A job, often sounds a lot better when we say “I’m making a $40,000/year” than “I’m selling my life for $18 an hour”.
Making bank on the Internet is not a new phenomenon. If you don’t have a site that earns at least $10,000/mo these days, you are living in the stone age. Just kidding. It’s not always an easy thing. Yet entrepreneurs on the Shark Tank show seem to do that all the times and many of them get to be quite successful.
Even today, grandmas are selling hand-crafted products on Etsy and Shopify for thousands of dollars a month. Now hold on, what if you don’t have a product nor the idea nor the capital to invent something great? Perhaps this article could help you understand how millions of other people have been able to earn so much money online, using just their blog. Like Pat Flynn for example, he earns at least $150,000 a month every month now since 2016.
On the other side of the coin, a majority of the U.S population are still in the field struggling days and nights from paycheck to paycheck just to make a living. Student loan along with other debts only to make life a lot worse. Everyday online bloggers and internet entrepreneurs are making as much as $5,000 to $40,000 or even over $100,000 per month. That already includes plenty of sleep, meal, vacation and chill time. Those rich guys, they gotta know some secret sauce right?
The path to create a million-dollar passive income might seem mysterious, intimidating, perhaps impossible to learn for the outsiders but all it really takes is patience and hard work. Many of those entrepreneurs are the kind of people who’d work 80 hours a week, just to avoid 40-hour job so someday they can take vacation for 6 months a year. The only certain difference between working for someone and working for yourself is that the end result depends solely on your own effort. Not your boss, not your co-worker, nor your family.
So to answer the most searched term on google “How do someone make $xx,xxx a month by staying at home?”, I got you this lengthy article to explain how many of these avenues were found.
I made $700/day from the #PokemonGo phenomenon last year from 1 article of my blog.
It’s in the number
First, you have to understand the way money works. By understanding how it works, you know how to use what you already have to make it works for you.
Just like the saying: a penny spent is two pennies earned. If you have two pennies and you use one, you will have to work twice as hard to get back the penny spent before earning a penny more.
So like the early stage of most successful entrepreneurs, try this question: how much salary would you think you have to make for a happy life? Is that $50,000, $80,000 or $100,000 per year ?
According to a recent research, it’s $75,000 for a happy life style. That should leave plenty of room for a dream house, a dream car and a very happy family of four. Now in order for you to make $75,000 in twelve months, you will have to find an employer willing to pay at least $36/hour. Then you have to work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for the entire year before overtime. That is 2,080 clocked hours and an average 80-minute of two-way commute (nearly 104 days) of your life that was spent to make someone else’s dream come true.
As an online entrepreneurs, it might be a little different.
A friend of mine has a website about martial arts. He writes a lot of articles on different subjects once or twice a week because because he loves to share his passion about martial arts and its philosophies. He shows people how to train different martial arts styles effectively, tricks and tips for a healthy life, how to be a ninja and whatnot. You know, how to do the one-punch like Bruce Lee, etc…
One sunny summer day, he decides to consolidate some of the already published articles that he has been sharing throughout the year, all into an ebook called How To Break Bricks and Heal Yourself Using Powerful Qi Energy.
He starts to offer it on his martial arts website for only $29.99 each. Since the website has been up for a while, it already gathers a respectable number of followers all around the world. You know how hard it is for that friend to earn $75,000 now? Mathematically speaking, he only has to sell the virtual ebook file to 2500 people out of 7 billions people on earth to make his first $75,000.
It is not a hard-cover in a library therefore Paul does not have to pay someone to print the book and put it on the shelf. He does not have to split the check with anyone else except the credit card processing fee, he gets 98% commission of his own work.
Let’s put it into some perspective. Is it really difficult? Do you think he’ll make any sale at all? Do you think he cannot find the little fraction of 7 millions people on earth to buy his great and informative e-book? You know where Amazon comes from in its early days? Selling ebook of course.
