ClickMinded
Tommy Griffith started ClickMinded as a side project while working full-time, leveraging his expertise in SEO to create educational content and courses. The business was born from his desire to share everything he knew about SEO with others, positioning himself as an expert in a high-demand niche.
Griffith focused on bootstrapping an email list as his primary growth mechanism, recognizing that an owned audience would be critical to scaling the business. This content-first approach allowed him to build trust and authority in the SEO space.
The podcast episode notes that it takes approximately 1000 days for a side project to replace your salary—a lesson Griffith learned firsthand. His approach of consistent content creation and email list building proved effective, eventually generating six figures in revenue from the side project while still maintaining his full-time job.
ClickMinded now generates over $40,000/month in revenue. Griffith experienced what he describes as "a taste of freedom" that made returning to traditional employment unthinkable, highlighting how successful side projects can fundamentally change one's career trajectory and aspirations.
- •By starting as a side project, Griffith eliminated financial pressure to monetize prematurely, allowing him to focus on building genuine expertise and trust in SEO before selling anything.
- •Content marketing as both the growth channel and core product offering created a flywheel where demonstrating SEO knowledge simultaneously attracted customers and validated the educational product.
- •Building an owned email list rather than relying on social platforms gave him a direct communication channel that compounded in value over the approximately 1000 days it took to reach salary replacement.
- •Positioning himself as an expert through consistent, freely shared knowledge in a high-demand niche (SEO) created natural pricing power when he eventually monetized through courses.
- 1.Start your SaaS as a side project while maintaining income elsewhere, allowing you to invest 6-12 months in content creation and audience building without revenue pressure.
- 2.Commit to a consistent content creation schedule (blog posts, videos, or podcast notes) in your area of expertise, publishing at least weekly to demonstrate authority and attract organic search traffic.
- 3.Build an email list as your primary asset from day one by offering free, high-value resources (guides, templates, or courses) in exchange for email addresses, treating subscriber growth as your north star metric.
- 4.Create your paid product by packaging and systematizing the same expertise you're already freely sharing in content, ensuring your courses or services are natural extensions of what your audience already knows you know.
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