656: $5k/mo Reviewing Products Part-Time: An Amazon Influencer Update

0:00:06 I call this the easiest online side hustle ever, but it’s still a viable path
0:00:10 to extra income. We’re about to find out what’s new with the Amazon influencer
0:00:13 program since we first covered it a couple of years ago on the show.
0:00:18 This is the program that allows you to upload short product review videos and
0:00:22 earn a small commission when somebody buys the thing on Amazon after watching
0:00:26 your video at that time, pretty low production quality,
0:00:30 relatively low competition and the best part, you didn’t need to drive any of
0:00:34 your own traffic. You just kind of sat there on the product pages and if somebody
0:00:37 watched it, you earned a little commission, very much said it and forget it.
0:00:41 Probably as close to passive income on the internet as you can get to date.
0:00:46 I’ve earned over $2,000 as an Amazon influencer, very,
0:00:49 very part-time, very passive, but which is great.
0:00:54 But that pales in comparison to today’s guest who’s earned over $130,000 as a
0:01:00 product reviewer, uh, lately around $5,000 a month on the side from his day
0:01:04 job, which I think is pretty cool from creator side income, Tyler Christensen.
0:01:06 Welcome back to the side hustle show.
0:01:08 Thanks. Great to be back.
0:01:10 A lot has changed since we last chatted a couple of years ago.
0:01:13 So it’s fun to be back talking about Amazon.
0:01:18 Yes. So, so catch us up now, whatever the proverbial fruit is as low hanging as
0:01:21 this, it tends to get picked over.
0:01:23 At least that’s the trend that we’ve seen over the last 10, 12 years of the
0:01:25 show, but catch us up.
0:01:27 What’s been going on in the Amazon influencer world for you?
0:01:32 Well, so the Amazon influencer program is largely the same as it was two years
0:01:36 ago, the idea that you can just film a video on your phone, uh,
0:01:38 of some product and upload it to Amazon.
0:01:41 Like you mentioned, a very low hanging fruit.
0:01:45 You can, at least in theory, do that in two or three minutes, take a one minute
0:01:50 video, upload it, tag it, and, and you’re done, which means if you work really
0:01:52 hard, you could do hundreds a month.
0:01:57 Yeah. Two years ago, hundreds of videos a month would result in thousands of
0:02:00 dollars a month in earnings for the influencer.
0:02:02 That is no longer the case.
0:02:06 However, I agree with you that it’s still the easiest side hustle that’s out
0:02:09 there, no startup costs, really easy.
0:02:12 You don’t need to have fancy equipment or anything like that.
0:02:16 You can’t make quite as much money now, but you can still make really good money.
0:02:18 So that part hasn’t changed.
0:02:22 Is that a factor of more players in the space or commission rates getting cut or
0:02:25 visibility of the videos getting diminished?
0:02:25 What’s going on there?
0:02:26 Yeah.
0:02:31 So there’s some speculation that there are caps or, or that Amazon might
0:02:33 throttle you if you have too many videos.
0:02:35 There are a lot of theories out there on that.
0:02:39 What we do know for sure is there are definitely way more players in the space.
0:02:41 And so you just have more competition.
0:02:45 When you put a video up for a product, if there’s already 20 videos for that
0:02:47 product, it’s just less likely that someone will see yours.
0:02:52 Whereas two, three, four years ago, you could review almost anything and yours
0:02:54 would be the only video up for that product.
0:02:56 And, and that’s just no longer the case.
0:02:56 Okay.
0:03:01 So maybe prioritizing the ones that are newer products, maybe they don’t have a
0:03:05 ton of videos out there yet, just because well, even if you get, even if
0:03:10 everybody cycles through evenly, you’re still only going to get one 20th of the,
0:03:14 of the views and it may not even be that case where maybe they’re going to
0:03:17 prioritize ones with better watch times or better conversion rates or whatever.
0:03:18 Maybe.
0:03:18 Yeah.
0:03:21 The challenge with that is you want trending products.
0:03:24 You want products that are popular right now that are best sellers, but of
0:03:27 course, if they’re best sellers, then a lot of people have them and make videos.
0:03:32 So there’s a sweet spot where they’re popular, but not too popular or new, but
0:03:32 not too new.
0:03:34 And you kind of have to muddle through.
0:03:37 There are some software programs that can help with that.
0:03:38 There are some extensions.
0:03:40 I don’t use any of those things.
0:03:44 Um, just because I’ve been in this long enough, I’ve kind of found my own system
0:03:49 for finding products, but the cool thing is even with things that aren’t best
0:03:53 seller, I got a sponsored video this week where somebody sent me a power station
0:03:55 and it costs $3,000 on Amazon.
0:03:59 So while they’re paying me to make the video, they’re paying me $80.
0:04:03 If, if a single person buys one of those power stations, so it doesn’t have to
0:04:06 be a huge seller, but if I get one cell, that’s like another 50 bucks.
0:04:12 And so, and if it does do really well, if that video, um, helps people make
0:04:15 decisions and a lot of people buy the power station, then potentially
0:04:17 that’s a nice source of income and moving forward.
0:04:19 What’s, what’s a power station?
0:04:21 Like a generator, you know, you just plug stuff into it.
0:04:24 But if your power goes out in your house, you can plug in your refrigerator,
0:04:25 stuff like that.
0:04:25 Okay.
0:04:29 That was one of the themes from the last conversation was focusing on the higher
0:04:34 ticket items because you’re only going to make two to 4% of the sales price.
0:04:37 And so if you’re selling a $10 thing, it’s going to take the same amount of
0:04:42 time to review it as it is going to take to review the $100 thing or the $200
0:04:42 thing.
0:04:46 And so all else being equal, focus your energy and attention on the, the
0:04:47 higher price products.
0:04:50 Although you can still make good money with low end products, especially
0:04:51 if you’re making a lot of videos.
0:04:55 So if, if you have tons of videos out there and they only make six cents
0:04:59 each time you make a sale, you know, enough of those added up, just like
0:05:00 any other investment, it adds up.
0:05:01 Yeah.
0:05:04 Some of my best sellers kind of are on both ends.
0:05:09 One is the green bin food compost bags, which is probably a $10.
0:05:10 I don’t, I don’t even know.
0:05:12 I was like, Hey, you know, we’ve, we’ve tested a few of these.
0:05:14 These are genuinely the best that we found.
0:05:15 This is the, this is the one you want, right?
0:05:16 It’s a no-brainer.
0:05:20 And then on the other hand, it’s like, we have like an electric car charger
0:05:22 thing in my parents’ garage.
0:05:25 He was like, well, might as well quit, shoot a quick video review.
0:05:27 Cause this is like a several hundred, several hundred dollar item.
0:05:31 And so that one is on the higher end where when it does sell, it’s a much
0:05:36 bigger commission rate, but so those are a couple examples of high sellers for me.
0:05:40 Now, one of the new things that Amazon introduced just in the last six
0:05:43 months is, well, actually it’s been around for longer than that, but they’ve
0:05:46 started promoting it is the creator connections.
0:05:47 Are you familiar with that?
0:05:50 No, this is definitely one area that I wanted to talk to you about.
0:05:52 Schoolless about creator connections.
0:05:53 Okay.
