Prissy Pet Project Parte Primera

As I oh-so-ramblingly mentioned in my most recent post, Epitaph, I have greater plans for this blog than it just being a written repository of every single memory I can conjure up.

I actually hope to provide useful information for my Dear Readers.

I know, I know. It’s a ludicrous proposition. I’ll give you a moment to laugh it out.

Okay, now that you got your giggles out, I would like to get down to business, if you don’t mind.

While I have a couple of alternative-income generating adventures in my back pocket,¹Fear not, those tales will be shared here in due time… I thought I would start off with an undertaking that y’all could be a part of from the very beginning.

With that in mind, let me try to set your expectations to a realistic level.

First, it is entirely possible that this could be, um, less than profitable. A word of caution to those who would be tempted to play along at home: you might want to wait a couple of episodes before trying anything out for yourself. Which brings me to…

Point #2: Mistakes Will Be Made. Let me make them so you don’t have to! Speaking from experience–namely my side hustle as a “small-time ticket broker”–I can say that there’s a pretty good chance that there will be a few pitfalls into which I will pitfall, and in doing so, allow those who follow in my footsteps to side step them with deftness and ease. In fact, I’m actually banking on a certain level of follies, as my mistakes == useful information for the public == maybe some sweet blog-generated coin. With any luck, some of them might be entertaining as well.

And that segues into my 3rd caveat: I also run the real risk of being successful without any interesting incident of which to speak. What if…mistakes aren’t made? I would say this is the worst-case scenario I can imagine: a series of boring blog posts. Oh, the humor-anity.

Finally, the last comment I have before I dive in is an important one: I make zero guarantee that any of my business ventures embarked upon herein necessarily contribute meaningfully to society. However, that by no means mean that they will be devoid of any and all ethical standards. It’s just that we all need to be okay with the idea that we’re not probably going to be curing cancer or solving world hunger any time soon.

In the bigger picture though, there’s a chance that I might fall ass-backwards into doing something halfway noble. Our²Our, as in collectively between me and the Boss Lady larger strategy is for me to develop passive income streams on an ongoing and, eventually, full-time basis.³I’m actually My Own ----- Boss for half of the work week; I still daylight as a scientist the other 20 hours/week. Though it might take a year or three, in time the Boss Lady will be able to quit her 9-to-5 job as well and be able to pursue her more refined passions.

So, in the beginning, I’m comfortable with just about any legit income, as my focus is to cover the lower levels of my family’s Hierarchy of Needs (see Figure 1).⁴As first mentioned in Epitaph: A Preface to Passive Income Adventures To Come.

Importantly, though, if I’m doing the whole “passive” thing correctly, then in theory the amount coming in on a monthly basis will be cumulative (gray arrow in Figure 1). As I complete projects and move them into their minimal maintenance phase, that base monthly amount will cover higher and higher levels of our Hierarchy of Needs pyramid, allowing more room to take greater risks on projects that are more high-minded and virtuous, despite having less certainty of a financial pay-off.

When we get to the point where the minimal-effort monies reach the top level, Self-Actualization, that’s when the real fun begins. You can imagine this situation as sort of a boot-strapped MacArther Genius Grant: without having to worry about making money, our Inner Clevernesses (me) and Kindnesses (the Boss Lady) will have full freedom to flourish to their fullest potential and beyond.⁵…the grave! (See sentence following for context).

What’s my secret ambition, you ask?

Well, I’m a bit sheepish to say this out loud…but the most ridiculous thing I can think of–and therefore aspire to–is to find the cure for ghosts.

Altruism so great that it needs multiple planes of existence to contain it? All I have to say is: Suck on that, Bill Gates!

Genius, my ass.

Okay, so I kinda got far afield there. In the process of writing this, I’ve realized that all that I’ve said so far is actually what I was hoping to say in the Epitaph post before I got distracted with that online headstone simulator. So I guess it’s fitting that somehow it circled back round to the topic of mortality.

Anyways, I have a working theory for the reason I spent several extra paragraphs trying to convince you that I’m ultimately going to do something super awesome for all human-kind: I’m over-compensating for the vapid and asinine nature of what is about to happen here.

