↯ We Zig When They Zag

Happy Wednesday, Futurepreneurs! Welcome to AI Side Hustler, a newsletter for people who want to learn how to make money using new AI technologies.

Every week, we'll explore new strategies, share insider tips, and uncover the latest AI tools that can help you boost your income.

I’m still experimenting with which day I will send the newsletter, but know that it’ll hit your inbox 1x per week (at least).

Heads up: Some links might be affiliate links. If you use one, you'll make my day and support this newsletter at no extra cost to you. Win-win!

In This Week’s Issue of AI SIde Hustler:

• It’s Getting Pretty Darn Easy to Create AI Influencers

• Did Facebook Pause its Bonus Program?

• Go Big or Go Home!

• I’ve Launched a New AI Content Workflow

• Discover the AI Tools I'm Using to Boost My Bottom Line

Let's go ahead and get after it.

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💬 Let’s Connect!

Enjoying AI Side Hustler? Make sure to follow me on Twitter/X for real-time updates and further discussions. If you’re new here, browse our archive to catch up on all the case studies and past insights

How are your AI side hustles going? Hit reply and let me know your biggest win or challenge this week. I read every email!

BEST LINKS

🔗 My Favorite Finds

• Meta Movie Gen just dropped (and it’s INSANE)

• HeyGen has made it simple to create realistic AI influencers 

• Turn any piece of writing into a mind map

• We now have a “Midjourney for fashion”

• Hailuo launched their IMPRESSIVE Image2Video feature

• Create comics and illustrated stories with consistent characters

DEEP DIVE

💰 Is the Facebook Bonus Program on Hiatus?

After last week's 3-day music festival, my wife and I (along with some friends) decided to keep the party going with a 2-day country music festival on Friday and Saturday. I'm now on a self-imposed detox (farewell for now, Natty Lights and White Claws), so you can expect me to be laser-focused on business for a while.

Our case study Facebook page continues to grow. We're still in limbo regarding the Stars program approval (it's been over two weeks now), and the Performance Bonus program remains silent.

On the bright side, Facebook did honor our page with the "Rising Creator" badge this week. So... progress? 🤷‍♂️

Facebook recently announced a new consolidated Content Monetization program (currently in beta), set to roll out to everyone in 2025. This got me thinking: Is anyone getting new pages into the current Bonus program, or is Facebook holding off on invites until their new platform launches?

It seems I'm not alone in this thinking. I haven't heard of many people getting invited into the Performance Bonus program in recent weeks, although friend of the newsletter John Ward says he received one in late September.

*If you've received an invite in the last 14 days, please drop me an email – I have questions!

But as we know, Facebook keeps its cards close to the chest, so we may never actually know for sure.

What does this mean for our AI case study?

Absolutely nothing!

If anything, this uncertainty might thin the herd a bit. The Performance Bonus program is getting a lot of attention, with gurus popping up everywhere offering private groups and courses.

If word spreads that no one's getting invites, people will likely move on to the next shiny object (remember Google Discover?).

But here at AI Side Hustler, we zig when they zag!

So, I’m personally planning to launch a few new FB pages to get a head start on the 2025 Content Monetization program.

There are 3 niches in particular that I’m very bullish on. These new projects won’t be public case studies like our Tattoo FB page, but I’ll be sure to report on their progress as they start to earn (hopefully 😬).

Always remember: GO BIG OR GO HOME!

📓 Case Study #2 Update

We're now in month two of using BlogToPin to manage the Monetized Future Pinterest account. The last few days have shown an uptick in impressions, and Pinterest Analytics is all green, indicating growth since we started the case study.

This is promising, and I know Pinterest takes time to warm up to a newly active account. I'm prepared to stay the course, hoping for meaningful traffic in the coming months.

I haven't yet implemented BlogToPin's new feature allowing custom pin cover SVG uploads. It's still on my to-do list, but time has been tight.

Let me be clear: This case study isn't just about relying on BlogToPin to magically drive Pinterest traffic and increase revenue. I know I need to create much more content for the site, which currently sits at just 118 blog posts.

I've spent the last few days perfecting a workflow to quickly publish a mountain of new posts to Monetized Future. I'm treading lightly here, aiming to balance speed with quality.

As of this morning, I think I've found a flow that's heavily AI-reliant but produces fairly decent content. In testing, it took me about 45 minutes to research, create, edit, and publish a 2000-word article (AI images included), costing just $0.01 using GPT-4o mini.

For perspective, four years ago, I was hiring writers charging $0.07 PER WORD.

You can check out the finished article HERE.

If you're interested in a Deep Dive on this AI content workflow in a future newsletter, shoot me a quick email and let me know!

TOOLS

AI moves at warp speed. Check out this week's hottest AI tools👇

📈 Trending AI Tools

1/ HeyGen Avatar 3.0 - Create Realistic AI Avatars with Dynamic Full Body Motion

2/ InspireAI- Your Own Personal AI-Powered Ghostwriter

3/ ContentRadar - Use AI to Convert Longform Content into X and LinkedIn Posts

4/ Cuppa - Write AI Optimized Content that Converts

PROMPT OF THE WEEK

👨🏻‍💻 Micro-SaaS Idea Generator

This week's prompt puts AI to work as your personal SaaS idea generator. Use it to spark your next software venture and turn market gaps into profitable micro-SaaS opportunities. Let's mint your next big idea with this AI-powered brainstorming engine.

Generate one unique micro-SaaS (Software as a Service) product idea. Provide:

1. Product name
2. One-sentence description
3. Target audience (be specific, including industry and company size if B2B)
4. Core problem it solves
5. Three key features, with one being a unique selling proposition
6. Suggested pricing model (e.g., freemium, tiered, usage-based) with example prices
7. Potential integration with two existing popular platforms
8. One potential challenge in development and one in marketing
9. A catchy tagline
10. Estimated development time and basic tech stack
11. Two potential acquisition channels
12. One metric to measure product-market fit
13. A basic 30-day validation plan to test market demand before full development

The idea should cater to a specific industry or user need, and can be either B2B or B2C. Consider leveraging a current tech trend (e.g., AI, IoT, blockchain) if relevant.

👋 That’s All For Today

Thanks for reading. Until next time, keep innovating and hustling!