April 2nd, 2026
Happy Thursday!
Welcome back to HOW TO // AI — glad you're here!
Here's what we've got for ya:
👉 5 Ways People Are Making Extra Money With AI
📥 Free Download: The AI Income Starter Kit (Notion Template)
✍️ How to Write Prompts That Actually Get Results
📦 How to Build a Simple Digital Product With AI
🐝 How to Write a Newsletter With AI (And Where to Host It)
🧑💼 Six AI Employees for $29/Month — Meet Marblism
Let's get started!
👉 5 Ways People Are Making Extra Money With AI
Let's be honest — most AI content online is either too technical, too vague, or trying to sell you a $997 course.
This isn't that.
These are five real, beginner-accessible ways people are using AI to generate extra income right now. No coding. No special skills. Just time, the right prompts, and a willingness to try.
💰 1. Freelance Writing and Editing
AI doesn't replace good writers — it makes them dramatically faster. Freelance writers are using AI to research, outline, draft, and polish articles in half the time, which means they can take on more clients without working more hours.
You don't need a portfolio to start. Platforms like Contra, Fiverr, and LinkedIn are full of businesses that need blog posts, newsletters, product descriptions, and social captions written consistently.
Start here:
I want to offer freelance writing services for [your niche — e.g. small businesses, health and wellness, tech startups].
Help me:
- Write a one-paragraph pitch I can use to reach out to potential clients
- List 5 types of content I could offer
- Suggest a starter price for each service
💰 2. Selling Digital Products
Templates, guides, checklists, prompt packs, mini-courses — digital products cost nothing to produce and nothing to ship. AI makes building them faster than ever, and platforms like Gumroad and Etsy let you sell them while you sleep.
The best digital products solve one specific problem for one specific person. AI helps you figure out what that problem is, build the solution, and write the sales copy.
(More on this in today's How To section below 👇)
💰 3. Social Media Management for Local Businesses
Most small local businesses — restaurants, salons, gyms, real estate agents — know they should be posting on social media but don't have time to do it. That's your opening.
With AI you can manage content for 3-5 clients in a few hours a week. Research their industry, generate captions, create content calendars, and schedule posts. Charge $300-500 per client per month and you have a real side income.
Start here:
I'm going to manage social media for a [type of business — e.g. local coffee shop].
Create a 2-week content calendar for their Instagram with:
- A post idea for each day
- A caption draft for each post
- 3 relevant hashtags per post
- One post per week that encourages engagement
Tone: [warm / fun / professional]
💰 4. AI-Assisted Resume and LinkedIn Services
Job seekers are paying $100-300 for resume rewrites and LinkedIn profile overhauls — and AI makes this fast enough to do several in a day. If you've ever helped a friend polish their resume, this is already a skill you have.
List the service on Fiverr or LinkedIn, ask clients to send their current resume and target role, and deliver a polished result within 24-48 hours.
Start here:
Rewrite this resume for someone targeting [job title]
roles at [type of company].
Make it:
- ATS-friendly with relevant keywords
- Achievement-focused with strong action verbs
- Clear and concise — no fluff
Here's the current resume:
[paste resume]
💰 5. Starting a Niche Newsletter
A newsletter is one of the best long-term income plays available right now — and AI makes producing one genuinely manageable even if writing isn't your strong suit. Pick a topic you know something about, publish weekly, and monetize through sponsorships, affiliate links, or paid subscriptions once you've built an audience.
(How to use AI to write and launch one is in today's Beehiiv section 👇)
💡 "You don't need to be an expert to make money with AI. You need to be one step ahead of the person you're helping."
All five income paths — with expanded prompts, platform recommendations, and a weekly action plan for each — are in this week's free download 👇
🎁 This week's free download: The AI Income Starter Kit
Everything you need to pick an income path and take your first real step this week.
✅ Expanded prompts for all 5 income paths
✅ Platform recommendations for each
✅ Beginner pricing guide
✅ Weekly action plan to get started
✅ Mistakes to avoid as a first-timer
Free Notion template — just duplicate and use!
🎯 Try this today: Pick the one income path that resonates most. Open Claude or ChatGPT, use the starter prompt from that section, and spend 20 minutes seeing what comes back. Reply and tell me which one you picked — I read every email.
✍️ How to Write Prompts That Actually Get Results
Most people treat AI like a search engine — type something vague, hope for the best, get a generic answer.
The difference between a useful AI response and a useless one almost always comes down to how specific your prompt is. Three things make any prompt dramatically better: context (who you are and what you're doing), constraints (format, length, tone), and a definition of done (what a good answer actually looks like).
Here's a prompt that puts all three together — use it as a template for anything:
I am a [your role] working on [what you're doing].
I need you to [the task] for [your audience].
Format: [bullet points / paragraphs / table / step-by-step]
Tone: [professional / conversational / direct]
Length: [short / one page / under 200 words]
A good response will [what success looks like].
Do not [anything you want to avoid].
Save this. Use it every time you feel like you're not getting the answer you want.
📦 How to Build a Simple Digital Product With AI
A digital product doesn't have to be a 50-page ebook or a 10-module course. The best beginner digital products are small, specific, and solve one real problem — a checklist, a template pack, a prompt library, a one-page guide.
The entire process — from idea to finished product — can be done in an afternoon with AI. Here's the prompt that starts it:
I want to create a simple digital product to sell online.
My topic/niche: [what you know about]
My target buyer: [who would pay for this]
Price point I'm thinking: [$5 - $27]
Help me:
- Generate 5 digital product ideas that would work at
this price point
- Pick the best one based on ease of creation and
likelihood someone would buy it
- Give me a simple outline to build it
- Write a 3-sentence product description I could use
to sell it
Run this, pick the idea that excites you most, and use AI to build it section by section. Then list it on Gumroad — free to start, they take a small cut per sale.
🐝 How to Write a Newsletter With AI (And Where to Host It)
If you've been thinking about starting a newsletter, here's the workflow that makes it actually doable — even if you have no idea what you're doing yet.
Start with a topic you already know something about. Then use this prompt:
I want to start a weekly newsletter about [your topic]
for [your audience]. Help me:
- Come up with a name and one-line description
- Plan my first 4 issues with a topic for each
- Write an outline for issue #1That's your first 30 minutes. From there, use AI to draft each section, tighten your intros, and suggest subject lines. You're not outsourcing your voice — you're removing the blank page problem.
For the platform, Beehiiv is what HOW TO // AI runs on and it's the obvious choice. Free up to 2,500 subscribers, built-in growth tools, and unlike Substack they don't take a cut of your revenue. You can import the AI draft straight into their editor and have a real newsletter live the same day.
🧑💼 Your AI Team Is Waiting
Marblism gives you six specialized AI employees for $29/month — each one built for a specific job. Inbox, social media, blog posts, leads, customer calls, contracts. Describe your business once and they get to work, only checking in when they need your approval. They even talk to each other — Penny writes a blog post, Sonny automatically turns it into social content.
No prompting skills needed. 7-day money-back guarantee.
What did you think of this newsletter?
🤔 Got Questions?
Have a question you want answered? Email [email protected] and you just might be featured in an upcoming issue!
This newsletter is your starter kit for mastering AI with confidence. We keep things simple, show real examples, and focus on quick wins you can repeat.
Stay curious, stick with it, and watch your skills grow week by week!
Until next time :)
— David
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