What I’ve Learned Building And Losing A 6-figure Online Business (Newsletter 08)

It was one year ago today. My wife and I were at the Miami International Airport, returning home from our honeymoon in Patagonia.

Two and a half weeks of total presence, immense beauty, and broken Spanish (solo hablo inglés y francés) in celebration of our marriage.

This trip, along with the wedding itself (and the house, car, etc.) was all made possible by my online business. There was no need to ask for time off from a job. Better yet, I continued earning money while we travelled through Chile and Argentina without paying any attention to work.

As we waited for our flight from Miami to Toronto, I decided to hop on the internet and check a few things.

I made my income through affiliate sales and advertisements on my website. Therefore, Google Analytics was my go-to source for tracking my business.

My heart sank.

Where did the traffic go?

Google had just rolled out its “Helpful Content Update” and my website, like many others, was hit hard.

“It's probably just a dip. It'll pick back up” I thought to myself.

One year later, it hasn't.

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Money talk:

Deeply interesting to some. Completely off-putting to others.

I'm fascinated by the topic but rarely discuss it openly online. I figured this anniversary was a good opportunity to do so.

If you've made it this far, you're probably interested in entrepreneurship and earning a living more creatively online. That's good!

I'll share what I've learned on my journey of building, losing (and now re-building) a successful online business.

Hopefully I can inspire, educate and entertain you throughout this letter.

Setting The Stage

Some of you have been following me since the early days of My New Microphone. I appreciate that!

This is a blog that discusses microphones and other audio equipment.

It's a pretty simple business model:

1. Pick a niche (audio equipment).
2. Write content to answer questions people have online.
3. Let Google rank your content.
4. Monetize with advertisements and affiliate marketing.

The benefits:

• You can remain anonymous.
• It's completely passive other than the writing (which could be outsourced).
• You don't have to interact with your readership.

That was all super enticing to me.

The blog got me to 6-figures after about 3 years (I started in 2018).

It allowed me to work remotely from Australia and got us through the pandemic just fine.

And then ChatGPT took the world by storm.

Though it's not inherently creative, artificial intelligence can write faster and more concisely than I ever could. It can easily outperform me in the business model described above.

And so it did, and so I was replaced.

So that's the stage. But this isn't a pity party. Let's get into what I've learned!

Earning A Living Online Is Possible

Yes, all those make-money-online-fast ads are incredibly annoying. Any get-rich-quick or “algorithm hack” scheme should be rightfully ignored.

But I can attest that earning a good living online is more than possible. 

And you don't have to do it by teaching others how to earn a living online.

Going through the process of earning a full-time income online opened my eyes to the basics of business and the plentiful options for earning money.

Basically, you need two things:

1. Traffic (people).
2. Offer (product or service).

The practical methods for either of these are bountiful online.

I personally went the SEO route for Traffic, and ads and affiliate marketing for Offer.

Other traffic sources include:

• Social media
• Paid advertising
• Referrals
• Cold outreach
• Word of mouth

Other offer types include:

• Digital products
• Physical products
• Freelancing
• Coaching/consulting
• Memberships

It can seem like a bit of a pipe dream if you've never experienced it. But if you're interested in starting an online business, go for it.

The worst that can happen is you fail and learn a ton in the process.

Nobody Cares In The Beginning (And That Is An Advantage)

I wrote my first blog article in September 2018.

I spent a week setting up my WordPress, designing my website, researching and writing 10,000+ words on dynamic microphones.

It was a brand new world to me and an exciting time. Well, actually I started blogging a bit beforehand but didn't take it serious (that's besides the point).

Over the next few months, I wrote a lot more about microphones, the different types, specifications, techniques, etc.

And by Christmas, I had about 30 articles. 30 articles and 0 views (disregarding my own IP address).

There's a ton of content online and no one cares about yours when you're first starting out.

This can be deeply discouraging, especially in a society of instant gratification and biweekly pay schedules.

But rather than feeling discouraged, I looked at it as an advantage.

As with any creative endeavour, we're not going to be great when we're beginners. It would be foolish to think we'll have professional-level results when we're just starting. The same is true for professional-level traffic.

In all likelihood, it's not going to happen. And this is a good thing!

For one, it weeds out the competition pretty quickly.

And, more importantly, it gives you time to practice and improve yourself and your skills along the path of growing an audience.

One of my favourite quotes is from Ira Glass. I don't know where I heard it (and I admittedly know nothing about him), but it stuck:

“All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.” – Ira Glass

From my vantage point now, I'm confident in “sticking it out” for the long haul, consistently improving, cringing at my old work, and eventually “making it”. It's advice I give myself and advice I offer to you.

