Meadow Vale Publishing (2026)

We believe everyone has the right to decide their own financial destiny.

11/06/2026

Dear Friend

Picture the scene…

A beaming multi-millionaire stands beside his gleaming convertible Bentley.

Behind him is a grand mansion with a long gravel driveway, where his other expensive cars are parked.

Perhaps he’s holding a bottle of vintage champagne, or a wedge of cash.

The millionaire tells you:

“This could be yours if you succeed like me.”

I’m sure you’ve seen this sort of thing many times before…

These sorts of images are often used in marketing because they represent the ‘things’ you can get when you’re rich.

The idea is that you envy the guy (or girl) in the photo so deeply that you’ll do everything you can in that moment to get where they are.

Buy the course… get the lottery ticket… read the book…

And you’ll measure your eventual success by how much, or little, you accumulate in the process.

This is because we live in a world obsessed with outcomes.

How many social media followers you get…

How big your email list gets…

How much revenue you make…

How much profit you take home…

How large your house is…

How many admirers you have...

But is it really wise to focus on these kinds of outcomes, or use them as a measurement of your success?

I would suggest not.

Because that multi-millionaire in the photo with the mansion and the flash car might be utterly miserable, deep down.

And here’s why...

The Greatest Regret In Life Is Never a Lack of ‘Things’

A few years ago, I read an interview with Bronnie Ware, a former palliative care worker who spent 8 years looking after dying people.

She paid close attention to the remorse people expressed on their deathbeds, and made a list of the most common regrets.

Top of the list was this…

“I wish I'd lived a life true to myself, not the life that other people expected of me.”

This is revealing…

Because it shows what really matters is that we become the best version of ourselves… realise our full potential… and do what we love to do.

This goal is not based on ‘things’ we want to accumulate like money, property, cars and houses.

It’s not measured by awards, accolades or social status.

It’s not even about achieving love and respect from other people.

Yes, these can all be important.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting them or seeking out genuine ways to achieve them.

But if you focus primarily on these as your measurement of success, you're less likely to get them.

Because really, the fancy cars… the exotic holidays… the expensive house… the social status…. the loving relationships…

These are outward signs of a much greater INNER achievement.

Why Your ‘Inner Living Legacy’ Is What Really Matters

I call it the ’INNER LIVING LEGACY’

Don’t worry, it’s not as morbid as it sounds.

It has nothing to do with what we leave others when we are gone, like money, assets, or even memories.

Instead, it’s all about the internal measurements of success that mean something important to you, and you alone.

Your sense of meaning… your feeling of fulfilment… your enjoyment of life RIGHT NOW in the moment.

It might be:

a creative skill you’ve honed over the years….

the courage to speak out for what you believe…

your discipline to finish what you start…

the ability to sit alone without feeling empty and sad…

your love of reading and discovery…

the pursuit of interesting ideas

These ‘inner’ metrics should be our true goals in life.

Ultimately, your aim should be to reach the top of Abraham Maslow’s famous ‘Hierarchy of Needs’, represented by a pyramid like this:

As you can see, the pyramid starts with the essentials for life, like air, water and shelter.

Then it moves up through higher aims, like property, friendship, confidence and the respect of others.

For many people, these are the ultimate goals.

They’re the ones that you see promised in advertising.

“Be the envy of everyone you meet.”

“Date beautiful partners”.

“Earn 7-figure incomes every year.”

However, they’re still goals that you achieve ‘for others’, or so that people can admire you, remember you and love you.

All well and good, of course.

But there’s one more layer of the pyramid that most people neglect…

And that’s ‘SELF-ACTUALISATION’.

It means becoming fully yourself.

When Maslow studied people that he considered psychologically healthy and high-functioning, he noticed that they were:

Mission-driven

Comfortable in solitude

Creative

Deeply absorbed in meaningful work

Less concerned with approval

These are what I’d describe as Inner Living Legacies.

It’s what you feel and think about yourself, in private, when nobody is around to observe you, or judge you.

So how do you achieve this state of inner nirvana?

Well, the answer would take me a book’s worth of content – and, even then, if the answer were easy then everyone would be at the pinnacle of happiness and fulfilment!

