I don’t think there can ever be one secret to making money.

There’s no magic key that you can turn to make a profitable online business suddenly spring to life.

But in my view, what I’m about to share with you comes pretty close.

It’s based on what I’ve learned in over THREE DECADES publishing home income strategies, working with successful entrepreneurs and running my own business.

And the secret is this…

If you start a business based on something you genuinely care about – and enjoy doing – then everything becomes much easier.

Learning skills, grappling with platforms and carrying out research don’t feel like chores, because you feel so driven and motivated.

The same goes for the day-to-day operations once you get started.

They don’t seem like ‘work’ at all.

Because they’re expressions of your own desires, goals and interests.

When things get tough, or you hit a few snags, you’re compelled to keep going, because it’s so important to you.

In fact, if you choose the right business it should feel like you would do this ‘work’ ANYWAY, regardless of the income involved.

“Do What You Love And You’ll Never Work a Day In Your Life”

Take me for instance…

I don’t consider writing this email newsletter to you as an annoying chore I have to do.

To be honest, if What Really Makes Money were to vanish I would still set up a Substack, write a book, or try my hand at a podcast.

Because I LOVE communicating.

And I’d still read all the same books about business, marketing, persuasion, mindset and psychology…

Because I LOVE to learn about that stuff!

This is why I’m evangelical about you setting up your own digital publishing enterprise, like a Substack for example.

It allows you to get paid for sharing what you already know…

For expressing your opinions, likes and dislikes…

And connecting with like-minded types who will happily consider any product recommendations that you suggest.

Not because you’re an expert.

Not because you’re famous.

But because they like you and relate to you as someone who is on their wavelength, and has been through some of the same experiences in life.

However, I know that you might have a MAJOR objection to setting up something like this.

Because I’ve heard it numerous times.

And it’s roughly along these lines…

“That’s all well and good, Nick… But I’ve nothing worth sharing.”

I can understand this.

After all, you’re probably not an expert in anything in particular…

You might not even be able to think of a single subject that interests you enough.

Or, possibly, you feel like you’re lacking somehow.

You aren’t rich… you haven’t succeeded in business… you aren’t an intellectual…. you don’t read… you’re crap with tech… you’re too old… your personal life is a disaster…

(I’m not accusing you of these things, by the way, it’s an example of what many readers tell me in private!)

Because of these doubts, you firmly believe that there’s nothing worth sharing.

And even if there WERE…

Surely, there are more informed, funny, clever, dazzling personalities out there on the internet!?

You can’t compete with them!

So who would bother to read what you have to say?.

…And why would they bother?

Like I say, I totally get it!

But it’s such a shame to me…

Because it’s untrue – and it completely misses the point about what contemporary digital info publishing is about.

You see, internet users are desperate to follow authentic people…

Some of the fastest growing accounts on social media, for example, are regular, ordinary people.

And I can guarantee you absolutely DO have something worth sharing – even if you don’t realise it right now.

In fact, if you can spare me a few more minutes to read the rest of this email I’ll PROVE IT to you.

Seriously, I’ll give you a little test at the end of this email…

And if you don’t come up with anything after it, then FINE, you can ignore this opportunity and try something else.

However, I think you might be surprised…

Why you can’t see your own value

People have a tendency to undervalue themselves. Not because they’re modest, but because they can’t see their own value objectively.

I’m sure there are plenty of things you know about.

In your life, you’ve learned skills, achieved goals, failed at goals, gained insights, suffered traumas, overcome problems, helped other people…

But you’re blind to them, because things that you already know feel obvious to you. The closer you are to your own expertise, the more invisible it becomes.

It becomes surprisingly difficult to remember what it felt like NOT to know it.

They’ve even tested this in a lab.

In 2022 a series of experiments published in Memory and Cognition showed that people aren’t good at judging what other people know.

Participants were given trivia questions and asked to estimate how many beginners would know the answers.

Some participants learned the answers first… while others made their estimates without having that extra knowledge.

Once people had learned the facts…

• Their overall estimates became less accurate. For example, they might think 60% of beginners would know an answer when only 20% actually did.
• They became less able to distinguish between questions that beginners were likely to know and questions they were unlikely to know.

So it wasn’t that participants assumed, “I know it, so everyone else must know it.”

The problem was that once they knew the answer, they could no longer sense:

• How obscure the question was
• How hard it would be without the answer
• Which clues a beginner would or would not notice
• How much background knowledge was required

Before learning the answer, a question seemed difficult.

