I remember it vividly. My wife and I got a visit from her mom, and the two of us soon got into a heated argument in front of my computer in our living room. The tension escalated until my mother-in-law burst out: “So, you think you can work from home, never leave the house for a normal job and still expect to make good money?!” “Yes, that’s right”, I replied. “That’s exactly what I intend to do!”
Little did I know that my online journey towards success would be so rough. In hindsight, I have no problem admitting that I thought it would be way easier, than it turned out to be. I have lost count of all the times I stayed up until 4 or 5 in the morning, looking for the “magic pill” – the one opportunity that would catapult me towards success and stop the mouth of my mother-in-law. (Let me add that we have a great relationship these days, and I really appreciate her.)
I was tempted to bang my head against the wall more than once, during these frustrating years. If I had just discovered the important concept of ongoing, residual income earlier, I would have had less grey hairs by now! Here are 2 valuable tips, that would have made my journey much easier, and that can be put to use in most businesses.
1. It takes the same effort to make a one-time sale, as it does to make an “ongoing sale”.
By “ongoing sale”, I simply mean a membership or subscription type of sale, that lets you profit from your customer each and every month. Let me illustrate this by a real-life example:
The story is told of an Indian woman targeting the Indian population in New York, to tell them they could get cheaper phone calls to India via a certain telephone company that she represented. The Indian population in New York is currently 0.4%, so this meant she had several hundred thousand indians she could target. This woman did NOT get an hourly pay from the phone company, but rather a small percentage of the phone bill each time one of her customers made a phone call to India.
I’m convinced you start to see where I’m headed with this story. Before long, this smart woman was able to make an ongoing monthly income that surpassed what she would have received in a regular 9-5 job.
This exact same principle can be used, and is being used, by companies doing business online. Always remember that it takes the same effort to make the one-time sale (that pays you today and is gone tomorrow), that it does to make an ongoing sale.
If I had only focused on this type of income from my first day online, I would have been able to succeed that much faster. Learn from my huge mistake. Having been heavily involved in affiliate marketing, I can testify that the most stable part of my income to this very day, is commissions from subscriptions and memberships.
One of these income streams is from a leading auto responder company. As you probably know, auto responder services are paid monthly, and the people using auto responders continue do so for months and often years. This means I get paid every month as well. A brand new check every month, without lifting a finger.
2. Most Companies Can Add an Ongoing Revenue Stream to their Business.
With a little creativity, it is possible to add ongoing income streams to most businesses out there. The list of examples is endless. If you sell DVDs, you can create a “DVD of the Month”-Club. Pay per click experts who started out by releasing a simple Guide, have now added monthly coaching to their business.
A web video expert that I know of, created an excellent course and released it with a price tag of about $300. It didn’t take long until he shifted his focus and chose a better, more profitable model for his business. The only way you can get his course nowadays, is by joining his Club and pay him monthly. What you get back is a packed member’s area with an ever expanding library of updated, quality content.
Learn from these examples. Figure out ways to add ongoing income streams to your business. Hard work is good. Smart work is better.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is really a nice post. Obviously, you are putting a lot of hard work on your blog. I’m sure I’d come back here more often. You can also visit my site about Market Attraction – Aymen of Arbitrage Conspiracy.
Ongoing sales are definitely good to target. They sometimes pay out slightly less but in the long term they are generally well worth the effort. My mother-in-law has been supporting until now even if she still doesnt count my 12 hours work a day as real work!