Without further ado, let’s begin, shall we?

Prologue

As I mature in years and accumulate life wisdom, one thing that has changed significantly is my understanding of what truly constitutes “hard work.”

Growing up as an indentured servant to the family farm, I’m no stranger to working hard. Hell, I’ve even pulled a 72-hour shift while drilling an irrigation well with my dad. That’s a story you’ll get to hear more about eventually–though, surprisingly, it’s just going to be used as a pretext for me to philosophize about pancakes. Go figure.

Anyways, for the longest time I couldn’t figure out why it was so difficult for me, armed to the tooth with an eager willingness to labor intensively, to parlay that enthusiasm into a stellar scientific/engineering career.

You need someone to help you move? I’m your go-to guy!

Do you have to dig up your back yard and fill it in with gravel before bricking it over, but live in a condo and therefore have to traipse through the condo to deliver the gravel one bucket at a time? You can bet your ass I’ll be there for you, Friend! Even if I have chronic back issues for the rest of my life because of it!⁶Yes, this is yet another story whose time to be told is yet to come.

Well, at some point in time within the last 5 years, I happened to borrow a book from my scientific mentor approximately entitled “Getting Shit Done” (or something close to that). I’m pretty sure that it was from reading this that got my mental wheels turning, eventually coming to the conclusion that I’ve grossly mischaracterized hard work my whole life.

It’s decision making that is truly the exhausting activity in which one could engage. Once that lightbulb went off, I immediately understood why CEOs and other business executives get compensated so very handsomely: they’re being paid to constantly make decisions on matters of consequence. Over and over…endlessly…with minimal time to really mull them over.

Good gravy, I’m plumb exhausted just imagining that.

The point being, this insight largely drives a guiding principle of our current exercise: don’t waste disproportional amounts of energy trying to make the perfect decision. Good enough! shall be our battle cry. We need to get shit done and get money rolling in.

I’ve got ghosts to emancipate, and have only so much time before I become one myself…

Below are the first several journal entries of my inaugural Point of the Story Passive Pursuit, with more to come in future blog posts as the adventure plays out in real time.

21 October 2019 (Monday)

With the bulk of the effort of getting this blog up and running behind me, and nearing the end of wrapping up my other main project, optimization of the extended familial real estate situation, it is time for me to set my sights on focusing on bringing new money into the family coffers. In reference to the guiding principle of good enough just laid out above, it’s not important that I pick the perfect pursuit now–it’s more important that I’m doing something.

That something turned out to be me Googling “how to make money on Tumblr”, which in turn led me to a decent in-depth tutorial,⁷https://www.onlinedimes.com/how-make-money-on-tumblr/; it is implied that all further screenshots in the post are attributed to this website. which shall be our project’s blueprint.

I mean, hey, why not, right? The less decisions, the better, and I might as well stand on the shoulders of this internet giant. —>

Looking over his page, I did notice that is hard to tell how old this post is and if things will work exactly as described.  I couldn’t find a date indicating when it was published, nor any dates associated with the comments. I did see one screen shot showing the date 2015, so it’s not older than that, but it is still unclear at what point in time it was published since then.

That notwithstanding, he fairly quickly lays out the main ingredients to harness the power of Tumblr for capital gains purposes:

Let’s try to assess how my skills and experience match up with this list, and identify those tasks I think might either require significant effort and/or are unfamiliar enough to me that it is hard estimate the required effort.

• Okay, so of these, I have experience setting up Web Hosting. At least I got that going for me.
• Setting up a Tumblr Account should be fairly easy, and with this guide, the Automated Posting System should be no problem either.
• I don’t know how much work will go into setting up an Amazon Associates Account, but I guess I’ll find out!
• It really seems the most decision making–the real drain of mental energy–will go in to deciding on “A Passionate Niche”.

