I am more active on other POD platforms like Redbubble, Zazzle, Displate, Society6, etc. These are the print-on-demand platforms. It simply means that the designs that I upload here can be printed on various products such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, hoodies, cups, mugs, tablecloths, tapestries (max royalty is here), pet products, etc.

I see the design part. And the marketplace does the product, manufacturing, and distribution on the artist's behalf. Although I have been selling on POD platforms for the last 3 yeas dnd its quite satisfactory. But there are certain things I can't do here. And that's what Etsy solves for me.

>One-Person AI Business System

Why did I decide to restart my old Etsy store?

I started my first Etsy store two years ago. And then another one, a few months after that. I kept two separate Etsy stores just because I had products in different niches, nothing special about it. Smaller niches are easy to grow and yield results. It's really easy to see which product is working and which is not. I have seen that when products are in the same category or niche, customers tend to buy more than one product. That has happened to me 30% of the time. So micro-niche targeted stores on the marketplace are very much necessary. If you see fewer sales, then do this. You'll see massive good results soon, I promise.

Example -

Etsy store ONE - Prompt, Bundles, etc

Etsy store TWO - Same designs from other POD stores (I upload what I uploaded on other POD stores)

I still immensely love my POD stores (Redbubble, Zazzle, Displate, and Society6 are my fav ones!), but there are still some things I wanted to sell, and these marketplaces don't offer me that.

1. Bundles are really best here - I love selling bundles on marketplaces. Some allow me to do that, like Creative Fabrica, Creative Marketplace, and so on. So I did the same with my Etsy store as well. These are the top earners here if you wanna know. Never fails me. Try to see this yourself. Etsy customers buy bundles a lot! Few examples - Sticker bundles, clipart bundles, template bundles, etc
2. The Etsy marketplace is huge, and it's really old. So many people I know personally love to buy from Etsy a lot. I bought my first Instagram template from Etsy, and since then, I have been a huge customer myself.
3. Conversion rate is high - I have seen that customers tend to buy on Etsy on a large scale. They have more trust here. If I try to sell the same premium quality products or bundles on my independent store sunder less price and see WAY LESS conversions. No doubt Etsy is a game-changer here.
4. I can sell POD products as well as custom products - This is what I love about Etsy. Other marketplace, this is not possible. To sell POD products, you can simply attach your Printify or any other account.

>My Laziest Way To Make Money With AI

How to see what's trending?

There are two ways I have found so far -

1. CHATGPT - I used this previously. I didn't know much about how to research and find a winning product, so I used ChatGPT for that. Simply go to ChatGPT and ask for micro products in your niche. Also, ask about some products that are already doing well in these niches.
2. Etsy research - This is what I use currently. For beginners, I recommend the above because this takes little time. If not, then go by this traditional method. Do research on the site itself.
3. Pinterest - Many Etsy users or customers use Pinterest. You'll see lots of products from Etsy get trendy on Etsy easily.
4. Social Media - This is difficult to trust, but I have found my TOP trending product from Instagram, actually. This is not a straight route because it needs little cross-checking as well.

Its hard to handle all stores simultaneously. I mostly forget to update my Etsy store too. But when I do and pay a little more attention to marketing (I use Instagram for this currently), I see sales coming in.

Comment Etsy, and I'll send you my Etsy starter kit.

I have POD store and an affiliate marketing business for the last 5+ years.

It looks really exciting at first. I mean, I started with affiliate marketing, after gaining little sales, I quickly shifted to POD business (Zazzle, Redbubble, Displate, and so on.)

It makes me really happy to see sales coming from different platforms.
Not at last, I don't have to be dependent on any ONE business.

If one goes down, I still have others for support.

But here's a catch.

When I started my business, I was in my 20s.

Now I am in my 30s, and I know I don't have that kind of energy anymore!

I automated POD first

POD automation was easy. Because this was getting really popular, too. I used to create images using Photoshop. I have more than 100 illustrations right now, and each takes at least 1 day to create.

Not possible when I have marketing to do, and not to forget, I have other businesses as well.

So I needed to create more designs, but this time, spending less time.

Either I can create or I can market. I seriously cannot do both!

Someone recommended me Midjourney AI. There were also other tools, also free ones too. But Midjourney was really popular, and still it is, and so I went with it.

I used to take 3 days to create an illustration, and now it's just 5 minutes max.

Top 3 Ways I Make Money Selling Midjourney AI Art

Automation makes life easier!

I just gave one example I am using currently. I don't use any more AI tools. But definitely in the near future, as I automate my side hustles, I will be adding more AI tools to my stack.

Affiliate marketing is still not automated. It's my older and MAIN business. I was thinking of automating it too.

But for now, I'll concentrate on POD only. Maybe next time 😄

Tools I Use To Create AI Art and Sell Across Multiple Platforms

Note: I already wrote about the platforms where I sell my AI Art. I'll link the article here in case anyone wants it.

>

When I was starting out, I was a little confused about this, because there are many tools and almost all are great! They are improving day by day, too. AI Art and Videos are exploding more than ever before.

When I came into this AI Art business, ChatGPT was getting famous. Definitely, it is still now. And that's where my curiosity began.

It was my colleague who told me about Midjourney. I was a graphic designer and was already into the POD business. But creating designs and doing marketing was getting hectic for me day by day. I actually lost hope for this field and started in the affiliate marketing business. I dont have to create products and focus more on marketing.

On the suggestion of my colleague, I started exploring AI tools for my art. Midjourney was what she suggested I try first, and the first day I tried it.. I was hooked.

It takes me around 2-3 days to create a simple piece of art (I am not even an expert!). Uploading to various platforms takes even more time because there is formatting, filling in details, etc. And then I have to update my social media platforms as well (mostly Instagram, Reddit, and Pinterest),

AI Art actually made me more money in less time!

