21 Ways to Monetize Your Personal Brand and Start Making Money

Money isn’t everything, but it won’t hurt if you earn some on your personal brand.

So, today we are going to talk about personal branding yet again and about how you can use it to make money.

Despite the fact that many people disrespect the idea of a personal brand, there is enough evidence that a strong personal brand can help an individual land a job, excel in their career very quickly, and even become an influencer in a specific field.

Now, we will walk you through things you can do to make a profit on your personality:

  1. Create your own online course
  2. Start a masterclass
  3. Become a freelancer
  4. Create paid newsletters
  5. Offer premium content
  6. Write guest blog posts
  7. Do an interview
  8. Try public speaking
  9. Organize special events
  10. Conduct live sessions
  11. Create a podcast
  12. Create your own YouTube channel
  13. Write on Medium
  14. Become a coach
  15. Invest in other people’s ideas
  16. Write an eBook
  17. Sell checklists and templates
  18. Create digital or physical products
  19. Be an affiliate
  20. Use Google Adsense

1. Create your own online course

If you already have an audience, there is a great option you may have skipped before. It’s putting your expertise in the form of online courses. This is especially relevant these days when all markets shift from physical to digital products.

You can sell these online courses to your own audience on social media platforms, or you can try a public marketplace like Udemy or Skillshare. Although courses on these platforms are not priced highly, some people earn thousands of dollars on their quality content.

online courses

source: Udemy

2. Start a masterclass

You can also consider hosting a one-time event (lesson) for experts, taught by an expert. Thousands of people prefer masterclasses over long-term courses because they are short yet intensive. This ensures a relatively easy commitment that delivers great results.

You can also have both an online course and periodical master classes. For instance, if your online course is about copywriting, then your class can be devoted to writing attractive headlines.

Massterclass

source: Masterclass

3. Become a freelancer

You can always become a freelancer and earn by finding gigs. However, every freelancer needs a personal brand. The latter one can increase credibility to your persona and help you start coaching on how to be a freelancer.

Personal-brand-for-freelancer

4. Create paid newsletters

People that want to learn from you may be interested in receiving your paid email newsletters. It is a great solution when you don’t have time to create long eBooks or extensive online courses.

Paidnewsletter

source: Reveu

5. Offer premium content

Create premium content for your subscribers. You can set up a dedicated service on your WordPress website and give access to those supporting your effort with some amount of money. This can be such exclusive content as webinars, blog posts, articles, case studies, video; anything you believe your audience will be willing to pay for.

WEBINAR

You might like: “How to use content marketing to build your personal brand.”

6. Write guest blog posts

Becoming a guest blogger is the right step towards increasing your credibility and building up your personal brand even more. Look for high-authority websites in your niche that may require additional content. It might not be easy at first, but in the future, you will be able to create a compelling media kit to send out to large companies and smaller businesses you want to cooperate with.
Guest-blog

source: KayakMarketing

You might like: “How to Use Cold Outreach to Build Your Personal Brand”

7. Do an interview

After trying yourself in guest blogging, look for opportunities to get interviewed. This is great for your personal brand growth and your social life in general. No worries, the procedure is very similar to the one described above in the paragraph about guest blogging. To get attention, you need to get in touch with the media in your industry that might be interested in your experience and can do interviews. Apply with your media kit.
MediaKit

source: Later

8. Try public speaking

Let’s not forget about public speeches and appearances. Becoming a public speaker is an excellent way to get some confidence, get rid of imposter syndrome, motivate people for growth, and establish leadership in your niche. Just like with guest blogging and interviews, you need to look for conferences and events in your field and then approach an organizer with your media kit.
Public-speaking

source: Careercontessa

9. Organize special events

Organizing such events yourself is another monetization idea. Engage complementary organizations/brands and industry leaders so that they share valuable insights and ideas with people. If you see this as a big task, ask your friends to help you.
Events

source: Visme

10. Conduct live sessions

Live streaming on social platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn will allow you to connect with your customers and leads over the Internet in real-time. During the stream, you can discuss topics that interest your audience the most, answer questions, and sell your digital or physical products/one-on-one coaching sessions at some point.

Video conferencing tools like Zoom or Vimeo Live Stream can be an excellent option for people looking to promote their podcasts, workshops, books, private online communities, masterminds, video courses, meal plans, fitness programs, paid classes, and any other piece of content.

Do such sessions once a week or at least a month to share your expertise & valuable insights, and you will see how quickly you secure trust among viewers.
live-sessions

source: Neil Patel

11. Create a podcast

Think about starting a set of audio episodes (podcast) on a specific topic that an online community formed around you might find interesting. Such podcasts usually combine learning with entertainment as users listen to successful entrepreneurs or other experts discussing a particular topic, like business, art, sports, or travel.

