I Tried the $1 Billion Dollar Side Hustle

Summary

In this engaging video, the creator humorously embarks on a three-day challenge to break into the $40 billion print on demand (POD) industry as an amateur artist. Detailing the step-by-step process, from selecting products and designing to marketing, the video offers a candid look at the realities of starting a POD business. Despite the creator's inexperience in business and marketing, they manage to earn a modest income, highlighting the importance of marketing and the trust placed in third-party companies. The video concludes with a heartfelt appreciation for the support received and an invitation to join the 'Delusional World Tour 2024'.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video humorously starts with a 'clickbait' claim of a $40 billion side hustle, which is actually a $40 million industry.
• 🎨 The side hustle discussed is 'print on demand' (POD), where artists can sell their designs on various products without upfront costs.
• 🐱 The creator attempts to make money in 3 days by creating POD products, starting with designing items like mugs, phone cases, and hoodies.
• 🚀 The creator uses Printify as the POD platform, which handles printing, shipping, and packaging.
• 🛍️ The plan involves six steps: finding products, designing, connecting and uploading to a shop, marketing, showing results, and optionally, buying a yacht.
• 🎨 The designs are created using the Procreate app with a focus on a cat theme, a reused design for a phone case, and a text-based design for a hoodie.
• 📈 The creator connects the designs to a Shopify store, which they learn to use during the process, and also considers marketing on TikTok and Instagram.
• 📊 After three days, the results are modest with only one order, showing the challenges of new businesses gaining traction quickly.
• 💸 The creator reflects that marketing is crucial, accounting for 95% of the effort, and that POD is not a get-rich-quick scheme.
• 🌐 Trust in third-party companies is necessary as they handle inventory, stock, packaging, and shipping.

Q & A

What is the 'side hustle' referred to in the transcript?

The 'side hustle' mentioned in the transcript is a print on demand (POD) business, where artists can sell their designs on various products without any upfront costs or inventory.

What is the significance of the number '40 billion' mentioned in the transcript?

The number '40 billion' is used as a clickbait figure to grab attention, as the actual value of the side hustle discussed is significantly less. The speaker humorously admits to using it as a bait to engage the audience.

What is the platform used by the speaker to sell their POD products?

The platform used by the speaker to sell their print on demand products is Printify.

What are the three different products chosen by the speaker for their POD business?

The three different products chosen by the speaker are a ceramic mug, a phone case, and a hoodie, each representing a different price point.

How does the speaker plan to market their POD products?

The speaker plans to market their products through social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, using stories, posts, and sneak peeks to promote their designs.

What is the role of Shopify in the speaker's POD business?

Shopify is used by the speaker to create an online store where they can sell their POD products directly to customers.

What challenges did the speaker face while setting up their Shopify store?

The speaker faced challenges with the complexity and cost of setting up a Shopify store, and also spent a significant amount of time learning how to use it effectively.

What was the outcome of the speaker's three-day POD business experiment?

After three days, the speaker received only one order for a product, which was a realistic but disappointing outcome considering the effort put into the business.

What were the three key lessons the speaker learned from their POD business attempt?

The three key lessons learned were: 1) Marketing is crucial, making up about 95% of the success, 2) POD is not a get-rich-quick scheme and requires planning and effort, and 3) Trust in the third-party POD company is necessary for handling inventory, packaging, and shipping.

What was the final message the speaker shared with their audience?

The final message was a candid expression of gratitude for the opportunity to try out the POD business and for the support of their audience, acknowledging the value of their engagement and purchases.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 Starting a Print on Demand Business

The speaker embarks on a challenge to see how much money can be made in 3 days with a Print on Demand (POD) side hustle, an industry worth $40 billion. They explain the POD business model, which allows artists to sell their designs on various products without upfront costs or inventory. The speaker's plan involves six steps: finding products, creating designs, connecting and uploading to a POD platform, marketing, showing final results, and optionally, buying a yacht. They choose three different products at three different price points to test profitability.