But here’s one good sign that you’re on the right track…

‘The Flow State’

A few decades ago, the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined the phrase ‘flow state’ in his classic book: Flow: The Psychology of Happiness.

It described those moments when people are so absorbed in an activity that time (for them) disappears.

This usually happens when you’re engaged in creative, fun, meaningful tasks.

Basically, anything you find rewarding!

And by ‘rewarding’ I don’t mean the financial gains or status you get as a result of the task, but the feeling of reward you experience in the moment.

That’s the metric you’re looking for!

Csikszentmihalyi wrote that flow happens when our attention is “invested in realistic goals, and when skills match the opportunities for action.”

So this could be a great starting point for you.

Because if you can find a home business that includes challenges you find meaningful and rewarding in their own right…

You’re more likely to put the hours in because they’ll absolutely fly by without you even realising!.

You’re less likely to see the tasks as ‘work’ because they’ll feel like things you’d enjoy doing anyway, so you’ll be eager to get started on them each day.

And you’ll push through any obstacles and set-backs because you’ll feel like the business is your mission in life.

The great thing about this approach is finding your inner happy place can eventually lead to ‘outer’ achievements like wealth and status.

Because by understanding what makes you fulfilled, you’re more likely to persist, succeed, and enjoy great riches AS A RESULT.

GO TO https://letsimproveyourlife.com/ for more information and advice.

In that sense, it’s a win-win!

09/06/2026

This might not surprise you…

But most self-published nonfiction titles sell fewer than 200 copies over their entire lifetime.

At a typical royalty of around £2 per copy on a £4.99 eBook, that's roughly £400 in total earnings per book.

However, many of those self-published books are utter rubbish – vanity projects, really, which don’t target a pressing need or problem, and therefore don’t have enough demand or perceived value.

If you were instead to publish a decent self-help or business eBook title that DOES tick those boxes, you could be making £80–£300 per month from a single title.

That’s okay… and I’m sure you wouldn’t sniff at that amount coming in as passive income.

But the figures become more interesting when you look at authors who treat publishing as a portfolio business rather than a one-book gamble.

A 2024–25 survey found that the average serious indie author has published 8 books…

And that those earning over £15,000 per month had an average of 61 titles in their backlist, generating multiple revenue streams.

Of course, that's the extreme end of the market…

But it goes to show that more titles mean more visibility…. more promotional opportunities… and a stronger compounding income over time.

And it gets even better if you think about what a series of successful eBooks could do OUTSIDE your sales earnings.

Because you can also use them to build a list of email subscribers or Substack subscribers… where even more revenue streams can develop.

So if a well-positioned book earns a conservative £100–£250 per month in direct sales PLUS indirect revenue through email marketing, subscription revenues and affiliate sales…

Then a portfolio of just 10+ titles starts to make a £3,000-£5,000 per month income target very achievable.

This is something I call ‘ebook stacking’.

Why Stacking Works

Most people who create and sell eBooks think only about creating one product. And they tend to be disappointed when their income is only a trickle.

A single £7 eBook needs to sell 430 copies a month to hit £3,000.

That's a tough ask.

However, instead of creating a single eBook and hoping it sells, you could build an interlinked portfolio of eBooks around a single niche or audience.

Each one serves a purpose…

Some attract readers… some convert them into buyers… some upsell them further…. and some funnel them onto your email list where the real long-term income is built.

These don’t all need to be full-length books, they can also be smaller guides and micro-manuals – and you can use AI to help you plan and write them.

Done right, this turns eBooks into a scalable digital product business.

5 eBooks at £7–£12 each, averaging 100 sales per month across the range could bring you £3,500–£6,000/month.

An email list of 500+ subscribers means you can then launch your new titles directly to the audience and ALSO potentially sell them other related products to earn an affiliate commission.

Returning customers (people who loved Book 1 and bought Books 2, 3, and 4) dramatically reduce your cost per acquisition.

Finally, you could generate an income by putting extra ongoing content behind a paywall, for instance on Substack, where people pay you a monthly subscription.

So every new book you add makes the whole portfolio more valuable, not just that one title.

How to Plan a Stacking Business

Begin by targeting a niche. Look for an audience with ongoing problems (health, money, skills, business).

