Picture you’re at your cubicle.

You’re sitting down at 9:06 am (you’re always a few minutes late — why not, it’s not like you enjoy this job).

You open up SalesForce or some other CRM that lays out the onslaught of daily tasks you’re going to need to fumble through until lunch.

You see you have 3 meetings today with people who are going to talk about conceptual ideas that don’t help get anything done, rather than things the company, as well as you, can do to take action now.

You continue after lunch building up energy to cold call a bunch of prospects and sell a product or service you don’t believe in.

You keep staring at the clock, watching the second-hand tick and tock — each movement feeling like it’s mocking your existence at this job.

You head home, make some frozen dinner in the microwave, put on another rerun episode of Friends or some show you’ve watched completely through at least 7 times until the clock gets close to midnight.

You brush your teeth, change into your pajamas, and settle into bed.

Before you completely fall into a mediocre slumber, you stare at the ceiling above your head and reflect briefly on how tomorrow is going to be exactly the same until you finally fall asleep.

What I described above is an image familiar to too many individuals.

I know it was an existence that I lived for a handful of years after I graduated from college and started my first “Big Boy” job.

When things began,like most new adventures, things were great.

• I was learning a lot
• I was earning my first salary (a barely-enough-to-live-off $31,500)
• I felt a sense of purpose showing up to a cool, rehab’d warehouse that was now an office building

And then when things started to settle into a routine similar to the one I described above, a gloomy realization started to weigh on me.

Before I knew it — I was fired from my job.

The reason? Pretty much not giving enough of a shit.

And now looking back, I can honestly say it was one of the best moments of my life (cue cliché).

It was one of the best moments of my life because it helped catalyze my new adventure into the “Wild West” of making money online through various income streams.

In this article, I’ll go over exactly how I turned my life into making over $5,000 a month through my own efforts, all online.

I want to let you know:

• I’m not an online “celebrity”
• I don’t have tens of thousands of followers
• I don’t sell a monthly subscription SaaS product (at least yet…)

I’m just an Average Joe — just like you.

Let’s get into it…

How to Make Money Online

There are plenty of ways to make money online.

I make money online through 3 different income streams.

What will follow is a brief breakdown of each online income stream, an outlook of the industry, and how you can take action and start capitalizing on making money online with each income stream.

Income Stream 1: E-commerce and eLearning

There are a few reasons making money online is not only advantageous but something that should take focus. For one, the industries involved in making money online are all growing.

One of the ways in which I make money online is through e-commerce. E-commerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.

In 2019, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 3.53 trillion US dollars and is projected to grow to 6.54 trillion US dollars by 2022.People shop online.

I am involved in e-commerce through the creation and sale of information products and online courses.

Currently, I make a few hundred dollars a month with my information products and am growing steadily every month.

How can you start making money through e-commerce and eLearning?

You may not realize it, but chances are you are an expert or at least able to educate an audience in something.

I know, I know… Everyone and their mother says this but it’s true.

Now I’m not promising the world with this method, but if you were to design a course or create an ebook that can help and educate an audience to solve a problem, you’ll be well on your way to generating money online through e-commerce and eLearning.

You create a course > market it online through Medium, Linkedin, Quora, or Pinterest > capture sales.

The above strategy brings me to the next means of making money online.

Income Stream 2: Content Writing on Medium

It can come across as obvious, annoying, and insulting whenever you read about someone making money on Medium.

Shit, everyone talks about it.

Of course, it’s only obvious, annoying, and insulting until you’re the one who is making money via Medium.

According to SimilarWeb, Medium.com experienced over 210 million unique visitors on its platform in May 2020. This is almost a 400% increase from when VentureBeat recorded monthly unique users at 60 million in 2016.

The platform keeps growing.

Along with the unique monthly users, the platform keeps growing in terms of it’s actively paying users as well (with users paying $5 a month to read the stories “behind the metered paywall”). While the exact number of paying subscribers isn’t available, it’s estimated that the platform, as of 2019, experiences anywhere from 200,000 to 400,000 active paying subscribers.

That’s $1,000,000 to 2,000,000 that will be redistributed to Medium writers every month!

I currently earn anywhere from $3,000 to $3,500 from my Medium stories on a monthly basis.

How you can make money online through Medium’s Partner Program

There are so many stories on the platform educating “Medium Regulars” on how to make money through the partnership program.

Many of the stories share commonalities in their strategy:

• Write “great” content
• Write regularly
• Write clearly — without grammatical errors, proper sentence structure etc.
• Write “behind the metered paywall”
• Write for publications within your niche
• Write stories that lead to curation

And, I have to say, all of those guidelines are spot on.

Of course if you don’t believe me, you can go straight to the source that outlines exactly what content both Medium as well as the Medium audience is looking for.

When you’re writing and publishing consistently, it can grow and leverage you into making money online through the third income stream I have for you in this article.

Income Stream 3: Freelancing for Agencies and Companies

When you’re consistently publishing on Medium (as well as Linkedin, Quora, and other content sites) you are setting yourself up for freelance content writing opportunities.

How so?

Well, consider that your Medium account is essentially forming a portfolio of your works for the world (i.e. potential employers) to see.

The freelancing industry (also known as the “Gig Economy”) keeps growing. According to a 2017 study, it’s estimated that by 2027 that the majority of the U.S. workforce will freelance. Currently, research indicates that approximately $1.7 trillion is contributed annually by freelance work in the United States economy.

With the increasing size of the ecommerce industry, businesses are looking to get content to their site and they’re looking for it right now.

They need to educate their online shoppers in order to capture sales.

This is where your content on Medium can be leveraged into freelance work.

How you can make money online via freelance content writing

I cannot tell you how many freelance clients I’ve secured by simply publishing content on Medium — really without expectation at first of securing work.

Okay… I can tell you — it’s 2 (with a third in the works as this article is being written).

Currently, I make anywhere from $2,000 to $2,500 a month freelance content writing for agencies and online companies.

Furthermore, even if you don’t have potential clients/agencies reaching out to you via your Medium portfolio, you can secure work via word of mouth.

How?

A recent 2020 survey notes that 38% of freelance work is searched for via word of mouth.

This could be through your own professional or personal network.

I actually secured two other clients from talking about (okay fine, it was bragging about) my work on Medium.

