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The Side Hustle Show
701: Zero Followers to Full-Time Video Game Income: How I Built an Online Business for Sims Superfans
00:37:08
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- [00:00]
A
Introducing your new Dell PC. Powered by the Intel Core Ultra processors, it helps you handle a lot, even when your holiday to do lists get to be a lot because it's built with an all day battery. Plus powerful AI features that help you do it all with ease. From editing images to drafting emails, to summarizing large documents to multitasking. So you can organize your holiday shopping and make custom holiday decor and search for great holiday deals and respond to holiday requests and customer questions and customers requesting custom things. And plan your perfect holiday dinner for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians and Uncle Mike's carnivore diet. Luckily, you can get a PC that helps you do it all faster so you can get it all done. That's the power of a Dell PC with Intel inside backed by Dell's price match guarantee. Get yours today@dell.com deals, terms and conditions apply. See Dell.com for details. If you've ever thought about turning your own hobbies or interests into an income stream, going to love this one. My guest today creates and sells custom designed digital products for fans and players of the Sims computer game. We're going to cover how she spotted this niche, how she actually creates and delivers these products, and what's been working to drive sales and grow the business. From yellow llamaco.com Gloria Riley, welcome to the side Hustle show.
- [01:23]
B
Thank you, thank you for having me.
- [01:24]
A
So my understanding is you're, you're several months into this business, you wake up to this viral moment, hundreds of comments, dozens of sales. Tell me, what was the video, what was the product?
- [01:35]
B
So it was for my Sim Planner which I launched back in February 2022, so it's a little while ago and it's basically a book with some templates. So we've got character profiles, planner layouts, and the purpose is to help simmers plan their gameplay plan ahead so that they're not so overwhelmed when they get into the game. And yeah, it's essentially made for uber nerds like me that are really obsessed with the game.
- [02:00]
A
It was initially created for yourself. This is something that I wanted for my personal use and it turned out that other people were interested in this too.
- [02:08]
B
Yes. So basically when you play the Sims, you get really attached to them. And I always have wanted to keep track of my Sims, but I wasn't always consistent, didn't always have a structure. So that was also a plus with the planner. It had has fields ready made that you just fill in and so you don't have to think, okay, what were the traits I wanted to collect or what were the attributes I want to collect about my Sims? It's all there.
- [02:31]
A
Okay, so.
- [02:31]
B
So, yeah, I created it and I published it. Then it was crickets. I made like two sales within the first month. I was like, okay, I guess I'm the only one. But it was really my own fault because I wasn't really promoting it. That was really the mistake there. And it wasn't until my sister really pestered me to actually go on TikTok with it that I really started taking marketing and promoting it more seriously.
- [02:56]
A
Did you have any sort of audience at this point? None, or it's just like, look, I'm a fan, I'm a player of this game, but build this with my own use case. And then, oh, yeah, maybe if I wanted to sell, of course I should promote it. But there was no following at this point. It's just like the algorithm found the other sims players for you.
- [03:17]
B
That was what's so great about TikTok and what I learned. Then after, you know, my sister's encouragement, I really posted consistently for, like, maybe a month. And then it started trickling and I could see, you know, people were interacting with it. And then around the end of that, I woke up to so many comments and likes for a particular video that wasn't even probably 10 seconds long and it used a trending sound. So I think that was also what was helpful, that it was a sound that was already popular and it was something along the lines of, oh, look, it's a weirdo, or something. I basically just panned the camera on the planner and showed off the planner just briefly for those few seconds. And then it just basically was a meme that made fun of, oh, we just found the secret, you know, stash and confirms that this person's a weirdo. I'm a weirdo because I just. I love the Sims so much that I made a planner for it. And yeah, that just took off. And yeah, the. The comment that just kept repeating in. In the comment section was, I want this, I need this, I need this. And yeah, I was, like, flabbergasted. And yeah, shortly after that, the sales also followed. So that was also amazing. Like, I feel like I had within two consecutive mornings when I woke up to just for one, that TikTok that just went viral and then the sales that followed. So it was pretty amazing.
- [04:38]
A
Yeah, that's great. And so this was just a Amazon print on demand KDP print on demand paperback.
- [04:43]
B
Yes.
- [04:43]
A
That you created. What was the initial price point that you Were selling these at.