But after learning it, the answer seemed obvious.

The same will probably apply to you right now.

For instance, you might have…

• Grown vegetables for 20 years
• Cared for an elderly parent
• Restored an old house
• Worked in management
• Collected vinyl, old books or memorabilia
• Raised an autistic child
• Organised a local charity event
• Been through a messy divorce

You might regard what you learned during those experiences as “just common sense”.

But actually, you acquired knowledge that now SEEMS like common sense (to you, anyway).

This is known as…

‘The expert blind spot’

When you have succeeded at something, you will find it hard to recognise the many tiny challenges that confront an absolute beginner.

In your mind, you compress the process into broad steps, for example:

• “You just adjust the settings.”
• “You just prune it back.”
• “You just speak to the council.”
• “You just check the pressing.”
• “You’ll just know when the dough is ready.”

But every “just” might conceal ten smaller decisions, obstacles or steps that a beginner cannot yet make.

You see, there’s a difference between

• ‘Explicit knowledge’ – info that can be easily stated and then followed
• ‘Tacit knowledge’ – something that can only be learned through experience and is difficult to articulate.

Tacit knowledge includes judgement, timing, pattern recognition, instinct and experience.

For example, an experienced chef will know when a piece of fish is perfectly cooked from multiple signals… smell, sight, texture, colours, the ‘feel’ of it beneath their finger.

These all happen without them consciously running through the steps in their head.

The same will apply to at least one thing in your life you’ve done often enough for it to become ingrained and instinctual.

Examples include:

• Spotting a good deal
• Sensing that your dog is becoming agitated
• Choosing the right charity-shop rail to examine first
• Recognising when a contractor’s quote is suspicious
• Sensing when a car engine ‘isn’t quite right’
• Telling when a plant is thirsty versus overwatered
• Knowing when a negotiation has reached its ceiling and it’s time to stop pushing
• Sensing when a teenager is lying
• Knowing when a customer is about to complain
• Being able to tidy up a poorly written email
• Styling a room so that it seems bigger

Beneath these instincts are multiple tiny pieces of knowledge that you’ve accumulated without consciously realising it.

You might assume that most people know this stuff, but this is down to something known as…

‘The false consensus’

People overestimate how widely their own knowledge and understanding is shared by others.

It’s otherwise known as the “surely everyone knows that” trap.

For example…

• You know how to stretch before exercise, so assume that everyone knows how to do this and why
• You know how to compare energy tariffs, so assume that everyone can.
• You understand planning applications, so assume everyone does.
• You know how to buy a second-hand guitar, so assume the warning signs are obvious.
• You have followed local politics for years, so assume everybody knows who makes which decisions.
• You can cook meals from leftover vegetables, so assume this is ordinary.

Because of this, you can’t see your own value to other people. You dismiss your knowledge as ‘stuff I just picked up along the way’.

Yet this ‘stuff’ is gold!

It’s situational knowledge that cannot easily be learned… isn’t widely taught…. and cannot easily be found through a generic Google search.

Examples include:

• Which local walks remain passable in winter
• How to navigate a particular NHS service
• Which supermarket products offer real value
• How to manage a household on a fluctuating income
• What visitors misunderstand about your town
• How a particular industry really works
• What happens behind the scenes at events, schools, pubs or theatres.

And this is all material that could go into an eBook, newsletter or Substack.

Why You Are Expert Enough

You’ll have a natural temptation to compare yourself with the most accomplished individuals in the field:

The celebrity chef… the university professor… the professional athlete… the wealthy investor… the gardener with 500,000 YouTube subscribers.

Which makes your knowledge look insignificant.

But a popular niche newsletter can offer other kinds of value:

• Experience: “I have been through this.”
• Relatability: “I’m in a similar situation to you”
• Curation: “I find the best things so you do not have to.”
• Observation: “I notice things that others overlook.”
• Experimentation: “I test things and report back.”
• Judgement: “I help you decide what is worth your attention.”
• Point of View: “I have a unique opinion and worldview”

It’s also worth bearing in mind that your reader is not looking for a world expert.

They might be a…

• Person planting tomatoes for the first time
• New manager facing their first difficult employee
• Adult buying their first vinyl turntable
• 60-year-old trying strength training
• Person newly responsible for an elderly parent
• Someone who has moved to your town.

