Thread by @heyblake

Never been a better time in history to make digital dough.

Here's 42 ways to make your first $1 online:

Tactic:

Sell a Notion template

Strategy:

Create a template for a common process you go through in Notion. Add explainer sections on each page for context. Make the page public. Set up a product on Gumroad.

Tool to help:

@gumroad

Tactic:
Create an online course

Strategy:

Make a short 1-hour course from a topic you know well. Use a mix of video and text to display the info. Ask for feedback often and improve the product.

Tool to help:

@sayfloat

Tactic:

Sell access to a Google Sheet or Airtable

Strategy:

Create a database of valuable info, creators, or tools. Organize the info neatly in a spreadsheet. Sell access to view and duplicate the sheet.

Tool to help:

@paytable

Tactic:

Use permissionless apprenticeship to turn into opportunities

Strategy:

Identify someone you want to work with. Do work for them related to your skillset without asking. Deliver and start the conversation.

Tool to help:

@twitter (H/t to @brandonthezhang)

Tactic:

Sell website themes

Strategy:

Whether you want to do this for Wordpress, Squarespace, Ghost, or custom sites: build a simple functional template to offer as a product.

Tool to help:

@figmadesign (H/t @dr)

Tactic:
Sell Figma templates

Strategy:

Create reusable mockups, wireframes, or landing page templates. Load them onto a marketplace like Gumroad and sell away.

Tool to help:

@gumroad

Tactic:

Offer website audits

Strategy:

Build a storehouse of social proof by doing 10 free website audits. Create a landing page to sell the service and include this work already done. Record video audits and send links to customers after.

Tool to help:

@loom

Tactic:

Put everything you know into a short book

Strategy:

Write a really short, tactical book about your skillset or niche. Give away learnings that took you years to earn.

Tool to help:

@gumroad (H/t @mkhundmiri)

Tactic:

Make a premium training video and sell access

Strategy:

Write an in-depth outline first. Make sure you have legitimate value to add. Record a 30-minute training for a specific skill or idea. Sell on a marketplace.

Tool to help:

@WatchNebula (H/t @AliAbdaal)

Tactic:

Offer your skills for consulting

Strategy:

Create content around your core offering. Give away all your info for free, and make it clear in your bio that you consult on this.

Tool to help:

@linkedin

Tactic:

Affiliate marketing

Strategy:

Find a product you really like that has an affiliate program. Connect with their community manager or marketing team. Start selling their product for them.

Tool to help:

@getRewardful

Tactic:

Start a YouTube channel

Strategy:

Start making vlogs about your current learnings. Share them for a year consistently. Turn on ads if you wish, or wait for sponsorship opportunities.

Tool to help:

@Camtasia (H/t @MKBHD)

Tactic:

Sell simple logos

Strategy:

Most people are bad at designing. find the ones that need help and offer to design a simple logo for cheap.

Tool to help:

@canva (H/t @fabianarbor)

Tactic:

Buy cool domains and resell with branding

Strategy:

Go to Namecheap. Find a really cool (preferably short) .com, .io, .to, .co, or .so. Buy it, design a logo and color palette for it, and resell.

Tool to help:

@Namecheap

Tactic:

Teach companies how to use Notion, Asana, Hubspot, etc.

Strategy:

Pick a tool you have mastered. Set up a Twitter search for "tool"+"help" or something similar. Look thru results regularly and DM people with a consulting offer.

Tool to help:

Twitter Advanced Search

Tactic:

Start a paid community

Strategy:

Pick a very specific topic to discuss. Create premium content regularly around that topic. Put it inside a gated community. Invite people inside the community and build relationships.

Tool to help:

@Patreon (H/t @davegerhardt)

Tactic:

Edit podcast audio

Strategy:

A lot of folks have podcasts. Find them in Twitter Advanced Search by searching "podcast editing"+"help". DM potential opportunities.

Tool to help:

@DescriptApp (for editing podcasts quickly)

Tactic:

Edit videos

Strategy:

Search for smaller YouTubers and other video creators you could help. Find them in Twitter Advanced Search by searching "video editing"+"help". DM potential opportunities.

Tool to help:

@veedstudio (for editing videos quickly)

Tactic:

Write copy variants for businesses to test

Strategy:

Seek out people that need help with copywriting. Offer a simple package of 10 headline variants for $100.

Tool to help:

@copy_ai (for generating copy)

Tactic:

Start a blog and run ads

Strategy:

This one will take a while. Start writing about an interesting topic. Publish weekly for a year to build the muscle. Turn on ads when you have a bit of traffic.

Tool to help:

@ghost (H/t @stephsmithio)

Tactic:

Start a newsletter and accept small sponsors

Strategy:

Determine your 3-5 content buckets (topics you'll write about). Write a backlog of 10 emails. Set up a welcome email sequence. Publish for 6 months. Start accepting sponsors.