- [04:46]
B
Oh, I've been always selling at the same price point, 1299, so. And I just took inspiration from similar books I saw on Amazon. So it's like the low content niche, I guess you would call it. Yeah, basically you have a simple template that you can create a planner or journal with a guided experience for the customer. And yeah, I saw that was like the general pricing for it and customers actually often said like, because I could see them commenting to each other and they're like, oh, it's so cheap. Yeah, just grab it. And I was like, oh, okay, cool. Okay, guess the price said. Okay, it's reasonable.
- [05:17]
A
Yeah, that's great. Now shoot. This is similar story. Like I created the three question journal for my own use case. You know, three questions today, kind of as part of the nightly shutdown routine. What you've done today, what are you grateful for? How are you going to win tomorrow? It's just like, just a personal practice, like, oh shit, dude. I'll create the journal. If somebody else wants to buy it, great. But like, never had this viral moment, maybe I got to make this little video for you to see if other people would, would be interested in this. So after that, what happens? What happens next? So you start to see some consistent sales, some income, and you become connected to this broader sims community.
- [05:52]
B
Yeah, all of a sudden all eyes were on me, which was, to be honest, a bit scary at first. You know, I had all these cringe TikTok videos I had made with my face and everything.
- [06:01]
A
Was there anybody else doing something similar? Like you couldn't find exactly what you wanted, so you had to build it yourself.
- [06:07]
B
I was maybe competing with spreadsheets because keeping track of your sims has always been a thing in the community for the, you know, the nerdiest of us. What I like to call the series Simmers. But there was, there wasn't any printed planner or anything like that. So it went viral and it kept selling and it was so successful and I wasn't really happy with the job I was at the time. So I ended up leaving and was able to dedicate myself full time to this.
- [06:30]
A
Wow. One product, one viral video, you say, that's it, I'm going. I'm going all in.
- [06:34]
B
Yeah, well, technically it was two products because I had a daily and a weekly version. But technically it was one product because it was basically the same thing. Just one with weekly layouts and one with daily layouts based on the customer's preference. Yeah, I was able to just go full time and sure it was, it was scary because, I mean, this could have not performed well after a little while. It could have been just a little viral fluke.
- [06:57]
A
Yeah.
- [06:58]
B
But I actually ended up using that time that I had now that I was full time, unfortunately, not to promote the book as much as I maybe should have. And instead I dived head on into a new product because, yeah, I'm a bit of a compulsive maker. And yeah, I ended up creating a digital SimLife planner, which is for GoodNotes, because I kind of saw, okay, templates are popular and I'm still fulfilling a need for maybe a different group of people that aren't pen and paper lovers and want to prefer a digital experience. Around that time, GoodNotes planners were also quite popular. So I decided to make my own, but for the sims, and that was also quite popular.
- [07:36]
A
This is like a notes app, like on an iPad or something.
- [07:39]
B
Yes, goodnotes is a notes app on iPad and you basically just create a hyperlinked PDF. But there was actually a couple of sim planners for GoodNotes available at that time, but they weren't really geared for really planning your game playing, keeping track of your sim's life. They were more, let's plan some traits that your sim's gonna have, their aspirations, and then jump in the game. But I wanted to create something a bit more in depth. And then I created another one for OneNote. And yeah, I just kept creating because.
- [08:07]
A
You had the physical, like pen and paper, hard copy. But other people were saying, well, I would love a digital version. Okay. So listening to what the audience wants and going there, what kind of revenue, if you're comfortable sharing, like, was this. Pull it in at the time you're like, I'm going to quit my job and go do this.
- [08:23]
B
It was definitely four figures, four figure months.
- [08:26]
A
All right, sure.
- [08:27]
B
So I live a modest lifestyle and I'm in Belgium, though, Brussels. So it's not the most, like, inexpensive city to live in, but it was enough to pay my bills and live comfortably. Yeah, so I, I just made basically enough to feel comfortable with leaving. And the digital planners also the margin was higher. So that was also good because with Amazon you only make like less than $5. Or I mean, for me, I see the euro amount, so less than €5 per book. And that's not a lot. So you have to sell a lot to actually make a living from it. Which is also another reason why I wanted to expand and create digital templates, because I knew that it's a bit risky to depend on just one marketplace. Or one product and one platform even. So I expanded. I actually then ended up selling on Etsy, which I no longer do because unfortunately, yeah, the fees are quite high and people compete a lot on price there and I didn't want to play that game. And I felt like it feels like a bargain store. And I had then my own shop. I experimented there a lot as well. So I've been on Google sites, on Squarespace and I landed on WordPress where I then sell my digital templates now through Lemon Squeezy. So Lemon Squeezy is a merchant of record. It's a platform that you can use to upload your products. So digital products, these can be templates. It could be even SaaS in my case, notion templates or GoodNotes templates. And then you can sell that. And you don't have to handle VAT though, which was really important to me because I didn't want to deal with any of that.
- [09:55]
A
Got it. So this is a Lemon Squeezy checkout page. I've never heard of that one.
- [09:58]
B
Yeah, this is Lemon Squeezy where you are right now. Yeah.
- [10:01]
A
Okay, so I'm on the sim Chronicles for OneNote for $20. So yes, we're now commanding a higher price point than that Paperb on Amazon and it's completely digital, so no printing and fulfillment costs here. More with Gloria in just a moment, including her further forays into digital products and how she's driving consistent high margin sales. Coming up right after this. A lot of side hustlers suffer from what if itis? What if it doesn't work? What if I don't have the skills? What if I picked the wrong path? But one thing 100% of our amazing guests have in common is they took their shot. They faced down those what ifs and they got their answers through taking action. I, our partner, Shopify helps turn what ifs into why nots. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world. From household names to the very guests on this show. What if I can't design a website? Shopify's got you with ready made templates to match your brand style. What if people haven't heard about my brand? Shopify helps you find customers with easy to run email and social media campaigns. And what if I get stuck? You can tap into Shopify's award winning 24. 7 customer support. Let's turn those dreams into and give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today. @shopify.com Sidehustle Go to shopify.com Sidehustle Shopify.com Sidehustle One of the tools I personally see make a huge difference for business owners is Quo, formerly OpenPhone. It's the same great business phone system you've heard me talk about before, just with a new name. When you're running a business, you know that every missed call is a missed opportunity. So Quo, formerly openphone. This is the number one business phone system that streamlines your customer communications. It works through an app on your phone or your computer. So no more using your personal number as your business line. No more carrying two phones around. With Quo, your team can share one phone number and collaborate on customer calls and texts, just like a shared inbox. So anybody can jump in and to keep response times fast. And this is where it gets super cool. You can set up Quo's built in AI agent in just a few minutes to handle calls after hours, answer customer questions and capture leads on autopilot. I want to invite you to get started for free. Plus side hustle show listeners get 20% off your first six months@quo.com Sidehustle that's quo.com side hustle. Look at them getting that three letter domain. Q U O.com Sidehustle and if you've got existing numbers with another service, Quo will port them over at no extra charge. Whoa. No missed calls, no missed customers.
- [12:42]
B
No. And the beauty of it is it's something that the simmer can reuse over and over again, which is that's why there's a higher price point, because with the planner, you have to repurchase and you've got that, obviously the printing costs, but I feel like with a template that you can duplicate infinitely, you've got that added value. And the Sims community is quite cost sensitive, which I understand. So I didn't want to price too many simmers out of getting my planners because I want to help people. It actually became tricky later down the line once I published my SIM Guardian, my notion template, because that one, yeah, it's quite a price hike in comparison to my other templates. So the other ones are rounding at about $20, $40 for a really big bundle of notes planners. And then we're at a hundred bucks for the SIM Guardian at the same time. It's quite comprehensive and detailed and for systems, for templates of that detail. But I put a lot of work also in the notion template. I'm saving simmers so much time and I know that the value that it brings so, yeah, I ended up sticking to that price, even though there was a bit of pushback in the community because I was actually, this time I learned from my mistakes and I marketed this a bit better. I actually shared sneak peeks while I was developing it on YouTube. So by now I had created a YouTube channel. I was a bit more present on social media. I definitely had a community growing. I was known a little bit now amongst simmers and I created a series of videos where I showed really how I was building this, this Notion template, what people could expect. And people were really hyped for it, but I think some were disappointed about the price. But again, I think for what you're getting, it's quite fair. And in the end I'm glad I stuck to my guns because I have a lot of happy customers that, yeah, confirmed basically my pricing. And I also still have a bunch of, you know, budget friendly and also free templates I offer. And they also do offer parity pricing for the simguardian. So that makes it still a bit more accessible to foreign customers for countries that don't have the same purchase power as the us. I use an app for that, actually. It's called Parity Deals. With the free version, you can already plug one product, you can use it to offer parity pricing for that, but they also have plans where you can use it for your entire shop of products. But for me it was important to make it as accessible as possible without undervaluing my work.
