Niall Doherty's Blog, page 96
September 4, 2023
$26K/Month Helping People Generate PDFs
Jacky TanFounder of CraftMyPDF and APITemplate $26,000 monthly revenuePublished September 4, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Jacky Tan is the founder of CraftMyPDF.com and APITemplate.io 
CraftMyPDF lets you design PDF templates, while APITemplate offers more technical HTML to Image and PDF conversions. Both products target different segments of the market.
Jacky started APITemplate almost 3 years ago and launched CraftMyPDF about a year later.
The combined revenue from both products is now $26,000/month 
Jacky recently shared how he came up with the idea for APITemplate…
I took on some freelance work that required generating PDFs during the pandemic. While there were various online services available for this task, I found that none of them offered a user-friendly template editor. As a result, I decided to develop my PDF generation services with a template editor.
As for CraftMyPDF, he tweeted…
I got the idea from the existing customers of APITemplate. I did some market research first, registered a domain, and slept on the idea for a month.
It took 4 months to build an MVP & started SEO at the same time.
5 months to get the first customer.
In terms of marketing, Jacky submitted both products to directories to get few backlinks and launched on Product Hunt 
Also…
SEO has been the main customer acquisition channel, although it took 3-6 months to start seeing results. Paid ads did not perform well. By creating monthly blog posts over 3 years, the products have improved visibility on search engines.
Last words from Jacky…
As a technical founder, my priorities were to ship the products and I didn’t prioritize marketing early on. As a result, my businesses struggled to gain traction.
I’ve since learned that marketing is just as important as product development, and I now make sure to give both areas equal attention.
My main takeaway from this: freelancing can lead to big things.
Sounds like freelancing was Jacky’s main thing only 3 years ago.
That paid the bills and gave him the freedom to work on some side projects. And it was freelancing that led him to a winning idea for his own product 
A lot of people turn their noses up at freelancing, because it’s “trading time for money.”
But many of the successful entrepreneurs we cover in this newsletter started out as freelancers.
Must be something to that 
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Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.
With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.
Here’s how:
We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.
Is this kind of business right for you?Check out our framework to see the 19 types and 6 levels of online business, and discover which is best for you.
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He Was Offered $635K for a 90-Day-Old Newsletter
Greg IsenbergSerial Entrepreneur $635,000+ approximate worth of You Probably Need a RobotPublished September 4, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Greg Isenberg tweets…
Someone offered me $635k to buy @youneedarobot
– 60,000 newsletter subscribers
– Agency that helps with AI/automation
– 15k+ Discord
– Free/paid course called 5 tool 5 days that just launched […]
– Launched 90 days ago
Should I sell it?
He didn’t sell it.
You Probably Need A Robot is yet another AI newsletter. They were a little late into the AI space but still managed to get traction.
It all started with a Discord community back in February, when Greg tweeted 
Just launched a free community for people looking to use AI to boost productivity to grow wealthier and happier
It’s called You Probably Need a Robot
He then launched the newsletter the following month which started out daily and became weekly.
The format…
Tool demoHow-to sectionLatest news in AIHow did Greg grow his community and newsletter so fast?
He lays out his playbook in this thread.
A key step was finding a “superniche”…
You want to find something that’s growing yet underserved
You can use platforms like Redditlist.com to find growing niches and super niches
Once you find a niche, you want to find your superniche (aka subniche)
I do this by sorting by hot/top posts
Example: in the AI subreddits, I sorted by hot and top posts. Once I did that, I realized that many of the hottest AI convos were about productivity
Voilà, I had found my superniche.
However, I think Greg tends to downplay what was surely a key factor in growing his business so quickly: having 300K+ followers on Twitter to start with 
Prasid Pathak has a nice deep-dive on how Greg built that audience.
In short…
Greg gained lots of experience working in (and founding) startups.Joined Twitter in 2008 but it was 2019 before he started building a big audience there.Mostly grew his audience with insightful threads and hot takes.One hack you might be able to use comes via this (since deleted) tweet from Greg last November
Prasid’s take…
Greg’s second most-liked tweet…
Interestingly, this was not original content: it was from a Reddit post that had appeared on the subreddit r/dataisbeautiful a few months earlier. Greg’s talked at length about unbundling Reddit or studying Reddit to understand what the community wants/needs. I suspect he noticed how well this Reddit post did, and then looked for a way to craft his own spin on it.
