How to Start a Quote Page Side Hustle (From Scratch)

In my last side hustle article, I decided against becoming a professional dog poop collector (I will have to use the poop mobile for something else.) Instead, I’ve been focusing on creating digital products to sell on Etsy. My main goal is to earn extra money to fund my iced latte habit, and maybe even splash out on a caramel shot every now and then.

After three months and 19 stories on Vocal, I can now say I’ve earned enough money to shout my family dinner at McDonald’s two nights in a row. We won’t do that though, McDonald’s is a sometimes food.

Of course, I still have to wait for the funds to land in my account and minus the fees, so let’s not get too hasty.

Looks like I need to continue side hustling.

I’ve heard several people on different platforms recommend quote pages as a quick and easy way to make money. I’ve been thinking about this one for a while, but didn’t know where to start. So, I decided to do some research. This of course came with several people offering to sell me their course, eBook or PLR digital products. More on PLR later.

After sifting through all the free information I could find, I thought I’d compile all the key facts I wish I’d found in one place when I first started looking.

What are Quote Pages?

A quote page can be either a website or social media page where you post a new quote each day. Once you build a following, you can eventually monetise it. Sounds easy, right?

There are five basic steps involved in getting a quote page up and running:

1. Create your niche

2. Set up a website or social media page

3. Create content

4. Grow your audience

5. Monetise

Create Your Niche

All the experts are recommending inspirational quotes. For me, that’s tired and boring. I don’t need inspiration, I need sleep, more coffee and maybe a horror movie marathon. Omg, did I just create my niche?

Relatable, dark-humour quotes for exhausted mums, with a horror-comedy twist.

I’ve already written about how my life as a mother is similar to a horror movie, so it makes sense.

Create a Website or Social Media Page

I know nothing about building a website, so I took the easy way out and went down the social media path. Instagram seems to be the most popular for quote pages, but Threads is also a good option.

I already have an Instagram account, so I was able to create a new profile for my quote page and link it to my existing profile. This was not an easy task!

I followed the steps: go to “settings”, select “add new account”, enter my desired name. Then I got hit with a message that says “Please try again in a few minutes.”

It took plenty of troubleshooting and trying different strategies:

• Don’t copy and paste your username

• Turn off your Wi-Fi

• Don’t try too many attempts in a short amount of time

• Log into your account on PC, log out, go incognito, create a new account, then link.

• Jump up and down five times, scream “Why me!”, then try all of the above again.

Finally, I tried the good old-fashioned “turn my phone off and on again” method, and just like that, it worked!

I added a new account, created a bio, added my Etsy shop to the link, as well as some of my Vocal articles, and set a funny profile image.

And just like that, @madeinnaptime.quotes was born!

Create Content

The most important way to keep a quote page going is to continue showing up every day and creating content. Even when no one is out there and you feel like you’re talking to the void, you have to keep going.

I’ve already been through this when I started writing, so I can do that again. The fact that I’ve done it once and seen results, keeps me motivated.

I might have told a little white lie when I called my page, Made In NapTime, because a lot of it was also made after bedtime.

One Friday night, after a long afternoon with my clingy, leg-barnacle of a toddler, we finally tucked him in bed early. I then spent a few hours making a couple of weeks’ worth of quotes in Canva. Simple!

Now all I have to do is log in each day and post my pre-made content.

Grow Your Audience

If you’re looking to build followers quickly, I highly recommend Threads. It does have a lot of other side hustlers, but everyone is really supportive of each other. You can pretty much post about anything and you’ll get someone commenting, liking, or following you.

Hot tip: If you go to the “Insights” section of your Threads profile, it will show you your top-performing posts. Repurpose these into quotes if you can. My top-performing post:

“How did my 4-hour flight to Sydney go? I spent the first 3 hours drinking wine and reading. I spent the last hour drunkenly watching videos of my son, and wanting to cry as he got younger in the videos! I'm excited to be in Sydney, but I miss him already!”

This post reached 983 profiles, and at the time, I only had about 120 followers. That’s why I highly recommend Threads for visibility.

I decided to reach out to the Threads community in the same honest style as my writing:

“Yesterday I randomly decided to start a quote page.

I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m not tech-savvy. I mostly just yell at Canva and hope for the best. 😅

But if you enjoy sleep-deprived humour, spooky mum vibes, and relatable parenting chaos, I’d love for you to follow along and see how it all goes. 🧟‍♀️🍼

@madeinnaptime.quotes

(aka the unfiltered inner monologue of a zombie mama)”

Whatever social media platform you use, make sure you follow and engage with other accounts. I set myself a goal: spend at least 10 minutes a day engaging with other content, and slowly my followers have started growing.

Monetise

I launched my Etsy store with a set of digital stickers I created in Canva. Since then, I’ve branched out into digital meal planners, phone wallpapers, wall art and birthday cards, all with my Zombie Mamma twist.

Occasionally I post a quote that features one of my designs and direct people to my Etsy store. I’m hoping the combination of my quote page and Etsy store will boost my visibility and maybe sales.

Some of my quotes are also inspired by pieces I’ve written for Vocal. When this happens, I also direct people to the link of the full story that inspired my quote.

This one is obviously not for me, remember my limited coffee budget? If you have the funds to cover upfront costs, purchasing PLR (Private Label Rights) content can be a good option for you.

PLR content is ready-made content such as eBooks, planners and templates, which you can legally rebrand and edit to market as your own.

I’ve already spent hours of nap times creating my brand, quotes and digital products in Canva. So when someone tried to sell this to me, it seemed a little redundant. After all that work, you want me to buy your generic products and try to make them look like mine? Not for this Zombie Mama!

If you do want to invest in PLR, it can be useful. My advice would be, build your following first. Otherwise, who’s going to purchase the products?

If you’re wondering where to find someone you can purchase PLR content from? Post one question in a Facebook group for working mums trying to start a business, sit back and watch the offers come flying in.

Selling courses is another popular way of making profits from your quote page. They are usually courses on how to start a quote page or how to make income from a quote page.

Who knows, maybe “Quote Pages for Zombie Mamas Who Are One Cold Coffee Away from Having a Meltdown”, could be my next venture.

And if you purchase in the next 15 minutes, I’ll throw in a bonus module: “How to Schedule Content While Cooking Dinner with a Toddler Attached to Your Leg.”

So here I am as always, showing up, creating content and waiting to see where it takes me.