income.

I can’t promise results; anyone who does has an expensive course to sell you. But I can share realistic ideas that have worked for me over the 8 years I’ve been testing side hustles and documenting my progress.

PLUS some of these ideas are ones you can try in the next 5 minutes. Let’s get to it 👇

😎 Want to land a remote job that gives you freedom over your time and location?

Then I suggest checking out FlexJobs.

This premium job board is one of the leading places to find remote positions, freelancing roles, and flexible working arrangements. Jobs are hand-picked so there’s no AI slop, and you get salary/pay information as well.

I’ve worked online since 2019, and the freedom you get versus sitting in a cubicle all day is game-changing. Hopefully, you can find a remote position with FlexJobs as well and work from wherever you want in the world.

Step 1. Claim EASY Online Freebies

This isn’t the kind of money that replaces your day job. However, it gets the ball rolling. And if you’ve never made a dollar online, this is the fastest way to change that and to open your eyes to what’s possible.

1. Use GPT Websites

GPT websites, or get-paid-to websites, pay you for completing simple online tasks. Think answering surveys, downloading mobile games, watching videos, and even clicking on search results.

NOW most GPT offers don’t pay more than $1-$3 per hour. Trust me, I’ve tested over 100 of these sites since 2017.

However, these days certain GPT companies have pretty lucrative sign-up bonus offers. When used correctly, you can potentially earn $50 to $300 in an afternoon of work.

The three main GPT platforms I suggest using include:

➡️ Scrambly (US): Has excellent FinTech and gaming offers.

➡️ Gemsloot (Global): Also has excellent sign-up bonuses and nice freebie offers.

➡️ Freecash (Global): This is the largest GPT site in the world.

Here’s an example of this in action.

💸 Take a look at this Chime banking offer from Gemsloot. It pays you $350 for opening up a free Chime checking account and then moving your direct deposit over to it.

This is a 100% free offer. It exists because Chime is on a massive spending spree and is willing to pay $400 or whatever to acquire a customer. Gemsloot facilitates this transaction and passes the bulk of the earnings on to you.

You can find all kinds of FinTech offers like this. There’s even offers that let you earn by signing up for free trials, shopping for products you were going to buy anyways, or doing things like ordering Uber Eats.

I use plenty of these platforms and cherry-pick the best offers every single month.

👉 Here’s some proof: You can see I have $1,079 in lifetime Scrambly earnings, and 53 withdrawals.

And here’s $521.91 in earnings from Gemsloot:

Again, these platforms won’t make anyone rich. Most people use them incorrectly as well, grinding out surveys or low-paying offers for a couple bucks a week.

Use the large sign-up bonus offers to your advantage. There are so many churning and freebie-opportunities up for grabs if you look in the right spots. Just note that offer availability is subject to change and varies by country oftentimes.

💎 PRO TIP: I’ve made a tool called Hustle Buddy which consolidates the best ‘arbitrage opportunities’ in the GPT space. This is updated weekly, so you can find the best offers without doing all the research yourself.

2. Try Paid Market Research Work

Researchers are willing to pay to talk to people. Especially if you have niche knowledge from your job, certain medical conditions, or use particular products.

I use User Interviews to find these opportunities. It’s free to join, and as a member, you can browse open focus group requests and apply to ones that are a good fit.

Here’s some more proof this works 👉 I’ve earned about $500 from User Interviews so far:

This isn’t life-changing money. But I’ll happily take $50 to $80 for hopping on a 30-60 minute Zoom call to chat with someone and share my thoughts. Studies can also be quite lucrative. Like the $200, 45-minute study I took a few months back talking about AI.

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Just note it takes a while to get accepted into a study. I average about one study every 2-3 months right now, but again, it’s easy money.

3. Complete Simple Online Gigs

There’s many other ways to earn $10 to $25 per hour online if you’re willing to grind out fairly repetitive work. This is the world of microtasks. Think data entry, AI prompt training, fact-checking, image annotation, and similar gigs.

Historically, platforms like Amazon MTurk, Appen, and Clickworker dominated this space. They still do, although the hourly pay is quite abysmal here.

Instead of using these sites, I suggest trying AI-training jobs from companies like Micro1 or Stellar AI.

These gigs involve rating prompt responses and helping to train future AI models. You have to apply as a ‘human expert’ and get approved, which takes a brief interview. But once you’re approved, you can work on paid projects and generally earn around $15 to $20 per hour.

I got approved for Micro1 recently. It has hundreds of AI training jobs, and some of the more specialized ones pay $50+ per hour.

This is a newer side hustle I’m testing to be fully transparent. But AI has so much funding currently, so these AI-training companies have sprung up like weeds and are on a hiring spree.

Step 2. Set Up Automated Financial Wins

The idea here is to optimize what you already have and what income is coming in. This should take 30-60 minutes of focus one afternoon. Think of it as some financial housekeeping.

Some automated wins you can start today include:

➡️ Setting up automatic deposits from your paycheck into your savings account so you ensure you’re putting money aside each month (and not overspending.)

➡️ Researching the top high-yield savings rates on the market and moving your savings there. If you can stack this idea with a GPT sign-up bonus or bank deposit bonus, even better.

➡️ Setting up automatic monthly deposits into your investment account. Even if it’s $50, this builds the right habit and lets you benefit from time + compound interest.

➡️ Earning cashback automatically when you shop. If you’re responsible, you should use a rewards credit card so you earn cashback automatically. I also use Coupert and Rakuten when I shop online to earn additional cashback.

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Again, you can set up all of these automations in an hour. They help prevent overspending and ensure your money lands where it’s supposed to.

💸 Pro Tip: Check out these 4 money-making automations I use every month.

Step 3. Play Some Financial Defense

Like setting up simple automations, playing financial defense goes a long way in improving your bank balance. A penny saved is a penny earned, as they say!

Here are some simple ideas you can implement quickly:

➡️ Look through the last few months of bank statements for any weird charges. I’ve caught issues before, called my bank, and saved $20 to $200+ on charges I shouldn’t have paid for. This is one habit you should do monthly at a minimum, honestly.

➡️ Cancel subscriptions you don’t need. Again, you’ll spot these recurring charges on your bank statements. Trim ruthlessly here.

➡️ Call your insurance providers annually and shop around for cheaper coverage. Or, update your insurance providers of any changes that justifies lower premiums. Even small wins add up; I put my car into ‘storage’ when I leave the country as a nomad and told my insurance company to lower my estimated annual mileage from 20,000km to 5,000km. My monthly premiums dropped massively.

➡️ Renegotiate phone & internet bills. Just like insurance plans, shop around for more affordable coverage. You can even call, complain, and say you’re thinking of changing to a competitor. You’ll probably get something if you haven’t changed plans in a while.

Step 4: Make Money With Gig Work

Turning to the gig economy is another reliable hustle you can use on your path to an extra $1,000 per month. I’ve done this periodically since college. From shoveling snow via Craigslist cash gigs to completing mystery shopping work. Not glamorous, but easy to do.

