The Big Picture

Essentially there are four main ways you can make money online in 2015 and which one you choose and where you start will depend solely on your personal circumstances.

The reality is, there are many online success stories but most people fail because they have not done their homework first, or even identified what exactly they are trying to accomplish.

 

 

For example, have you asked yourself the following questions?

• Why are you truly to looking to earn money online? What is you ‘Why?’
• Are you looking for a job that you can do online by working for someone else and getting paid for your time or are you looking to start a genuine business that is scalable and allows you to generate an unlimited amount of income?
• How much time can you dedicate to this endeavors?
• How much money do you have to get setup and started?

Your answers to these questions will help you identify which route you should follow or at least start with.

Ideally you would want to tap into all four online income generating models so you can have different sources of income. But we all have to start somewhere first and then expand.

So here are your options:

1. Sell Your Services

Have you got a skill, talent or service that other people want?

You can sell your time or skills by offering services like business and office support, accounting and bookkeeping, marketing, graphic design, app and web design and so on.

This can be done by creating your own website to attract business or signing up with services like

• Elance.com
• Odesk.com,
• Guru.com
• Freelancer.com
• Fiverr.com

These sites allow you to bid on projects and jobs that match your qualifications while automating your workflow and billing process. These sites allow you to be found online by companies that are hiring and they also ensure that you get paid for the work you do.

You can also offer training services, like personal and business coaching, music lessons or any other service that requires face-to-face interaction using video conferencing and tools like Skype.

Depending on what your service is you probably don’t need a lot of start up capital. You’ll need a basic website, any specific software for your niche set, such as Adobe Photoshop of graphic designers, Microsoft Office for Data Entry etc. It also helps to have Skype to communicate with your clients and a nice webcam will come in Handy.

You might also consider something like Jing or Snagit, to capture screenshots or screencasts so you can show your work or progress.

While there is a lot of money to be made by selling your services, especially if you operate like a business rather than a freelance contractor or employee, there are a limited number of hours in a day, which really puts a cap on the amount of money you can make, plus it limits your effectiveness. If you are not working, then you won’t be making any money.

You will also find that there is a fierce global competition for such remote jobs. Candidates from India, The Philippines, Bangladesh and more are all competing for the same jobs. As they live in countries with a lower cost of living they are willing to get paid a much lower hourly rate than you might be willing to accept.

However if you have exceptional skills and deliver good value, you can still make a substantial income selling your services online.

If you are short on cash, but have the skills and time, and need to generate an income right now, then selling your services is the best place to start.

2. Sell Products

This brings us to the second option, which is selling products online. This option opens a BIG DOOR for you if know how to implement it well and can apply to any product that you develop and produce or products from other companies and suppliers that you buy and sell for a profit.

For example if you have developed your own unique products, you can easily sell them on sites like Amazon or eBay or get a custom ecommerce site to sell them directly.

If you have some sort of information products you can make a handsome some promoting it on sites like Clickbank, JVzoo or Commission junction. The big bonus is that you can enlist a big army of affiliate marketers to promote your course or ebook for you by giving them a slice of your commissions.

But many people get stuck on this part, as they are not sure what to sell. They can spend years trying to find the right product, or designing and creating a new product from scratch that they are not really sure if anyone will really buy. That is where many people lose a lot of money.

Another thing to keep in mind is that physical products require storage, shipping and handling and customer support. Whereas digital products can be delivered with a click of a button and do not require any physical storage.

Developing your own product or buying inventory to sell will require an investment on your part and will also require someone with a business mindset to ensure success.

There are some decent products where you can learn to create your own information or Amazon business. Some of which are:

However, unless you know what you are doing and have the money to get started, I highly recommend you leave this option till last.

3. Affiliate Marketing/ Network Marketing

Another way to tap into selling products with limited risk is to use the Affiliate Marketing online business model.

With affiliate marketing you can get a commission for products or services that you promote and you don’t have to deal with product development, storage, payment processing or shipping and handling. All you have to do is send prospective buyers to a specific offer and if they make a purchase then you get a commission on the sale.

I’m also putting Network marketing as a viable business model in here too. As network marketers your main aim is to market the products an services of your multi-level marketing company. While many companies are still using older tried and true methods of getting their products in front of people such as home parties or opportunity meetings more and more are embracing the leverage and power of internet marketing.

Also whether you are promoting a product or an opportunity the truth is more than 90% of your prospects will say no. So you can use affiliate marketing to provide further tools and services for the 90% of the people who will say no.

