Making Money Online: 10 South African Entrepreneurs Doing It

What do you know about making money online using Airbnb, Fiverr, YouTube or Instagram? While the average consumer uses these platforms to share their lives, talent and find holiday pads, a few local entrepreneurs have cashed in on these platforms to start lucrative a online money-making business. Ten South African Entrepreneurs who are making money online: Making Money Online on Fiverr: Lauren Gouws Making Money Online with Podcasting: Matt Brown Making Money Online with Airbnb: Brigid Prinsloo Making Money Online with YouTube: Caspar Lee Making Money Online on Instagram: Thithi Nteta Making Money Online with Self-Publishing: Dudu Busani-Dube Making Money Online with a Collective Online Community: Marnus Broodryk Making Money Online with a Specialised App: Karidas Tshintsholo & Matthew Piper Making Money Online with Facebook: Zelda Arnott Making Money Online with Niche Software Products: Darlene Menzies 10. Making Money Online on Fiverr How Lauren Gouws 10Xed her income in three years Lauren Gouws was a terrible employee. Commuting daily from Pretoria to Joburg, earning the same salary monthly regardless of workload and the inflexibility of her eight-to-five job was demoralising. An evening online sifting through the Google search results on ‘How to make money online’ Lauren discovered the world of the gig economy. “I couldn’t quit my job because I had bills to pay and needed an income, but I also knew I wanted to be my own boss,” says Lauren, who now does just that on Fiverr. Leveraging Fiverr to Make Money Online: Fiverr is an online marketplace for freelance services. “Basically, if you have a skill that you can offer digitally, you can sign up to these websites and offer that service — it’s McDonald’s for services, you place your order and get it within a day or two,” Lauren explains. Gig economy sites cater for web developers, consultants, coders, designers, writers and more. “Fiverr is the website I’ve found success on. Within a few hours work started coming in,” she recalls. Sites like Fiverr work on reputation, so getting good reviews, delivering quality content timeously and staying active on the site improve your search results and boost your business. How this entrepreneur used Fiverr to Earn Money Online: Lauren’s Fiverr journey started while she still worked full time, so she spent her evenings working on her orders, only sleeping two to three hours on some nights. “I couldn’t quit immediately, it was too big a risk. I needed to match my salary before I could quit — that was the deal I made with myself,” she says. It only took three months for Lauren to double her salary, and six months later she quit her job to focus only on her Fiverr clients. Today, her income is ten times what it was three years ago. She’s realised her goal of working on her own schedule and reached a level of flexibility that was impossible as a full-time employee. “When you sign up to a gig website, you create your profile and gigs. For example, my profile says, ‘Hi, I’m Lauren, I’m a copywriter — if you need a script you can place your order’. My gig is $5 per 25 words, and clients can order as many of the gig as they need.” Lessons learnt in establishing an income with Fiverr Online: The secret lies in product differentiation. “I joined Fiverr at a good time when it was still being discovered by many people and companies. While it’s a little more challenging to master now, it’s certainly not impossible. You just have to think out-the-box. Think of something you can offer that is in high-demand and set yourself apart. Why should people choose you instead of the person in the gig next to yours in search results? Flaunt your credentials: Passion. Skills. Tenacity.” 9. Making Money Online with Podcasting How Matt Brown monetised his passion with podcasting Matt Brown is the founder of Matt Brown Media and host of The Matt Brown Show, a local podcast focused on bringing great ideas and entrepreneurs together to drive personal and business growth. Podcast was a relatively new medium when Matt launched, but he understood its ability to create vast amounts of trust and draw attention in a very short space of time. Leveraging Podcasting to Make Money Online: The Matt Brown Show is a podcast that has a listenership in over 100 countries. Matt’s profile and the show have grown through fans spreading the world about this great new podcast that focuses on giving entrepreneurs the information they need, when they need it, through an accessible and relevant medium. How this entrepreneur used Podcasting to Make Money Online: “I should have given up after two weeks,” says Matt. “My downloads were almost non-existent. But it wasn’t about the downloads. If I could give just one person the information they needed to push through and not give up on their business journey, I was achieving my ‘why.’” Lessons learnt in establishing an income with Podcasting Online: It’s all about the ‘why’… “It’s funny, but failing in six different businesses actually taught me this lesson,” says Matt. “Success often comes after the lessons that failure brings. It’s incredibly