Affiliate Marketing & Side Hustles on the Doug.Show

I talk about Fincon 2025 in Portland and my critique on the keynotes. They weren’t helpful for most people, and the advice can lead to an audience capture approach. Then, I roast Pat Flynn, probably unfairly. I’m selling My Epiphone Les Paul on craigslist. Playing Demo on YouTube. Giftlab (by Emily Odio-Sutton) The Print-On-Demand Etsy Course. *I’m an affiliate, so I get a commission if you sign up! Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi 00:00 Introduction and Backyard Setup 01:47 Reflections on FinCon Experience 02:45 Keynote Sessions and Critiques 05:08 Advice for New Creators 09:15 Audience Capture and Analytics 14:58 Challenges of Recording Outside 15:56 Disappointment with Pat Flynn 20:07 Guitar Sale Announcement

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I talked to Jason Hendricks while we were in Portland for Fincon 2025. We talk about the old days of niche sites. Then, I have harsh words about vibe coding. And More! Connect with Jason – https://www.jphendricks.com/ AI App On Site – Add AI-Powered Apps To Any Site In Minutes Doug: Hey, what’s going on? Welcome to the Doug Show. I’m Doug Cunnington, and today I’m joined by my good friend Jason Paul Hendricks. How are you today? Doing good. And we’re at FinCon recording in a. The convention center here in Portland, we’re sitting like in a big corridor. It’s huge. The ceiling must be 30 feet high, and it’s quiet in here. So a lot of times I’m like recording live and there’s a noise from the crowd. There’s just people walking by, so it’s pretty chill and quiet. We knew we were gonna hang out and I’m like, we gotta record together. And Jason, you sent me a bunch of, uh, ideas that you had, which is great. That’s my homework and I didn’t have to do it. So we’re gonna go through a lot of stuff, but like for people that don’t know who you are, give a little intro and you’ve been on the show a couple times, but, um, we will link up. But who are you? Jason: Sure. it’s great to be back. Thanks for having me. Jason Hendricks, uh, I do a variety of things. , From a, from a. You know, earnings standpoint, I do, uh, , business development consulting, broadly for FinTech companies. I’ve always had one foot in the marketing space. And, you know, that’s, that’s, that’s the area that, originally got me connected to you in a long time. Listener and, uh, watcher of the channel. And, uh, so on that side of the thing of the, of the, of my brain, I’ve, uh. Built a couple of SaaS products and, uh, I live in Asia, so I currently live in Bangkok. Uh, long time, lived in Hong Kong before that. Again, this, this related to the finance industry work that I’ve done, but there’s a whole lot of SEO and marketing conferences in Asia as well. And so a big part of the community that I interact with is over there on the Asia side, even though the US is my home. Doug: And you were, I mean, you were into side hustle stuff. For several years. ’cause I, I mean, I’ve been doing my stuff since 2014 ish when I started publishing online. When did you get started, like working online? Um, in, in this sort of like, niche site area? Mm-hmm. Or SaaS products related. Jason: Yeah. So, so right throughout my career, uh, I sort of do, it did the marketing thing for the companies I work with. I usually work with small companies, but, uh. I think in earnest, I started building out sites in 1516, we’ll say. Okay, 20 15, 20 16. And so there’s a bunch of sites that I continue to, to work on or help maintain. So there’s a couple of folks that, uh, uh, have subject matter expertise in certain areas of, uh, travel traveler food, uh, and I help them with the upkeep of the site. But, um. None of these were ever heavily, uh, focused on traffic and ad revenue or affiliate. They were, they were more brand for, for sort of brand maintenance and, um, you know, for other business activities. And this was sort of the brochure of the business. Mm-hmm. Uh, and even my consulting business, I’ve got websites related to that, but I’m not looking to organic, uh, or SEO to, to bring in customers. I, I, I do that through other meat. Doug: Got it. Okay, cool. And you, I was gonna say, um, not to name Drop, but Matt Esei is around here and you followed him for a little while also. Yes. And and the cool thing is I was like, Matt, you should maybe come. It’s like awesome in Portland. Like he loves Portland. He’s a big beer guy. And the thing is like Matt came to these events for years, so he. Um, is like one of the original people and he knows some of th...

I talk about a typical week and how semi-retirement is treating me. Giftlab (by Emily Odio-Sutton) The Print-On-Demand Etsy Course. *I’m an affiliate, so I get a commission if you sign up! Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi 00:00 Introduction and Outdoor Recording Challenges 00:52 When to Quit Blogging and Projects 01:50 Doug’s Current Work and Lifestyle 03:52 Daily Routine and Productivity 07:09 Interview Preferences and Podcasting 14:34 Fitness, Health, and Cooking 18:59 Hobbies and Personal Interests 22:51 Financial Independence and Early Retirement 31:55 Conclusion and Final Thoughts Transcript Doug: Hey, what’s going on? Welcome to the Doug Show. I’m Doug Cunnington, and today I’m trying to record outside. There’s, uh, dogs barking. There’s crickets making noise. The sun could give me a hard time. The audio might not even be recording, but we’re gonna do our best I was about to make notes and then I thought, uh, fuck it. We’ll just go for it, you know? So we’re gonna go for it today. The topic will be something that, uh, Lauren Hunter put a seed into my head, and we were talking a couple weeks ago about when to. Quit blogging or stop projects and that sort of thing, which is a hard thing to figure out. There’s sunk costs. There’s the fact that sometimes if you wanna work on something, it takes a long time before you get traction. There’s plenty of examples out there, but there’s other times where maybe you should quit and you are actually wasting your time and you should move on to something else. Really hard to tell. It’s extremely hard to tell. So one thing in the conversation, Lauren mentioned a, actually it was before we started recording, and she maybe was like, ah, you know, how much time do you spend working? And like, what do you do? And I’m like, I’m in a really weird spot. I don’t work that much right now. And the thing is with the Doug Show and the Niche Site project and all that kind of, uh, sort of content. Hm. You know, we were talking about side hustles. We’re talking about like how to earn money online and that sort of thing. And I’m not really testing that stuff out anymore. There’s some dog around here, uh, that. The people must have locked the dog outside and it just wants to be with his family or something like that. So I apologize for that. Georgie’s hanging out right behind me. She’s just chilling. She may come up closer in a few minutes. The people that are just listening, you won’t obviously see this, but Georgie’s in the, in the frame here and, uh, she likes to play, but she just. She’s taking a little rest right now. She has, she’s like, uh, laying down, but she has a Frisbee, like laying across her, uh, arms or legs, I guess their legs, but it’s her front leg, so I consider them arms. All right, so Lauren was like, Hey, how much time do you spend working? And I was like, I don’t spend that much time working. Um, I’ve whittled things down and my other podcast is Mile Hi-Fi, and it’s about early retirement. My wife retired about 18 months ago, and I have been working for myself for. About a decade. I didn’t even celebrate my, like, layoff day. I kind of forgot about it. I, it’s so far from, it’s removed from my, like, daily thinking. I don’t even think about the corporate job anymore. I don’t do that much work, and it’s really refined down to the work that I want to do most of the time. Now, you can’t get away from admin all the time, but I have stopped replying to so many emails. If I don’t wanna write an email newsletter that week...

I talk about some rules for saying no, a listener email, and retiring early. Giftlab (by Emily Odio-Sutton) The Print-On-Demand Etsy Course. *I’m an affiliate, so I get a commission if you sign up! Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi 00:00 Introduction and Podcast Feedback 01:35 Saying No: The Art of Rejection 06:36 The Podcast Consultation Dilemma 17:01 Listener Feedback and Email Responses 23:18 Trip to Yellowstone National Park 25:53 Unplugging and Social Media Detox 28:43 Financial Independence and Minimal Work 35:21 SEO and Podcast Sponsorship Opportunities 38:24 Conclusion and Future Plans

I talked to Dave Fox about his recent projects after selling his sites for about $50,000 a few years ago. Successes, failures, funny stories, and guitars — we talk about it all! Giftlab (by Emily Odio-Sutton) The Print-On-Demand Etsy Course. *I’m an affiliate, so I get a commission if you sign up! Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi 00:00 Introduction & Guest Background 01:18 Dave’s Music Journey 02:51 Selling Niche Sites in 2021 05:29 Exploring AI and SEO 16:10 Computer Repair Business Venture 30:43 Redbubble Adventures and Copyright Issues 43:41 The Viral Jesus Meme on Redbubble 44:58 Exploring Niche Markets on Etsy 45:50 Challenges of Defensible Products 46:43 Experimenting with Political Merchandise 47:59 The Realities of Landscaping Work 51:04 Pricing Strategies for Landscaping Jobs 54:08 Dealing with Difficult Clients 01:02:15 Seasonal Work and Diversifying Income 01:05:50 Cold Calling and Client Management 01:09:58 Passion Projects and Music 01:18:58 Final Thoughts