- [14:57]
A
So it sounds like this is the flagship product right now is this notion Sim Guardian that is at $100 price point and it looks, it looks really in depth, like really kind of a powerful tool for fans of this game.
- [15:09]
B
Yes, it's got everything. So where we started with the Sim Planner, planning your daily life or the daily life for your sims, some to DOS and collecting their profiles. Now we've come to the Sim Guardian, which can do that, of course, and so much more. You can keep track of the lore. You have a space now where you can save your screenshots and organize them. You can link everything with each other, which I think is really what makes the Sim Guardian stand out in comparison to the other products. Here you have the databases and the formulas in Notion that made it possible for me to really build my dream template. I would say it wasn't until notion released formulas 2.0 that I was really able to make my vision come to life, but it is, it's amazing.
- [15:54]
A
I mean, this is just fascinating. Fascinating that like hobbyist players, because there's no money in playing the Sims. Right. So people are just investing in just having a better user experience for themselves and saying, like, look, I'm really into this. I think this is going to. This is going to improve my life in some way. But it's not like, oh, if I, you know, win my fantasy league, then I'm gonna make an extra thousand bucks or something.
- [16:19]
B
No, it's just for somebody who's just really passionate about the Sims, who serious about their Sims, they. They don't want to forget all the storylines that they've created for their Sims. They don't want it to be all for nothing. Because for me, I really regret not keeping track earlier. Like, I could not tell you the first families I created in the Sims 2 or the Sims 3. Also, there's so much that I did keep track of. It was scattered and just disorganized. So the sim guardian, you just have, like, one place where everything can be saved. And even if, you know, you don't invest in the sim guardian, I think even if you just go for one of my free templates, I think keeping track is. Yeah, it's so essential to the. To the simmer experience because we put a lot of love and creativity in what we do and the characters we create and come up with and the storylines we play.
- [17:04]
A
Yeah, and it's such a. It seems like a very niche community, but one that is still broad enough to. And a sliver of the players are going to be passionate enough to go out and look for tools to enhance their gameplay. I think that's a really interesting spot to be in here. You mentioned the YouTube channel, where there's 3,000 subscribers, so it's not like, not nothing. So there's subtraction over there. Give me a sense of the type of content you're posting here on YouTube.
- [17:34]
B
In the beginning, it was a podcast, so I basically just shared my podcast there as well, and some tidbits here and there. But I've been taking my channel more seriously this year, and I've focused and I kind of know now what I want to do. And I basically just want to help simmers feel more organized, feel more creative and inspired and, yeah, help them get. Feel connected to their Sims. And that's basically what I create content around. I had a video actually, a couple of months ago go viral for me, at least by my standards, got over 100,000 views now. And I think what makes it special is the fact that I combined topics. So I remember I was sitting in the town hall waiting for some admin stuff and I just had some empty space for my mind to think. And I was. I had recently watched a soap opera on Netflix and I was thinking, how do soap operas keep viewers hooked? And how do soap operas keep the stories going for ages? Because that's a big issue that simmers have, is that they get bored with their game and they ditched our save files. And so I'm like, what if we took inspiration from soap operas? And so basically that's where the idea came for that particular video is what if we learned from soap operas? I basically broke soap operas down and tried to marry that with the Sims and brought in a bit of my perspective. And that's what I've been doing. So different topics or trying to just help simmers with common issues that we have. You know, whether it's being bored with the game, feeling like your characters don't have any depth, how to play rotationally in a meaningful way, how to play with purpose. That's actually kind of like my slogan. I help simmers play with purpose. So that's basically I try to focus everything I make on those core elements. And it's been popular so far. I. I love how I get these super long comments from passionate simmers just either relating to everything I said, sharing their own ideas and tips. It's been so rewarding because it's not only, of course, a great channel to help, you know, spread the word about what I make, but it's also an outlet for me to share about what I love and my passion for this game and to connect with other simmers in a deeper level than I maybe could on TikTok with, you know, just short videos.