05:01

🖌️ Designing and Uploading Products

The speaker describes their process of designing for the chosen products: a mug, a phone case, and a hoodie. They use an app called Procreate and a brush set called 'glossy jelly' to create designs themed around cats and a 'delusional world tour'. After completing the designs, they connect to Printify, a POD platform, to upload their creations. They also discuss the process of adjusting designs for various iPhone models and the importance of choosing the right color schemes. The speaker humorously shares their experience with marketing, including posting sneak peeks on social media and the challenges of setting up a Shopify website.

10:03

📈 Marketing Efforts and Launch

The speaker continues with their marketing efforts by posting previews on Instagram and TikTok, despite having a significant following. They keep the marketing low-key, only posting a few stories and one Instagram post. The speaker also shares their experience with designing a Shopify website, which they find challenging and time-consuming. They express their excitement about the products they've created, even planning to buy some for themselves. The speaker ends the day by preparing to launch their shop and showing the final results the next day.

15:03

🏝️ Reflecting on the POD Business Experience

The speaker reflects on their experience with the POD business, admitting that they were not successful in becoming a millionaire or buying a yacht. They received only one order but are grateful for the support. The speaker shares their insights, emphasizing the importance of marketing, the effort required beyond the initial setup, and the trust placed in the POD company for inventory and shipping. They also discuss the quality of the products they received and their satisfaction with Printify. The speaker concludes by expressing gratitude for the opportunity to try out the POD business and invites viewers to join them on a 'delusional world tour' in the comments.

Keywords

💡Print on Demand (POD)

Print on Demand (POD) is a business model where products are only printed when a customer orders them, eliminating the need for inventory. In the video, the narrator attempts to start a POD business by uploading their designs onto merchandise like hoodies, mugs, and phone cases. The POD platform handles printing, shipping, and packaging, allowing the artist to earn a profit on each sale.

💡Revenue

Revenue refers to the income generated from business activities. The video discusses the potential revenue from the POD business, with the narrator setting a goal to see how much money they can make in three days. The final revenue after expenses is calculated to be $116, showing the practical outcome of the endeavor.

💡Design

Design in this context refers to the creation of visual art to be printed on merchandise. The video details the process of creating designs for different products, such as a cat-themed mug, a phone case using an old drawing, and a text-based hoodie design. These designs are central to the POD business model.

💡Marketing

Marketing is the process of promoting and selling products or services. The video emphasizes the importance of marketing in the success of a POD business, with the narrator admitting their lack of professional background in it. They attempt to market their products through social media posts and stories, which is crucial for driving sales.

💡Etsy

Etsy is an e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. In the video, Etsy is mentioned as one of the platforms that can be connected to a POD service like Printify to sell the products. This showcases the versatility of selling channels in a POD business.

💡Profit Margin

Profit Margin is the percentage of sales that is retained as profit after扣除 all costs. The video script mentions adjusting the profit margin on products, such as deciding between a 40% or 50% margin, which directly affects how much the artist earns per sale.

💡Inventory

Inventory refers to the stock of goods held for sale in a business. The POD model, as discussed in the video, eliminates the need for inventory management, which is a significant advantage for artists and small businesses as it reduces upfront costs and risks.

💡 Shopify

Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows businesses to set up online stores. The narrator in the video uses Shopify to create their own online store and connects it with Printify to sell their POD products, illustrating an alternative sales channel to Etsy.

💡Clickbait

Clickbait is content designed to attract attention and encourage clicks, often with sensational or misleading headlines. The video script admits to using 'clickbait' in the title, suggesting the $40 billion figure to pique interest, which is a common online marketing strategy.

💡Branding

Branding is the process of creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumer's mind. The video references 'delusional idea branding,' which is the narrator's approach to creating a cohesive theme across their products, like the 'Delusional World Tour' hoodie design.

💡Royalty-free

Royalty-free means that a one-time payment allows you to use the content without paying additional fees. The script mentions using royalty-free clip art to enhance a design, which is a cost-effective way for artists to add elements to their creations without copyright issues.

Highlights

The art side hustle, print on demand (POD), is valued at $40 billion.

The author, with no professional background, challenges to make money in POD in 3 days.

A quick summary of the POD business model is provided.

The author's 3-day plan includes finding products, designing, connecting to a shop, marketing, showing results, and buying a yacht humorously.

The author chooses three different products with varying price points to test which sells best.

