how I made my first $ online

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March 23, 2022. I posted my first visual aimed at online creators. The visual looked like this.

By this point, I had a 2-year-long trial & error on Twitter. I was trying to find my niche, my style, my voice. I had just paused working on my parenting-related app idea. All I knew was I wanted to reach online creators like myself.

The visual performed quite well. At that point I didn’t have any plans regarding my visuals. BUT the exposure (and the growth it brought) felt sweet. I couldn’t wait to make my next one. (This is how small wins work—you want to have more of them.) So I started churning out visuals day after day. Create, post. Create, post. Create, post.

Roughly one month in, I came up with an idea for a visual and spent 4 hours working on it. The moment it was finished, I posted it. Here’s how it looks.

The next day I received this DM.

It caught me by surprise. It was my first time seeing my marketing doing its job. The only thing is, I wasn’t aware I was doing marketing!

At this point I was far away from being “ready” to build a business around my visuals. I didn’t have a website. Didn’t have business plan. Didn’t even have a pay button!

But I knew none of these mattered.

I replied as follows:

I DM’d a few friends including Janis Ozolins asking him how he priced his work. He gave me a range and explained the types of work he does.

But I didn’t feel comfortable naming a price. After all, I had no reputation, no testimonials, no portfolio. I just had ideas that seemed to be resonating with people. So I left the price to the customer.

The price he named was on the lower end of the range Janis had given me. I still went for it. And my gut said “this feels right.”

I made a sale.

I earned a happy customer.

I started a business. That very day.

Oh, and I used the Stripe account of my parenting app for the payment. The customer didn’t care. And neither did I.

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Why I chose to make visuals in the first place:

1. I knew people were paying for them

2. I knew creators were making money with them

How I made the first $:

1. I showed my work

2. I charged less than the market

3. I was honest about being a beginner

Moral of the story:

1. Create

2. Create things you know make money

3. Create things you know make money, inside a group of people who care about similar things

That’s it for today.

Happy holidays! Rest well. And then, stay building.

Love, B.