Well, there's no escaping it; Coronavirus is here and people are scared.
And because of the decrees, both de facto and de jure, for "social distancing" (aka how I live my life), small business owners everywhere are getting pummeled.
(especially brick and mortar small businesses)
Unfortunately, a lot of these businesses are going to be wiped out.
Before anyone freaks out, this isn't fear mongering. It's a reality.
The businesses that are forced to close right now, some for upwards of 60+ days, still have expenses to pay.
They still have overhead. They still have rent…
If these small business have no consistent, predictable, online revenue stream - or they can't establish one ASAP - they're screwed.
But fear not.
I've been to war in real life and in business (metaphorically speaking).
And today, I'm going to show you a way through the uncertainty.
Below, you'll find 5 ways to generate predictable income online in the next 21 days. Consider this the Coronavirus 2020 edition; stuff that's working now and should work well for you.
If you have any questions, thoughts, or recommendations for what I can add to the list, leave a comment below!
Ready?
Strap on your helmet and let's get to it...
This is for my brick and mortar entrepreneurs who are getting kicked around by all this the worst:
Given that you have a business and you have a databaset of customers, the absolute fastest, simplest, and best way to serve your customers and clients, while generating a profit online, quickly, is through the right affiliate offer.
Affiliate marketing is basically performance-based or commission-based marketing; e.g. you get paid for every sale you refer / generate.
So the question is, if you have customers OFFLINE, how could they be served ONLINE?
For example, maybe you run a yoga studio. People come to your classes in person. You've recently had to shut your doors for an indefinite period of time.
You could, of course, try to stream and sell your "in person" classes online.
But then you might realize your customers don't want to pay full price for a virtual streaming service, so you'll probably have to cut the price…
Unfortunately, cutting the price of your new streaming or online offer WILL NOT HELP, because you can find a million and a half yoga practices streamed online, basically every day.
If you're a guru, you can maybe get away with selling on the premise of your name alone.
For just about everyone else, why fight an uphill battle?
A better solution:
Your customers win because if the platform is established, it's a better user experience than you trying to hack something ridiculous together right now.
You win, because you have to deliver absolutely ZERO, while you have the chance to make a profit, in perpetuity.
#winnerwinnerchickendinner
Here's a screenshot from one of my affiliates who earned more than $50,000 from sharing a simple, proven, high quality digital product, over a 1 week period of time:
Yup, it works.
You just gotta find the right fit. And then put it out there the right way.
(Need help on this? Book a lightning session with me right now and in less than an hour we can figure out the optimal affiliate offer for your list, and maybe even start to line up your promotion)
Most people do the above and stop there.
That's profitable enough, in most cases, if done correctly.
Here's a simple way to ramp things up:
Put together a *30 day challenge* (or for however long your doors are closed for - why not?!) and join along with the customers you referred.
A simple way to do this:
Have anyone who signs up with your link send you the confirmation receipt (confirm inside your affiliate program that the sale was attributed to you), and add them to a private group where you can throw in extra stuff, whether bonuses or perks, providing feedback or support, and much more.
Who knows, this group might take off in such a way that you could charge money for it (but then we'd be getting ahead of ourselves, that's Strategy #4 below).
I know that might sound like a lot to accomplish in 21 days, but hear me out.
Here's the deal:
Amazon is one of the biggest search engines in the world. It's also the #1 digital retailer in the world.
If you're not tapping into this audience, you're missing out.
Insurgent Publishing makes 100% of its income online. We still sell print books, we just have no brick and mortar book store (nor do we try to get our books into stores).
I built Insurgent Publishing to be antifragile, and it seems to be working.
Here's the secret to success on Amazon:
That's it.
The best part about a book; it can be a genuine, passive income generator for you and your business.
I still receive sales of some of my books on my website that I haven't promoted or shared in…literally, years.
That's the power of books, of writing, and of becoming a published author.
If writing and publishing sounds like a lot of work, it doesn't have to be.
Today, you can find fantastic transcription software that makes audio dictation a real possibility (for those who hate sitting down to write). I use Rev.
Design and formatting used to be a pain. It's not anymore.
Now you can get professional cover design and professional formatting of your book (both digital and for print) for next to nothing, thanks to the amazing 100 Covers and FormattedBooks.