Building A Business Is About Solving Problems

Entrepreneurs solve problems at a profit, and everyone has problems that need solving.

“You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want” – Zig Ziglar

These can be big problems in the “eternal markets” of health, wealth, and relationships.

They could be small problems in pretty much any facet of life.

In general, solving big problems leads to big business potential. However, solving small problems at scale also leads to big business potential.

A surgeon at a private clinic can earn a massive amount of money solving big health problems for relatively few people.

Jeff Bezos became the world's richest person, in large part, by solving a small problem (having to physically go shopping or waiting too long for delivery) at an incredible scale.

What problem was I solving?

Teaching people how a condenser capsule works? Telling them what the “best” budget ribbon microphones are?

Those aren't big problems. Small problems = small business potential.

And so I had to rely on massive traffic (350,000 page views per month) to make my 6-figures. When that number dropped, it was not like I had clients or returning customers to rely on.

Ads And Affiliate Marketing Are Not A Great Foundation For A Business

This ties in nicely with the previous points.

Remember that business needs two things:

1. Traffic (people)
2. Offer (product of service)

You could make an argument that pointing people to the products they need, as an affiliate, is valuable. But writing top 10 lists for the sake of earning an income? Is that truly valuable?

I'll be the first to admit that I fell into the trap many bloggers fall into: writing uninspired lists to earn money.

I actually prided myself on having tried the products I was recommending, however little experience that was.

As you can tell, I'm not impressed looking back (and sure don't trust any “top 10 best X” articles from random websites anymore.

Side note: if you don't believe people who are doing the same thing you're doing, it's time to do something else.

And selling ad spots? How many people find tremendous value from seeing a website plastered with ads? I'm certainI'm on the side of the majority who would argue that ads take away from the user experience rather than add to it.

Side note: if you're annoyed by people doing the same thing you're doing, it's time to do something else.

By the way, I've sort of left My New Microphone as is, so you'll still see what I'm talking about here. I've moved on to start writing about what I'm truly inspired by and interested in (including, but not limited to, music in general).

I'm not usually this harsh, but I really want to drive the point home that ads and affiliate marketing aren't good business foundations.

Sure, they're a great introduction to earning an income online via a website. They even made me multiple 6-figure years. But they aren't a creative way to earn a living, they don't truly help your audience, and without massive amounts of ongoing traffic, it's tough to make them work.

Build A Personal Brand, Don’t Become A Commodity

And that brings us to building a personal brand.

I'm naturally more introverted than extroverted. I live in the woods where I can't see my neighbours, love the quiet mornings (I write first thing before anyone else is up), and cherish my time alone to work.

For the longest time, I was off social media. I found myself wasting too much time scrolling and thinking “I don't care, next” on repeat.

So upon self-reflection, it makes perfect sense that I went the route I did with online business:

• I could write content somewhat anonymously (I put up a short bio and a profile picture but that was pretty much it).
• I could earn income passively (ads and affiliate sales don't require any “selling” on my part).
• I wouldn't have to get on the “treadmill” of posting on social media.
• I would save myself the time wasted interacting with social media.
• I wouldn't have to deal with customer support or with building products.
• I wouldn't have to continuously promote myself to gain traffic—SEO would do that for me.

And it worked!

Until it didn't…

350,000 page views per month and no connections with any of the real people contributing to those page views.

It's easy to get angry at Google for “ruining” the Search Engine Results Page and “taking away” all of my traffic (and, therefore, revenue).

But a little self-reflection helped me to see the reality of the situation. Here are two takeaways (of the many) I'd like to share:

Anonymity Is A Sketchy Game (For You And For Your Audience)

The internet is an amazing technology. I practice gratitude for it every day. It's given me opportunities my parents never had (I was born in 1992 when the Internet first became publicly available—my father was 30 and my grandfathers were 60 and 61).

Growing up with the Internet, I've been able to:

• Connect with people across the world.
• Learn a tremendous amount about a variety of topics.
• Share what I've learned.
• Earn a livable income.

But there's also the downside of bad actors, trolls and bots.

You can't trust people on the internet, especially those who remain anonymous.

Again, this comes back to self-awareness. Do you trust people writing online that conceal their identity? I don't.

It's tough to persuade people and earn trust online when you aren't willing to show them you're a real person. People want to connect with people, not faceless corporations or, even worse, bots.

And the algorithms reflect that. They're designed to work on human psychology in order to give people more of what they want.

Side note: that's why any “algorithm hacks” are short-lived and, to me, not worth the time chasing.

So looking back now, it's no surprise the Google Search algorithm “hit” my site hard about a year ago.

