She spent two years cold-calling hosiery mills. Every no pushed her harder. Finally, she convinced a manufacturer because his daughters liked her idea. She drove around with samples of her new product in the boot of her car, pitching to department stores.

The thing that I love about this story is that Sarah wasn’t just selling shapewear. She was selling herself. A real human. A founder who had lived with the problem and solved it.

That story?
Sold products.
Sold journalists.
And eventually … it sold out entire stages.

If you haven’t heard of Sarah Blackley before, she’s the founder of Spanx. According to Forbes she’s now worth $1.2 billion. 

Now, here’s the thing most founders don’t realise: you’re already sitting on a side hustle you haven’t considered. You’ve built a business, yes. But that business came with something else … your story.

The mistakes, the pivots, the lessons, and breakthroughs that you’ve experienced as a startup founder is an asset. One you can turn into extra revenue. 

Today, I’m going to show you how to monetise the story you’re already living. How to turn your journey (the highs, the lows, the aha moments) into a reliable side hustle.

You’ve done the hard part: you’ve lived the story. Now it’s time to get paid for telling it.

Why founders’ stories are currency

As a founder myself, I’ve been working really hard on developing my personal brand, and through content creation, I’ve built a following of over 40,000 across my socials. 

One type of post that always gets lots of engagement are founder stories like Sarah Blakely's.

It makes sense. People love to be inspired. They love a real origin story, lessons they can actually use, and a sense of possibility. 

Essentially, we all love that feeling of “if she did it, maybe I can too.”

Unlike evergreen product marketing, a founder story is unique. It’s repeatable. Plus, it’s portable. A 10-minute stage talk can become a newsletter, a paid workshop, a conference talk, even a podcast series.

You can earn from:

• Paid speaking gigs at conferences or corporate events
• Sponsored content or newsletter sponsorships
• Workshops or masterclasses for teams and communities
• Consulting or advisory gigs that start with a talk
• Book deals, serialised posts, premium podcast episodes

The reason this works so well is because decision-makers aren’t just buying knowledge. They’re buying proof. They’re buying soft authority. They see a founder tell their failures, lessons, frameworks, and they trust you. They want to hire you. Feature you. Partner with you. Plus, once you do one paid gig, it opens the door for another, and another.

In the UK, founders are finally realising just how valuable this is. According to Leading Authorities, speakers can earn £10,000-£25,000 per talk if they focus on leadership, and motivational speakers can charge £6,000-£25,000. 

Plus, more than half of established speakers (53%) have actually raised their rates, showing that founder storytelling is becoming increasingly recognised as a valuable, monetisable skill.

Tips to start billing for your story 

Now that you know the power of your story and why people will pay to hear it, it’s time to turn that insight into action. Follow these tactical moves and you can start converting your experience into real revenue.

1. Find your mess-to-success arc

Every successful founder has a moment. The gut-wrenching pivot, that project that blew up in your face, that week where nothing went right. That’s your gold. 

The truth is that people don’t connect with smooth sailing because life isn’t smooth sailing. We all struggle, there’s always mess and hurdles. What people want is to know how to get through this and come out the other end. 

The trick here is to shape that into a narrative arc that’s relatable and actionable. To do this, start by identifying the moment in your journey that will resonate most. 

For Mel Robbins, best-selling author of ‘The 5 Second Rule’, it was hitting rock bottom in her 40s. She was in debt, struggling with work, and felt stuck in life. That moment of frustration became the spark for her idea, a simple, actionable rule to push yourself forward.

For Tim Ferriss, it was being an overworked, underpaid office employee, burnt out, and desperate for freedom. Sharing the mistakes, the hacks, and the mindset shift that led to ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’ became the narrative that launched his career as a speaker and author.

The key is honesty. The more real you are, the easier it is for your audience to see themselves in your shoes. The messier the story, the more memorable it is. 

Once you’ve mapped it out, you can adapt it for different formats like a stage talk, a newsletter, or a social thread. That arc becomes your signature story.

2. Develop original content consistently

Having a signature story is just the first step. The next one is showing up consistently. If you want people to pay attention, you need to be visible. 

Now, I don’t mean randomly posting when inspiration hits. I mean creating content that consistently tells your story, shares lessons, and positions you as someone worth listening to.

Every thread you post, every newsletter you send, every short video you put out is like planting a seed. One seed might not grow into anything, but over time, a forest of content builds trust, authority, and attention. 

Start simple. Maybe it’s weekly LinkedIn posts sharing your lessons from the week, or short threads about the mistakes you made and what they taught you. Record videos of yourself talking through a pivot or breakthrough. 

If you want your story to become a side hustle, showing up consistently is non-negotiable. 

3. Stand firm with pricing

If you don’t set your rates, people will assume your story isn’t worth much. Once that happens, it’s hard to climb back up. So, decide your prices upfront and stick to them.

Think about it. You wouldn’t work for free at your own company forever, right? Your story is the same thing. A half-hour talk, a workshop, or a keynote is not just 30 minutes of talking. It’s a distillation of years of messy experience, failures, pivots, and breakthroughs. 

When you set your rates, you’re sending a signal that your story, your lessons, your time are worth paying for. And the great thing is that once you start charging for one role, it opens the door to more. Organisers see that you’re professional, experienced, and serious about your value, and suddenly they’re willing to pay to have you on their stage or workshop.

Free stages are great for practice and reach, but if your goal is to generate additional revenue, you have to stand firm. Know your worth, communicate it clearly, and watch opportunities turn into real revenue.

Final Thoughts

So, let’s bring this full circle. If you’ve been hustling your business, here’s my challenge to you: look at your own story through a new lens. Treat it like a product. Polish it, package it, and put it out there. Suddenly, your lived experience is a brand new revenue stream you’ve been walking past this whole time.

The story is already yours. The question is, are you going to start cashing in on it?

Part two of a six-part series.