The passive income influencers

October 20, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The passive income influencers

When freelance journalist Vivian Ho started seeing social media reels promising easy money, the pitch was almost irresistible. Women doing ordinary things—applying makeup, drinking coffee, cleaning—with bold text across the screen: "I'm a stay-at-home mom making $20,000 a month working from home." No posting to social media, no growing a following, no selling to friends and family. Just passive income while you sleep. Ho tried them all. She made three sales of digital templates on Etsy, earning $3.75 total, after spending more than $200 on Canva premium and e-rank. She got waitlisted for transcription services and video captioning. She attempted affiliate marketing through Digistore 24, which she describes as "all the spam things you get in your spam email"—love pills, sketchy vitamins. She chose one product she felt okay about, a light therapy mask, and it went nowhere. "This is kind of where the scam became clear to me," Ho says. "All these women kept telling me I didn't have to be an influencer... But with affiliate marketing, why would you buy something from somebody that you didn't know?"

The new MLM

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What you'll learn

1 Timestamped Outline
2 (00:01) **Opening Hook: Katie Zachariah and the MLM Connection** - The episode opens with the story of Trump's short-lived press secretary and her background as an affiliate marketer for Beachbody, an MLM described as "sort of a pyramid scheme"
3 (02:04) **Vivian's Side Hustle Rabbit Hole** - Freelance journalist Vivian Ho describes being inundated with social media reels promising easy passive income while she was returning to freelancing
4 (03:53) **Vivian Tries Digital Templates** - Vivian attempts selling Canva templates on Etsy, the first side hustle she tried, and learns she is not a graphic designer
5 (05:09) **Affiliate Marketing and the Scam Becomes Clear** - Vivian tries affiliate marketing, which is essentially sales, and realizes the influencers' promises contradict reality
6 (07:03) **Waitlisted Everywhere** - Vivian tries transcription services, video captioning, and customer reviews, but gets waitlisted or doesn't qualify for all of them
7 (08:21) **The Difference Between Success and Failure** - Vivian explains that while some people do succeed, the influencers are lying about it being easy money

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

They promise you financial freedom with very little work, but these side hustles might just be the new pyramid schemes.

This episode was produced by Ariana Aspuru, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Gabriel Dunatov, engineered by David Tatasciore and Bridger Dunnagan, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

A young woman struggling with budget planning and financial stress. Photo by Witthaya Prasongsin via Getty Images.

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