Taking a directory website to $5k a month

Can I do it in 9 months?

In my 2025 New Year’s Resolutions post, I shared that one of my 3 main goals for the year is to make $5k a month in side income in 9 months. I have 3 business ideas for making this happen - a directory website, a collaborative TechEd platform for churches, and my personal brand. After a lot of pondering, I’ve decided to double down on the directory website first - mainly because it’s the clearest path for me and there are many different ways to monetize so I can pivot easily if needed.

I’m sure a lot of you out there are laughing at me and my “small” goal. Maybe some of you can get to $5k in monthly revenue much quicker than the 9 months I’ve allotted. The internet is FILLED with quick success stories - 6-figure businesses in 1 month, 10,000 followers in one week. Well, I have several reasons I’m going to stick to the goalpost I’ve set.

1. Chasing get rich quick schemes has BURNT me too many times - Pretty self-explanatory, but maybe not. I find that setting the goal too high and too close leads to irrational decisions, emotional attachment to the “dream”, and poorly executed plans. I know this all too well, so I’m taking a much more systematic approach. Launch, iterate, evaluate, repeat, over and over again. I’m almost 100% confident that this approach will get the monthly revenue to where it needs to be, and hopefully be set up for continued growth after the ‘9-month mark’

2. I’m a full time dad with a full-time job - Enough said. All-nighters just aren’t a thing. I’m still figuring out how to juggle my entrepreneurial projects with parenting, husbanding, and home owning. Actually, I’m still figuring out how to parent, husband, and home own as well. All of this is part of the process, and it’s nice to build some buffer so I can step back at times and focus on other things when needed. You know, life

3. This is new territory for me - I’ve succeeded before in making a little side money, but on other platforms - eBay, Amazon, Airbnb. Those were great times, but there’s one common thread with all those side hustles that irked me - lack of control. I was always at the short end of rule changes and fee increases. If I ever got banned from any of the platforms, even if unwarranted, that would be the end of that. In addition, I always saw monetization opportunities that I couldn’t be a part of. Nonetheless, those experiences will always be the seeds of my entrepreneurial outlook, planting the idea that there is money to be made outside of a W2. Now I’ll be creating my own platform, opportunities, income streams. But of course, before I can run, I need to walk. And so, I’m giving myself 9 months to figure that out.

And so there it is.

The destination = $5k a month in side income

The vehicle = a directory website featuring healthcare providers in a quickly growing niche.

The roadmap = keep reading……

Let’s goooooooooooooooo!!!!