100 Covers and Formatted Books helped me put this bestseller together.
Bottom line: creating a professional-looking book costs much less than it's ever cost, and it's much more lucrative than it's ever been.
If you are rearing to go, but don't know where to start, here's a completely free course on how to launch a book to bestseller (based on the strategies and techniques we used to launch bestsellers like: "The 7 Day Startup," "The Art of Work," and many others).
And of course, if you have any questions, book a 1 on 1 Lightning Session with me here and I can answer any and all your questions (like how to get a book produced for under $3k, or how to take advantage of Amazon SEO to create consistent sales every day, or how to turn one book into multiple streams of revenue, and much more).
A virtual summit is like an in person conference, but hosted online.
Even better than an in person conference, you have no barrier to entry (geographically, speaking - optimal in these times of social distancing), can grow your email list, and you can make a killing on the backend with proper upsells and downsells.
Virtual summits can be very profitable.
I've coached and/or strategized, organized, managed, and run more than a dozen 5 to 6-figure virtual summits.
The reason they work so well is because they require little overhead, they don't have to be complicated, and you can drive results relatively quickly by leveraging partnerships.
(side note: here's the best system in the world for finding, connecting, and leveraging influential people to market and promote your products for you, including virtual summits)
Virtual summits are one of the best ways to position yourself as an authority in your space, niche, or industry, while simultaneously growing your reach (and most importantly: email list), as well as being a great way to get started selling digital products online (because the product, in this case, basically builds itself).
I used a virtual summit to drum up new coaching and consulting clients.
I called it: $100k Launch School.
The premise of my virtual summit was that you can make a years worth of income in a single month with a good launch.
The reason I bring that up is that my virtual summit helped me not only grow my email list by over 5,000 subscribers (in less than 3 weeks time…something that took me 3 years to do the first time I did it), and make over $20k from ticket sales alone, it also allowed me to book myself solid with clients (virtual / exclusively online) for the last two years.
(hence why I haven't felt the need to run one since, but also why I'm such a big fan)
Crazy, but true.
Here's a short video to help you make up your mind if you SHOULD host a virtual summit
Lastly, if you are going to run one, remember: they aren't necessarily complicated, but there are a lot of moving pieces.
You can figure out the list of things you need to do very easily. Executing in a timeline manner to drive real results…well that takes a little bit more planning.
So if you're thinking, yeah, that's something I want to get into: here's an insanely comprehensive, step-by-step blog post on how to create, host, and launch a virtual summit from scratch.
And if you need more help, of course you can schedule a 1 on 1 call with me here.
A membership site is platform that has a private, members only area. A "premium membership site" then is one where someone has to pay to get access. Simple.
The key here is paying members.
You can get on something like FB, YouTube, or IG right now and start posting free content…but we want to monetize that content.
That's where the premium membership site comes in.
With a premium membership, you get paid to produce and upload content. Remember the yoga studio example I gave earlier? If you were to create your own, that might include daily yoga workout, maybe some weekly meditations or bonus posture clinics…maybe you bring in a guest instructor to interview that person, or include an online community element.
There are a thousand ways to create and run a membership site, hence why it's not my first recommendation…
…but because so many small businesses are built on a business model of selling time for money, typically in person, and often 1-to-1, or 1-to-many…well, a membership site can be a no brainer solution.
For more on running a membership site, listen to this in-depth interview with membership site expert Jen Lehner.
Clarity.fm is a website that connects experts with people with questions.
They have a very simple system that allows your clients to book calls with you. Your clients are charged by the minute.
That might sound strange, but it works out really well, in particular (for me at least) with initial consultation calls.
First and foremost, it helps me avoid tire-kickers. After all, if someone is serious about growing a 6 to 7-figure online business, they won't be turned off by a $5 / minute call. If you're not used to charging so much, start with something lower…but don't diminish your value!
Second, it's painless. You can hook up your own system with a hodgpodge of widgets, which I do have, and still use (mostly for blocks of consulting people can book via my Accelerator Coaching), but it's kinda nice to have a system that works well, and is simple.
So had to give it a shout out here.
Clarity.fm takes a few minutes to setup, and you can be sharing your page and book paid consulting calls in minutes flat.
This isn't quite like the other strategies I've shared, per se. More like a "feel free to overlay this on top of any of the above" type of strategy (or "create your own riff on it and go" type of thing).
Listen, right now, we're in a "crisis" (or at least "crisis-lite").
The fear you've probably felt is that it may get worse.
Everyone is aware of that.
You don't need to aggravate it, but you can be honest about where you're at, what you're doing, and why you're making your services PAY WHAT YOU WANT…
Because if you can make a compelling case for:
All of a sudden, pay what you want pricing starts to not just work, but make a lot of financial sense.
There's really too much to cover with this one, so best if I direct you to my completely FREE Pay What You Want ecourse:
And that wraps up 5 ways you can start making a predictable profit online in the next 21 days (with a bonus 6th strategy, because I couldn't help myself...you could implement PWYW pricing so easily right now, if you mean what you say and know what you're doing...so look into it!).
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions on things I missed but that are legit ways to make predictable income online, share below. Let's use this a space to share and support one another (you can even plug your own stuff, just don't be grabbler).
Stay frosty.
Tom "social distancing before it was cool" Morkes
p.s. if you liked this blog post, you'll love my book "The Art of Instigating" - the paperback costs less than a meal out that you can't have right now anyway. Click here to pick up your copy (and one for a friend) today!
Started, finished, and shipped on a mountain homestead, deep in the heart of the Rockies | Writing time: 12 hours | Soundtrack: silence (a trend!)
Every act of artistic creation (business, blog, book or otherwise) begins in the mind.
They begin as acts of love (we care about our ideas) and defiance (challenging what is with what could be).
But being inside your own mind isn’t a pretty thing. It’s nasty in there; what is right seems wrong; up is down; and every course of action can be rationalized (adding to the frustration).
Struggling with a creative puzzle or wrestling with a conceptual problem is brutal.
It challenges your skill; do you have the ability to bring this vision to life?
It challenges your character; do you have the fortitude – the grit – to take it all the way?
It challenges your belief in yourself; can you keep working toward an elusive goal, even when nothing pans out for weeks, months or years?
Do you really have what it takes to fight these creative battles, day in and day out?
And if the answer is YES to all of those questions, are you sure you’re not just lying to yourself?
These are the internal battles of someone trying to do something new, of someone building something from scratch, of the person creating something unique, not because he was told, but because he chose.
It’s not reserved just for writers (experienced as writers block) or entrepreneurs (experienced as failure to launch), but for every single person who stands up and challenges the group; who leaves the tribal boundaries; who demands self-determination, regardless of the consequences.
It’s a battle waged by artists and inventors; by builders and breakers; by warriors and leaders.
It’s a war fought by those brave enough to question, challenge, and try.
And like any war, there will be casualties: your dreams may not become reality, your goals might not pan out, and your projects might fail.
It’s difficult, it’s unforgiving, and it’s (often) unfair.
When I characterize creation as an act of war, I mean it.
And yet some of us still feel compelled to create, even with this guarantee of discomfort.
Perhaps it’s because we expect the discomfort will fade when we “make it.” And it might.
Or perhaps it’s because we believe the reward at the end will outweigh the pain of the process. And this might be true.
Or perhaps we have no other option because the discomfort of not creating is more painful and terrifying than the possibility of trying and failing. And this is probably the case.
Regardless the reason, the fact that some still want to create, still need to create, is what matters; because these are the people who will create.
Winning the creative war isn’t a matter of how. For the creator, it’s a matter of when.
Oddly enough, that is exactly how you win.
It ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much can you take and keep moving forward? That's how winning is done. [Rocky Balboa]
p.s. are you fighting the creative war right now? Share with us in the comments below what you're creating and where you've found success (or how you've dealt with failure).
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. [Mark Twain]
The thing about writing, building, inventing, designing, or creating (essentially anything that requires leadership) is this: it’s not safe.
Not only do you expose yourself to the dangers of a foreign environment (leadership by its nature takes the unknown path), but you expose yourself to the most dangerous element of all: the tribe.
The tribe is a great thing when you’re in the majority – when you fit in, comply and keep quiet.
For the nonconforming leader – for the outlier in the minority – the tribe is a detriment to success, freedom and happiness.
When you fit in, comply, and keep quiet, the boss rewards you.
Your peers, likewise, accept you as an equal. And rightly so because you ARE an equal; quiet, compliant and agreeable like everyone else.