There’s tons of gig apps out there you can apply to, including:

• Uber Eats & DoorDash (food delivery)

• Instacart and Shipt (grocery delivery)

• Rover (walking dogs and pet sitting)

• Taskrabbit (furniture assembly, errand running, cleaning tech help, etc.)

• Dolly and Lugg (help people move)

• Sharetown (pick up bulky return items and resell them on Facebook Marketplace, super cool gig)

• Lawn Love (landscaping and lawn care)

• Field Agent and Premise (mystery shopping)

• Care.com (caretaking work)

• Amazon Flex and GoShare (package delivery)

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In many markets, these gigs pay about $12 to $20 per hour. But you have to work smart, and track expenses like fuel and vehicle depreciation.

OR do what my buddy does. He delivers for Uber Eats and DoorDash on his bike in downtown Toronto. He only works during dinner shifts with peak pricing, and he earns about $15 to $20 per hour with tips, gets exercise, and doesn’t spend money on gas.

Niche gig apps also tend to pay more. For example, gigs like Sharetown let you start a flipping business where you resell bulky items like sofas and gym equipment. It’s more work, but the payouts are higher.

Step 5. Make Money Freelancing

Online freelancing is another path you can consider. This is how I scaled my income out of college, eventually quitting my job to move to Colombia and then travel around the world:

Getting started here can be a grind. That’s why I recommend completing the earlier steps first so you get some quick wins.

Don’t waste time with Fiverr or Upwork either. Those platforms are so saturated and are a race-to-the-bottom in terms of pricing and quality. Instead, here’s where I recommend finding work:

➡️ Reddit r/forhire: Reddit has a surprising number of job boards where people look for developers, digital marketers, virtual assistants, video editors, and all kinds of specialized freelancers.

➡️ LinkedIn: I hate using LinkedIn, but honestly, it’s excellent for finding jobs and clients. This is how I’ve found some of my best freelance writing and SEO clients over the years.

➡️ FlexJobs: This is a paid remote job board I have also used to find freelance writing work. I now promote it as well because I’ve used it and feel comfortable doing so. I like FlexJobs because many listings actually have salary info, and the team does a good job at weeding out fake listings/scams.

➡️ Facebook Groups: Join Facebook groups with bloggers and online business owners. Wait for them to ask for help with your service. Then DM them, offer some free upfront value or insights, and try to land a client. This is also how I’ve found writing/marketing clients, and it’s 100% free.

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ALSO: Set up job alerts! You can do this on LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, and basically any job board these days.

Step 6. Begin Building Your Own One-Person Business

The last step, building a one-person business that lets you scale your income way beyond an extra $1,000 a month.

If you need money immediately, please don’t do this. It always irks me when people suggest YouTube, dropshipping, or some other business model to people who just need cash to pay rent tomorrow.

BUT if you’re looking to build an asset that’s sustainable and scalable, this is the step for you.

I’ve written about the best one-person business models before. Here’s some of my favorites:

➡️ Creating a paid newsletter on Substack

➡️ Making money on YouTube with talking-head channels (you can see my $250,000+ YouTube earnings framework here if you’re curious)

➡️ Creating niche pages on social media for affiliate marketing purposes

➡️ Selling simple digital products (i.e. printables, templates, mini-courses)

➡️ Starting an Etsy print on demand business

Again, don’t expect results overnight here. Anyone promising this is easy and instant is likely pushing a course. But once you have your financial bases covered, I’d take a swing at starting a business.

This is how I ended up making $1M+ in my twenties and became financially free. I legitimately kept testing side hustles, found an idea that was scalable, and stuck with it from 2018 to 2024.

That first year, I made $1,700 with my one-person business. In its last year, I made $500,000 and then sold the business.

This is a slow game for most people. But it’s certainly a game worth playing.

Extra Reading: 20+ AI Tools That Actually Make Money.

Next Steps

I’ve been writing about side hustles and making money online since 2018. In that time, I’ve tested hundreds of ideas.

This has included plenty of wacky tests as well…I mean, I even ran a phone farm in my college dorm room:

Along the way, I’ve had tons of side hustle failures. I’ve been scammed. I’ve lost money. I’ve also been told I’m wasting my time and that the ideas I’m trying don’t work.

Oftentimes, these detractors are right. But you know what, when they’re wrong, they’re massively wrong and are the ones truly missing out.

The world is full of incredible opportunities. And consistent effort is the single greatest factor in determining if you get a slice of the pie. If you can commit to a goal and pursue it relentlessly, even when it gets difficult, you will accomplish that goal eventually.

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Now, that’s not to say you should proceed with blind confidence. Be weary of promises that are too good to be true. Take my content with a grain of salt also; I share what works for me with my personal proof. But I can’t guarantee results, and your mileage may vary based on where you live and the skills you have as well.

At the end of the day, I know a lot of people are tapped out financially right now. It’s been a tricky few years. So I hope some of these ideas provide a realistic, actionable path to making more money each month. Even starting small is a start in the right direction. And you might be surprised at how some of these hustles work out for you once you give them a try.

Thank you for reading and for your support as always. I’ll catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Note: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up with these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my writing.

Starting a one-person business model can unlock financial freedom and change your entire life.

Seriously.

This is exactly what I did to gain financial independence in my twenties.

The best part?

These are business models that don’t rely on the mercy of an employer to get paid. Your income potential isn’t capped by arbitrary ceilings. And when done right, all of the profits funnel straight to your bank account.

Today, I’m covering 5 one-person business ideas that follow this high-margin rocket framework.

This includes real-world examples of people pulling this off, plus steps for how you can start too.

Make 2026 the year you take a risk. Let’s get to it! 👇👇

💵 Want to launch your next business idea? It’s time to take action.

Lovable is the best tool for the job. You can build entire websites and mobile apps in minutes with simple prompting.

This is my vibe-coding tool of choice I’ve used to build profitable websites in the course of a weekend. It’s honestly insane how quickly you can create and go-live with this thing.

Turn your idea into reality and launch fast. Get started with Lovable to take action.

The High-Margin Rocket Model, Explained

I wrote about the high-margin rocket model in my original post on becoming stupidly rich with a one-person business. But I want to expand on the framework here.

The high-margin rocket model involves leveraging algorithmic traffic to obtain free customers. This model is all about exploiting loopholes and best-practices on certain algorithm-driven platforms, getting outsized attention and conversions without having to spend money on marketing.

This model is exactly how I made $1M+ in my twenties with my content businesses.

At the time, I exploited long-tail keyword blogging in the personal finance niche. I drove millions of visitors to my content sites, earning over a million dollars before I sold that business. You can check out the above story for some receipts and a deeper look.

However, this high-margin rocket model is possible on other platforms too: YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and even Substack itself.

The key is exploiting algorithms to drive attention to your business. What that business sells and actually delivers is what I’m covering below.

