A side hustle is a terrific way to become Successfully Unemployed. By creating a Facebook Ads company like Laptop Empires shows how is one of the best.
As social media and the internet continues to grow, and it most likely will not stop for a long time, taking advantage of all the money in advertising is HUGE!
This is your way to be Successfully Unemployed.
How Mike Yanda Makes Money with His Side Hustles and Laptop Empires
Part of Mike’s income is with Laptop Empires that he started with his business partner Bobby Hoyt of Millennial Money Man. They teach people how to build their own digital empire to make money and be able to leave their job.
Mike also has coaching that he does helping agency owners build their teams, implement systems, and scale.
How Mike Yanda Went from a Lawyer to Side Hustles
Mike went to law school, but he didn’t 100% know what he wanted to do yet. He enjoyed studying and learning and research, but he didn’t enjoy practicing law as much.
He started his first online fitness business while he was in law school to help with his student loans though.
When his oldest son got sick as a newborn, he couldn’t put his son in daycare. So, Mike and his wife decided that Mike was going to stay home.
He focused on his agency and built it into a big business and built a team, and that’s the path he has been on since.
There was not a moment that he said, “This is not the thing for me.” He was led into it by circumstances and doing what he needed to do for his family.
But he discovered that he has a greater passion for business. Mike has a knack for it. He built three businesses into six-figure businesses with one in the seven figures.
How to Start a Side Hustle
The first thing to keep in mind is the name “side hustle” is what it needs to be. It is work. You need to hustle. You need to put some effort in.
The other thing is that it’s all on the side. It can turn into more like it did for Mike, but it doesn’t have to become a full-time thing.
The beauty of owning a business is that it can fit into your life. A lot of people let it consume their life, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can mold it to fit your life and the days and hours that you can work.
You have options.
Watch the Laptop Empires Successfully Unemployed Episode:
How to Know What Type of Side Hustle to Start
When you’re trying to figure out what to do, you have so many options with the internet, but Mike gives us some criteria to run your options through.
1. How much does it pay?
You want something that pays well.
2. What is the time investment?
Since it’s on the side, it needs to be a low time investment.
A lot of people get this part wrong. Even if you do something like Uber and work as many hours as you want to work, you don’t necessarily have the freedom of when you can work. You can make good money, but you may have to work certain hours.
Are you working the time of day you want to work? And are you working the number of hours you want to work?
3. Can you earn money from it quickly?
This is another thing people can get wrong.
For example, content creators such as bloggers and course creators are a long-term play. If you want to do something like this, keep in mind that it could be two or three years before you start to see some income.
A side hustle is something that you can make money with now. Even if you don’t want to leave your job, it’s something that can alleviate financial stress.
4. Is it scalable?
This is the cherry on top in case it is something that you would like to grow later on down the road.
[Dustin’s list of side hustles]
Why Running Facebooks Ads Makes a Great Side Hustle
Facebook Ads checks all of the four things to look for in a side hustle. It is the main form of advertising for most brick-and-mortar businesses.
It is high paying. The industry standard for managing Facebook Ads for a company is $1,500 a month. The lowest is $1,000 a month, and it goes up from there, especially if a company has multiple locations.
It has a low time investment. It takes some time to set up, but then it has very low maintenance for monitoring and tweaking the ads.
Facebook Ads are also easy to learn. You don’t have to take a course, though a course helps you learn it quicker.
Join Laptop Empires to Start Your Own Side Hustle and Facebook Ads Company
How to Get Started with Facebook Ads as a Side Hustle
1. Learn how to do it.
You have to first learn how to run the ads themselves, whether through articles, course, or YouTube videos.
Facebook Ads is creating a post on Facebook that is for an offer, asking people to contact you if they want that offer. And then you push it to people who would be interested in it, which you are targeting specifically.
2. Get clients.
They are so many ways to get clients, and there isn’t a right or wrong way to do it. Many of them can be from behind your computer without talking to anyone face-to-face.
You can do cold calls, you can leverage Facebook groups, or you can use something like Upwork to get clients. There are also ways to use LinkedIn, YouTube, and email to get clients.
It all comes down to having conversations with people and figuring out how you can help them.
Mike’s group method for finding clients starts with finding Facebook groups where your ideal client hangs out. Then you spend some time every day in those groups looking for questions that you can answer.
It’s all about adding value and helping people solve problems.
If you leave a long comment answering people’s Facebook Ads questions or problems, you could then have people who see that and reach out to you, asking you to help them. Or you start to develop a reputation, and people start to refer others to you.
How Facebook Ads Work vs Google
Google and Facebook reach people at different parts of the buying phase. If someone is coming through Google, they have the search intent.
For example, if they Google real estate investing, they are looking for that specifically. In Facebook, you might find people who are interested in real estate investing. Some might be searching for it, and some might be kind of interested.
Google works better for direct sales. Facebook is more about getting people into your world and sealing the deal.
For example, Facebook shouldn’t be about selling your course. It should be about getting people on your email list, getting people to watch your content, and getting people into your universe. That way they can start the process.
Mike knows that people usually consume 20–25 pieces of content before purchasing one of their courses.
So, if you bring someone in from Facebook and get them to consume your content and start that journey of consuming 20–25 pieces of content—and hopefully get them on your email list to direct them to that content—then that’s the proper way to advertise what you’re doing.
The second part is sealing the deal. Google remarketing is on display and reminding people of things, but Facebook is very personalized.
If Mike went to Dustin’s course and went to the checkout page but didn’t buy, Dustin could follow up with a personalized ad, saying, “Hey, I saw you on the checkout page for my program, and you didn’t buy. Why is that? Do you have questions? If so, comment below and let me know. Or use this link to complete your purchase.”
It’s very personalized. It’s in your face. It’s calling out that action they took and forgot to complete.
It’s also giving you an opportunity to hear any concerns they may have and answer them or to push them back to the order page and buy again.
Those are the two places you are using Facebook Ads because you don’t have the ability to find that intent-based person like Google does. They are different platforms used for different things.
How Mike Yanda Is Giving Back
As soon as Mike’s agency freed up more time, Laptop Empires was born out of a passion project to help people.
His mission statement is to help create info products that teach people so they can start creating this for their lives, whether it’s a side hustle or to replace their income.
Mike spends time doing podcasts, YouTube videos, blog posts, and mentoring, sharing his knowledge from the past six years in hopes of giving people the shortcut he didn’t have.
Getting Started with a Side Hustle and Laptop Empires
Mike says to pick something and consistently take action on it every single day.
That is the secret that no one wants to admit. Doing work every day and being consistent.
It’s like a diet. You can’t have an off day. You have to do a little bit every day. You’re not going to lose 20 pounds in a week. It’s going to take weeks.
You’re not going to be making great money from your side hustle overnight. You’re going to have to put the time in.
You have to focus on the one thing that matters in business: money. You have to focus on getting paid.
So, if you decide to do Facebook Ads, you have to get clients. If you’re not focusing on getting clients but worried about your business card or creating content, you’re just procrastinating. It looks like you’re doing something, but you’re just wasting time that you could be spending time with friends.
Mike Yanda’s Advice to His College Self
Mike remembers being in college with his roommate jacking around or studying biology, and they wonder now what their businesses would have looked like if they had started sooner.
Most people don’t realize that the online business is about who can stay in it the longest. If you don’t quit and stick around for 7 to 10 years, you’re going to make incredible money.
But the speed that you achieve that success comes down to focusing on the right things. Focus on getting paid. Don’t let yourself get distracted.
Don’t over consume content. Learn what you need to learn as problems arise and then try to land clients.
If you keep your content consumption to learning what you need to learn—instead of trying to learn allof the business things at once—you’re going to be a lot more successful.
Mike Yanda’s Recommended Tool for Side Hustles
Mike recommends Asana. It’s a free project management tool. You can use cards on boards, it has a big to-do list feature, and an incredible mobile app.
Mike and his agency use it for everything. They use it for their production and editorial calendars, and they use it for meetings and projects. Mike even uses it for his grocery list or a reminder to take out the trash.
If you want to get organized, it’s your one-stop-shop tool. You can have it on your phone and on your computer. Mike’s wouldn’t be as organized and functional without it.
Mike Yanda’s Business Book Recommendation
Mike’s number one book for business that he says everyone should read is called Work Less Make More by James Schramko.
Schramko is a business consultant based out of Australia. He has owned real big businesses, not just online businesses.
Mike loves that the book is so practical. It’s about prioritizing, reducing your work, and making more at the same time. It’s the most concise, easy read that Mike has ever read.
How to Reach Mike Yanda
You can reach Mike through Laptop Empires at www.laptopempires.com. They have podcasts, blog posts, courses, YouTube videos, and free stuff.