Even if you are not an entrepreneur or founder of a company, you might still consider this monetization strategy. For instance, if you want to leave your current position and compete with employees of a new company, it’s possible that as a result of something like this podcast, employers would look at you in a more favorable light. That’s because you show how knowledgeable you are about the industry, and people follow you and learn from you.
Podcast

source: Marketingland

12. Create your own YouTube channel

People consume over 500 million hours of video content on YouTube on a daily basis. If you choose to start your own YouTube channel, you can monetize that through ad revenue, sponsorship, and affiliate links. And if don’t know what to film, keep in mind that you can turn your existing blog content into video.
Youtube

source: GaryVee

13. Write on Medium

Sources like Medium can help you find your audience and bring more visitors to your personal website or blog on social media platforms. Or you can join the Medium’s Partner Program to get paid for your content.
Medium

source: Medium

14. Become a coach

There is a demand for personal tutors and consultants in almost every niche, from technology to fitness. People often prefer to reach goals and make their dreams come true with the help of someone who has already been through the same process. So, if you already have some audience and a strong personal brand, you can build a successful coaching business.

If you do a little research, you will discover people consulting on women in business, dog training, web design, sales, leadership development, digital marketing, shopping, relationships, yoga, etc. It proves that you can become a coach or a consultant in any field you are knowledgeable about.
Coach

15. Invest in other people’s ideas

This option would work for those having enough money already. However, investing doesn't necessarily mean millions of dollars.

Also, you can find someone who is a great executer yet can’t promote their stuff due to poor marketing communications skills. If you do have a well-rounded personal brand, you can cooperate with someone who has a promising idea but lacks resources for its implementation and promotion.
Invest

16. Write an eBook

People always strive to learn and improve. You reading this post right now is a good confirmation of that. Thanks to technology and the Internet, it’s very easy to create and promote your digital products. A lot of people enjoy guides and eBooks because these provide them clear steps and directions. If you already have a blog, you can complete your existing content with details and examples and turn it into a short book.

Many people choose to pay a few bucks for an eBook with clear instructions rather than spend hundreds or even thousands on coaching or try to figure everything out themselves.

A lot of personal brands self-publish their eBooks with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing.

Amazon-kindle-publishing

source: Kindle direct publishing

17. Sell checklists and templates

These can be literally anything. For example, resume templates, a perfect Instagram story checklist, content calendar, Instagram engagement growth checklists, etc.

resume template

source:  inspirationfeed

You might also like: “90 Best Personal Branding Tools that Can Help You Become a Well-Known Professional.”

18. Create digital or physical products

You probably remember Kyle Jenner’s face on all store windows in your city. Just like she creates cosmetics, you can create your products too. Of course, if you have a strong personal brand.

If you don’t want to come through all the complicated steps with physical item production, consider creating digital products. It is much easier and can bring you money at all times, even when you sleep.

Kylie cosmetic

source: Pinterest

19. Be an affiliate

The amount of companies spend on affiliate marketing continues to grow day by day. So, this is a great model to experiment with. How does it work?

Let’s say you are a vegan blogger and share your lifestyle in your blog. In your posts, you can include a link to a product you cook with or use for care. Cooperate with brands that offer associate programs. Then, whenever your readers click your link and buy a product, which benefits you described, you will get a commission.
Affiliate-marketing

source: Neil Patel

20. Use Google Adsense

If you have a website, absolutely do look into Google Adsense. With their automated algorithm, Google finds ads that would complement your content. When people click on the promotions placed on your website, you get paid.

Adsence

source:  Marketingland

21. Create advertising posts on social media

Your most developed social media profile can be a good advertising platform that brings you money. You can cooperate with brands and promote their products on your page. But be sure to advertise only those products that you want to use yourself. Bloggers that cooperate with each and every brand and don't tell the truth to their subscribers quickly lose their authority.

jenner

source: Kylie's account

You might also like: “How To Build a Strong Personal Brand on Social Media in 7 Steps.”

Conclusion

If you have ever wanted to monetize your personal brand, then now is the time for you to do so. Regardless of the kind of content you work on, you will always find an audience for you. The only factors to pay attention to are the quality of your content and the right approach to monetization.

visual identity in personal branding personal brand in sales strategy

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Ostap
Ostap
Ostap is a marketing professional (PMM) with 5+ years of experience in the software industry (B2B and B2C). Having worked with email marketing products and services, Ostap has a deep understanding of various email marketing strategies and solutions.