Printify is used as the POD platform for its handling of printing, shipping, and packaging.

Design process begins with a cat-themed mug, showcasing creativity and the use of the app 'prre'.

The author humorously critiques their own cat drawing, adding a personal touch.

A second design is created by reusing an old drawing for a phone case, demonstrating design efficiency.

The final design is a text-based hoodie, reflecting the 'delusional idea' branding.

The author connects their designs to a Shopify store, exploring e-commerce for the first time.

Marketing efforts include Instagram stories and a post, with a focus on low-key promotion.

The author orders samples of their designs to ensure product quality before full promotion.

After two weeks, the author reveals they made CAD 386, showing realistic earnings from POD.

Key lessons learned include the importance of marketing, the reality that POD is not a get-rich-quick scheme, and the need to trust third-party companies.

The author expresses gratitude for the opportunity to try POD and for those who bought their products.

A secret message at the end invites viewers to comment 'delusional World Tour 2024' if they watched to the end.

Transcripts

$40 billion that is how much this art

rated side hustle is worth so yeah sorry

I click baited you cuz I guess it's not

1 billion it's 40 billion so obviously I

had the delusional idea to see how much

money I an amateur artist with no

professional background in business

designing and marketing can make in 3

days so let's

go okay hello day one I just realized I

never even told you what the side hustle

is so the side hustle that we're talking

about is print on demand or pod for

short I'm just going to call it pod from

now on cuz I think it's a cute word but

I'm sure if you're an artist like me or

even if you're not you've definitely

heard this word floating around but just

in case here is a quick 10-second

summary of how the Pod business works so

the Pod industry allows artists to sell

their drawings on products like hoodies

or mugs and notebooks with zero upfront

costs or inventory and what you do is

you upload your designs to a pod

platform in this case we'll be using

printify which handles everything from

printing shipping packaging everything

all that and then the artist which is us

in this case will then earn some profit

for each sale to me it just always

sounded a little bit too good to be true

but the delusional thought of like you

know what yeah I should totally do this

today just kind of over manifested so

I'll show you right now the true

realistic results and steps I take in

this million dooll industry and when I

become a millionaire everyone who still

watching this right now you're all

invited to my yacht party okay don't

forget okay so this is our 3-day game

plan all right there's six easy steps

first step we obviously have to find our

products it should be plural step two we

got to make and draw our designs step

three we connect and upload to a shop

step four is the one that I'm kind of

scared for but that is the marketing and

promo aspect step five is I show the

final results and step six completely

optional but uh buy a yacht okay so

here's my plan for finding the products

we're going to try to sell three

different products of three different

price points so say if a customer

purchases the cheapest one I'll make say

only $2 but if they purchase the most

expensive one I could make maybe $10 and

then in the end we'll see which one was

the most worth it so printify has over

like 900 products in their catalog so I

had a really hard time choosing but I

think I've narrowed it down to these

three products of the three different

price points so we're going to be doing

a ceramic mug for the cheapest phone

case for the middle and then hoodie for

the most and they honestly have some of

the best prices on the market and even

better if you're with Printery premium

which I have and recommend so if you

also want to start a pod store use my

link down below and literally look at

that we just started day one and step

one is oh and step one is already

done okay so we're starting off with the

mug they do tell you the exact canvas

size that you need so I just copy that

right over here okay you know what

people love is cats so I think I'm going

to do like a cat themed one maybe just

cats kind of floating around may maybe

three is enough I also love to add some

greens so maybe some like leaves maybe

this could be like sitting on a plant or

something I have no idea we're getting

creative here I also think this stage is

the one that probably takes the longest

so I'm going to try and get the three

