651: How to Make Money on LinkedIn

0:00:02 All right, these are the three types of posts you need
0:00:03 to make money on LinkedIn.
0:00:05 How to do LinkedIn as a side hustler
0:00:07 in the common and costly mistake
0:00:10 you’re probably making on LinkedIn.
0:00:11 This is The Side Hustle Show.
0:00:14 It is the business podcast you can actually apply.
0:00:17 Today’s guest has taken his LinkedIn ghost writing
0:00:20 side hustle from zero to a multi-six figure business
0:00:23 generating millions of impressions along the way.
0:00:23 And he’s here to fill us in
0:00:26 on how to make money on LinkedIn this year
0:00:29 from JoeMcKye.info.
0:00:29 JoeMcKye.
0:00:31 Welcome to The Side Hustle Show.
0:00:32 Thanks for having me, Nick.
0:00:33 I’m really looking forward to our chat today.
0:00:34 And me as well.
0:00:38 LinkedIn has long been ignored as a social platform for me.
0:00:39 And after our LinkedIn lesson,
0:00:41 Joe’s got a business idea to donate.
0:00:42 So be sure to stick around for that.
0:00:44 Plus we’ve got the triple threat.
0:00:46 This is Joe’s favorite tool, tactic, and book
0:00:48 from the last 12 months.
0:00:50 But let’s kick it off with those three types of posts
0:00:54 that every LinkedIn side hustler needs to do.
0:00:56 So I try and keep things really, really simple.
0:00:58 Like there is a lot of advice out there.
0:01:01 For me, it is as simple as three types of posts.
0:01:03 The first type of post that I look at
0:01:05 is really about awareness.
0:01:09 So this is usually gonna be a story about you,
0:01:10 about your side hustle,
0:01:12 about where the idea came from,
0:01:13 about why you love what you’re doing,
0:01:14 why you’re passionate about it.
0:01:16 Maybe some of the struggles or the fails
0:01:18 that you’ve had along the way.
0:01:19 And so this kind of a story-based post
0:01:23 is really meant to reach as many people as possible
0:01:24 to drive awareness.
0:01:26 And to get your photo and your headline
0:01:28 and your name in front of as many people as you can.
0:01:30 So I think that’s kind of the starting point,
0:01:33 is going broad and telling a story.
0:01:35 – Okay, we will go into some examples of all of these.
0:01:37 – Yeah, sure. – But go ahead.
0:01:40 – So the second type of post that I think of
0:01:43 is really around educating your target audience.
0:01:45 So we’re starting to get a little bit narrower
0:01:47 in who we’re speaking to here.
0:01:49 You wanna try and demonstrate that you’re the expert
0:01:52 or you’re the person that they should reach out to
0:01:55 when they face the problem that you solve.
0:01:57 So you’re trying to either educate them
0:01:59 around a problem that they might have
0:02:02 and teach your target audience how to solve that problem.
0:02:05 You might unpack how you got a result for a client
0:02:07 or a great client story.
0:02:09 You might share a mental model or a framework
0:02:12 or something that you apply in your side hustle with clients.
0:02:14 And so really that next kind of layer
0:02:16 of your three-layered content strategy
0:02:20 is around building trust and demonstrating your expertise
0:02:21 with a relevant audience.
0:02:25 So it’s less about kind of breadth and volume of eyeballs
0:02:28 and more about focusing in on who you’re talking to
0:02:30 and targeting them more specifically.
0:02:31 – Okay, got it.
0:02:33 – And the third post that you really need to,
0:02:35 and this is where I see a lot of people
0:02:38 leaving money on the table is to make an offer.
0:02:41 So a lot of people assume that by telling some stories
0:02:44 and building some trust that customers will come to them
0:02:46 and that can happen.
0:02:48 But it’s really important to consistently
0:02:52 and regularly remind people exactly what you do,
0:02:54 who you help, how you help them
0:02:55 and then how they can work with you
0:02:58 and kind of make that offer and put that in front of them
0:03:01 with a clear simple call to action that someone can follow.
0:03:05 That might be send me a DM, that might be join my newsletter.
0:03:07 So making that offer, making an offer of some kind
0:03:10 and putting it in front of your target audience
0:03:13 rather than hoping that they kind of come to you
0:03:14 and know what action to take.
0:03:15 – Got it.
0:03:18 So at the end of the post or even it could be
0:03:21 the whole post itself is an offer type of post.
0:03:22 Hey, if you want more of this,
0:03:25 I send out a newsletter every Thursday on this topic.
0:03:27 You know, make sure you join so you never miss one.
0:03:30 Send me a message or book a discovery call,
0:03:33 inviting people to take that next step
0:03:36 to deepen the relationship or do business with you.
0:03:37 – Yeah, absolutely.
0:03:39 So that call to action kind of sits at the end,
0:03:41 whether it’s, yeah, what I think of as like a light lift
0:03:43 call to action, which would be join my newsletter
0:03:46 or follow me through to a really like a heavier lift,
0:03:48 kind of a higher value call to action,
0:03:50 which is, as you said, book a discovery call,
0:03:52 book a strategy call,
0:03:53 depending obviously on your side hustle
0:03:55 and the service you’re offering.
0:03:57 And what goes really well as kind of the content
0:04:02 of those offer-led posts is customer testimonials,
0:04:04 great client results that you’ve received,
0:04:06 you know, where you can demonstrate ROI
0:04:09 of whatever it is that you’re offering.
0:04:12 If you kind of start with that and potentially a story,
0:04:13 you know, a customer story around that
0:04:16 and then have a call to action that follows,
0:04:18 that’s a really powerful combination.
0:04:19 – Okay, so I could put something like,
0:04:23 I could reformat a story from the podcast
0:04:26 and put that on LinkedIn as a text-based post
0:04:27 or maybe with some image,
0:04:28 we can talk about those type of tactics too.
0:04:31 And then the, if you want more stories like this,
0:04:33 make sure to follow the side hustle show,
0:04:34 some framework like that.
0:04:35 – Absolutely.
0:04:38 So, you know, if someone gets to the bottom of your post,
0:04:39 you’ve grabbed their attention,
0:04:40 you’ve obviously piqued their interest,
0:04:43 it’s really important to give them a next step to take
0:04:45 before they just go scrolling by.
0:04:48 – Has LinkedIn gone like more algorithm-based
0:04:49 versus more follower-based
0:04:53 where if you create something, you know,
0:04:56 maybe only have a hundred connections or something like,
0:04:57 I don’t necessarily need those people to see it,
0:04:59 but I would like the broader world to see it.
0:05:03 If I hit that viral thread, just right like,
0:05:04 is that gonna happen?
0:05:06 And do I have the ability to, you know,
0:05:08 go beyond my existing network here?
0:05:09 – Yeah, absolutely.
0:05:12 That shift is coming to the algorithm on LinkedIn.
0:05:14 It’s kind of arrived already.
0:05:17 And I think I’m seeing it getting more exaggerated.
0:05:22 So you are more likely than ever to see yet viral type,
0:05:23 more algorithm-led content
0:05:26 versus content from your direct network.
0:05:27 And I think that can be a good and a bad thing.
0:05:29 – Yeah, as a user, it’s getting bad
0:05:31 because it’s like, you know, Facebook, Instagram,
0:05:32 like they’re serving me up,
0:05:34 all sorts of stuff from accounts pages
0:05:36 that I have never followed, never really interacted with.