These kinds of people are just seeking someone who is a few steps ahead of them.

So rather than wondering, “Do I know as much as the leading authority?”

You should think, “Do I know something that would help, entertain or reassure a person who is in my situation, or in a situation that I experienced in the past?”

or “What could I regularly help people understand, discover, avoid, choose, enjoy or feel less alone about?”

And you can see examples on Substack of where people are simply sharing their journey in this way..,

• Man with a Hammer https://manwithahammer.substack.com follows the single-handed restoration of a Georgian house in Devon, mixing restoration details with everyday life.
• Wooden City – https://woodencity.substack.com a man who writes about his favourite local places in London.
• The Christopher Lee Project https://christopherleeproject.substack.com – A newsletter by a fan who reviews every Christopher Lee film
• Shaping Life https://loublaser.substack.com – About a woman who writes about her experience of ageing.
• Me, My Pigs and I https://www.memypigsandi.com – written by a self-taught farmer about issues affecting British farming and food.
• Parenting through https://parentingthrough.substack.com Advice from a Polish Mum living in London.
• Wild Way https://www.wildway.info – a man who is transforming a Victorian garden into a wildlife haven

But I can imagine that you’re still sceptical…

Because you might look at these examples and think – “Ok Nick, but they have a clearly defined special interest, or experience, and I can’t think of anything like that.”

So here’s a series of tests I’d like you to take.

Hidden Expertise Tests!

Go through each one of these and write down at least one answer, if you can. Or skip to the next one if you can’t think of anything at all!

1. What do you do that causes other people to say:

“I didn’t know you could do that.”

“How did you know that?”

“You make that look easy.”

2. Write down sentences you regularly use containing the word ‘just’

“You just change the cable.”

“You just ask for a reassessment.”

“You just freeze it in portions.”

“You just check the matrix number.”

3. Which mistakes do you notice immediately that other people miss? For example:

Poor punctuation

Bad interior design

Dodgy ingredients in processed foods

Bad posture

Unsuitable plants

4. What could you happily hold forth on for twenty minutes, for free, if you were sitting in a café or pub?

5. Is there anything you get asked a lot by people – for example, a repeated question or a regular request for help?

6. What do people rely on you for without a second thought?

7. Is there something that usually gets done so wrong, or badly, that it makes your blood boil? For example, what do you often rant or complain about?

8. What do you know now that would’ve saved you years of grief 10, 15 or 20 years ago? And is it something you could share with another person?

9. What have you collected, kept, catalogued or hoarded over the years? It could be anything from old postcards to bus tickets to family polaroids.

10. What do you find yourself Googling, reading or watching late at night when nobody’s making you?

11. Have you ever learnt something the expensive, embarrassing, painful or time-consuming way? For example:

Business failures

Bad purchases

Difficult divorces

Caring responsibilities

Renovations

Redundancies

Health changes

Troublesome pets

Creative disappointments

Travel disasters

12. What complicated system or process can you translate into ordinary language? For example:

Spreadsheets

Financial statements

Scientific papers

Planning rules

Education jargon

Insurance documents

Technology

Nutritional labels

13. Which workplace, hobby, community or institution have you seen from the inside?

14. Complete these sentences:

“I can’t believe nobody explains…”

“I can’t believe there isn’t a decent guide to…”

“I wish somebody would review…”

“Why does nobody write honestly about…”

“Somebody should collect all the…”

15. What have you searched for repeatedly without finding a satisfying answer? Perhaps you’ve found that there’s….

Weak existing coverage

Poor explanations

Outdated material

A lack of UK-specific advice

Content aimed at the wrong age group

16. Look through the past two years of your calendar. Which activities, appointments, trips, jobs and commitments recur? For example…

Organising events

Attending auctions

Supporting relatives

Volunteering

Visiting heritage sites

Campaigning

Decorating

Have you answered any of these?

If so, that could be the seed of a Substack newsletter… something you’ll actually enjoy, feel proud of, and stick at until you really make money.

Remember, it’s not about having a singular talent, or expertise. You just need to find that thing which you know well, and which others might find useful.

Ultimately, the one thing standing between you and finding an audience on Substack isn’t skill, tech or time…

It’s the belief that you’ve nothing worth sharing.

But hopefully I’ve proved that belief wrong.

And if I haven’t yet convinced you…

Please let me know your biggest fear or doubt – what is it that’s stopping you?

I’ll do my best to give you my honest advice!