I will be honest here. It actually did.

Coming up with good prompts actually takes time. But there were many free tutorials, and that has helped me a lot. I recommend searching on this Reddit platform and even on YouTube. I learnt most things from these two platforms alone. And also some blogs, too, but Reddit and YouTube are enough.

What did AI Art actually do?

1. One-click image creation - Takes only a few minutes to create and even tweak my prompt. Yes, little practice is required here.
2. I do more marketing now - Now, my 80% of my energy and time goes into marketing.

One of the best things I actually did was to recreate my own designs using AI.

This little secret has helped me a lot to get more sales consistently.

>

How can I make money with AI Art?

Many people have asked me in chat. I am answering this question here for you. I hope this will help others as well.

If you want to get into this business, then follow these steps. I am sure you'll start seeing sales soon.

Do this for 90 days at least -

1. Go down with niche - I sell in my niche. And I have been doing this for 3 years now. Because of this, targeting my audience on social media platforms is easy, and above all, if any customers like my one product, they often end up buying other products too. This is the no. 1 reason why I stick to my niche. If you don't know about what niche, then use ChatGPT, Google, or even an art platform. Picking trending to get started works well, too.
2. Pick one AI tool - Changing tools is time-consuming for me. When I was starting out, I tried more than 10 tools. Explored their paid options, and after that, I decided to be with the one I was most comfortable using, and yes, it was very popular - Midjourney AI and Stable Diffusion. But remember that it's just a tool. Maybe you are more comfortable with something else? Leonardo AI, Adobe Firefly, Dall-E, etc. I use them from time to time, but mostly I stick to Midjourney AI and Stable Diffusion.
3. First design will suck - And that is okay. Improve your prompt writing skills. For this, follow a tutorial. A lot of free resources available on the internet.
4. Follow some AI artists - I follow some on Instagram and Facebook forums. Reddit, too, has numerous AI artists whom I adore. See their art and see how PEOPLE REACT TO IT.
5. Multiple platforms/multiple formats - POD art, digital downloads, posters, colouring books, stock sites, custom art (I prefer Upwork for this). I already wrote about this.
6. Promote on social media platform - I make 70% of my sales from the marketplace (I sell in a micro niche and have done good seo). Rest sales are from social media. This is for Redbubble, Displate, Society6, Zazzle, etc. For micro sites like Adobe its all organic sales. I dont promote them.

Top 3 Ways I Make Money Selling Midjourney AI Art

For the start, focus on 2-3 designs, one marketplace, and one platform. That's all.

This is how I got started.

Give this some time. Be active on the platform for at least 30 minutes every single day. Share your designs and be active in a niche-related community.

I am sure you'll see sales coming in soon.

This subreddit is for sharing lazy side hustles. But I was thinking of sharing Ai Art tutorials (especially Midjourney).

Comment Art, and I'll share tutorials for you here.

Way before my AI Art business, I was into affiliate marketing full-time. I made many mistakes back then. One of the biggest mistakes was trying to sell a high-paying affiliate product. The first product commission was $100 and was sold just a few times throughout the year.

After that, I went only with low-priced products. And actually, my sales got better with this. I have already mentioned this in my previous article about my experiments with these two types of products and why I now prefer selling more low-priced ones.

>How I Started Affiliate Marketing With No Audience, No Money

Affiliate Marketing is changing - From blogging to videos

Affiliate marketing is changing a lot now. I was mostly into blogging because I saw most people were making money either through blogs or through microblogging platforms like Reddit or X or something like these. Now it's changing. People are more into videos and shorts.

Writing is easy for me. because I have been doing this for many years now. But videos? I needed help this time.

For blogging, I write my own content. No, no AI tool recommendation here. But with video... I am actually not comfortable with recording myself. First reason why I use AI :)

Ai Avatar works best for me -

-> I really dont like to show my face! (Anxiety issue is real)

-> I work with multiple niches

-> production timing has reduced significantly!!!

-> Editing is easy for me now (I really dont like video editing, so this is a blessing!)

>Low-Ticket Affiliate Offers Simply Sell The Best - Secrets That No One Tells

Two ways to create Avatars -

I think you might already know this. But there are two ways to create avatars. Either you can clone yourself (I don't recommend this). Or simply let AI create an avatar for you from scratch. I prefer the second one.

If you are creating your first avatar, I highly recommend seeing what your competitors are creating. Like how their avatar looks? Their views on each video will help you to decide which one is actually doing the best.

>Why I Use AI Avatars for my Affiliate Marketing Business

Some tools for creating an AI Avatar

There are many tools out there. I always keep looking for better options because the more realistic the avatar looks, the more the audience will engage with my videos.

And above that, tools are actually evolving. They are becoming better and better. More realistic than ever before.

Heygen - Realistic talking head (my first choice)

D-iD - best for creating videos from photos

Akool is a cheaper option if you need one.

I have heard Synthesia is good, but I have never tried it myself.

>Why I prefer Affiliate marketing more than Digital products

Content is still the king!

A good-looking avatar and just plain emotionless dead script will not drive your sales. Storytelling is still an art, and this works everywhere. Whether you are in blogging or creating videos, storytelling is not going to go anywhere.

I still pay more attention to my content. AI avatar just makes it more HUMAN, that's all!

My content is what drives me to more affiliate sales.

So no matter how expensive the AI tools you use, or how much reatistic your avatar looks, if the content is not good, no one will like to engage.

Pick any tool you want.

Go with any platform you want.

Only content is what drives your sales.

Have any questions regarding affiliate marketing? Do ask me! happy to help you out! You can ask in the comment box. I promise I'll be quick :)

The Faceless Creator: Build, Launch & Earn with AI Avatars