701: Zero Followers to Full-Time Video Game Income: How I Built an Online Business for Sims Superfans

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1:18My guest today creates and sells custom designed digital products for fans and players of The Sims computer game. We're going to cover how she spotted this niche, how she actually creates and delivers these products and what's been working to drive sales and grow the business. From yellowalamaco.com, Gloria Riley, welcome to the Side Hustle Show. Thank you. Thank you for having me. So my understanding is you're several months into this business. You wake up to this viral moment, hundreds of comments, dozens of sales. Tell me, what was the video? What was the product? So it was for my SIM planner, which I launched back in February 2022.

1:56so it's a little while ago. And it's basically a book with some templates. So we've got character profiles, planner layouts. And the purpose is to help simmers plan their gameplay, plan ahead so that they're not so overwhelmed when they get into the game. And yes, it's essentially made for uber nerds like me that are really obsessed with the game. It was initially created for yourself. This is something that I wanted for my personal use case. And it turned out that other people were interested in this too. Yeah, so basically when you play the Sims, you get really attached to them. And I always have wanted to keep track of my Sims, but I wasn't always consistent and always have a structure.

2:34So that was also a plus with the planner. It has fields ready-made that you just fill in. And so you don't have to think, okay, what were the traits I wanted to collect? Or what were the attributes I want to collect about my Sims? It's all there. Okay. So yeah, I created it and I published it. My name was Crickets. I made like two sales within the first month. I was like, OK, I guess I'm the only one. But it was really my own fault because I wasn't really promoting it. That was really the mistake there. And it wasn't until my sister really pestered me to actually go on TikTok with it that I really started taking marketing and promoting it more seriously.

3:13Did you have any sort of audience at this point? None. Or it's just like, look, I'm a fan. I'm a player of this game. But build this with my own use case. and then oh yeah maybe if i wanted to sell of course i should promote it but but there was no following this point it's just like the algorithm found the other sims players for you that was what's so great about tiktok and what i learned then after you know my sister's encouragement i really posted consistently for like maybe a month and then the it started trickling and i could see you know, people were interacting with it. And then around the end of that, I woke up to so many comments and likes for a particular video that wasn't even probably 10 seconds long.

3:57And it used a trending sound. So I think that was also what was helpful that it was a sound that was already popular. And it was something along the lines of, oh, look, it's a weirdo or something. I basically just panned the camera on the planner and showed off the planner just briefly for those few seconds. and then it just basically was a meme that made fun of oh we just found the secret you know stash and it confirms that this person's a weirdo i'm a weirdo because i just i love the sim so much that i made a planner for it and yeah that just took off and yeah the the comment that just kept repeating in in the comment section was i want this i need this i need this and yeah i was like flabbergasted and yeah shortly after that the sales also followed so that was also amazing like I feel like I had within a week, two consecutive mornings where I woke up to just, for one, that TikTok that just went viral and then the sales that followed.

4:53So it was pretty amazing. Yeah, that's great. And so this was just an Amazon print-on-demand, KDP print-on-demand paperback that you created. What was the initial price point that you were selling these at? Oh, I've been always selling at the same price point,$12.99. So, and I just took inspiration from similar books I saw on Amazon. So it's like the low content niche, I guess you would call it. Basically, you have a simple template that you can create a planner or journal with, a guided experience for the customer. And yeah, so that was like the general pricing for it. And customers actually often said like, because I could see them commenting to each other and like, oh, it's so cheap.

5:28Yeah, just grab it. And I was like, oh, OK, cool. OK, guess the price is OK. It was reasonable. Yeah, that's great. No, shoot. This is a similar story. I created the three question journal for my own use case. you know three questions today kind of as part of the nightly shutdown routine what you get done today what are you grateful for how are you going to win tomorrow it's just like just a personal practice like oh shoot i'll create the journal if somebody else wants to buy it great but like never had this viral moment maybe i gotta make this little video for you uh to see if other people would would be interested in this so after that what happens what happens next so you start to see some consistent sales some income and you become connected to this broader sims community Yeah, all of a sudden, all eyes were on me, which was, to be honest, a bit scary at first.

6:14You know, I had all these cringe TikTok videos I had made with my face and everything. Was there anybody else doing something similar? Like you couldn't find exactly what you wanted, so you had to build it yourself. I was maybe competing with spreadsheets because keeping track of your Sims has always been a thing in the community for the, you know, the nerdiest of us, for what I like to call the serious Simmers. But there wasn't any printed planner or anything like that. So it went viral and it kept selling and it was so successful. And I wasn't really happy with the job I was at the time. So I ended up leaving and was able to dedicate myself full time to this.