They actually came forward with the idea of me writing for their marketing team as a freelancer because they needed content for their business.

One of those word of mouth clients led to work being published on Forbes.com!

The days of heading to an office via your 35–45 minute commute in stop-and-go traffic are behind us.

More and more, workers are telecommuting and vying for alternative means of making a living.

The catalyzing engine that has allowed for these new means of building a personal enterprise is the internet.

With the internet, any “Average Joe” and his brother can take their mind and various expertises and produce content that the world not only wants and needs but will pay cold, hard cash for.

If you have been contemplating taking the plunge and putting content online in attempts to make money online, you’re too late.

Just kidding…

If you do feel like you’re too late, I tend to turn to this Chinese proverb,

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

It’s not out of reach.

In fact, it’s more within reach than any other time in history.

But you have to act.

You have to start creating.

You have to start taking chances.

Because what is the alternative? To keep staring at the ceiling of your white-walled bedroom hoping the next morning you’ll wake up in another life?

We know that’s not happening.

“If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), “Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?” chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.” -Steven Pressfield

Blogging and content writing is a hot industry right now.

With just a brain, a keyboard, and access to the internet one can take what is in his/her imagination and share it with the world.

He or she can take their passions and share it with the world.

This amazing opportunity is a double-edged sword.

• It is a positive because everyone feels so special that they want to share their voice with the world.
• It is a negative because if you are one of the people Pressfield is talking about above, it will be one of the scariest things you’ve ever undertook.

The irony is you have been given a platform where your wildest dreams are so easily accessible but find yourself terrified to pull the trigger.

I’ve been there. I’ve been writing for my entire life. Most of that life I kept my writing to myself. I thought I wasn’t putting out “good enough” work for the world to see so I kept it to myself.

About a year ago I changed that and started publishing my work online. Since doing so I have seen my work:

Go viral.

I have built a community of writers on my site.

I have built an income as a result.

I have had my work published on other sites.

I’d like to share the lessons that I’ve learned with my writing in order to produce better content.

1. Write until your hands hurt.

“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.” -Stephen King

Writing is a very difficult endeavor. Writing “good” content is even more a pursuit. Well how does one get better at content writing? The simple answer is practice. Write every fucking day. There really is no excuse. Most of your writing is going to be bad. It’s like Venture Capitalism: You invest in 10 companies knowing 9 will fail. The 1 company that does succeed will pay for the losses of the other 9.

2. Seek feedback.

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” -Bill Gates

This is a very hard step in being a writer. We think everything we put out into the world is “solid gold.” The hard truth is that it’s not. Again, so much of your content is going to be bad, So seeks feedback from your audience (or your potential audience).

How do you do that?

Well, send your work to friends and family. Also, make sure to foster comments and a discussion with your work.

3. Understand that your opinion is different than the reader’s.

“The perception of beauty is a moral test.” -Henry David Thoreau

I’ve fallen into the trap of always thinking my work is crap (sometimes it is). I’ve seen so many times throughout my writing career that I will write an article, think it’s crap and get amazing feedback. People will respond and tell me, “wow, this is fantastic. I really like your writing.”

It surprises me often. On the other side, I can feel like I’ve just written my “Magnum Opus” and get negative feedback. Once the content is out in the world, it doesn’t belong to you anymore. That’s a beautiful thing.

4. Ask and seek help.

“A leader’s job is not to do the work for others, it’s to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.” -Simon Sinek

You cannot get to where you want to go alone. You are going to need people who have been where you are looking to go. You are going to need people that can help catalyze your progression.

We live in such a beautiful time that we can access this help through many different means (cough, cough enter Quora for instance). You can find video modules, ebooks, Youtube, conventions, online coaches etc on top of meeting people in the flesh.

5. Read.

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” -Stephen King

You cannot get better at writing unless you read a bunch of material that is being put out into the world. Human beings aren’t created in a vacuum. We are social creatures. We need to spread and absorb ideas. Look at the style of other writers, look at the vocabulary of other writers, look at their sentence structure. Read articles, read non-fiction, read fiction, read poetry. Get your hands on whatever you can and expand your own language set.

6. Have the belief in yourself that you can do it.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” — Thomas Jefferson

This is a fundamental attribute for every facet of life. If you are going into a baseball game with your team and think for just a moment that you aren’t going to win, chances are you will lose. This is true as a content writer as well. If you always think your work is crap and that you are a “bad” writer, you probably will always and forever remain a terrible writer.

There is no “shortcut” one can take in order to become a better writer overnight. It is going to take time and practice.

Think about when you were a kid in perhaps second grade. Why did you take math class?

To get better at addition and subtraction.

It took me a long time to understand how this applies to the more subjective fields of writing and art- but it’s true!

You are going to need to practice and put your words out in the world. This is the best and more efficient way to become a better blogger and content writer.

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This game we play is full of its ebbs and flows.

When you’re just starting out, you are firing off articles at the speed of light. You are tapped into the cosmic writer-sphere (if that’s not a word…I’m creating it…) and your drive cannot be stopped.

Time passes, however…

And before you know it, you’re months into this scanning the confines of your idea-box for any scrap of something that resonates.

But nothing comes to fruition…

Crickets…

But what if you haven’t considered a practice that most Top Bloggers employ when the idea well begins to run dry — a practice that is just simply advantageous regardless?

Instead of going forward, what if you went backwards?

Republish Your Old Posts

Instead of struggling to come up with brand new ideas, look at the ones you’ve already had.

Are there posts buried in your archives that new readers would find helpful?

This is a great opportunity to update and republish your posts to get them in front of a fresh audience (or remind long-term readers they still exist).

I’m going to take you through the hows and whys of republishing old posts.

But before we get too far, you might be asking yourself this question:

“Will readers complain if I republish an old post?”

No. In fact, they may well thank you. New readers probably haven’t dug into your archives and found some of your best posts. And old readers may have forgotten them.

Even readers who keep returning a favorite post over and over again will be thrilled you’ve updated it (I even had a friend of mine, Joren van Schaik, recommend that I republish an old post of mine a few weeks ago):

So what do you think I did with this advice?

