2017. I knew it was going to be my year - it had to be. I had decided that working a standard, 9 to 5 job simply wasn’t for me. I wanted to give earning money with just a computer, an Internet connection, and a frenzied dream a try. However, I knew that creating a reliable source of income every month would be a significant challenge in itself.
While there are plenty of tutorials, videos, testimonies, and blog posts about how to generate reliable passive income overnight, the reality is that doing so takes some significant hard work. There is some truth to the methods these sources prescribe, but it definitely does not happen overnight - and it takes some targeted efforts to see results.
Yet I knew I had to give it a try. I have always had the goal in the back of my mind of traveling the world experiencing other environments and cultures, and I knew that in order for that to happen, I needed to make some significant changes to my current income streams. Unlike other people who have started blogs, I didn’t have years to wait for success to come, nor did I have thousands of dollars lying around to spend on strategizing.
Instead, I came up with a list of several online business plans that could offer a quick turnaround in producing a profit. I realized that, if I was successful, these efforts could help my dreams become reality in a relatively short amount of time.
Selling on Amazon
The first step I took was to research the Amazon FBA program. Becoming a seller through the FBA program (FBA stands for Fulfillment by Amazon), allows Amazon to take care of the heavy lifting in sales for you - they do the packaging, shipping, returns, and other customer service in exchange for a small fee. This frees up your precious time and energy, which you can then invest in other projects.
FBA participation entitles you to list your products as Prime eligible, which is very enticing to prospective buyers. You earn more sales, and thus more profit. To sell via FBA, you purchase products in bulk at a discount from overseas, then place your log on these products and ship them (also in bulk) to the Amazon warehouse. You create the product listing for Amazon, and every time a purchase is made, Amazon takes care of everything for you. This frees up so much of your time as a seller, allowing you to generate a mostly passive source of income every month.
I brought in over $5,200 in sales through the Amazon FBA program in just one month, and netted $2,200 worth of profit. Within a few months following my launch, I earned $23,000 in sales, with a total of $10,000 worth of profit. I absolutely took off, despite having zero e-commerce experience. I was making over $2,000 every month - while doing what felt like nothing.
And it’s not just me - I’m not a fluke. One of my good friends began selling on Amazon last year and was able to quit his job as a result. In just eight months of selling, he did nearly $120,000 in sales.
Website Flipping
After I started making money on Amazon, I was ready to progress to the next step in my master plan. Once I got things rolling with the FBA program, I had plenty of time to spend on another project. Although $2,000 per month is a nice income stream on its own, particularly if you are doing little to no work, I realized I needed an additional source of income if I planned on becoming my own boss and traveling the world.
I invested my time in researching online investments and quickly found the online brokerage Empire Flippers. Based on my research, I already knew that affiliate marketing is a great way to make money, with many people making thousands of dollars each month in passive income this way. Although I didn’t have the time to build my own affiliate website from scratch, I did have some extra cash from my Amazon sales. I invested that cash in purchasing a website that was already well-established and making money.
For those of you who aren’t yet familiar with affiliate marketing, it’s a simple concept. As a website owner, you place links to top retailers like Amazon and Best Buy on your website. These links direct people to those websites to purchase specific goods. If the consumer purchases that good, you earn a commission from the sale. It costs nothing extra for the buyer, and it’s a great way to make reliable, passive income.
The particular website I purchased was already making over $1,800 per month in profit. In January of 2018, I purchased the website for $49,000, working with Empire Flippers to make it happen. I realize that this was a significant investment, but I was confident in the risk since the website had many years of successful passive income generation.
And the risk paid off. Within just four months of purchasing the website, I learned everything I needed to learn about affiliate marketing, and then resold the website for $75,000. I sold the website in April of the same year I purchased it, bringing in $30,000 in sheer profit - all in less than four months.
Since that initial purchase, I have bought an additional website as an investment, and have also started to build niche websites from the ground up. I figure that these websites will provide me with additional revenue streams that will allow me to call myself my own boss. Truly, I can now bring in enough money to support myself each month, and these profits have allowed me to set my own schedule. As a result, I’ve met many of my travel goals, having been to places all over the world - like Cabo, Costa Rica, Tahiti, Panama, the Caribbean, Greece, Italy, many US states, Cancun, and more.
Here’s How You Can Get Started
- Create an Amazon Sellers Central professional account.
- Sign up for Helium 10. This tool allows you to research inventory on Amazon to figure out which products have high demand with minimal competition.
- Decide which products you want to sell based on which ones perform well on Amazon. Go to Alibaba and search for the same products you found on Amazon. You need to find a manufacturer that can supply you with bulk products,that are similar to the ones you already found but have somewhat different features or colors.
- Purchase these products. Add your brand name or logo to make them unique.
- Ship the products to your home. Look over them carefully, making sure they are of high quality.
- Create a product listing within Amazon Sellers Central. Ship your items in bulk to the warehouse (yes, you can do this before they even sell!).
- Create a PPC ad campaign with the Amazon Sellers Central portal. This will allow you to advertise your product - while doing nothing.
- Sit back and watch your sales come rolling in. You can repeat the above process as needed whenever you want to add new products to your inventory.
If you are considering investing in a website, as I did, I highly recommend you work with Empire Flippers. You can browse their website for offers or even sign up for their newsletter. Each Monday morning, they publish new listings, with offers from $20,000 to over $1,000,000. The website is flexible, offering compatibility with a wide array of budgets. If you can get yourself online every Monday morning, your odds of finding the perfect investment opportunity will be higher.
I also created a buyer’s checklist. This checklist, which is about four pages in length, can help show you what to look for when you are purchasing. This way, you can make sure you are making a sound investment. Check the guide out here in Amazon Drive.
As I said, I can’t recommend Empire Flippers enough. The company offers exceptional service and the support team is second to none. They can answer any questions you might have. Website ownership is a fantastic pathway to long-term wealth, and it can even allow you to escape the constrictions of a regular 9 to 5 job - just like I did.
The Investment Opportunity
While each of these ventures worked out well for me, if you asked me which one I preferred or recommended, I’d have to say website investing. Investors have been flipping websites for years, but investing in websites is still a relatively new concept. There is so much potential in websites, which have significantly lower risk than other kinds of investment. If you create a quality website, there will always be a potential buyer if you need to pull your money out for whatever reason.
Amazon selling is also a great way to save up money, particularly if you’re trying to save up enough cash to invest in a website. Remember, both of these ventures require only a solid Internet connection and a computer in order to see success. You can work anywhere you want, at any time of the day, to manage your assets. It is definitely possible to earn thousands of dollars each month - with minimal work and effort on your part.
What are your next steps in designing your own future? The opportunities in website investment and making money online are endless, but the pathway is up to you.
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Writer: Zach Zorn of MoneyNomad.com
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this guest post featured on this site are those of the guest author/advertising partner and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of travelingmorion.com as a whole.
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