So thinking realistically, even if we gotta admit the fact that more than half of the population as those who cannot access Internet, teenagers, kids, babies, elders or those who are not interested; my friend still comes out with very strong number of readers who want to break bricks, or be like a boss who can break bricks and heal people. In the U.S alone there are 321 millions people.
When the ebook has become a little success –since the sale count can only go up as long as the website is online– my friend can spend more time doing what he likes to do.
What if what he likes to do is coming out with a second book & Youtube video tutorials, namely Perfecting 150 Effective Self-Defense Techniques to End a Street Fight Fast, on sale for $49.99 each.
Now he only has to wait for the next 1500 people to purchase through his website to earn another $75,000. But hey, the number game does not stop here. Since his 2 of his ebooks are there and available for purchase for the rest of his life, he does not have to work another day besides checking his bank account occasionally in case it’s full.
Why? Because the 3500 people who finds the products helpful will more likely to recommend it to their friends. If assuming, a fraction of 3,500 people only tell a friend or two, that will bring another 2,300 people to the table. And that 2,300 will soon turn into 5,700 and more. That happens on Youtubers pretty often these days, isn’t it? Like that hydraulic press channel last year, or perhaps Gangnam Style three years ago.
Statistically, it should be at least 12,000 at the 3rd level of words of mouth. Which translates to $600,000. The same thing applies for the first book as well. So we get down to the real question:
Is it better to spend 2,080 work hours to earn the $75,000 salary from his job OR spend a month or two to focus on a subject that you love more, and at the same time turns that into a life-time profit ?
Back to Paul’s martial arts website. What if he wants to take a step further and get involved with local businesses? For example if you read a newspaper recently, what do you see from 30% of the content? It’s the ads. Why? Because any, if not all, businesse want to be heard and to be seen and to be able to draw more customers everyday.
Now with that in mind, my friend again sees the opportunity to provide his readers a convenient way to look for local, good quality martial arts schools based on local zip code at the same time increases the authority and value of his website. Since the website is very popular and there are thousands of visits everyday, Paul made contact with many local martial arts schools to offer the benefits his website could deliver; as well as how Paul can help both the students and masters to get to know each other better.
He puts up the school location, the style, the hours, the intuition, the philosopy and teachings, etc…on the blog with a small contract fee of $10 a month. Here I’m going to let you think how much money Paul can make out of this strategy. Go for a quick guess maybe?
Let’s say Paul can find at least 3 schools per county in a State because he’s sometimes lazy (that’s a goal of staying at home and earn money!). There are roughly 3077 counties in the USA which results in an estimate of 9231 schools. It could be more or less, more in some crowded areas and less in others. But we use a approximate number for this equation, since opportunity has no limit.
Now when Paul charges $10 per month to 9231 schools that he has successfully earned the contract via serious phone calls and visits to the masters.
$10 x 9231 (schools) = $92,310 per month
If he raises the cost to a more standard ad price of $19.99 :
$19.99 x 9231 (schools) = $184,528 per month
If he sets the cost beyond imaginable, say $99.99; just because he is confident that his blog will deliver more than what it asks for, but still cheaper than placing an ad on the Huffingtonpost or NYtimes website :
$99.99 x 9231 (schools) = $923,008 per month
Reaching that $1M/mo will be satisfying, but it would be one hell of a battle of sweat and tears. But at least, you aren’t working for somebody else all along.
Those were some examples of making money with a blog on the Internet.
You see it is a lot of effort my friend has to commit into the blog before things start to blossom. However, the reward is well worth it and he just does what’s best for his readers, himself and those who want to learn Martial Arts. Yet you do not necessarily have to sell ebook or anything to create a passive income for yourself.
There are other easier ways, too; but they still do require a lot of effort and writing to make it happens. You don’t like to write? Do you have an account on any social networking websites to share your thoughts with friends and people around you? You can turn that to something that pays. Check out some stories of many successful internet entrepreneurs at Local Success.org using Instagram, Youtube.