0:05:57 Creator connections is really interesting because I think what Amazon is trying
0:06:00 to do is they don’t want to pay more money to influencers.
0:06:02 And so they’re getting the brands to pay that.
0:06:07 And the way that they’re facilitating that is they’ve made this new area where
0:06:11 if you’re in the influencer program, you can go through a directory of products
0:06:13 that brands have signed up for and they have a budget.
0:06:18 Uh, and what happens is if you have that product, or if you purchase that product,
0:06:22 or in some cases the company will send you that product for free or even pay
0:06:26 you to review that product, instead of getting the, the typical commissions
0:06:30 from Amazon, which are very low, half a percent to four percent, the brands
0:06:35 will pay you up anywhere to 20% for commissions on, on sales of their products.
0:06:40 And so one of the things that has helped me lately as there’s been more
0:06:43 competition for products is finding things on those creator connections.
0:06:47 And, and most of those things were things I reviewed anyways.
0:06:50 So it’s simply a matter of checking the box to say, I want to be part of this
0:06:51 campaign.
0:06:55 And that’s all you literally, all you have to do is just say accept on
0:06:57 things you’ve already reviewed.
0:07:01 And then you can link the, the video that you’ve posted, uh, whether it’s on
0:07:03 social medias or on the Amazon platform.
0:07:06 And then anytime there’s a sale on that, you get a higher commission.
0:07:09 So that has helped with, uh, creators quite a bit.
0:07:15 But then for me, uh, I had one product that I found, uh, we bought it over
0:07:19 the summer thinking that it would be a good Christmas present for our, our kids.
0:07:25 And it was a higher ticket item and it paid a, a 10% commission instead
0:07:26 of a 1% commission.
0:07:27 Yeah.
0:07:30 And so every time it would sell, we would make 30 or $40.
0:07:36 And that one review has resulted in about $5,000 in the last six months.
0:07:40 So you can, you can really strike at rich, uh, if you find the right product.
0:07:43 From one review, you think about the hourly rate of that.
0:07:49 So where do I go to find these creator connection invites or possible products and brands?
0:07:49 Yeah.
0:07:54 So if you’re in your associates, whatever that’s called, where it shows you all
0:07:58 your information, your reports and stuff, I’m in like a creator hub right now.
0:07:59 Yeah.
0:08:01 There is a tab that you can pull down.
0:08:05 You have to be on the offsite portion of the tab.
0:08:10 So you can log in to either your onsite profile or your offsite profile.
0:08:16 If you get onto your offsite and just scroll down the tags, then there’s a little
0:08:17 button for creator connections.
0:08:22 Now I do believe that they did send out invitations, but anyone that’s in the
0:08:26 influencer program can join just by finding that tab and signing up.
0:08:29 Okay. Well, dig around and be on the lookout for that.
0:08:31 I think that’s a really interesting angle.
0:08:37 Now has Amazon, since we last connected, provided any additional guidance as to
0:08:42 the influencer program application requirements, like, you know, size of the
0:08:46 file, because they want you to plug in your Instagram, YouTube, TikTok.
0:08:49 Like they want to have some level of social following, but they never, at least
0:08:53 at that time said, well, the minimum threshold is 2000 followers or something
0:08:53 like that.
0:08:55 They haven’t said anything.
0:08:57 They are as mysterious as they’ve always been.
0:09:02 However, just through Reddit groups, Facebook groups and others, there is a
0:09:05 general sense of what’s required to end its engagement.
0:09:10 So rather than having a real big following, 10,000 followers or whatever,
0:09:15 you can get in with as few as like 50 followers as long as there’s legitimate
0:09:19 engagement that they’re commenting on your videos, that it’s not just friends and
0:09:22 family, but that you’re putting something out there and having people engage with
0:09:23 it on social media.
0:09:26 So that seems to be what’s working best.
0:09:32 The other good news now is it used to be really, really hard to get first accepted
0:09:36 into the program as an influencer, but then you have to upload three videos and
0:09:37 they have to be approved.
0:09:42 And a lot of people were getting their videos rejected during a time of growth
0:09:46 for Amazon, but over the last six months, it seems like they’ve lessened the
0:09:47 threshold for that.
0:09:51 And so a lot more people are getting in now, just with the same requirements
0:09:54 that we’ve always had, that you just have some kind of social following.
0:09:58 A lot of people are doing it through TikTok right now, but you can do it on any
0:10:03 platform. And the videos aren’t being rejected as often.
0:10:07 That threshold to actually put something for onsite commissions.
0:10:11 You have to have your three videos approved and people are having more
0:10:12 success now with that.
0:10:17 Okay. And when you say onsite versus offsite, onsite is what I think I’m most
0:10:20 familiar with was like the video was shown on the product page.
0:10:23 Somebody watches it. They ultimately purchase, you get a commission.
0:10:26 What’s, what’s the offsite piece of that?
0:10:30 Yeah. So onsite is the thing when we talk about the Amazon influencer program,
0:10:34 that’s all onsite offsite is what we’ve had for years and years with the
0:10:40 Amazon affiliate program, where you simply create an account with Amazon.
0:10:43 Anyone can do it. There, there is no requirements.
0:10:46 You just have to go through the process, Google, Amazon affiliate.
0:10:48 And when you sign up for that,
0:10:52 they’ll make it so you can get a link for any product that you have.
0:10:57 And like, if you have a YouTube video, you put that link on your YouTube video.
0:11:00 It directs people to Amazon. So that’s why it’s coming from offsite.
0:11:02 And you make a commission.
0:11:07 And actually the commissions for offsite are better than onsite commissions.
0:11:10 They’re, you’ll get a higher percentage, plus they have better incentives.
0:11:13 My little brother’s crushing on offsite.
0:11:15 So while his onsite has gone down,
0:11:19 he’s actually making more than ever through Amazon because his YouTube channel
0:11:21 has done better. Okay. So in your case,
0:11:24 this would be the reviews of cool stuff YouTube channel.
0:11:26 That’s like the primary offsite driver. Yeah.
0:11:29 And you can do it on any social platform.
0:11:31 So if you’re a big Instagram or a TikToker,
0:11:35 you can put those links anywhere and drive traffic to Amazon. Got it. Got it.
0:11:40 You just have to go in and kind of pull that specific tracking link versus it kind
0:11:43 of automatic in the onsite version. Right. Okay.
0:11:44 Many videos. So you have two now.
0:11:47 I have about 2,300 total videos.
0:11:49 So I did about 800 last year,
0:11:52 which was down from the year before where I did about 1,200.
0:11:55 So I was doing a hundred a month. I’ve kind of,
0:11:58 now I’m only doing about 50, 75 a month. Okay. Yeah.
0:12:01 For the sake of comparison, I did eight all last year,
0:12:05 but still made 700 bucks. Like it was really, really passive. Yeah.
0:12:08 So it’s almost this volume game and you can, you know,
0:12:11 play with these different metrics of like, well, are there already, you know,
0:12:13 other videos out there? Is it a high price?