0:05:40 But they’re like, well, you watch this one ski video.
0:05:42 So we think you’re gonna like this one too.
0:05:44 And you’re like, well, dang it, you’re right.
0:05:46 Or you looked at this one data map.
0:05:48 I don’t know, I love looking at these.
0:05:50 So, and of course, you spent a long time staring at it.
0:05:52 And so they’re like, oh, this guy’s really engaged
0:05:53 with this stuff.
0:05:54 And so they show you more of that.
0:05:55 And it’s good to back.
0:05:56 You’re like, well, I didn’t ask for that.
0:05:59 You know, you didn’t, I didn’t follow this page,
0:06:00 but, you know, for those content creators,
0:06:03 they’re able to reach a much wider audience
0:06:04 than they otherwise would have.
0:06:06 So I could see the positive side of it too.
0:06:07 – Yeah, it is certainly a mixed bag,
0:06:09 but if you do have a small audience,
0:06:11 it’s still, it’s possible to go viral.
0:06:13 It’s possible to reach, you know, much wider
0:06:16 than your own kind of first degree network.
0:06:18 But for me, I’m still trying to bring it back
0:06:22 to your target audience and who is likely to buy from you.
0:06:24 You know, that’s ultimately who you really want
0:06:25 to get in front of.
0:06:28 The eyeballs can feel good and going viral can feel good,
0:06:30 but really you’re there, especially on a platform
0:06:32 like LinkedIn and for side hustlers,
0:06:34 you are trying to turn that into a commercial opportunity.
0:06:36 So getting in front of the right audience
0:06:38 is the most important thing.
0:06:42 Are you proactively making connection requests
0:06:45 or is it kind of relying on this content first strategy
0:06:48 to grow that network or that follower base on the platform?
0:06:51 – Well, I think you definitely need both.
0:06:54 So I think one of the most powerful aspects of LinkedIn
0:06:58 is this ability to search by industry, by job title,
0:06:59 by company.
0:07:02 So if you’re selling a service or have an offer
0:07:05 that kind of relates to a certain type of worker
0:07:07 or someone who works in a specific industry
0:07:09 or with a certain job title,
0:07:13 it’s a really powerful tool to do that proactive outreach
0:07:15 and build your audience, like take it into your own hands
0:07:18 to build, curate an audience that’s gonna be relevant
0:07:20 to you by sending those connection requests.
0:07:23 Then your content strategy is really what becomes
0:07:25 your shop window, kind of becomes your,
0:07:27 the proof point that you know what you’re talking about
0:07:29 when they look at that connection request from you,
0:07:31 when they see you show up in the feed,
0:07:34 that’s where that kind of trust building comes in
0:07:37 and hopefully you then able to put an offer
0:07:38 in front of a relevant audience later.
0:07:41 So I believe the two really need to sit together.
0:07:42 You need to go out and build your own audience
0:07:45 and then create content to feed that audience
0:07:46 and nurture them.
0:07:49 – Is there a rule of thumb for how many requests
0:07:50 to send on a daily or weekly basis
0:07:53 without hitting some spam and red flags?
0:07:56 – It’s more of a rule of Microsoft than a rule of thumb.
0:07:59 I think you can send 100 connection requests per week.
0:08:02 And I think that doubles if you have LinkedIn Premium.
0:08:03 – Okay.
0:08:04 – If you’re doing it manually,
0:08:07 you’ll just get told that you’ve hit the limit.
0:08:09 There are some automation tools out there
0:08:10 which LinkedIn is aware of
0:08:13 and is cracking down on some of that stuff.
0:08:14 I’ve never used kind of an automation tool
0:08:16 to grow my audience.
0:08:17 You can and they plug in,
0:08:20 but I know that LinkedIn is tightening the screws on those.
0:08:21 – Got it.
0:08:22 Okay.
0:08:24 I want to go back to the top of the funnel,
0:08:27 this awareness type of post.
0:08:29 Can you give us some examples or frameworks
0:08:32 of it’s got to be hook, story.
0:08:35 I’m glad to, there’s a handful tools in your tool belt
0:08:39 that work really well to try and drive this initial awareness.
0:08:40 – Yeah, absolutely.
0:08:43 Look, something that I’m seeing work really well
0:08:46 at the moment, ’cause I think like all social media,
0:08:49 LinkedIn can be a place of overblown positivity.
0:08:51 It feels like everyone’s making seven figures
0:08:53 in their sleep and conquering the world.
0:08:56 And so talking about a challenge that you faced,
0:08:58 talking about a fail that you had or a mistake
0:09:01 that you made along the way in starting a side hustle
0:09:04 or building a side hustle is a really great way to,
0:09:06 people want to see that’s compelling content.
0:09:08 People do want to learn what happened,
0:09:11 but it’s also a way to be authentic and share,
0:09:13 I guess a little bit behind the scenes
0:09:15 and build that trust kind of at the same time.
0:09:19 So I try and use LinkedIn in a really honest way.
0:09:21 There is obviously some polish and some curation
0:09:24 that goes into putting something out in public.
0:09:27 So I guess what I think of is we have a personal life
0:09:28 and we have a private life.
0:09:30 And if you can get close to that line,
0:09:33 so if you can share something from your personal life,
0:09:35 especially like as a side hustle or as a solopreneur,
0:09:37 we are the brand, we are the business.
0:09:39 If you can get close to that line
0:09:41 where you’re kind of almost in your private life
0:09:43 without breach any trust or sharing anything
0:09:45 that you’re not comfortable sharing,
0:09:48 that can be a really rich vein of stories and ideas
0:09:50 and things that you can share
0:09:53 that will resonate with a wider audience.
0:09:56 – Okay, the opening line that I see over and over again,
0:09:59 and you can probably apply this at just about any niche
0:10:02 is like a hundred million people use chat GPT,
0:10:05 but 99% of them are using it wrong
0:10:08 or half of America has a side hustle,
0:10:10 but 99% of the people aren’t doing it right.
0:10:12 And then it kind of goes in,
0:10:15 is this just a factor of people ripping off
0:10:16 what has worked for other people,
0:10:18 like other viral threads or other viral posts
0:10:21 and saying like, well, how can I apply this to my,
0:10:23 I guess that’s one way to reverse engineer it.
0:10:24 – Yeah, look, there certainly are.
0:10:28 And if you spend as much time as I have on LinkedIn
0:10:29 over the last couple of years,
0:10:33 you do start to spot these almost canned templated hooks.
0:10:34 – Yeah.
0:10:37 – The 99%, you know, really specific numbers
0:10:40 and figures in opening hooks are really popular.
0:10:41 So there is a lot of that.
0:10:43 And I think that can, tactics like that can help.
0:10:44 And, you know, there’s any number of creators
0:10:47 you can go and purchase some hook templates
0:10:48 or some post templates from.
0:10:53 But I predict in 2025, we’re gonna see more focus on,
0:10:55 I’m calling it norm core content.
0:10:58 So more your crocs and socks style content,
0:11:02 like content that is genuine, it’s real,
0:11:03 it may not be as polished,
0:11:06 but it’s based on kind of genuine insight, I guess,
0:11:11 is what I’m hoping at least to see take over more this year.
0:11:14 There will always be that tendency
0:11:16 to viral kind of templated style hooks,
0:11:19 but I don’t think it serves you in the long term.
0:11:20 – As somebody who creates a lot of content,
0:11:23 but never finds the time or prioritizes the time
0:11:26 to post on social media or something.
