💼 UNCONVENTIONAL CAREERS

Make $100k/mo Selling A F*cking Template?! 🤯

🔥 Opportunity: Templates As A Business Model

🔎 Case Study: Thomas Frank, $100k MRR

As someone who’s purchased dozens of templates to help with business, it literally shocked me when I stumbled upon Thomas Frank whose primary business model is selling Notion templates that make him $100k per month. F*cking mind-blowing… and he’s not the only one crushing it in the template space.

Pascio (seen below) and Valeria are other great case studies of this:

I’m already obsessed with Notion (highly recommend you check it out - it’s been amazing for my business AND client collaboration), but I had never considered it as a place to offer digital products before (like templates).

I’ve created my fair share of eBooks, courses, and guides, and the time commitment + platform cost + heavy lift = NOT WORTH IT.

This model, on the other hand, might be. I aim to create some goodies for y’all by 2024 (and I’ll be sure to document how I create them and my entire experience on it too).

Why Notion Templates as a Business Model?

1) Notion is a super easy platform to use, allowing you to create from scratch quickly

2) “Set it and forget it” passive income (you obviously need to market your template, but once it’s built, it can easily become something that helps you earn while you sleep)

3) The ROI of your time, effort, and attention is higher in comparison to building out other digital products (e.g. courses that require filming and editing)

4) The earnings potential can be crazy high if you're able to create templates for in-demand niches (pro tip: use ChatGPT to research this!)

5) No- or low-cost subscriptions = higher payoff for you (Use Notion for your template and Gumroad to sell it)

Reply to this email and let me know what you think about this unconventional side hustle or career. Would you try it?!

⚙️ AI SPOTLIGHT

My friend Whitney and have both been SO excited about all the progress we’ve been making since Labor Day (basically since the Summer Snooze was over)… but we caught ourselves getting burned out already 😅

We both hired the same business strategist this past month to help usher us into a more balanced, flow-filled life. I’m a week in and already feel the difference he’s making (THANK YOU, MIKE).

For those battling burnout or mental health struggles, here are a few AI tools that I’ve been dabbling with that have been helpful (and might just provide you the support you need 🙏)

📓 Jumble Journal - AI will unscramble your brain and connect the dots

🧠 My Mind - Remember everything, organize nothing (Say goodbye to 2947234 open tabs and lost notes where you save things and can’t find them - AI does it for you)

🍿 WatchNow - AI-powered movie recommendations (Y’ALL, we all need a damn break, and being a vegetable is an important part of business 😊)

🧘‍♀️ Stretch15 - Free 15min daily stretch to help you slow down & save your sanity

☀️ Before Sunset - Have AI plan your day for you (I’m super interested in this as my to-do list is f*cking LONG… and I also know myself to be a visualize person)

🤖 CHATGPT

Did you know that an AI Prompt Engineer is a new, in-demand career that can rake you in a multi-six figure salary?! 👀  You can explore prompt engineering through this paid, side-hustle platform, Data Annotation, and more on what gigs can pay up to $375k/yr without a tech background.

I’m deep in the AI space trying to learn all the prompt engineering skills to make my life easier, and Aadit Sheth has been my favorite to learn from. He runs a newsletter called Prompts Daily which I scrub through pretty frequently (highly recommend subscribing).

Something he said that ultimately changed my perspective on playing with this new technology is:

🙅‍♀️ Don't use ChatGPT like Google.

Most people think you should use it like a search engine.

That's useful… But it becomes more powerful when you give it clear instructions.

This is what prompt engineering consists of.

Prompt of the Week:

Since we’re on the topic of Templates As A Business Model this week, I figured we’d explore that (see below).

For those who feel they don’t have any transferrable skills, you can change this prompt to say something along the lines of “I’m a [job title] working in [industry]” - you can also Google your role for inspiration on what skills you have that can be monetized (YES, YOU DO HAVE SKILLS THAT CAN MAKE YOU $$$ EVEN IF YOU DON’T THINK SO).

Some of my favorite ideas that ChatGPT gave me:

Podcast Production Workflow Template

• Features: Episode planning, recording, editing, and publishing checklist

• Price Range: $20 - $40

Copywriting Toolkit Template

• Features: Copywriting prompts, tools, headline formulas, and tone-of-voice guidelines

• Price Range: $20 - $40

Project Management Dashboard Template

• Features: Task lists, project timelines, and progress tracking

• Price Range: $25 - $50

Business Expense Tracker Template

• Features: Expense categorization, budget tracking, and financial analysis

• Price Range: $20 - $40

Email Marketing Campaign Template

• Features: Email sequence planner, automation setup, and performance tracking

• Price Range: $25 - $50

️ PODCAST

This past weekend I had a huge breakdown - it was the equivalent of a crying toddler, kicking and screaming with snot dripping down my face. She cute, she cute (not really).

I’m in a pivotal place in my business and so much is changing rapidly, but the main focus of these changes is to create more ease (I didn’t leave Corporate just to replicate the same BS in my life, amiright?!)

On this week’s episode, I talk about how I’m setting the foundation in Q4 for what I’m calling my ‘Era of Ease’ - the theme of 2024.

I’ve spent the past year practicing ‘soft living,’ but I want even more ease - easy money, easy connection, and easy joy.

What ‘Era’ of life are you in right now? Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to creating in 2024?

🤑 MONTHLY MONEY

I might be putting myself on full blast here, but I feel it’s only fair to share what’s working, what’s not, and what we’re getting up to soon in the business since I’m the Corporate Quitter.

So, every month, there will be a section called Monthly Money where I do a full breakdown of everything.

Projected means what I anticipate bringing in.

Confirmed means not paid yet, but have verbal confirmation to be paid out.

Paid means what I actually brought in.

If you want me to divulge more details or something specific, let me know 🙋‍♀️

Breakdown of my revenue for the month of October:

Projected: $8,189 // Actually Paid: $5,597

🤔 Why The Difference?

1. Slight Time Stipulation: A new client paid on Nov 1 instead of Oct 31 (it’s just a day, but now falls into my November bucket)

2. Late Payments: An existing client was late to pay (this rarely happens, thankfully)

3. Behind on Deliverables: An agreed project timeline changed (what should have taken 30 days is taking longer)

Client Work: $4,597 // Brand Deal: $1,000

📊 Work Breakdown:

• Newsletter Research & Copywriting - $1,250

• Podcast Production + Social/Newsletter Copywriting - $1,997 (this retainer model is being reworked)

• Quitter Strategy Sessions - $1,350

🔮 Projections for November:

Projected: $6,284 (as of today) // Paid (so far): $1,492 // Confirmed: $3,489

🏆 Goals For November:

• Reconfigure & “clean up” my existing client retainers

• CQ podcast episode 1x per week

• CQ email newsletter 1x per week

• Re-introducing Quitter Strategy Sessions (reply to this email with ‘Quitter’ to learn more)

• Hit $10k monthly revenue (with fun + ease, not stress)

🥲 Current Pain Points

• I’m in the middle of niching down so I’m in limbo with existing clients who don’t fall into that category of work anymore

• Struggling to find balance as I re-introduce my own work into the mix (newsletter, podcast, etc)

• My mental workload is at maximum capacity which means I need to offload some work to a contractor and/or charge more

• Researching an additional income stream that’s less mentally taxing

• SETTING MOTHA F*CKIN BOUNDARIES, Y’ALL (what else is new??)