You better bet your ass that I republished the post and got a better reception for its publishing than I did the first time!How To Earn Your First Dollar (And More) BloggingStep By Step Walkthrough for Smart Bloggers…medium.com

So let’s get into this advantage of republishing…

How to Decide Which Posts to Update and Republish

If you’ve been blogging for a while, you might have dozens — even hundreds — of posts in your archives.

How do you figure out which ones are worth updating and republishing?

There’s no right answer to this question.

But a good place to start is with posts that brought the most positive response when you published them the first time, especially if they’re relatively old.

They could probably do with updating (so first-time readers get the best possible impression). And chances are they’re about popular topics, so republishing them will help your existing readers.

The updates could include making sure the content us up-to-date considering certain regulatory factors (if you write about marketing for instance — has the introduction of GDPR changed the article’s content at all?).

Any Top Blogger worth her salt knows that you shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken. There’s no use in banking on a post that didn’t get much reception in the past transform itself into an ultra-viral post with this republish…

Republish the content that showed signs of strength when it first went live.

How Much Should You Change When Republishing a Post?

Again, no steadfast rules here.

Do as Bruce Lee did and,

“Be like water…”

Be able to take what once was and make it fit for today.

When you’re preparing a post for republication, you should:

• Read it carefully. Did you miss any typos the first time round? Are there any factual errors? Do you need to tweak any clumsy or confusing sentences?
• Update the post to fit with what’s happening today (Like stated above — particularly if you write about software, social media, or any other area that changes rapidly). For instance, if you posted about setting up a Medium page, you might need to take new screenshots and make sure your step-by-step instructions are still accurate.
• Consider adding more detail. Are any areas of your original post a bit sparse? Flesh them out. This is your chance to take your first crack at something that was good and make it great.
• Check all links. Even if a link is working, you may need to point it to a more recent resource.
• Link to some of your (recent) posts. If you wrote your post two years ago, you’ve almost certainly written something since that relates to it. Add a link at an appropriate point.
• Spend the time to make it more attractive. One of the great things about republishing is you save a lot of writing time, which means you can put extra effort into sourcing images, laying out your post, and so on.

Case Study: How to Generate Viral Blog Traffic

I first created “How to Generate Viral Blog Traffic: 11 Step guidebook to generate viral traffic, build your email list and turn any site into a passive income business” back in 2017.

Although it wasn’t called that at first. My first crack at the ebook was “Zero to One Million In Three Months” and in my second attempt I mustered up a shoddy, “Take What’s Yours.”

Both of these titles were confusing and vague. They didn’t offer a glimpse into the value that was present with the actual content.

Even though the product was selling, I knew I could republish the product with increased value and content — which I did, 2 full times.

So much of the added value came from content that I had published in the past couple of years of writing articles!

Even if you don’t have a similar series to use, you might want to think about how you could recycle old posts into new formats. For instance:

• You could record yourself reading a blog post and use it as a podcast episode.
• You could take excerpts from a long blog post and use them in your newsletter.
• You could collate dozens of your best blog posts, add some extra supporting material, and turn them into an ebook or even an ecourse.

There really is no limit to what can be created when you republish your work…

So really dig deep into the archives of what you’ve created.

Don’t be scared that people might recognize that you’ve already published that piece — if you’ve taken notes from what I outlined, the republished work will already be valuable and should contain a bit of extra value.

Consistently pushing out valuable content will help put you in front of the eyes of the people looking for your work.

Republishing will help do it quicker…

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We’re entering a new era of growth, learning, and information exchange. Gone are the classic days of going to school, doing well so you can get into a reputable higher education institution, and securing a high-paying job with an adequate salary that will help you build a life for you and your loved ones.

The system of yesterday simply cannot support itself. It’s noted by the credit agency, Experian, that the United States currently holds $1.4 trillion dollars of student loan debt or $39,395 per borrower.

Furthermore, The National Center for Education Statistics illustrates that this debt is going to keep rising. According the the research, “[…]between 2006–07 and 2016–17, prices for undergraduate tuition, fees, room, and board at public institutions rose 31 percent, and prices at private nonprofit institutions rose 24 percent, after adjustment for inflation.”

If one wants to “invest in themselves” in the economy of the future, they are going to be swimming in a sea of debt.

What’s worse? According to data compiled from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, only 27% of people find work strictly related to their degree.

But that’s enough bad news for right now. On the other side of this grim narrative, we can uncover a profound opportunity for the selected few willing to look…

Why the online course industry paves way to the future

The creation, sale, and purchasing of online courses will help pave way into the future. 

The eLearning industry — the industry that includes the recognition of online coursework — has grown in recent years and expects to keep growing into the future. ADROIT Market Research projects the eLearning industry to grow to $315 billion by 2025. 

The industry is becoming more robust. With more platforms and 3rd party utilities entering the marketplace (Teachable, Thrive Apprentice, Udemy etc) the barriers to entry for the blogging “solopreneur” are lower than ever to make their own course — and more importantly, make some serious cash!

What does all of this mean in layman’s terms?

• People are searching for alternative means of developing skills
• Potential users are presented with access to thousands of different topics and courses that will help them develop those skills
• Insurmountable opportunity lies waiting for creators willing to put in the necessary work in order to build, market, and sell their online courses.

So enough dilly-dally, you came here to read about how you can build, market, and sell your own online course. This article is going to teach you just that. 

Starting out, we’re going to go over three fundamental themes worth considering for your online course…

1. You’re selling an outcome

Everything about your course: the features, technology, editing, and bells & whistles is all great.

What’s better?

The end destination you’re selling your user.

• Are they going to learn a new language?
• Are they going to be able to code their own app?
• Are they going to train to run a marathon in under 4 hours? (to my runners out there — is that a good time?)

For both you as the creator as well as the end user, the most important fundamental element to consider with your online course is the outcome that will be achieved. This is important to you so you know what to build and it’s important to the user so they know what their hard-earned money is being spent on.

2. The content alone isn’t enough

A tough pill to swallow with your online course is understanding and recognizing the fact that a lot of users won’t finish the course. This is due to the self-guided nature of online courses and the lack of willpower an average user will have in completing the course.

A way to combat this is the hand-holding you can provide for the user. 

• Do you have automated emails scheduled daily/weekly after a user purchases the course?
• Do you have a Facebook group the users get access to that will help them fully discover more about the challenges and successes other users are experiencing?

If you can discover auxiliary benefits you can offer in conjunction with your course, not only will you have more users seeing the course through to completion, you will build a bigger base of True Fans that will act as brand ambassadors and purchase future courses you release. 

3. Social proof, social proof, social proof!

Human beings, as much as we’d like to consider ourselves free thinkers, act more like herded sheep when it comes to our purchases. Not only are we more emotional than rational in our purchases, we like to see that other people, who are similar to us, have made the purchase and have experienced favorable results.

This is where social proof can work to your advantage. 

Do you have an email list already? If so, do you have a slate of True Fans that can act as Beta testers? Of course, they’re Beta testers of the program in exchange for feedback and a testimonial.

You need to build proof that the product works and that real people have used it and gained favorable results.

Or else you’ll just have a nice online course collecting digital dust on your site’s storefront shelves (you can thank me for the nice alliteration later). 

How to create & sell your online course

In illustrating how to sell your online course, we’re going to break this article down into the chronological order one can take in order to do so. This order is going to cover a number of elements required in the creation and sale of your course. Those elements include:

• Conceptualization
• Creation
• Marketing
• Sale

The rest of the article is going to outline a series of steps you can follow in order to create and sell your online course.

Step 1. Identify your end goal

Like stated earlier, it is your main job to define the outcome that will be achieved by the user of your course. 

• Are they going to gain a 6-pack?
• Are they going to learn how to code and produce their first mobile app?
• Are they going to learn how to create a professional-level edited Youtube video?
• Are they going to learn how to make a solar-powered, self-sustaining tiny home on a budget of $75k or less (if you can do this by the way — send me the course now!)

When completing this step, this doesn’t have to be the most in-depth of undertakings. Perhaps you have a notebook or a handful of post-it notes and jot down some ideas. Don’t beat your brain up too hard. Identify various problems that are plaguing your niche and, with your expertise, a program or solution that can help said audience find a remedy.

One great method for finding the outcome is by polling your audience (if you are reading this article and wish to build and sell your first online course, you should already have and be nurturing an email list). 

When you have identified the end goal for your user, it’s time to start outlining the course content

Step 2. Outline the course content

So you have the end goal for the user. Now, you’re responsible for reverse-engineering the way you got there. Let’s put one of the above examples under the microscope: How to create professional-level edited Youtube videos.

With that, we’re going to need to know:

• How to select an adequate camera (can be smartphone, 4k etc)
• How to select a proper microphone
• How to setup an XLR microphone
• How to properly frame the shot
• How to optimize the lighting
• What editing software to use
• How to stitch and clip takes
• How to use said editing software
• How to add opening video graphics
• How to add B-roll
• How to add free-for-commercial-use background music
• How to color-correct
• How to render the video
• How to upload to Youtube

You get the idea. All of these elements add up to the end goal of creating a professional-level edited Youtube video.

When you label out all of the steps necessary to get there, what you’re doing is creating your outline. With the outline (which I recommend you create in a GoogleDoc) allows you to map out what lessons, chapters and modules you’re going to add to the course. You have the responsibility of defining the chronological order of the chapters.

Take note of each example step above: all of these can be expanded in detail. The detail will be the lesson. The “How to…” the chapter, and then one can group the chapters into what are called modules.

When you have this all organized and succinct, we’re ready for our next step.

Step 3: Implementation of the coursework

Implementation of the coursework essentially means how you are going to host or provide your course.

There are a number of ways to do this. Some of the most popular are:

• Udemy
• Teachable
• Thinkific
• Thrive Apprentice

Now all of these platforms offer their own advantages. Udemy, is one of the most popular. It allows you to host your course on a site with thousands of other sites. That’s its drawback, however. You will be competing in a crowded marketplace with other course creators. This generally results in a price-war with your competitors — driving the price down so your low cost will capture the sale.

But you put in scores of hours to create this piece, you don’t want to pawn it off for pebbles — right?

Teachable and Thinkific are similar in that you host your course through their site but it acts as an extension of your own site. You create a domain with them and when you provide a link (perhaps in the header menu of your site) you are redirected to a hosted Teachable/Thinkific site where you can then lead the user to a sales page, purchase and a login for them to work on the course.

Of course the drawback here is you still lose your site visitor — i.e. they need to leave your site in order to access the course.

The third method is a plugin like Thrive Apprentice. As a plugin, you are hosting the course completely on your WordPress site. You allow the user to access the site via the plugin. Whenever they need to continue using the course, they are remaining on your site.

If there’s one thing all digital marketers and course creators can agree upon — keep your site visitors on your site.

When all is said and done, however — whichever hosting platform you choose for your site, you’re well on your way to benefiting from the hard-earned ROI you set out for in creating the course.

Once your course is uploaded to a platform, you’re ready for the next step.

Step 4. Marketing your course

“If you build it, they will come” — Field of Dreams

Read that quote above very carefully…

Now completely disregard it. That mantra is your worst enemy when it comes to marketing and selling your online course.

Why?

Because no one cares!

Well, let me rephrase that:

No one cares — until you convince them to care.

Yeah, that’s better. What do I mean by this? Just because you created an online course doesn’t mean that people will magically buy it. Why do you think whenever you turn on the TV or watch YouTube videos or do something that involves media (hold for Medium — Thank you Medium Membership!) you see advertisements, for even the biggest companies on the planet?

Because when conducting business, you have to market to people. Marketing to people involves reminding customers of your products and services and educating them on the benefits and outcomes your product can provide.

Of course there are some fallacies involved with this: Coca-Cola and them selling, “Happiness in a bottle.” Shame. 

But I digress.

In marketing your online course, you should be constantly sending out promotional material to your email list. A potential email sales sequence can be:

Introduce problem->What world could be like->Thing holding you back->People just like you (testimonials)->Offer

It doesn’t have to be overly intricate.

You can even introduce a pitch of the product using an email sales sequence like the one above after a new subscriber subscribes:

Opt-in->Welcome sequence (over course of 5 days)->Last email starts sales sequence

Overall, the most important aspect of marketing and selling your online course is that you don’t just create it and hope your customers will start flocking in droves — because that won’t happen.

Step 5. Onboard your user

No one likes to purchase something and be hung out to dry.