0:11:28 Where it’s like, how can I take this,
0:11:31 this long form podcast interview as one example
0:11:34 and like, you know, crank it through some machine
0:11:36 where it comes out as like a coherent,
0:11:39 you know, LinkedIn formatted type of post.
0:11:40 – So there’s a few.
0:11:43 So I mean, for video repurposing specifically,
0:11:45 you’ve got Opus Pro, which does a really good job
0:11:48 of taking long form content and creating clips.
0:11:49 – Okay.
0:11:50 – I think you’re a descript user.
0:11:52 Descript has started offering that as well.
0:11:55 So vertical video as a format on LinkedIn
0:11:58 is really trending upwards.
0:12:01 LinkedIn has installed a kind of a TikTok style video feed.
0:12:04 So for you, as someone who’s going to have a lot of
0:12:06 video content up your sleeve,
0:12:08 some simple repurposing, some shorts,
0:12:09 that kind of thing could work really well.
0:12:13 In terms of going from a video into like a text-based post,
0:12:15 chat GPT can be really helpful to help you kind of
0:12:18 pull out key stories and moments.
0:12:21 I tend to lean towards moments in a conversation,
0:12:23 like if it’s a podcast, or for me,
0:12:26 if it’s a coaching call with a solopreneur or with a client,
0:12:29 the moments when I’m feeling like I’m leaning
0:12:31 into the conversation and I can tell they’re leaning in
0:12:35 if I’m sharing an example or a framework or a story,
0:12:38 my brain is kind of just, is tracking those moments
0:12:40 when it feels like something important is kind of passing
0:12:42 through the airwaves, if that makes sense.
0:12:45 So I use a lot of tools to help what I do,
0:12:47 but I’m also, at the end of the day,
0:12:49 just trying to use my own antenna
0:12:51 from the conversations I’m having to go,
0:12:53 that felt like a moment or that felt like an anecdote
0:12:56 or a story or a model that would be relevant
0:12:58 would be good to share.
0:12:59 So for me, it’s that combination of tools
0:13:03 and then that human element of just feeling the moment,
0:13:06 I guess, if that’s kind of hard to explain.
0:13:09 – Yeah, and you can look through your own feed
0:13:11 to see what is showing up, what is working
0:13:14 and obviously apply that to your own voice
0:13:15 and to your own niche.
0:13:18 – Absolutely, I think there is an element
0:13:20 of reverse engineering that’s possible
0:13:22 and that’s helpful, see the types of posts
0:13:25 that you resonate with and see what you could apply
0:13:28 from your own history, your own story, your own lessons.
0:13:32 But novel content, I think, is really important as well.
0:13:34 What’s something that only you could write about
0:13:37 or a post that only you could create.
0:13:40 – More LinkedIn tactics with Joe in just a moment,
0:13:42 including what not to include in your posts,
0:13:46 plus the best times to post right after this.
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0:15:57 – As far as the format, this is really helpful.
0:15:59 It’s like, oh, there may be a somewhat of a blue ocean
0:16:01 in short form video on this platform
0:16:03 because this hasn’t historically been
0:16:04 a short form video platform.
0:16:07 And so that’s like, you know, getting more eyeballs.
0:16:08 Anything else, best practices,
0:16:12 as far as images versus text versus video
0:16:13 versus putting a link in the text,
0:16:15 like all these little nitty-gritty tactics?
0:16:16 – Yeah, absolutely.
0:16:19 So LinkedIn really wants to keep people on platform.
0:16:22 So posts that include external links
0:16:24 will get punished by the algorithm.
0:16:27 You know, LinkedIn will try and suppress those to an extent.
0:16:30 So if you include like a YouTube link in your post
0:16:32 or a link to your sign up to your newsletter directly,
0:16:34 that can, that will really harm your reach.
0:16:37 The flip side is you’re gonna get a better conversion rate.
0:16:39 If it’s easy for someone to see your post
0:16:41 and then click out to something.
0:16:42 So that’s sometimes a trade-off
0:16:43 that you might be willing to make.
0:16:46 Adding images to posts certainly helps,
0:16:48 particularly if they are a story-led post.
0:16:50 The classic LinkedIn selfies
0:16:51 is a bit of a thing for a reason.
0:16:53 It does seem to help the algorithm.
0:16:55 – Sorry, what do you mean by that?
0:16:56 – Well, it’s just again,
0:16:59 I’ve spent a lot of time in the big blue box
0:17:01 and you’ll see a lot of creators
0:17:04 who are just adding random selfies to kind of every post.
0:17:08 And it’s a grab for reach and it definitely works.
0:17:10 Just for me, it’s worth that line
0:17:11 of how you wanna present your brand
0:17:14 and what’s relevant to the post or to the story.
0:17:16 But adding a selfie, adding a photo of yourself
0:17:18 will definitely improve the reach of that post.
0:17:19 – Interesting, okay.
0:17:21 – Yeah, what other tips can I share?
0:17:23 So video is absolutely on the rise.
0:17:27 Like I’m really leaning into video for 2025, short form video.
0:17:28 And then your text posts,
0:17:32 I think the key is to avoid slabs of text.
0:17:34 Like paragraphs and paragraphs of text
0:17:35 are just hard to digest.
0:17:37 You use plenty of white space.
0:17:39 Hit the enter button, give it lots of line breaks,
0:17:41 short paragraphs, make it easy on the brain.
0:17:45 And for yourself or for your clients,
0:17:48 any rules regarding why I gotta post three times a day,
0:17:49 I gotta post three times a week,
0:17:52 like what kind of frequency are you finding works best?
0:17:53 – The kind of 80/20 rule
0:17:54 where you’re gonna get 80% of the value
0:17:56 is three times a week.
0:18:00 And for me, I would suggest Monday, Wednesday, Friday,
0:18:03 sometime before most people would start work
0:18:04 in your own local time.
0:18:06 So for me, like I try and schedule posts
0:18:10 to go out at 8.30 a.m. where I am, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
0:18:12 That’s a really simple, and again,
0:18:15 if you tie it back to that three posts that we’re looking at,
0:18:17 you could share roughly one of those each week
0:18:18 on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
0:18:20 And that’s a really simple,
0:18:22 manageable, effective content strategy
0:18:24 that’s gonna help you kind of feed the algorithm
0:18:25 the way it needs to be fed,
0:18:29 but also not spend forever creating content for LinkedIn.
0:18:31 – Is there a way to batch, schedule those,
0:18:33 like upload and schedule in advance?
0:18:36 Or do they prefer you like drafting them in platform
0:18:38 and just hitting enter live?
0:18:40 – No, so scheduling is a thing.
0:18:43 So you can absolutely, there’s a little clock icon
0:18:44 when you write a post,
0:18:47 you’ll see a little clock icon next to the post button
0:18:49 and that’s where you can schedule.
0:18:51 So for me, I’m trying to batch at least a week in a time
0:18:54 and get myself a week’s runway in advance.
0:18:56 You can get it done really quick.
0:18:57 – Yeah, the second type of post,
0:18:59 we talked about the awareness post.
0:19:01 These were norm core content.
0:19:02 This could be short form videos.
0:19:05 This could be struggles, fails.
0:19:07 I used to think this, but now I think this.
0:19:10 It could be trying to build awareness for who you are,
0:19:12 what you do kind of thing.
0:19:15 The education piece seems perhaps simpler.
