From Zero Followers to Earning a Full-Time Income from Video Games: How I Established an Online Business for Sims Enthusiasts

      Side Hustle Nation is focused on enhancing your personal profitability. To achieve this, we frequently collaborate with companies that share our vision. If you register or make a purchase via one of our partners’ links, we may receive compensation at no additional cost to you. Learn more. Have you ever considered transforming your passion for video games into a source of income?

      Gloria Riley from YellowLlamaCo.com designs and sells personalized digital planners and templates tailored for fans of The Sims video game.

      She has built a full-time income by assisting “serious simmers” in organizing their gameplay, managing their virtual families, and remaining connected to their digital realms. Tune into Episode 701 of the Side Hustle Show to discover:

      - How to convert a personal interest into a lucrative niche business

      - How TikTok and YouTube can foster viral growth and steady sales

      - Techniques for creating, pricing, and marketing digital products for an enthusiastic community

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      From Personal Challenge to Profitable Product

      Gloria’s venture began with a challenge she experienced herself.

      As a dedicated Sims player, she developed an attachment to her virtual families but struggled to keep track of them consistently. She sought a systematic approach to document her Sims’ lives, attributes, and narratives without having to start over each time.

      Thus, she developed the SimPlanner, a physical planner with pre-defined fields for tracking character profiles and daily gameplay.

      She launched it via Amazon’s print-on-demand service (KDP) for $12.99 and made just two sales in the first month.

      The issue? She hadn’t promoted it at all.

      The Viral TikTok Moment That Altered Everything

      After her sister encouraged her to begin posting on TikTok, Gloria posted regularly for about a month with minimal engagement. Then she created a simple 6-second video using a trending sound that essentially asked, “Does that make me a weirdo?”

      She showcased her planner while humorously admitting her obsession with The Sims to the audience.

      The video went viral. Hundreds commented saying, “I want this, I need this.” Sales quickly followed.

      This viral experience taught Gloria a crucial insight about her market. She wasn’t competing against other planners; she was up against spreadsheets.

      Some Sims players had been tracking their games manually, but there wasn’t a printed planner designed specifically for this need.

      Expanding Beyond the Physical Planner

      With consistent four-figure monthly earnings from the physical planner, Gloria felt at ease to leave her job and concentrate on her business full-time.

      However, rather than just intensifying marketing for her existing product, she embraced her role as a “compulsive maker” and promptly began creating new products.

      She ventured into digital templates for GoodNotes (an iPad note-taking app) and OneNote, priced at $20 each.

      These digital formats provided higher profit margins since there were no printing expenses, appealing to a segment of her audience that preferred digital organization.

      The digital products also boasted a unique value proposition: customers could duplicate and reuse them indefinitely, unlike the physical planner that would eventually run out of pages.

      The Flagship Product: SimGuardian

      Gloria’s most comprehensive offering is the SimGuardian, a Notion template priced at $100.

      This marked a significant price increase from her other products ($20-40), prompting some pushback from the community when she announced it.

      However, she maintained her pricing because the SimGuardian is significantly more detailed than her other products. It includes areas for character profiles, lore tracking, screenshot organization, and interconnected databases allowing users to link everything cohesively.

      She only created it after Notion launched Formulas 2.0, which finally enabled her to manifest the functionality she had envisioned.

      To make the higher price point more accessible, Gloria employs Parity Deals to offer location-based pricing for countries with lower purchasing power. She also continues to provide free templates so users of all budget levels can benefit from her work.

      Marketing Strategy: YouTube Over Everything

      While TikTok gave Gloria her initial boost, YouTube has become her main sales engine. Her channel now hosts over 3,000 subscribers, and she posts on a weekly basis every Friday.

      Her most successful video, “You’re Never Going to Stop Playing The Sims After This,” has amassed over 170,000 views.

      What makes it distinctive is that she merged two themes: soap opera storytelling techniques and Sims gameplay. The video addresses a common issue (losing interest