In other words — when dealing with the sale of an online course, it isn’t enough to just sell the course and hope the user will be able to fend for themselves and figure everything out.

What you can do to onboard:

• Send a follow up email with the purchase confirmation that has a detailed user how-to PDF that outlines how to operate the course.
• Have a welcome video in the course before any on the educational content starts.
• Offer access to a Facebook group that has current students — this will allow for troubleshooting and questions to be answered in real-time.
• Send an automated follow up email after 5, 7 or 10 days to check on the status of the user. How are they progressing through the course?

Step 6. Create brand ambassadors

“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” — Jeff Bezos

It was mentioned earlier that the success of your course is partially contingent on testimonials (social proof). With every new user you have purchase your course, you are doing your business and course a disservice if you’re not following up and asking for a review or testimonial.

You want people going out and talking positively about your course.

In the new digital economy, more and more people are finding success online. Furthermore, more and more people are looking to reviews and testimonials to influence their purchasing decisions. A study conducted in 2018 noted that 7 out of 10 shoppers used rating filters to help influence their purchase. 

Just because you are a blogger doesn’t mean you are insulated or immune from this fact. All of the course hosting platforms mentioned in this article provide some form of review/testimonial feature with their services.

Reviews and testimonials will make or break the future of your course.

Conclusion

Creating your first online course isn’t rocket science.

But it is blogging science (yes, I’m coining that).

You cannot just tape together a bunch of ideas, get a camera and start filming a course hoping it will do well. That will just leave you with a bunch of footage, scrappy content and false hopes.

What you need is proper strategy.

The strategy you can adopt in creating and selling your online course can be comprised of 6 important elements:

1. Mapping of your user’s end goal
2. Creation of your course outline
3. Implementation of the course
4. Marketing of the course
5. Onboarding of the user
6. Creation of brand ambassadors

Of course all of this isn’t enough. When creating your course, you should always keep in mind the three fundamental principles of course creation:

Principle 1. It’s about the outcome.

Principle 2. The content alone isn’t enough.

Principle 3. You will live and die on social proof. 

When you have all of these things together and you choose the right platform to host and sell your course, you are well on your way to becoming an online entrepreneur and content creator.

So go forth!

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Shit, I know that’s why I got involved with this game.

Like a lot of people — I was sick and tired of the rigmarole of the 9–5. I couldn’t stand a boss who wasn’t competent (and really just played the political game well) telling me how I was to perform my tasks, roles and responsibilities.

I was done listening to people who had less of a clue of what direction to go than I did.

So I began to write — and my world completely changed for the better.How Writing Everyday For The Past Year Drastically Changed My Life
Unlikely lessons I learned in finding success with writing so you don’t have to.writingcooperative.com

So many things have improved with my life since making the deliberate choice to write and [more importantly] share it with the world.

Even if your ultimate goal isn’t to leave the 9–5, build a financial income, and make a potentially global impact with your voice, building a triumphant blog is paramount to your future success in life.

Let’s take a look at why.

You’ll miss out on the dynamic opportunities of the changing economy

I written about this a few times.

Some people have called me a “doomsday signaler.”

In the near future, millions of jobs are going to be lost due to the introduction of automation into the marketplace. According to reports, approximately 78 million American jobs could be killed due to automation by the year 2030.

This is going to have a profound impact on the American worker that we haven’t seen since the industrial revolution (which of course in this case, is going to take the opposite impact).

The marketplace is going to put an emphasis on creative jobs. These jobs will remain more secure over the course of the days to come as opposed to the more monotonous job — such as data entry, passenger transport, telemarketing — which will be the first to go.

Author of the seminal book “Sapiens” (Which I HIGHLY recommend checking out) Yuval Harari weighed in on this topic during his appearance at the 2018 DBS Asian Insights Conference when he noted, “It is quite certain that a lot jobs will disappear, especially the more monotonous or repetitive ones,” he later goes one with, “Jobs that require a higher degree of creativity will be safer.”

The “traditional route” of success — that being do well in grade school and high school so you can get into a “good” university. In that university, do “good” work so you can be recruited out of school. From there, you can get a “good” introductory job that offers a scalable ladder of success and increase in income. From there — have “good” sex with your partner so you can produce a “good” family and ride off into the rising sunset.

Okay… I may have exaggerated on the last two steps of the “good” life.

But I think you get my point.

Going forward — doing good isn’t enough. You are going to need to be creative and sought after in the new economy.

Writing, and putting those thoughts online for the world to see is a great way of establishing and promoting those creative skills. Even if you don’t create a blog for the writing content, this will do you well.

• Perhaps you’re a photographer — using your blog to showcase your creative skills in picture-taking will be evident.
• You can use the blog as a platform to promote your skills as a music producer.
• You can use your blog as a portfolio of your graphic design skills — the marketplace will forever need the human touch of design.

In building and maintaining a blog — you are going through real-time training of what the future is going to need.

You’ll miss out on multiple-streams of income opportunities

Passive income has long been touted the “Holy Grail” for individuals looking to free up their time — untethering the cord of daily duties and responsibilities from the potential to generate healthy monthly revenues.

The image is grandiose — you wake up everyone morning to first gaze upon your silky-skinned lover, than to peer into your bank account and see the vast influx of payments that required little-to-no work on your part.

From there you’re able to leave your restrictive (both geographically and creatively) job, throw up two middle fingers to your boss and traverse the wide and beautiful globe.

Of course none of that vision comes to fruition if you don’t start putting your thoughts up on the internet.How To Earn Your First Dollar (And More) Blogging
Step By Step Walkthrough for Smart Bloggers…medium.com

Furthermore, if you don’t have the proper strategy in line, you’ll definitely remain in limbo even if your blog is up and running.Starting a Money-Making Blog in 2018: New Method That’s 100X Faster
The Comprehensive 4 Section Guidemedium.com

You’ll forever remain on the hamster wheel of active income without ever finding a way to get off the grind if you don’t set yourself up with a passiveincome stream.

You’ll miss out on learning about yourself

Probably the most overlooked but most consequential opportunity you’ll miss out on is the opportunity to discover truly and intimately who you really are.