Every life fights an untold battle and everyone has a special talent or experience. I can guarantee you I don’t care what it is or how silly it is, some of those 7 billions individuals will find it great. The power of world wide web has opened a whole new opportunity that could never be possible before. On the Internet, suddenly everyone is on the same level field and everyone has the same opportunity to be successful. It only requires the ability to adapt, stand up and stand out from your comfortable zone.
The Mindset
To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.
Lots of people says they are afraid to start this online income thing because they don’t know how it works or they may lose money. Well, having a website these days only costs you less than $100 a year so that is not a lot to ask for to begin something potentially become your life-long income. So let’s address the other fear.
Once there was a little baby who did not know how to walk. She could only crawl on the floor, and the world from her eyes was a beautiful playground, full of mysterious rainbows. She wanted to go ad explore all the colorful things around her. But as she crawled faster her knees hit the floor harder, and it would hurt.
Then one day she tried to stand up on her feet so it doesnt hurt anymore and she can reach further, that also was a lot more fun. However, she fell again and again because all these movements are difficult and unfamiliar. No matter how many times it happened, it didn’t stop her.
Even though the baby girl does not have knowledge of how to walk, that didn’t bother her so much.
Little one does not see it as a challenge, nor a job or a need. Not even a lesson. She does it because she wanted to grab a hold of that colorful flower on the table, to reach out for her milk bottle on the sofa easier or to visit little bunny where mom left him on other side of the bed last night. She did not know how to give up was.
We were once like that. Were you not?
As people grow older, we begin to see the world differently. We find more doubts and risks from many things in life. It makes us want to be safe and only doing things that we are comfortable with. We were taught to go to college, get a degree and then find a secured 9-5 job that pays.
If you always follow the classical pattern, you are understanding the routine, the tradition, the shadow – you are not understanding yourself.
One day you realize that all the education, all the advice you were taught have helped you tremendously to be a good employee, not the employer. To be a worker, not an owner. To make others richer, not yourself. To first help their family and start saving yours later, on every friday of the other week.
When you must trade the hours to have someone signs you a paycheck, you are still in the rat race that everything about life means to you is to set the alarm at 7AM in the morning and work hard to find your way up the ladder, to pay for bills that also grow along with your salary. You neglect your dreams, your family and maybe someone the little you used to dream to be.
I have seen a lot of successful people on the internet and they were just like any everyday person you would meet. They happened to see the opportunity and knowing that it would take them far away from their comfortable zone, they did not hesitate to lay their first steps.
And from that moment forth, they have found their dreams.
Did they invent the time machine and travel back in time to find the winning lottery number or something?
No, not even close.
Neither they made any rocket surgery discovery, or anything that required a genius IQ or even a master degree.
It is not a get rich quick scheme you have seen in Multi-level Marketing or Pyramid scams nowadays. These people do work really really REALLY hard on their own and for themselves at the beginning of the journey, before they can even catch a glimpse of the rewards so far ahead.
They can make it happen because they have the passion in what they do, the mindset for success and the love to change the world as they know it. Most importantly, they did not give up. Even Steve Job would tell you that..
Stay hungry, stay foolish.
The Vision
Now you probably understand how money works on the Internet and you are also prepared for the task. Do you know what to do? Do you still wonder how people earn so much online ? Let’s pause at that for a mere second to guess. I’m sure you can easily think of at least couple to dozen ways someone can make simple cash right out of the cyber world (legally).
For example, mom can sell her old air purifier on the OfferUp for a few bucks; dad can post his local business online to attract more customers and brother can sell his rare items in WoW for a pretty sum of cash. Worse case scenario, your sister sold your collectibles pokemon figures and now she is rich.
But you have to admit it is no way of a long-term business. What can you do differently to get a different result? This is how people start an online passive income…They ask themselves.
Getting Started
First and foremost, you will need to have a website, a blog to present yourself and your content to the world (no, not Facebook!). Well Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc…may work but this is your official online homepage. You can write or share anything you love here. Typically, you can obtain a free blog at WordPress.com or Blogger.com and begin your story there.
You can also pay for your own host with your own domain like Custom PC Guide .net but that requires an initial investment. The whole cost for me to get this blog up and running is $7/mo. I’m using WordPress as the back-end and it is pretty good for a free content-management system.
Now when your website picks up, there will be a lot of people to follow you and listen to what you say (provided that you have deliver quality words, not smack talk or rants). Soon, you can begin to monetize it. And that is exactly when the passive income story starts. I know this sounds a little vague at first, but I’ll lead one or two examples so we can get to the same page.
Tony likes to take pictures. He has this strong interest into photography even though he has not taken any class about using the camera. Most of the time he just points and shoots, but some pictures come out nicely. He posts those pictures on his homepage and brags about them to his friends.
Then people start to ask Tony what camera he uses and where he takes those pictures.
Tony decides write two notes about the camera he uses and the locations he usually goes to for those beautiful pictures.
One the first note, Tony explains he figures out each function of the camera and shows people the simple way to use it for the best shots.
He also inserts an affiliated link to the camera on Amazon website in case if anyone likes to get a hold of it.
Tony aims to help his friends with the nice tips he learned from the hands-on experience with the camera. However the topic now not only benefits his local friends, but as well as other young people around the worlds who also find this very interesting because the whole photography thing seems easy to follow and right down-to-earth. Lexi, a friend of Tony, wants to get the same camera to do what Tony does. Thanks to the link Tony has provided, she now can buy it without any doubts. The link might look something like this:
- BUNDLE INCLUDES: Sony Alpha a7RII Mirrorless Digital Camera (Body Only), SanDisk 128GB...
- 4K RECORDING: Footage from 4K movie recording featuring full pixel readout without pixel...
- WIDE RANGE LENSES: The growing group of FE lenses (35 mm full-frame compatible E-mount...
- FEATURES: The Sony Alpha a7RII Mirrorless Digital Camera combines the world's first...
On the second note, Tony points out “10 beautiful lakes, romantic parks and wonderful natural waterfalls you must visit before you die” that he has visited.
He even tells the exact hill he stands on to take the pretty sunset picture or the roof he was on to get the shot of that beauty. Everyone likes this topic a lot and they start to suggest more locations such as the delicious Bubble tea shop, the Myrtle Beach in South Carolina or Ocean City in Maryland, etc… This page becomes a most talked about article he has ever shared because all his friends love to go to places.
You probably wonder where and how Tony earns all the money from ?
On the first note, he does it with the affiliated link to Amazon website. Anyone who buys the camera Tony has through this link on Amazon will earn Tony a small commission (between 4% to 8%).
This program is called Amazon Associates that allows you present a product from Amazon store on your website and get a bonus if you someone buys that product through your link. As you already notice, Custom PC Guide .net makes use of this affiliated method because it is not intrusive and fits our category. It also provides a convenient way for purchases; while it helps our editors cover the expenses on host and researches.
Even though the commission looks very little, you have to remember the way money works that we have learned earlier. If the camera is $400, on the average of 6% per sale gives Tony $24. Do you think some 1000 people of 3.5 millions people on the Internet finds his expertise on the camera is helpful ?
I’m pretty sure more than once, before you made a purchase of something after you looked up the reviews on the Internet, didn’t you? What if you find Tony’s review on the camera is exactly what you have been looking for and it somehow becomes the final kick that pushes you to place the order. This is where the number game comes in again :
$24 x 1000 = $24,000. That is about the cost of a Subaru BRZ.
But how hard does Tony have to work to earn that much ? I say less than a day to write that article.
$24 x 5000 = $120,000.
Now on the second post that he wrote, Tony does not have any affiliated link because the nature of the post. You cannot sell locations (duh!).
Instead, Tony engages readers into third part ads such as Google Adsense, Infolinks, etc… He displays a little Google-powered banner on the side that is content-relevant. That means when the topic is focusing on places and travels, the ads appear with exciting hotel deals, couple for local restaurants, special offers from theme parks, etc..