0:12:15 Probably like to try and prioritize your, your work there,
0:12:18 but it, it does seem to be, I mean, there’s an 80, 20 to it,
0:12:22 but a bit of a volume game where the more videos that you have,
0:12:23 the wider a net you can cast,
0:12:27 the more likely you are to pick up some views and some sales. Yeah. Well,
0:12:32 and the one thing I will say is I’ve always treated this kind of as a real job
0:12:35 that I have to consistently show up and put videos,
0:12:40 but where in 2023 I was spending maybe 20 plus hours
0:12:44 a week with it. Now I’m still doing those 50 to 75 videos a month,
0:12:46 but I’m doing it in two or three hours a week.
0:12:51 So I’ve really reduced my time in creating videos because I’ve gotten better
0:12:55 at it, but also just because I’m not doing quite the volume I was doing before.
0:12:57 More with Tyler in just a moment,
0:13:00 including his take on production quality, video thumbnails,
0:13:05 getting paid by brands to do sponsored videos, monetizing on YouTube and lots
0:13:06 more right after this.
0:13:09 Friends don’t let friends overpay for wireless,
0:13:12 which is why I’m excited to partner with Mint Mobile for this episode.
0:13:16 Don’t let the traditional big wireless carriers take you for a ride this year.
0:13:20 I made the switch to Mint Mobile over five years ago and haven’t looked back,
0:13:23 saving thousands of dollars over that time with Mint Mobile.
0:13:26 You get premium wireless plans starting at 15 bucks a month.
0:13:30 All of those plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text on the
0:13:32 nation’s largest 5G network.
0:13:36 You can use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and even bring over your
0:13:38 existing phone number and all your existing contacts.
0:13:42 So join me in ditching overpriced wireless this year and get three months of
0:13:46 premium wireless service from Mint Mobile for just 15 bucks a month.
0:13:48 If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you.
0:13:51 Shop plans at mintmobile.com/sidehustle.
0:13:57 That’s mintmobile.com/sidehustle, upfront payment of $45 for three month,
0:14:00 five gigabyte plan required, equivalent to $15 per month.
0:14:05 New customer offer for first three months only, then full price plan options
0:14:08 available, taxes and fees extra, see Mint Mobile for details.
0:14:13 Years ago, I was sitting in a conference in Santa Barbara and the
0:14:17 presenter asked this question, are you working on your business or are you
0:14:18 working in your business?
0:14:20 And at that point, I had already quit my job.
0:14:25 I saw myself as a full-time entrepreneur, but it was this moment of clarity that,
0:14:27 no, I’m still very much working in the business.
0:14:30 So when I got back home, that’s when I made my first full-time
0:14:35 hire, it was the first in a long series of steps of learning to truly take
0:14:39 control by being okay, of letting go of certain tasks.
0:14:43 Now, when you find yourself in that position of needing to hire, like yesterday,
0:14:44 you need Indeed.
0:14:48 With a sponsored job on Indeed, your post jumps to the top of the page for
0:14:52 your relevant candidates, so you can stand out and reach the right people faster.
0:14:56 Plus, there’s no monthly subscriptions, no long-term contracts, and you’ll
0:14:57 only pay for results.
0:15:00 That’s why for my next hire, I’m using Indeed.
0:15:04 If no need to wait any longer, speed up your hiring right now with Indeed.
0:15:08 Side hustle show listeners get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your
0:15:12 job’s more visibility at Indeed.com/SideHustleShow.
0:15:17 Just go to Indeed.com/SideHustleShow right now and support our show by saying
0:15:19 you heard about Indeed on this podcast.
0:15:23 Indeed.com/SideHustleShow, terms and conditions apply.
0:15:25 Hiring Indeed is all you need.
0:15:32 Have you seen a step up in the necessary production value or it was still
0:15:36 kind of like really rudimentary shot with your phone, a quick voiceover type of stuff?
0:15:40 Because of the saturation of the market, what we’re finding is in certain
0:15:44 segments for certain kinds of products, the quality does matter.
0:15:47 So if you’re doing mostly technology products, you’re competing against
0:15:51 people who are professional reviewers, you know, tech reviewers.
0:15:53 And so you do need to up the quality for that.
0:15:58 If you’re reviewing a granola bar, you need to just eat the granola bar and talk about it.
0:16:02 You really, there’s no need to, to scale up those videos.
0:16:08 However, that being said, I do feel like if you want to protect yourself as a
0:16:12 product reviewer, where it is getting harder and harder to make money on site
0:16:17 with Amazon, YouTube does value higher quality videos.
0:16:22 And so if you’re only going to film at once and edit at once, I am starting to put
0:16:27 more time and energy into certain kinds of videos, hoping that they’ll do well
0:16:30 on YouTube and drive traffic to Amazon.
0:16:33 And those same videos seem to be doing a little bit better on Amazon.
0:16:36 It’s not a huge difference, but it does make a little difference.
0:16:37 Okay.
0:16:40 So across posting the same content on both channels, right?
0:16:45 Film at once, improve the production quality a little bit, targeting that YouTube
0:16:51 traffic that offsite commissions with the understanding that, hey, it’s a higher
0:16:55 quality video, so maybe Amazon’s going to prioritize it on the onsite side as well.
0:16:59 To go along with that, one of the things that’s really changed the game a little
0:17:04 bit in the last year is the popularity of the TikTok shop, which are vertical
0:17:08 videos and Amazon has wanted to compete with that as YouTube shorts has wanted
0:17:09 to with vertical videos.
0:17:15 However, what we found in on Amazon is while those get a lot more clicks, they
0:17:16 don’t get more sales.
0:17:18 The vertical videos don’t do really well.
0:17:23 However, a lot of people who do product reviews are finding that they’re doing
0:17:24 really well on TikTok shop.
0:17:29 So, and I’m including that, that I’ve recorded more vertical videos that are
0:17:34 punchy, that are quick edits, they’re shorter videos, but they take a lot longer
0:17:36 to make just because of the editing process.
0:17:38 And they’ll do well on TikTok shop.
0:17:38 Okay.
0:17:41 They don’t do great on Amazon, but they get a lot of clicks.
0:17:42 So it misses up all your data.
0:17:47 Is that also through the Amazon influencer program or is this would be
0:17:52 separate through a TikTok shop product separate on TikTok shop?
0:17:56 You have to have, I think right now they’ve changed it over the last year.
0:17:58 It used to be no followers.
0:18:00 Then it was 10,000 followers.
0:18:01 Now it’s like 1000 followers.
0:18:06 So you have to have meet this minimum threshold of followers to get accepted
0:18:07 into the TikTok shop.
0:18:11 Uh, and so their requirements are different from Amazon, but it doesn’t
0:18:15 take a ton of time to build up a following on TikTok shop.
0:18:19 So, uh, a lot of product reviewers are doing that just to supplement their
0:18:20 income and some are doing really well.
0:18:24 I know someone that made close to a million dollars last year with just
0:18:27 TikTok shop, because he found the right products, understood how to make
0:18:28 the right kinds of videos.
0:18:31 And so you can make a lot of money there as well.
0:18:35 But I know more people on TikTok shop that are making no dollars because it’s,
0:18:38 it seems to be harder to do, harder to learn than Amazon.
0:18:43 Yeah, it’s trying to hit that, you know, hit something viral that is at the
0:18:45 right price point and is it, you know, the right place, right time.