(Also worth noting that Greg monetized that tweet with an affiliate link in a follow-up)
Easy enough to do this for your own niche: find posts doing well on Reddit, then repurpose or react to them on social.
Once you’ve built up a good-size audience, there are many ways to monetize
First time seeing our Online Money Maker profiles? Click here for a quick intro.
The goal of our Online Money Maker profiles is to show you all the different ways people make money online. We strive to ensure that each profile is realistic – no hype, no scams – so you can see what it really takes to build each type of business.
If you'd like to hear when we publish new profiles, subscribe to our free newsletter below. Each edition is packed with tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. We send it out every Tuesday and Friday to 33,016 legendary subscribers.
Sign up to get the next edition of eBiz Insider delivered to your inboxHP
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See our latest profiles of Online Money Makers
Learn more about income claims and estimates on this website
Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.
With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.
Here’s how:
We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.
Is this kind of business right for you?Check out our framework to see the 19 types and 6 levels of online business, and discover which is best for you.
Other ways to make money onlineThere are many other ways to make money online, to work from home or anywhere in the world.
Full list of ways to make money onlineMore profiles of online money makers👇 Subscribe to eBiz Insider 👇Every Tuesday and Friday we email 33,016 people like you with top tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. No hype, no scams, no fake gurus. Sign up below to get the next one.
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Simple Clock Website Earning $20,000+ Per Month
vClockWebsite $20,000+ estimated monthly revenuePublished September 4, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Check out vClock, a website that offers 4 simple tools…
Amazingly, SimilarWeb estimates that the site gets 4.6M views per month 
vClock is monetized with Google Adsense display ads.
The official Google Adsense calculator estimates the site to be making $200,000 to $600,000 per year (depending on the region) in the Reference category.
So I think it’s safe to say that vClock is earning at least $20,000 per month from those ads 
The site has been around since 2016 and has a “domain rating” of 34 (out of 100). It seems to have picked up steam in 2020.
Looks like Programmatic SEO is the secret sauce here 
The site ranks for thousands of time-related keywords like…
{City} {Country} timeSet timer for {minutes}Set {alarm} for {time}Holidays in {UK, US, Canada, Australia}They likely built datasets for the above variables (and more), then programmatically created pages optimized for thousands of different keywords 
Ranking for all these location- and time-based keywords allows them to capture a ton of search traffic. The 20-year-old domain surely helps as well.
The most impressive thing to me here: whoever started the website in 2016 worked on it for ~4 years before it really started to pay off.
Not many people have that level of foresight and patience
First time seeing our Online Money Maker profiles? Click here for a quick intro.
The goal of our Online Money Maker profiles is to show you all the different ways people make money online. We strive to ensure that each profile is realistic – no hype, no scams – so you can see what it really takes to build each type of business.
If you'd like to hear when we publish new profiles, subscribe to our free newsletter below. Each edition is packed with tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. We send it out every Tuesday and Friday to 33,016 legendary subscribers.
Sign up to get the next edition of eBiz Insider delivered to your inboxHP
We'll first send a confirmation email to make sure it’s you 🔒
Check out our privacy policy to see how we protect and manage your data.
See our latest profiles of Online Money Makers
Learn more about income claims and estimates on this website
Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.
With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.
Here’s how:
We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.
Is this kind of business right for you?Check out our framework to see the 19 types and 6 levels of online business, and discover which is best for you.
Other ways to make money onlineThere are many other ways to make money online, to work from home or anywhere in the world.
Full list of ways to make money onlineMore profiles of online money makers👇 Subscribe to eBiz Insider 👇Every Tuesday and Friday we email 33,016 people like you with top tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. No hype, no scams, no fake gurus. Sign up below to get the next one.
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20-Minute Trader Review
This is the definitive 20 Minute Trader review.