These should be people who already spend money on books, courses and coaching.

Make sure the subject contains enough sub-topics to sustain 6–10+ eBooks without repetition.

Examples include…

Freelancing for beginners.

Women's health.

Personal finance for young professionals.

Dog training for new owners.

Put a chosen niche market into an AI tool and ask it if it can come up with 10 distinct eBook titles right now.

If it can do so, then your eBook business is stackable.

For example, you could use this prompt: “I want to create a series of interlinked eBooks targeting an audience, across the next year. Give me 10 distinct book titles for the following niche: freelancing for beginners.”

And AI might give you titles like:

1. The First £1,000: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Paid as a Freelancer

2. From Zero to Portfolio: Building Credibility When You Have No Experience

3. The Winning Proposal: How Beginners Turn Enquiries into Paying Freelance Clients

4. The £25/Hour Freelancer: Simple Skills You Can Start Selling This Month

5. Clients on Tap: Finding Consistent Freelance Work Without Platforms

6. The 10-Hour Freelancer: Building Income Around a Busy Life

7. Retainer Clients: How to Turn One-Off Jobs into Monthly Income

8. Freelance Systems: How to Organise Your Business Like a Pro (Even as a Beginner)

9. The AI Freelancer: Using ChatGPT & Simple Tools to Work Faster and Earn More

10. From Freelancer to Freedom: When and How to Raise Your Rates, Specialise, or Scale

Map Your Stack Architecture

Before you write a word, map the full portfolio structure.

Each eBook should occupy a distinct role:

The Entry Point (£5–£9) — Your lowest-barrier product. It solves one specific, immediate problem.

Think of it as a paid ‘lead magnet’.

Micro Manuals and Guides (£5–£9) — Worksheets, templates, swipe files and planners. These can also be lead magnets, or companion titles that you sell alongside your regular titles, or as bonuses.

The Core Stack (£9–£15 each) — 2–4 books that go deeper on the journey. Each one solves the next problem your reader faces. The reader who finished Book 1 is your warmest prospect for Book 2.

The Premium Offer (£17–£29) — A comprehensive guide, workbook, or bundle of your core stack at a discount. This is where your highest-margin sales happen.

A good tip is to continue the conversation you started with AI in the previous step and ask it to suggest titles that fit into the above structure.

It will then give you ideas like this:

🔹 ENTRY POINT (£5–£9)

The First Freelance Client: How to Get Paid Within 14 Days (Even With No Experience)

Role: Paid lead magnet

Problem it solves: “How do I get my first paying client?”

Promise: A simple 14-day action plan to land your first small paid job.

What it covers:

Choosing a beginner-friendly service.

Creating a 1-page offer.

Writing a simple pitch message.

Where to send it.

Closing the first £100–£300 job.

Don’t worry, none of this is set in stone, you just need to have an idea what the overall marketing plan is going to be.

Writing and Publishing

You don't need the full stack before launching. Start with 2–3 books and build from there.

Aim for 8,000–20,000 words per eBook.

Make sure the introduction or foreword contains a promotional pitch for a website or webpage where you can collect their email address. e.g. “Download your free companion workbook at [insert your website address]"

Use a consistent structure: Problem → Why it happens → Framework → Step-by-step → Action plan → What's next (the bridge to Book 2).

The "what's next" section at the end of every book is where you soft-sell the next title.

Again, here’s where AI can help.

First, make sure you give it a proper brief, including:

A description of the target reader, including their goals and problems.

A description of where this fits in your stack architecture, and what the aim and price point will be.

A brief biography of you as the author (just the details you are happy to share, and which will connect with the target reader).

A description of the personality you want to show in the book, including your quirks, strengths and flaws.

Once it has all this background information, ask it to suggest contents and structure for the first title you select.

I then recommend that you go through each section, asking AI to write it, and ensuring you ask it to add in as much stuff as possible that makes it unique to you.

Personal experiences and anecdotes.

Your opinions, ideas and insights.

Research results, studies and stats that you find.

Real life examples and case studies.

These will help you avoid the result being a generic AI book.

You can publish on Amazon KDP but bear in mind that it doesn’t give you the right to email the customer (however that doesn’t stop you promoting your website or lead magnet in the book itself).

You could also use Gumroad or Shopify where you can sell the book and also collect their email addresses.

Build an Email List

Your email list is the most valuable asset in this business. It's the difference

between £500 per month and £5,000 per month.

Think of it as a sales funnel…

Reader buys your Entry Point eBook.

Inside the book, they're offered a free companion resource - a checklist, template, or mini-guide.

They visit your landing page and exchange their email for the freebie (lead magnet).

They enter your welcome sequence (5–7 emails delivering value and introducing your stack).

You email your list weekly - tips, stories, recommendations - and periodically promote your books.

Now you have a recurring income asset that grows the more books you sell.

With just 500 subscribers you could be making an extra £300–£600 per month from promotions of your own books or products you sell on an affiliate basis.

With 2,000 subscribers you’re taking £1,200–£2,500 per month.

The key is to send valuable information AT LEAST once a week, but ideally more.

Finding Customers

Pick 1–2 channels to focus on, including…

Pinterest (excellent for how-to niches, long shelf life).

Medium or Substack (write articles, link to books).

YouTube (positions you as an expert).

An SEO-optimised blog.

For faster results, you could try Facebook and Instagram Ads. but I recommend you promote a free ‘lead magnet’ rather than the book directly.

If you sell on Amazon, you can also try something known as ‘promo stacking’.

It's a method used by savvy self-published authors to increase sales momentum by layering multiple promotions together in a sequence.

This is because a single promo rarely moves sales enough to trigger Amazon's algorithm.

But if you stack several together over 5–7 days, you can push a book up the category rankings and trigger "also bought" associations.

So I hope you can see the potential here…

It’s not easy to turn one or two eBooks into a significant income, but things become very different when you use a stacking strategy like this one.

GO TO https://letsimproveyourlife.com/ for more information and advice.

If you have any questions about this, then fire away!

04/06/2026

I’m a huge fan of Print on Demand…

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you’ll have seen multiple blueprints for using it to make money.

The main strategy so far has been to use AI to generate slogans and designs.

You can add these to t-shirts, mugs, coasters, art-prints and phone-cases that get made by print-on demand companies like Printify and

Printful.

There’s no need to invest in stock – you just list the designs on a marketplace like Etsy.

The orders go straight through to them and they do all the manufacture and delivery for you, including customer services and returns.

Which makes it a fantastic home business idea that removes any need for creative flair or space in the home for stock.

All good. Except for one thing…

The ease and popularity of Print On Demand has created a glut of products.

There are so many generic slogan t-shirts, mugs and socks out there now that it’s hard to stand out, or beat your rivals on price.

But there’s a sector of Print on Demand that IS fast-growing, and DOES offer you a potentially profitable side business.

Welcome to POD 2.0

The new boom in Print on Demand is in personalisation.

That means creating customisable products that people can tailor the result to their own lives, passions and interests.

For instance, books, gift cards, prints and journals which include the customer’s own chosen names, stories, photos, emotions, personal milestones and achievements.

Personalisation is popular because it:

Increases the perceived value of a product.

Allows customers to buy something unique to them.

Taps into a booming gift economy, where people seek something special for Christmas, Mother’s Day, birthdays and anniversaries.

Here are some examples of popular personalised products on Etsy right now.

Pet Portraits

Personalised Children’s Books (Often these include a family pet!)

House Portraits

Wedding & Relationship Prints

Map Prints

Birth Prints

Family Name / Surname Prints

Coat of Arms Art

Journals & Planners

These might look tricky to make…

But the good news is you don’t need writing skills, expensive software or tech knowledge.

Instead, you can use AI, along with simple design tools like Canva create personalised products without artistic or design flair.

Let’s look at how it works in more detail.

How to Choose Your Niche

Before you do anything, find a niche audience of h0ungry buyers who already spend money on gifts, quirky items and personalised stuff.

For instance…

Pet lovers - you could sell:

Custom pet portraits (watercolour, “royal” costume, minimalist line art)

Memorial prints (“In loving memory of…” with dates + photo)

Pet + owner storybooks (child + dog as characters)

“House rules” prints featuring the pet’s name(s)
Personalisation ), owner names.

