I had to face the truth: Facebook ads were no longer getting it done for me. They weren’t stable, and they weren’t getting easier to use.

I also discovered that Facebook is not the only traffic source we can use to sell t-shirts. I got to know about **thriving POD marketplaces with free traffic **where I could own an online store, put up my products, and wait for the orders to start coming in.

So, I made a big decision. I decided to start selling POD in different marketplaces.

I later found out that I could sell many other products such as coffee mugs, shot glasses, etc. on marketplaces like Amazon or Etsy. I could sell POD products on these marketplaces with better traffic and lower risks.

So, I began to allocate my time to selling Print-on-Demand products on marketplaces such as Amazon, Etsy, and eBay.

And that was it for me – my grand entry into the world of Print-on-Demand products. It’s been 5 years and counting, and it’s still one of the best life decisions I’ve ever made!

I’ll talk about this topic in detail in another chapter.

The Components of The Successful Side Hustle

Let me put this out there early: I don’t believe in passion.

I believe in the process, hard work, and consistency.

There is no easy side hustle. If you want to make money, you have to put in a great deal of effort to get things done. You must be willing to learn, spend on tools, and master the art.

I spent a lot of my money learning about internet marketing. I bought a lot of books, took a lot of courses, and attended webinars. I did a lot.

But it’s all part of the process. You can’t take it out of the equation.

If you want to get started, I advise you to start by finding the side hustle that can help **YOU **make extra income.

Notice that I put the ‘you’ in bold. We cannot all make money the same way. Once this is settled, the next thing on your bucket list is to learn about the business model.

Understand how it works. Check out people that have been successful with it and how they were able to pull it off. Read a lot of *“how-to” *posts. With enough information, you should be able to create a working process that best suits you.

There’s a lot of free information out there! Google is your friend, and YouTube is your best friend!

Once you find that side hustle that can help you make some extra bucks, learn the business model. Get some real-life experience. Look up successful people in these niches and check out their success stories.

Doing this will help you get a clear picture of how the business model works. Then you can modify it to suit your needs and follow the process.

Some of the important things you must also consider are **money, time, **and **scalability. **As simple as it sounds, not ironing out the details about any of these factors can turn your side hustle into a living hell.

Ok, it might not be as bad as that. But it won’t be great, either.

No money? No problem! I can relate to that. Trust me.

Here’s what you can do. Find something to do to make some money first. Anything that can get you some cash. Then you

can invest your money into any part of your work process that can speed things up and generate more income.

However, if you do have money, invest money in finding a business model that can speed up your work.

With enough cash, you can outsource your work to different people and get things moving fast. You can also automate some of the processes and optimize your output.

**Time is money. **This is an important factor in making money. You must be aware of how much you will be spending on your work on a daily and weekly basis. Ask yourself these questions:

• Will it consume much of my time?- Can I do it by myself?- Can I hire people to do the work for me?- Can we use technology to reduce the workload via automation?

If you have more positive answers than negatives, then you may have a great business idea.

I made a lot of money from my Fiverr gig, but I had to quit. This was primarily because it was taking a huge chunk of my time and I couldn’t automate the process.

But today, I have a couple of automated systems and outsourced agents who work for me remotely. I only spend a few hours a week working, and the money keeps coming in.

Thriving in a business demands you to **scale and grow **it into something bigger. So, ask yourself these questions:

• Is there room for this business to scale?- Can I make more money from this business?- Can I transform it to be a business that can generate the BIG passive income I desire?

If you cannot find practical ways to scale the business or make it bigger, then it’s probably not the best long-term business for you.

Now that you know my long history of side hustles, you should understand why I find the Print-on-Demand busi- ness so fascinating.

I’ve been in the POD business for several years now, and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve earned a lot, too.

The next chapter will set the tone for the rest of our discussion, as we’ll take a deep dive into the POD world.