Work Like A Robot, Get Replaced By A Robot

Artificial intelligence saw a huge step forward with ChatGPT becoming available to the public in November 2022.

As a text-first AI tool, it didn't take long for bloggers to use it to scale their websites.

And so the internet was flooded with AI-generated articles.

Now, they aren't actually creative and novel: they can only source information from what's already out there.

However, they can produce spell-checked, persuasive content at a scale that would be impossible for me to do alone.

And so my primary income-earning skill (writing blog posts) was easily replaced by “robots”.

I won't get into an argument about the ethics of AI and labour (this letter's already going to be long enough). I'm simply stating the situation and my experience.

The way forward, I believe, is to acquire many different generalized “human-first” skills, specialize in a few, and become creative enough to not be replaced by AI.

Don't Expect Public Corporations To Do The “Right” Thing

I think we all know this to be true. We shouldn’t expect corporations to do what’s best for their customers when shareholders are involved.

Practice acceptance. Practice stoicism.

You cannot change the powers that be. Focus on what you can do to help create the world you want to live in.

• Create the art you want to experience.
• Start your own business.
• Build up your own power and influence (if that's what you want to do).

Contribute to creation, not destruction.

By the way, I'm not saying all public corporations are bad. It's just that the goals of the shareholders (profit) are often at odds with the should-be-goals of the corporation (solving problems for the customers).

I'm also not a fan of the notion that corporations are evil and greedy. A corporation is a legal business structure. There's nothing inherently good or bad about this. My two cents.

Letting Up In The Face Adversity Is A Massive Mistake

I'm a firm believer in the idea of “seasons” in life. Seasons of metaphorical feast, famine, reaping, and sowing.

There are times to build, times to rest and times to play.

You won't always have a clearly defined goal ahead of you, and that's fine. You also won't always be “winning”, and that's how it's supposed to be.

But one of the worst things we can do, especially as entrepreneurs, is to let up in the face of adversity.

I went back to a 9-5 in January 2024 and pretty much gave up on the notion of earning an income online.

There was still a spark, but the proverbial fire was gone.

I felt sorry for myself and defeated that 4+ years of hard work brought me to barely any residual income.

It was a dark season that lasted until August.

Now that I'm motivated to make things work, I look back and kick myself for not getting started sooner.

It's all meant to be, and regrets are regrets for a reason. I just wanted to share this piece in hopes of inspiring you to act on your goals.

Get ready, fire, aim. I love this saying because you don't need all the answers to get started, and you have to continue firing, even when you feel lost, to get ahead.

Hard Work Pays Off—Smart Work Pays Off With Less Time

I worked hard for well over a year before I replaced my income. Online business, in general, is a faith-based game.

I kept myself motivated by firmly believing that if I continued with the right inputs (written articles at that time), I'd get the right outputs (passive income).

Along the way, I worked hard on some things that grew my website almost exponentially. I also worked diligently on plenty of things that saw minimal or even negative progress.

There were plenty of long nights spent on repetitive data-entry-type tasks that did very little to move my business forward. Sometimes these are necessary, but often aren't—and if they are necessary but time-consuming, they can often be outsourced.

There were plenty of articles I wrote in 1-2 hours that brought in thousands of dollars a month.

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) states that 80% of our efforts contribute to 20% of our results, and vice versa.

We can work smarter by focusing primarily on the 20% effort that yields 80% of the results.

Understand, too, that we can extrapolate further from this rule.

So then 20% of the 20% gets us 80% of the 80%.

This means 4% of our efforts get us 64% of our results.

Continue with this math if you'd like.

Work smarter, not harder.

Build A Proper System Before You Scale

Once I was earning well above what I needed to live comfortably, I became interested in the concept of “buying back my time”.

The website was earning a great income and I wanted to scale that beyond what I could do myself.

And so I hired writers. I gave them topics related to my niche that I didn't know a lot about and didn't care to write. I'd spend a couple of minutes reviewing their articles, fixing a few things here and there, and hitting publish.

I wanted to scale and I wanted to do it fast.

This was a huge mistake for multiple reasons.

1. It's tough to get a return on investment on a blog article monetized solely from ads and affiliates, to begin with.
2. Writers are great, but they often don't have the first-hand experience that makes for compelling content on a given topic (unfortunately, this means many writers will be replaced by AI, too).
3. I didn't even have first-hand knowledge to add to these articles.
4. The content was anything but unique—commodity content is even more easily replaced (that's what ChatGPT does best).

I invested $20k+ in articles that nearly all got removed from my site in an early effort to recover from the HCU traffic loss.

That didn't work.