motivating to know you’re creating something of real value and that you’re making a difference. It’s what’s kept me going when things have gotten tough as well.” 8. Making Money Online with Airbnb Brigid Prinsloo built a property portfolio through Airbnb A trip to London and Dublin changed Brigid’s life – but not in the way she expected. She had such a great experience booking her accommodation through Airbnb that when she returned, she convinced her fiancé to rent out their spare room on the platform. Within an hour they had an enquiry, and a day later they hosted their first guest. Now Brigid makes in excess of R23 000 monthly from one of the various properties she bought for this specific purpose. Leveraging Airbnb to Make Money Online: The explosive success of Airbnb has revolutionised the property investment landscape. More property owners are turning to the platform as a short-term rental option as it’s proving to be far more lucrative to rent out a property by the night than to install a long-term tenant. “We had a very ‘Lean Start-up’ approach to the whole exercise. Our small room acted as a minimum viable product (MVP), we listed it simply as a way of gauging interest,” explains Brigid. “Within the first day, we had our first booking. We weren’t prepared. How this entrepreneur used Airbnb to Make Money Online: “We ended up moving our own comfy bed into the room, just to ensure our guest could enjoy a decent night’s sleep and slept on the spare bed ourselves,” she recalls. By the end of that first month, Brigid and her fiancé had earned enough to cover the majority of their R10 500 rent and realised that renting out an entire flat could earn them significantly more. “We started a service called Superhost SA, which assists Airbnb hosts in managing their listings. As the popularity of Airbnb has grown, companies focusing on offer management services have popped up in lots of major cities,” says Brigid. “For around 17% of the revenue earned, a company like Superhost will assist with the nitty gritty of renting out a space on Airbnb.” Lessons learnt in establishing an income with Airbnb Online: While Airbnb provides an exciting alternative to the traditional approach of purchasing properties and renting them out to long-term tenants to pay them off, you’re not going to become a millionaire overnight, says Brigid. “Building up a portfolio will take time,” she says. “We might be able to pay off the bond on our flat in four years instead of 20 thanks to Airbnb, for example, but it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. It will still take time.” 7. Making Money Online with YouTube How Caspar Lee’s YouTube videos have taken him from zero to two million subscribers What started as a way to procrastinate and avoid homework for a 16-year-old boy, built up a net worth of $3 million. At just 24, YouTube comedian Caspar Lee is arguably South Africa‘s most famous YouTuber. The teen phenomenon from Knysna now lives between London and LA and has amassed more than one million subscribers on YouTube and another million followers on Twitter. Leveraging YouTube to Make Money Online: Google encourages its users to continuously upload high-quality content by operating a profit-sharing system. The process allows uploaders to make money from Google by giving them a portion of the revenue generated from ads that appear next to their content. Many people create and promote YouTube videos with lucrative earnings. The best part is, you don’t have to stray from your interests to get in on the action. “There are many different genres of videos that make money across the board on YouTube,” says Mike Sharman founder of online communications consultancy Retroviral and co-founder of digital sports agency RetroActive. How this entrepreneur used YouTube to Make Money Online: Advice and how-to videos are the most popular on YouTube. “Teaching people how to drum, makeup tutorials, how to kiss girls (in Caspar’s case) – viewers love that,” says Mike. In 2017, Caspar co-founded marketing platform Influencer.com and became its Chief Innovation Officer. Lessons learnt in establishing an income with YouTube Online: Caspar’s advice to aspiring South African YouTubers is to just do it and enjoy what you are doing. “But don’t try and see it as a job at all. The minute you start looking at it like that is the minute you will have less fun and it might never happen. And if it has happened still try your best to have as much fun as possible and not think of everything as the bottom line.” 6. Making Money Online on Instagram How Thithi Nteta is cashing in on creating content on Instagram Thithi Nteta is an Executive business director at FCB Johannesburg by day, but her 32 000 social media followers enable her to create lifestyle content for big brands as a micro-influencer. Some of the most popular lifestyle brands are cashing in on influencers who charge them less than a traditional ad campaign for double the effect. Leveraging Instagram to Make Money Online: As social media has increased in popularity, influencer marketing has become one of the fastest growing and effective types of advertising for