My Rap Boot Camp Business

[Donovon]

Rap is poetry.

Or at least it can be, if it's well written and the rapper understands music.

In a nutshell, I want to eventually create a website with a lot of great content about how to create high quality rap music and develop yourself as an artist. This thread will document my progress and process.

Here's how I got here:

I already have a Youtube channel where I've made videos with tips on how to rap, but it's all jumbled and totally random. It also makes me almost no money. I get about 10,000 views a month, which equates to about $10 in ad revenue. Totally passive! Fastlane baby! Not. Boo to having youtube be in control of how much money I make and all my content. However, I think based on those numbers there is likely a market for this. (There is also a relatively high sales rank book about how to rap)

So how do I tap into it?

I looked into other tutorials and rap classes and frankly, most of them are awful. The concepts are not broken down specifically enough. There's not enough examples. Half the time these other rappers/teachers are familiar with ideas and use them regularly in their own work, but have no idea how to explain them. They also really don't give the students processes for creating their own work or specific exercises for practice.

So the first step I'm taking is to create a complete 30 day boot camp on how to rap that will take anyone from not knowing anything about rap, to being able to rap at a comfortable level. Right now the course is broken into 3 sections of 10 lessons each, with a few bonus lessons between the breaks in sections. Each lesson will have a subject as well as a recommended exercise to follow and will be small enough to digest and complete in about 30 minutes (a few run longer than that). I'm also creating this under the angle that it is to be used to help learn a skill, not to get famous, rich or any of that other bullshit.

Right now, I'm running a text-only, free version (I plan on having videos and other audio materials when it's finished) of the course on a private group on facebook. I was planning on only doing this for 1-2 people, but as soon as I posted I had 20+ responses, and more people ask to be added every day. That's a good sign right? I let in about 15 people I thought could really benefit from it and will not be adding anyone else. I am currently on day 10, we just finished up section 1.

That group is giving me 2 benefits:

1. I get feedback on each lesson as it's presented, see what was clear and what was not so I can edit accordingly.
2. Being accountable for writing a lesson every day for this group means I don't slack off. Every day I work on the content.

The tentative plan is to finish up the course, edit for the small issues, then use all the written material as baselines for corresponding video content. After I shoot all the video, I'm going to have it professionally edited to make them look really nice. I get money extra money from my job (nasty word) to hire people like this for our personal projects (thanks for allocating extra to financing my freedom).

Finally, I plan on putting all the materials together onto a web site that sells the course, which also has a forum for the students to discuss with each other. I have a friend who should be able to code this for me, if not, I will just hire someone. Figuring out all the fine details is still a ways out still but I plan on having the course set in a way that you can purchase each 10 day section for $10 each or $25 and get the full 30 days. Making a course purchase would be the only way to access the forums.

If that is successful, I then plan on developing the site to allow other teachers to post their own courses, with very specific guidelines to ensure quality, covering more advanced skills and other boot camps. I would get a percentage of any sales they make on their courses. I also plan on contacting current rap forums as well as other rap sites I've built relationships with about the possibility of setting up affiliate advertising for my course on their sites. (Already have 2 on board)

And that is the plan my friends, I wish you well as you pursue your goals as well. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you or any questions I can answer.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[BigBrianC]

Sweet idea, sounds like you validated and you have a good plan! If you could get one famous rapper to speak out for you, you'd lock the market immediately. Good luck!

 

[Donovon]

If you could get one famous rapper to speak out for you, you'd lock the market immediately.

Thanks for the vote of confidence!

 

[Esquire]

Teaching people to Rap ...?

Take this idea behind the barn ... and shoot it.

Seriously.

Unless your name is Flavor Flav or Chuck D ... this is insane.

Your target demographic is B-R-O-K-E.

As in "No Money Whatsoever."

Commandment of need ...? Fail. Commandment of entry ...? Fail. Unique selling proposition ...? Fail. Magnitude ...? Fail.

Terrible idea.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Donovon]

Teaching people to Rap ...?

Take this idea behind the barn ... and shoot it.

Seriously.

Unless your name is Flavor Flav or Chuck D ... this is insane.