Looking through the lens of my own experience with writing, I have learned SO much about myself:What I Learned By Discovering and Obsessively Following My Passion
Tangible steps you can take to uncovering your life’s purpose.medium.com

• I have learned that I’m capable of more than I thought I was.
• I have learned that I’m [really, truly] my own harshest critic.
• I have learned that people generally like your work more than you’re disgusted by it.
• I have learned how engaging and nurturing the online community of writers can really be (Thank you Jesse Kerema, Joren van Schaik, Emet Baker, Anthony Moore, Maarten van Doorn, Tammy Olson, Misty S. Bledsoe [and anyone else I’m forgetting!]).
• I have learned that if you put your mind to something and work towards that goal day-in and day-out, you can surely achieve it.
• I have learned what it’s like to get your first freelance gig.
• I have learned what it’s like to get fired from that freelance gig.

The opportunities for learning and growth are literally endless…

Just like the old saying goes,

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago — the second best time is now”

The same goes for starting and nurturing your blog (hold 20 years for 10…).

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So many people are asking themselves — how exactly do I make money online?

The answer to this question can go off into many different directions. However, all the directions stem from practicing and perfecting one specific writing skill that many people overlook:

Copywriting

There’s a reason there are so many websites, posts, classes and videos preaching the skill — because it brings in the dollars.

Think about it: you’ve been able to influence a decent sized audience and you’ve leveraged this reoccurring audience into a viable email list; but you still haven’t seen any dollar-signs as a result of this painstaking word.

It’s probably because you expect the content do to the job of the copywriting…

(And no, a greater volume of content does not compensate for a lack of strategic persuasive copy.)

• If you don’t have enough sign-ups for your email list — the answer is copy.
• If you don’t have enough sales for your ebook or course — the answer is copy.
• If you don’t have enough downloads of your weekly podcast — the answer is copy.
• If you don’t have enough clients for your business — the answer is copy.
• And if you’ve been running ads but you still aren’t making money — yeah, you still have a copy problem.

Copy is the transformation catalyst for your audience

Copy is what takes your audience from State A (they don’t know who you are, they grazed over your content and might show some viable interest) and transforms them over to State B (they enrolled into your email list, purchased your product, shared your posts and become a passionate and loyal fan).

Sometimes I get pretty fed up with the internet (and perhaps you get fed up with me) who are talking about the latest and greatest strategies involved in getting people to take action.

I want to let you in on an epiphany I’ve come to realize: all of these strategies actually work!

The rub, however is if you are to enroll and practice all of these various marketing strategies without actually understanding the foundational aspects of copy, it’s like you’re outlining the next great space expedition without first understanding how to get your rocket out of the Earth’s atmosphere…

Instead of looking to first get intergalactic — take a few moments and learn to see the broader picture.

At the most basic level, there are three key facets to all pieces of content you are going to put out:

1. Know exactly who the ideal reader is,
2. Know what promise you’re making to them, and
3. Know your piece contains all the key information required to deliver on the promise.

If you aren’t clear on these parts yet, you might want to take a step back and reevaluate your content generation…

When you understand your audience — it’s time to persuade

Once you truly get an understanding of the people who have been sharing your posts, giving you upvotes and subscribing to your list you can start to think about transforming their State from A to B.

This is about creating transparent, ethical communication that illustrates to your followers how they are going to approach, and overcome the issues you are promising to help them overcome.

This is focused, clear, and respectful communication with a persuasive intent.

In Layman’s terms — Copywriting.

Surefire way to learn introductory Copywriting

In writing this piece I came to the point where I was having difficulty finding the way to illustrate how I honed my skill with copywriting.

SPOILER ALERT: I’m not trying to persuade you into buying something of mine or enrolling into a course.

I didn’t want this to turn into some meta article that illustrated and educated you on copy in order to get you to purchase something from me.

I don’t want to do that with this article.

So in lieu of looking for help in illustrating this education, I stumbled upon an article by the writer and blogger, Mike Kim.

I think he puts it succinctly how I learned to write copy (along with basic classes and copious research). As Kim puts it,

“Here’s what you do:

Grab a notebook

Grab a pen

Find a top-notch sales letter

Copy the entire letter by hand using the notebook and pen

Repeat step #4 five times. That’s right, five. 5x. Cinco.”

I reflected this on my own education.

For almost two years now, in conjunction with creating my own content and helping over 1,200 people learn how to leverage their content writing on their blog into a massive viewership and financial income — I have also signed up for and enrolled in my fair share of education programs.

Through joining those programs, my email inbox receives and constant flow of “pitching emails.”

These emails are coming from other bloggers, content creators, and businesses who are looking to pitch me and persuade me with the excellentcopy in their titles as well as the body of their emails.

I took note on the emails that I actually paused and clicked on.

I figured — shit… I’m a smart guy — if this person was able to convince me to click, surely they are doing their job as a copywriter.

I created a “swipe folder” within my email and collected all of the well written copy I was receiving.

I use this copy as a blueprint for my future articles and emails that I send to my followers.

This — I have found — is a fundamental and basic way of improving your skills as a copywriter.

From there, there are always courses and research you can further do to hone your skills and become a Master Persuader.

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• Perhaps you’ve been writing for a while and just recently you’ve realized that you really can leverage your online content into a business.
• It’s possible you’re unbelievably tired of the rigmarole of your 9–5 (like I was) and you want the freedom of a life you engineer.

No matter what the reason, so many people are looking to take their talents to the web and leverage whatever content they are producing into a money-making, independence-engine.

Let’s take a look at the truths and facts that are present to starting and actualizing a successful, money-making blog…

The Statistics of Online Business, Blogging, and Content Writing

Now, more than ever, the barriers to entry to successful monetization of your online voice are lower than ever. In 2018, you don’t even necessarily need to purchase a domain name and hosting platform to get your ideas out there (cough, cough… Medium).

Let’s take a look at some statistics with online content generation:

Statistics about Blogs:

1. According to Statista, there were 173 million bloggers worldwide in 2011 alone.

• This number continues to grow into 2018 and beyond.

Statistics about Bloggers’ income:

Not all blogging is created equal. Statistics from Blogging.org the variance of earning power within this industry is vast…

2. 2% of bloggers spend less than 2 hours a day blogging and make more than $150K (like Tim Ferriss).

3. 17% are able to sustain their lifestyle or support their family with their blogs.

