Making money from things you like and enjoy

Over at 45n5 Mark has been talking about making money off things that you enjoy, or like doing.  As a matter of fact, he has an interesting video about this concept, let’s have a look:

I have used a lot of methods to monetize websites, I’ve done it through advertising like AdSense, affiliate ads, and other methods.  Over the last six months, though, as I have alluded to before, I have taken a special interest in monetizing one of my sites.  This particular site did not monetize well with any kind of advertising that I tried.  However, it was the site most precious to me, one that I love a lot, and really a daily part of my life.  Because of that, I wanted to find a way to make money from it.  So I introduced several new moneymaking possibilities on the site.  These included things like advertising services, much like what Mark is talking about in his video.  Recently, I started offering a few e-books that were really targeted to that site as well.  You know what?  That is my number one earning site now!  And, I’m doing things that I enjoy, things that I love, and in a lot of ways things that I would be doing every day anyway, even without the site.

You know, I have come to the conclusion that offering my own services and selling my own products is the way that I like to go.  Firstly, I find it is more profitable.  Secondly, I have control over what’s on the website.  I am not at the mercy of Google or somebody else putting ads on my site that I can’t approve.  Thirdly, the premium products that I’m selling offer additional value to my readers.  These products are specifically about the topic that I write about, thus it is certain that these are things my readers are interested in.  A year ago I was strongly into the AdSense  thing, but mostly, I kind of abandoned that.  At least I’ve decreased it.  Most of my sites are highly specialized, very niche oriented, and my niche is very narrow.  In terms of how many people it attracts.  Because of this, it can be difficult to get ads that are targeted properly.  However, when I create my own products and advertising things that I do myself, I get to choose how targeted those things are.  And believe me, they are targeted to my customer.

Yes, I still make money off of AdSense, but not nearly what I used to make.  And now my earnings from Google are about one third of what they were last year.  However, my total earnings are higher than they were last year, and these self-made products and services are what accounts for that.  Whenever you’re selling advertising, unless you’re talking about direct ad sales, you only get a portion of what the advertiser pays.  People like Google or others get a cut as well.  When you make and sell your own products, or selling your own services on your site, you get the whole thing.  You can actually sell it to the customer for less than what Google would and still get more money from the sale, because you’re cutting out the middleman.

The other thing that I find is it is easier to make that money.  Why?  Well, if you build up a good side and you have a good following the people, those people trust you.  They know you.  Many of them visit you everyday online and read what you have to say.  You have established a relationship with those people.  Thus, if you come out with an e-book or some other product that you did yourself, they know what to expect.  If they thought that your writing wasn’t very good, they wouldn’t be visiting your site anyway.  Since they obviously feel that your site has value, by extension they would also feel that your products have value.  If the product that you offer is something that they are interested in, it’s likely that they’ll buy.  So it’s good for you, and it’s also good for them because they get information that they want and need.

Thanks to Mark for bringing up this topic on his site, 45n5 is a site that I like to visit every day.

My new book: 49 Ways to earn a living in the Philippines

Today, I am ready to make the big announcement!  You can now get my brand new book, which is entitled “49 Ways to earn a living in the Philippines.” (order here)

Basically, the book goes through 49 (actually 50 ways, because I have a Bonus Idea) Ways that you can live in the Philippines and earn your living while you are living here.  I have been living here since May 2000, and when I came here I did have a bunch of money, but I went through it too fast!  By 2002, I had only two choices:

1. Go Home
2. Figure out how to make money here

I chose to go with number 2, because I didn’t want to leave.  Sadly, few people (expats who move here) are ever able to figure out how to earn money here.  Most expats will tell you that “you can’t make money in the Philippines, it’s impossible.”  Well, I am living proof that they are wrong! In my book, I want show you how to make money here too!

The ideas that I present are real-life ideas that work!  Most of the things that I discuss are things that I have actually done to make money, and because of that I know for sure that they work.