20 Minute Trader is an affiliate marketing course created by Jeremy Russell. We have spent several hours examining the course materials and share our insights below.
(Have you taken this course? Add your rating!)
If you want to know…
What exactly it teachesHow it compares to other coursesThe pros and consIf Jeremy Russell is legitAre students getting results?Then you’ve come to the right place.
20-Minute Trader – Key PointsAbout
Jeremy Russell’s trading courses.
💰 Price
Starts at $7 (more info)
😍 Pros
Money-back guarantee, step-by-step training, experienced instructor.
😩 Cons
No proof of student earnings, unclear whether material is still being updated, questionable sales language.
Verdict
Decent trading courses for traders seeking an edge.
Overall Rating3.1/5 3.1Learn more.'>1
View Alternatives
About our 31-factor editorial review processJump to…The Best Day Trading Course?How does 20-Minute Trader help you make money?Who is it for?Jeremy Russel ReputationAre students getting results?Price (and discount) infoRefund policyCourse structurePraiseCriticismOther things you should knowShould you join 20-Minute Trader?AlternativesLeave your reviewAsk a questionAbout the Author
Hey, I’m Niall Doherty.
I quit my last 9-to-5 job back in 2010.
Since then, I’ve earned my living online in various ways. Over the last 3 years (through 2022) I’ve earned $536,000 from my laptop.
I’m on a mission to accurately rate and review all the best online business courses. My team and I are spending many hours investigating these courses and getting feedback from real students.
All that to say: we know a thing or two about such courses and making money online.
The Best Day Trading Course?We’re on a mission to find the best trading course based on our own extensive research plus feedback from real students.
20-Minute Trader is decent but not the best we’ve seen…
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1.Bear Bull Traders (review)3.9/5 2.Warrior Trading (review)3.6/5 3.Bullish Bears (review)3.3/5
See all reviews of day trading courses »
How does 20-Minute Trader help you make money?
20 Minute Trader aims to teach you how to day trade stocks using predictive techniques so you can be a profitable trader in less than 20 minutes per day.
From the sales page…
Learn more about day tradingWho is 20-Minute Trader for?The 20-Minute Trader® courses and classes teach how to discover a pattern in the stock market, in which some stock prices fall and rise daily at around the same time and over the span of only a few minutes. We give a clear overview of the Stock Market, what Call Options are and how they work, charts and brokerages, and how one can spend only twenty minutes per day on their trades.
20 Minute Trader courses seem to target both beginners and advanced traders.
For example, from the free intro course description…
Our team came up with a strategy that helps not only pro traders, but also the newbies who want to learn to trade confidently for only short periods of time.
Also, from the FAQs…
70+ ways how to make money online (including easy options)Does Jeremy Russel have a good reputation?Great For Advanced Traders – The courses are also designed for advanced traders looking to learn new or additional skills. All advanced traders thus far have said they never learned this technique anywhere else!
Yes.
Jeremy has a large following on Tiktok…
And Instagram…
I only found one negative comment about Russell and 20 Min Trader…
And some of 20 Minute Trader’s claims are a bit over the top…
But the majority of reviews are positive…
Here’s a video from Jeremy’s YouTube channel so you can get a feel for his style…
Are Jeremy Russell’s students getting results?There are several student results on the 20 Min Trader website…
But I didn’t find any screenshots of student earnings proof. Given the number of student reviews on Trustpilot, I would’ve liked proof of student results.
How much does 20-Minute Trader cost?There are several 20 Minute courses available…
Intro Course – freePredictable Trading Bundle – $7 one-timeBulletproof Strategy – $47 one-timeElite Trading Club – $497/moSecret Pattern Masterclass – $997 one-timeGod Mode – pricing undisclosedIn addition, the sales page mentions needing at least $50,000 to invest to maximize your chances of success…
Further, certain evidence indicates that an investment of less than $50,000 will significantly impair the ability of a day trader to make a profit. Of course, an investment of $50,000 or more will in no way guarantee success.
The US government requires a minimum of $25,000 to invest if pattern day trading using margin accounts (borrowed money).
This applies when trading on margin and making four or more day trades within a five-business-day period.