designs done today or early day two and

hopefully they turn out looking pretty

cute you know what would be so cute is

if I do like a little Sprout on his head

right okay I drew this and I'm just like

does this even look like a cat like I

think it's just like a cute little blob

at this point should I just should I

leave it okay guys I'm a genius I turned

it into a mouse or a rat I don't know

but they're besties and then this guy

over here is truly just like head empty

like no thoughts whatsoever okay I think

I'm happy with this Design This is

called cat's day off so he's playing

with his Mouse friend over here flying

on leaves just hanging out jumping

around enjoying nature and then all we

have to do is add some color upload it

and we'll go from there also by the way

I should say that the app I'm using is

prre I've been using it since like 4

years ago the brush that I'm using is

the glossy jelly set you already know

this is like one of my top three

favorite brushes of all time it just

makes everything look so good you can

draw like people animals cute things

literally everything that is in the

description if you want to download it

but I think we're almost finishing up

here so and design number one done on to

design number two all right so now we

are on to our second design but I wanted

to show that you can actually use an old

drawing that you did and kind of and

actually just reuse it so I drew this a

while ago when I was designing t-shirts

but now I'm thinking it would also look

really cute on a phone case cuz it's

kind of like you know a playlist looking

thing and all I'm doing right now is

just adding a few more Sparkles to fill

up the extra gaps for the phone case all

right design number two done let's move

on to our our final design and then

finally for the hoodie so I wanted to

try a more text based design so I added

some text some royaltyfree clip out just

to spice it up and theme wise I carried

on with the delusional idea branding and

chose to do like a delusional World Tour

design and I've really been liking a

royal blue so I went with that and I

think it looks pretty legit and step two

boom

done okay so now that we have our three

designs let's connect it to a shop so

with printify you can connect with Etsy

Shopify Tik Tok Shop and More

unfortunately I'm not American so I

don't have a Tik Tok shop however I've

always wanted to try my hand at working

a Shopify website so I thought this was

the perfect opportunity to learn how to

use Shopify and then connect it to

printify and I may or may not have

regretted this just just keep watching

but it was super easy to connect you

just click connect and yeah so I'm going

to upload the mug first let's see how it

looks oh my gosh that looks so cute and

they have different colors as well you

know I think we're going to oh these are

really nice I think we're going to stick

with white though look at these mockups

they look so cute okay wow wow oh they

look a lot better than I thought they

would they did have a pre-typed title

and description but I made some changes

made it a little bit more personal to my

design oh okay so we can play with the

profit margin so you can see if I make

it 40% I make a little less but then if

it's like 50 I make a little bit more

let's let's go at the middle 45 I'll

make $2 if this sells okay I want to

hear a funny story so this was very

unexpected but I probably spent the most

time on this step because I never

realized how many different iPhones

there are why are there so many

different iPhones but basically I had to

go in and manually resize my design for

every phone because they're all like

slightly different sizes but then right

after I resized all of them I was like

you know what I'm not really feeling the

green on white like I myself wouldn't

see myself purchasing and using this so

I didn't feel right putting it out so

guess who went back to change the color

scheme and resize all 30 phone cases

again me but I like it a lot more now

and the black and white just makes it

look so sleep and clean so yeah uh

please buy it it took me so long and I

might be getting ahead of myself but I

thought just you know doing some

marketing here and there wouldn't hurt

so I posted a phone case sneak peek on

my story don't worry not a lot of people

see my story so if this counts as

cheating don't worry only like 500

people saw probably but that looks so

good like I'm going to buy it I'm

literally going to buy it and last but

not least the hoodies oh look at this

this looks so good the blue on the sand

color I want it oh it looks pretty good

on black too oh looks good on Gray too