0:19:16 It’s like, well, this is what,
0:19:17 especially if it’s,
0:19:18 if you’re building a business around stuff
0:19:20 you already know and do,
0:19:23 here’s the seven steps to do XYZ.
0:19:25 It could be some results that you’ve gotten
0:19:26 for a previous client.
0:19:28 It could be a tool or tactic that it’s helping you.
0:19:33 Like, I think the education piece is maybe easier
0:19:34 to come up with and like,
0:19:36 oh, what would be a viral idea in this niche?
0:19:38 Like, oh, that’s more intimidating.
0:19:40 But what do you see working on the education side?
0:19:43 – The secret source with this is that the best content,
0:19:45 the most relevant content that’s going to resonate
0:19:47 with your target audience
0:19:50 is not going to be created from scratch.
0:19:51 It’s going to be harvested.
0:19:53 It’s going to be found in the interactions
0:19:55 you’re already having with your customers.
0:19:57 So like I was saying before,
0:20:00 if I’m on a coaching call and I’m sharing a lesson
0:20:02 or a client shares a problem
0:20:04 or a question that they’re facing with me,
0:20:06 that question or that problem
0:20:08 can kind of become the opening hook.
0:20:10 And then my answer, the way I respond to that
0:20:13 or how I help them solve that is the body of the post.
0:20:16 And so I’m always looking at repurposing content,
0:20:19 not across formats or across platforms,
0:20:23 but really across like between delivery,
0:20:25 between sales and between marketing.
0:20:28 I think you can always be repurposing across those.
0:20:30 So you might get onto a discovery call
0:20:33 and the objections that you commonly hear
0:20:33 or the questions you get
0:20:36 before someone decides to purchase from you.
0:20:41 Those can be fantastic ideas for content that builds truck.
0:20:44 Answer those questions in content.
0:20:49 – Now, I really like this Q&A type of creative process
0:20:52 where especially if you’re already going
0:20:53 through the trouble of answering this question,
0:20:55 it’s like, okay, could you make a note
0:20:57 or could you repurpose that to a new platform?
0:20:59 Sure, you’re going to have to reformat it.
0:21:01 You’re going to have to find an image or take a selfie
0:21:04 and figure out how to answer that.
0:21:05 But we had a guest years ago.
0:21:08 We said, this is the single most important document
0:21:09 that I keep on my computer.
0:21:10 It’s my questions database.
0:21:13 It’s the list of questions that people ask me.
0:21:14 And the reason it’s important
0:21:17 is one, it fuels this future content.
0:21:19 But second, it kind of gives you these little hints
0:21:23 and clues as to what your perceived areas of expertise are
0:21:25 where even if you don’t have a side hustle yet,
0:21:27 well, what are people asking you questions about?
0:21:29 That’s something that they think you might have
0:21:30 the answer to.
0:21:33 They probably know more about than the average person,
0:21:35 at least more than the person asking you.
0:21:37 And so I tried to do this for a while,
0:21:39 like in a Google sheet and it was like really tedious.
0:21:40 So I just have, in Facebook,
0:21:43 I have a saved label as questions
0:21:45 and same thing in email, in Gmail,
0:21:47 like I have a label as questions.
0:21:48 So I can drag stuff over there.
0:21:50 I want to get email questions.
0:21:53 And in my case, that turns into Q and A episodes,
0:21:55 but it could just as easily turn into Q and A content
0:21:58 here on LinkedIn, under this education category.
0:21:59 – Yeah, absolutely.
0:22:01 It’s such an important way to think about
0:22:04 harvesting content rather than starting from scratch.
0:22:06 And the hardest thing about creating any content
0:22:07 is that blank page.
0:22:11 And so whatever you can use to get past that
0:22:12 is super valuable.
0:22:14 The other one I would touch on,
0:22:19 this idea of trying to take people onto the workshop,
0:22:20 like give them a tour of the workshop
0:22:23 of what it’s like to work with you
0:22:25 or to engage with your, to receive your service
0:22:27 or your product or your offer.
0:22:29 Kind of showing them behind the scenes,
0:22:30 whatever that might look like.
0:22:33 So it might be a shot of where you record the podcast
0:22:36 or a deliverable that you give to clients
0:22:39 or what the onboarding document might look like.
0:22:41 Things like that, assets, collateral,
0:22:43 stuff that you’ve got lying around your side hustle
0:22:45 that give people a tour of the workshop,
0:22:49 I think really valuable content resources as well.
0:22:51 – Yeah, how the sausage gets made.
0:22:53 You know, my friends in e-commerce do this really well.
0:22:55 Like, “Hey, new shipment just came in.”
0:22:56 Like, “Okay, great.”
0:22:58 Or we don’t have any room in the warehouse.
0:23:01 Like now it’s an excuse to throw a liquidation mini sale
0:23:02 or something.
0:23:04 Our local ski area does this really well.
0:23:05 They’re always like over,
0:23:06 even over the course of the summer,
0:23:08 like it’s not ski season, nobody’s thinking about this.
0:23:09 But they’re showing like,
0:23:11 here’s the improvements that we’re making to our mountain.
0:23:14 Look, we’re, you know, airlifting in new chairlift poles
0:23:15 with a helicopter.
0:23:17 And it’s like, they got some cool drone footage of this.
0:23:18 And you may not have that,
0:23:20 but you might have it on a smaller scale.
0:23:23 So I like this behind the scenes type of content.
0:23:24 I think that could be really cool.
0:23:26 Like building that trust.
0:23:29 Like another touch point to build up that trust.
0:23:32 Now, Joe, the question that comes up
0:23:34 a lot specifically related to LinkedIn is,
0:23:37 “Hey, I’m trying to start a side hustle.”
0:23:40 LinkedIn is like my professional workplace network
0:23:41 for my day job,
0:23:46 where there may not be a lot of overlap between the two
0:23:48 or I may not necessarily want my bot.
0:23:51 Hey, I saw you posting about some random,
0:23:53 like, you know, what’s that all about?
0:23:55 It’s like, how do you tow the line of,
0:23:57 what do I post publicly?
0:24:00 Where do I need to set up a separate profile
0:24:01 for my side hustle?
0:24:04 Like, and I get that this is the kind of a unique situation,
0:24:07 like facing people trying to start something on the side.
0:24:09 – Yeah, a lot of people are in this situation
0:24:11 for various reasons.
0:24:13 They haven’t had the conversation with their employer
0:24:15 or it’s not a possibility to have that conversation.
0:24:19 I think you can still get a lot of value out of LinkedIn
0:24:22 without doing anything above the surface, let’s say.
0:24:24 So I touched on before, you know,
0:24:27 the ability to search by job title, by industry,
0:24:31 by company, the direct message capabilities in LinkedIn
0:24:33 and the people that you can reach
0:24:35 and how focused you can get to a target audience
0:24:36 is really valuable.
0:24:39 So if you’re in that situation
0:24:42 where you’re not necessarily wanting to publicize
0:24:45 what you’re doing, then get into the direct messages.
0:24:48 It’s got good search functionality on LinkedIn.
0:24:50 You don’t need sales navigator.
0:24:51 LinkedIn premium I think is, you know,
0:24:54 about 70 bucks a month or 60 bucks a month.
0:24:57 And with that, you can get some better access
0:24:58 to connect with people.
0:25:01 And you can do a lot of really good work
0:25:06 in building a prospect list and selling just in the DMs.
0:25:08 So the way that I approach that,
0:25:10 or I would suggest people approach that,
0:25:12 is a simple A/B test.
0:25:16 So when you send a connection request on LinkedIn,
0:25:18 you can either send it just as is,
0:25:21 or you can add a short note up to 300 characters
0:25:22 to that request.
0:25:25 And so I would do like a 50/50 split, you know,
0:25:30 send 10 connection requests without a message attached,
0:25:32 send 10 with a simple message that, you know,
0:25:34 talks to the pain point you solve
0:25:36 or what a lot of customers talk to you about
0:25:39 and kind of position your service
0:25:42 and see which of the two kind of gets the best response rate
0:25:44 and then lean into that strategy.
0:25:45 – Got it.
0:25:46 And I imagine if you’re creating content
0:25:50 about your area of expertise at work, then it’s, you know,
0:25:53 okay, I’m building my professional network.
0:25:56 To me, it’s hard to imagine an employer
0:25:57 getting all upset about that.
0:26:00 And maybe where the challenging part comes in,
0:26:02 it’s like, well, I do this for my day job,
0:26:05 but now my LinkedIn profile is like completely out
0:26:06 and left field where I’m like,
0:26:08 hey, it says founder of such and such other,
0:26:09 you know, random company.
0:26:11 And then that’s like where it starts
0:26:14 to maybe look a little bit weird.
0:26:16 And I, you know, can get on my soapbox
0:26:18 and be like, look, your employer doesn’t own you
0:26:19 24 hours a day.
0:26:20 Like, what do they care?
0:26:21 You know, what you’re doing in your spare time.
0:26:24 But like, there’s still that like social norms piece of,
0:26:25 you know, workplace etiquette.
0:26:26 – Yeah, there is.
0:26:28 Look, I was fortunate enough
0:26:31 to just have a really open conversation, you know,
0:26:35 as part of accepting the last day job offer I had
0:26:37 before I went full time into my side hustle
0:26:39 was to have that conversation that, you know,
0:26:41 this is the side hustle that I’ve got.
0:26:44 My LinkedIn channel is a key business tool
0:26:45 for that side hustle.
0:26:48 And that channel, I guess, belongs to me.
0:26:50 And not every employer will be as understanding,
0:26:53 but from my perspective, if you can be proactive
0:26:56 and if you can kind of stay ahead of it
0:26:58 and be proactive with your communication,
0:27:00 you know, have that conversation in advance,
0:27:02 it’s going to be a load off your shoulders, you know,
0:27:05 rather than trying to wonder what your boss might be thinking,
0:27:06 but do as much as you can on the side.
0:27:09 Like if you can find a way to have that conversation,
0:27:10 then I think it’s valuable.
0:27:13 And even if the answer is not what you hope,
0:27:15 you’ll have more information, you’ll be in a position
0:27:18 to then maybe make a more informed decision from there.
0:27:20 – One of the exciting things about this is, yeah,
0:27:22 we’re trying to, you know, cast a wide net
0:27:25 with this awareness type of content.
0:27:26 We’re trying to narrow that funnel down
0:27:28 with this educational type of content.
0:27:30 And then we’re trying to close the deal
0:27:33 with this offer type of content.
0:27:35 And depending on what your offer is,
0:27:37 it may not take that many takers
0:27:41 to build a meaningful side income.
0:27:42 And I don’t know what was in your case,
0:27:44 where it’s like, okay, can we just hire you
0:27:45 to do this for us?
0:27:47 Like as people start raising their hand to say yes,
0:27:49 or for any of your clients,
0:27:52 can you share some of the results that you’ve seen
0:27:55 where people started to build their connections
0:27:58 and all of a sudden that translated into dollars and cents?
0:28:00 – Yeah, absolutely, for myself.
0:28:02 So it started with me just sharing my own thoughts
0:28:05 on LinkedIn regularly and getting a bit of traction
0:28:06 and engagement and just really enjoying that process
0:28:10 to then I remember vividly, my first client was a former boss
0:28:13 who was a partner in a management consultancy firm
0:28:16 and it was $500 for 10 posts.
0:28:20 And we did an interview, I redrafted his profile
0:28:22 and then shared 10 posts with him
0:28:24 and it scaled from there.
0:28:26 Like, and what I actually found was
0:28:28 being in the position of a side hustle.
0:28:31 So I spent 12 months where it was just a side hustle.
0:28:33 It was my evenings, it was my weekends.
0:28:34 I’ve got two young kids.
0:28:37 That meant that I priced the service at a level
0:28:41 that kind of reflected the value of that time to me,
0:28:42 of my free time to myself.
0:28:45 So my entry level package is a four figure investment
0:28:48 per month and that’s done for your content
0:28:51 and it’s kind of, it’s scaled from there.
0:28:52 As you say, it doesn’t take,
0:28:54 depending on the service you offer,
0:28:56 it doesn’t take many prospects
0:28:58 to build a really healthy side hustle
0:29:01 that you can start thinking more seriously about.
0:29:03 That was the case for me.
0:29:05 – Yeah, that’s awesome, congrats on building that.
0:29:06 I like that, I don’t know how you phrased it,
0:29:09 but it was like, I wanna make sure that I’m charging enough
0:29:12 to justify the free time that I’m spending here.
0:29:16 ‘Cause my alternative is hanging out with the family
0:29:18 or my alternative is sleeping with young kids
0:29:20 or my alternative is, you know,
0:29:22 doing any number of other hobbies.
0:29:24 And so you gotta make it worthwhile.
0:29:29 And if it is seen as side hustle or extra income,
0:29:33 then it’s take it or leave it.
0:29:35 You know, it is, this is the price.
0:29:37 I wanna circle back to this most common mistake
0:29:40 that you see people make with their profiles
0:29:41 or with their content there.
0:29:44 – Yeah, so the common mistake does relate to the offer.
0:29:47 And that is this idea that we assume that everyone
0:29:50 in our network knows exactly what to do next
0:29:52 if they wanna work with us.
0:29:55 You know, we assume that we’re creating all this content,
0:29:56 we’re sending these messages,
0:29:58 where we’ve updated our profile,
0:29:59 like it’s clear that we’ve got this side hustle,
0:30:02 this business in X, whatever it is,
0:30:04 and that just everyone knows where to find us.
0:30:07 And if they wanted to engage us or learn more,
0:30:09 that they would know exactly what step to take.
0:30:12 And that’s just not the reality.
0:30:14 – And even if it is, like, you know,
0:30:16 it puts a lot of the, you know,
0:30:21 onus on the prospect to take that leap of faith or like,
0:30:23 I don’t know, unless the pain is really,
0:30:25 really strong for them, it’s like, okay,
0:30:26 who is that guy again?
0:30:30 I gotta find their thing and sign up for the discovery call
0:30:31 or whatever the next step is.
0:30:34 But I don’t know, I’m kind of with you there.
0:30:35 You probably have been guilty of this.
0:30:38 You almost have to be reminded of it.
0:30:39 You know, there’s probably some marketing.
0:30:41 Oh, you gotta see the offer seven times
0:30:43 before you take action on it.
0:30:46 But there absolutely is something to this.
0:30:49 – Yeah, and so that’s where this offer post, you know,
0:30:51 making that offer, putting it in front of people regularly.
0:30:54 And it can literally be the same post
0:30:57 that you post once a month that says, here’s what I do.
0:31:00 Here’s the people that typically benefit most
0:31:01 from my services.
0:31:03 Here are some of the results I’ve received.