Your target demographic is B-R-O-K-E.

As in "No Money Whatsoever."

Commandment of need ...? Fail. Commandment of entry ...? Fail. Unique selling proposition ...? Fail. Magnitude ...? Fail.

Terrible idea.

I must respectfully disagree. It feels like you started spouting before you even read the entire OP.

Rap is like any other form of art or music. You can take beginner guitar lessons can't you? Do they have to be from Jimi Hendrix for you to believe they would be helpful?

There's a huge market in the underground rap industry for leasing instrumentals, professional mixing and mastering, etc. I may need to get them on board with me at an earlier point in their progress, but there's definitely people out there who can pay for this. Take a look at #13 on this list, I wonder who is buying this if they don't have any money. Does stealing count in your sales ranking on Amazon? Certainly people must be stealing it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/4533/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_5_last

Commandment of need - Arguably no one NEEDS rap lessons, so you're right about that. But I think there's a pretty good chunk of the population that would agree a lot of the people who rap need a grounding in poetic techniques so their lyrics don't sound so stupid. The other courses and alternatives I've seen (besides the book mentioned earlier) are pretty weak.

Commandment of entry - I would love for you to give me a good lesson about what multi-syllable rhyming is and how to use it without it sounding forced. Don't forget to include a list of exercises I can use to develop my skill in that area.
When you're done with that go ahead and add slant rhymes, assonance, consonance, how to count bars, how to develop my flow, as well as 20 other topics. I also need a community where I can bring my work to share for feedback as I go through the lessons. Thanks. Shouldn't take too long since there's no entry barrier.

If you'd like to open a continued discussion, with actual points or questions instead of rambling assumptions and stereotypes, I would be happy to oblige. Otherwise, can the negativity. I'll do my thing, you do yours. I have absolutely no time for individuals who are only aiming to bring me down and can't be bothered to have an actual discussion.

 

[Esquire]

The question is not "do I have something to teach" .... the question is ... whether the people visiting your site ... will pay money for it ... and if so ... how much.

If you are catering to a cash strapped demographic ... teaching them something they can learn to do for free ... good luck.

Has nothing to do with you. I don't know anything about you. I just don't like the idea.

Not at least where making money is concerned.

 

[Donovon]

Let me ask you this, why do you think my demographic is THAT cash-strapped? I see it as you stereotyping the kinds of individuals that are interested in rap music as extremely poor (probably inner city with low IQ's too). I assure you the audience interested in rap music at this time is far wider than that set of individuals. Now, by no means do I think my audience would be particularly wealthy individuals, but no less so than those who purchase netflix for example.

I've shown you things people in this market are spending money on. Products similar to or related to what I'm planning on creating. So I'm having a hard time getting at the point you're trying to develop besides that you're having a negative gut reaction. Which is absolutely fine, but that's not nearly enough reason for me to abandon this haha.

I will agree with you partially on one point though. I don't think this will be a revolutionary business that makes me hundreds of millions of dollars or anything like that. That's really not my intention at this point. Right now, this just seems like the most achievable business I can create and grow with the amount of money I have to invest. I'm still working 40 hours a week at a job. If I get this project up to even $20,000/year in profit, that's a massive win in my books. It gives me flexibility and freedom to grow this or start something else. It's not necessarily the final destination, just the next achievable step.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Esquire]

Just so you know ...

Even if you were targeting a more affluent demographic ... and teaching them "how to golf" ... unless you were a retired PGA Champion ... I'd say the exact same thing.

Take it behind the barn ... and shoot it.

There are some things ... that can require celebrity and credibility ... to make the product saleable.

Just like cookbooks. No star power. No sales. Does not matter how good your receipes are. Without star power ... you are pretty much doomed.

Unless you have a big name rapper on board ... with legitimate star power ... I don't see it happening. And even then ... it's an uphill climb (on account of the demographics).

I will concede one point however ... what you learn from creating it may well be more valuable than the product itself. If you learn how to create a model ... then flip that model into something else ... that satisfies the Fastlane commandments ... whole different story.

So if the goal is not (really) "teaching people to rap" ... but (rather) "teaching yourself how to create a membership site" .... then forget everything I just said ... and go for it.

