To monetize or not to monetize

I’ve been creating content for over four years now.

I tried blogging and failed to get anywhere.

I have a gaming YouTube channel that has recently qualified for monetization.

I have a LinkedIn account with over 1500 followers.

I have a TwiX account that is approaching 1000 followers.

I haven’t made any money from them yet.

But I DID make seven cents on Medium after a six weeks of writing…

Which brings me to the penultimate exercise for this process for the coming year:

Brainstorming what services or products I’m capable of offering based on the work from the first five days.

Do I even need to consider this right now?

Let’s find out together.

A simple approach

I ruminate a lot about this one as it’s the easiest and also the hardest in terms of how long it could take…

Earning money from views, readership, and impressions across different platforms is as easy as sticking to what I’ve discovered and structured here so far.

Grinding it out and mastering the art of writing and copy on the following platforms:

• Twi(X) - I already have a year’s worth of content that I have archived

• Beehiiv - I’ve been steadily working on this newsletter as I’ve discovered myself

• Medium - I’ve begun to select and expand on the best and most inspirational content from the first two (and it’s been growing well)

• YouTube - I have three years of experience that I can use to start my own channel here

• Substack - only very recently did I open an account here to support a wonderful content creator, and I’m curious if it has potential

The pros of monetizing this approach:

• no overhead

• systems are already in place

• I can focus almost exclusively on my content

The cons:

• each platform has its challenges

• scalability is dependent on volume and quality

• the rates are variable and subject to change for each platform

It’s a good place to start…but it’s also one where most stay. If you quit, the algorithms are generally designed to decrease your visibility to make way for new blood.

The low-hanging fruit

If you’ve been on social media or Money Twi(X) for a spell, then you know this one pretty well…the ouroboros of content creation offers…

Basically, you create content about creating content and package and sell it in any way, shape, or form you can conceive of in the form of a lead magnet.

• giveaways

• swipe files

• Loom tutorials

The rule of thumb is to focus on one problem and snipe it in style…your style.

Most of these had their heyday earlier this year from February to May before giving way to courses and cohorts.

All these are pretty much gone now, but I suspect this is how the yearly cycle goes for most would-be solopreneurs.

At this level, I’d offer my system for content creation and break it down into specific offers for a low price of $5 to $7 and increase this as the quality improves.

I don’t particularly like the idea of paywalling…but if you’re good at something, don’t ever do it for free.

The key is the mindset of whether or not I think I’m “good at something”.

The pros of this approach:

• minimal maintenance

• steady stream of scalable income

• excellent for building visibility and authority

The cons:

• high effort to validation and marketing

• takes time away from honing the craft of content creation

• the funneling and marketing system takes time for self-sustainability

It’s a work in progress. The cons aren’t really “cons” per se, but they do help me keep perspective.

The juicier selections

This is the next tier up and is pricier specifically because it requires more commitment on my part and is not scalable at all.

• clarity calls

• coaching packages

• deep dives into my systems

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many people across the world on calls this year, and I’ve been fortunate to have had the chance to catch up with them several times…in fact there are a handful that have become the core of my community that I like encouraging and freely sharing my experiences with.

On more than one occasion, I’ve been given feedback that I would make a very good coach.

The pros of this approach:

• high impact

• short-term income

• potential for growth for parties

The cons:

• high effort to prep and sustain

• requires constantly searching for new clients

• income is highly variable and client lifetimes must be finite

Not sure I’d want to use this one too often, as I’m rather picky about the people that I want to work with. I believe in high-quality service as a former tenure-track professor, though, so this would definitely enable me to flex those skills.

Starting packages would be $50 to $70 per session, and I’ve seen people increase prices after every 5 to 10 clients.

The best fruit at the top

Ultimately, the high-ticket goodies would be the ones that would represent everything that I value and wish to impart in a sustainable approach.

• full courses

• full system tutorials

• tailored offerings for clients

This is pie-in-the-sky stuff for me…at this point, I’m not really interested in devoting time and effort into putting these together without more experience in this journey that I’ve been on for the past year.

Lifestyle, mindset, and value-centered development for people to revamp or optimize their content creation processes are the best that I can envision at the moment.

The pros of this approach:

• very high impact

• very high income

• deep experiences

The cons:

• significant effort to create

• very little time to focus on content creation

• could be very slow to get off the ground for promotion

I would need to possess a much higher skill in copywriting (which I’m interested in improving). These do sound like fun, but I would definitely be putting a lot of effort into developing this type of offer for maximum impact.

What’s the plan?

Day 6 was about the monetization strategy:

• earning from content and simple offers

• building a process for helping clients with their journeys

• putting together high-ticket courses and tutorials and tailored products

After writing out my initial thoughts for monetization, I’ve had a few realizations about how I really feel about this…

Monetization isn’t really something I want to focus on in the coming year.

I’m enjoying the process of honing my writing and my ideas, and I like the idea of earning a little bit of income from sharing my thoughts and perspective.

For the long-term, I’m sure I’ll have more to say about each of these tiers.

I’m not in any hurry the make a buck as a 9-5 parent creator.

I have my career that I enjoy so I won’t be stressing about mid or high-ticket offers for the present.

That certainly doesn’t mean that it won’t become more interesting in the next few years, though!

Only a week left in this year…I’ll be sharing my final thoughts on this process as I start executing on this whole thing next time!

Vince

P.S. What do you think of the whole “make money as quickly as possible” approach? I respect the hustle, but I’m not going to sell my soul to make a buck.

P.P.S Santa’s coming tonight!…