0:18:48 And yeah, you make a little commission on something that hits.
0:18:50 Dang, that’s kind of crazy.
0:18:54 I’ll go, well, maybe, maybe you sent me an intro and we could do a video about
0:18:54 that.
0:18:56 That’s something I never even really heard of.
0:19:02 But in the TikTok shop case, these are mostly products that you already own.
0:19:04 This is stuff that brands are sending to you.
0:19:06 Give me a sense of what you’re reviewing.
0:19:08 I think it is mostly stuff that brands send to you.
0:19:12 TikTok shop is very different from Amazon and the Amazon has all kinds of
0:19:16 products, anything that you would buy, you can pretty much find out on Amazon.
0:19:21 TikTok really focuses on viral trending products.
0:19:24 They’re usually really cheap products, things that you can just, you know,
0:19:26 spend 10 or $20 on.
0:19:30 And so the people who are having success are writing the trends.
0:19:33 They’re figuring out what’s going to be popular or what’s currently popular.
0:19:37 And rather than like on Amazon, you might make one or two videos for a
0:19:39 particular product on TikTok shop.
0:19:43 If you find something that’s trending and your video is doing well, then you
0:19:46 make 50 videos on that same product.
0:19:49 You just make a new video every week and kind of build on that momentum.
0:19:53 So it’s a very different strategy, different filming techniques.
0:19:54 It’s, it’s a little work.
0:19:57 And I haven’t gone full in on that just because it is hard.
0:20:01 Well, one type of strategy going back to the Amazon side of things was trying
0:20:06 to create, instead of just like XYZ product review, it’s kind of like this
0:20:09 product versus this product, like kind of a comparison, like trying to
0:20:13 help people make the decision for which one is right for them.
0:20:14 You experimented with anything like that.
0:20:15 Yes, absolutely.
0:20:18 And comparison videos do seem to do really well.
0:20:23 And, and again, talking about crossover here, those kinds of videos do really
0:20:26 well on YouTube and drive traffic to Amazon.
0:20:30 So if you have like seven of the same kind of product and you can do a big
0:20:34 comparison on YouTube, that’s going to bring traffic to Amazon.
0:20:38 On Amazon, just having two products, having, having a single comparison,
0:20:42 this or that, Amazon has ran some incentives because they want more
0:20:43 videos like that.
0:20:43 Okay.
0:20:46 And so maybe they’re even promoting those kinds of videos a little more.
0:20:50 But I found with the videos, I wasn’t part of that incentive program, but I
0:20:53 made those kinds of videos anyways, and they’ve done quite well.
0:20:59 So if you have, my problem is I don’t like to stock, hold products, right?
0:21:03 So if I have a lot of the same things, I get rid of them, but like, I, I
0:21:05 did a bunch of space heaters last year.
0:21:07 And if I had all of them, I’d make a bunch more comparison videos.
0:21:09 I just don’t have those.
0:21:11 And so just changes your strategy.
0:21:11 Yeah.
0:21:14 Are you, are you still like giving away stuff to your students?
0:21:14 Yeah.
0:21:15 Yeah.
0:21:17 That’s most of what I review for Amazon.
0:21:22 Cause I, you know, if you’re doing eight hundred products in a year, I probably
0:21:24 only have and have kept maybe a hundred of those things.
0:21:26 The rest I, I get rid of.
0:21:28 And, and a lot of them I get for free.
0:21:33 Last year I did 400 sponsored videos that products that company sent to me and I
0:21:37 got paid to make those videos, I get paid on the backend, but I don’t necessarily
0:21:38 need the product.
0:21:39 So I just give them away.
0:21:39 Yeah.
0:21:41 And the comparison videos are a little more challenging.
0:21:45 Cause it’s like, well, I just bought the one thing and I don’t have the other, I
0:21:48 don’t have, you know, the tier two thing or the alternative.
0:21:50 Cause that’s not what I decided to buy.
0:21:54 But yeah, if you end up getting both, or if you can have better yet to have the
0:21:58 brands send them to you and even better yet have the brands pay you to do the review.
0:22:04 Was that a factor of you building up this volume of work, this body of work on the
0:22:07 plan, and then they start to, Hey, this guy’s reviewing a lot of stuff.
0:22:10 We want to make sure that we get our thing in his hands.
0:22:10 Yeah.
0:22:13 It works a couple of different ways.
0:22:18 It, when you create an Amazon influencer account, you’ll have a storefront.
0:22:21 And on your storefront, you can link to your social media accounts.
0:22:24 You can’t link directly to an email account.
0:22:27 So if, if people want to find you, they have to leave Amazon and go to your
0:22:30 YouTube channel or your Tik Tok or your Instagram.
0:22:34 But if you have your contact information there, then they’ll find you.
0:22:37 And what I’m finding is because I’m putting all my videos on, on multiple
0:22:41 platforms, I’m having just as many people find me on YouTube as are finding
0:22:43 me on Amazon through my storefront.
0:22:46 And so I’ll get inquiries from companies.
0:22:50 I get about five a day that say, Hey, I’ve, they always say the same thing.
0:22:51 They’re, they’re mostly foreign sellers.
0:22:55 And they always say, I’ve been following for you a long time.
0:22:55 I’ve been following you.
0:22:57 I’m your biggest fan.
0:22:58 I love your work.
0:23:02 When you know, they, they saw one video and it’s similar to the product
0:23:06 that they’re selling, uh, but they always come with that, that pitch that I, I
0:23:07 love all your stuff.
0:23:09 Can we send you a product and you’ll review it?
0:23:14 And usually the expectation or the hope there for the, the Amazon seller, you
0:23:18 know, this foreign seller that’s kind of working as a broker is that we’ll
0:23:20 send you a product, you’ll review it.
0:23:21 You’ll put it on Amazon.
0:23:24 Maybe you’ll also put it on YouTube and that’s a win-win.
0:23:31 However, if as a influencer, I decide to return their inquiry and say, I’d
0:23:32 love to work with you.
0:23:34 I love doing product reviews.
0:23:38 I charge X amount to do a review and I put it up on YouTube and Amazon.
0:23:43 Then a small percentage of those initial inquiries will come back and say, well,
0:23:46 that doesn’t meet our budget, but we can pay you this amount.
0:23:48 Or they’ll say, yeah, that sounds great.
0:23:53 And so I, I almost only do paid reviews now and I’m, all my reviews are kind
0:23:58 of in the 30 to $80 range, but I have enough videos up that people find me
0:24:01 both through Amazon and through YouTube.
0:24:04 If it’s through Amazon, they still have to go to YouTube just to find my email address.
0:24:06 But that’s how they’re finding me.
0:24:10 And that’s an extra $1,000 a month, just having spent sponsored videos.
0:24:11 Okay.
0:24:14 I’m starting to see how all of these different revenue streams kind of work
0:24:16 together and compliment each other.
0:24:18 We’ve got these sponsored videos.
0:24:20 We’ve got the onsite Amazon commissions.
0:24:24 We’ve got the creator connections where we can increase the commissions by
0:24:26 working with certain products and certain brands.
0:24:30 We’ve got the offsite commissions driven from TikTok shop, from YouTube.
0:24:33 And it all kind of feeds together.