 

[Lathan]

cash strapped demographic

I used to be involved in music production, selling beats, etc. Surrounded by lots of music producers and "up and coming artists" and I can definitely vouch for this.

A lot of the rappers rapping about how they "get money" are the same ones coming to music producers asking for free beats instead of leasing them or buying the exclusive rights to them. A good portion of them just rap over the beat with the voice tag still on the beat.

Good luck OP. I hope you do well.

 

[Donovon]

Just so you know ...

Even if you were targeting a more affluent demographic ... and teaching them "how to golf" ... unless you were a retired PGA Champion ... I'd say the exact same thing.

Take it behind the barn ... and shoot it.

There are some things ... that can require celebrity and credibility ... to make the product saleable.

Just like cookbooks. No star power. No sales. Does not matter how good your receipes are. Without star power ... you are pretty much doomed.

Unless you have a big name rapper on board ... with legitimate star power ... I don't see it happening. And even then ... it's an uphill climb (on account of the demographics).

I will concede one point however ... what you learn from creating it may well be more valuable than the product itself. If you learn how to create a model ... then flip that model into something else ... that satisfies the Fastlane commandments ... whole different story.

So if the goal is not (really) "teaching people to rap" ... but (rather) "teaching yourself how to create a membership site" .... then forget everything I just said ... and go for it.

Nowwwww we're getting somewhere! Now that you've expanded a bit about your reasoning being that without star power it will be impossible to hit enough sales to make it worthwhile, THAT's a valid point. Definitely something to consider.

Do you think the level of skill being taught makes a difference? For example people get beginner golf lessons from people who didn't play PGA all the time. You think because it's in a non-personalized format (not face to face and one on one) that is enough to obliterate any chance of decent sales?

And yes, ultimately the goal is to learn until I can get something to stick. This is my nth million business idea that I've tried to put into motion. So it may fall into oblivion and fail like the rest before. That's ok. Each time I learn. Get some ideas for something new and a few things to avoid the next time around. Rap just happens to be something I know a little about.

I used to be involved in music production, selling beats, etc. Surrounded by lots of music producers and "up and coming artists" and I can definitely vouch for this.

A lot of the rappers rapping about how they "get money" are the same ones coming to music producers asking for free beats instead of leasing them or buying the exclusive rights to them. A good portion of them just rap over the beat with the voice tag still on the beat.

Good luck OP. I hope you do well.

Haha I never got that either. I'm looking to hit a pretty specific portion of the market, a lot of those guys are in the glorified gangster rap category they wouldn't take lessons even for free. I'm looking more at the poetry/rap crossovers, people looking to increase their range of self-expression. Not the Lil Wayne and Waka Flocka crowd, but the Atmosphere, Mos Def type individuals. Not a huge market by any means, but like I said if I can get some money or knowledge out of it, that's good enough until the next project takes me over.

Thanks for the good cheer.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Esquire]

Alright ... here's an idea for ya (that just might work):

"Rappin for Whitey"

"Inner city brothas from the hood teaching upper middle class white kids how to rap."

I'm dead serious.

Great marketing and media possibilities ... affluent target demographic ...

You could show a video of a dorky uptighty-whitey ... tranforming into an O.G. Eminem ... I think that would be entertaining to watch and get great play.

Dead F*cking serious.

Rappin for Whitey.

 

[jon.a]

Alright ... here's an idea for ya (that just might work):

"Rappin for Whitey"

"Inner city brothas from the hood teaching upper middle class white kids how to rap."

I'm dead serious.

Great marketing and media possibilities ... affluent target demographic ...

You could show a video of a dorky uptighty-whitey ... tranforming into an O.G. Eminem ... I think that would be entertaining to watch and get great play.

Dead F*cking serious.

Rappin for Whitey.

You might as well just say the rappin cracker

 

[Esquire]

Another thing you could do ... is sell gift certificates ... for "Teaching Grandpa and Grandma to Rap"

Great gag gift potential there ... and who knows ... grandma might even like it.