Fortunately, the article goes on to provide some guidance:

On a side note, I find it curious and amusing that adult content is conspicuously absent, but it is just as well.⁸Not that I would have seriously considered it, its just that given that it is indubitably a highly profitable for those who choose that path, one would expect it to at least get a shout out… You see, I need to have an endeavor I can fully stand behind, and perhaps even bring my girls onboard so they can start building their own ----- college fund.

So, sex & drugs are out of the question.  Rock n’ roll, however, is NOT out of the question, but my spidey sense is telling me to pocket that idea for now, and maybe use it later if I decide to develop several of these types of projects.

Back to finding a niche: well, when I think about it, it is not immediately obvious what I am passionate about, so I’m going to need some divine inspiration here. This list is a decent place to at least start forming some ideas…

Now, spoiler alert, I’ve already skipped ahead and got a fuller idea of how Tumblr shenanigans can be monetized, and a key aspect of this guy’s strategy is that people will buy things related to that niche. More importantly, other purchases they make on Amazon somehow get credited to you and you make commission off of these non-niche sales.

With that in mind “Luxury” caught my attention. Why? Well, it’s all about correlation right? I want to find a niche in which people who tend to buy items related to that topic are likely to make large & expensive unrelated purchases.

Fancy people be buying fancy stuff, yo. So I’m thinking going with luxury might be something that will pay dividends exponentially.

Now, this article goes on to describe various ways to find your own personal niche, particularly ones that are profitable.  It is left to the reader as an exercise to go through this process for themselves. For me, I’m sticking with the principle of good enough, remember?

After reading through the whole article, I’ve decided to leave my mind to percolate over ideas for a while. At this point in time, I’m not even sure I’m to take any action or even make a plan. For now, I’m doing just a quick read-over of what this method entails and think a little bit more if it’s worth the time investment.

Really, though, without knowing what niche I want to pursue, it is hard to take any concrete action.  And without concrete action to take, the details of the scheme are hard to retain without the immediate context.

5 November 2019 (Tuesday)

It is becoming clear that I need to really just start trying different revenue streams and see which ones actually are viable sources of income.  Most of the candidates I’ve considered pursing would largely be described as internet entrepreneurship, in that they don’t involve me handling much physical items (inventory, etc), and are largely done via the internet.  Amazon drop shipping, online tee-shirt shop, etc, are examples of these. Another common key factor I’m taking into account is minimal risk, so again, anything with actual inventory in my possession is out, as is real estate.

A key contextual clue as to why I’m currently motivated to worry less about specifically what I do next, and focus more on doing anything, is that it is becoming painfully obvious to me that the sooner I am able to replace at least half my previous income with passive income, I will be a much, much happier man.

Given that monetizing Tumblr is something at least within my periphery, and that [as described in the referenced post] it has the potential to be highly passive (nothing is truly 100% passive), it seems like I should see if I can come up with a niche and then just plow forward from there.  Again, making this decision appears to be the real wildcard in the process, and I get the feeling that there is a fair amount of room for error for all the other tasks without killing your chances of getting a decent return on your effort.

Now remember, my initial impression was that I would need to look outside my particular interest set to find a good niche market. This sounds like we have a grand opportunity to perform sort of an experiment here…

I set forth an arbitrary goal of making it this method work in a niche for which I have ZERO passion–i.e., make it an objective, logical, and by-the-numbers pursuit.  This is particularly relevant because I tend to have interests and tastes outside the normal distribution of the general population. And also emotions aren’t the best guide when it comes to business, so it’s best to leave them at the door.

The third and final motivator for this approach that I will note here is probably the most important: repeatability and reducing overhead. If I can do it for any given niche, then why not try other niches, especially since I’ve already gone through the motions and it will be easier and easier each time?  Also, I could offer my services to my IRL friends and family, helping them convey their passions into passive revenue.  In that case we could both enjoy a cut of the income in an equitable manner. Spread the gospel, right?

Anyways, the main point is to try to do it such that I’m not constrained by my particular passions.

…

Later this evening I found myself in the shower at the gym, thinking about my blog and other non-traditional work efforts. I’ve noticed this is a trend for some reason.  I’m almost always thinking about what to write next and how I’m going to write whilst scrubbing away in ye ol’ Planet Fitness locker room. Today was no different.