companies. Influencers are paid to subtly share brand content on Instagram and their blogs, so that the products seem effortlessly part of their cool lifestyles. Because their followers are influenced by this lifestyle, they’re then persuaded to buy the products. How this entrepreneur used Instagram to Make Money Online: Thithi works with various beauty and lifestyle brands including Ponds, DKNY and G-Star. “I really have been lucky enough to work with brands that get who I am and at the beginning of those relationships, it wasn't paid for. It was honestly just, 'Ooh, I'm so excited that you even want to work with me,’” she tells CNN . “A basic Instagram post for me I would charge anywhere around R5 000 rand a post, which is about $375," says Thithi. Lessons learnt in establishing an income with Instagram Online: Becoming an influencer may be lucrative, but it’s a high-commitment exercise, says Thithi. You must have a passion for sharing your life to build trust with your followers and your posts need to be authentic and consistent. “Finally, having a good number of followers is an advantage.” 5. Making Money Online with Self-Publishing How Dudu Busani-Dube became a self-publishing powerhouse Dudu Busani-Dube started her career as a writer by authoring a trilogy of books she started sharing on her Facebook page in 2014. Since then, she has been named a literary giant in the making. Dudu is the author of the Hlomu series, which has gone on to sell tens of thousands of copies. Leveraging Self-Publishing to Make Money Online: The South African literary market is relatively small and bestselling titles aren’t necessarily equal to high numbers sold. Self-publishing your work makes financial sense, in this regard, however you then need to take responsibility for the success of your book, because there’s no publisher to do that on your behalf. How this entrepreneur used Self-Publishing to Make Money Online: “I thought a lot about approaching a few publishers when I was sitting with a complete Hlomu the Wife for two months but something kept telling me they weren’t going to understand, because I have total disregard for the rules of literature as they are, and what is perceived as a good book or good literature,” says Dudu. Dudu wasn’t spurred to self-publish by rejection. In fact, she didn’t approach a single publishing house with her work, because she says she was unsure any of them would understand her stories and how she was telling them. “I didn’t want to find myself having to compromise and agree to things I didn’t want to. The fun ends when I put the last full stop.” So, she began blogging about Hlomu and then made the decision to print and publish the book after receiving a positive response. Lessons learnt in establishing an income with Self-Publishing Online: “It hasn’t been easy,” Dudu admits. “I had to decide on the grade of paper, get designers to do the covers and get editors, all of which doesn’t come cheap.” She sold her first 50 copies from the boot of her car, then she printed as the orders came in. Eventually, she couldn’t meet the high demand and approached Exclusive Books who turned her down twice before getting in touch and partnering with her. 4. Making Money Online with a Collective Online Community How Marnus Broodryk created a platform that’s solving the biggest issues faced by SMEs When serial entrepreneur and self-made millionaire Marnus Broodryk launched SME Africa, a platform helping established entrepreneurs with various services and tools, it was a call for SME recognition. He did this with a small business awareness drive called #WeAreSME. Leveraging a Collective Online Community to Make Money Online: SME Africa is described as the entrepreneur’s go-to place ‘for everything you need in your business’. For R569.25 a month you get unlimited access to tools that would normally cost you thousands monthly. The platform provides users with affordable business solutions that enable growth. How this entrepreneur used Collective Online Community to Make Money Online: “ #WeAreSME is a movement setting out to inspire 10 000 SMEs to unite and identify themselves on one single platform, thereby telling South Africa who they are and what they do,” explains Marnus, CEO of SME Africa. Lessons learnt in establishing an income with a Collective Online Community Online: “We all say we need to support small businesses – but we need to do more. With the #WeAreSME campaign we want business owners to stand together and to show South Africa the faces and the logos behind this ‘SME’ collective we all like to use so often.” says Marnus, 3. Making Money Online with a Specialised App How Karidas Tshintsholo and Matthew Piper give emerging and micro farmers access to larger markets Two finance students in their first year at UCT didn’t just dream of becoming entrepreneurs, they wanted to start a business that would solve a real, endemic problem. “We were both studying finance and interested in investing, and the business actually started out as a hobby,” says Karidas. “We wanted to share what we were learning in class and through our own research with anyone who was interested. We started a website