I'm telling ya ... this is the angle that can turn dud to stud. Get creative ... have some fun ... and run with it.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Kingmaker]

Esquire seems to be looking at this from his own world view, "the demographic here is poor black kids from the ghetto with no money, therefore there's no money in it." Music is a HUGE industry, with lots of niches OP can tap into. There's boatloads of money in it. If rap boot camp flops but is his "in" and learning experience into the industry, that will already be a success that sets him up for more in the future.

Alright ... here's an idea for ya (that just might work):

"Rappin for Whitey"

"Inner city brothas from the hood teaching upper middle class white kids how to rap."

I'm dead serious.

Great marketing and media possibilities ... affluent target demographic ...

You could show a video of a dorky uptighty-whitey ... tranforming into an O.G. Eminem ... I think that would be entertaining to watch and get great play.

Dead F*cking serious.

Rappin for Whitey.

You do realize that OP is white?

@Donovon Good on you for taking those comments as constructive criticism and responding to them accordingly, the silly stuff quoted above is proof that it was a silly argument. Even if you fail but learn from it, everyone here appreciates some good lessons learned from failure. Do your thing, report back when you have made some progress.

 

[davedev]

A lot of the rappers rapping about how they "get money" are the same ones coming to music producers asking for free beats instead of leasing them or buying the exclusive rights to them.

This sure brings back bad memories. I've had this happened to me back when I mixed songs and sold beats a few years ago.

 

[Guest3722A]

I think it's a misconception to think that musicians and artists are broke. When I built an artist based business I had mostly middle-class tenants who looked at it as an alternative to bowling

To be honest though, the idea seems a little self-serving as I don't see pockets of thousands of people looking for a place to teach them how to rap.

There's lots of pass-times out there. Are you sure that rap lessons are going to float to the top?

Isn't rap like 30 years old?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Esquire]

Esquire seems to be looking at this from his own world view, "the demographic here is poor black kids from the ghetto with no money, therefore there's no money in it." Music is a HUGE industry, with lots of niches OP can tap into. There's boatloads of money in it.

Music is one of the worst industries on the planet.

Sure ... there are a "few" people making money on it ... just as there are a "few" people making money playing professional basketball ...

But 99% of the people playing basketball ... like 99% of people in the music business ... ain't raking in the bucks.

Even the sharks (from Shark Tank) have said as much.

Yes ... I am looking at it from "my" world view.

Who you sell to ... is just as important ... as what you sell.

Sell products and services to people with no money ... and odds are ... that's exactly what you'll end up with.

20% of the population ... has 80% of the wealth.

That ... is the demographic to aim for.

If the O.P. can target THAT market ... then maybe (just maybe) he can turn a profit.

And who knows ... with a little creative marketing ... maybe even a nice one.

But if he markets this service to the hood ... forget about it ... game over.

Either way ... like I said before ... if money is not the end goal here ... and the O.P. is willing to use this as a learning experience ... then more power to him. In the long run ... what he gets from the experience just might justify the short term investment of time and money.

 

[Esquire]

You do realize that OP is white?

Really ...?

Well ... if I had to choose between learning rap from a white guy ... or taking country western lessons from a Chinese immigrant ... man ... tough call.

Well ... suffice to say ... the upward hill ... just got a little higher.

Guess it just is what it is.

 

[wade1mil]

The worst part about this forum in particular is when people discourage others from taking action on an idea. Especially when "ideas" are seen as worthless without action. I'm sure Esquire means well and I'm sure there's some truth to what he's saying, but if someone with an idea chose to take action based on the opinions of people on this forum, not a single person would do anything. Ever. Regardless of whether the idea can work or not, you don't know until you try. Figure out a way to minimize your risk, speed up your validation, and find out whether your idea works in practice rather than theory. Even if Esquire is spot on with his advice, at least you know you took the necessary steps to know for sure, and avoid any regrets or "what ifs." It's definitely better than sitting around your house mentally masturbating about ideas for the next year. Good luck!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[EN_VY]

God luck man, just do it and see how it works out.

 

[Donovon]

Just finished the written material and the test group, but it wasn't quite what I wanted. The students were pleasant and thanked me, but I don't think it had nearly the pop I was looking for. I DID see significant improvements from almost all of them between day 1 and 30, which is amazing to me. I love seeing the growth.