0:31:06 A book or discovery call or go to this website
0:31:09 if you’d like to learn more, send me a DM.
0:31:12 One thing that’s a really crispy good call to action
0:31:14 to use is send me a DM with info.
0:31:17 Like tell them exactly the message to send you
0:31:19 so that they don’t have to sit there in front
0:31:21 of a blank page again and go, you know,
0:31:23 dear Joe, I’ve been struggling with my business
0:31:25 or, you know, take that out of their hands
0:31:28 and just say, send me a DM with, you know, keyword
0:31:30 and I’ll send you some more information.
0:31:32 And just repeating that process regularly
0:31:33 and not being shy about that
0:31:37 because you’re adding new audience all the time.
0:31:40 People are busy and they’re scrolling through content.
0:31:42 And so putting that offer in front of them
0:31:46 on a consistent basis is going to help you grow your business.
0:31:47 – Okay, is that automated?
0:31:50 Like you see that all the time on Instagram specifically,
0:31:52 like, you know, through many chat or something
0:31:55 like comment, hustle and I’ll send you my, you know
0:31:57 free guide to XYZ.
0:31:59 – You can automate that.
0:32:01 I personally don’t.
0:32:05 I’m trying to just get a prospect to send me a DM
0:32:08 and then I’m handling those myself individually.
0:32:11 But that is another trend that’s going on LinkedIn
0:32:14 at the moment is, yeah, comment keyword
0:32:16 for a free copy of my guide.
0:32:20 Again, commenting is really good for virality,
0:32:22 but I’ve heard rumors that LinkedIn is cracking down
0:32:24 on this kind of behavior as well.
0:32:28 So I would be suggesting DM a keyword to me kind
0:32:32 of below the surface rather than a public comment.
0:32:34 – Yeah, that’s fair because it is obnoxious
0:32:37 to see people with really, really,
0:32:38 but I like, I know how the game is played.
0:32:41 So I could like have some level of appreciation for it,
0:32:43 but at the same time, like, really?
0:32:44 Is this what we’re going to do right now?
0:32:47 Okay, all right, well, that was awesome.
0:32:49 It was a great crash course on LinkedIn.
0:32:52 You got me inspired to kind of spruce up my profile
0:32:56 and maybe make a renewed effort to post anything
0:32:57 over there.
0:32:58 I don’t know, it’s probably been years since I posted,
0:33:02 but we can do that after the call.
0:33:03 More with Joe in just a moment,
0:33:05 including his business idea donation
0:33:08 for side hustle show listeners right after this.
0:33:11 Creating really great retail experiences is tough,
0:33:14 especially if you’ve got multiple stores, teams of staff,
0:33:16 fulfillment centers, separate workflows.
0:33:19 It’s a lot to deal with, but with Shopify Point of Sale,
0:33:22 you can do it all without complexity.
0:33:25 Shopify’s Point of Sale system is a unified command center
0:33:29 for your retail business, both online and in-store.
0:33:31 One thing that’s really cool about Shopify POS
0:33:33 is you can keep customers coming back
0:33:35 with personalized experiences
0:33:38 and collect that all-important first-party data
0:33:40 to give your marketing teams a competitive edge,
0:33:43 even if that marketing team is just you.
0:33:45 Now how about some data to back that up?
0:33:48 Businesses on Shopify POS see real results,
0:33:51 including a 22% better total cost of ownership
0:33:56 and benefits equivalent to an 8.9% uplift in sales.
0:33:56 Want more?
0:33:59 Check out shopify.com/sidehustle.
0:34:01 That’s all lower case and learn how to create
0:34:05 the best retail experiences without complexity.
0:34:09 Again, that’s at shopify.com/sidehustle.
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0:34:19 like you gotta do everything yourself.
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0:35:24 Let’s move on to round two.
0:35:27 This is donate a business idea.
0:35:30 This is something that you might start if you had more time.
0:35:32 This is something that you wish existed in the world.
0:35:35 This is something, you know, maybe you see an opportunity
0:35:37 you think listeners could run with.
0:35:39 And so with that, I’ll kick it back to you.
0:35:43 – Yeah, so I’ve spent a fair bit of time recently.
0:35:47 Like I would say a lot of people listening in chat GPT
0:35:49 and spend a lot of time at that very surface level,
0:35:51 you know, sending it funny prompts,
0:35:53 asking it random facts and figures,
0:35:55 but more recently have dived deeper
0:35:59 into building custom GPTs.
0:36:04 So you can train chat GPT on your coaching calls
0:36:06 with clients on your previous content,
0:36:10 essentially building a personalized AI tool for yourself.
0:36:13 And I could see a million and one different uses for this.
0:36:15 It might be a custom recipe GPT.
0:36:18 It might be activities to do with the kids
0:36:20 on a rainy weekend like custom GPT.
0:36:24 I think it doesn’t take much expertise
0:36:26 to be a couple of steps ahead
0:36:28 of where your average audience member
0:36:32 or average GPT user is to have a lot of capability
0:36:35 to build something that’s bespoke
0:36:39 to a like a one-to-one kind of custom GPT offer.
0:36:41 And I can just see so many different uses for it.
0:36:45 – Yeah, I had thought there was some sort of character limit
0:36:46 or internal memory.
0:36:49 And this could be just for chat GPT specifically,
0:36:52 where it’s like you can upload 4,000 words of something,
0:36:54 but it’s like, you’re talking about here,
0:36:59 what if we uploaded the last 600 episode transcripts
0:37:00 from the side hustle show?
0:37:03 Like some big body of work or, you know,
0:37:05 here’s a copy of my book, you know,
0:37:06 how would Nick answer these questions?
0:37:08 Like that’s kind of what you’re trying to ultimately build.
0:37:11 So this is kind of a separate tool.
0:37:12 I don’t know, where do you go to start
0:37:14 with something like that?
0:37:15 – Yeah, so you can go,
0:37:17 and this is based on kind of chat GPT
0:37:20 as it exists now in January, 2025.
0:37:23 But you can go into explore GPTs
0:37:26 and then you can hit the, there’s a plus icon
0:37:27 in the top right, I think.
0:37:31 And you do need to have the paid version of chat GPT.
0:37:34 And you can then add attachments to a knowledge base.
0:37:36 You give it a set of master prompts,
0:37:39 basically that it will follow every time,
0:37:41 build, add some attachments in a knowledge base.
0:37:42 And all of a sudden you can create
0:37:44 whatever kind of AI assistant you need.
0:37:47 It’s very powerful technology.
0:37:49 – And then the game plan would be
0:37:51 to sell this to another company?
0:37:53 – Well, potentially I could see,
0:37:56 I could see side hustlers selling this to individuals.
0:37:59 I could see people, yeah, selling it to companies,
0:38:01 people who maybe are trying to streamline some of their,
0:38:03 whether it’s their content creation
0:38:05 or have questions answered,
0:38:09 like an almost build an FAQ library
0:38:12 from existing kind of resources and assets that they’ve got.
0:38:14 I think there’s endless possibilities.
0:38:17 – I do see, I mean, maybe this is how they accomplish that.
0:38:21 Some of like the live chat customer support widgets
0:38:23 on certain websites, you ask them a question
0:38:26 and it used to be, I don’t understand that,
0:38:27 let me connect you with the human.
0:38:29 But more and more recently it’s like,
0:38:31 hey, it looks like you’re asking a question about this.
0:38:36 Here’s, they must have fed in some sort of large language model
0:38:40 like based on the, and it spit out a semi-coherent answer
0:38:42 without connecting to a human.