New parents and grandparents – you could sell:

Birth stat prints (name, date, weight, hospital, star sign)

“Our first year” milestone boards

Personalised bedtime storybooks

Nursery name wall art – including baby name, birth details, photo, family names, bedtime messages.

Engaged couples – you could sell:

Venue illustrations (where they’re getting married)

‘Our story’ timeline prints

Vows or song lyrics from the ceremony

Proposal location map prints.

First-time homeowners - you could sell:-

House portraits

“Our first home” prints

Key holder or welcome sign (with surname or house name)

Neighbourhood map prints.

Families – you could sell:-

Custom family tree posters

Family reunion itinerary packs (welcome letter, games, quiz sheets)

Surname crest-style prints (decorative, not necessarily historical).

Business owners – you could sell:

Pictures of the premises, drawings of key staff or star products

Timeline prints of the businesses’ founding or creation

Custom thank-you cards and loyalty cards.

Obviously you aren’t just selling to these niche groups, but also friends and family of these niche groups, who want to give them something special.

You could also target:

Milestone birthdays – including “Back in [year]” posters and cards, this-is-your-life timeline boards and friend group ‘reasons we love you’ prints

Pregnancy announcements – including ultrasound photo frames with due date, name reveal posters, and gift cards for grandparents-to-be

People in specific jobs or roles – for instance, personalised classroom posters for teachers, or retirement cars and prints.

Once you decide on your niche, and what you want to sell, you can move onto product-creation.

Product Idea & Planning

For idea generation and planning, you can use ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. These language-based AI tools are excellent at helping you turn a vague idea into a specific product.

For example, let’s say you want to make a personalised pet portrait. AI can help you come up with:

Specific styles - e.g. watercolour, royal costume, minimalist line art, cartoon, memorial

A checklist of potential customisable inputs - eg Pet name / Breed / Photo / Optional traits (“cheeky”, “lazy”, “regal”)

Possible formats – e.g. Printed poster, framed version, matching mug or card

You can use a prompt like this:

“Help me turn a personalised pet portrait idea into a simple product with clear options and customer inputs.”

AI will deliver you a briefing on what kinds of elements you could consider, with plenty of advice and direction.

Or if you want it to design a product, try a prompt like this:

“I want to create a personalised cat print to sell on Etsy. Give me specific options for style, format, customisable inputs.”

It will give you a full list of options and even suggest images like this:

You can then choose from the options that suit you.

Writing & Text

AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude can help you generate written text, including:

Short stories (for children’s books or bedtime stories)

Timelines (“Our Story”, “This Is Your Life”)

Captions and headings for journals

Emotive copy for memorials and milestones

For example AI could write a bedtime story using the baby’s name, a sibling’s name and a pet’s name.

You can then reuse the same story template every time. Only the names will change.

Or let’s imagine you are creating a relationship timeline print for an engaged couple. AI can turn bullet points into a clean timeline, eg:

Met in 2018

First holiday in Lisbon in 2019

Engaged in 2026

You can paste the resulting content straight into a print layout on a template in Canva (more of which in a moment).

Images & Illustration

For this you can use Midjourney, Google Gemini’s Nano Banana, DALL·E (via ChatGPT). Leonardo AI and also Canva AI image tools.

You use these AI image-creators to:

Make illustrations from descriptions

Turn photos into artwork styles

Generate background scenes or decorative elements

For example, you could upload a customer’s house photo and ask AI to:

Simplify it

Turn it into a line drawing or illustration

Remove cars, bins, clutter

You can then drop the result into Canva.

Or let’s imagine it’s a pet portrait...

You can upload pet photo then choose a style prompt, for instance:

“Watercolour illustration”

“Royal oil painting style”

“Minimalist black line art”

AI then creates the artwork for you.

Design & Layout

For this you need Canva.

Begin by finding the relevant template (poster, book page, card, journal). Then paste in the AI-generated text and AI-generated images.

You can then adjust the font, spacing and colours.

Canva also allows you to export print-ready PDFs and files for Amazon KDP.

Using Print On Demand

Once you’ve created your personalised design using AI and Canva, you can turn that digital file into a product.