The Pros of High-Margin Rocket Businesses:

✅ You can often operate at 90% or higher margins

✅ These businesses have low start-up costs

✅ A few months of ‘winning’ can genuinely gain your financial freedom and set you up for Coast FIRE

The Cons of High-Margin Rocket Businesses:

❌ These businesses often burn out after a period of free traffic (hence the rocket analogy)

❌ These business have hard income ceilings unless you diversify with paid traffic

❌ It’s a feast-or-famine world; you earn nothing, or you earn everything

If you’re trying to build a business that lasts for 5-10+ years, hires employees, and scales as an enterprise, this model probably isn’t for you.

BUT if you’re looking for low-investment ideas that have the potential to transform your finances and obtain freedom, this is the path I suggest trying first. ESPECIALLY if you’re new to online business and don’t want to invest money into paid acquisition right now.

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With that in mind, here are some of my favorite high-margin rocket business ideas that you can consider, plus real world examples of people pulling this off 👇

1. AI-Powered YouTube Channels

YouTube is one of my favorite platforms for turning free algorithmic-driven traffic into customers, email subscribers, and revenue.

I’ve shared how I made $250,000+ in YouTube revenue before. Here’s that story if you’re curious and want to copy my steps:

But let me provide a bit more context.

I started on YouTube in 2020. I had zero experience with video editing and filming. And I started with a budget setup of about $500 (here’s my current gear if you’re curious.)

Regardless, the 8th video I ever published struck a chord.

💸 The video went semi-viral and has since gained 627,000+ views. This video also generated 10,500+ subscribers, helped me get monetized in a few months, and earned over $7,939 in Adsense revenue:

This is all it took to establish my YouTube business. 8 videos, 8 chances at bat.

Since then, my main channel has earned $150,000+ in Adsense revenue and another $100,000+ through affiliate deals and brand sponsorships. But the momentum was largely driven by one algorithmic win.

The video’s traffic didn’t last. I didn’t become YouTube famous. And 627,000 views is peanuts in comparison to most viral videos.

STILL, this video changed my life and my financial future.

The best part?

You can now use a variety of AI money-making tools to create the same kind of content. YouTube is way easier than it’s ever been, and if you can create content that adds value to people’s lives, it’s only a matter of time before you win.

I suggest reading my money-making YouTube framework if you haven’t yet. It outlines how I create my content plus the AI-powered workflow I use to keep costs down while pumping out great videos.

💵 You can also get my YouTube Freedom Blueprint here to learn how to scale your own profitable channel and to access my new Skool Community for ongoing support and YouTube secrets.

2. Vibe-Coded Products

I’ve also written about how to make money vibe-coding, and honestly, this is another pathway to establishing a high-margin rocket business as a solopreneur.

A couple years ago, you’d need coding knowledge or a decent budget and team to bring products like SaaS companies and mobile apps to market.

Nowadays?

You can use vibe-coding tools like Lovable to build entire websites, apps, and SaaS tools from scratch with basic prompting.

I’ve done this recently and have built two different monetized web-apps/platforms for my affiliate marketing businesses. I built them with Lovable, and it took me a weekend to get them up and running and to start funneling traffic.

But the point stands: you can bring ideas to market incredibly quickly thanks to the rise of vibe-coding solutions.

Now, vibe-coding alone doesn’t ignite a business. You still need fuel to power traffic, otherwise you’re just building shiny toys.

This is where platforms like X, Reddit, and YouTube are once again immensely powerful.

There are many success stories of people vibe-coding products that solve pain points they find in the market. They share these stores on platforms like Reddit, YouTube, and X, and this is how they obtain their first customers. Then, they leverage this initial win into posting more content under the guise of ‘building in public’, which is really just a cheat-code to going viral on social media.

Just take a look at coders like Connor Burd.

He’s vibe-coded his way to over $1M in revenue across several apps. He’s now been featured on channels like Starter Story and gone viral on X plenty of times, once again under the ‘building in public’ angle.

This is where the algorithmic win comes in…You vibe-code a monetized asset, and then you leverage X and Reddit to get your customers.

👆 This single X post got over 63,000 views by the way. Connor has many more at 1M+ in reach. Think about how many customers this drives to his SaaS products and apps!

🤖 Start vibe-coding with Lovable today!

3. Print On Demand Businesses

Let me start out by saying that print on demand is difficult. Many niches are saturated, and it’s a grind getting your first sales.

That said, nothing worth doing comes easy, right?!

The idea here is to create print on demand designs for trending niches and then list your products for sale on marketplaces like Etsy.

I’ve done this in the past, and I enjoy using Etsy because once again, you get free organic traffic from its marketplace as long as you create enough quality listings and do some basic Etsy-SEO.

Thanks to AI, it’s also super easy to find profitable Etsy niches/sellers and then copy their most successful designs to sell on your own store.

Here’s an example: take a look at this Etsy shop which sells vintage Marlboro posters:

This seller has been operating for 9 months and has 3,100+ sales. This means they’ve earned over $35,000 in revenue if I had to guess, and I’d bet every penny I have that these are AI designs.

This is also one shop and nine months. Picture getting a few of these shops up and running…

Oh yeah, you can. And this is one side hustle I’m going to expand into when I have more time.

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The workflow is incredibly simple. You use AI tools like Skywork to create these exact same designs, upload them to print on demand providers like Printify or Gelato, list your products on Etsy, and you’re off to the races.

For example, here’s my own Marlboro Man Poster I made using Skywork’s AI Poster creation feature 👇

This took 30 seconds, and this design is ready for sale on Etsy.

Is this ethical? Are we flooding Etsy with AI-generated slop?

Well, 3,100 sales in nine months would say otherwise. People want to purchase this stuff. And I don’t see anything wrong with spying on successful Etsy sellers and leveraging AI to make similar designs. It’s a free market out there, after all.

If you try out this idea, my suggestion is to stack Skywork with Gelato. Again, I’m going to launch a series of shops this year for a test. I’ll update you here on Substack how this experiment goes.

RELATED: How To Actually Market Your One-Person Business.

4. Building Hyper-Local Newsletters

I love Substack for many reasons. But I want to highlight a different newsletter model that’s a better fit for this high-margin rocket framework.

The idea: Building hyper-local newsletters for small towns. Build an audience with organic social media marketing (and some Facebook Ads) until you reach enough mass to sell sponsorships/advertorial slots to local businesses.

This is the playbook Ryan Sneddon used to build NapTown Scoop, a successful newsletter covering local news in Annapolis, Maryland.

NapTown Scoop does over $320,000 per year. It’s a solo-business that’s run with basic freelance help.

What’s amazing is that Annapolis has a population of about 40,000 people…NapTown Scoop reportedly has 20,000+ subscribers…

Once Ryan hit a few thousand subscribers, word of mouth became the ‘hack’ that got him so many free subscribers. After all, if you live in Annapolis and you’re not following NapTown Scoop, what are you even doing?