From SEC.gov…
The minimum equity requirement for a customer who is a pattern day trader is $25,000. This $25,000 requirement must be deposited into the designated customer’s account prior to any day trading activities and must be maintained at all times.
But you can day trade with less than $25k when using your own cash.
A downside of cash account trading is that you can only trade using the settled cash in your account. After selling a stock, it takes two business days for the funds to settle and become available for trading again.
So you’ll need around ~$10k-$30k+ to follow Warrior Trading.
20-Minute Trader Discount?I’ve searched high and low for a discount or coupon code but have yet to find mention of one anywhere, and there’s no place to enter a discount code at checkout.
Sorry guys: it’s full-price or nothing.
Refund Policy20-Minute Trader offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The official word…
How is 20-Minute Trader structured?If you don’t love our courses then simply ask for your money back in the first 30 days!
Here’s what 20 Minute Trader looks like when you log in…
And here’s a sneak peek inside a lesson…
20 Minute Trader is a video-based course with 25+ over-the-shoulder screen recording lessons.
In addition to being step-by-step, each lesson is clearly labeled, and the search function makes it relatively easy to reference specific material.
Green Lights
Here are a few things to like about 20-Minute Trader…
30-day money-back guarantee.The training is practical and step-by-step.Jeremy Russell seems like the real deal.A few helpful bonuses.Red Flags
A few things about 20-Minute Trader that might give you pause…
Few student success stories displayed publicly.Unclear if the training is still being updated.Questionable marketing tactics (over the top claims)Other things you should knowA good way to think of Jeremy’s training: It basically documents his methods to be a reportedly profitable trader. When you join his courses, you get access to that documentation.You’ll find some handy downloads within the training, including a Trading View chart template, trading checklist, etc.👇 Subscribe to eBiz Insider 👇Every Tuesday and Friday we email 32,946 people like you with top tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. No hype, no scams, no fake gurus. Sign up below to get the next one.
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Should you join 20-Minute Trader?
From what I’ve seen, most people who buy this course are happy with their purchase. So it seems like a solid investment if you want to test new day trading techniques.
And given the 30-day money-back guarantee, you can’t really go wrong.
Learn more about day trading20-Minute Trader – Key PointsAbout
Jeremy Russell’s trading courses.
💰 Price
Starts at $7 (more info)
😍 Pros
Money-back guarantee, step-by-step training, experienced instructor.
😩 Cons
No proof of student earnings, unclear whether material is still being updated, questionable sales language.
Verdict
Decent trading courses for traders seeking an edge.
Overall Rating3.1/5 3.1Learn more.'>2
View Alternatives
20-Minute Trader Alternatives
Here are the top day trading programs we’ve reviewed…
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1.Bear Bull Traders (review)3.9/5 2.Warrior Trading (review)3.6/5 3.Bullish Bears (review)3.3/5 4.20-Minute Trader (review)3.1/5 5.How To Trade Stocks (review)2.1/5 Humbled Trader (review)Incomplete/5 IM Mastery Academy (review)Incomplete/5 Learn Plan Profit (review)Incomplete/5 ZipTraderU (review)Incomplete/5
See all reviews of day trading courses »
And here are our top trading courses…
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1.Bear Bull Traders (review)3.9/5 2.Warrior Trading (review)3.6/5 3.Bullish Bears (review)3.3/5 4.20-Minute Trader (review)3.1/5 5.The Real World (review)3.1/5 6.How To Trade Stocks (review)2.1/5 Humbled Trader (review)Incomplete/5 IM Mastery Academy (review)Incomplete/5 Learn Plan Profit (review)Incomplete/5 Monetari Fund (review)Incomplete/5
See all reviews of trading courses »
Other ways to make money onlineYour Thoughts on 20-Minute TraderHave you taken this course yourself?
Add your rating so others can see if it’s worthwhile.Do you have a question about this course?
Let us know below and we’ll try find the answer.👇 Subscribe to eBiz Insider 👇
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August 31, 2023
A New Way Of Life
From Dale Carnegie’s classic book, How to Win Friends and Influence People…
Let me repeat: The principles taught in this book will work only when they come from the heart. I am not advocating a bag of tricks. I am talking about a new way of life.