A great place to find affiliate products to sell is on Amazon or Affiliate Marketing sites likeCommission Junction or ClickBank where you will get access to millions of products you can promote.

If you are a newbie, then the setup process and learning all the ins and outs of Affiliate Marketing can take some time.

While you are not in charge go product creation, customer service or followup the affiliate marketing space is competitive and you have to learn a whole lot of new skills.

And what skills you learn will depend on the 1001 ways you decide to promote your affiliate products.

You can:

• Create a website and learn SEO (search Engine optimization), write content rich blog posts and learn the techniques that will get your articles will rank in Google
• You can create informative training or Reviews on Youtube
• You can spend all your days on Social Media connecting with people and giving ‘great content’ on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest etc etc
• You can learn paid advertising such as Bing or Facebook PPC, banner Ads, Email Solo Ads
• You can create big responsive lists and market to them via email
• You can start blogging
• You can trawl forums answering questions

You can learn countless other traffic methods

Or you can do combinations of all of the above

So if you are looking to generate a full-time income online as soon as possible this might not be the fastest option. However if you are already offering your services online, then making product suggestions to your customers is a good place to get additional income.

For example I am a creative and marketing services provider but also recommend solutions to my clients like web hosting services, WordPress Themes, Email marketing Automation, Lead Capture Pages solutions and more. If they make a purchase then I get a commission on the sale.

This model takes time to pick momentum (especially if you are concentrating on free traffic methods like Blogging, Forums, or social media) and will also require some technical and online marketing skills in terms sharing your affiliate links either on a blog, website, social media or other marketing channel.

At a very minimum to be a reasonable affiliate marketer you will need

1. A domain and hosting – you want to create a website that positions you as a credible person in your niche and ideally as an expert Like Justhost or Namecheap
2. An email autoresponder – that collects emails and can send automated email broadcast like Getresponse
3. A program that creates marketing pages like Leadpages
4. A good understanding of marketing and copy writing (salesmanship in print)
5. A good understanding of one source of traffic like Facebook or Bing PPC etc

Even if you do all of that, the reality is that most affiliates don’t earn a lot of money because their commission earnings are too low to make up for their time and traffic costs.

Either way, I highly recommend that you start educating yourself on affiliate marketing so you can get that momentum going. The sooner you start, the faster results you will see.

4. Licensing Business Model

There is a business model that gives you the flexibility of an affiliate with the ability to make larger commission earning of a product creator and utilizes the skills of others.

If you are looking for a systematized and proven business model that you can tap into and still make high profits, then you need to educate yourself on the licensing business model.

The licensing model is not for everyone, as it requires an investment in your time and money and most of all someone with a business mindset. However it is the fastest and easiest way you can operate a highly successful online business.

A similar business model is that of Franchising or a Car Dealership.

The product and companies are already established, but all you have to do is purchase a license that allows you to operate under that business name.

For example: McDonalds, Boston Pizza or a Mercedes Car dealership. You don’t have to create any products yourself or worry about branding and creating systems. Everything is already done for you.

There are many companies that offer this business model and the investment and setup fees vary drastically from one company to another.

If you are new and looking to build an online business, then I highly recommend you start with companies that offer digital products that can be sold online. Opening a restaurant or car dealership require a huge investment of money and also limit you to one physical location.

Your chances of success with this model will depend on a combination of the following:

• Business, technical and marketing skills
• How much money you can invest in the business, marketing and hiring help
• How much time are you willing to spend on the business each day

If you have all three then you have a winner and this business model is for you.

If you have time and money but no skills, you can hire someone to set this up for you while you learn the business side by side.

If you have time and skills but no money, you can easily find a business partner or investor in your business or offer your services on a commission basis to someone that is already established with this business model. If that is you, then I want to hear from you. Send me a note and I can show you how to tap into this business model without making an investment.

If you have no time, money or skills, then this business model is not for you, unless of course you have the business sense to gather a team, people with money, time and skills and you can be the brains behind it all.

What next?

Once you’ve decided on your business model you will want to check out my official resources section where I share all my coveted tools and resources that I personally use to create a six figure income online.

Secondly, if you feel that you could benefit from more hands on coaching or programs than connect with me here.

Moving forward on this site I will be reviewing many companies that offer the affiliate marketing and licensing business model and give you the tools and resources to see faster results and profits.

Wishing you a very successful and profitable online business journey!