In a couple of years, Ryan turned this newsletter into the go-to source for news and events in this small town. You can apply this model to your own town, grind out some followers, and invest in Facebook Ads to get the machine rolling.

Extra Reading - These 4 Automations Make Me Money While I Sleep.

5. TikTok Shopping Affiliate Marketing

TikTok is being flooded with AI-generated UGC content right now that promotes TikTok Shopping affiliate offers.

This is the high-margin rocket model at its core.

Shit-posting on TikTok is an excellent way to get accounts banned. This isn’t the kind of business that scales into a massive affiliate agency for 99% of people either.

But if some of your videos hit, your reward is free affiliate income. And the people I know in this space who are talented are making obscene amounts of money right now.

This video does a good job at breaking down the AI workflow to producing said ‘slop’ 👇

I like this particular hustle because you can test affiliate offers quickly; these AI workflows pump out dozens of videos and marketing hooks, so you can discover what resonates with an audience quickly.

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It’s also 100% organic-friendly. You likely have to invest in buying several TikTok accounts that are eligible for TikTok Shopping. But aside from buying some accounts and AI-usage credits, it’s pretty low-risk to try.

Extra Reading ➡️ I Spent 7 Years Chasing Passive Income…Here’s The Ugly Truth.

Reframing Luck - How To Earn More Chances At Bat

If there’s one takeaway from these high-margin rocket businesses, it’s this: we can engineer luck to get more chances at bat.

What do I mean by this?

The beauty of these business models is that when they hit, your financial future transforms. And because these businesses have low startup costs and can also be tested quickly, you can brute force more chances at bat to strike it big.

I built my first affiliate website in 2017. It was about headphones and speakers, and it was terrible. But my next website was more successful, scaling past $1M in revenue over the next few years before I sold it.

In the process of testing 100+ side hustles since college, I’ve seen this dynamic play out time and time again. Both personally and for others I’ve seen find success.

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You never know how a side hustle idea will turn out until you try. But unlike delivering food for DoorDash, certain hustles have insane scaling potential and can genuinely change your life.

It’s also funny: I get criticism all the time for covering these models.

“X idea won’t work”… “Y idea will get you banned!”…"Z idea isn’t fair or ethical!”

These are pessimists who are often right, kinda. But wouldn’t you rather be an immense optimist who’s right when it actually counts?

Take the risk, start the business, and grab life by the horns. You can do anything you put your mind to, and one simple idea might lead you down a new path that changes your entire future for the better.

Enjoy the weekend everyone. I’m off for some more hiking.

Catch you in the next one,

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Want to take your online business to the next level? 👉 Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to grow your audience and scale income.

Note: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up with these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my writing.

Most one-person businesses don’t have an income problem…

They have a leakage problem.

Money leaks through unclear systems, underpriced offers, missed deals, and unnecessary complexity. Fix these issues, and income often rises without adding a single new customer or dramatically changing your business.

In this post, I’m sharing 10 actionable ways to increase revenue, save time, and reduce operating costs for your solo operation.

These ideas are boring, but they certainly help increase your margins and begin scaling.

💵 Want to take your content marketing and business workflows to the next level? Then i10X is absolutely for you.

i10X is an AI workspace that I’ve been using to power my content creation, marketing efforts, and workflow automations.

It’s like taking ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and other leading AI tools and packing them into a single workspace. And for only $8 per month, it’s way cheaper than paying for a bunch of AI tools independently.

Break up with ChatGPT and use a more powerful model. PLUS use the code ‘Tomk15’ to get 15% off your plan.

Start scaling smarter 👉 Get started with i10X today!

1. Implement AI Tools That Save Time / Lower Operating Costs

I just wrote a post about the best AI tools to make money, and I suggest giving this a read.

One of the highest-leverage activities you can do as a one-person operator is to buy back more of your time. Figuring out ways to lower operating costs also instantly increases your margins.

This is where AI tools are immensely powerful. And if there’s any task you find yourself repetitively doing, it’s time to begin working with AI instead.

Here are just a few quick examples of tools I’m incorporating:

• Otter AI: Automatically transcribe meeting notes and summarize meetings.

• Gling AI: Take raw footage and automatically create talking-head videos for social media and YouTube.

• Opus Clips: Transform long-form content into short-form clips.

• PopAI: Create presentations, pitch decks, and research summaries in seconds by using AI.

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These few tools alone save me hours of time each week. And I save several thousand dollars per month in human editing time alone with Gling and Opus Clips.

I also use several custom GPTs to handle weekly tasks like creating YouTube scripts, doing competitor research, organizing affiliate/revenue data, and coming up with email copy.

Don’t underestimate custom GPTs! I know so many people who create a unique ChatGPT request to do the exact same task every single time they need to do that task.

It might sound inconsequential, but why waste minutes prompting the same thing every week?

2. Incorporate Your Business & Lower Your Tax Burden

Another massive lift you can achieve with your one-person business is to incorporate your business if you haven’t yet.

Many side hustlers and solo-operators never do this. Or, perhaps they operate as an LLC for years.

This is totally fine. But once revenue starts scaling, you owe it to yourself to lower your tax burden as much as possible.

This is what I did along the way to making $1M+ with my content businesses, and let me tell you, the tax savings were certainly worth it. Plus, incorporating often allows for smarter business expense deductions and lets you get creative with how you pay yourself (and what kind of income you’re earning.) There are significant liability-protection benefits as well.

I ended up paying a Canadian lawyer to handle the incorporation of my two different businesses. Some friends of mine have done similar things and opened businesses in Dubai and Puerto Rico for tax purposes.

Honestly, it sucks upfront to pay for this, and the process can be a bit of headache. But run some calculations to see your potential tax savings as a corporation versus an individual or sole-proprietor.

💸 PRO TIP: Get started with Lettuce.co to set up your business as an S Corp and find massive tax savings!

This automated tax and accounting system is designed to help solo-operators save money and time so they can focus on growing their business.

3. Prioritize Cash Collection (Seriously)

Another unsexy upgrade but one that a shocking number of one-person business owners neglect: collecting cash.

It blows my mind how many teams and entrepreneurs let missing cash slip through the cracks.

Most of this ties back to weak/non-existent accounting and bookkeeping practices. But how foolish does that sound, letting thousands of dollars go unaccounted for because of neglect?

My advice 👉 open a separate business bank account pronto if you haven’t.

Personally, I use a Wise account for my businesses. It’s free and supports multiple currencies, which I need for my US clients and to live my digital nomad lifestyle. You can find the right account that’s available in your country, but make sure it’s a separate one to your personal bank account!

Next, invest in some basic accounting and bookkeeping software if you’re not paying someone to do this for you.

I’ve used software like Wave for years to handle invoicing, online payments, basic bookkeeping, and expense tracking.

Wave Pro starts at $19 per month and also has a free plan if you want to test it out. It’s how I send my invoices to clients and vendors, and it’s super easy to set up and use.