On the other hand, when you don’t play by the conventional rules, when you challenge the way things work, and when you speak up when there’s something immoral, unethical or just plain illogical, there is no reward from the tribe – in fact, there is only punishment or exile.
If you do any of those things – when you expose the weakness of the status quo - you undermine the authority figure. When you undermine any authority figure, you necessarily insult their tribe of followers.
Not only will your boss punish you, your peer group will reject and scorn you (they are, after all, the quiet compliers that, for their own safety, didn't speak up to begin with – why would they speak up to support you now?).
In an environment like this – essentially every bureaucracy that has ever existed – it doesn't pay to think creatively; it doesn't pay to be brave enough to speak up when things don’t seem right; It doesn't pay to challenge and lead and move outside the tribal boundaries.
If you do, you will be ostracized.
Because the system perpetuates itself this way, what you’re left with is an org chart of followers, safety seekers, and non-disrupters. They make very good robots for the robot factory.
You can stick with the tribe.
You can find strength in numbers.
You can reassure yourself that quiet, compliant and agreeable is a worthy existence.
Or you can step outside the tribal boundaries.
You can choose another direction.
You can decide your own path, determine your own pace and packing list, and design your own life’s journey.
The tribe won’t like it.
But we don’t need more tribes – we need more individuals.
The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap. [Ayn Rand]
What will you choose?
p.s. what are your thoughts on the tribe and the individual? Leave your comments below.
The most miserable and tortured people in the world are those who are continually straining and striving to convince themselves and others that they are something other than what they basically are. And there is no relief and satisfaction like that that comes when one finally gives up the shams and pretenses and is willing to be himself. Success, which comes from self-expression, often eludes those who strive and strain to "be somebody," and often comes, almost of its own accord, when a person becomes willing to RELAX and "Be Himself."
- Dr. Maxwell Maltz (Psycho-Cybernetics)
Everyone has a tendency to conform to their gang (group, club, tribe, whatever), usually without even recognizing it.
It’s been well established that we mimic those around us.
In 1999, Chartrand and Bargh – professors of Psychology at New York Univesity – discovered that people have a natural tendency to mimic the physical movements and speech inflections of those with whom they interact.
This behavior has been dubbed the Chameleon Effect.
Sasha Ondobaka of the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour elaborates: “when you’re having a conversation with somebody and you don’t care where your hands are, and the other person scratches their head, you scratch your head.”
However, the use of mimicry extends beyond individual interactions and affects the way people interact with (and thus associate with) groups. Dr. Maxwell Maltz, author of Psycho-Cybernetics, explains that people naturally conform to groups, but this type of conformity only leads to “the most miserable and tortured people…”
He goes on to explain that our actions aren’t dictated so much by what we think we should do, as they are dictated by what we think others LIKE US would do.
In this case, it would be the gang we conform to (a self-perpetuating system of failure and misery follows).
This applies to any group identity: if I'm a devout Christian and I'm confronted with a choice to stay out and drink all night or come home early so I can make it to church in the morning, I don't ask myself what I think I should do - I ask myself (subconsciously) what an ideal Christian would do.
This doesn't only affect those who are religious - if I'm an atheist, and I'm confronted with a choice to support a particular political party, I don't ask which party is right for me - I ask which party would a person like me choose.
If I'm on the Paleo diet, I don't wonder if I should eat that pizza - I ask what would someone on the Paleo Diet eat?
Answer: not that...
It's almost as if we have a concept of an ideal self within us that controls our actions more than WE do.
What does all this mean?
Well, it means we face a lot of internal struggle – a lot of push and pull – and we feel it whether or not we can actually identify what causes it.
It’s important to note that there is another element at work here: the concept of acting like the person we think we should act like. Deep down, the reason we do this, at least according to Dr. Maltz, is because of our natural inclination to become our best self.
It’s an internal struggle to become the person we ought to be (versus the person we THINK we are right now).
Which is why Maxwell Maltz's quote above is so important.
If we can just learn to relax, we can be successful with less pain and less struggle (come on, I can’t say without any struggle at all…I’m not a self help guru. There will still be struggles. Deal with it.).
So relax a little. Things will come more naturally. You'll forgive easier. You'll make friends easier. You'll be happier. Your true wants will be easier to determine and act on.
After all, if you’re not sure what to act on, you sure can’t instigate.
p.s. if you dig this article, you'll dig this book: The Art of Instigating.