I am going to work hard to revamp the exercises I provided and make them more engaging. I think I left them too vague and it didn't prompt them to actually do the work. I am working on the corresponding audio and video materials now.

I've also realized through the test group that although the lessons are broken down a little better than most other sources, the real value is in a positive community. Having a place to get feedback and constructive criticism on the art is more powerful than the materials themselves. So when I get to building the site/forums I'm going to put a little more effort into making sure it's a place for positive reinforcement. If I can use the course as a reason to join into the community, I think that's where the most value is. Will definitely think a little bit more how to develop that further.

As always, if there's anything I can do for any of you let me know. Cheers!

 

[BigBrianC]

Did you charge the test group or give them for free? And did you make sure you got feedback?

Good job on taking action!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Donovon]

Did you charge the test group or give them for free? And did you make sure you got feedback?

Good job on taking action!

I didn't charge them because I wanted to make sure the material was effective before I started selling it. I would feel like an a**hole selling a course that hadn't gotten results of any kind for anyone. I know giving something away for free and charging for it can make a huge difference in reception, but I wanted to build a value base first, then move into selling it.

I'm still getting feedback, but the biggest things I heard so far were:

A. It's impossible to get a decent understanding of some of the musical aspects without audio examples (anticipated that).
B. Wanted more individualized coaching and feedback.

To address that I'm going to create examples that are more specific, and include questions/tests that have 'answers' which will be a little harder because it's an art, but I think I can pull something like that together and it would be extremely helpful.

I'm also going to focus on a community, so people can get the extra feedback and reinforcement they need.

I appreciate the questions brotha, forces me to organize my thoughts.

 

[BigBrianC]

Awesome. Good luck!

 

[loop101]

Maybe select a book as your "textbook", and teach a few things out of the book, combined with your own stuff. Give them a complimentary copy of the book during the class. Or write your own book. The book might lend authority. Here is the first one I see on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HF3PAK/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Donovon]

Polishing up the written materials has taken much longer than it should have. I'm working consistently, but not nearly hard enough. The written materials are really solid now and I've gotten some of the audio support ready, but I still have to create the video components.

I started looking into getting a website developed and immediately became overwhelmed with all the components, especially the price. Talking to a few companies and getting quotes for what I wanted done, the estimates were between $3,500-$5,000. I can pull together to afford that, but it's terrifying, and I don't feel like it's a great idea to invest most of my money into something that may not sell very well. I need to better validate my idea, but how?

While looking through options and brainstorming, I came across another idea. I can finish my course and put it on a site like Udemy.com. Yes, they will take a big chunk of the earnings and I give up control, but it will allow me to see how viable the product is. If it does well, then I can invest in my own platform to re-take my earnings and regain control. I feel like that is the best way to mitigate risk.

Now I know I said a community is something I wanted to focus on, but I feel like without the course being powerful, it will be an uphill battle trying to create a paying community so that's my focus for now. Even if I do develop that later, I want them to be supplementary, but strong enough to stand alone.

Let me know what you think, and as always, if there's anything I can do for you, let me know.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Polishing up the written materials has taken much longer than it should have. I'm working consistently, but not nearly hard enough. The written materials are really solid now and I've gotten some of the audio support ready, but I still have to create the video components.

I started looking into getting a website developed and immediately became overwhelmed with all the components, especially the price. Talking to a few companies and getting quotes for what I wanted done, the estimates were between $3,500-$5,000. I can pull together to afford that, but it's terrifying, and I don't feel like it's a great idea to invest most of my money into something that may not sell very well. I need to better validate my idea, but how?

While looking through options and brainstorming, I came across another idea. I can finish my course and put it on a site like Udemy.com. Yes, they will take a big chunk of the earnings and I give up control, but it will allow me to see how viable the product is. If it does well, then I can invest in my own platform to re-take my earnings and regain control. I feel like that is the best way to mitigate risk.