This is honestly a no-brainer if you don’t know how much money your business made last month and if you ever fall behind on invoices.

Pro Tip: Schedule a weekly accounting and bookkeeping session into your calendar. Make cash collection a priority because until money is in your bank account, your work isn’t finished.

👉 Get started with Wave!

4. Consider Raising Prices

Many one-person business owners are undercharging for their services.

Here are a few good questions to ask to see if you’re due for price increases:

• Has it been over 1 year since you’ve raised prices?

• Are you always fully-booked or near capacity with your business?

• Are you closing 75% or more of your leads?

• Are your prices lower than your closest competitors?

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Oftentimes, even a small price increase has no change in demand. Sometimes charging higher prices also miraculously lands you better clients who cause fewer headaches than cheaper clients; it’s funny how people’s psychology works here!

5. Leverage SOPs & Outsourcing

If you’ve done a task more than twice, document it.

Simple SOPs reduce decision fatigue and unlock outsourcing. Once something lives outside your head, a VA or contractor can handle it for a fraction of the opportunity cost of your time. Or you can give the task and detailed instructions to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude etc. and probably get some decent results with good prompting and practice.

Again, the goal here is to win back more of your time so you can focus on higher-leverage activities for your business.

Extra Reading - 9 Ways To Actually Market Your One-Person Business.

6. Actually Productize Your Service

Custom work can be lucrative.

It can also turn into a nightmare with the wrong client and drastically lower your effective hourly rate. Custom work is also harder to scale as a one-person business without excellent outsourcing and freelance help.

In contrast, productized services have much more clarity: fixed scope, fixed pricing, and clear outcomes. This reduces back-and-forth negotiations with clients, speeds up delivery, and makes selling easier.

7. Renegotiate & Cancel Subscriptions Mercilessly

I suggest doing this at least once every 6 to 12 months.

It’s amazing how much bloat some small businesses and solo-operators have in terms of SaaS subscriptions and other random services.

Run a simple subscription audit. Look through all your credit card statements over the last 12 months and:

• Cancel services you don’t use monthly

• Downgrade plans where you’re overpaying for usage

• Think critically about which outdated tools can likely be replaced by AI

• Email SaaS tools and ask them for discounts

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This last tip actually works very well, especially if you complain and say you’re going to churn because of pricing. I’ve done this recently and slashed a few hundred dollars in monthly operating costs just by sending a few emails.

This might sound inconsequential, but saving $300 per month for your business is another $3,600 in your pocket per year.

8. Reduce Customer Purchase Friction

How many clicks does your customer need to make to complete a purchase with your business? Or, how many data points does a lead need to enter to get into your CRM system?

If you make your customer jump through hoops to pull out their credit card, it’s rarely good news for sales.

You know what your best selling services/products/offers are. Make it easy for customers to find them.

If you write newsletters, pitch your offers early into the content, not at the bottom of the page. If you sell on social media, turn your link-in-bio into a one-page checkout page. Have a professional services website? Make it easy for customers to find your packages and pricing and to book you.

Ecommerce operators and affiliate marketers often obsess over conversion rate optimization (CRO.)

But a lot of one-person business owners don’t have the time or patience to think about this topic. However, reducing friction and the actual number of clicks your customer needs to make to convert is important.

9. Automate Upsells To Your Customers

Another easy revenue lift for your business: start automating upsells to your customers.

This is one of my favorite money-making automations and why I run a second newsletter with Kit, formerly ConvertKit.

With Kit, you can automatically send emails to subscribers based on their behavior. So when someone opens a specific email of mine, converts on a digital product, or clicks on an affiliate offer, I send them tailored content as a follow-up to try and upsell or cross-sell.

Subscribe now

My favorite part about this is that once you create an automation, you can let it run and do its thing. An hour of smart work can yield hundreds or thousands of additional upsells you’d otherwise miss out on.

💸 Try out Kit for free for 14 days!

10. Just…Do More?

This sounds like an obvious one, but like I’ve said before, you need to ask yourself…What would happen to your business if you 2X’d, 5X’d, 10X’d, or 100X’d your marketing output?

Asking this kind of question gets the wheels turning in your head for how to do more of what’s working. Oftentimes, you’ll find the answer leads you to more effective outsourcing, leveraging AI tools, and smarter reinvesting back into your business.

I also love this question because way too many one-person business operators are scared of marketing more.

Here’s the thing: your audience isn’t tired of you. Not if you put out decent content that adds some value to their lives. And if some of your audience does become tired of you, the extra content you’re putting out will likely replace them tenfold.

Want an awesome real-life example of this?

I suggest reading this post and this post which both interview Matt Paulson, the founder of MarketBeat.

MarketBeat is a financial media outlet that sends billions of emails per year to their list of 5+ million subscribers…

When you start reading about the stuff MarketBeat does behind the scenes, it’s actually insanely cool, especially since this is a relatively small team considering the $50M in revenue it did in 2025.

MarketBeat aggressively builds out numerous newsletters, hammers people with trigger-based emails, and has email distribution down to a science.

Here’s a quote from one of the articles I linked above that encapsulates how Paulson thinks about this business:

“Our competitors don’t understand that it’s a distribution game. They think it’s a content game, and a tools and technology game where they think if they build the best investing research tools, they’re going to get an audience, and it doesn’t work like that. Or they think they’re going to have some super unique take on the market. Sure, there are people that do that, but they also tend to cap out at a couple hundred thousand subscribers. It’s really a distribution game of who can build the biggest audience, and then from there, you can develop content and generate revenue.”

Now, Paulson is talking about a financial media outlet in this example. But this logic holds true for many industries.

If you’re posting once a day on Instagram to promote your business, there’s someone out there posting three times per day with better content than you. Over a span of 30-90 days, they’re going to run circles around you.

My takeaway here is to just experiment with doing more.

Do you send one email per week? Try sending one per day to your audience.

Post a long-form YouTube video every two weeks? What would it take for you to post a video like that every three days?

Creating these targets forces solo-operators to work smarter. It’s how you experience growing pains, learn, scale, and become better overall.

Next Steps

If you’re looking to make more money with your one-person business this year, I hope these 10 action items point you in the right direction.

Personally, I’m in a “do more of what works” phase right now with my content business. This means I’m leaning even more into AI, automations, and better outsourcing.

Perhaps you’re in the same boat. Or, perhaps you’re in a place where aggressively cutting costs and getting your books in order makes the most immediate difference to your bottom line.

The takeaway is that there’s likely things you can do today that can have an immediate impact on your business. Take some time to strategize, and then start implementing!

Thanks for reading and for your support as always.

I’ll catch you in the next one,

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. This means I receive compensation when you sign up through these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for helping to support my writing.

We’re past the phase where simply “using ChatGPT” is a competitive advantage.

The people winning right now are using AI tools that ship products faster, cut labor costs, increase conversion rates, and scale distribution. AND, they’re often operating as one-person business that run at extremely high margins.

