The Simmonds Signal

Alternate education for creators (that school can’t teach you)

Micro Writer → Micro Brand → Micro Business

A profitable trend I've noticed recently:

People are ditching their side hustles for Microbusinesses.

And I think you should too…

I'm sure you've witnessed the rise in side hustle culture over the past 10 years.

Everyone's telling you to get into dropshipping, buy into their forex trading group, or join their MLM (pyramid scheme in disguise).

All with the promise that you'll get rich quick.

In most cases, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

I predict that for most people, these side hustles won't generate enough income to replace their 9-5.

How do I know?

In my early 20s, I wasted far too much time on ventures like these.

So if you want to dip your toes into the world of business, should you start a side hustle or go with something more legitimate instead?

When I got tired of being a cog in someone else's pyramid scheme, I went all-in on real estate.

This was my first crack at "real" business.

I came with an ambitious attitude and some nicely fitted shirts.

I left with $20,000 in debt and a property that (to this day) is still costing me cash every month.

Moral of the story:

Business is risky (and very hard).

People spend 100s of thousands to start or buy businesses.

But most don't take home a paycheque in the first year due to hiring and marketing expenses.

All with no guarantee that it will actually pay off.

So, if you don't want to waste your time on the side hustle of the week,

and you aren't in a position to take on the risk of playing in the big leagues…

I've noticed a new way of doing business that I'm really excited about:

The Future of Business is "Micro"

Over the past few years, the digital economy has flourished.

Allowing people to build Microbusinesses that are low risk, high profit margin, and run entirely online.

These are not huge businesses with large teams and crazy overhead costs.

They don't need to take over your entire life (if you don't want them to).

They can be run with just 1-3 people.

And since they're entirely online, you can run them from anywhere.

The beauty - you don't need to become a huge "creator" with 100,000 followers to build a microbusiness that brings in anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 per month.

You just need around 5 - 10k quality followers, with a niche offer and the ability to turn those followers into paying customers.

I love to shout out my Microcreators community members, so here's some examples for you:

Darion Rae cleans a consistent $10,000 per month with micro-ghostcommenting agency (and he helps creators optimize their funnels).

Last I checked, Alex Renner was crushing $12,000 per month with a micro-ghostwriting agency (he only has 3,000 LinkedIn followers).

And more recently, Dan Reynolds, who attended my stealth ghostwriting cohort back in late 2023 is going to have his first $30,000 month with his micro-ghostwriting agency.

It feels good to be a proud parent.

But my favorite example is my first microbusiness…

How a Ghostwriting Agency Changed My Life

My first dollar online was made through ghostwriting.

I landed a client for $800 upfront and $0.50 per follower gained that month.

Later that week, I landed another client for $3,000 per month.

These two clients alone changed my income trajectory.

At the time, I was a college teacher making $3,000 per month.

These 2 clients alone replaced my salary.

No business loans.
No massive teams of employees.
And no struggling to make money as a freelancer for $50 per client on Fiverr.

I later scaled to a micro-agency making $20,000 per month with around 4-6 clients.

My life hasn't been the same since.

If this sounds too dreamy, I get it.

I used to share that opinion as well.

Before meeting Liam Kircher, I thought microbusinesses were another pipe dream I was being sold by gurus on Twitter.

To be honest, even when I paid my first mentor $5,500 to teach me ghostwriting, I thought he was scamming me.

Leaving me with even more crippling debt than my real estate company left me with.

But the opposite turned out to be true.

That became the best investment of my life.

Leading to my portfolio of microbusinesses making over half a million dollars last year.

So if you're in the same place I was, looking for a real opportunity to build an online career, I got you covered.

You won't have to pay $5,000 either.

You just need to follow my microbusiness system…

My Microbusiness System

I call this system the Microbusiness method.

It's a simple business model that applies to every microbusiness under the sun:

• Coaching

• Community

• Freelance creative

• Ghostwriting micro-agency

• Infoproducts and education

The list goes on…

To start yours, here's the 4 steps you needs to follow:

1) Identify Micromarkets with Demand

The common thread amongst all my failed businesses is a lack of demand.

I've always been a hardworking, ambitious guy.

But I always struggled because I was building the wrong businesses.

• Podcasts

• Real estate

• Affiliate marketing

If you're working hard but struggling to sustain your business income, identify a market with demand and position your offer to fill the gaps within that market.

A key indicator of market demand is competition.

Competition is a sign of profitability.

5 profitable micromarkets you can craft offers in (today):

• SEO

• DM setting

• Ghostwriting

• Marketing funnels

• AI prompt engineering

Opportunity is everywhere, learn to identify it.

2) Use Positioning to Differentiate

Markets with demand always have competition.

This is good news for you.

It's a sign you won't waste your time pursuing opportunities in niches where customers have no money.

But the bad news is…

Without unique positioning you become a commodity.

You suffer from charging extremely low prices that make it hard to sustain meaningful levels of income.

The solution?

Position with a fresh offer (solution).

A ghostwriting example:

When I was scaling my micro-ghostwriting agency, my competitors were offering fast follower growth.

Instead of becoming a commodity clone, I positioned myself against them by calling out the disadvantages of their strategy and offering a new solution.

I offered to build them a profitable personal brand where I slowly attracted targeted quality followers.

My customers loved this more strategic take because they were tired of other ghostwriters attracting followers they couldn't sell too.

Positioning determines profitability.

3) Create Your Lead Generation Machine

Most of my community members struggling to attract online income have the same problem:

A lack of leads.

Leads is the number of potential customers you connect with each month.

Without them, your business dies.

My favorite method for acquiring leads is audience acquisition.

• I hate SEO

• I find sustaining quality referrals to be inconsistent

• I don't want to spend thousands per month on Facebook ads

Instead, I create awareness of my offers and expertise through targeted social media content.

Sharing case studies, how to guides, and microstories around my experience.

The larger the audience you acquire, the more leads you will attract.

IF…

You create the right content.

There's tons of lead generation frameworks I give my Microcreators community members.

But for now, here's a free one for you:

[Social proof]
[Promise of value]

Example:

This thread didn't go viral.

But it brought in around 5 community sales during my Microcreators launch.

Accomplishments compound.
Share yours.

4) Optimize Your Sales Funnel

Sales is my least favorite part of the microbusiness process.

I'm an introvert who feels icky selling people.

But I can't deny it's one of the most profitable skills you can learn.

All of the microcreators I know making $20,000+ per month, have a sales system.

It usually looks like this:

a) Write lead generation content
b) Ask prospects to DM you in the call to action
c) Qualify prospects in the DMs
d) Send them a microVSL to gauge interest
e) Book an appointment to a sales call

There's tons of nuance to implementing this strategy in a way that builds brand and doesn't turn people off with cheap sales tactics.

To go through it, I hosted a Ty Remez guest masterclass in the Microcreators community.

He's a sales expert in the running to join Alex Hormozi's sales team at Acquisition.com.

We broke down the sales system he used to make a friend of mine $30,000 in 30 days with appointment setting.

The recording is now live in our guest masterclass library.

Ty, thanks again. You're a beauty!

That's all there is to it.

In my opinion, microbusinesses are becoming the new online meta.

They're more profitable and sustainable than side hustles.

Without the hassle and risk of scaling a big business.

Not to mention, they generate life changing levels of income.

I'm building an entire microbusiness system inside of the Microcreators community.

It's a beginner friendly roadmap you can use to build your microbusiness from scratch (even if you have no business experience).

Maybe it's a fit for you. Maybe not.

You can decide for yourself here.

If not, reply "microbusiness" to this email.

Let me know where you're struggling in your business, I'll provide as much guidance as I can.

Until next time,

Taylin John Simmonds

PS. There’s more “goodies” below ;)

Oh. Are you still hungry?

If your mouth is salivating for more goodies, check out these free courses and cheat sheets (more coming soon):

❖ The Ultimate Content Creation Hub ($999 But You Get It for Free)

❖ The viral hook writing cheat sheets I use to get millions of likes and impressions

❖ My free video course on how to make $10,000 / month with high ticket services (less than 2 hours to complete)