Now, not too long ago I remember coming across an example of someone starting their own small business in the pet supply market.⁹I believe it was a book I had checked out from the library, 100 Side Hustles, but I can’t be quite sure at this point.. I recall seeing the value of said market and having my jaw hit the floor. People spend an INSANE amount on their pets.

That little speck of inspiration apparently had been forming into a beautiful pearl in my head, because “pets” kept popping up in my mind as I thought about the Tumblr niche problem. Now that I think about, pets seem like a solid bet because huge swaths of the population love the shaggy l’il rascals–especially kids.  The Boss Lady would be particularly pleased if I chose such a family-friendly and universally-embraced topic, no doubt.

But, just one problem…pets by themselves seemed to be a little too bougie for me to just run with it.

My mind naturally wandered into the realm of the absurd, and it was there when I knew I found my diamond in the rough…

Well, I already felt like I was in AbsurdLandia, given that my too main candidates were “pets’ and “luxury”, and…wait just a hot minute! Holy schnitzels, of course, that’s it–double down on the absurd factor!

What could be more ridiculous than spending excessive money on yourself? SPENDING IT ON YOUR ----- PET!

And, tada! The Prissy Pet Project officially has it’s name!

It turns out that that little speck that formed into a pearl was wearing a pearl necklace itself! Now that’s getting meta for ya.  God, I love me some absurd images…

6 November 2019 (Wednesday)

Well, now its time for the rubber to meet the road. Let’s do this! Of course the first order of business is this–a blog post about it kicking things off, that way I get double the mileage for my efforts.  I mean, if you’re not here to hear about all my misadventures, then why are you here?

Okay, so where was I in the article.  Let me get back to that.

Skimming over the article, let’s pick out the major action items.:

• Set up Tumblr with relevant URL
• Populate blog with niche-related pictures (unsure of how many I need here)
• Acquire ~50 followers via whatever means (manually following other blogs, or using bots, etc).
• Set up automated posts (still unsure of where I’m supposed to get such copious amounts of content from)
• Set up Amazon Associates account
• Setup online store (BlueHost website hosting, WordPress, WooCommerce, etc)
• Edit all Tumblr posts to include link to store.
• Profit.

Now that we have a brand in mind, the next step is getting a Tumblr blog name with a related URL. But first, is “Prissy Pets” already taken?

Wait, is there already somebody profiting handsomely from this exact idea? But clicking on the Amazon link only needs to nothingness:

So it is currently unclear whether or not I could actually have an Amazon store with that name…

Meanwhile, over on Tumblr itself “Prissy pets” returned exactly one result. The term “luxury pets” has more results, but does make me question whether this is actually a good choice.

I’m going to go ahead and move forward with the “Prissy Pets” concept, but I’m willing to openly change course if it doesn’t generate much income and/or content is hard to come by.

Anyways, I’ve signed up to Tumblr with username “prissypetproject” because, hey, why burn more creative brain cells on this? In the setup process, Tumblr will ask “what you’re into,” and “Pets” was option so I obviously selected it.

However, “Luxury” was not an option, so…Home & Lifestyle? Fashion? I’m racking my brain trying to figure out what a good algorithmic proxy for luxury would be. I almost went with Home & Lifestyle, but it turns out that when you click on each category, their sub-categories are revealed, and looking over these I realized that clearly Tumblr and I were not using those terms in the same manner.

I decided to throw in “Handmades” because, hey who doesn’t like to knit fancy-ass sweaters for their pooch? And also because, jeez, I’m not finding anything that would appear to be the mystical portal to Luxury Tumblr.

In the end, I was quite unsure of how to the get “luxury” included…and I ended up with the following: Pets, Handmade, Crochet, Nature, Wildlife.

I’m starting to wonder if fancy pets was such a good niche to settle on after all…

Welp, I’ve ran out of time for this project for the day and several days to come, so will have to figure out a better way to refine later.

I guess that is all for now…stay tuned to find out how exactly I fumble my way through all this!

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