Today, I’m sharing 20+ AI tools you can use to do the same thing.

This is going far beyond the basics; no ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini here.

Instead, these are AI tools that either:

• Help you launch products faster

• Help you turn attention into income

• Help you win back more time

• Help you boost your margins

If you’re building a one-person business, scaling a content brand, or just want to optimize your existing workflows, these are the tools that actually move the needle.

1. i10X

i10X is another powerful AI workspace I’ve started using recently. In fact, I put out a video covering how to use it and how it can make you money on my YouTube channel recently.

With i10X, you can easily replace paying for ChatGPT Plus, Claude, Gemini and a host of other AI tools.

It’s excellent for creating written content, SEO blog articles, but also graphics and videos. Plus it has a useful AI Agent marketplace that’s packed with more useful features. And it recently came out with an awesome Superagent that can run tasks for you and your business, 24/7 around the clock.

If you create content or want to streamline your business’ marketing workflows, I definitely suggest giving i10X a try.

• Main Features: AI chat; deep research; image and video generation; SEO content

• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at just $8 monthly

• Who It’s For: Entrepreneurs, solo-operators, content creators, students

👉 Get Started With i10X!

💸 NOTE: Save an additional 50% by using the code "Tom50”

2. Lovable.Dev

Lovable.dev is my favorite vibe-coding tool, and I’ve tested quite a few of them at this point.

With Lovable, you can create a ready-to-market website or app just by using text prompts. You can even build SaaS products. It’s incredibly fast, very affordable, and doesn’t require any prior coding knowledge to use.

I personally used Lovable to launch my new side hustle database, HustleBuddy. I then marketed HustleBuddy on Reddit, Skool, and to my email list and genuinely turned this idea into revenue within 48 hours. It’s insane what you can do with vibe-coding.

• Main Features: Natural language → code, mobile app generation, live previews, collaboration tools

• Pricing: Some free daily credits, Pro Plan starts at $25 per month

• Who It’s For: Solo founders, no-code builders, small agencies

👉 Get started with Lovable

3. ManyChat

You know how everyone on social media is posting content with captions that end in: “If you comment X, I’ll send you Y?”

This is the latest trend in social selling. It’s also insanely powerful since you begin interacting with customers in their DMs.

Smart creators aren’t doing this manually. Instead, they use tools like ManyChat and its AI-powered chat automation to turn Instagram, Facebook, and SMS conversations into sales funnels.

ManyChat is also rolling out its AI chatbot which lets you sell more naturally to inbox replies and comments.

• Main Features: AI chat flows, lead capture, ecommerce integrations, broadcasts

• Pricing: Free plan available; Pro plan starts at $15 monthly

• Who It’s For: Creators, ecommerce brands, coaches

👉 Get started with ManyChat

4. Riverside

Riverside is an all-in-one content creation platform that I’ve switched to recently to power my numerous content businesses. And honestly, it’s awesome.

For one, Riverside has an excellent clipping feature called Magic Clips that helps you turn long-form content into viral-worthy shorts.

It also lets you host webinars, podcasts, and record high-quality content in 4K. If you do any kind of recording at all, Riverside is what I suggest you use.

• Main Features: Magic Clips, podcast recording, webinar hosting

• Pricing: Free plan available; Pro plan starts at $15 monthly

• Who It’s For: YouTubers, podcast hosts, and anyone recording visual content

👉 Get started with Riverside

⭐ Use code 'TOM20' to get a 20% discount and a 14-day free trial!

5. Venngage

If you create any kind of posters, presentations, pitch decks, or similar visual assets, I strongly recommend checking out Venngage.

This AI designer lets you create professional assets with simple prompting. And it’s actually how I’m creating my new pitch decks and media kits I share with brands who want to work with me.

I like Venngage since it’s simple to use. And the amount of time you save versus creating these designs yourself is honestly insane.

• Main Features: Create thousands of assets and designs with simple prompting

• Pricing: Free plan; Premium plan starts at only $10 per month when paid annually

• Who It’s For: Students, side hustlers, freelancers, agency owners and anyone creating presentations

👉 Get started with Venngage!

💸 NOTE: Use code TOMBLAKE50 to enjoy 50% off your annual plan for Venngage Premium or Business Plan.

6. InVideo

InVideo AI turns scripts or ideas into polished videos with AI voiceovers, visuals, and editing baked in. It dramatically lowers the cost and time barrier for video content that drives traffic and sales.

I still prefer creating talking-head content and using Gling to create my YouTube videos. But InVideo is a powerful tool for faceless creators or pumping out short-form content.

• Main Features: Text-to-video, AI scripts, stock footage, voiceovers

• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $35 monthly

• Who It’s For: YouTubers, influencers, marketers, content agencies

👉 Get started with InVideo

7. Otter AI

Otter AI records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings automatically, saving hours of manual note-taking. It’s especially powerful for sales calls, client interviews, and turning conversations into monetizable content.

• Main Features: Live transcription, AI summaries, searchable notes, speaker identification

• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at $8.33 per month with sales

• Who It’s For: Consultants, sales teams, creators, freelancers

👉 Get started with Otter AI

8. MuleRun

MuleRun is an AI agent marketplace where you can find prebuilt agents to implement for your business.

There’s a ton of variety, and you can find AI agents that handle tasks like generating social media graphics, creating UGC videos, removing watermarks, and all sorts of handy tasks.

However, MuleRun also has a Creator side where you create and sell your own automated workflows to other people. It’s one of the few platforms where AI itself can become a sellable product, and it’s free to join as a Creator.

• Main Features: AI agent marketplace, workflow automation, agent monetization

• Pricing: Free starter tier; paid plans from $15.90/month

• Who It’s For: AI builders, freelancers, solo-operators

👉 Get started with MuleRun

9. PopAi

PopAi is an AI assistant that creates presentations, documents, and research summaries. It’s ideal for turning knowledge into sellable assets like decks, reports, and info products.

If you have to make pitch decks or reports each week, give this one a try. I’m using PopAi these days for YouTube pitches to brands and affiliates I’m working with, and it saves so much time versus doing this manually with PowerPoint or Google Slides.

• Main Features: AI presentations, document creation, PDF summaries

• Pricing: Free tier available; paid plans vary by usage

• Who It’s For: Consultants, coaches, educators, students

👉 Get started with PopAi

Subscribe now

10. Gling AI

Gling automatically edits talking-head videos by removing silences, bad takes, and filler words. It’s a massive time saver for creators publishing consistently on YouTube.

I’m now using Gling as part of my money-making YouTube workflow. It’s helping me produce content for my niche channels at a much faster rate without paying for human editors.

I also like Gling because it can enhance video and audio quality. This means you can start your own YouTube channel just by filming on a smartphone and then plugging the footage into Gling.