- [19:41]
A
Yeah. What's interesting here is I would have expected more tutorial type of content like how to do this in the Sims or how to solve this problem in the Sims, but it's almost, you know, more like just looking at some of the titles here. You're never going to stop playing the Sims after this. This is the one with 170,000 views.
- [20:00]
B
I caught him.
- [20:02]
A
And like the headline is on this one. Like just I found it. Or the title of the video is I just I found it saying, well, what did you find? It's like, well, the thumbnail says I found the best family tree app for simmers. But it's like it doesn't necessarily say that in the title. So just kind of curious to see what has worked in this niche versus if I'm just going to like how to use notion better or it's like People maybe not searching this out for se, but again, YouTube knows that people are into the Sims. They watch one video about it. So then they start to serve up, serve up your stuff instead of.
- [20:32]
B
Yeah, I learned that packaging is super important and your hook as well. So in the past I'd have an idea and I would just maybe briefly think about what I want to say and I do it. But now an important part of my process is creating the hook and the title and the having at least the concept of the thumbnail in my mind as well. Because sometimes the thumbnail is a product of the video itself. I combine storytelling with tutorials because I try to. I still help simmers in a way. So it is kind of like a tutorial. It is educational content. But I always wrap it around a story of mine, like from my experience. I try to speak from my perspective and I think simmers can relate to that. For example, I posted a video about 19 tips for serious simmers. And I think that resonated because it is bite sized tips. But I also, I go a little bit more in depth. The title and the thumbnail they're supposed to make curious. So it kind of hints at what's gonna happen. It kind of almost promises also, I guess you would say, the transformation that the simmer is gonna get. So, for example, if you're still stuck on Gen1, this is for you. So that's a big issue for a simmer. It's a big pain point. So to say we get stuck on like the first generations when we're trying to build our legacy and we end up ditching a family. So that basically walks the simmer through what I think how they should change their mindset in the game, the way they play and the way they approach it so that they can actually finally reach that goal. So in that case, building a legacy.
- [22:06]
A
Is this little thumbnail avatar. Is this you in sim land?
- [22:10]
B
Yeah. Because that's also something that's popular in the Sims community or in the gaming community in general.
- [22:16]
A
Yeah.
- [22:16]
B
And I wanted to be also clear when you look at the video that it's a Sims video, because sometimes it's a toss up. Should I have myself in the video? I'm working on experimenting.
- [22:27]
A
Got it, got it. No, well, it just helps kind of solidify that you're part of the community. You could speak this language. You're like, well, here, look, here's my character from the game. So I think that makes sense.
- [22:37]
B
Yeah, I think it helps make my videos also maybe a bit recognizable. They see that particular sim and they know, okay, this is a video from yellowamico Gloria.
- [22:45]
A
Yeah, in the videos themselves, I think there's probably a natural way to integrate the notion templates like the different products into the video and be like, hey, by the way, I made this thing to make your life better, simpler, faster, easier. You can click over here to buy it or check the link in the description. How are you presenting that in the. In the content?
- [23:05]
B
So sometimes it flows in naturally based on what I'm explaining. So for example, I really harp on keeping track of your sims so that you don't, you know, lose track of them. But also it helps you stay connected to them because you are spending more time actually reflecting on things. So when I maybe touch on keeping track or templates, I can bring up the sim Garden or any other template that's maybe relevant in that moment. I have a couple of videos where I play the game, but for the videos that are, I would say purely educational, I have created a little ad. So it's like a one minute where I just talk about the SIM Guardian, like basically my struggle, which was forgetting my legacies, not knowing what to do next, things like that. And then I introduced the Sim Guardian. So the various sections and why it's great and basically why I love it. And so I can insert that in my videos whenever the SIM Guardian doesn't naturally show up. And that way I can still be like, hey, this is here if you want it.
- [24:03]
A
Sure. Do you find consistent sales from YouTube?
- [24:06]
B
Yes, actually. So that one video that went viral just exploded the sales. But I've also noticed like with every video I publish, it just it drives sales. So it, that's also been a motivator for me to, to stay consistent with that. I am not very consistent with marketing. That's definitely big boo boo on my end. I'd like to rather tinker in my different softwares and create new templates rather than actually talking about them, even though I think they're like the grand solution and every simmer should know about them and find out about them. But that's definitely been a driver. But it's also my free templates are also a driver because it gives the simmers a chance to test ride what I make, to see the quality and then they usually would want more. So for example, I created the backstory creator for Notion, which is essentially a small part of the Sim Guardian that helps simmers create in depth stories and like origin stories for their sims with tarot card prompts and enneagram prompts and Once they've created that origin story, I feel like it's a natural transition to want a space to actually then start logging the story that you then play for your Sims to.
- [25:07]
A
Got it. So you're promoting these almost as a lead magnet, as a, as an entry point into your world to say, have a free sample and then if you like this, you're gonna love what's on the paid side.
- [25:20]
B
Yes. I think it's just important to give them a little peek into notion because not everybody is tech savvy as well. And I want them to feel comfortable and confident with their purchase because again, the SimGuardian is an investment. So I don't want anybody to have buyer's remorse and I want them to, yeah, see that it's not just any old template. I put a lot of love and effort in the template and I think they see that even with the free stuff I make. And so it can help them like reassure them that, okay, if they, if they get the Sim garden, then they might be making the right decision. But again, I also offer free templates because I think even if you want the simgardian, it might not be within your reach at this very moment. And so I just think it's important to help simmers at every stage at where they are.
- [26:00]
A
No, that makes sense. More with Gloria in just a moment, including her final lead magnet, how she keeps her list engaged. Where the business goes from here. There are less than 100 days left in 2025, which means less than 100 days left to hit those goals that you set or to refocus your energy on what really matters. If you've got some catching up to do, and maybe you've been procrastinating on taking that next step, our sponsor, Indeed, can help you find the best candidates for the role you need to fill and find them fast. In fact, three and a half million employers worldwide already use Indeed to hire great talent fast. And it'll be my first stop when I need to make my next hire. Don't struggle to get your job posts seen on other job sites. Indeed's sponsored jobs help you stand out and hire fast. Plus, with Indeed sponsored jobs, there are no monthly subscriptions, no long term contracts, and you only pay for results. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed side Hustle show listeners get a $75 sponsored job credit. To get your jobs more visibility@inn Indeed.com Sidehustleshow just go to indeed.com Sidehustleshow right now and Support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com Sidehustleshow terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Are you still overpaying for wireless? It's time to say yes to to saying no. At our partner Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no. No contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees, no bs. And here's why I said yes to making the switch over five years ago and yes to getting premium wireless for 15 bucks a month. I really liked being able to keep my existing phone and my existing phone number when I switched over. This year we've taken advantage of their easy international add ons, including free service in Canada and affordable packages when we were visiting Japan. But closer to home, all Mint Mobile plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. And the best part? Plans start at just 15 bucks per month. Are you ready to say yes to saying no? Join me in making the switch@mintmobile.com Sidehustle that's mintmobile.com Sidehustle Upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 per month Limited time new customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details. There's also this simmer's block quiz. You know, what's these, what's fun? What's the one thing that's blocking you out?
- [28:33]
B
Yeah, that's another lead magnet, but also just a way that I like to help simmers at the end of the quiz and they find out whether you know, they're a scattered storyteller or an overwhelmed overseer. So there are various types of blocks that you can have. And it also leads into a few emails with just like short helpful tidbits and, and links and lessons for them to help them with whatever block that was the result of their quiz. And of course trickled in here and there. Some of the products I've made that I think would help them with whatever they're struggling with. And so it also gets them on my newsletter, which is great because it helps me stay in touch with them and continue to share updates and and whatnot. And there's something new that I've also created to help people come to my newsletter because the thing is I don't want people to just sign up for freebie because mailing list costs money, right? And so I actually have it to where if they just want the freebie they can just grab It But I wanted to create an incentive for them to sign up to the newsletter and to make it worth their while. So a few weeks ago, like I introduced something called plot twist prompt where every newsletter includes a plot twist prompt to help again simmers stay engaged with their save file. Probably the biggest issue in the community is that people end up feeling uninspired. They don't know what to do next because it does take creative energy to. Yeah. Come up with the next storyline with the next step. So I offered offer this plot twist prompt to incentivize people to not only join the newsletter, but also stay on the newsletter.
- [30:02]
A
Sure. Stay top of mind, provide helpful content and you know, every now and again present an offer. Hey, if you haven't bought the thing yet, it's still here.
- [30:11]
B
Yeah, exactly.
- [30:12]
A
Is there a partnership down the road, like a perfect world vision where your company gets acquired by EA Electronic Arts, the maker of the Sims? Is there some like joint promotion where they bundle it in with the software? I feel like this could be huge.