I talk to Lauren about when to quit on projects and move on… Lauren Hunter is a faith-focused entrepreneur passionate about helping creative visionaries bring their ideas to life. She offers author services, book and life coaching, freelance writing, and musician services. Links: https://laurenhunter.net (author/music blog) https://hspjourney.com https://earnitsaveit.com (might sell it) Giftlab (by Emily Odio-Sutton) The Print-On-Demand Etsy Course. *I’m an affiliate, so I get a commission if you sign up! Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi   00:00 Introduction and Welcome 00:18 Lauren Hunter’s Background and Initial Discussion 02:08 When to Quit a Project 05:00 Lauren’s PR Journey and Blog Creation 10:04 Selling the Blog and Transition 14:14 Starting a New Niche Blog 19:13 Challenges and Strategies in Niche Blogging 21:11 Advice for Aspiring Bloggers and Podcasters 25:43 Social Media and Time Management 31:54 Evaluating Efforts and Reducing Stress 33:02 Signs of Burnout and Seeking Encouragement 33:34 Quick Wins and the Plateau Effect 36:11 Streamlining and Simplifying Workflows 37:07 Deciding to Quit, Pivot, or Maintain 39:20 The Value of Simplification and Streamlining 43:36 The Emotional Attachment to Projects 48:06 Financial Considerations and Simplifying Strategies 53:15 Concluding Thoughts and Future Plans

A listener asked for help on his sites and what he should do to earn $500/month.   Giftlab (by Emily Odio-Sutton) The Print-On-Demand Etsy Course. *I’m an affiliate, so I get a commission if you sign up! Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi

I jammed with my friend Tyler for new intro music, dealt with a Shutterstock copyright claim, and reviewed Wonderful Things beer from Four Noses Brewery. I also discussed feedback on calling out scammers and shared updates on my upcoming national parks trip. Stay tuned for thoughts on future podcast directions. Giftlab (by Emily Odio-Sutton) The Print-On-Demand Etsy Course. *I’m an affiliate, so I get a commission if you sign up! Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi Contact me. Ask Questions! Send me an email here: feedback@doug.show 00:00 Welcome to the DougShow 00:19 Doug’s Jam Session and New Intro Music 01:48 Beer Review: Wonderful Things by Four Noses 04:24 Copyright Claim on Intro Music 07:41 Calling Out Scammers and Influencers 14:58 Upcoming Trip to National Parks 21:55 Future of the Doug Show and Listener Feedback 30:25 Conclusion and Outro

I got a huge response from people about calling out the shady people in the make money online space. But I’m not sure if I’ll do it… And I don’t recommend shutterstock dot com…they filed a Content ID claim on YouTube for a song I paid for 6 years ago. Silly!   Giftlab (by Emily Odio-Sutton) The Print-On-Demand Etsy Course. *I’m an affiliate, so I get a commission if you sign up! Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi Contact me. Ask Questions! Send me an email here: feedback@doug.show

I discuss affiliate links, side hustles, provides updates on my podcasts, livestreams, and shares insights into affiliate marketing challenges. Plus, I rant on the AI-generated content and its pitfalls for those starting niche sites. Giftlab (by Emily Odio-Sutton) The Print-On-Demand Etsy Course. *I’m an affiliate, so I get a commission if you sign up! Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi Contact me. Ask Questions! Send me an email here: feedback@doug.show 00:00 Introduction and Podcast Updates 02:35 Mile HiFi Podcast Insights 03:48 Affiliate Marketing Challenges 09:01 Side Hustles Discussion 15:29 SEO and Online Marketing Realities 20:22 YouTube Strategy and Live Streams 28:42 Final Thoughts and Community Engagement

I dive into innovation in online business, inspired by a video about REI and product innovation. Then, I discuss the future of my podcast and share some of the analytics. Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi Contact me. Ask Questions! Send me an email here: feedback@doug.show Leave a voicemail: (406) 813-0613 00:00 Intro 01:35 Innovation in Retail and Business 04:57 The Blue Chip Guitar Pick Story 08:44 Applying Innovation to Online Business 10:56 Podcast Analytics and Reflections 15:07 Challenges and Future of the Podcast 19:06 Conclusion and Listener Engagement

I ramble about Sonora Guitar Intensive sales funnel and my experience with high-ticket music mentorship programs. And highlights on adjusting my podcast setup.