• Main Features: Auto-cuts and editing, silence removal, captions, noise reduction

• Pricing: Free tier available; paid plans start at $10 monthly

• Who It’s For: YouTubers, educators, solo content creators

💸 UPDATE: My new YouTube Freedom Launchpad eBook is now live. If you want to make money on YouTube, this is the step-by-step process I use to identify profitable niches and scale quality channels.

👉 Get started with Gling AI

11. Opus Clips

Opus Clips transforms long-form videos into viral short-form content optimized for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts. It’s an affordable, fast way to repurpose existing content you might have into extra social media content.

Personally, I also use Opus Clips’ new AI thumbnail generator to create thumbnails for a niche travel channel of mine. It actually does a pretty decent job. Or, at the very least, it creates a thumbnail that’s 80% of the way there that I then retouch in Canva.

• Main Features: Auto clip extraction, virality scoring, captions, resizing

• Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start around $15/month

• Who It’s For: Podcasters, YouTubers, personal brands, agencies

👉 Get started with OpusClips

Subscribe now

13. Semrush

I’ve used Semrush for over 5 years at this point. It’s actually the tool that powered my $1M+ blogging content business since it’s how I do my keyword research.

Keyword research ain’t what it used to be! But Semrush has valuable new features designed for AI-powered content optimization and competitor analysis. It also has a new AI-visibility toolkit to help you monitor your brand’s positioning in top AI searches.

• Main Features: Keyword research, AI content tools, traffic analytics, competitive insights

• Pricing: Semrush One starts at $199 monthly

• Who It’s For: SEO professionals, content sites, media brands, agencies

👉 Get started with Semrush

14. AdCreative.ai

AdCreative.ai generates high-converting ad creatives and copy using AI trained on performance data.

This includes video ads, banners, product shoots, and even new AI UGC videos. You can then monitor your best-performing creatives and spy on what your competitors are doing.

• Main Features: AI ad creatives, conversion predictions, competitor spying

• Pricing: Starter plan begins at $39 monthly

• Who It’s For: ecommerce brands, performance marketers, ad agencies

👉 Get started with AdCreative.ai

Honorable Mentions

• Krisp: A powerful AI meeting assistant with noise cancellation features, smart transcripts, summaries, and action items to help you work more efficiently.

• Swooped: Swooped uses AI to automate job applications and match your resume to higher-paying roles more efficiently. It turns job searching into a scalable, low-effort process instead of a time-consuming grind.

• n8n: n8n is a powerful workflow automation tool that lets you connect apps and build custom automations. It’s ideal for replacing repetitive manual work with scalable systems that save time and money.

• Blackbox AI: Blackbox AI helps developers and technical builders generate, understand, and refactor code faster. Cursor is more widely used, but I’ve heard pretty good things about Blackbox AI.

• Gamma: Gamma lets you create clean, professional presentations and documents using AI instead of manual slide design. It’s perfect for turning ideas into polished decks quickly. It’s a nice alternative to PopAi.

• ElevenLabs: ElevenLabs generates ultra-realistic AI voiceovers that can be used for videos, podcasts, audiobooks, and ads. It removes the need for voice talent while maintaining professional-quality audio. It’s also excellent if you create faceless YouTube videos.

• soona: soona uses AI-powered creative tools to produce high-quality product visuals and content without expensive photo or video shoots. It helps ecommerce brands improve conversion rates with better-looking assets.

• Reclaim.ai: Reclaim.ai is an AI scheduling assistant that automatically defends your time by planning tasks around your calendar. It helps knowledge workers reclaim deep work hours and operate at a higher output level.

• Vmake: Vmake’s AI agent lets you create videos for ecommerce and social media with text and image prompts. It also has very useful video enhancement tools. I’ve been playing around with it, and it excels at making AI UGC videos in a variety of styles.

• Manus: Manus is an AI agent designed to execute complex tasks across research, planning, and execution with minimal supervision. It acts more like a junior operator than a simple chatbot. Manus was just purchased by Meta for over $2B.

• QuillBot: QuillBot is an AI writing assistant that rewrites, summarizes, and improves text for clarity and tone. It’s useful for polishing content quickly without starting from scratch.

• Midjourney: Midjourney creates high-quality AI-generated images that can be used for branding, ads, thumbnails, and product concepts. It enables rapid visual creation without designers. I’ve used it for my YouTube channels and it’s very easy to use.

• Synthesia: Synthesia allows you to create professional AI-generated videos with avatars and voiceovers from text alone. It’s a fast way to produce training, marketing, and explainer videos at scale

You can find even more popular AI tools based on usage on Exploding Topics. I scrolled through this list to research more tools, and I didn’t know half of these, and there’s some pretty neat ones!

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Next Steps - Make This Count For Something!

Well there you have it: 20+ AI tools that can help you make more money, cut down on operating costs, and win back more of your time.

However, AI tools are only effective if they’re actually implemented. It’s easy to read about how great these tools are. It’s another thing entirely to use them.

My advice here is to schedule AI testing/training into your weekly tasks. Seriously.

I take a bit of time each weekend to try out something new in the world of AI. I also cover AI tools all the time now on my main YouTube channel.

Most of the time, I spent an hour with a tool, think “that was kinda cool!” and then never touch that tool again. But this process gets the wheels turning. And, sometimes, I discover a tool or workflow that adds immediate value to my businesses (like vibe-coding with Lovable, or using Gling AI to produce more videos.)

People spend money on courses, seminars, coaching and all kinds of things in the name of education and skill development. Do the same thing with AI tools. This is how you stay sharp and discover actionable ways to work more efficiently.

Anyways, that does it for this one! Thanks for reading and for your support as always.

👉 Want to take your online business to the next level? Book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover strategies to scale your audience and income this year.

Enjoy your weekend everyone. It’s time for some more Cape Town hiking here.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

Note: Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up with these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.

If you want to make money online in 2026, you need your own website.

This is true for Substack creators, freelancers, affiliate marketers, and anyone looking to build online income streams that are resilient.

Without your own website, you’re at the mercy of platform rules and algorithms.

With your own website, you have the keys to the kingdom and can actually control your online income and destiny.

Today, I’m sharing actionable strategies and advantages you unlock with your own website. This includes tactics to build profitable audiences, unlock powerful monetization methods, and more.

Let’s get to it!

💻 Launch your own professional website in minutes with Hostinger!

Hostinger lets you create a professional website in minutes with 150+ templates and its new AI website builder. This is perfect for writers, freelancers, service-based businesses, and more.

Plans also start as low as $2.99 per month. This is like paying a cup of coffee once a month to launch your own online website, build a brand, and grow your business.

There’s also a great New Year’s sale running now, so it’s the perfect time to build your next business with Hostinger.

😎 Use the code TOMBLAKE10 for an additional 10% discount on your plan!

1. You Can Build A Second Email List

Substack’s internal audience growth engine is unmatched. The fact you can get so much organic traffic and eyeballs on your content here is one of the main selling points for creators.

BUT, you shouldn’t rely on Substack forever. Especially if you want to build your own audience faster while having more control.