0:24:37 If you enjoy doing this type of product review content and starting with what
0:24:42 you already have, I mean, you can go and look at your own Amazon order history.
0:24:46 You can, we’ve had friends, you know, I’ve asked, well, what happens when you run
0:24:47 out of stuff at your house?
0:24:50 Like, well, I go to my friend’s house that I go to my neighbors, you know, it
0:24:51 is kind of snowball from there.
0:24:54 And as you start to build it up, now the brands start reaching out to you.
0:24:55 Hey, can we send you this thing?
0:24:57 And I don’t know, it’s, it’s a really interesting model.
0:25:02 The one income source that we haven’t talked about yet is also from YouTube.
0:25:05 Once you get enough videos there, you can monetize your YouTube channel.
0:25:07 So you also make money through AdSense.
0:25:09 So for me, that’s a small amount.
0:25:10 It’s about $500 a month.
0:25:15 But again, all those things add up and it’s a sizable income at that point.
0:25:15 Yeah.
0:25:18 And the 500 bucks a month, not anything to sneeze at when it’s work
0:25:19 you were going to do anyways.
0:25:23 Well, especially for a school teacher, $500 a month is life changing for most
0:25:24 of us.
0:25:25 So yeah, it is a good amount.
0:25:26 Income.
0:25:26 Yeah.
0:25:31 And one thing that I’ve noticed as an Amazon shopper, and it was actually a
0:25:35 former guest on the show who was like for a toilet or something.
0:25:36 We’re doing a bathroom remodel.
0:25:40 I was like, Hey, I know those guys, but they had a kind of a nice looking kind
0:25:41 of YouTube style thumbnail.
0:25:44 I don’t know if they were syndicating the same review over to YouTube.
0:25:47 It’d be kind of a random thing to have on their YouTube channel.
0:25:48 But who knows?
0:25:52 Have you seen like the importance of thumbnails type of shift as you’re
0:25:55 uploading to the influencer side?
0:25:55 Yeah.
0:26:00 So for the longest time, when I first started, I would do a thumbnail for
0:26:04 Amazon and for YouTube that would highlight the product, maybe outline it,
0:26:07 have an arrow, a little bit of text.
0:26:10 And I found that I was spending so much time doing thumbnails that I was
0:26:11 doing less videos.
0:26:16 And so I abandoned that strategy, started just taking screenshots of the product
0:26:18 and simply use that.
0:26:22 And I’ve, I’ve kind of stayed with that over the last couple of years.
0:26:27 However, again, I’m, I’m starting to see the value of offsite commissions.
0:26:32 And so I am spending more time with both thumbnails and with titles instead of
0:26:34 just a review for this bar of soap.
0:26:38 I’m saying this is the bar of soap that I’ve used for seven years.
0:26:43 I won’t try any other soap, you know, having more, not necessarily click bait,
0:26:46 but more enticing titles and same with the thumbnails.
0:26:50 And, and that’s not because it changes a lot on Amazon.
0:26:51 I’ve tested it.
0:26:54 And as far as click through and, and getting people to buy your products,
0:26:58 I don’t feel like thumbnails are a huge part of the equation right now,
0:27:02 but they are a much bigger part of the equation off for offsite with YouTube
0:27:03 and other platforms.
0:27:04 Yeah.
0:27:08 It’s one of these things where if you can build the system and do it relatively
0:27:11 quickly, it’s probably not going to hurt your click through rate, but, right.
0:27:13 And maybe don’t overthink it.
0:27:13 I don’t know.
0:27:18 That’s, I’ve been trying to pay a little bit more attention because kind of the
0:27:21 default is just like, it takes us random screen grab from your video.
0:27:24 You’re like, well, that, that is the best illustration of what we’re talking about.
0:27:28 So I don’t know if this will have any impact on the views that my stuff gets,
0:27:32 but like trying to add easy to install or worth it.
0:27:34 Kind of like question mark type of stuff on the thumbnails.
0:27:35 We’ll see, see what happens.
0:27:36 Right.
0:27:42 And for me, the part of the workflow is that I grabbed my product and as I fill
0:27:45 in the video for the first five seconds, I just like point to it and make a funny
0:27:46 face or whatever.
0:27:48 And that’s kind of my style for thumbnails.
0:27:54 But then I can just take a screen grab from that on off of the video, save it as
0:27:55 a separate file.
0:27:59 So it really only takes me an additional five seconds, but then I can really
0:28:03 feature the product how I want to, I can have it closer to the camera and things
0:28:03 like that.
0:28:07 And so that has made a bit of a difference for me, I think just because it’s very
0:28:09 clear what the product is.
0:28:09 All right.
0:28:15 Anything else that, you know, newcomers or people who, you know, maybe are going
0:28:19 to revisit the Amazon influencer program should know about this year.
0:28:21 That’s changed over that time.
0:28:24 Obviously we’re going to look up this creator connections type of thing to see
0:28:29 if we can increase the commissions from what we’re already doing, but just kind
0:28:33 of going through and getting reinspired to create some new video content.
0:28:38 I think most of what makes you successful as a product reviewer has remained constant.
0:28:40 You have to, it’s work.
0:28:41 You have to put in the time.
0:28:43 You have to be fairly consistent.
0:28:47 There were a lot of people who started around the same time I did who worked
0:28:53 really hard for six months, made 500 videos, made $20,000, $30,000 off that,
0:28:55 but then just burnt out.
0:29:00 And so I think the best advice I can give anyone now is set manageable goals.
0:29:05 You know, do five videos a week, but do that consistently over a period of several
0:29:07 months, and then it starts to compound.
0:29:12 And if you’re only making pennies in the beginning, just know it’s a numbers
0:29:15 game and you know, it might not be my, my best product review.
0:29:17 I did a review in my first year.
0:29:22 I was about six months in and, and I was starting to figure out what
0:29:24 things sold better and what was trending.
0:29:28 And I found something that popped off and it made me $17,000.
0:29:31 And I have not had that kind of success since them.
0:29:35 However, that product still makes me a few hundred dollars every single month.
0:29:40 And if I had only done my first 400 videos, I never would have had that product.
0:29:45 And so it’s just being consistent, looking for different things and improving over
0:29:49 time, as far as your product selection and as well as the style of the videos,
0:29:50 things like that, you just get better at it.
0:29:55 And that’s what’s kind of cool here is the videos can have a really long shelf
0:29:59 life where, like I said, only uploaded eight last year.
0:30:03 None of them were necessarily great sellers, but, you know, the stuff
0:30:05 from the previous year will still make it sales.
0:30:09 And so if you get something that, that sticks and hopefully
0:30:12 doesn’t get flooded with a lot of other videos or for whatever reason,
0:30:13 yours is the one that gets shown.
0:30:17 Like you said, it can drive this passive income really for, for months or years.
0:30:20 Yeah. And that’s the amazing thing.
0:30:25 If, if I stopped making videos today, I’d probably still make at least $25,000
0:30:27 this year, just because I have that catalog.
0:30:31 And that’s really cool to think, you know, maybe I do need to take some time off.
0:30:34 Maybe I’ve never taken more than two weeks off.
0:30:37 But if I took a whole month off, it probably wouldn’t matter at all.
