I had a friend approach me and ask if podcasting could help him build a side-hustle business. He explained he wanted to generate some supplemental income and had an idea about selling supplements during the COVID-19 crisis.
Let me insert here that I am not much on vitamins and supplements, so I felt a little disarmed for the conversation, but for my friend I did my due diligence and did some research.
I learned during my research that 77% of Americans take at least one supplement. Heck 57.6% of Americans aged 20 and over have used a dietary supplement in just the past 30 days…so I figured my friend might be on to something. However, could the market be over-saturated? How would he gain search engine ranking? How would we get noticed in the obviously over crowded marketplace?
I said to my friend and asked my first question, what supplement are you wanting to sell and why?
He told me about the pill available on Amazon made by Vitamatic called Vitamatic Zinc Quercetin. He told me about the health benefits of the immune system and how he felt it saved his life. But one question just kept nagging at me. How would he gain enough attention to make any money doing this?
My friend said he wanted to create a private website/podcast that was available to people who signed up for his no-cost network to discuss health and loneliness issues. He would setup an affiliate relationship on Amazon to list products the group felt were worthy of consideration and he would make a few sheckles off each transaction.
Affiliate marketing is nothing new. Amazon has been giving people (like me) the ability to link products to website articles (like I’ve done in this article) for years. By itself, the affiliate angle would not gain my friend any attention, but adding the loneliness angle to the mix was an interesting niche.
I think it was Zid Ziglar who said niches bring riches…and thus I’ve always been intrigued. 3 out of 5 Americans report struggling with loneliness. Heck, I have a Rotary Veterans program called The Veterans Club I am using to help veterans struggling with loneliness, so my last question was the pivotal question.
OK, so you have a well-defined market…how are you going to get the people to the website and podcast? His answer has refocused part of my business and is the culmination of this blog article. He said:
“I am going to start loneliness classes at local senior centers.”
The simplicity and individual involvement angles of this idea intrigued me. Don’t worry about creating a website or podcast that gets found on Google. Create a resource that solves multiple problems and brings people together…then attract the people through a shared experience. Brilliant!
Over the coming months, Zenith Exhibits will work with many more clients looking to use shared experiences to build a side-business. With the current high inflation and pending recession, building a supplemental business using Amazon’s affiliate selling tools is an excellent idea. If you would like more information, call Ed at (208) 209-7170 or email [email protected].
