Since I was a teenager it has always been my dream to make a living online.
But it turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. My first failures were notorious: From sending a spam email to over 100,000 people, to running a classified ad business straight into the ground, testing MLM and get rich quick schemes and burning through my mom’s credit card funds.
I’ve done it all.
However, it wasn’t until I completely surrendered to the law of providing valuebefore I made my first $100,000 online. And trust me, it had nothing to do with get rich quick schemes.
When I first started out online, I just wanted to take value without giving much in return. It was my goal to make a quick buck online, while investing no work. Many online marketing gurus claimed it was possible to make money on “auto-pilot”, to have passive income flow into my bank account while I was asleep. That was my ultimate dream. Doing nothing, getting rich.
Unfortunately, this plan didn’t work out.
The good news is; I did make $100,000 online and I’m happier than ever before. Not because of “get rich quick” schemes, but as a result of real entrepreneurship. I’m looking forward to shooting for bigger goals such as my first $100,000 in 24 hours, getting 100,000 subscribers and reaching my first 7-figure year. And today, I’d like to reveal how to actually make money online.
It’s very different from what internet marketing gurus preach.
It has nothing to do with “get rich quick” schemes or network marketing.
And it won’t happen on auto-pilot.
In fact, you’ll have to work your ass off and you’ll have to learn to go to your limits. The path of online entrepreneurship is one of the most rewarding one’s I’ve ever seen, but it involves sacrifice, dedication and endurance. And luckily, there are a few hacks along the way…
So without any further ado, let me reveal how I made my first $100,000 online.
1) I Created Massive Value
Early on in my journey as an entrepreneur I learned that taking value is a dead-end road. You don’t make money by taking value, you make money by giving value. Most newbie online marketers and bootstrapping entrepreneurs are needy. The problem is: You don’t make money by focusing on money. The only way to make money is by focusing on creating value.
It was only when I completely let go of my need to get compensated for my investment and work, that I actually started to make money. Entrepreneurship is a very Zen-type journey. You need to completely detach yourself from the outcome. You have to overcome your neediness, embrace delayed gratification and learn to become a genuine and unconditional value giver.
Conclusion: Focusing on getting money, won’t get you money. Focusing on value creation will!
2) I Let Go of Fairness
Entrepreneurship isn’t a fair trade. When you trade your time for money in a regular job, you get paid for every hour you work. It’s a pretty fair deal after all. However, as an entrepreneur you need to create 10x more value than you expect to get paid for. This is something I learned from multi-millionaire Eben Pagan. There’s three fairness paradigms:
- Poorness paradigm: “I need to take value by any means in order to survive”
- Fairness paradigm: “I need to get compensated fairly, everything we do is a fair exchange”
- Wealth paradigm: “I offer 10x more value than I expect to get paid for”
The only way to get rich is to focus all of your efforts on the third paradigm.
The first paradigm will keep you poor and unhappy. The second paradigm is the most common one and will keep you average, you’ll get what most other people get. And the third paradigm is the one of an entrepreneur. Giving more and expecting less will make you wealthy.
Conclusion: Always offer 10x more value than you expect to get paid for.
3) I Became Productive
Back when I started out as an entrepreneur, I had lots of bad habits I needed to get rid of. I would spend hours in front of my computer, checking my Facebook newsfeed, watching videos on YouTube and searching stuff on Google. My time and energy had no boundaries.
And I was waiting for the world to give me something to react to.
This reactiveness means death to any entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur you need to be proactive, you need to have laser-focus, learn to use your willpower, embrace delayed gratification, ritualise your day, implement new habits and so on.
What do all these things I just mentioned have in common?
They are all productivity skills.
The truth is: Productivity is one of the greatest virtues of any entrepreneur. In fact, it’s almost impossible to even start your journey before you’ve mastered the most basic productivity skills. If you can’t work on something without having a boss giving you exact instructions and deadlines, telling you when to work and when to stop, you will inevitably fail.
You need to become your own boss and take 100% responsibility.
Conclusion: Productivity is among the most precious skills of an entrepreneur.
4) I Sold to a Hungry Crowd
One of the biggest mistakes you can make as an entrepreneur is to sell stuff that you want to sell and think people need. Instead, you need to sell stuff that people actually want to buy. It seems like a subtle distinction, yet it makes all the difference in the world.
Nobody cares about what you want to sell.
People only care about their own needs and desires and they buy stuff that they want to buy. The easiest way to make money is to only sell stuff that people want to buy. It sounds so simple, yet most aspiring business owners don’t follow this basic rule. It’s so seductive to fall in love with our own business idea and product. As an entrepreneur you have to learn that your business isn’t about you; it’s about your customers. You need to learn to let go of your own ego, overcome your self-centredness and become more compassionate.
Conclusion: Don’t re-invent the wheel, find a starving crowd and then feed it.
5) I Learned Direct Marketing
Most small business owners try to imitate the marketing they see big brands like Coca-Cola, Starbucks or Nike do. However, these large corporations have completely different agendas to fulfil than small businesses. While branding and name recognition marketing is a good strategy for these large corporations, as a small business owner you need to focus on direct marketing and direct-response advertising. Your only concern should be to attract more leads, convert them into customers and make more profit. Point Blank and Period.
When I built my first business in the music industry, I focused entirely on direct marketing.
While all my competitors were focusing on ineffective branding and name recognition marketing strategies, I was able to build a list of over 10,000 subscribers and build predictable and profitable sales funnels that consistently outperformed my competitors. I held every marketing dollar that I spent accountable. And I focused on constant optimimization. That’s why I won, fast.
As a result of focusing on direct marketing and direct-response advertising, I was able to sell my first business to one of my biggest competitors after only 3 years.
Conclusion: As a small business owner, focus on direct marketing rather than branding.
6) I Worked My Ass Off
Just to make this clear.
Entrepreneurship means hustle, dedication, persistence, perseverance and hard work.
You can’t cheat yourself to wealth. As Eric Thomas says: “Success is never on discount”. You have to pay the price for success with your own tears, blood and sweat. Sorry to disappoint you, but there’s really no way around it. You have to learn to work extremely hard and put in 10% more than your competitors. Later on you can hire teams, build more leverage and take it easier.
But most successful entrepreneurs started with nothing but hustle and a clear vision.
Conclusion: Cultivate a strong work ethic and be prepared to work extremely hard.
7) I Helped Others
Once you start doing things that most other people aren’t willing to do, you become more valuable as a person (I don’t mean your core value, I mean your marketplace value). By mastering scarce skills such as productivity, leadership, management and marketing, I was able to take what I learned an help others with these skills to improve their own life and business.
Coaching and leadership have become extremely valuable in recent years.
Additionally to selling actual products in different niche industries (such as the music industry), I became a coach and consultant for other businesses. So not only did I use my skills to make a lot of money myself, but I also helped others do the same and reaped the rewards.
And as a result of helping others I ended up making a lot of money.
Conclusion: Once you’ve learned more than most people about business and life, help others.