I know of people who have come to live in the Philippines and after a few years they had to go home, because they ran out of money.  Don’t let that happen to you!  Why leave a lifestyle that you love, just because you don’t have money?  Making money is actually pretty easy, if you just know how to do it.  I didn’t know how in 2001 and before.  But, in 2002, I started learning how to make money, because I had to!  Let me show you how to do it too.

Let me be clear, I am not going to tell you that you can get rich quickly or easily.  I am going to say, though, that you can earn a good income if you are willing to work at it.  I don’t slave away, I generally just work a few hours per day, and I am living good.  How good is my life?  Well, I make a lot more money here in the Philippines than I ever made in the USA, I can tell you that.

If you read my sites, you already know that I make 100% of my income online through my various websites.  However, I know that some people are not comfortable on the computer.  That’s why I have ideas in the book not only for Online businesses, but also for Offline and for Hybrid ideas that mix online and offline strategies into a single business.  So, whether you want to earn your living at the computer like me, or you don’t want to even touch a computer, there are ideas for you!

I offer my book in two formats:  paper and digital.  If you order the digital version, you can download it immediately after payment.  If you order the paper version, I will ship it directly to your mailing address.

Guess what?  I also have a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!  If you don’t think that the book is what you were expecting, you get the full purchase price back upon return of the book!  No fuss, no muss, no questions asked!  So, what do you have to lose?

Order Bob’s New Book TODAY!

Customer service is what I am all about

I have been involved in various businesses and jobs since I was 12 years old.  These days, not many kids start working at such a young age.  They should, though.  I know, I know, I’ll be accused of forcing kids into labor and such, but what I am saying is that kids can learn a lot by getting into doing jobs, work, business and such at a young age.

One of the things that I learned from my first mentor was that Customer Service is the most important thing about any business.  Actually, I’ll expand it and say that Customer Service is the most important aspect of any part of your life.

Now, in some parts of your life, you may have to look at the word “customer” a little differently.

Marriage?  Your spouse is your customer.  Treat your customer right, and you’ll have a customer for life.

Friendship?  Your friends are your customers.

It applies to any kind of relationship.  However, this blog is about business, so let’s focus on that.

I contend that the very best way to keep a customer for life is through making mistakes.  What?  That doesn’t make sense, right?  Well, first, let’s all agree that everybody makes mistakes.  No matter how hard you try, how much you concentrate, you will make a mistake sooner or later.  It is how you deal with that mistake that will decide if you just lost a customer, or strengthened your relationship with that customer.

I have had incidents where I, or one of my employees has made a very serious mistake and a customer told me that we had lost his business for life.  He would never shop with us again.  Well, the gut reaction is to get mad, tell the person off, and say goodbye!  Forget him, right?  That’s not the way I do it.

First of all, consider that the reason that the customer is mad is because YOU made the mistake to begin with.  If you handle the situation right, you will not only keep the customer, you will also have a stronger relationship with him when he sees that you take care of mistakes.  Go out of your way to not only correct the mistake, but go above and beyond what the customer would expect!

Just as an example, I have a business where I sell flowers.  Roses and such.  Generally, we deliver these flowers to a man’s girlfriend in most cases.  If we make a mistake, the guy usually gets quite angry, because not only have we not done what he wanted, in many cases we might have even made him look bad to his girl.  That’s like playing with fire.  For example, let’s say that we delivered flowers that were not fresh, already wilted.  The lady tells the guy that the flowers were not so nice, then he gets angry at us, and says we can kiss his business goodbye.  We go out of our way, and we then delivery maybe 3 times the amount of FRESH flowers to the lady as our way of saying “we are sorry” to the customer.  Not only that, we tell the girl that it was her boyfriend who sent the additional flowers.  This not only corrects the problem, it makes the man look good!  You can bet, 9 times out of 10, the guy is so happy that he forgets all about his threat to start shopping elsewhere, and becomes even a better customer in the future.

Customer service is all about how you handle mistakes, which are inevitable.  Treat your customers good, step up to the plate and fix the problem when you made a mistake, and you will go far in business.  If you don’t do these things, your business may not survive long.