Carnegie was writing about networking and relationships 
But the same principle is true in entrepreneurship: you can’t just learn a bunch of tricks and hacks and expect to build a successful business.
Entrepreneurship is a whole new way of life, a new way of seeing the world, a new way of being.
The ideal is to develop money-making skills and mindsets that will last you a lifetime.
So even if you get really unlucky and lose everything, you can quickly build another successful business with those same timeless skills and mindsets
How a Marketing Pro Uses Kindle For Lead Gen
In a recent YouTube video, Miles Beckler reveals how he uses Amazon Kindle to generate leads for his business…
Miles is a serial entrepreneur and online business coach. He runs a YouTube channel with 200K+ subscribers 
He recently launched a new Kindle book with the goal of growing his email list. See all his books here.
In the video, Miles explains his rationale behind creating these short books 
He believes there are people searching relevant keywords in his niche on Amazon, who have likely never heard of him before. By having a book listed on Amazon, he can tap into this new audience and get his content in front of them 
His latest 39-page book, The Seven Figure Side Hustle, is available for $2.99 on Amazon.
It’s part of a funnel in Miles’ business…
When you buy the book, what I want you to focus on is how that book is a lead generation tool more so than the information in it.
The book contains a call-to-action and link to an opt-in page after the table of contents. This provides a pathway for readers to join his email list 
Miles is making little-to-no money from the books directly but he says…
My content is designed to get them on my list and once they’re on my list I have mechanisms to turn them into customers…
….If I can spend $100 in ads and earn back $100 in sales, I don’t care. The by-product is lots of people seeing the call-to-action and some joining my email list.
And once they’re on the list Miles can provide them more value, build trust, and eventually pitch them other products and services
To kick start sales and reviews, Miles asks his current audience to purchase the book, read it, and leave an honest review.
His goal is to get enough 5-star reviews 
to boost visibility on Amazon and have his book suggested alongside other popular books in his niche.
Once there are enough reviews, Miles plans to run Amazon ads to get the book in front of people searching relevant keywords and drive them to purchase it.
He explains further
This is a test hole in a new oil field. I know there’s money changing hands and I know there’s people buying information on Amazon all day every day.
… this is how I use Kindle. We’ve done this over and over and over with my wife’s books and products. We’ve tested small books, big books and pocketbooks.
… we can spend $1000’s per month advertising, we earn $1000’s a month back directly from the book sales and all the leads and all the customers that show up from that from the calls to actions in the book that’s just gravy.
One thing I love about Miles is his long-term approach to marketing. He’s happy to earn little-to-no money – and even lose money sometimes – to grow his audience
This works for him because he shows up and delivers great content consistently – he’s been putting out high-quality content on schedule for years – allowing him to build lots of trust with his audience over time.
A good chunk of that audience will later buy his products or products he recommends as an affiliate
And that’s really the only way to succeed in the long run: be committed for the long run.
WordPress Alternative Making $6 Million a Year
John O'NolanFounder of Ghost $6 million annual revenuePublished August 31, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Ghost is a publishing platform for independent writers and creators to monetize their work, founded by John O’Nolan in 2013.
As of this writing, Ghost’s annual recurring revenue is over $6 million
This is remarkable considering John started Ghost as an open-source project with the intention of creating a platform focused solely on publishing, not profits.
Apparently John launched Ghost after years of seeing WordPress evolve from a simple blogging platform into the gigantic content management system that it is now.
From 2009 to 2011, he was actually the deputy head of the WordPress UI Group. He then resigned and started Ghost, wanting to bring the focus back to publishing content.
After some initial mockups, John’s proposal for Ghost went viral on Hacker News and he raised 8x his Kickstarter goal of £25,000 to fund initial development
What’s unique about Ghost is its structure as a non-profit foundation. They make money by offering hosting services. That pays the bills and ensures the team stays focused on the mission.
In John’s words…
We are not just making this because we want to sell it, we are making this because it needs to exist.