4. 81% never make $100 from blogging.

5. Furthermore, the Top 5 earning blogs are as follows:

Statistics of your potential audience:

6. 3.2 billion people — 40% of the world’s population — are internet users: 8 out of 10 people from developed countries are using the internet and 21 out of 61 people from developing countries are using the internet. (Source: ICT Facts & Figures, 2015)

7. Each month, 329 million people read blogs. (Source: NewsCred)

8. 47% of people go online to learn to improve themselves and nearly one-third 31% to find self-help experts or books. (Source: The Intent Index)

9. 44% of people go online to create or update blogs and 42% of people go online to read other people’s blogs. (Source: PR Newswire)

10. 90% of consumers find customer content useful. (Source: Demand Metric, 2014)

11. 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from real people. (Search Engine Land, 2014)

12. 81% of U.S. online consumers trust information and advice from blogs. (Source: BlogHer)

13. 61% of US consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post. (Source: BlogHer, 2012)

14. 34% of people go online to purchase an item. (Source: PR Newswire)

Statistics on what it takes to build a successful blog

15. If a blog is more than 1,500 words, on average it receives 68.1% more tweets and 22.6% more Facebook likes. (Source: Quick Sprout)

16. Businesses that blog ≥ 20 times/month get 5x more traffic than those who blog ≤ 4 times/month. (Source: Hubspot)

17. 82% of marketers who blog daily acquired a customer using their blog, as opposed to 57% of marketers who blog monthly. (Source: HubSpot State of Inbound, 2013)

18. Once you write 21–54 blog posts, blog traffic generation increases by up to 30%. (Source: Traffic Generation Cafe)

19. Profitable blogs leverage from more than 10 income streams per month from advertising, affiliate marketing and selling product(s). (Source: BloggersPassion)

Now for your moment of truth…

There are over a hundred million blog readers, more than half of internet users search the web before coming to a buying decision. There are profits to be made.

But it doesn’t happen overnight and less than 5% of bloggers earn more than $10,000 per month.

As Darren Rowse puts it:

“99.9% of great bloggers are not awesome on day 1. Their awesomeness is the accumulation of the value they create over time.”

On the other hand, some managed to make a full-time living from the comfort of their couch.

While there is no “magic sauce”, being consistent is what really matters in this game. You are going to need to show up everyday — even when you don’t want to.

A great blogger is someone who can keep their blog updated on a regular basis with hot and steamy content while simultaneously being an expert marketer as well.

Now, more than ever, the world needs your incredible content — and you need to put it into the world for the people to find.

And with these information in mind, please ask yourself:

Can you build a profitable blog?

… or simply will you be committed enough to succeed?

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And do you remember what type of reaction you had?

Many people balked at the idea of being a blogger. They thought it was a pipe dream with no foundation to actually build a career.

Many people had no idea what the word “blog” even meant (if you still don’t know, it’s the combining of the two words “web” and “log”).

Now, what emotions arise when you meet someone who is a full-time blogger by trade?

A lot of people feel jealousy — How did this person get out of the rigmarole of the 9–5, and what have I been doing wrong?

A lot of people feel impressed — this person took a bet on themselves and found entrepreneurialism in an era of strong economic opportunity.

A lot of people feel opportunity — it seems like that laughing I did was short-sighted; what can I do now to make this life of entrepreneurialism my own reality?

Full-time blogger now equates with entrepreneur.

That last emotion is the emotion that I want to tackle in this article. What are the steps one can take today and what are the strategies associated with going from hopeless 9–5er to liberated blogger?

Let’s take a look…

The Blogging Economy From a Bird’s Eye View

According to Statista, the number of bloggers in 2014 was 27.4 million. Furthermore, the number of bloggers is expected to grow to 31.7 million (a 14% growth over 6 years).

It’s an industry that has a positive forecast for growth.

Not convinced just yet that blogging is a gold rush opportunity in the coming years? Here are a few more important statistics that might help convince you otherwise:

• Blogs have been rated as the fifth most trusted source for accurate online information.
• Marketers who have prioritized blogging (this prioritization is related to the quality of content) are 13 times more likely to experience positive ROI.
• The blogging industry grew from 14 million blogs in 2005 to roughly 152 million in 2013.
• Small businesses with blogs associated with their brand experience a 126% increase in lead generation.
• The more an individual visits a specific blog (which very well could be yours), the more likely they are to take action or purchase.

It is to be noted that most blogs are started as a hobby. This should be seen as an opportunity, however. The act of starting a blog catalyzes and leverages the opportunity to turn that hobby into a business.

According to the IRS Statistics of Income Division, owning a business is the real way of attaining wealth in your life.

Ownership of an enterprise is how you can generate accelerated wealth that helps you find the freedom you’ve always been searching for — and the means to help support your family and give back to your community.

How to Go From Hobbyist to Entrepreneur

As stated above, most blogs are started out of a hobby.

This is due to the underlying need for all human being to find a creative outlet and share it with the people around them.

Many people will take a cynical approach to what is going follow here…

Many people are going to talk about their specific situations and how the results aren’t typical and that they won’t be able to find the time and yadda yadda yadda.

And you know what?

Those people are right!

The cynicism will always exist. There will always be an unfair rolling of the dice when it comes to certain areas of your life. Someone will always be smarter than you, someone will always be better looking, someone will always be more successful.

But what if you silenced that voice for a change?

“I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which is that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”

— Jim Carrey

Often, we only take a look at the immediate results of our actions. We think:

“what’s in it for me, right now?”

Thinking in the short term can be paralyzing when it comes to building something into a fulfilling and self-sustaining vocation.

I’ve written before about what can come as a result of what putting aside just a few hours a week can bring you to turn a hobby-inspired work into an entrepreneurial side-hustle.

To put it succinctly, if you were to set aside just 16 hours a week (slightly more than 2 hours a day), you can accumulate over a month’s worth of time — 34 days — of meaningful and productive work towards building your business.

The point here is you don’t have to make this paradigm shift in your life from 9–5 over to entrepreneur overnight.

In fact, it’s inadvisable to do so nowadays.

The people who are willing to roll up their sleeves and get busy doing the hard work are the people who are going to be able to reap the rewards of a quickly growing industry.