By building your own website, you can:

• Collect email addresses directly (with pop-up forms, static forms, and stronger CTAs)

• Segment subscribers more deeply based on their behavior and demographics

• Build custom automations

• Run lead magnets tailored to niche offers

• Own the audience data

This is exactly what I do with Kit, formerly ConvertKit, on my numerous content businesses. And this is how I can send millions of emails per month to my lists that are packed with affiliate offers, digital products, and high-value pieces of content.

Granted, Substack is introducing automations and features to give creators more control. But if Substack disappeared tomorrow, having a separate email list becomes your parachute.

Besides, having your own website lets you get way more aggressive with how you collect emails.

Just take a look at the stats on one of my Kit pop-up forms on one of my content sites:

This form fires when someone visits my website for 15 seconds. It offers them a digital download freebie (which is packed with affiliate offers) in exchange for their email.

This form has a 15.2% conversion rate! It also makes money right away through affiliate offers!

Compare this to your conversion rate on Substack, and you’ll see what I’m getting at.

Subscribe now

Having your own landing pages/website lets you get aggressive and creative with audience building.

💸 Start building a second list with Kit and get 14 days for free!

2. You Create Incredible Monetization Options

You can make money on Substack without paid subscriptions. Same goes if you’re just freelancing online or are building an audience on social media.

But like building an email audience, having your own website opens significantly more monetization doors.

With your own website, you can:

• Add display advertisements to your website (Google Adsense, Mediavine, etc.)

• Get paid to promote other newsletters with Sparkloop

• Add more aggressive affiliate offers (pop-ups/exit-intent, more aggressive CTAs)

• Sell digital products with on-page checkout

• Sell backlinks (less common, but still a thing)

I’m doing all of these things now with my various content businesses. This is also the combination I used to make $1M+ in my twenties and scale one of my blogs to over $1M in revenue before selling it.

This is the common theme: when you build your own sandbox, you get to make the rules.

3. You Unlock Better Branding + Professional Credibility

In 2026, readers want to know you’re legit amidst the wave of AI slop. Brands and companies that want to hire you do as well.

This is why having your own website is important, especially if you sell professional/freelance services.

You own website lets you:

• Have an in-depth About page

• Add contact forms / booking systems

• Look more polished to sponsors

• Rank on Google (Substack can rank, but so can your own professional services website)

• Tell your story visually

• Build trust outside the Substack ecosystem

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When someone Googles you, what do you want them to find? Your own website, or your social profiles and Substack?

4. You Diversify Platform Risk

Substack is amazing…But so was Medium 😂

Now I have high hopes for Substack moving forwards. I love the new features they’re adding for creators. I also think the platform’s push for video and live-streaming is keeping up with the times. And I am SO pumped for Substack to potentially add advertisement options from a revenue perspective.

Regardless, what happens if:

• Algorithm changes tank your reach?

• Payments freeze?

• New fees roll out?

• The platform gets acquired?

• You get shadow banned?

Ask anyone who built their entire business on: YouTube, Medium, Facebook pages, Tumblr, Vine, Instagram reach, TikTok creators fund…

Platforms change all the time. Your own website and owned audience/data never betrays you.

Related 👉 How To Become Stupidly Wealthy With A One-Person Business.

5. You Build A Second Sending Domain

Substack has awesome deliverability. This is one of the main advantages of writing here and sending emails through Substack.

But again, having your own website lets you build a new email list and sending domain, assuming you start sending emails from your website.

If Substack ever tanks your deliverability or you want to move away from the platform, you won’t start from zero on a fresh domain. Instead, you’ll have been sending emails from your own domain for months or years, hopefully improving your sending reputation in that time.

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Remember: deliverability = money.

This is true for affiliate marketing, lead generation, digital products, and selling services. If you can’t reach your customers, your flywheel stops working.

Extra Reading - How To Market Your One-Person Business.

6. You Unlock Potential Long-Term Domain Value

Domain names and websites are pieces of digital real estate.

When you build your own website, you’re potentially building an asset that appreciates. So you actually have an asset that’s flippable/you can sell for a nice exit.

This is exactly what I did with one of my finance blogs.

I started blogging in 2018 on a fresh domain. After scaling it to over $1M in revenue, I sold it at the end of 2023 for a certain multiple based on the trailing 24 months of revenue. This also included the value of the domain name and all the social profiles associated with the brand.

You can’t really do this if you just create content on Substack. I’m sure some people are/will sell accounts, but it won’t be as easy.

This matters slightly less if you’re just making a professional website for services you offer. But for affiliate marketing or lead-gen, you definitely need your own websites. And you’d be surprised at what people are willing to pay for an income-generating website, even with a cooler market these days.

7. You Develop New Skills While Having More Fun

Creating valuable content on Substack people actually care about is difficult.

Creating a website and learning how to funnel traffic to it is another skillset entirely. But if you want to make money online with content, it’s something you must learn.

By creating your own website, you’ll learn:

• How to design websites that convert

• On-page SEO

• Hosting and website management basics

• Branding

• How to drive traffic back to high-value landing pages

Subscribe now

The entire process is also fun. I remember being so excited when I started building websites and blogs back in 2017/2018. I even felt pretty emotional when I sold my first blog. Years later, I still love this entire process.

Ultimately, creating your own little corner of the internet is like planting a digital garden. You get to see what grows and nurture your digital assets.

Extra Reading - These 4 Automations Make Money While You Sleep.

Next Steps - It’s Time To Take Action

Like I said, Substack is amazing. But anyone looking to make money with content in 2026 and beyond needs their own website so they are in control of their destiny.

That’s really what this is about. You need the keys to the kingdom so you have control, flexibility, and mitigate solo-platform risks.

Getting started isn’t rocket science either, even if you’ve never built a website before.

You can get started with Hostinger for about $3 a month (and use my code TOMBLAKE10 for a nice 10% discount 😎)

Many plans include a free domain name, and with its AI website builder and existing templates, you can have your own website up and running in an afternoon of work.

From there, the digital world is your digital oyster. You can start exploring monetization and audience-building opportunities that simply aren’t possible when you don’t own your own website. This process is incredibly exciting, so I encourage you to dive in!

Anyways, that does it for this one!

Summer is getting into full swing here in Cape Town. I’ve been busy hiking, exploring, and prepping for the year ahead. Honestly, I’m incredibly excited to put out a lot more content here on Substack in 2026, and there’s some pretty cool plans in the works I’m keen to share soon.

I’d love and appreciate if you subscribe to stay up-to-date with what’s coming. And as always, thanks for your readership and support.

I’ll catch you in the next one.

Tom from WiFi Wealth.

😎 PS: Want to scale your online income in the new year? You can book a paid consulting call with me. Let’s uncover new opportunities for your business and how to build your audience and increase revenue.

Subscribe now

Note: some of the links in this article are affiliate links. I may receive compensation when you sign up for various products/services at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support.