In Jan 2022, John tweeted…
This time last year — we set a goal to have revenue generated by @Ghost for others, exceed our own. Now, 12 months later, we’ve hit that goal and gone even further.
Today, Ghost revenue: $4,200,000 ARR
Creator revenue, generated using Ghost: $10,200,000 ARR
Ghost competes by offering a clear value proposition: 100% open source, decentralized, and 0% payment fees. No lock-in.
John reported back in February
2023 update — publisher revenue on Ghost growing exponentially faster than platform revenue. Now over $25M ARR.
It’s a pretty great time to start an independent subscription business to fund creative work
John plans to keep the team small and enable an ecosystem of independent businesses around Ghost.
His advice to other founders….
If you feel like you have no idea what you’re doing, well, welcome to the club. None of us have any idea what the fuck we’re doing, and anyone who says otherwise is lying. All of us are just guessing, experimenting, trying things. Not a single one of us was ever “sure” or “ready” or “confident” at any point.
At a certain point you just have to jump.
He also writes in the comments of that article…
Harry Potter was rejected by 12 different publishers, I started at least 7 failed projects before Ghost, Pieter Levels only made NomadList because his last project earned $0.00 so he decided to start 12 new projects, of which most of them failed.
The difference between success and failure is often whether you learn something and get up to try again, or just say “fuck this shit” and give up.
You aren’t a beautiful unique snowflake that gets a free pass on failure. Don’t look at the world around you and assume that everyone else has it easy. We all have problems. We all have failures. We’re all struggling.
Nobody ever said it was going to be easy.
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Learn more about income claims and estimates on this website
Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.
With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.
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We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.
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Earning $50,000 a Year On Her Own Terms
Milly TamatiFounder of Generalist World $50,000 annual revenuePublished August 31, 2023 by Fardeen KhanReviewed and edited by Niall Doherty
Milly Tamati runs Generalist World, a paid community for generalists that recently hit $50,000 in annual recurring revenue (ARR)
She tweets…
Since you were a kid, you’ve probably been told to specialize. Niche down. Pick a path.
But I’m here to tell you that being a generalist is actually a superpower.
The outliers, the tinkerers, the round pegs in square holes – are welcome, seen, and valued here
Milly has been walking her talk, building this business on her own terms while having lots of other adventures…
I’ve prioritised living a life whilst building! This year alone I travelled solo by train from San Francisco to New York, cycled from Holland to France, and sailed an expedition yacht from Scotland to Wales
This is a key one… I’ve built this business on my own terms. It’s felt aligned at every stage. I’m less fussed about what I “should do” and more on what feels right
She tweeted last year
It’s working.
Companies are interviewing folks from our community for actual generalist roles.
We’re breaking down traditional conceptions that roles must be specialised. We’ve given CV’s the boot. We’re making hiring empathetic & transparent.
I am giddy with excitement.
So far, she has connected 400+ members and helped over 20 people land roles as generalists
She reveals here how she got traction for the community…
July 2022: Started reaching out 1-1 to people who “looked like me” on LinkedIn. Realized there were LOADS of us, and we were all facing similar problems. I gathered us all in a Slack group.
… Oct – Nov 2022: Really trying to hone in on how best to help. Lots of experiments. Lots of failures. Lots of learning. Lots of relationship building.
Dec 2022: Decided to shift from a premium community to a paid community. Lost 600 members overnight (tough for the ego!!! lol). Began building from scratch with the full focus on creating an AMAZING community experience.
And she’s running a tight ship…
I’m resourceful AF & with this was able to pay myself, one amazing part-timer, a designer, and 7 contract writers
Sounds like the community isn’t very profitable yet if she’s paying a few people to help her, but it’s a solid foundation that could grow into an impressive business.
And I love that her “niche” is “generalists” 
First time seeing our Online Money Maker profiles? Click here for a quick intro.
The goal of our Online Money Maker profiles is to show you all the different ways people make money online. We strive to ensure that each profile is realistic – no hype, no scams – so you can see what it really takes to build each type of business.
If you'd like to hear when we publish new profiles, subscribe to our free newsletter below. Each edition is packed with tips, insights and opportunities to build your online business. We send it out every Tuesday and Friday to 32,946 legendary subscribers.