That’s where Print on Demand companies come in.

The two best options are:

Printful

Printify

These are ideal for:

Posters and art prints

Framed prints

Mugs, cushions, tote bags

Greetings cards

Signs and wall art

When a customer places an order on Etsy, they submit their personalised details. You then generate the customised version and export it as a print-ready PDF or image file (Canva will handle the sizing for you).

The order is printed and shipped automatically.

Pricing

If you want an easy way to work out a price, use this formula: Retail price = POD cost × 2.5 to 3.

That usually covers printing and Etsy fees, leaving you a healthy profit.

As a rough guide:

A3 or A2 art prints can go for £18–£35. Framed £35–£65 is also reasonable, especially if the quality is good.

Personalised mugs can go for £14–£25 but £20+ is common for premium or niche designs.

Gift cards can go for £4–£10

Personalised children’s books can go for £1 at the low end but up to £60 for heirloom-style hardbacks or very detailed stories

Journals/planners will sell for £8–£20 if the interior is thoughtfully designed and not just a generic lined notebook.

More complex items like house portraits, detailed pet portraits, family tree posters and longer books can sell for £30 – £80, depending on size.

Could You Run a Personalised POD Business?

This will suit you if you love creative projects and want something fun and rewarding to do from home.

The best part is, AI can help with any bits you find boring or difficult, whether that’s idea creation, planning, design or writing.

So what do you think?

If this blueprint appeals to you, and you’d be interested in more training in

the future, please hit reply and answer “yes, Steve!”

GO TO https://letsimproveyourlife.com/ for more information and advice.

Best wishes

02/06/2026

This might surprise you…

But MILLIONS of pounds in free money goes unclaimed by British people every single week!

That sounds nuts.

And when you look at the details, it gets crazier.

Estimates are that £23 billion a year in grants, funding and tax relief opportunities are missed.

That’s roughly 8.4 million people missing out on an average of £2,700 each.

This is money that someone could use to start a business, fund a product, wipe out some debt, get professional support or free training.

And that’s before you even count the millions of pounds a year in business, entrepreneurial, arts and literary awards.

These could totally transform the life of an author, photographer, inventor or budding chef. Yet they are claimed only by the tiny handful of people who enter.

The same goes for competitions….

The UK offers billions of pounds a year in prize money, as well as new houses, cars, and luxury accessories!

Of course, there are well-known sources like Premium Bonds and the National Lottery…

Yet a surprising chunk of the money sits in low entry draws that few people ever realise are available to them.

Which means that thousands of prizes receive far fewer entries than they deserve.

The Competition and Markets Authority has reported that only 1 in 20 of the free entry opportunities are taken up.

And in one recent UK cash draw, only 374 out of 1,000 available tickets had been sold before the deadline.

In other words, there’s a massive amount of grants, funding, awards and prizes going begging every week.

But why?

Well, the fact is, most people don’t get to hear about them.

Not because the information is secret…

But because it’s scattered across dozens of websites, media publications and social media channels.

Some of these grants and competitions have tight deadlines and short time frames where you can easily miss out.

Others are in obscure places that don’t do a lot of advertising, so they’re not easy to find.

Most people don’t have time to monitor the internet and do the necessary research to get their hands on this money.

Which gives you an opportunity.

Get Paid to Find Free Money

As you can see, there’s information out there that people don’t have the time, patience or knowledge to find themselves.

So you could do it for them!

You could research the latest grants, competitions and prizes that are out there.

Then you could collate and organise this information in a way that’s easy for them to digest and act upon.

In return, customers would pay you a small fee for giving them access to potentially thousands of pounds.

It’s a great little side business to run from home because you can do it all online.

The information is publicly listed for free, so you don’t have to stump up any cash in advance.

This makes this a low-cost business with almost zero risk.

And there are tools and platforms you can use to make collecting and presenting the information very easy.

There are THREE areas where money and support is being given away.

UK Grants, Awards & Funding

You could look for the following:

Government business grants - Funding schemes offered to help businesses start, grow, hire staff, invest in equipment, or survive tough periods.

Innovate UK competitions - Cash funding for businesses developing new products, services, or technology.

