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For many of us, the idea of an online business sounds like a dream. The chance to earn income in your sleep, work you want and achieve freedom from your job. However, it can sound overwhelming especially if you’re not familiar with the business models out there. I want to break it down for you, and show that it’s not overly complex. I will distinguish between the models based on an investment of your time, resources and effort required.
Watch the video or read the transcript below 🙂
#1 – E-commerce
This is the type of business model where someone sells physical products on the internet. This may be shoes, electronics, bags, furniture, etc. The main platform that most people shop on for physical products is amazon and ebay, but there are still many specialised independant online ‘shops’. An ecommerce business model requires that you have a product that you know sells to A target market. It will usually require your own website (if not selling on amazon), suppliers and a warehouse to hold the stock. Of course, there are expenses that come with a warehouse or physical space – i.e. rent and insurance. Amazon offers an option where they can arrange fulfilment for you, i.e. sourcing from the supplier, storing the product, packaging and dispatching to the customer – all for a cost.
This model is good is you have a product you are passionate about, have a reliable supplier and a target market in mind. It will generally require an initial investment of resources to set your business up, marketing and of course regular purchasing of supplies.
With the power of the internet, this model can be automated – and so will not require a huge slice of your time once the business is running.
#2 – Freelancing
This is where you provide independant services for another individual or company. This may be as a photographer, website builder, digital marketer. An example of this model is ‘Fiverr.com’ – a platform that allows people around the world to make money by providing a digital service, i.e. photo editing or adding subtitles to your videos.
Essentially your customers will be paying you for your time, so as you can tell – this is a business model that is dependent on you and your time in order to earn money. It is difficult to automate as you need to be there. But if you are good at the service you provide, you can do very well!
#3 – Consulting
Consulting is a type of freelancing where you provide services for generally higher ticket fees. You are providing your knowledge as opposed to a physical product. To be a successful online consultant you need to pick a niche where you have real expertise. In this business model, you are exchanging your time for money, but as mentioned if you really know your stuff – then with the right marketing you can charge lucractive amounts per hour. Consider online marketer Neil Patel who reportedly charges $5,000 per hour for consulting.
#4 – E-Courses
If you have an expertise in a niche topic, and you know that thing is in demand – then creating a training course is one of the best things you can do on the internet. This business model can be lucrative because digital products, i.e. online training, can attract large prices – especially if it is a training course that many people are interested in and so there’s a demand for. Just imagine – you create your training course ONCE, and then with the right advertising, you will earn recurring fees. All you need to do is invest resources initially to create a professional looking training course and to market your training course on the right platforms to the right people.
This type of online business can earn you fantastic passive income – as you don’t have to do too much after you’ve set it up!
#5 – Affiliate Marketing
Many of the successful companies in the world, i.e. Facebook, Amazon, AirBnb, Uber are using the affiliate model. This is where you sell someone else’s products in return for a fee or commission. Take Amazon for example – the majority of the products on the Amazon website do not belong to Amazon. They simply provide a platform to bring sellers and buyers together…and take a commission. Similarly for AirBnb. They do not own the properties, but take a commission from people renting their properties to renters through their website. Affiliate marketing is the epitome of digital commerce. And you can do it too.
If there is a product or service you use and can vouch for, then affiliate marketing allows you to earn commissions from marketing and selling that product. For example there’s a health drink that I like and can happily promote in return for commissions. Amazon has its own affiliate model, where you can promote amazon ‘products’ on your website and if someone buys it – you can get a commission. However, Amazon product commissions are low.
In order to make a sustainable online business based on affiliate marketing – you should seek those products that offer high ticket commissions, i.e. digital products – courses, consulting etc. This means with each sale, you can stand to make hundreds or thousands in commission. Why? Because those companies that sell digital products have very little overhead cost. They know that if an affiliate marketer promotes and sells their products – they know they can give up to 50% of the revenue to the affiliate marketer knowing that they still stand to make very good profit from the sale. A sale that did not require the product owners time, and involves little overheads. From the product owners point of view, they would rather make some money – as opposed to no money – for the same level of effort!
So affiliate marketing is a great option to create an online income. It requires little time on your part, except at the beginning to set up your website and marketing costs.
When deciding between these business models, you’ll want to weigh up how much time you want to give, whether you currently have a product and additionally your knowledge of a particular area. For example, if you have a fantastic product and want to automate the selling and fulfilment, then ecommerce could be an option.
