A short morning shift helping a child cross the street doesn’t sound like a path to a five-figure monthly income. But for a Vermont crossing guard, an idea turned a quiet intersection into the foundation of a small publishing company.
Christine Taylor Hill36, works weekday mornings at an intersection in Burlington. During her roughly 50-minute shift, she observes the flow of daily life—commuters passing by, children heading to school, neighborhood dogs walking, and the ever-changing sky above the intersection.
Those daily observations now earn Hill about $14,000 a month, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Turn daily observations into an email club
Hill started out as a designer and illustrator. In 2023, she accepted a job as a crossing guard, in part to reintegrate into the rhythm of the city. Each morning, she stood in a corner and began sharing brief updates online, which she called “cloud reports.”
The posts include simple moments at intersections, like a handwritten thank-you note from a child, falling snow outside a corner store, a passing long-haired dachshund, or a sketch she made of something she noticed.
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According to the Wall Street Journal, followers quickly became enthusiastic. When updates slowed down, people started messaging her asking when the next report would come out.
After his freelance design work slowed down, Hill decided to expand on the idea. She saw other creators trying to sign up for email clubs and wondered, “What if I made an email club?”
In January, she posted a short video on TikTok and offered a $8-a-month print newsletter. Subscribers will receive an eight-page magazine filled with her illustrations and reflections of intersections and garage studios.
The response was immediate. The video quickly attracted hundreds of thousands of views, The Wall Street Journal reported. Within a few days, about 1,000 people subscribed.
When the Hill temporarily halted new registrations, a waiting list of about 3,600 people formed.
Today, she has about 2,000 subscribers, some of whom pay a discounted rate annually.
Hill’s operation is simple but growing. Each month, she piles about 2,000 newsletters into plastic mailboxes and drives them to the local post office in her Honda Fit.
The project also connected her with readers around the world, including subscribers in Germany, Singapore and Australia, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“People really want material things,” Hill told the Wall Street Journal. “The response to this has been crazy.”
Image: Shutterstock
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Article How a crossing guard makes $14,000 a month? Thanks to a little creativity and the fact that “people really want material things” originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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