Tool to help:

@revue

Tactic:

Do part-time social media management for a small brand

Strategy:

Search for smaller brands you could help. Find them in Twitter Advanced Search by searching "social media"+"help". DM potential opportunities.

Tool to help:

@buffer (for scheduling social posts)

Tactic:

Create content and ask for donations

Strategy:

Make great content on your website. Publish consistently. Place a "Buy me a coffee" link under each article. Encourage people to support you, but give everything away for free.

Tool to help:

@buymeacoffee

Tactic:

Sell photos and designs

Strategy:

Take great photos or make interesting graphic designs. Find third-party marketplaces online and sell them.

Tool to help:

@Etsy

Tactic:

Start a mastermind group

Strategy:

Gather a few leaders in your niche. Agree to start a monthly mastermind group. Each month, you'll meet and instruct the group on core topics. Charge others for entry.

Tool to help:

@whereby (for hosting the sessions)

Tactic:

Sell access to a super-specific calculator

Strategy:

Make a calculator that solves a specific problem in your niche (e.g. a TAM calculator for your startup idea). Gate it on your website and charge for access.

Tool to help:

@OutgrowCo

Tactic:

Sell a checklist for a complicated process in your niche

Strategy:

Take a difficult process that is commonly required in your niche. Write a checklist covering the exact way to get through that process.

Tool to help:

@gumroad

Tactic:

Build a swipe file and sell access

Strategy:

Always be compiling. Gather valuable articles, ads, snippets, etc. from the web and place into your swipe file. Sell access when you have a good amount of content.

Tool to help:

@box (for storing files)

Tactic:

Design social media banners

Strategy:

Look around daily on your favorite social apps for accounts with good content, but bad banners. Offer to design them a better one.

Tool to help:

@MagicPattern

Tactic:

Write a monthly handwritten letter and charge to send it to people

Strategy:

Who says handwritten letters are dead? If you wanna stand out, this is one way to do it. Write your newsletter the old-fashioned way and send one out monthly.

Tool to help:

@Handwrytten

Tactic:

Host a paid event

Strategy:

Gather a lineup of good speakers to join you. Create a couple 30-minute livestream presentations. Promote the event and sell access.

Tool to help:

@zoom

Tactic:

Sell your coaching on Superpeer

Strategy:

Set up live calls with people you can help. Offer your time in exchange for an hourly rate.

Tool to help:

@superpeer

Tactic:

Build an email course

Strategy:

Create an online course, but split up the content into a 7-day email drip instead. Sell access from your main landing page and give instant access. First email sends out right away.

Tool to help:

@ConvertKit

Tactic:

Take notes on long podcasts and Clubhouse rooms and sell the docs

Strategy:

Listen to a full session, taking detailed notes along the way. Sell access to the notes for those who missed the session.

Tool to help:

@RoamResearch (for taking and organizing notes)

Tactic:

Summarize core points of books and sell the notes

Strategy:

Read a full book. Compile all your highlights and notes, as well as a good summary of the book in a doc. Sell access to the doc.

Tool to help:

@notionhq

Tactic:

Draw comic strips

Strategy:

Find popular creators. Design comic strips of their recent content. Ask them to share with their audience, and offer your services to make comics for anyone else who wants to buy.

Tool to help:

@Procreate

Tactic:

Design people's tweets into Instagram photos

Strategy:

Set up a direct process in Bannerbear to take an image of a tweet in a folder, and transform it into an Instagram post. Sell these to any who wants to order.

Tool to help:

@bannerbearHQ

Tactic:

Sell access to a private Slack group

Strategy:

Create a small community around a niche topic. Treat this as a mastermind group and a way to share extremely valuable info. Sell access to the Slack group on your landing page.

Tool to help:

@LaunchPass

Tactic:

Build a micro SaaS

Strategy:

Identify a small problem you have in your workflow. Ask other people if they care about solving the same problem. Build a tiny solution. Share it with the world.

Tool to help:

@bubble

Tactic:

Sell a content calendar template

Strategy:

Everyone wants to make more content and get organized. Make a super easy template and share it with content creators for a small fee.

Tool to help:

@airtable

Tactic:

Create a paid newsletter

Strategy:

Determine your 3-5 content buckets (topics you'll write about). Write a backlog of 10 emails. Set up a welcome email sequence. Sell access to the newsletter.

Tool to help:

@substackinc

Tactic:

Sell business ideas

Strategy:

Commit to coming up with 5 new business ideas a week. Sell them as a bundle for a small cost weekly.

Tool to help:

@copy_ai (for brainstorming ideas)

That's all, folks!

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