#1 Motovlogging
The first way to make some cash while out riding around on your motorcycle is to film yourself, the road, or both while doing it. It’s called Motorcycle Video Blogging or MotoVlogging. By strapping on cameras to your bike or attaching them to your helmet, you can document your journey.
The key for this to work is to make your videos interesting for people to watch. No one wants to see you riding over to your grandma’s house for brunch.
Let’s take a look at WATERRIFIC’s channel:
The top right video MOTOMUMBLE#34 is over an hour long brought in a little over 36,000 views. Moto Monday #85 – Creeping is 5 minutes long, and brought in over 313,000 views.
The difference? Looking at the thumbnails of the videos closer the first is a shot of his logo, while the other is a shot of a Biker Chick with the text “BIKER CHICK” on it. No surprises here right? Fans of Walterriffic will watch everything he puts out. While the internet still likes to see biker chicks.
So just how do you make money $? Youtube allows you to put ads on your videos, and when a view clicks on one of those ads – you get a small piece of the action. Naturally, the more views that your videos are getting, the more likely it is that someone is going to be served an advert that they are interested in enough to click. Easy in theory, difficult to execute on.
Another option is to sell products directly to your audience. You can see popular moto vloggers selling Tshirts via Teespring, stickers, and other scwhag.
The next level up is to start your own website and send your viewers back to it. This turns your Youtube channel into a traffic channel for your site and now you are not dependent on whatever the Youtube thinks that you should make in a given day.
Here are 4 Motovloggers that are making really good money, today.
See how more Motovloggers are cashing in, check these: 8 Amazing Motovloggers To Follow In 2016 by CarThrottle
#2 Deliver Stuff
You have heard of the $billion dollar people moving company that has no actual cars in inventory called UBER right?
They’ve popularized the term that is now common language – “The Sharing Economy.”
No you can partake with your motorcycle. All you need to do is sign-up for one of the many delivery services (they don’t have their own cars/bikes for you to use) and start taking orders right on your phone. Check these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWinROobpbwThe rideshareguy has a great walkthrough called How Much Money Did I Make Driving For Postmates?
While you are not just riding around where ever you feel like, delivering a few lunches and dinners here and there can add up. You needed a reason to get up off the coach and go out anyways? Drop off a few burgers and fries and see some new roads while you are at it.
#3 Stunt ride at shows
Entertainment at any motorcycle rally is a big important piece to the puzzle. When did the last motorcycle rally that you went not have any form of entertainment? Music, booze, women, – these are the standard at most bike events. We are talking “sporty” and “harley” events here.
So if you are good you can get hired to perform stunts at the events and make yourself a bit of cash. The qualifier “good” is loosely defined as can do more tricks that a wheelie.
Robyn Diamond aka “Robyn Stunts”A few of the 10 Coolest Motorcycle Ladies of 2016 do this, and make some really good money at it.
#4 Get sponsored
Fire up those social networks and get yourself a following. Big brands know that buying billboard space along side that highway is not going to produce the results that they are after in 2016 and beyond. That’s interruption marketing – that’s old school. Now, those brands that want to get in front of their target audience (that’s you) are finding more forms of Native advertising.
This is where Sponsors come in. Let’s look at an example: MOTO PILOT.
At the time of getting sponsored by Speed and Strength, he had a following of less than 500 subscribers on his Youtube channel and around the same on Instagram. That’s because his videos are good and the sponsor company saw the value that he can provide with the quality of his content.
So how do you make $ in with this? Create engaging content on your favorite channels and get it in front of people. Show just how valuable it is to your favorite brand and then get creative on how you pitch these brands. “Give me some free stuff and I’ll wear it” emails are going to get thrown in the virtual trash faster than your reputation will if you take that approach.
Start by building a value creating relationship with someone at the company first, and ask them just how to approach the subject. Each is different, and if you are truly a user of their gear then you won’t have a very hard time showing your excitement when you two are talking about it.
#5 Host bike tours
Chances are the you know your way around your stompin’ ground better than anyone. You know the back roads, best stops, and most scenic views in your area. And if you don’t, then WTF?
A LOT of people love to travel and see new places. Get where I am going with this? Just short of starting your own adventure tour company like these guys, you can start small and host local rides. Don’t try and make everyone pay your right out of the gate. Start small and build it up. Word of mouth spreads well about good things. Soon you’ll have yourself a small following and can start hosting out-of-town-ers to join you. Then you can start charging.
#6 Promote your own $hit (like me)
See the links in the side bar about motorcycle glasses ? ——>>
Starting your own motorcycle apparel brand is not as hard as it sounds. Create or find a product that you use and love, and find yourself a manufacturer for it. Basically: product, product market fit, marketing, and order fulfillment. The rest is in the details. I’m no tax lawyer, but having my own companies logo on my $hit, helps to keep uncle sam (or soon-to-be The Trump) a little happier than if I didn’t.
Selling on Amazon is on fire right now, and it might not always be that way. Get in while the getting is good, and don’t look back. Here is the course I took and how I got started on FBA.
You can also use Native Shopping ads on your Motovlog/Blog/whatever like these:
#7 Promote ride apps that have affiliate programs
Did you know that Itunes has an affiliate program? Any app, song, or game (check this one out) that you can find on Itunes, you can promote and make some $$. Fire up the Link Maker and post away.
Let’s say you just lead a group of your buds around town to 3 awesome spots that they haven’t been to or heard of before. They are going to want to know how you found out about them. “Oh yeah, no problem. I found this cool ride sharing app,” Blah Blah Blah – check it out on my Facebook/Pinterest/Snapchat.
And they will send other people there too.
Another tactic that you can apply is to promote sharing tools with all your video and photo content. Viraltag is the distribution scheduling tool that I use, and you can use it to promote your own content and earn a commission on it too.
#8 Model
Lightmode HelmetsWarning, you will be required to look good. Well,….OK, unless you are trying to get your bikini and pose in front of your bike you are not going to have to be a maxim model. (And good luck with that route).
If you look like most the bikers I know, there is a market for images and videos of “the lifestyle.” Snap a few hundred photos of yourself and start putting them up on sites like Flickr and BigStock Photo.
Don’t want to take pictures of yourself? Same here. Landscape, biker events, and motorcycles are a great start. That brings me to my next point; models need photographers to photo them.
#9 Photography
Shoot models, bikes, bikes, roads, or whatever. Take photos of anything interesting while on the road. Make them high quality, tag them well, and you will get them found and downloaded (and earn a commission).
Bonus: Video – Taking high quality videos and uploading them to sites that you can earn a commission from is a great way to expand beyond still-frame images. Check out how to video yourself with drone to get started with a drone.
#10 Rent your bike at times your are not using it
Most likely you have more than one bike. And if your don’t, here could be a great reason to get another one. Rent out the bike that you are not riding around on to pay for both of them. Big rental car companies have started out on less, and there is no reason that you cannot start with a few rentals and build your mini empire from there.
Harley Davidson has been renting out bikes for years. Go to your local dealer and rent one. (just don’t fall in love) That way you can get an idea of what type of coverage you should have and a bit of the other legal hoops to jump through. This is 10 clever ways to make money, not 10 easy ways.
Airbnb and RVshare are 2 big sharing economy sites that have paved the way for like-minded people to share more than just bedrooms with travels and RV rentals. With this now becoming more and more of the normal reality; you the one-man-band have a much better shot at cashing in on the sharing economy too.
Bonus: Contests
Be on the lookout for sweepstakes and contests – setup google alerts for “Motorcycle Sweepstakes/Contests” and get a little lucky.
More from the Blog:
[pt_view id=”dd169a9cee”]