6:47Wow. One product, one viral video. You say, oh, that's it. I'm going all in. Yeah. Well, technically it was two products because I had a daily and a weekly version. But technically it was one product because it was basically the same thing, just one with weekly layouts and one with daily layouts based on the customer's preference. Yeah, I was able to just go full time. And sure, it was scary because, I mean, this could have not performed well after a little while. It could have been just a little viral fluke. Yeah. But I actually ended up using that time that I had now that I was full time, unfortunately, not to promote the book as much as I maybe should have.

7:23And instead, I dived head on into a new product because, yeah, I'm a bit of a compulsive maker. And I ended up creating a digital SimLife planner, which is for GoodNotes because I kind of saw, OK, templates are popular and I'm still fulfilling a need for maybe a different group of people that aren't pen and paper lovers. and want to prefer a digital experience. Around that time, GoodNotes planners were also quite popular. So I decided to make my own, but for The Sims. And that was also quite popular. This is like a Notes app, like on an iPad or something? Yes, GoodNotes is a Notes app on iPad.

7:58And you basically just create a hyperlinked PDF. But there was actually a couple of Sim planners for GoodNotes available at that time. But they weren't really geared for really planning your game, playing, keeping track of your Sims life. If there were more, let's plan some traits that your student's going to have their aspirations and then jump in the game. But I wanted to create something a bit more in-depth. And then I created another one for one. No, I just kept creating. Because you had the physical pen and paper, hard copy. But other people were saying, well, I would love a digital version.

8:29Okay, so listening to what the audience wants and going there. What kind of revenue, if you're comfortable sharing, was this pulling in at the time? You're like, I'm going to quit my job and go do this. It was definitely four figures, four figure months. All right, sure. So I live a modest lifestyle and I'm in Belgium, though, Brussels. So it's not the most like inexpensive city to live in, but it was enough to pay my bills and live comfortably. Yeah. So I just made basically enough to feel comfortable with leaving. And the digital planners also, the margin was higher. So that was also good because with Amazon, you only make like less than five dollars.

9:05I mean, for me, I see the euro amount, so less than five euros per book. And that's not a lot. So you have to sell a lot to actually make a living from it, which is also another reason why I wanted to expand and create digital templates, because I knew that it's a bit risky to depend on just one marketplace or one product and one platform even. So I expanded. I actually then ended up selling on Etsy, which I no longer do because unfortunately, yeah, the fees are quite high and people compete a lot on price there. and I didn't want to play that game. And I felt like it feels like a bargain store.

9:39And I had been in my own shop. I experimented there a lot as well. So I've been on Google sites and Squarespace and I landed on WordPress where I then sell my digital templates now through Lemon Squeezy. So Lemon Squeezy is a merchant of record. It's a platform that you can use to upload your products. So digital products, these can be templates. It could be even SaaS. In my case, Notion templates or GoodNotes templates. and then you can sell that and you don't have to handle VAT though, which was really important to me because I didn't want to deal with any of that. Got it. So this is a lemon squeezy checkout page.

10:13I've never heard of that one. Yeah, this is lemon squeezy where you are right now. Yeah. Okay. So I'm on the Sim Chronicles for OneNote for$20. So yes, we're now commanding a higher price point than that paperback on Amazon and it's completely digital. So no printing and fulfillment costs here. More with Gloria in just a moment, including her further forays into digital products. and how she's driving consistent high margin sales. Coming up right after this. Are you still overpaying for wireless? It's time to say yes to saying no. At our partner Mint Mobile, their favorite word is no. No contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees, no BS.

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12:41Just go to Indeed.com slash Side Hustle Show right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash Side Hustle Show. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring. Indeed is all you need. No. And the beauty of it is it's something that the Simmer can reuse over and over again, which is, that's why there's a higher price point because with the planner you have to repurchase and you've got that, obviously the printing costs. But I feel like with a template that you can duplicate infinitely, you've got that added value and the Sims community is quite cost sensitive, which I understand.

13:17So I didn't want to price too many simmers out of getting my planners because I want to help people. It actually became tricky later on the line once I published my SimGuardian, my Notion template, because that one, yeah, it's quite a price hike in comparison to my other templates. So the other ones are rounding at about$20,$40 for a really big bundle of GoodNotes planners. And then we're at$100 for the SimGuardian. At the same time, it's quite comprehensive and detailed and for systems, for templates of that detail. But I put a lot of work also in the Notion template. I'm saving so much time and I know that the value that it brings.

13:57So, yeah, I ended up sticking to that price, even though there was a bit of pushback in the community because I was actually this time I learned from my mistakes and I marketed this a bit better. I actually shared sneak peeks while I was developing it on YouTube. so by now I had created a YouTube channel I was a bit more present on social media I definitely had a community growing I was known a little bit now amongst simmers and I created a series of videos where I showed really how I was building this this notion template what people could expect and people were really hyped for it but I think some were disappointed about the price but again I think for what you're getting it's quite fair and in the end I'm glad I stuck to my guns because I have a lot of happy customers that confirm basically my pricing.

14:41And I also still have a bunch of budget-friendly and also free templates that I offer. And I also do offer parity pricing for SimGuardians. So that makes it still a bit more accessible to foreign customers. For countries that don't have the same purchase power as the U.S., I use an app for that, actually. It's called Parity Deals. With the free version, you can already plug one product. You can use it to offer parity pricing for that, but they also have plans where you can use it for your entire shop of products. But for me, it was important to make it as accessible as possible without undervaluing my work.

15:12So it sounds like this is the flagship product right now is this Notion Sim Guardian that is at$100 price point. And it looks really in-depth, like really kind of a powerful tool for fans of this game. Yes, it's got everything. So where we started with the Sim Planner, guiding your daily life or the daily life for your Sims, some to-dos and collecting their profiles. Now we've come to the SimGuardian, which can do that, of course, and so much more. You can keep track of the lore. You have a space now where you can save your screenshots and organize them. You can link everything with each other, which I think is really what makes the SimGuardian stand out in comparison to the other products.

15:52Here you have the databases and the formulas in Notion that made it possible for me to really build my dream template, I would say. It wasn't until notion released a formulas 2.0 that i was really able to make my vision come to life but it is it's amazing i mean this is just fascinating fascinating that like hobbyist players because there's no money in playing the sims right so people are just investing in just having a better user experience for themselves and saying like look i'm really into this i think this is going is going to improve my life in some way. But it's not like, oh, if I win my fantasy league, then I'm going to make an extra thousand bucks or something.

16:34No, it's just for somebody who's just really passionate about the Sims, who are serious about their Sims. They don't want to forget all the storylines that they've created for their Sims. They don't want it to be all for nothing. Because for me, I really regret not keeping track earlier. Like, I could not tell you the first families I created in The Sims 2 or The Sims 3. Also, there's so much that I did keep track of. It was scattered and just disorganized. So with the SimGuardian, you just have like one place where everything can be saved. And even if, you know, you don't invest in the SimGuardian, I think even if you just go for one of my free templates, I think keeping track is, yeah, it's so essential to the Simmer experience because we put a lot of love and creativity in what we do and the characters we create and come up with and the storylines we play.

17:19Yeah, and it's such a, it seems like a very niche community, but one that is still broad enough and a sliver of the players are going to be passionate enough to go out and look for tools to enhance their gameplay. I think that's a really interesting spot to be in here. You mentioned the YouTube channel where there's 3 ,000 subscribers, so it's not like nothing. So there's subtraction over there. Give me a sense of the type of content you're posting here on YouTube. In the beginning, it was a podcast. So I basically just shared my podcast there as well and some tidbits here and there. But I've been taking my channel more seriously this year.

17:59And I've focused and I kind of know now what I want to do. And I basically just want to help simmers feel more organized, feel more creative and inspired. And yeah, help them feel connected to their sims. And that's basically what I create content around. I had a video actually a couple of months ago go viral for me, at least by my standards. It's got over 100 ,000 views now. And I think what makes it special is the fact that I combined topics. So I remember I was sitting in the town hall waiting for some admin stuff. And I just had some empty space for my mind to think. And I had recently watched a soap opera on Netflix.

18:37And I was thinking, hmm, how do soap operas keep viewers hooked? And how do soap operas keep the stories going for ages? Because that's a big issue that simmers have is that they get bored with their game and they ditch their save files. And so I'm like, what if we took inspiration from soap operas? And so basically that's where the idea came for that particular video is what if we learned from soap operas? I basically broke soap operas down and tried to marry that with the sims and brought in a bit of my perspective. And that's what I've been doing. So different topics or trying to just help simmers with common issues that we have.

19:11You know, whether it's being bored with the game, feeling like your characters don't have any depth, how to play rotationally in a meaningful way, how to play with purpose. That's actually kind of like my slogan. I help simmers play with purpose. So that's basically I try to focus everything I make on those core elements. And it's been popular so far. I love how I get these super long comments from passionate simmers just either relating to everything I said, sharing their own ideas and tips. It's been so rewarding because it's not only, of course, a great channel to help spread the word about what I make, but it's also an outlet for me to share about what I love and my passion for this game and to connect with other simmers in a deeper level than I maybe could on TikTok with just short videos.

19:56Yeah. What's interesting here is I would have expected more tutorial type of content, like how to do this in The Sims or how to solve this problem in The Sims. But it's almost, you know, more just looking at some of the titles here. You're never going to stop playing The Sims after this. This is the one with 170 ,000 views. I caught them. and like the headline is on this one like just i found it or the title of the videos i just i found it saying well what did you find it's like well this thumbnail says i found the best family tree app for simmers but it's like it doesn't necessarily say that in the title so just kind of curious to see what has worked in this niche versus if i'm just going to like how to use notion better or it's like people maybe not uh searching this out for say but again youtube knows that people are into the sims they watch one video about it so then they start to serve up your stuff instead.