0:38:47 And so maybe that’s one potential application.
0:38:49 I’m trying to go the next step, like the idea sounds cool,
0:38:51 but like, who would be a customer base?
0:38:54 Like, could you pre-sell a customer versus like,
0:38:55 I’m gonna build this out
0:38:57 ’cause you may not even have access to this library of content
0:39:01 or a custom health GPT, you know,
0:39:03 given that it’s New Year’s resolution season,
0:39:07 like, oh, we’re gonna, if you want to optimize for,
0:39:11 you know, glucose, I don’t know,
0:39:12 the anti-inflammatory GPT, right?
0:39:15 Or something and, you know, build in, you know,
0:39:17 upload everything that can be found
0:39:18 about that specific topic.
0:39:23 – Yeah, I think where I’m seeing this is just,
0:39:24 for someone who has some time
0:39:27 and is wanting to build a side hustle,
0:39:32 educating yourself on a tool as powerful as chat GPT
0:39:33 and being able to just be a few steps ahead
0:39:35 of your average person,
0:39:38 I think could be quite easily monetized in a whole bunch of ways.
0:39:40 Like, could just be one-to-one training sessions
0:39:42 for boomer dad at home
0:39:45 who wants to learn what this AI thing is about.
0:39:48 It doesn’t take too long to follow your nose on YouTube
0:39:51 or wherever you can find information to get,
0:39:52 arm yourself with enough knowledge
0:39:54 to create some really interesting stuff
0:39:56 that you could then educate others on,
0:39:59 who are a few steps behind you on the same path.
0:40:01 – Okay, and I’d heard of people using it
0:40:04 almost as a co-founder,
0:40:06 as your business coach,
0:40:08 so your spitballing ideas about.
0:40:12 And it may make sense to provide it with more context
0:40:16 than is available on just like the, you know,
0:40:17 public interface free version.
0:40:22 And so you may need to do this plus icon project-based thing.
0:40:24 Like, here’s my financials,
0:40:27 here’s everything that’s gone on in the business so far.
0:40:28 Here’s my biggest challenges.
0:40:31 Like, you know, what do you recommend type of content?
0:40:34 – Yeah, and so I guess one really specific use case for me
0:40:38 has been take some coaching call transcripts
0:40:41 and some sales or discovery call transcripts,
0:40:43 upload those and build essentially
0:40:45 an ideal customer profile.
0:40:49 So I create like an AI version of my ideal customer.
0:40:52 And I then send it email newsletters that I’ve got in draft.
0:40:54 I share draft LinkedIn content with it.
0:40:57 I position offers to it and say, you know,
0:41:00 get its honest feedback based on everything that it knows,
0:41:03 build that person, like literally build an AI avatar
0:41:05 of who you’re trying to talk to, who you’re trying to target
0:41:08 and then bounce ideas off it and see what it thinks.
0:41:11 – Yeah, respond as if you are, you know,
0:41:12 this target prospect.
0:41:14 What do you think of this sales copy?
0:41:15 Or what do you think of this?
0:41:17 – Well, literally, so even deeper than that,
0:41:19 you actually create and you give them,
0:41:21 I give them names so that I don’t kind of lose track.
0:41:26 But my kind of ideal customer profile is called Sarah.
0:41:28 And so she, like she is that persona.
0:41:31 So she’s got kind of that revenue detail.
0:41:33 She’s heard my coaching calls.
0:41:37 Like she’s built a profile of my ideal audience.
0:41:39 And then I send stuff to her.
0:41:40 – Does she give you coherent responses?
0:41:42 Does she give you helpful responses?
0:41:45 Or is like, I’m just talking with a robot here.
0:41:47 – Yeah, no, if you spend the time,
0:41:50 and there’s kind of a process guide that I’ve outlined
0:41:52 to feed it the right prompts to prepare it.
0:41:55 And the key is to get that knowledge base
0:41:57 and that master prompt right.
0:42:01 And if you do that, the results have really surprised me.
0:42:05 I think the one thing I would say is large language models
0:42:08 have essentially just absorbed everything on the internet.
0:42:11 And they really respond to you by kind of predicting
0:42:14 what words generally follow other words in a sequence.
0:42:16 So they’re not as much as it can feel like
0:42:19 they’re thinking critically and logically at the moment
0:42:21 as of whenever this podcast goes out.
0:42:22 They’re not actually thinking.
0:42:24 They’re just playing back kind of,
0:42:25 they’re playing a guessing game really
0:42:27 of what words logically feed in a sequence.
0:42:29 But it’s very useful.
0:42:34 – Okay, and so you can, instead of having consumed
0:42:36 the entire archive of the internet,
0:42:39 you want to feed it very specific information
0:42:42 to become an expert in your business
0:42:43 or in one specific area.
0:42:44 – No.
0:42:46 – All right, I’ve got a lot to,
0:42:49 we need to do another like AI roundup episode.
0:42:50 It’s probably been a couple of years.
0:42:52 It’s like, I know so much has changed
0:42:55 and there’s a lot more that I could be doing in that space
0:42:57 to work smarter, not harder,
0:43:00 even if it’s just with repurposing help
0:43:05 or all sorts of strategy, other next step, step.
0:43:09 But that’s fascinating, custom GPT creation,
0:43:11 Joe’s business idea donation for you.
0:43:13 Let’s move on to round three, which is our triple threat.
0:43:16 And we’re gonna start off with a marketing tactic
0:43:17 that’s working right now.
0:43:19 Could be LinkedIn related, could be something else.
0:43:22 – Yeah, so the tactic that’s working for me right now,
0:43:25 we talked a lot about creating what I think of
0:43:28 as broadcast content, publishing a LinkedIn post,
0:43:29 sending an email and newsletter,
0:43:32 publishing a podcast episode, so one to many.
0:43:35 Something that’s working really well for me,
0:43:37 if we think about, I guess the line of work that I’m in,
0:43:40 which is sort of high ticket consultancy, I guess,
0:43:43 and coaching, sales are gonna happen
0:43:46 in one-to-one conversations.
0:43:48 It’s highly unlikely that a broadcast piece of content
0:43:51 is gonna directly convert into a sale.
0:43:55 So my goal is to get into one-to-one conversations
0:43:57 with people that may wanna buy from me.
0:43:59 And so what I’m doing now is,
0:44:01 whether it’s an email newsletter or a LinkedIn post
0:44:03 that goes out, I’m grabbing it and I’m trying to find
0:44:08 three to five people, I guess, somewhere in my CRM,
0:44:11 in my funnel, I guess I would use the term prospects,
0:44:14 and sending that piece of content to them one-to-one.
0:44:16 And so it’s a simple message like,
0:44:19 hey, Nick, I wrote this post about
0:44:21 the three types of content you need
0:44:23 to build your side hustle, and I thought of you.
0:44:26 And sending that kind of one-on-one to a small handful
0:44:31 of people in my orbit has really rapidly increased
0:44:32 the number of conversations I’m having
0:44:35 with relevant people, ’cause you’re giving a gift.
0:44:38 – Okay, even if they may already be on your email list,
0:44:40 even if they may already have it in their inbox,
0:44:42 like just one extra follow-up to be like,
0:44:43 hey, just want to make sure you saw this,
0:44:46 or hey, I thought of you when I wrote this or something.
0:44:49 – Yeah, you lead with some value, you give a small gift,
0:44:52 and it sparks conversations more often than not.