- [30:29]
B
So I don't think I'd ever want to give it up because it's my baby and I feel like that's the thing. I really love what I do now because I have that freedom. I'm my own boss, have meetings with anybody. I don't have to check in with anybody and see what they think about something. Obviously I get feedback from the community and I, I incorporate that. But everything is my own choice and I feel like I'm my best customer as well. Because you'll search far and wide to find somebody as obsessed with this game and keeping track as I am. But I think a collab would be more something I could see. So not like a full on takeover, but a collaboration for sure.
- [31:01]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. So it sounds like today the time is spent making new YouTube content, playing the game, creating newsletter content, creating more templates. What else? Where, where's the time going today?
- [31:14]
B
Bulk of my time goes into making videos. So ideas I have almost, that's never an issue. But I kind of, I need to. Yeah. Make them in a, into a digestible way. So a lot of time goes into brainstorming how do I want to actually communicate my thoughts and my perspective. Recording the videos.
- [31:30]
A
Is there a particular publishing calendar you try and stick with? Well, every Monday we gotta come out with a new video or something like that.
- [31:36]
B
Yes, it started with, I would say a video every two weeks because I started batch creating and so that was quite helpful and so that I could have some videos lined up and now it's. It's every Friday I publish a video. The educational content is quite. Takes a lot of time to prepare, so I can't do that every week. So I wanted to create more formats. And I'm also going to start livestreaming soon if the tech allows. And so that'll also be added into the mix, probably Sundays. So at least twice a week I'm creating something on the channel and we'll see. I'm thinking about also editing the live stream.
- [32:14]
A
You're going to be a Twitch celebrity on the live stream.
- [32:17]
B
Maybe. We'll see. But I definitely want to probably edit that live stream into a shorter video for the YouTube channel. So that would maybe be three forms of content per week, which is definitely quite a lot more than a year ago on the channel. And that's also why it's been growing. I think it's because I. I managed to stay consistent and also with the type of content I create. I get that a lot in the comments where people are just like thanking me for posting. Not only consistently, but the quality isn't falling down. That's really important to me. I don't want to post more just for the sake of posting more. I'd rather post less and keep the content where it is like at the standard. Then just pump them out and. Yeah. To fulfill some arbitrary number.
- [33:01]
A
Yeah. Do you find that new players are coming into this game? Sims 4 is 1012 years old at this point. Are new people discovering this or is it just like there's this stalwart community of long time players who are just. They're in it, they're on again, they're off again, but they're dedicated to this game.
- [33:24]
B
Yeah. So I, I actually didn't realize this until a few weeks ago, but I feel like a really big. Like I always knew that. A big. Well that I always knew that millennials were part of the community like me. So people that like OG simmers that have been here since the first game or maybe the second or the third game. So Sims 2 or Sims 3. I always felt like the Sims 4 was geared more to a younger audience, a newer audience, especially since it was made free to play, but I think a big part of the community. We are veteran players, I would say. But there are also always new players coming in. I can't wait for the day where my niece is finally old enough to play and I will definitely be bringing her on a few more years for that. But it's definitely a game that I think brings in new people. But also has a huge old school fan base for sure.
- [34:11]
A
Well, I think this is awesome to be able to be making a living off a game that you obviously love and enjoy and are part of this community and being able to support your fellow serious sims. I mean, nothing should surprise me anymore, but like it's kind of cool, like a surprising exciting little hobby niche here. But I'll throw that back out to you. Like what surprised you the most over the last few years of doing this?
- [34:34]
B
Honestly, it's, it's a marketing thing. But that the newsletter, it doesn't push sales as much because you hear that on and on again because, you know, once the Sim Planner took off and I decided to take this full time, I thought, okay, I want to take it seriously and follow all the tips and tricks. Maybe I'm not salesy enough in the newsletters, I don't know. But that was a surprise to me for sure. Though I wouldn't miss having the newsletter because it's a way for me to connect with my fellow swimmers and keep them posted. And that's definitely a surprise.
- [35:02]
A
That is, that is a little bit surprising. I imagine you have people reaching out to say like, well, I can help you with your email sales after this.
- [35:08]
B
Yeah, possibly. The thing is, with email, I've definitely cracked the code when it comes to encouraging people to sign up. It's more for some reason getting people to actually want to purchase something from after being on a list. But I don't know, maybe they just like it as a cozy little letter between me and them.