0:30:40 I’d still be making about the same amount of money.
0:30:42 So I love that about the program.
0:30:44 I mean, that’s, that’s my philosophy on a lot of stuff.
0:30:47 Like I want to create these evergreen digital assets, like plant these little
0:30:51 money seeds, whether it’s, you know, a piece of long form content, podcast
0:30:56 episode, YouTube video, blog post, where it can hopefully help people and
0:30:59 attract traffic and views and revenue for, for years, right?
0:31:00 It’s still going to be relevant.
0:31:00 Right.
0:31:04 And I think there’s, there’s an element in the influencer program
0:31:06 that, that speaks to me because it’s, it’s similar.
0:31:11 And I kind of like that versus trying to be, you know, the next viral hit.
0:31:13 And that’s like, I don’t know, haven’t cracked that code yet.
0:31:17 Which I would happily take it if it, if it came, but well, it’s very good.
0:31:22 The Amazon influencer program, we will link up all of our resources, all the
0:31:26 notes that I think we’ll just update our, our previous page for that with
0:31:29 Tyler’s and tips for, for 2025 here.
0:31:35 We’re going to move on to round two, which is donate a business idea or
0:31:39 right after this running a retail business is no joke, especially if
0:31:42 you’re selling online and in person.
0:31:46 And especially if you’re doing it as a side hustle, but Shopify point of sale
0:31:47 makes it simple.
0:31:51 Shopify POS is your all in one command center seamlessly connecting your
0:31:56 in-store and online operations, whether you’ve got one location or a thousand.
0:31:58 That means customers can shop however they want.
0:32:01 And you’ve got the tools to help close the sale every time.
0:32:04 And here’s the kicker, acquiring new customers is expensive.
0:32:08 You already know that Shopify POS helps you keep customers coming back with
0:32:12 personalized experiences that people have come to expect and the first party
0:32:16 data they give your marketing team a serious edge, even if that marketing
0:32:17 team is just you right now.
0:32:21 Plus the numbers don’t lie, businesses using Shopify POS see an average
0:32:27 of an 8.9% boost in sales and a 22% better total cost of ownership.
0:32:28 Want more?
0:32:33 Check out shopify.com/sidehustle all lower case and learn how to create
0:32:36 the best retail experiences without complexity.
0:32:39 Shopify.com/sidehustle.
0:32:43 Look, payday is awesome, but when you’re the one running payroll, calculating
0:32:47 taxes and deductions, staying compliant is not as simple as it was when
0:32:48 you’re just on the receiving end.
0:32:51 That is unless of course you have our sponsor, Gusto.
0:32:56 Gusto is a simple online payroll and benefits tool built specifically
0:32:57 for small businesses like yours.
0:33:01 Gusto gets your team paid or automatically filing your payroll taxes.
0:33:05 Plus you can offer other benefits like 401k, health insurance, workers comp,
0:33:09 and it works for both W2 and 1099 workers.
0:33:12 Gusto’s gotten a lot of love from side hustle show guests over the years.
0:33:15 And some friends of mine have even mentioned using it to pay their own salary.
0:33:19 On top of that, they’ve got great customer service and certified HR experts
0:33:20 are standing by to help.
0:33:24 If you have any question, it’s no wonder why more than 300,000 small
0:33:26 businesses already trust Gusto to help run their payroll.
0:33:31 And 99% of them see the value they get from Gusto is worth the price.
0:33:34 Side hustle show listeners get three months free when you go to
0:33:36 gusto.com/sidehustle.
0:33:40 Again, that’s gusto.com/sidehustle to try three months free.
0:33:45 All right, we’re back with Tyler from Creator Side Income for round two,
0:33:46 which is donate a business idea.
0:33:50 This is something that you might start if you had more time.
0:33:53 This is an opportunity that you see that side hustlers can run with.
0:33:54 What do you got for us?
0:33:59 Yeah, so I’ve been thinking about this because when we talked about the Amazon
0:34:02 Influencer program, you probably noticed I referenced YouTube over and over and
0:34:04 over that things are moving.
0:34:07 That’s a huge platform and they’re growing and they’re adding different
0:34:09 monetization streams.
0:34:11 And so I love YouTube.
0:34:15 Well, with my students, I’ve been talking to them lately.
0:34:17 So I teach future teachers.
0:34:18 I’m at the university.
0:34:21 I teach people who are preparing to become elementary school teachers.
0:34:23 And I teach a curriculum class.
0:34:27 And my students are always asking, how can I practice creating curriculum?
0:34:29 How can I do this in a more authentic way?
0:34:33 And my answer to them has been started YouTube channel.
0:34:38 And it doesn’t matter what you talk about, consistently create videos about any
0:34:41 topic and you’ll become more expert on that topic.
0:34:42 You’ll have to do research.
0:34:43 You’ll gain expertise.
0:34:47 But then the cool thing, and this is why it’s a business idea, is as you gain
0:34:52 expertise, as you gain credibility as an expert, then just like the Amazon
0:34:56 influencer program where people are reaching out to you to review products,
0:35:01 people will reach out to you for your knowledge and ask you for questions.
0:35:03 Maybe you’ll be on a podcast.
0:35:04 Maybe you’ll speak at a conference.
0:35:07 Maybe it’s just something fun.
0:35:11 I just created a YouTube channel about collecting things from the 80s and it’s
0:35:12 just a blast for me.
0:35:17 But the cool thing about all of that is as you start building out your catalogue
0:35:21 of videos, now you have something that people are coming to.
0:35:24 So you can monetize your YouTube channel and make money that way.
0:35:30 You can become an affiliate and start sending people to Amazon and making
0:35:33 money as an affiliate for products that you talk about on your channel.
0:35:37 But then there’s other doors that open up where you might have opportunities
0:35:41 to speak, to attend an event or a conference.
0:35:44 And the list goes on and on.
0:35:50 So my business idea is create a YouTube channel about anything and make a bunch of videos.
0:35:54 Now, outside of this 80s collectibles, if you could talk to me about that channel
0:35:59 or maybe a different channel that you might say, let’s talk about the collectibles.
0:36:02 Yeah, so I’m having a lot of fun right now.
0:36:07 So my channel is called Chasing Junk and during my childhood,
0:36:11 that’s referred to as the Junk Wax Era for baseball cards,
0:36:13 where they way overproduced all the baseball cards.
0:36:18 They’re not worth anything, yet people my age, us middle age, 40-year-old guys,
0:36:21 we we go back and we find our old childhood collections and we’re like,
0:36:24 I wonder if this is worth anything and it’s not.
0:36:26 Yeah, I got a shoebox all right, right in the closet back there.
0:36:28 Right. So it’s really fun.
0:36:32 But what I found is I started going back and I bought old packs of baseball cards
0:36:35 to open with my kids and it was super, super fun.
0:36:39 Just to go through that experience, relive my childhood.
0:36:42 It was very nostalgic and then I started thinking, well,
0:36:45 now I want to complete that set that I started when I was nine.
0:36:49 And so I’ve started chasing this baseball set.
0:36:51 And I’ve done that with you might see in my background,
0:36:55 I have some thundercats, action figures and other things from the 80s.
0:36:59 Music, I like still collect CDs and vinyl.