Now, I did have a “system” for ideation, writer acquisition, editing, publishing, etc. that did tie into the goals of the business. The issue wasn't the lack of a system, it was a lack of a good system.

There was an over-emphasis on quantity and scaling with an under-emphasis on quality and solving real problems.

No one will care about your business more than you do. If and when it comes time to scale, it's your job to find the people who can do as good a job as you or better.

Build a system that works first, stick to that system, don't rush the scaling process, and you'll be alright.

Storytelling >> Straight Answers

Yes, I've earned a good living from writing on the technical side. However, as I've self-reflected over the last year on what I like to read, it's stories.

Humans live and breathe stories.

Technical jargon and precise definitions are necessary, but they don't capture attention like stories.

RTFM (Read The Fucking Manual) is great, common advice. But how many of us have sat down with a cup of tea to enjoy an owner's manual cover to cover? How many of us couldn't put down great fiction, staying up all night to find out what happens?

I rest my case.

Side note: The first time I pulled an all-nighter reading, it was George Orwell's 1984 in my hands.

And by the way, great stories are about the details, too. They just flow much more effectively.

In an effort to provide the best value without any “fluff”, I wrote without any personal anecdotes, or stories of any kind, really. I answered the questions people would ask Google as well as I could, and left it at that.

And again, it worked, but my writing never connected with people.

Again, 350,000 page views per month and no connections with any of the real people contributing to those page views.

If you happened to make it this far into the letter, it's likely because I caught your attention with my early story on my honeymoon.

I'm by no means a great storyteller, though it's a skill I'm interested in developing. I do, however, understand its importance in life and in business. 

Life Isn’t All About Work

Workohol's a hell of a drug and hustle culture a hell of a dealer.

Don't get me wrong, I “rise and grind” every day (recall my point on quiet mornings when I get my writing done).

But wearing 80-hour work weeks like some sort of badge of honour isn't something I'm interested in anymore.

If you're unmotivated and lost, then the ideas of hustle culture might get you started on the path of productivity. It certainly helped me in the early days to see the results of hard work done consistently.

But that's it—as any good marketing goes, you're presented with the “promised results”. What you don't see is the burnout, suffering health and broken relationships.

Fortunately, I found this out for myself on “easy mode”. I burned out a few times but never lost anything important to me.

It's a conscious understanding, even though I still find myself in seasons of long hours.

From my experience, you aren't more creative working long hours. You actually force yourself to be more creative by limiting your working hours.

Rebuilding

Experience gained and lessons learned give us a framework to solve problems now and into the future.

Without getting too deep into it, here’s my plan for building again:

• Build a “personal brand”—this will build up a stronger audience and hedge against different algorithm updates (which got me in the past). It will also allow me to talk about more than just my “niche”—I have A LOT of different interests, and honestly felt trapped about what I could write about at My New Microphone.
• Create and release music—this is obvious, but music production is my main passion. I love learning about how it all works and putting it all together to create art. As always, you can check out my music here (linktree)
• Build courses—I’ve benefitted greatly from online courses (I believe the good ones to be more valuable, and much more affordable, than most college degrees, at this point). Creating courses is like adding my piece to the online education puzzle. Courses will help people who like to learn from me while also serving as the backbone of my business. You can check out my courses here.
• Offer coaching—the best way to help and connect with my audience is through one-on-one coaching. It’s a service I’ve shied away from in the past, due to my obsessions with making “passive” income and niching down to gear (who wants to be coached on gear?). Now that I’ve opened up the subjects I talk about, I can offer coaching on what I can help people with. At this moment, I’m starting with music production coaching, which you can check out if you’re interested here! 

When this all comes together, I’ll put together a more detailed plan to share with you. I’ll share what works and what doesn’t—my successes and my failures.

I’m putting this out there with confidence, and am looking forward to reading this again in the future (and maybe even cringe a bit while I'm at it). I'm glad to have you on board!

I sincerely hope this can act as inspiration for you, too.

Recap

Alright, we made it through another newsletter!

What lessons resonated with you and how can you apply them to your creative process? Let me know about it.

Once again, the main lessons I’ve learned, thus far, through business are:

• Making a living online is possible
• Nobody cares in the beginning (and that is an advantage)
• Building a business is about solving problems
• Ads and affiliate marketing are not a good foundation for a business
• Build a personal brand, don’t become a commodity
• Don’t expect corporations to do the “right” thing
• Letting up in the face of adversity is a massive mistake
• Hard work pays off—smart work pays off with less time
• Build a proper system before you scale
• Storytelling >> straight answers
• Life isn’t all about work

Until next week,

-Art