Arts Council funding - Grants for creatives, including writers, musicians, artists, performers, and community projects.

National Lottery grants - Funding for charities, community groups, social enterprises, and local projects.

Energy efficiency schemes - Grants and incentives that help businesses and households pay for insulation, heat pumps, solar panels, energy audits, and efficiency upgrades.

Farming subsidies - Payments and support schemes for farmers, landowners, and rural enterprises.

Green tech incentives - Funding and tax incentives for businesses working in sustainability, renewables, low-carbon tech, recycling, or environmental innovation.

Trust & foundation grants - Money held by private trusts and foundations that fund specific causes, communities, or sectors.

Local council business support - Small grants, vouchers, and support schemes run by councils to boost local economies, such as shopfront improvements, training, digital upgrades, or start-up support.

Sector-specific innovation funds - for industries like food, health, manufacturing, construction, education, or creative tech.

Your target audience includes:

Small business owners

Start-ups

Creatives & freelancers

Rural enterprises

Charity founders

Social enterprises

Trades expanding

Tech founders

Sustainability businesses

Or you could try this…

Awards & Prizes

You could look for the following:

Writing competitions - Cash prizes, publishing deals, mentoring, and exposure offered by magazines, publishers, festivals, and brands.

Start-up awards - prize money, investment, mentoring, office space, or publicity for early-stage businesses.

Photography awards - Prizes ranging from cash and equipment to exhibitions and commissions. These are often run by camera brands, galleries, media outlets, and cultural organisations.

SME regional awards - Local and regional business awards run by councils, chambers of commerce, newspapers, and sponsors.

Innovation challenges - Problem-solving competitions run by corporates, government bodies, and NGOs, offering cash rewards or contracts for new ideas.

University competitions - Funding and prize programmes linked to universities, many of which are open to alumni, local businesses, or the wider public.

Food & hospitality awards - Awards for producers, cafes, restaurants, bakers, brewers, and makers.

Product design competitions - for physical or digital products, often including cash, manufacturing support, exposure, or licensing opportunities.

Industry recognition awards - Sector-specific awards that reward expertise, quality, or innovation.

Potential target audiences include:

Writers

Artists

Designers

Food producers

Small brands

Craft sellers

Indie makers

Start-up founders

Students

Coaches

And finally…

Competitions and Giveaways

You could look for the following…

Cash competitions - giveaways from brands, radio stations, magazines, and promo platforms that offer £500–£10,000 prizes.

Product giveaways - Laptops, phones, tools, kitchen equipment, fitness gear, garden machinery, baby products, and home upgrades that people actually want and would otherwise buy themselves.

Holiday & experience competitions - Weekend breaks, family holidays, festivals, spa weekends, driving experiences, and hospitality giveaways.

Business giveaways - Free software subscriptions, coaching packages, marketing support, website builds, ad credit and equipment grants.

Social media giveaways - Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok competitions where entry is simple but visibility is poor unless you’re actively hunting for them.

Local & regional competitions - Giveaways run by councils, local newspapers, shopping centres, radio stations, business groups, and regional brands.

Now, I realise that finding the info might sound like quite a challenge – but this is exactly why most people don’t bother.

They assume it’s complicated, time-consuming, or requires insider knowledge.

In reality, it’s mostly a case of knowing where to look and what to type.

Once you’ve done it a few times, it can become routine.

How to Find Grants, Funds and Prizes

Here are some examples you can use as starting points:

GOV.UK – searchable list of public sector grants you can filter and browse. Find a grant – GOV.UK

National Lottery Good Causes – official portal to National Lottery grant programmes for community and project funding. National Lottery Good Causes

Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants – Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants

Innovate UK Business – Create Growth Programme (Innovate UK Business Connect)

Turn2us Grants Search – searchable database of UK grants Turn2us Grants Search

Opportunities for under-represented writers – free list of prizes, awards and bursaries for writers – Opportunities for under-represented writers

You can also look for industry associations and trade bodies… Chambers of Commerce websites…. Creative writing and arts opportunity sites….