0:37:01 And it’s just been fun for me as a collector.
0:37:04 We get your Atari T-shirt. Right.
0:37:07 So I collect stuff and I’m documenting my journey.
0:37:12 I don’t have a lot of videos up yet, but I’m starting to just unbox packs of cards.
0:37:16 I’ve actually filmed like 200 videos. I just need to upload them.
0:37:19 But I’m just having so much fun reliving my childhood,
0:37:23 involving my children in the process and then talking about, you know,
0:37:26 what it means to me to be a collector,
0:37:28 but also to collect something that’s worthless to everyone else,
0:37:30 but has some sentimental value to me.
0:37:33 And I have already had some people reach out with,
0:37:36 here’s a way to display your cards. We’ll send it to you.
0:37:37 Just put it on your channel.
0:37:42 And so it’s already opened some doors, even though I think I have like one
0:37:45 long form video and five shorts or something like that.
0:37:46 So it’s really in its infancy.
0:37:49 Okay. Yeah. Well, there’s certainly precedence for that.
0:37:53 I mean, look what Pat Flynn has done with the, with the Pokemon channel.
0:37:58 It’s like absolutely blown up. So something in that electable space.
0:37:59 Certainly an interesting one.
0:38:04 I like the idea of getting the kids involved because they watch a lot of YouTube
0:38:06 and then trying to edit their first video.
0:38:11 There’s a newfound appreciation for like what it really means to be a content
0:38:12 creator. And it’s kind of funny.
0:38:16 We get there like elementary school yearbooks and they ask the fifth graders,
0:38:17 you know, what do you want to be? What do you grow up?
0:38:20 They’re like, I want to be a doctor and a YouTuber.
0:38:24 And I want to be a veterinarian and a part-time YouTuber.
0:38:26 It’s like really, really common to see that.
0:38:28 It’s like, well, how many videos have you made, right?
0:38:30 Like start doing the work now.
0:38:33 You realize you build up that, you know, first of all,
0:38:35 that creative habit of coming up with something consistently,
0:38:40 but also like the skills and appreciation for like what it takes to make
0:38:41 this stuff happen, make it look good.
0:38:44 The other thing that I love about that is I’ve done just like you.
0:38:46 I have a bunch of different side hustles.
0:38:48 Some of them make money, a lot of them don’t.
0:38:54 But the more that you look at developing a skill like a video editor or
0:38:57 storytelling or creating thumbnails, those all compound.
0:38:59 And so when you start another side hustle,
0:39:02 it’s easier and you’re more likely to have success.
0:39:06 And certainly for me, I have a vested interest because the better I get at
0:39:10 video for any platform, the more effective I am in teaching my online
0:39:12 students through video.
0:39:16 And so I’ve learned a lot just through researching YouTube that has made a big
0:39:18 difference for me as a school teacher.
0:39:20 So I love that those things can all work together.
0:39:20 Yeah.
0:39:24 You can’t take too much YouTube advice for me because you look at my channel
0:39:28 and it’s not, you know, growing particularly fast, but it is this planting
0:39:30 these evergreen digital assets type of content.
0:39:35 One thing that we’ve seen work well on that channel and work well for certain
0:39:39 guests is focusing on Q and A content rather than trying to, you know,
0:39:42 play in the entertainment space of the Mr.
0:39:46 Beasts and the Dude Perfects of the world is, you know, trying to solve
0:39:51 specific problems and, you know, answer people’s questions and target that,
0:39:55 you know, search intent where, and we’ve, I’ve got videos where it’s like
0:39:57 answering very specific search query.
0:40:01 It might be eight, 10 years old at this point, like still getting views.
0:40:05 And so that’s something, or if you can build a, build a body of work around
0:40:07 that in your niche, absolutely.
0:40:10 You start to get opportunities, companies reaching out, people asking for help.
0:40:14 We’ve done the entire episodes around, you know, Q and A content around
0:40:15 a specific software tool.
0:40:19 I feel like, you know, you just, you showed me how to do it myself, but like,
0:40:20 I just can’t be bothered.
0:40:21 Can I hire you?
0:40:24 Can you be my consultant on this and just do it for me?
0:40:27 You get people to reach out for services based on that.
0:40:28 Absolutely.
0:40:28 All right.
0:40:28 That’s round two.
0:40:30 Donate a business idea.
0:40:34 Start a YouTube channel, become a content creator rather than just a consumer.
0:40:36 Round three is the triple threat.
0:40:40 And we’re going to start off with a marketing tactic that’s working right now.
0:40:42 It could be influencer related or something else.
0:40:43 Yeah.
0:40:47 So we talked about this earlier, talking about the influencer program, but one
0:40:53 thing that I just started a month ago is when I’m creating videos, instead of
0:40:58 saying review of product, I’m trying to create intrigue in the title.
0:41:02 And the interesting thing has been, it works.
0:41:06 Like I really was skeptical that it would make any difference, but my
0:41:11 videos on YouTube for just normal product reviews, YouTube is starting to promote those.
0:41:14 And I’m seeing that instead of, you know, in the first 30 days that it’s
0:41:23 getting six views that over 50% of my newer videos are getting 50 to 300 views for
0:41:27 those same kinds of products, the same quality of videos, simply just changing
0:41:30 the title a little bit to add a little bit of intrigue.
0:41:33 I’m sure that helps with the click through and stuff like that.
0:41:38 So, so my, my marketing tactic is simply put a little bit more thought
0:41:41 into how you label things and how you title things.
0:41:42 Do you have an example?
0:41:43 This is great.
0:41:43 Well, let’s see.
0:41:46 I just uploaded 12 videos today.
0:41:50 One of them was for a necklace.
0:41:52 We were comparing two necklaces.
0:41:54 Uh, so we had, they were just gold chains.
0:42:00 And rather than say comparison of this necklace and this necklace, say, I think
0:42:04 I said something like, this is why we decided this necklace is the best.
0:42:07 So not a huge change, but just changing the language a little bit.
0:42:08 Okay.
0:42:10 Leaving some element of curiosity.
0:42:13 Well, I want to figure out why they said that.
0:42:17 We’ve seen similar, like the ads I used to run for my shoe business were like,
0:42:22 don’t buy this shoe until you see, you know, our insider price or, you know,
0:42:27 watch this first, you know, before you buy, you know, kind of, we see that type
0:42:32 of video title or, or hook, I guess, an element of intrigue.
0:42:36 You probably asked chat GPT for some intrigue, uh, generating ideas for, uh,
0:42:37 for whatever product it is.
0:42:37 Yep.
0:42:37 Yeah.
0:42:38 This is the next one.
0:42:42 This is a, a favorite new or new to you, uh, tool that you’re loving.
0:42:43 Yeah.
0:42:47 So one of the things that I’ve always done as I generate ideas for different
0:42:52 side hustles is I’ve used my, just audio recorder on my phone to record notes.
0:42:56 So I’ll get done with a walk or a run and I’ll just transcribe notes into my
0:42:56 phone.
0:43:01 I didn’t realize that there was so much AI out there that could transcribe those
0:43:03 for me that were free.
0:43:08 And the one that I’ve started using a lot lately is the AI studio.
0:43:09 Dot Google.com.