and posted videos and content and shared it with other students.” Soon, they dropped out of varsity and focused on pivoting their financial literacy business – the result was life-changing. KHULA was born. Leveraging Specialist Apps to Make Money Online: With the KHULA farmers App, farmers can list their produce and track inventory levels in real time. The app is designed for emerging farmers as well as basic production forecasting. KHULA includes a crowd-sourcing marketplace for farmers to meet market demand and incoming orders. “We have 104 farmers on the platform, and 26 customers, including Rocomama’s, Munching Mongoose and the Michaelangelo,” says Karidas. How these entrepreneurs used a Specialised App to Make Money Online: “The farmers’ app can be downloaded on any phone that has WhatsApp capabilities,” explains Karidas. “Most phones that can be bought for R100 or R200 work, and in our initial research we realised that farmers are pretty tech savvy.” Farmers go to the app store, download the app and sign up. “They then need to provide all their details: Who they are, where they are geolocated, what they grow, and when they expect to harvest different produce,” says Matthew. The team then does a site visit for verification before accepting them onto the platform. Lessons learnt in establishing an income with a Specialised App Online: Start by solving a problem. “We didn’t start with an app — we started with an idea,” says Matthew. “We used paper to record everything and called farmers directly to get them onto our books. We had already traded close to R50 000 before we built the app, and by then we had some experience and knew what the app needed to include.” 2. Making Money Online with Facebook Zelda Arnott turned her fans into customers In 2014, Zelda Arnott took advantage of the online shopping boom and launched her own retail store on Facebook. “Facebook provides us with all the information we use for marketing and selling,” says Zelda. “We don’t need sponsored posts to grow our audience. Zellyco has built its own momentum. I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.” Leveraging Facebook to Make Money Online: Zelda selects images of trendy accessories that may work well together and posts them on Zellyco’s page. These are sold as bundled items for an average of R280 a set. The first person to comment ‘sold’ gets first choice to purchase the bundle. “I’ve hit the sweet spot in this current economic climate and I’m making an excellent return,” says Zelda. “For the cost of a lunch my customers can have a new look.” How this entrepreneur used Facebook to Make Money Online: Zelda and her daughter Taryn Hatchuel, opened for business just before the Christmas rush and everything sold out in a day. Her turnover went from R6 00 in the first month, to R55 000 by July 2015. 85% of Zellyco’s sales are repeat business. Lessons learnt in establishing an income with Facebook Online: “You can easily create a Facebook store, upload your products, promote them on your wall, or promote your entire store so your fans know it’s there – all for a fee that is affordable for any business,” beams Zelda. “The potential for start-ups is enormous.” 1. Making Money Online with Niche Software Products How tech innovator Darlene Menzies founded a funding force for new entrepreneurs Since leaving her corporate job in 2001, she has established several successful technology businesses and has first-hand experience in what it takes to start and grow a successful enterprise. She is a public speaker, a media spokesperson and recognised expert on the SME sector. Leveraging Niche Software products to Make Money Online: Darlene, the CEO of SMEasy and Finfind, developed SMEasy as an accounting and business management system any small business owner can use. The software is specifically designed for entrepreneurs who have minimal to no accounting knowledge. “It’s online, really easy to use, and provides accountants with anytime, anywhere access to an SME’s financial statements,” says Darlene. How this entrepreneur used Niche Software products to Make Money Online: Spotting a gap in the market for customised, web-based and mobile solutions she launched The Development House (TDH) and began working with SMEs, non-profit organisations and government to develop IT systems specifically tailored for their needs. Lessons learnt in establishing an income with Niche Software products Online: “Failure is a normal part of life and should be embraced not avoided. Foster a mentality of overcoming and breaking through. Help raise future entrepreneurs – the true builders of our economy,” says Darlene.

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Making Money Online: 10 South African Entrepreneurs Doing It

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Making Money Online: 10 South African Entrepreneurs Doing It

You don’t need an eight-to-five job or stacks of capital as the launch-pad to start a business and create your own source of income. Here are 10 entrepreneurs who’ve found some unconventional ways of making money online using common platforms.

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