5 Ways I’m Using AI to Make Money in 2023

 

I’ve been using AI tools to help grow my one-woman business for the past year.

Honestly, it’s been a game-changer.

For example, with the help of AI, I was able to DOUBLE my income last year without working more hours.

My business model didn’t change. I didn’t hire anyone. The only thing that changed was how I used AI to work more productively and efficiently.

So I thought I’d share some of the ways that I’m currently using AI to make money in 2023.

1. YouTube

I’ve been creating faceless YouTube channels for a few years now.

At this point, I have a few dozen channels in various “boring” niches. But combined, they add up to a substantial monthly income from both YouTube Adsense and affiliate products.

Most of the videos I create are evergreen, meaning the content should be relevant for at least a few years.

I also create videos around products that I can promote using an affiliate link, so the videos start earning right away, even if the channel isn’t monetized with Adsense.

However, coming up with video topics, titles, and scripts takes a lot of time, especially when you’re a solopreneur who is always juggling a dozen projects.

Last year I started using the Jasper AI writing assistant to help speed up the process.

Jasper is able to come up with video topic ideas, SEO-optimized titles, script outlines, hooks, and an introduction.

Once I have my outline, I can use Jasper’s “Compose” feature to fill in the blanks for each section of my script.

Here’s a basic example of what this looks like on my end:

From there, I record a voiceover for the video using the script and pair it with a “faceless” tutorial-style video.

Jasper can also write SEO-optimized YouTube descriptions.

2. Digital Products

I’ve been creating simple digital products like ebooks, workbooks, and audiobooks for over a decade now.

Man, I’m getting old.

Each one is a tiny asset that adds income to my business.

And let me tell you; it ADDS UP!

Digital products have always been fairly easy to create and sell, but with the help of jasper , the process of creating content is even easier and faster.

Here’s an example —

Let’s say that I have an idea for a digital “workbook” to help self-employed people manage their money better.

First, this is a topic I know a little something about because I’ve been self-employed for a very long time. Notice I’m NOT relying on Jasper, or, god forbid, ChaptGPT, to give me accurate information.

Hot Take: Don’t make digital products with AI on topics you don’t know anything about.

However, in order to speed up the idea generation/outlining process, I would use Jasper’s “chat” feature to come up with an outline for my workbook.

I used the prompt: Write an outline for a workbook titled “Money Management for Freelancers.”

Here’s what I got:

I generally don’t use the outputs jasper gives me as-is, but it's usually a great starting point.

Best of all, this took 30 seconds, whereas it may have taken me 10–30 minutes to come up with a similar outline on my own.

From there, I can ask Jasper to suggest content for each section, which I can revise and edit to my liking.

I also add in my own thoughts, examples, section titles, paragraphs, etc.

Remember, this is a tool to ASSIST, not REPLACE you.

Then I take the content and format it as a PDF workbook using Canva.

From there, I upload it to ConvertKit — which is one of my favorite platforms for selling digital products — and then run low-cost Pinterest ads ($.10 to $.15 CPC) to make sales.

Here’s an example of what a ConvertKit landing page looks like:

Of course, you don’t have to use ConvertKit.

I’ve also sold digital products using Teachable, Etsy, Gumroad, and my own website(s).

If you have a YouTube channel *wink, wink*, you can also promote your digital products there to compound the results of your efforts.

3. Publishing

I left this one for last because I know it’s *kinda* controversial.

I know there are people out there creating garbage content in mass quantities using ChatGPT and trying to sell it as a “book” on Amazon.

I am going to strongly encourage you NOT to do that because I don’t think those people are going to win in the long term.

First of all, Amazon isn’t dumb.

I snoop around Facebook and Discord groups dedicated to self-publishing, and people that try to game the system are getting their accounts shut down in droves.

I just read a story about some guy that was making six figures a MONTH on Amazon KDP and then got his account shut down for some TOS violation for using AI content that was plagiarized. It’s just not worth the gamble.

If you want to build a sustainable business in the self-publishing world that has longevity, be very careful when it comes to AI-generated content, especially if you are publishing on Amazon.

At the very least, you better be adding a lot of your own content, rewording anything AI-generated, editing, proofreading, and running it through a plagiarism checker.

Better still, if you can afford to hire an editor.

But that being said, there are still some ethical use cases for AI when it comes to publishing.

Here are a few ways I’m using it in my publishing business in 2023:

• Idea generation
• Outline organization
• Title/subtitle ideas
• Book descriptions
• Sales page content.

I have so much more I could say about this, but I think I’ll leave it at that for now.

                                                                     * * * 

Whew, that was a lot.

If you made it to this point, kudos to you.

I really love this topic and have so much I could share, so if anything stood out to you, leave a comment, and I’ll do my best to write a follow-up.

Also, I’d love to know if you are planning to use AI to make money in 2023.