If you have an expertise in a niche topic, but don’t want to commit your time – then a eCourse could be your calling. Of course, to make any business successful online – you need to become excellent at influencing and marketing. If you want to learn how to market effectively and create any of these online business models, then the company I am part of educates people on digital skills.
Click here to learn more.
I wanted to share some familiar excuses for why people don’t take the plunge and start something new. In this case – an online business. I would know as most of these applied to me.
“No time”
The lack of time to commit to building a business is the most common excuse based on surveys and polls. Time is a precious commodity, and we generally try to fill the free time we do have with enjoyable, rather than productive things. The desire is definitely there among young people but time is often cited as the excuse.
Don’t forget, each day on earth represents a greater portion of our time left to live compared to the previous day. Scary right?
With that in mind, surely you’ll want to spend less time commuting and working unsatisfactory jobs and more time with family, passions and growth?
This is why having an online presence is the best thing you can do considering so much interaction and commerce is done through social media. It is astonishing that with people and networks at our finger tips, we’re not taking advantage as we can and should.
Solution
- Make time. if you want something badly enough you’ll find a way.
- No time at this present moment, and too many commitments? Then consider an affiliate business model where you promote and sell other peoples’ products/services for a commission. This requires less time and can help build a solid side income.
“No technical skills”
Three months ago i didn’t know how to build a website or set up email systems, write blogs or create custom graphics. There are so many resources and its so easy these days. Especially when it can be just a case of point and click, and drag and drop interfaces -which means no HTML code learning required!
Solution
- Digital Business Lounge (for integrated hosting, website building, email, landing page) – all in one place!
- Outsource all the technical parts to your business using Fiverr.
“Don’t truly believe I can do it”
I am part of a community that consists of all types of people with varying skills and beliefs. From truck drivers through to big shot lawyers. They all have one thing in common – they want to change their life. Whether that’s more money, time, fulfilment. there is an underlying ‘why’, and that’s what you have to discover for yourself.
And yes, they all had initial doubts as I did, but the first step is always the hardest.
Solution
- Everyone starts somewhere, but to embark on an entrepreneurial journey, you need to sort out your mindset. Mindset, confidence and being clear on your ‘why’ is discussed on regular ‘WakeUp’ calls within the SFM (Six Figure Mentors) community. Check it out!
- Get inspired and learn from mentors through podcasts, books and motivational videos. I particular love listening to Jay Shetty’s and Satori Prime’s podcasts.
- Daily visualisation practice so that eventually your future successful self becomes ingrained in your sub-conscious.
“I don’t have a product or service to sell”
This is something I struggled with initially. I always loved the idea of an internet business but just didn’t have a product or service. What to do?
Solution
- AFFILIATE MARKETING – As mentioned above, affiliate marketing is a great online business model for people who are looking to dip their toes into online marketing and start making money. Affiliate marketing is essentially recommending other peoples’ products and services that are aligned to your content, and that you have used before. SFM is a platform that not only teach you how to become an effective affiliate marketer, but also allow you to earn high-ticket affiliate commissions ranging in the $000s.
- E-COMMERCE – Amazon is the e-commerce platform of choice for millions across the globe. If you don’t have your own product, no problem. It is so easy these days to find wholesalers that produce t-shirts, camera bags, bikes, etc, and have them redesigned and re-branded according to your taste. Additionally, you don’t even need to hold stock in your garage or bedroom. With Amazon drop-shipping, the product can be collected from the wholesaler’s factory and dropped directly to the customer. The SFM teaches individuals this Amazon drop-shipping process- step by step.
- YOU are the product. as you have so much to share that certain people will resonate with you. Give and share what you know/love about a particular topic, area or product and before you know it, you will realise rewards from the value you give your customers and readers/viewers.
“I want to see examples of people like me make it first”
People fear the unknown and that’s entirely natural. Therefore it is completely understandable that whenever starting something new, it helps us to see evidence of success in that area thus giving us something to model on.
Before I started my journey with the SFM, I was intrigued by claims that people like me – in respective jobs earning comfortable salaries, managed to replace their salary with impressive profits from their online business. Conversely, there were also individuals in the SFM community that had nothing like the academic education or training that I had yet were commanding huge respect from their successes.
Solution
Click here to read real testimonials from real people, get inspired and change your life!
Conclusion
I wanted to shine some insight into the excuses that most people (yourself included?) say to themselves to avoid starting an online business. And with forecasted online sales of $25 trillion by 2025, surely you’d want to build your internet business and claim a tiny chuck of that??
Best