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Learn more about income claims and estimates on this website
Our goal at eBiz Facts is to give you accurate information about online business so you can gain clearer insights, make better decisions, and achieve your own success.
With that in mind, we strive to ensure the accuracy and transparency of the income claims and estimates that you see on this website.
Here’s how:
We treat all income claims we find online with skepticism.We don’t report incomes that seem especially controversial or unrealistic.We cite our sources and/or share our calculations so you can see where the numbers come from.If there are uncertainties about an income claim or estimate, we tell you what those are.If you see an income claim or estimate that seems off, please tell us so we can fix it.
Is this kind of business right for you?Check out our framework to see the 19 types and 6 levels of online business, and discover which is best for you.
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August 28, 2023
921,000 Views – What Really Happens When You Go Viral on TikTok
How does going viral on TikTok affect your business? Does it really move the needle and how long does the virality last?
These are all questions that I hope to answer from my personal experience after going viral on July 31st, 2023. I’ll also dive into the details about what we learned during and what we have done since to prepare for whenever the next video hits.
Here’s the video: Shoutout to Sophie and Ben! Hope your day is filled with love, laughte… | Card Ideas | TikTok
The ResultsWithin 72 hours our video received over 921k views, 109.7k likes, 115 comments, 13.1k shares, and 4,343 favorites.
How Did It Impact Sales?
Our website receives little to no traffic on a daily basis. Over 80% of our business is through Amazon FBA, and social media marketing is our strategy for driving more website sales.
In short, we were caught off guard. Thankfully our infrastructure was ready to handle the volume.
Sales could have easily been much higher. At the time the video popped, we did not have enough followers to link our website to the TikTok profile page. I believe you’re able to link your website once you reach 1,000 followers, which we didn’t earn until later that day. So for the first 6 hours, nearly 300,000 potential customers were forced to leave the app to search “Sleazy Greetings” in their browsers to find our store. *Ouch
Also, we didn’t link the correct product from our TikTok store to the video nor was it even listed to the TikTok Shop. The only place to buy was on Etsy, Amazon, and our official website. *Double Ouch
I bet that would have easily doubled sales out of convenience.
More intriguing, our Amazon sessions, clicks, and purchases for the “Congrats” card featured in the video increased by roughly 900%. Consumers left TikTok and were actively searching on Amazon to purchase. This was a new launch of only a few days old on Amazon so we did not have a large quantity in stock. One hundred units sold out within a few hours. Still neat to see people migrating to Amazon to make purchases.
How Long Did The Virality Last?
Everything was short lived and only lasted about 72 hours. To this day, we still receive several hundred views a day on the video.
I have noticed that our new videos, as a whole, get more views than compared to before going viral. Almost as if TikTok recognizes our content and pushes us a bit more. I know the bump is not attributed to the 8,000+ new followers we gained. Analytics state that 95% of our views on new videos come from the For You page on TikTok, which is the organic feed.
Why Did We Go Viral?The percentage who watched the full video (48.74%) is significantly higher than our other videos (27.76%). This video kept people engaged and on the TikTok app so they kept pushing it on the For You page. Optimizing for this metric seems to be what most marketers want – and it makes sense.
To do well, I think videos need at least these two basic characteristics.
After reviewing successful campaigns by other brands…
1. I strongly believe that the overall ‘theme’ or ‘message’ your marketing campaign revolves around on TikTok and…
2. how you edit your content are the most critical factors determining whether or not your video takes off.
In addition, TikTok was heavily pushing the use and promotion of your products within your TikTok shop. They really wanted brands to start linking their shop to their account.
Theme And MessageOur first videos did very poorly. We filmed anything and just published it without a real plan or overall message. In addition, our content was not edited well and took far too long to get to the entertainment.
In my research, I found dozens of successful TikTok pages where every single video started with the exact same question, and those videos got millions of views. Very simple ideas with little to no production budget. Simply, walking up to strangers and asking “Are you happy” or “What’s the story behind your wallet” or “What’s your favorite book”.
They were not scripted, apart from the initial question, so everything that followed was entirely genuine and easy to connect with on a personal level.