Now I know I said a community is something I wanted to focus on, but I feel like without the course being powerful, it will be an uphill battle trying to create a paying community so that's my focus for now. Even if I do develop that later, I want them to be supplementary, but strong enough to stand alone.

Let me know what you think, and as always, if there's anything I can do for you, let me know.

With Udemy, you get 97% of the revenue that you refer. The 3% they take is for credit card processing. Just go with Udemy.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

And in case you care, I completely side with @Esquire. This is an idea that you're not suited to succeed with. Find something that you're passionate about, that you can execute on, and that there's a need for.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but here's my analysis of your idea:

• You're not a successful rapper (no credibility)
• You're located in Salt Lake City (even less credibility)
• There's no validated market. You listed this link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/4533/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_5_last. Nothing on there validates the market. 50th Law of Power is a self-help book. The others are biographies. Bun B's Rap Coloring Book is a gag gift.
• You make roughly $120 a year from Youtube ads. Unless you're looking to get paid at $10 an hour, then that number proves nothing.
• You're white in a predominantly African American market. (This point will piss a lot of people off. But feel free to prove me wrong by posting a video of you teaching a rap lesson on WorldStarHipHop.com. See the reaction you get.)

If you're doing this to learn about creating a business, then keep going. If you're doing this to make $20,000 a month (as you stated before), then you should strongly reconsider what you're doing.

And sorry if this sounds harsh. I fully expect you to get angry and defensive. However, when you mentioned spending $5,000 that you don't have, on a website for this idea, then I felt obligated to at least give an opinion.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Donovon]

I wanted to pair it with a paid membership forum because I think that has potential to make more money if I can build a community out of it.

I want to make sure the course can sell first though. And either way once it's on udemy, I'll definitely keep it there. Thanks for the feedback.

Oooooh la la, much more feedback, one second I'll respond.

 

[Donovon]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but here's my analysis of your idea:

• You're not a successful rapper (no credibility)
• You're located in Salt Lake City (even less credibility)
• There's no validated market. You listed this link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/4533/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_5_last. Nothing on there validates the market. 50th Law of Power is a self-help book. The others are biographies. Bun B's Rap Coloring Book is a gag gift.
• You make roughly $120 a year from Youtube ads. Unless you're looking to get paid at $10 an hour, then that number proves nothing.
• You're white in a predominantly African American market. (This point will piss a lot of people off. But feel free to prove me wrong by posting a video of you teaching a rap lesson on WorldStarHipHop.com. See the reaction you get.)

If you're doing this to learn about creating a business, then keep going. If you're doing this to make $20,000 a month (as you stated before), then you should strongly reconsider what you're doing.

And sorry if this sounds harsh. I fully expect you to get angry and defensive. However, when you mentioned spending $5,000 that you don't have, on a website for this idea, then I felt obligated to at least give an opinion.

I appreciate you taking the time to leave your feedback. I'm already far enough in that I'm going to finish the course regardless.

Here's a white guy teaching a rap class on Udemy, and it looks like he's doing pretty well. Over 1,000 students at ~$100 pop aint bad. Ever heard of him? Me either. https://www.udemy.com/how-to-freestyle-rap/?dtcode=Um2Z7c63glod. I'm not saying this means I'll be successful, but to me it seems like good evidence against a big chunk of your points. He's white, he's making money, he's not commercially successful on any serious level I'm aware of, and I haven't the faintest clue where he's from. Is that a more realistic/fair market proof? (Although I happily concede I don't really know what I was doing with that first link. I guess saying a how to rap book is top 20? Meh, not the best argument for market validation.)

I mentioned the website because it's part of my learning process. I ran into that phase and went, oh wait, this doesn't seem like a good fit for where I am or what I'm trying to accomplish. Part of my progress thread is just explaining my thought processes and experiences, in case it helps anyone down the road. Not to mention it helps me personally, just to organize my thoughts.

My goal wasn't $20,000/month, I said I'd be really happy with a $20,000 a YEAR boost in my income and a learning experience. It's definitely not big riches, but for where I'm at now I'd be extremely happy.

I really appreciate the feedback though. Seriously gets my brain pumping and helps me look at factors more clearly. If you have more, please let me know. I'd love to keep discussing.