okay I'm really glad I went with this

blue it looks really good you know what

let's just make all these colors

available so because I had more colors

for the hoodies now I also turned the

logo to a white just so it shows up

better and then I gave a special

treatment to the yellow hoodie I gave it

a green design because you know what I

thought yellow and green would look

pretty cute oh my gosh look at that I am

actually going to buy this I'm literally

going to buy this right after I finish

designing you can too we can be matching

okay this might be a long shot but if

anyone buys the yellow one can you

please send me a photo through my

Instagram DMS or whatever like I just

need to see it on someone I look really

bad in yellow so it just does not go

with me but I like I feel like this

would look so cute so if you buy it no

pressure like please just send me a

photo okay quick side quest I'm going to

order samples of all three products to

make sure you know it's like good cuz I

don't want to be promoting something

that I don't think is good so obviously

I'm getting the beautiful royal blue

hoodie also if anyone's getting the

yellow please send me a photo again and

the phone case will be for my mom and I

actually need a new cup cuz I've been

using the same Dollar Store one for

about 5 years so I think it's time for

an upgrade and guess who paid for $81 of

priority shipping cuz I wanted to

includeed in this video and I feel like

it wouldn't get here in time if I just

did normal shipping so yeah I'm a

responsible spender okay just just not

when it comes to this and now it's

pending so stay tuned to see an unboxing

of what we just designed together all

right I consider this the end of day one

because it is 9:40 this is considered

late for me cuz I sleep at like 9:30 but

we can now check off number three we

just didn't publish it we're just going

to leave that for tomorrow I think the

hoodie is probably my favorite just cuz

I'm a hoodie person but I just can't

believe we're finished day one and we

have three out of the six well I don't

know if that's this is optional so

technically three out of five yeah I

will see you tomorrow on day

two all right day 2 7:20 a.m let's go on

to the marketing promo step so I put up

some Hoodie previews onto my Instagram

story now I'm not going to lie I do have

a significant following on Instagram and

Tik Tok and probably the majority of

people watching this might not and I put

realistic in the title so I'm actually

going to keep the marketing part more

lowkey like maybe just making a few

stories maybe one Instagram post and one

Tik Tok post that's it and again trust

me don't let my follower account fool

you cuz I'm not expecting much from

these at all like I've tried marketing

my other stuff before and get like zero

sales so don't worry and not going to

lie I spent majority of the day I kid

you not like 9:00 a.m to 9:00 p.m

figuring out how to design and just work

Shopify in general let me just say this

is not a beginner's website and it's

also not cheap but sometimes you just

got to do it for the delusional ideas

right but anyways I won't bore you with

those details cuz long story short it

just took a long time but I kept with

the promo throughout the day literally

spammed you guys in my stories I'm so

sorry and in the end I just did a lot of

stories and one Instagram post truly I

feel like my marketing is terrible like

no professional background in marketing

and it really really

shows okay boom you know what impromptu

desk mat design because I want a new one

this one is kind of plain it's just like

a kind of green color this however is

going to look so cute yeah and then at

this point I just realized I was like am

I taking on this delusional idea because

I myself just want these products for

myself because again I ordered all of

these because I want them but you know

what if you want a COI Cloud's desk mat

we can be matching okay okay it is 9:48

the end of day 2 we did do a lot of

promo and a lot of marketing which means

tomorrow day three is when the shop goes

live and then I can show you the final

results at the end of the day but I

think I'll also do like a one we and

then like a two we followup just to see

if there's like a rise or a fall I don't

know but yeah that was insane I'll see

you

tomorrow okay hello today is day three

it is 6 oh it is 6:20 a.m saturday which

is also when I post my new YouTube

videos so I think this week is when I

talk about how to find your art style

but anyways this is my site that I made

yesterday I can't believe this literally

took up the entire day when I tell you I

was sitting at my desk from like 9 to 9:

it took like 12 hours about but it is

done we see all four items here the

phone case the desk mat the hoodie look

at how good that yellow one looks I

don't I want it but I know I'm going to

look so bad in it so again if anyone

buys it please show me and the mug just

transferred it over from printify onto

my site and I think we'll go live in

after

breakfast okay so this is a really quick

promo photo that I whipped up I think

I'll post this maybe in 30 minutes that

is the same time that I post my YouTube

videos this is just too much stimulus

for me right now and it was at this step

where I also realized I am terrible at

graphic designing so not just marketing

but graphic designing as well but

anyways I did buy all these products for

myself so if you do want to see it live

just wait like 30 seconds so I just

posted it it's now 8:00 a.m oh my God

it's 8 wait hold on I got to post my

YouTube video too many side quests but

yeah I just posted this it's all up the

website is also up oh see we got four

visitors right now that's not very good

but that it was oh three that was

expected okay hello it is 9:30 the end

of day three and let me show you a very

realistic result of our 3-day Journey so

I'm kind ofar beares to show this but I

want to be fully transparent we got one

order but honestly knowing my stats and

lack of marketing I was kind of

expecting single digits so for the

special someone who ordered the koi

Cloud's desk mat thank you very much I

will be personally sending you

additional freebies so keep on the

lookout Again full transparency there

was nothing wrong with Shopify nothing

wrong with printify if anything they did

their job 100% perfectly fully the lack

of orders was just my marketing was

terrible or you know what maybe my

designs just did not speak to anyone

which is all good you know we all got

different tastes with that said Rome was

not built in a day meaning I will come

back in 1 week and show you the results

then so see you in like 2

seconds and I forgot to show earlier but

here are the products that I bought for

myself the mug looks so cute currently

my new mug as we speak the packaging was

really secure and nothing chipped and it

works great then the phone case this

printed so nicely all the little star

decorations were detailed but if I'm

being completely honest I did receive it

with a scratch line thing at the top

that you can see in like certain

lightings so because of that I don't

really mind and when it says tough

iPhone case they they really mean it

like this feels unbreakable and

last but not least my favorite item

which is the world tour hoodie it's so

cute I love the soft oversized fit you

can see it's a drop shoulder with a soft

cotton inside oh here's my mom also I

got in a size large you can see it here

for reference on my mom who so kindly

was my model she's 52 or 159 CM for

reference and I definitely think the

blue was a good idea it looks so good on

her I'm truly considering getting

another color cuz it's just that cute if

you get one too we can match but finally

we have the koi Cloud's desk mat again

so cute it makes my desk space look a

little bit more aesthetic more cute and

my old desk mat will kind of slip and

slide but this one will not move as you

can see and here's the update after 2

weeks I would say the first week was

about here and I just think that is

pretty amazing full transparency however

some of these aren't print on demand

like these $5 ones these ones aren't

related however these ones are mostly

print on demand so in total we've made

about 386 Canadian and I think that's

about 280 USD but after the printify and

Shopify fees of about $270 we made 116

and with that I think we can mark off

our final step we might have to skip out

on this temporarily so what are the

three things we can learn from my

attempt at becoming a millionaire from

this art side hustle number one it's 95%

marketing and 5% the rest and this is

coming from someone who spent about 12

hours straight working on a website if

your marketing does not pull through

your orders will also probably not pull

through number two it's definitely not a

get-rich quick scheme although a lot of

pod business owners might make it seem

very simplistic and easy there is a lot

of organizing planning trial and error

that comes with putting up even like a

single product as you can see although I

did get the main framework of my pod

business down in 2 days The Profit

clearly did not follow through

immediately and number three there is a

sense of trust you have to put in the

hands of a third party company because

as you saw you yourself are not handling

inventory stock packaging and shipping

you do have to put trust in the Pod

company that that you choose again I

used printify and got printify premium

which worked absolutely great for me as

you can see from the products I received

from them they were packaged very nicely

within the estimated time frame quality

was great so again if You' like to start

your own pod company with printify you

can quickly get set up and running with

my link in the description you saw how

easy it was to get set up right so you

know I feel like as long as you're

willing to Market your products in the

long run I can definitely see this side

hustle being a huge asset to any artist

or creative designer out there s am I a

millionaire nor do I have a yacht also

nor but I will never ever ever pass up

the opportunity to try a delusional idea

so I guess that's all for now right

bye wow hello are you still here I bet

you thought I wouldn't put a secret

message but you know what for the first

time ever I'm putting a dead smack right

at the end and if you guys don't know I

put secret messages in all my videos and

this is the first time where I'm putting

it at the end so you know this kind of

feels like a Cool Secret after school

club so if you're listening to this I

know you're cool you're a real one but

can I just be really candid for a second

right now honestly since I started

drawing it has truly been one of my

goals to actually start a pod business

it was just so cool that I actually had

this opportunity to try it out and

actually like see my stuff on product

and I know I know I won't become a

millionaire from this that was lowkey

just for clickbait I'm sorry but just

the fact that people like my things

enough to buy it on a product like I am

just so grateful thank you and you know

what's funny I think I'm the only one

who bought the phone case so that phone

case right now is one of a kind but you

know what if you want to make it two of

a kind it's right there in the

description yeah okay but I think this

secret message is getting too long

anyway so if you listened up to this

point you're insane and I love you and

you know what comment delusional World

Tour 2024 to let me know that you heard

this okay okay I'm actually gonna go now

okay I love you bye