5 Biz Fri 📈 #0001: Job Boards that make $80k/mo

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👋 Welcome to the first post of our new series, "5 Biz Fri", where every Friday you will receive 5 businesses that started as "5 to 9s". I'll share their revenue, how they got users, and maybe some tips to create your own! The goal? To help you find your next 5 to 9.

Whether you're an engineer, a veteran founder, or someone looking to start their first side business, you'll definitely find value here! Now, onto the list 👇

Japan Dev - $80k/mo 💵

What is it?

A curated niche job board for software engineer jobs in tech. They focus on companies that give benefits foreigners care about (remote work, visa, language and diversity, salary, etc).

Founded by Eric Turner and his wife Manami

How does it make money?

Unlike other job boards which will pay you a flat "sponsorship fee" for being a promoted post at the top, Japan Dev charges a fee when a company hires a person through the job board. They take the recruiter fee that companies would have paid and earn a portion through this new process!

How did it get users?

Cold emailed companies to join the job board. The first company was where Eric actually worked

Got applicants to the job board through a series of SEO, blogging, and social media. Eric made sure to create separate pages to rank high on long-tail keywords, added structured JSON to job posts to show up on Google, and did a lot of blogging!

How can I create something similar?

• Create your own job board with Pallet (good for creators with a preexisting audience). Examples include Lenny's Newsletter and Sahil's Job Board

• Use no-code tools such as the Airtable + Softr combination to customize design and to gain more ownership. Nanny's Network is an example and Softr has a tutorial here

Taplio - $50k/mo 💵

• LinkedIn automation tool to help you schedule content and grow. Founded by Tibo

• Main source of users? Audience growing on Twitter (nearly 50k followers), guest posts, 1.2k upvotes on Product Hunt

Create Circus - $24k/mo 💵

• Shopify development agency based in UK to help create e-commerce stores. They help you with website design, SEO, and even custom features you want.

• Get users through blogging, SEO, and through freelance platforms. Charge based on one-off custom requests and sometimes retainers for long-term projects

Doing Content Right - $150k sales 💵

• Info product created by Steph Smith of The Hustle on writing and scaling newsletters. Gumroad makes it super easy to sell these types of products, and there's no maintenance you need to do afterward!

• Reached Product Hunt #1 of the day, huge Twitter following, podcast host of A16Z, and guest appearances in blogs and podcasts such as MFM.

• Started presells at $10 to get the word out and slowly increased the price.

• Great podcast about it here and learn more about why info products are great!

Niche TikTok Account - $3k/mo 💵

• YourAverageTechBro TikTok account discussing topics around tech, engineering, and startups. Currently at 170,000 followers

• Revenue is through sponsorships, ad money, and course sales. Used the branding "Working at Google" to initially start off a YouTube channel. Switched to TikTok in 2021 and reached 10,000 followers on the 6th/7th post (viral video here).

Thanks for reading, and I hope this helped you or you found it interesting! If you haven't already, follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn for the stories and insights that don't make it to the newsletter. Also, check me out on Medium for more personal blogs!