When you're building a side hustle, especially in affiliate marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in social media. But one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal is actually email marketing. The return on investment can be staggering—studies have shown it can be as high as $40 for every dollar you spend. Think about that. An effective email list isn't just a contact sheet; it's your own private gold mine.
The smartest strategies are often defined by the things you decide not to do. For anyone looking to build a successful content platform or side hustle business, the first step isn’t about chasing every trend. It’s about finding your unique sweet spot.
Any marketing team knows the pain of constant context-switching. New priorities pop up, interrupting the people doing the actual work, and everything grinds to a halt. The single best thing you can do for your team's productivity is to protect them from these interruptions.
I used to turn beet red whenever a professor called on me in class. At parties, I needed a drink in my hand just to work up the nerve to talk to anyone interesting, otherwise, I’d break out in stress hives. Then, in my early twenties, the panic attacks started.
It’s a good idea to occasionally take stock of where you are in your career. You probably have a gut feeling about your current job just from being there. If you’re in a place where office politics make it impossible to move up, or your manager clearly doesn’t care about your growth, it might be time to look for other jobs. That could mean a new role within the company or somewhere else entirely, but staying put means staying stagnant.
In many companies, the marketing department feels like it’s constantly playing catch-up. A quick-reaction team gets spun up to handle a PR crisis, then another team collaborates with product managers to bake marketing into the launch. The industry shifts, a new competitor emerges with a cheaper model, and marketing is again tasked with leading the response. While the company might thrive, the internal feeling is often one of chaotic reactivity, not proactive strategy.
There’s never been a better time to be in marketing. Seriously. The explosion of technology has armed us with thousands of tools and platforms, giving us a direct line to attract, engage, and delight customers in ways we could only dream of 20 years ago. With social networks and search engines, our reach is practically unlimited. The digital world is an infinite canvas, and we have every tool imaginable to create something amazing.
I once thought I had an idea that was going to change the world of marketing. I was sure we were building software every business needed, something that would launch my company, Moz, into the stratosphere. I was wrong.
It’s a common belief that starting a business requires a mountain of cash. But what if that’s not true? The reality is, many successful ventures start with surprisingly little. Michael Trainer kicked off his media production company with just $2,500 for a camera—an investment he later recouped in full. He went on to work with Nobel Prize winners. Tara Gentile launched her publishing business with $80, and a year later, she was earning $75,000. For Chris Dunphy and Cherie Ve Ard, it was $125 that started a software consultancy that now pulls in over $75,000 a year while they travel the world.