- [35:26]
A
What's the quiz builder software?
- [35:28]
B
It's called Convert Box, I believe, and it's a lifetime one time purchase, which I'm a very big fan of. I hate subscriptions and so that's what I use for that. And I also have a few other bits of software that I've gotten over the years via lifetime purchases. I used to use AppSumo a lot. I did purchase Heartbeat through that, through that platform and I love it. Heartbeat is where I have my community, where I have the companion guides for all the products I've made, which makes it to where I don't spend all day on customer support because a lot of the questions are already answered there.
- [35:59]
A
Oh, okay, yeah, that's. I haven't heard of that.
- [36:01]
B
And apart from that other software, Comodo Dex I think is a silent killer or Pixel Tail. I also grab those as lifetime deals. Komodo decks I use to upload my videos that I use for my video tutorials, my companion guide and Pixelteo is just a simple little. It's like bitly, a short link maker. Fantastic. I use it in so many ways. Pobbly Connect is also great though. I think everybody probably knows that one now.
- [36:27]
A
What was that? I don't know that one.
- [36:28]
B
Probably Connect. It's like Zapier, but way more cost effective. Probably Connect.
- [36:33]
A
Okay. All right, well, I'll make a note of it for sure. And what's running the email list?
- [36:37]
B
Mailerlite. I've been with them ever since I started and it's always been so easy to use and affordable. Even though they raised their prices in summer this year, it's still the most affordable solution.
- [36:51]
A
All right, well, it sounds like you're having a ton of fun with this whole business with the Yellow llama Co business. Yellow llamaco.com link up the YouTube channel as well. You know, where do you. Where do you want to take this thing? What's next for you?
- [37:04]
B
I definitely want to focus or keep the focus on my YouTube channel. I don't want to lose the momentum that I've built after this conversation. I feel like I need to give my sim planner some more love. So I'm going to definitely talk about that some more. Maybe get back on the TikTok for that. It's easier to communicate a physical product, I think there than it is to communicate my notion template or any of my digital templates. I'm also considering possibly relaunching my affiliates program because that's another bonus from Lemon Squeezy. They include affiliates. And of course, I have a couple of like, more templates that I've been working on. I'm thinking about maybe making a spreadsheet template old school. Bring it back to where, you know, we all started in the Sims community.
- [37:43]
A
Sure, sure.
- [37:43]
B
We'll see.
- [37:44]
A
Yeah. Something people will be familiar with. Yeah, well, very cool. We'll link up all of these resources in the show notes for this episode. Gloria, let's wrap this thing up with your number one tip for side Hustle Nation.
- [37:55]
B
Be your biggest cheerleader. Don't be too shy to talk about what you make, and you would be doing your community a disservice if you were to keep your solution a secret. You really would be. Also, don't be afraid to be uncomfortable or cringe. Lean into that discomfort. And also, do not write off any platforms that you think aren't a good fit just because you wouldn't find yourself there. I followed my sister's advice. I went on TikTok and that really changed everything for me. So don't close the door on anything too soon.
- [38:23]
A
Well, this is a really cool business because it sits at the intersection of personal interest and passion in this hobby and creating something that scratches your own itch and then the marketing piece of it to go out and find other people like you, other people, members of the community who are serious about this game and want to play it at a, at a higher level. So those are the kind of the takeaways for me. This, you know, scratch your own itch, build the thing that you want first of all and then go try and find the other people creating that content to showcase your product. So Again, Yellow Llama Co.com you can find Gloria over there. Now whether it's your first time listening to the Side Hustle show or your 700th time listening, we just passed 700 episodes. I want to invite you to take a little side Hustle quiz at Hustle Show. You're going to answer a few short multiple choice questions and in return I'll give you a custom curated greatest hits playlist of 8 to 10 of our best episodes based on your answers. Say what kind of side Hustle you might be interested in, what kind of time you have, what are your goals? Again, Hustle show for that custom curated playlist. Big thanks to Gloria for sharing her insight. Thanks to our sponsors for helping make this content free for everyone. You can hit up Sidehustlenation.com deals for all the latest offers from our sponsors in one place. That is it for me. Thank you so much for tuning in. Until next time, let's go out there and make something happen and I'll catch you in the next edition of the Side Hustle Show. Hustle on the.