For every click or impression the readers made by their interest on the ad, Google pays Tony. While this earning is not fixed, it is not easy to point out how much Tony can earn from Google. However, it is known that Google Adsense program has made more than a hundred millionaires out of the blue. Here I assume Tony gets a low pay-per-click dollar, $1 each. On other hand, because this topic is ultimately viral, his 400 friends on Facebook keeps talking about it, share it with other friends and say, 1/3 of that number of people click on the ads to find out about the cool stuffs it offers.
That is $132 per day or per hour for Tony, depends on the occasion but let us just be realistic and assume it is earning per day.
$132 x 30 (days) = $3960
$4092 x 12 (months) = $47520
But how hard does Tony have to work to earn that much ? I say less than a day to write that article before it becomes viral.
That is not to mention some click can worth a lot more, even up to $10 each. In other words, the revenue does not cease to grow. As long as Tony has his blog up and running and continues to add more fun topics for his friends and audience, Tony is on the right track to a successful life doing what he loves and at the same time makes a very livable income.
Another example for the rest of your popcorn is about Andy and his gadget facebook fanpage.
See, Andy loves R/C Drift cars and he loves Lego and he also loves Meme stuffs. Andy opens a facebook page to connect with others who have the same interests. He passionately talks everything about R/C Car drifting techniques and tips. He is also a fan of rare Lego character collections or unique custom Lego builds such as Starcraft Siege Tank, Transformer Autobots, Halo Banshee, etc.. Andy also finds a bunch of ideas for funny Meme T-shirts. All these subjects are presented on his facebook page when Andy has a free time.
It does require Andy a lot of time on hand but he works on it because it is his hobby and he sees fun from doing it. He masters the art of R/C Car drifting from the noob level. He learns things both the hard and easy ways thus this experience gives him the opportunity to talk to the mind of the new person who wants to learn more about R/C Cars. People trusts his recommendation when they see Andy posts awesome Youtube videos about him having so much fun with these R/C cars. It’s a great hobby.
Would you be able tell now where Andy earns his money from in this example? I bet you could.
But did you know that Andy also gets paid from his Youtube videos ? It is Google Adsense, delivering an ad that plays at the beginning of the video. All the stories you have read meant to show you that there are smarter ways other than the traditional jobs to make a living, by doing things that you love and at the same time brings great benefits to your readers, make it count.
When you put the passion and dedication behind every reason to make everyone’s life better, you have become the true entrepreneur. Wonder how an entrepreneur starts in today tech life ? Check out a few inspirational success stories at Local Success.org.
Whenever you think you can or you can’t, you are right.
Next Step ?
Make A Beautiful Website In 10 Minutes with WordPress (no IT skill needed).
bro your website is from the Stoneage lol
Man, good work and great ideas! The options are out there. It’s all about the 1% who wont take no for an answer. I am going to show this to some people who have some unique skills that they can use to share. Keep up the good work Paul.
Thanks Jeff, I’m glad you’ve found it useful. The hardest thing when we venture into online business is not really about the lack of information, skills or help but the self-motivation. You are right about the 1%. We have to hold a strong ambition and solid vision to get to the end of the goal. A lot of people quit because they lose faith too soon, if they could have been shown how close they were to victory.
EXCELLENT ARTICLE. What a refreshing change to get some sound advice without some product to buy at the end. I spent a long time building my blog and linked it to google adsense and was mortified to be “kicked off” the site for accidentally clicking ads. I think it’s a bit silly that you are not allowed to go on your own blog and click offers which appeal to you. Losing the facility of google adsense was a big deal for me as I was only just beginning to get to grips with the internet world. Do you think Amazon will accept me? I wish you every success as you seem very genuine and I like your writing style!
Great article you got here buddy. It gives people who dont have a clue but blind ambition a great start. Thanks
Thank you Preet, I’m glad you got the message from the article!