This Local Job Board Makes Money in Its Sleep
How Wichita Life runs a local job board on Niceboard: $99 and $199 listings, how it was seeded, and how the newsletter and Instagram promote it.
Job boards sound like something you'd only do at scale, right? You need traffic, an expensive tool, and a hiring boom to make it work.
But Landon from Wichita Life is proving that wrong, he quietly launched a job board for his city, and it’s become a surprisingly solid revenue stream.
Set Up in 10 Minutes, Profitable in a Few Days
Landon used Niceboard, a job board platform that costs around $229/month (he got in at a lower price). That might sound steep, but here’s the math:
- A featured listing on his board is $199
- A regular listing is $99
Sell one or two jobs and you break even. Sell more, and you're pocketing profit.
The platform handles everything from submissions to payments to analytics. And the beauty is, he didn’t need to code a thing.
Promotion Is the Secret Sauce
The real magic isn’t in the tech, it’s in the audience.
Landon includes a short plug for the job board in his newsletter editions, often as a secondary ad. Example:
“Looking for a new gig? Check out this accounting role at [Local Company] + more open jobs here.”
That’s it. No pushy sales pitch. Just consistent visibility in front of 30,000+ readers. And it works, he’s got regular employers posting multiple times.
Social Media Makes It Real
To boost visibility, Landon built a Canva template that highlights a few top jobs in an eye-catching format. He posts these on Instagram, tags the employers, and links back to the board.
It’s simple, visual, and makes the board feel legit. People start to expect job listings from Wichita Life, and that’s when you know you’ve got something sticky.
What About Demand?
Even in a smaller market, jobs move. Landon started by “seeding” the board himself, pulling listings from Indeed just to make the board look active.
Once people saw it wasn’t empty, real employers started paying to post. And since then, he’s been able to scale it naturally with minimal effort.
How You Can Copy This
- Start small. Seed the board with a few listings so it doesn’t look dead.
- Use what you already have. If you’re sending a newsletter, that’s your #1 distribution channel.
- Offer two price tiers. Basic and featured gives businesses a choice without being overwhelming.
- Don’t overthink it. You can even manually list jobs and collect Venmo payments at the beginning.
The key is showing local businesses that people are actually reading, and applying.
This article comes from TJ Larkin's conversation with Landon Huslig of Wichita Life on the Local Media HQ Podcast. Listen to the full episode.
