This creator’s seven-figure side hustle

^{Making a living as a creator shouldn’t be some elusive thing. And what’s the best way to learn how creators are making it work? To go behind-the-scenes. These bi-weekly interview issues are like having coffee with your favorite creators. If we haven’t met before, I’m Amanda Smith. I write about solopreneurship and the creator economy.}

Good morning. This week’s creator story is so refreshing. She went all in on one channel with a mission to show everyday people that wealth is possible. 

Her content is real, practical, and funny. Within a year, she blew up to 100,000 followers, then listened when her audience was asking her to create a course. 

That course has now done seven figures in six months. 

Oh, and she doesn’t have funnels, ads or a team. 

You’re in for a treat. 

Subscribe | Past essays | Let’s collaborate | Insane Media | Instagram

Jackie Coffey has been flipping houses for 22 years. Her favorite thing is building wealth in a male-dominated industry. As a single mom, sick of working hard for nothing, she started flipping to elevate her economic status. With no real estate or construction experience, she bet on herself. This was in 2004, before YouTube, TikTok and Google, as we know it today. She spent her days learning at the library. 

It took 202 calls to finally get a yes on financing her first flip. Advice from her mom helped her not give up. “Replace the word can’t with how.” 

Today, Coffey has flipped over 1,000 properties and owns 100+ rentals. Last year, she decided to get on TikTok to share her journey and help make wealth feel within reach for everyday people. 

“I didn’t set out to become a content creator. I just wanted to tell the truth about real estate.” 

Her profile blew up. 

Coffey posted a video saying something no one else was about real estate – that flipping is messy, hard, and you don’t need to be perfect to be wealthy. 

It struck a chord. 

“I wasn’t trying to be a guru. I realized people weren’t lacking information. They were lacking representation. They wanted somebody that looked like them, spoke like them, telling them that they could do it, too.” 

Coffey grew by telling the truth, posting consistently, and talking about real-like experiences (delivered with a dash of silliness and humor). For example, the reality behind-the-scenes, contractor chaos, and deals going sideways. She posted for people, not TikTok’s algorithm. 

The creator chose TikTok rather than YouTube because she didn’t want to worry about lighting, sound, editing etc. “I just wanted to talk straight to the camera, without any fluff or complexity,” she said. 

Coffey doesn’t leave anything on the table, for the sake of her stats. If a follower asks if they need an LLC, she’ll give them the answer up front, then explain why. 

This makes the length irrelevant. 

30 seconds to three minutes, as long as it’s good information and honest feedback, she gets good engagement for the entire video. 

“I think people were just starving for a teacher who didn’t sugarcoat anything.” 

Coffey approaches her business in layers. 

Her content helps attract new investors, lenders, and students. It’s the perfect execution of how social can support an established business, rather than just being an “influencer.” 

Coffey grew her TikTok to over 100,000 followers and about a year in, her audience started asking for a course on how to flip houses. She hesitated, not wanting to “be a course person,” fearing it would impact her authenticity, but ultimately listened to her audience. 

She went against her accountant’s advice who told her to price it at $5,000. Instead, she put it up for $998. Since May 2025, she’s sold over 1,500 courses – without ads, funnels or a team. “It was just posting on TikTok between contractor calls and picking my son up from school.” 

Coffey has the course and a book, “How NOT to flip a house,” which has done well, too. She’s sold about 40,000 copies, which equates to 40% of her TikTok audience. 

“I feel like my success is almost from doing none of that. My reviews say, Jackie will give you the meat and potatoes on TikTok, then the course is where you get all of the sides,” Coffey shared. 

“I never push the course. Psychologically speaking, not selling the course is what’s selling the course. I will always answer everyone’s questions on TikTok, but the course is where everything is in order and comes with all the documents.” 

“Not selling the course has been one of the biggest selling aspects,” she said. 

Coffey’s approach is radically simple: If her audience asks for it, she creates it. Free or paid. 

For example, a free downloadable money lender cheat sheet – not to get emails, but because a follower requested it. Her followers get to talk to her live on TikTok a couple of times a week. She also has an active Facebook group. Next, she’s launching into live events. 

Her most popular video on TikTok is Coffey showing how she built her inground pool (and saved $70-80K). The pool company contacted her and couldn’t believe she posted it without asking for anything. Recently, she’s started to get interest from brands that are more aligned with what she does. 

“Not like magnetic eyelashes or grill covers,” she laughed. 

It’s time to put some of the side hustles into the main hustle. Bet on yourself.

As always, hit reply if something in here hits home.
Want content shaped around your priorities? 🔥Make it happen here.

Speak soon,
Amanda

P.S. If you want to get a feature about your own IP, reply to this email. If you’d like to reach our newsletter audience (founders, creators, and marketers), click the button below.

If you’re new here, I’m over the moon you’ve joined us! To help me craft content that’s actually useful (and not just noise in your inbox), I’d love it if you took 1 minute to answer this quick survey below. Your insights help shape everything I write.

Dive into our other newsletters - where psychology meets the founders, e-commerce marketing, Human resources and AI trends.