I complain about Descript, gush over my new pre-amp (JHS Colourbox v2), and eventually talk about my podcasting dilemma. I have a couple other mini updates too. Sponsored by Cloudways Hosting! Please check out Cloudways for your hosting solutions. Giftlab (by Emily Odio-Sutton) The Print-On-Demand Etsy Course. *I’m an affiliate for both, so I get a commission if you sign up! Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi Contact me. Ask Questions! Send me an email here: feedback@doug.show Leave a voicemail: (406) 813-0613

I talk about Print on Demand, Etsy, and things I’m obsessed with. Giftlab (by Emily Odio-Sutton) Check out MDD Hosting *I’m an affiliate, so I get a commission if you sign up!

I discuss the current struggles and declining revenue of my business. I share how I’m cutting costs, including letting go of his long-time VA, Callie, and eliminating unnecessary expenses. Guitar Accessories Hiking & Outdoor Gear Sleep Essentials Supplements & More Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list More with Doug: Mile High Fi Contact me. Ask Questions! Send me an email here: feedback@doug.show Leave a voicemail: (406) 813-0613 00:00 Introduction and Current Business Challenges 01:40 Evaluating Expenses and Making Tough Decisions 02:52 Content Strategy and Audience Engagement 04:36 Revenue Decline and Simplifying Operations 05:00 Shutting Down Projects and Future Plans 05:45 Reflecting on Past Successes and Setting New Goals 08:02 Conference Costs and Financial Planning 09:45 Domain Management and Cost Cutting 16:23 Course Shutdown and Revenue Impact 22:38 Sponsorship Challenges and Revenue Struggles 24:21 Cutting Costs and Shifting Focus 27:39 Exploring New Ventures: Etsy Print on Demand 30:12 Donation Model and Affiliate Marketing 34:41 Amazon Influencer Program and Product Recommendations 41:31 Concluding Thoughts and Future Plans

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Doug interviews Steve Stewart, a renowned podcast editor in the personal finance space. Steve discusses his journey from financial coaching and blogging to becoming a full-time podcast editor. He shares insights about his work, his experience with podcast editing tools, and tips on managing a business using the Profit First method. Connect with Steve Website Podcast Editor Academy Also, check out: MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list DS567 Transcript More with Doug: Mile High Fi Contact me. Ask Questions! Send me an email here: feedback@doug.show Leave a voicemail: (406) 813-0613

Doug is joined by Emily Odio Sutton to discuss the dynamics of running a successful print on demand business on Etsy. Emily shares her journey of transitioning to full-time self-employment and the adjustments she made to manage her time effectively. They dive into the benefits of focusing on giftable products, the importance of niche targeting, and using tools like Printify and AI for designing. $500K in 2 Years Esty Print on Demand DS550 Mind Lab Pro They have performance lab Multi Vitamin Giftlab I’m an affiliate for all of the above, so if you buy something, I may get a commission. Thanks! MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list DS566 Transcript More with Doug: Mile High Fi Contact me. Ask Questions! Send me an email here: feedback@doug.show Leave a voicemail: (406) 813-0613

Doug touches on various current online business models and shares his skepticism towards the volatility of online businesses. He discusses alternatives such as print-on-demand on Etsy, non-WordPress content management systems, directories, newsletters, and local-based business strategies. Check out: Denver Living with Sam Neumann DS559 Mind Lab Pro They have performance lab Multi Vitamin E-Printables Giftlab I’m an affiliate for all of the above, so if you buy something, I may get a commission. Thanks! MileHighFi Etsy Join My Email list DS565 Transcript More with Doug: Mile High Fi Contact me. Ask Questions! Send me an email here: feedback@doug.show Leave a voicemail: (406) 813-0613