0:43:14 So Google has a free AI thing just like chat GPT, but it’s called AI studio.
0:43:18 And it’s awesome because you can upload a video.
0:43:22 You can upload an audio file and they will summarize it for you.
0:43:24 They will transcribe it for you.
0:43:27 They will give you other things that are similar to it.
0:43:30 It’s a really powerful tool and I’m just scratching the surface right now,
0:43:33 but I love it because I can just transcribe all my notes.
0:43:37 And now I have text files to go along with the audio files, but then I also
0:43:42 use that to summarize it, to create descriptions for product reviews and,
0:43:42 and do other things.
0:43:44 So it’s been a really powerful tool for me.
0:43:45 Got it.
0:43:45 Okay.
0:43:48 So you can plug those into the YouTube description versus trying to remember
0:43:50 what you said or write something from scratch.
0:43:51 Yeah, it’s been awesome.
0:43:55 But I, I use that for a lot of my other kinds of videos where I’m giving,
0:43:59 I’m doing a whole episode like this show where we could put the whole video for
0:44:02 this show in the end, then it will summarize it.
0:44:05 It’ll be like in this episode, we covered this, this, this and this.
0:44:07 And it does a really good job with stuff like that.
0:44:08 All right.
0:44:10 AI studio.google.com.
0:44:11 That’s a new one for me.
0:44:13 And we’re going to wrap this thing up.
0:44:16 The final part of the triple threat is your favorite book from the last 12 months.
0:44:17 Yeah.
0:44:20 I don’t read as much as I used to in, in 2020.
0:44:26 I read 200 books because we were stuck at home and, and I love to read, um,
0:44:27 but then I think I burnt myself out.
0:44:30 And so I’ve been very strategic in the last few years.
0:44:36 And the one that I found about a year ago was a book that was written in 2017
0:44:39 called the power of moments by Chip and Dan Heath.
0:44:44 And I love this because for my own research, for things like chasing junk,
0:44:48 I’m really interested in nostalgia and how to create moments.
0:44:52 But as a parent, I’m especially interested in how to make the most
0:44:56 of my time with my children and our oldest just left home.
0:44:58 And so we’re kind of still in mourning with that.
0:45:02 But we have four kids and we want to maximize our time with our children.
0:45:08 And so this book is great because it talks about how we can elevate different
0:45:15 things, how we can create moments out of fear or maybe out of creating connection.
0:45:20 And it gives you a lot of good, um, just suggestions for how to maximize
0:45:22 the time that you already have.
0:45:26 I’ve certainly used this as a classroom teacher thinking about how do I improve
0:45:30 the hook of my classroom so people are engaged right at the beginning of class
0:45:33 that we have another moment somewhere during the lecture and that it always
0:45:35 ends in a strong point.
0:45:40 So what the book does is it brings in all the science behind how to create
0:45:44 meaningful moments and then uses a lot of different stories to illustrate.
0:45:47 And that’s been super helpful for me as a parent, as a teacher.
0:45:51 And it’s even improved my YouTube videos and my product reviews.
0:45:52 Okay.
0:45:53 The power of moments.
0:45:54 That’s a new recommendation on the show.
0:45:55 Thanks for sharing that.
0:46:01 I remember reading Made to Stick, maybe it was the Heath Brothers earlier book
0:46:03 a long time ago, but the power of moments.
0:46:05 Well, we’ll have to check that one out.
0:46:07 We’ll link that up in the show notes for sure.
0:46:10 Now you’re, you mentioned, oh, I read 200 books.
0:46:15 Is there a place in the influencer program for reviewing those books?
0:46:19 Like, hey, this is such a, you know, I read Malcolm Gladwell.
0:46:22 I read this latest title and here’s, here’s what I thought.
0:46:25 What we have found is book reviews, there is a place for that.
0:46:29 You can review just like any other product and you put it, the book listings
0:46:32 are slightly different from other product listings on Amazon, but they
0:46:36 still have a space for videos and you can still make money.
0:46:40 But if it’s an old book that you love, you’re not going to make much.
0:46:42 It has to be a popular book right now.
0:46:47 So if you did like Atomic Habits, you know, I reviewed that a year or two ago
0:46:51 and it got enough sales that it paid for the book, but it didn’t make me rich.
0:46:56 And so I wouldn’t, if you’re going to hone in on one niche with product reviews,
0:47:00 Amazon and books aren’t the best combination, but you can still make
0:47:01 a little bit of money here and there.
0:47:05 I’ve probably done like 30 book reviews and maybe made a few hundred dollars.
0:47:06 Not, not a lot.
0:47:09 Okay. Good to know, you know, there’s like anything else, you know,
0:47:11 it’s a low, lower ticket type of thing.
0:47:14 And the best sellers probably already have lots of reviews on that.
0:47:18 The one fun thing about that is like, if I review buy buttons,
0:47:20 it’s just cool to review your friends books, right?
0:47:23 And, and so I like to do that anyways.
0:47:26 When I get a new book that I know the author, I’ve
0:47:29 thrown up anyways, just because then it helps sell the books.
0:47:31 So there, there are opportunities for that.
0:47:34 And I love that we can do that as reviewers.
0:47:34 That is kind of cool.
0:47:36 And I guess that’s probably a good point.
0:47:38 I should probably at least make videos for my own books, be like,
0:47:42 hey, I’m Nick, I’m the author, you know, if you have any questions,
0:47:45 reach out or, you know, as a, another little touch point.
0:47:47 However, that might not work.
0:47:49 I’ve reviewed a couple of my books and I think they weren’t
0:47:53 approved just because it was under the same Amazon name or something.
0:47:56 And so, so you might not be able to do that.
0:47:56 All right.
0:47:58 You know, a little too close to home.
0:48:01 Sometimes, you know, that algorithm may, may bite you.
0:48:02 No, no, no, no, we’re not going to allow this.
0:48:03 Well, very good.
0:48:04 Creator side income.
0:48:08 You can find Tyler over there on YouTube creator side income.com.
0:48:09 Check him out over there.
0:48:13 Really appreciate you stopping by and schooling us on all of the things
0:48:17 that are new, all of the world of opportunity in creating little product
0:48:21 reviews as a side hustle, do an earning great income on the side.
0:48:25 And kind of reinspired me to go and try and make some more videos here.
0:48:29 See if I can do more than eight this year and improve my passive income
0:48:30 from the influencer program.
0:48:32 Again, creator side income.com.
0:48:34 Big thanks to Tyler for sharing his insight.
0:48:37 Big thanks to our sponsors for helping make this content free for everyone.
0:48:42 You can hit upside hustle nation.com/deals for all the latest offers
0:48:44 from our sponsors in one place.
0:48:46 Thank you for supporting the advertisers that support the show.
0:48:48 That is it for me.
0:48:50 Thank you so much for tuning in.
0:48:54 If you find in value in the show, the greatest compliment is to spread
0:48:55 the word to share with a friend.
0:48:58 So fire off that text message to that friend of yours who buys a lot
0:48:59 of stuff on Amazon.
0:49:01 I don’t know, maybe they need to hear this until next time.
0:49:03 Let’s go out there and make something happen.
0:49:07 And I’ll catch you in the next edition of the side hustle show hustle on.