20:47Yeah, I learned that packaging is super important and your hook as well. So in the past, I'd have an idea and I would just maybe briefly think about what I want to say and I'd do it. But now an important part of my process is creating the hook and the title and the having at least the concept of the thumbnail in my mind as well. Because sometimes the thumbnail is a product of the video itself. I combine storytelling with tutorials because I try to, I still help simmers in a way so it is kind of like a tutorial it is educational content but I always wrap it around a story of mine like from my experience I try to speak from my perspective and I think simmers can relate to that for example I posted a video about 19 tips for serious simmers and I think that resonated because it is bite-sized tips but I also I go a little bit more in depth the title and the thumbnail they're supposed to make curious so it kind of hints at what's going to happen it kind of almost promises also i guess you would say the transformation that the simmer is going to get so for example if you're still stuck on gen one this is for you so that's a big issue for us simmers a big pain point so to say we get stuck on like the first generations when We're trying to build our legacy.

22:03And we end up ditching a family. So that basically walks the Simmer through what I think, how they should change their mindset in the game, the way they play and the way they approach it, so that they can actually finally reach that goal. So in that case, building a legacy. Is this a little thumbnail avatar? Is this you in Sim land? Yeah, because that's also something that's popular in the Sims community or in the gaming community in general. Yeah. And I wanted to be also clear when you look at the video that it's a Sims video, because sometimes it's a toss up. Should I have myself in the video?

22:40I'm working on experimenting. Got it. Got it. No, it just helps kind of solidify that you're part of the community. You can speak this language. You're like, well, here, look, here's my character from the game. So I think that makes sense. Yeah, I think it helps make my videos also maybe a bit recognizable. They see that particular Sim and they know, OK, this is a video from Yalamako and Gloria. Yeah. And in the videos themselves, I think there's probably a natural way to integrate the Notion templates, like the different products into the video and be like, hey, by the way, I made this thing to make your life better, simpler, faster, easier.

23:14You can click over here to buy it or check the link in the description. How are you presenting that in the content? So sometimes it flows in naturally based on what I'm explaining. So, for example, I really harp on keeping track of your Sims so that you don't, you know, lose track of them. But also it helps you stay connected to them because you are spending more time actually reflecting on things. So what I maybe touch on keeping track or templates, I can bring up the SimGuardian or any other template that's maybe relevant in that moment. I have a couple of videos where I play the game. But for the videos that are, I would say, purely educational, I have created a little ad.

23:51So it's like a one minute where I just talk about the SimGuardian, like basically my struggle, which was forgetting my legacies, not knowing what to do next, things like that. And then I introduce the SimGuardian. So the various sections and why it's great and basically why I love it. And so I can insert that in my videos whenever the SimGuardian doesn't naturally show up. And that way I can still be like, hey, this is here if you want it. Sure. Do you find consistent sales from YouTube? Yes, actually. So that one video that went viral just exploded the sales. But I've also noticed, like with every video I publish, it just drives sales.

24:29So that's also been a motivator for me to stay consistent with that. I am not very consistent with marketing. That's definitely a big boo-boo on my end. I'd like to rather tinker in my different softwares and create new templates rather than actually talking about them, even though I think they're like the grand solution and every simmer should know about them and find out about them. But that's definitely been a driver. But it's also my free templates are also a driver because it gives the simmers a chance to test ride what I make to see the quality. And then they usually would want more. So, for example, I created the backstory creator for Notion, which is essentially a small part of the SimGuardian that helps simmers create in-depth stories and like origin stories for their sims with tarot card prompts and Enneagram prompts.

25:12And once they've created that origin story, I feel like it's a natural transition to want a space to actually then start logging the story that you then play for your sims. Got it. So you're promoting these almost as a lead magnet, as an entry point into your world to say, have a free sample. And then if you like this, you're going to love what's on the paid side. Yes, I think it's just important to give them a little peek into Notion because not everybody is tech savvy as well. And I want them to feel comfortable and confident with their purchase because, again, the SimGuardian is an investment.

25:45So I don't want anybody to have buyer's remorse. And I want them to, yeah, see that it's not just any old template. I put a lot of love and effort in the template. And I think they see that even with the free stuff I make. And so it can help them, like, reassure them that, okay, if they get the SimGuardian, then they might be making the right decision. But, again, I also offer free templates because I think even if you want the SimGuardian, it might not be within your reach at this very moment. And so I just think it's important to help simmers at every stage at where they are. No, that makes sense.