How to Build a Profitable Blog: The 3 Essential Steps

The case has been built that the possibility of building a profitable and vocational blog is real. But how do we actually do that? What tangible and actionable steps are needed in order to make the idea a reality?

Step 1: Choose a blogging niche you can write about (over the long haul)

I know — many of you are going to balk at this step. You clicked this article because you want the “juicy” details of how you’re going to cash in on your share of this pot of gold.

Hold onto your britches for just a moment…

This part of the equation is necessary for a few reasons.

1. Like noted earlier, this is a marathon, not a sprint.If you think that this transformation is going to happen overnight, you probably should have stopped reading by now and gone to a different article that will sell you some more of the generic lies we see every day.
2. An audience is looking for guidance.Through your guidance, while you may not know it, you are going to be building trust. When you build trust within your audience, that’s when you’ll be able to make an enterprise out of your blog. Trust isn’t built overnight.It takes showing up over and over again for an audience member to know you’re “for real” and someone you can trust.
3. The more you write about a specific niche, the more you are going to learn. This is very important because, in a day and age where things are constantly changing, you’re going to need to be able to educate and relay those changes to an audience. For example, think about the changes that have been made in health and food in the last three years.

Having the will and discipline to write over the long haul of your blog’s life is the cornerstone to the whole project. Without it, nothing will be built because the desire to wake up every morning and share your gifts is nonexistent.

Step 2: The niche you choose to write about needs to be something that people care about

I have to offer you a dose of reality here real quick…

Okay, here’s the pill.

And now the glass of water.

Throw it down the hatch.

Swallow, and now, are you ready?

Not as many people care about your personal life as you think.

I know that comes off as callous.

And if this whole endeavor of yours is to have a creative release from the rigmarole of being a human — then, by all means, have that release.

If, however, you are still reading this because you wish to blend something that you have a legitimate interest in with the strategies involved in making it enterprising, you’re going to have to focus more on what other people are interested in, rather than what you’re interested in.

People are constantly thinking to themselves, “what’s in it for me?”

I don’t think that’s selfish of people to think. I think it’s completely reasonable.

So write about what problems people are trying to solve rather than the thoughts you’re wrestling with.

When you solve someone’s problem, you can associate a cost with it. Think about all the things you buy. Why do you buy those things? It could be anything:

• You buy a bottle of water to quench your thirst
• You buy a cell phone to connect you to the world and the entirety of human information
• You buy a t-shirt for either protection from the elements or a feeling of status

Whether it be either large or small, our purchases are in order to solve a problem.

Think about this when formulating your plan to build your enterprising blog.

Step 3: Create products to sell to your audience

People are probably going to argue with me that there are more ways to make money with a blog than just building and selling your products.

“Uh, haven’t you ever heard of affiliate marketing?”

“Dude, sponsored posts can make you a killing!”

“Advertising revenue is where the real money is at”

Sure, you can make money through the three listed mediums, but the ceiling just isn’t as high.

Remember when we noted that the best way to generate great wealth is through entrepreneurial ownership?

Well, let’s dissect the three options above and see if they match the “Ownership Stress Test.”

• Affiliate marketing: The act of taking someone else’s product or service and selling it through distribution channels. No ownership of the product.
• Sponsored post: Being paid by a company to write a review about a product or service. No ownership of the product or service.
• Advertising revenue: An exchange of payment for placing another company’s advertisements on your blog. You can lose the advertiser and the associated revenue without any warning. No ownership of the ability to retain the advertisements.

All three don’t pass the test.

On the other hand, when you create your own product or service, you are in charge of the price, the means of distribution, how many can be sold, if it’s taken off the shelves, if it’s updated, etc.

The most efficient means of creation and sale of your own proprietary products is through e-learning.E-learning is an industry that is breaking down the walls that higher education used to keep an exclusive club.

Today, anyone who is an expert on a subject can take that information and package it into an actionable sequence of learning modules that cost tens of thousands of dollars less than what it would at a higher education institution.

Market research firm Global Industry Analysts projected e-learning would reach $107 Billion in 2015 and it did, in fact, it outpaced those projections. Currently, research indicates that the industry will triple in size compared to 2015 with an expected value of $325 billion by 2025.

What other industries can proudly state tripled growth in a 10-year span? Not that many to boot.

And so all of this beg the questions:

What are you going to build?

What niche are you passionate enough to write about over the long haul?

What expertise do you hold that can help the various communities of the world solve the problems that plague them on a daily basis?

Conclusion

There has never been a better time to start your journey to become a 21st-century entrepreneur.

The barriers to entry have never been lower to start a business.

What’s important is to understand that the idea of “entrepreneur” has taken on a different meaning in the past decade or so. We used to laugh and balk at full-time bloggers. We used to think they were nearsighted and that the model wasn’t sustainable over time.

Now, when we hear about a full-time blogger, we equate him or her with an entrepreneur and with the overall idea of freedom.

It all starts with a mind shift

“The scariest moment is always just before you start.”

— Stephen King

Becoming a full-time blogger and entrepreneur isn’t going to happen overnight. In fact, it might take a few years…

But what other choice do you have? You can stay in your situation and let cynicism rule your life.That’s always an option.

But what if you took a chance on yourself for once? Great things could come as a result.

The 3 essential steps of building a profitable blog

1. Make sure you can write about it over the long haul: This is going to be a long journey. Change isn’t going to happen overnight. You’re going to need to be able to wake up and work towards the goal every day — even on the days you don’t feel like it. So you better choose something you have a fond interest in.
2. Write about things other people care about: Building this business isn’t about you, it’s about the audience. So like any good performer — give the people what they want! People are looking to solve their problems and you are going to be the catalyst in doing so!
3. Take ownership and sell your problem-solving devices to the audience: When you show up every day and illustrate that you can help out your audience, you build trust. When you build trust, people will start to open up their wallets to you.There has never been a better time to sell proprietary information. This is your opportunity to build the products you know you can deliver to your audience and have that audience pay for it!

The only thing really that can hold you back from discovering your true entrepreneurial potential is you.

So stop getting in your own way!

The doors are open and new ones will keep opening.

Picture the next time the meeting of a full-time blogger happens in your life. Only this time, it will be you who is the full-time blogger — and the eyes of the person sitting across from you will light up!

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