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What It's About
A passion for baking leads a woman looking to make ends meet to a profitable side hustle teaching others how to bake sourdough.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
You might think that you would need a lot of skill and credibility to be an instructor on Udemy, but Teresa proved that’s not the case when she started without any form of certification. There are instructors with celebrity chef credentials on the site, but search ‘baking’ on Udemy and you will see all of Teresa’s courses appear on the first page of the results shown. It goes to show that passion, hard work, and smart marketing can go a long way.
Fun Fact
In publishing circles, it’s said that the best form of marketing for your book is to write another one. That’s what Teresa did for her courses. She continued to create 10 more Udemy: courses over the next two years. The result? She did over $86,000 in revenue in 2016 and is on track to top that this year.
Along the way, her following grew as well. She now has a following of 50,000 spread over her social media accounts, with another 4,000 people on her mailing list. It’s a rock solid foundation for expanding her hustle and scaling it if she wishes.
Notes from Chris
Episode 237
Here’s a true rags-to-riches story that has nothing to do with making an app. How does a woman go from living in poverty, leaving an abusive relationship, cleaning motels… into an online teaching business that made $86,000 last year? She did this not by teaching about digital marketing or building websites or anything like that. She has established independence and truly created an all-new life for herself on the trendy topic of baking sourdough bread. Teresa Greenway has always loved baking. It all began in 2004 when one of her daughters decided to try and bake authentic sourdough bread. The daughter gave up after a month of trying, but not before leaving a remark: "No one can make real sourdough bread, Mom, NOT EVEN YOU!" Famous last words. There’s nothing quite as motivating as someone telling you can't do something. Teresa would go on to research and try her hand at baking sourdough from then on. Unknowingly, the work she put in paid off years later as she was able to monetize her expertise. She took a couple of courses on the online learning platform Udemy, which gave her all the information she needed to start her side hustle. The courses were diverse, ranging from YouTube channel management and SEO to photography and video editing, but all of these were skills Teresa felt would be valuable in helping her run her side hustle. They cost $10 each at a discounted price, and for her, it was an investment. This was when she got the idea to create her own course… she had just the topic: baking sourdough bread. She already had a website on how to make real sourdough, along with a small following in her niche. Teresa knew there was a market for online courses–after all she had just purchased a few of her own accord. Perhaps it would be possible to create her own and get others to buy it. The first month, she made a thousand dollars in revenue, which encouraged her. By the end of the year, she netted over $28K in revenue from her website and courses.MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Northwest Sourdough: Knead to learn how to bake your own sourdough batards? Head on over to Teresa's website!
- Udemy: The educational platform that Teresa used to launch her baking courses
- Corn Syrup Allergy Leads to Booming Baked Goods Biz: After a doctor diagnoses her husband with a corn syrup allergy, a healthcare analyst mixes up a line of healthy, sweet baked goods that turns into a stable second income
- Full-Time Mom Ships $35,000/Month in Frozen Bread on Amazon: The busy mother of a child on a specialized diet decides to take action and ‘liberate’ parents like her with her allergen-free food side hustle
- High School Students Earn $10k in Profits Selling Bread at Farmers Markets: A brother-and-sister duo learns about entrepreneurship first hand when they create a side hustle baking and selling bread at their local farmer’s market. Each of them purchases their first car with the profits!