0:44:54 And so that’s, and again, this idea of trying
0:44:58 to harvest content ideas, never stare at a blank page,
0:45:00 like use the stuff that you’ve already produced,
0:45:02 and then get the most mileage out of it
0:45:03 that you possibly can.
0:45:06 – Anything that you’re using, I don’t know if your CRM
0:45:10 has contact scoring or any criteria,
0:45:12 ’cause if you have a list of thousands of people,
0:45:14 like how are you picking who to send this to?
0:45:17 – Yeah, look, my CRM is a very simple spreadsheet.
0:45:19 I have kind of a last contact date
0:45:21 and like a rough nurture date,
0:45:24 and I’m trying to keep those a few weeks apart.
0:45:27 So I’m just sorting by who’s kind of due
0:45:29 or overdue for a nurture,
0:45:31 and then thinking about the content I’ve created recently
0:45:33 and trying to line those two things up.
0:45:36 – Okay, all right, just trying to stay top of mind
0:45:38 and share some goodwill.
0:45:39 – Absolutely.
0:45:43 All right, sales happen one to one.
0:45:45 How are you cultivating those one-on-one relationships,
0:45:46 inviting people to do business with you,
0:45:48 love that tactic?
0:45:52 The next segment here is a new or new to you tool
0:45:53 that you’re loving right now.
0:45:56 We talked chat GPT, we talked a few other tools,
0:45:58 but anything that comes to mind here.
0:46:00 – Yeah, so this is a little bit maybe in the reverse
0:46:02 of the idea of the segment,
0:46:06 but I actually removed the mail app from my iPhone
0:46:11 over the holidays, and it has been a game changer.
0:46:13 So I turned off notifications for mail or email,
0:46:15 and I actually found that was weirdly
0:46:17 making me spend more time in email
0:46:19 ’cause I was always refreshing
0:46:21 to see if anything had come in.
0:46:24 And so I just made the switch over just before Christmas,
0:46:26 removed the mail app from my phone,
0:46:30 and so email is now confined to a batch period of time,
0:46:32 like maybe once in the morning, once in the afternoon,
0:46:34 each day on my computer, and that’s it.
0:46:38 And I’ve just found my head space massively open up.
0:46:40 I’m not half wondering in my phone
0:46:42 if this could I have a quick look and check.
0:46:45 I’m just, it’s really helped me compartmentalize
0:46:48 my evenings and my time off.
0:46:49 – Yeah, that makes sense.
0:46:51 And it sounds like it was email in your case,
0:46:54 but it might be TikTok and somebody else’s,
0:46:57 it might be Instagram, whatever is that thing that,
0:46:58 I’m just going in for a quick check,
0:47:00 and then 15 minutes later,
0:47:03 you’re completely derailed and distracted,
0:47:05 and you’re, especially if you’ve got kids,
0:47:07 they see you staring at your phone all the time,
0:47:09 like it’s not great.
0:47:13 So what is that app that needs to get deleted?
0:47:16 You know, maybe go cold turkey, see how much you miss it.
0:47:18 And you know, I imagine there’s some withdrawal symptoms
0:47:21 early on and hopefully you get over that,
0:47:23 but that’s a really interesting one.
0:47:27 I don’t know if anyone has shared that, so I like that.
0:47:30 And your favorite book from the last 12 months.
0:47:32 – Yeah, so this is one that’s still on the bedside table.
0:47:33 It’s not quite finished,
0:47:35 but I’ve taken a lot out of it already.
0:47:38 His “Unreasonable Hospitality” by Will Godara,
0:47:40 who was the owner, or sorry, not the owner,
0:47:45 but the manager of 11 square, 11 Madison Park in New York.
0:47:48 So one of the best restaurants in the world.
0:47:50 And he shares all his insights
0:47:52 on how he built a world leading team,
0:47:55 but really how he thinks about serving customers
0:47:57 and being hospitable.
0:48:01 And so I did some really interesting client gifting
0:48:04 at the end of 2024, just using this idea,
0:48:06 like the thinking of unreasonable hospitality,
0:48:11 like what is a crazy nice thing I could do for my clients?
0:48:13 Well, so I made a donation to a charity
0:48:16 that I’m passionate about called Just Digit on their behalf
0:48:20 and sent everyone a personalized video note.
0:48:22 You know, I don’t have thousands or hundreds of customers,
0:48:25 but just spending that time to say hi
0:48:28 and completely personalize one-to-one tailored to them.
0:48:32 And the response I got was really uplifting for me as well.
0:48:34 It was a massive win-win.
0:48:37 And so that book has just taught me to think,
0:48:38 and for us, like if it’s a side hustle
0:48:42 or a solopener business, like we can do that stuff.
0:48:44 You know, we are building personal connections
0:48:46 with the people that we’re serving.
0:48:48 And so leaning into that
0:48:50 is really powerful on both sides, I reckon.
0:48:54 – “Unreasonable Hospitality” was the book recommendation.
0:48:56 That is a new title to me.
0:48:57 So we’ll have to check that one out.
0:48:59 We’ll link it up in the show notes
0:49:02 along with all the other resources mentioned in this episode,
0:49:06 including Joe’s newsletters called The Thought Follower.
0:49:11 You can find it at joemacai.info, m-c-k-a-y.info.
0:49:14 Follow along for more LinkedIn tips,
0:49:15 other solopreneur strategies.
0:49:17 I think you’re gonna like it.
0:49:18 We’ll link that up.
0:49:20 And Joe, thanks so much for joining me.
0:49:21 There’s been awesome.
0:49:24 I’m taking a ton of notes on LinkedIn and everything else
0:49:28 and I appreciate your recommendations on what is working here
0:49:29 this year.
0:49:31 Now, if you’re new to the show, welcome.
0:49:32 Thank you for tuning in.
0:49:33 We’ve got hundreds.
0:49:35 You know, if you’re just starting here,
0:49:37 you got hundreds of episodes in the back catalog
0:49:38 to help you make more money.
0:49:40 And if you’re wondering where to start,
0:49:43 I wanna invite you to build your own personalized playlist.
0:49:46 All you gotta do is go to hustle.show.
0:49:48 How it works is you answer a few short,
0:49:50 multiple choice questions.
0:49:52 You tell me a little bit about your side hustle interests,
0:49:54 your goals, where you’re at, where you wanna go.
0:49:56 And the machine is gonna recommend
0:49:59 eight to 10 personalized episodes for you.
0:50:03 And this is a newly updated list for this year.
0:50:04 So again, that’s hustle.show
0:50:08 to get that custom curated playlist.
0:50:10 Big thanks to Joe for sharing his insight.
0:50:11 Big thanks to our sponsors
0:50:13 for helping make this content free for everyone.
0:50:16 You can hit up sidehustlenation.com/deals
0:50:19 for all the latest offers from our sponsors in one place.
0:50:21 Thank you for supporting the advertisers
0:50:23 that support the show.
0:50:23 That’s it for me.
0:50:25 Thank you so much for tuning in.
0:50:26 If you’re finding value in the show,
0:50:29 the greatest compliment is to share it with a friend.
0:50:31 So fire off that text message to somebody
0:50:33 who needs to hear this and learn a little bit
0:50:35 about up in there LinkedIn strategy.
0:50:37 And until next time, let’s go out there
0:50:38 and make something happen.
0:50:40 I’ll catch you in the next edition
0:50:41 of the Side Hustle Show.