To find more, you can use Google, using keyword phrases like:

‘UK grant funding open now’

‘business grant application deadline’

‘innovation competition UK’

‘awards open for entries UK’

‘apply now funding programme’

‘cash prize competition UK’

‘grants for small businesses UK’

‘creative funding opportunity’

‘competition closing date UK’

You can also use tools like Perplexity.ai or ChatGPT as a research assistant.

For example:

➡️ “Find me the latest UK business grants currently open for small businesses.”

➡️ “List UK writing competitions with cash prizes and upcoming deadlines.”

➡️ “What Innovate UK funding competitions are open right now?”

➡️ “Find me low-entry UK awards for small food producers.”

Once you’ve found a handful of good sources, the goal is not to keep manually checking them… but instead set everything up so that the opportunities come to you.

The simplest way to do this is by signing up for newsletters, alerts, and RSS feeds.

Most grant bodies, award organisers, and funding platforms publish new opportunities, deadline reminders, last-minute openings and sector-specific calls.

Often these come as emails or RSS updates, giving you a constant incoming stream of alerts you can review once a week and filter down for your audience.

You should also set up accounts on the main social platforms where this kind of information is shared:

Facebook

Instagram

X (Twitter)

TikTok

LinkedIn

You don’t have to be active on these networks. You can keep the account private or locked and simply use it as a store of constant info.

I also recommend joining forums, groups, and communities where people already share this information informally.

These might include:

Facebook groups for grants, competitions, or funding

Creative or business forums

Industry-specific Slack or Discord groups

Founder, freelancer, or maker communities

Local business groups

With all the above in place you should have a huge pile of information that keeps on growing.

Organising the information

You can use organisational tools like Notion, Trello, Evernote, Excel or Google Sheets to keep everything tracked in categories like these:

Name of grant/prize

Deadline

Eligibility

Funding amount

Link

Sector

After 2–3 days of research, you might have 50–100 entries.

Now it’s time to create your product.

Creating Your Info Product

The first step is to create a digital product in which you present the latest opportunities in one downloadable file like a PDF or ebook.

I recommend you choose a niche, like ‘creatives’, ‘sustainable business’ or ‘start ups’.

Examples for grants and funding:

“The 2026 UK Small Business Grant Handbook”

“50 Grants Every UK Creative Should Know About”

“The Self-Employed Funding Directory”

“Green Grants for UK Businesses”

“The UK Start-up Funding Almanac”

For competitions:

“The UK Writing Competition Calendar 2026”

“100 UK Awards & Prizes for Small Businesses”

“The Creative Competition Handbook”

“SME Award & Recognition Directory”

“The UK Prizehunter’s Almanac”

These are products that you can list on an eCommerce site, for a small price, to earn yourself an income.

You can list them on:

Amazon KDP (Kindle)

Gumroad (direct PDF sales)

Etsy (digital downloads)

Shopify (your own site)

On its own, this could be a passive side earner that sits online making automated sales without you doing anything else.

Each year, you can update it and re-market the new edition.

However, the real money isn’t going to be in a one-off PDF.

To turn this into a proper second income, I recommend that you also turn these into ‘lead magnets’ that draw people into an ongoing service.

The Recurring Income Angle

Set up a subscription to an information service where you deliver updates, timely alerts, and ongoing research.

For example:

Monthly grant alerts

Quarterly funding updates

Weekly deadline reminders

Niche-specific bulletins

Examples:

UK Grant Radar – £15 per month

Creative Prize Alerts – £7 per month

Startup Funding Watch – £19 per month

The benefit for the customer is that they get more opportunities faster, and don’t miss out on any short ‘open and close’ windows.

To publish the ongoing info you can use:

Substack

Member’s website

Email newsletter

Shopify

Once set up, this becomes a steady, predictable income stream built on the work you’re already doing anyway.

How much you make will depend on how much you charge per month, and how many subscribers you have, but to give you a rough idea…

With 50 subscribers at £7 per month you’d earn a monthly income of £350

With 150 subscribers at £10 per month, you’d be looking at an annual income of £18,000

Or 300 subscribers at £15 per month would make you an annual income of £54,000

Does this sound of interest to you?

If so, and you’d be interested in a much more detailed report on this, let me know!

GO TO https://letsimproveyourlife.com/ for more information and advice.

Best Regards

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