Preston Lee, the founder of Millo. He’s making $8,000 per month from a website and newsletter that started as a side project. Millo is a business resource and newsletter for creative entrepreneurs. Preston’s built an incredibly engaged community and a list that actually thanks him for sending out sponsored emails. Listen in to hear how to make sponsorship deals that your audience love, how to build revenue from a side project, and why it’s important to think like a business from the start.

Famous 5:

Favorite Book? – The $100 Startup
What CEO do you follow? — Ben Chestnut
Favourite online tool? — Trello
Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — How to think more like a business

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:07 – Nathan’s introduction
01:40 – Welcoming Preston to the show
01:43 – Millo is a blog and a newsletter for people who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs, freelancers, or creators
02:30 – Email list of about 30k, and a high level of engagement
03:10 – In 2009, Millo started as a graphic design blog, Graphic Design Blender
03:35 – In the first few years, made less than $500 per month
04:00 – In the last few years, pivoted to become a sponsor-based business that makes around $8k per month
04:50 – Highly tailored sponsorship packages
05:05 – Between 3 and 7 sponsors per month
05:24 – Design Cuts is a long-term sponsor
06:08 – Send out dedicated emails advertising Design Cuts bundles
06:33 – Millo is a side project for Preston and he’s happy with that
07:11 – “Right now it’s a very exciting side project”
07:35 – Lowest sponsorship package is $400 per month; highest is $1850
08:55 – If Nathan wanted to work with Preston, what could he do?
09:51 – The Freelance Report is a side project in the Millo newsletter
10:51 – Preston’s full-time job is content marketing for a magazine website
11:13 – Connect with Preston on Twitter
12:52 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:
Start side projects and things that you love. You never know what opportunities content will lead to.
Once you’ve built an audience, you can build a business.
Think like a business. Focus will connect you to opportunities.
Resources Mentioned:
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 322: What if you could get paid $8k/mo for a blog post?

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders