The Money Show

Ep06: The Money Show 10 Ways To Make Money Online As One Man Band & Podcaster Episode Summary: Learn. Create. Move Forward

Episode Summary: 11 real ways a one-man band or podcaster can make money online — from teaching and sponsorships to affiliate marketing, e-commerce, and freelancing.

What You’ll Learn

11 real ways a one-man band or podcaster can generate online income
The real pros and cons of teaching on a platform vs. self-hosting courses
How podcast sponsorships actually work, with real numbers from John Lee Dumas
Why affiliate marketing costs the buyer nothing extra

10 Ways to Make Money Online

1. Tutorial Sites

Make classes and tutorials, then sell them through online education platforms. Pros: these sites handle technology, hosting, some promotion, and financial transactions — payment comes as a percentage of sales. Cons: Skillshare means splitting profits, and Udemy often discounts a class heavily.

Popular sites: Skillshare, Udemy, Teachable (formerly Fedora).

Classes taught on Skillshare/Udemy (the first internet dollar ever earned!): Photoshop: The Art of the Headswap and WordPress Cheatsheet for Entrepreneurs.

2. Self-Hosted Courses

Classes and courses sold directly through your own platform or website.

Pros: 100% of the profit. Cons: 100% of the responsibility — launch, creation, technology, promotion, all on you.

Platforms for self-hosted courses: LearnDash, Teachery, Thinkific, Zippy Courses, WP Courseware.

3. Podcast Sponsorships

Advertisers have recognized podcasting’s popularity and want in. Sponsorships take time to land — like everything else, more downloads means more sponsor interest, and having a clear niche helps attract them. John Lee Dumas of EOFire has reportedly made around $100K/month in sponsorships by guaranteeing over 1 million listens per month, publishing 7 days a week — not too shabby. See his Ultimate Guide to Podcast Sponsorships for the full breakdown.

4. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing for products and gear is a great revenue generator, and the plan for covering monthly costs of running this site and podcast. It’s simply advertising products with a small kickback on any resulting sale — the buyer pays nothing extra compared to purchasing directly from Amazon or elsewhere.

Affiliate links in action can be seen on the resources page, and there’s also a dedicated Amazon storefront.

Divi BlueHost

5. Guest Blogging

Get paid to write articles for other sites in the same niche, linking back to build an audience. Content marketing has taken over, and sites are hungry for content — guest blogging is genuinely in demand.

6. YouTube

Ad revenue sharing. It takes time, but there’s real money to be made — and the rules are always changing.

7. Kindle eBooks (Amazon)

Write and sell Kindle ebooks. They typically sell under $10, so it’s a volume game, but also a great marketing tool for audience building. Not for everyone, but worth exploring if writing is a strength.

8. E-Commerce Stores

Etsy (artsy goods), Shopify (e-commerce for anything), Gumroad (a personal favorite), Printful (t-shirts).

9. Freelancing (Online)

Offering services like Photoshop retouching, video or audio editing, graphic design, or voiceovers.

Popular sites to offer services: Fiverr, Upwork.

10. Coaching & Consulting

Offer expertise directly to others. People need help figuring things out, and coaching can be a great income source for a good teacher willing to provide accountability and guidance.

11. Membership Sites (Bonus)

Create premium content and charge a monthly fee for access. A popular model that requires consistently great content and a loyal fan base, but worth watching closely.

Recommended book: The Automatic Customer by John Warrillow.

Music: “Life of Riley” & “Wallpaper” (incompetech.com).

Content

More