From these campaigns, our hypothesis was that consumers love watching reaction based videos.
I hired a team and decided to film reaction based content with one singular theme that’s easy to convey within 3 seconds – “react to this card.” Our products are naturally funny, offensive, divisive, and sassy – this can make for great content.
So our team started walking up to strangers on the street and asking them to “pick a card” out of a random box and give their unfiltered reaction. The box approach added a touch of mystery – I can thank ChatGPT for that idea.
Here’s the first attempt at a video that earned poor results: Breaking news: Mother’s Day cards declared the official currency of ki… | TikTok
Optimize Your HookFor this particular viral video, I strongly believe that a big part of why the video did so well was because of the hook. People are scrolling looking for a reason to stop, and those first 3 seconds did a good enough job capturing their curiosity, “What is this and how will this stranger react?”
“Pull a random card out from this and I wanna get your immediate reaction.”
It’s not well written, but it has some keywords that I think draw attention.
Emotional Keywords: pull, random, out, immediate, reaction
The first videos we experimented with had horrible hooks and started with a boring small talk introducing the company. Our viral video starts with the question – cutting out all the fluff.
What We Are Doing NowWebsiteAfter the huge boost in site traffic, we noticed holes everywhere leaking potential. We did not optimize things like our conversion rate, average order value, upsells, cross-sells, retargeting / follow-up emails, abandon cart promotions, pop-ups, etc. so we left a lot of revenue on the table.
So now, we are redesigning our website to maximize the massive spikes in traffic. And we hired a marketer to help build out a whole series of email flows to drive higher lifetime values.
Also, we’ll use a LinkTree link within our profile or equivalent to drive people to our Amazon storefront, website, specific products, email signups, promotions, and more. This might help direct the wave of traffic the next time a video does well.
Using TikTok For Product DevelopmentWe received 115 comments filled with great product feedback from TikTok viewers. It’s helped us develop a new line of products we would not have initially thought of.
Over 2,000 people liked a message stating that they first believed our wedding design to be a baby shower pregnancy design. This sparked a whole new collection that we’ll be launching soon that will hopefully reignite this viral video. We will use this comment thread as the theme for the next video by selecting the “reply with video” option.
Now we view TikTok as not only for customer acquisition but immediate product feedback before ever committing any real money to production. My team plans on releasing sketches and allowing the TikTok community during Live videos and polls to offer suggestions during design.
We are going to pre-launch big releases on TikTok months out to help drive buzz and get people excited. I’m entertaining the thought of doing pre-orders or developing basic landing pages with email signups for products we know might have a shot at doing well.
Our approach is going to change slightly. While we still are going to focus on reaction based videos, we are going to start experimenting with different hooks.
We think that we should be leading the question in a particular direction so we receive better responses and reactions. Basically, it directs the conversation but in a natural way. For example, rather than asking for their immediate reaction and leaving everything up to them, we will ask more specifically, “is this birthday card too rude or not rude enough?” Then we have a series of interesting follow-up questions to probe funnier and funnier responses.
After that, we’ll edit so the entire interview is only 20 seconds or shorter of prime entertainment.
DO: Always link your e-commerce products to your videos. This absolutely boosts your views and gives you a better chance. We use Aftership to sync inventory and publish new products to the TikTok Shop. Make sure to optimize your keywords and titles for shoppers to find your listings, much like Amazon or Etsy.
Many People Think Learning Works Like This
Thomas Frank is a serial entrepreneur who was previously featured in this newsletter when he earned over $1 million selling Notion templates
He recently tweeted…
Many people think learning works like this:
Learn and become ready → Do
The way it actually works:
Learn just enough to start → Do (badly) → Learn → Do (a little less badly) → Repeat
You’re never ‘ready’, but you jump in anyway.
In other words, the road to success goes through failure.
It’s tempting to get caught up in endless preparation, not actually starting anything because we’re afraid to make a mistake.
But if you can embrace making mistakes, you’ll learn much faster
Is there something you’ve been putting off starting for fear of making a mistake?
What if you started today and allowed yourself to do a bad job of it?
