Money Lab with Matt Giovanisci

I brainstormed a few ideas on how I can walk and talk my way to creating content for my business, killing three birds with one stone. Let's talk about it.

My wife and I wrote, designed, and self-published a paperback book and sold it off our Shopify website. Here's how we did it.

I list out all my current favorite tools in 5 categories: productivity, finance, SEO, e-commerce, and marketing. Let's talk about it.

I give an audio tour of my basement video studio including all the exact gear I use. That's it. Let's talk about it.

I outline my entire business model and process in my year of "stillness." Let's talk about it.

Every time I publish an article on my website, this is the checklist I use to make sure I cover everything needed for good SEO. Let's talk about it.

I brainstorm a few ways we can improve our social media content to help with engagement and attention. Let's crank on this pod.

I've struggled with running ads. But I have a plan to make it easier and more affordable. Let's break it down.

I got 5 SEO predictions and 5 ways I'm building backlinks (organically) in 2024. Let's talk about it.

I talk through the KPIs in my business that I want to track each month for 2024 and beyond. Let's discuss.

I brainstormed 8 ways to improve the written content on my website in 2024. Let's talk about it.

Money Lab is back! But there's a new format. It's my sawdust. Let me explain...

I deleted my posts because they don't get traffic. And it consolidates my link juice to the best posts. Let's talk about that.

If I could tell myself in 2004 what I know now in 2023, I would’ve avoided burnout and built a successful, six-figure online business in half time it actually took.

1. 2004 The Idea: Look, here’s the plan. You’re gonna buy this domain, but you won’t do jack shit with it. Then you’ll have to re-buy it for a higher price in a few years. So buy the domain and use it ASAP. Build the site using WordPress. Keep the design clean and make sure it loads really fast.
2. 2009: The Blackhat SEO Phase: Don’t waste time building shitty backlinks to your shitty articles and don’t use anything called Unique Article Wizard. All you have to do is write the best articles on pool care and publish them consistently.
3. 2011: The First YouTube Video: You need to make at least one video a week. Publish consistently. Try different video styles. You don’t need to be near a pool. Don’t give up on YouTube. Every week.
4. 2013: The Podcast: Just keep writing articles and making videos. And stop making those infographics. They don’t work in the future. Your podcast won’t be huge, but it’ll be rewarding. Just stay focused on what your business does well.
5. 2016: The Software Phase: Software will NEVER be your thing. You’ll attempt to create and sell software over the next few years and fail every time. All of that time would be better spent working on Swim University. And now Roasty and Brew Cabin.
6. 2017: The Airport: There was 2017 Matt staring down at his phone on the verge of tears. He must’ve just read the Amazon email saying commissions were getting cut to the bone.
7. 2004: The Future: You’re gonna make money selling banner ads and putting affiliate links on your site. But the most lucrative thing you’ll do is create and sell your own products. Stay in your wheelhouse. Write articles, produce videos and design graphics. In 2013, you will create an e-book on how to take care of a hot tub. You won’t know it, but that’ll be the most important moment in your business. Just build your website on WordPress, make it load fast, do some keyword research, and publish articles and videos around them. Then, make a few digital products, like ebooks and video courses. Promote them on every page. Make this your focus and treat affiliate commissions as a bonus. If you do this consistently, you’ll be successful in about 4 years or less.

1. Ahrefs (keyword research and tracking)
2. WP Engine & Cloudflare for fast, reliable hosting
3. Yoast or RankMath
4. WP Rocket with Imagify for Speed (with Carbonate theme)
5. Headline Analyzer to improve CTR
6. Jasper (writing better descriptions and intro hooks)
7. BONUS: ClearScope/Frase to give you a leg up

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 65% of businesses fail in the first 10 years.

And one of the main reasons is money management. I'm going to show the 3 tasks I do every day to control money and boost profits.

My 3 Boring Business Tasks

1. Monthly Metrics
2. Business Budgeting
3. Job Journaling

These spreadsheet templates are available at MoneyLab.co/Resources

What’s the best way to discover a profitable niche? Find something you already enjoy or have a good amount of knowledge about.

Most people hate this advice.

I suspect they want a different answer. They’re looking for the undiscovered niche to help them get rich quickly.

There are no tricks or secrets to uncovering a profitable niche or topic for your business.

Everyone has an interest. That’s your niche.

Everyone knows a lot about one topic. That’s your niche.

Every niche can be profitable. The variable is not the topic; it’s the person creating the business.

The Fastest Way to Discover a Profitable Niche

I’ve been practicing this technique since 2008. And it’s the simplest exercise in the world.

NOTE: Don’t use a computer. Get a notebook or piece of paper and a pen. You must do this exercise by hand. No typing. I’ll explain why later.

1. Sit down for 5 minutes in every room in your home.
2. Write down every significant product you see.
3. Group products into obvious categories
4. Cross out the dumb categories you know you’ll never build a business around.
5. Highlight categories that you could easily write about with no research.

After performing this exercise, there will probably be only 1-3 ideas. If there are more, you’re lying to yourself. Repeat steps four and five.

You should now have your niche. No research is required.

And there’s an important reason not to open your computer during this exercise…

Analysis Paralysis: The Reason You Struggle to Pick a Niche

If you follow my analog method of finding a niche, you’ll want to research to see if there are good keywords. But I strongly urge you not to do that.

This is exactly why you’re struggling to pick a niche.

You can research to uncover a “secret” niche or choose a familiar niche (using my analog method). But both paths can lead to two outcomes: insufficient keywords or too many (and therefore “saturated”).

Researching a niche will kill your confidence. It might not, but I wouldn’t take that chance.

When I started my coffee website, I purposely didn’t research shit. I knew that if I did, I would be discouraged.

And as a result, do absolutely nothing.

Broad Brand, Narrow Niche

Another way to avoid struggle is to go wide with your brand. I see too many first-time entrepreneurs box themselves into a corner.

Your brand doesn’t have to be the niche. It doesn’t have to be anything. It can be nonsense.

The niche doesn’t need to be part of the domain name. Domains don’t matter for SEO anymore. They haven’t for a long time.

Think about Amazon. That word has NOTHING to do with selling everything in the world. It’s just a word. But now you know exactly what they do.

Amazon is a broad brand that started with a narrow niche: books.

Once they mastered selling books, they expanded into other niches or categories. You can do the same thing.

I have a niche site around the topic of homebrewing beer. I named the brand BREW Cabin. Not BEER Cabin. Why?

I gave myself room to expand the brand. I can discuss brewing coffee, tea, kombucha, whiskey, and witch potions.

There Are NO Saturated Niches

Think your niche is saturated? You’re wrong. Nothing’s saturated.

If your market is “saturated,” doesn’t that imply there’s more juice to squeeze?

You must carve out a space to stand out. And the best way to do that is to be your fucking self. Get started now and develop your voice.

Write your own content. You can always hire later when you earn enough money to afford a writer.

The first niche site I ever started was Swim University in 2006. I still run it today.

It was something I knew because it was my first summer job. It wasn’t sexy or “profitable.” It wasn’t a secret undiscovered niche through keyword research.

I wasn’t the first to start a pool website, and I won’t be the last. It was saturated then, and it’s saturated now.

And yet I’m still doing it.

You’re procrastinating because you want to be 100% sure your idea will work. You don’t want to be wrong or waste years of your life.

But remember…

It’s not the topic; it’s the person creating the business. You’ll be the only reason it doesn’t work. You must be willing to invest time and money to make it work.

– Jack Donaghy (30 Rock)

The 4-Year Profitable Business Plan

Despite what lying marketing gurus tell you, building a business takes a long time. You won’t be an overnight success. You won’t make money fast.

The stories you’ve read are probably bullshit or extreme outliers. Take them with a big ass grain of salt.

I’ve witnessed thousands of people building businesses around me. And there’s one thing I’ve noticed…

It takes most people about four years to make good money with their online business. They must learn, try, and fail until they finally get it right. It’s the nature of the beast.

Think of it like getting a college degree. But instead, you make money instead of going into debt.

I’d take that trade any day.

In other words, you have to stay focused on one thing to gain traction.

The Power of One: Protect Yourself Against Shiny Object Syndrome

Things were moving too slowly when I first started my website in 2006. I wasn’t making money fast enough. So I started 10 more niche sites.

Instead of putting all my eggs in one basket, I’d hedge my bets. Increase my chances of one of them paying off.

It’s diversifying! Sounds smart, right?

This is considered good advice in some circles. Let me be straight with you: it’s the worst fucking advice you’ll ever hear.

The better way forward is committing to a single brand, one niche, and diversifying your revenue streams.

Stick with any niche long enough and give it your best shot. I promise it’ll pay off.

Once it pays off, you can scale by adding more niches and revenue streams to your broad brand.

The Perfect Niche Was Inside You All Along

Your profitable niche is right in front of you. You already know it. The reason you’re struggling is that you don’t believe in it.

But let me tell you. I’ve been doing this shit forever. It doesn’t matter which topic you choose.

I could take any item in my home and turn it into a website or brand. Because I spent 20 years working on ONE niche.

I picked it and fucking did it.

And I can teach you to do it in way less time. But I can’t help you pick a niche. You have to do that yourself. Only you know yourself.

I can help you brand it. I can help you do keyword research. I can help you monetize. And if you want to move on to something else, I can help y...