Preston Lee, the founder of Millo. He's making $8,000 per month from a website and newsletter that started as a side project. Millo is a business resource and newsletter for creative entrepreneurs. Preston's built an incredibly engaged community and a list that actually thanks him for sending out sponsored emails. Listen in to hear how to make sponsorship deals that your audience love, how to build revenue from a side project, and why it's important to think like a business from the start.

Famous 5:

Favorite Book? – The $100 Startup What CEO do you follow? — Ben Chestnut Favourite online tool? — Trello Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — How to think more like a business

Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:07 – Nathan's introduction 01:40 – Welcoming Preston to the show 01:43 – Millo is a blog and a newsletter for people who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs, freelancers, or creators 02:30 – Email list of about 30k, and a high level of engagement 03:10 – In 2009, Millo started as a graphic design blog, Graphic Design Blender 03:35 – In the first few years, made less than $500 per month 04:00 – In the last few years, pivoted to become a sponsor-based business that makes around $8k per month 04:50 – Highly tailored sponsorship packages 05:05 – Between 3 and 7 sponsors per month 05:24 – Design Cuts is a long-term sponsor 06:08 – Send out dedicated emails advertising Design Cuts bundles 06:33 – Millo is a side project for Preston and he's happy with that 07:11 – "Right now it's a very exciting side project" 07:35 – Lowest sponsorship package is $400 per month; highest is $1850 08:55 – If Nathan wanted to work with Preston, what could he do? 09:51 – The Freelance Report is a side project in the Millo newsletter 10:51 – Preston's full-time job is content marketing for a magazine website 11:13 – Connect with Preston on Twitter 12:52 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points: Start side projects and things that you love. You never know what opportunities content will lead to. Once you've built an audience, you can build a business. Think like a business. Focus will connect you to opportunities. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives