Framework
Side hustle type 2: own the supply side of an existing marketplace
Justin Mares's second side-hustle category: find a marketplace with existing demand (Airbnb, Amazon, Udemy) where you only have to provide supply. The platform finds the customers; you just learn its ranking rules and feed it inventory.
“look at what is a marketplace with existing demand where you don't have to go out and find the customer. You just provide the supply side stuff like buying, you know, putting a property on Airbnb. All I have to do is understand how does the property like, or how does Airbnb dictate where I rank, you know, and what does it want from me as a supplier? And then my shit is going to get booked up.”
Steal thisPick a marketplace that already has demand and become the supply, learning only its ranking algorithm rather than hunting customers.
Story
A bedroom-filmed Udemy course still pays $1K/month years later
Justin Mares filmed 'SQL for Marketers' over 5 days in his bedroom with no editing. Because Udemy was an early platform with little competition in technical marketing, the course sold ~$60K over a couple years and still earns him about $1,000/month.
“that course sold, I think like $60 grand over the next couple of years. And to this day, I still get like $1,000 a month from that course from Udemy. Which is absurd. And, you know, that was all because like, here's an emerging platform, they want people creating stuff on the supply side.”
Steal thisBe early on an emerging content platform and own a niche topic before competition arrives to capture long-tail passive income.
Number
Only 6% of Udemy students complete a course
Shaan cites Udemy data that roughly 6% of students complete a course — single-digit completion is the online-education norm. He frames it: imagine the last day of the semester with only 6 of 100 students left in the room.
$6
Udemy course completion rate · percent
“Um, 6% of people complete the course. 6%, right? 100 students come in. Imagine on the last day of the semester, 6 people are left in the class.”
Idea
Slip: Codecademy-in-a-box so any developer can teach interactively
Shaan likes Slip (slip.so), which packages Codecademy's interactive in-browser coding sandbox so any developer can build an interactive course instead of just uploading videos to Udemy.
“Any developer can now create an interactive course and teach other developers, and they can make money for sharing what they know. So I think this is pretty cool. I like the idea of letting developers become teachers.”
Steal thisProductize the infrastructure you built for yourself so others in your niche can use it as a platform.
Idea
MasterClass-as-a-service for a niche, doing $10K/month
Shaan describes 'High Performers,' found on IndieHackers - the founder calls it MasterClass-as-a-service for pro athletes. He gets an athlete to partner, builds them a course on Udemy, helps sell it to their followers, then hires a salesperson so he only does the part he enjoys. Eight months in: $10,000/month.
“So the guy calls it masterclass as a service for pro athletes. So I'm looking at this guy's timeline. His first post is from November 2020. He says, I spoke to 5 pro athletes and I've got one of them to agree to partner with me.”
Steal thisFind a niche of cool experts with audiences, build and sell their course for them, then hire out the parts you dislike.