meathead1234
Elite Member
- Sep 24, 2008
- 3,724
- 14,585
Hi all,
Posted this in the make money section as I thought following my advice should help you make more, especially if you are quite new to the industry.
None of this is ground-breaking but just a few lessons I have learned (the hard way) since I started. I've been here a while now, and become more active in 2010. I certainly don't make as much as some of the guys/girls on here, but I do alright. I'm sure the higher earners/oldies will have some gems of their own to chip in.
First off, you should all realise that BHW is an absolute gold-mine of knowledge and some of the contacts you make here could prove invaluable both now and in the future. Take advantage of those who are specialists in topics you don?t know about, but be sure to share what you know as well.
I like lists, so here?s a few tips I can think of off the top of my head:
1) Leave it to the experts. I?m a firm believer in not trying to learn 100 different skills at once. I have literally no design skills, no coding skills so I will always outsource it. There?s no point me learning how to use photoshop when someone who has been using it for years can do something 10x better for $10. I buy and sell sites, and that?s what I?m good at. People contact me as they know I can do a better job than them (at least I hope that?s why). Use your own skills to your advantage, and leverage off those who specialise in areas you lack skills in.
2) JV, JV, JV. JV?s are great. They are good because you can combine one or more people with skills and form a team that is far more powerful than a single individual. When I first started out in IM (about 18 months ago) I teamed up with a designer/coder and I was basically clueless. That was bound to fail from day one as he didn?t appreciate my skills, and it ended up costing me $1000s as he stole money from our company. Since then I?ve lost more money by being too trusting and let down by people. I kept my faith and now have a business partner from here, we make a great team and have a growing amount of revenue each month. Don?t lose faith if you get screwed over, karma will come bite them in the ass one day, so keep at it until you find something that works.
3) Learn from your mistakes. We all make them, don?t be afraid to admit it. I learn something new every day either from a mistake I?ve made or from my research. You can also learn from other?s mistakes. Follow the posts of the more experienced members, chances are they?ve made and lost $1000s testing their strategies so make the most of that and fast-track your own success.
4) Be generous with your time, but value others. Time is money and people should respect that. I try to be generous with my posts and spend time replying to PMs and in return people are generous back to me. I?ve had a ton of great advice from people on here. If you?re a jackass and don?t respect people?s time, then don?t expect a friendly reply.
5) Ignore the haters and doubters. Your friends and family WILL doubt you. They will say what you are doing is stupid, scamming, pointless, risky, short-term so you just have to get on with it. The best way to prove them wrong is to make money sitting at home in your underwear while they are slaving away at their crappy day jobs that they all hate. Just remember that most people don?t understand what we do, so don?t worry if they don?t get it.
6) Never give up. IM is not easy, especially when starting out, and you will definitely hit a number of roadblocks along the way. If you have a good character you can get through the hard times and ride the waves while they are good on the other side.
7) Build a business, don?t focus on methods. This is especially important for those who want to be in IM full-time. Find what you are good at and build a business around that. There?s nothing worse than putting all your time and effort into a ?method? that dies to $0 a week later.
8) Diversify. Don?t put all your eggs in one basket. Similar to 7 it?s important to mix it up. Build white-hat web properties for longer term income and subsidise those with your income from elsewhere (whether it be BH or whatever).
9) Reputation. Reputation is important and will help you build you business. No, I don?t mean your actual rep count, thanks count or post count ? I mean having people know who you are and seeing you as the ?go to guy? for a certain subject or skill. It?s a great place to be and makes it far easier when/if you ever want to sell anything. It could be feedback on Ebay, feedback on Flippa, writing articles around the net attached to your name or whatever. Don?t hide behind your computer screens all the time as one of the most important things you can do is build trust with people. You can?t buy someone?s trust so run your business well and treat others as you would like to be treated.
10) Don?t be afraid to invest money. I know that not everyone has cash to invest, but it does help massively to get a head start. You will lose some, but when you make a profit it?s far easier to scale up if you have good cash flow behind you. Life is much easier if you can afford to buy a website making $100 a day with established traffic than having to do it from scratch.
With a combination of this forum, contacts you build and hard work, you can easily quit you day job and make a living online. I?ve only been full time in IM for 5 months since I finished my degree, but I don?t regret it at all. I earn more than all of my friends, even those in top City banking jobs so can?t complain and I can only see it growing from here.
That?s about all for now. Didn?t want to make this an egotistical post, but it?s good to give back to the community that has helped me gain the freedom I have today. Feel free to rip it apart if I've missed anything or you disagree - it's good to debate. Any questions, fire away!
Posted this in the make money section as I thought following my advice should help you make more, especially if you are quite new to the industry.
None of this is ground-breaking but just a few lessons I have learned (the hard way) since I started. I've been here a while now, and become more active in 2010. I certainly don't make as much as some of the guys/girls on here, but I do alright. I'm sure the higher earners/oldies will have some gems of their own to chip in.
First off, you should all realise that BHW is an absolute gold-mine of knowledge and some of the contacts you make here could prove invaluable both now and in the future. Take advantage of those who are specialists in topics you don?t know about, but be sure to share what you know as well.
I like lists, so here?s a few tips I can think of off the top of my head:
1) Leave it to the experts. I?m a firm believer in not trying to learn 100 different skills at once. I have literally no design skills, no coding skills so I will always outsource it. There?s no point me learning how to use photoshop when someone who has been using it for years can do something 10x better for $10. I buy and sell sites, and that?s what I?m good at. People contact me as they know I can do a better job than them (at least I hope that?s why). Use your own skills to your advantage, and leverage off those who specialise in areas you lack skills in.
2) JV, JV, JV. JV?s are great. They are good because you can combine one or more people with skills and form a team that is far more powerful than a single individual. When I first started out in IM (about 18 months ago) I teamed up with a designer/coder and I was basically clueless. That was bound to fail from day one as he didn?t appreciate my skills, and it ended up costing me $1000s as he stole money from our company. Since then I?ve lost more money by being too trusting and let down by people. I kept my faith and now have a business partner from here, we make a great team and have a growing amount of revenue each month. Don?t lose faith if you get screwed over, karma will come bite them in the ass one day, so keep at it until you find something that works.
3) Learn from your mistakes. We all make them, don?t be afraid to admit it. I learn something new every day either from a mistake I?ve made or from my research. You can also learn from other?s mistakes. Follow the posts of the more experienced members, chances are they?ve made and lost $1000s testing their strategies so make the most of that and fast-track your own success.
4) Be generous with your time, but value others. Time is money and people should respect that. I try to be generous with my posts and spend time replying to PMs and in return people are generous back to me. I?ve had a ton of great advice from people on here. If you?re a jackass and don?t respect people?s time, then don?t expect a friendly reply.
5) Ignore the haters and doubters. Your friends and family WILL doubt you. They will say what you are doing is stupid, scamming, pointless, risky, short-term so you just have to get on with it. The best way to prove them wrong is to make money sitting at home in your underwear while they are slaving away at their crappy day jobs that they all hate. Just remember that most people don?t understand what we do, so don?t worry if they don?t get it.
6) Never give up. IM is not easy, especially when starting out, and you will definitely hit a number of roadblocks along the way. If you have a good character you can get through the hard times and ride the waves while they are good on the other side.
7) Build a business, don?t focus on methods. This is especially important for those who want to be in IM full-time. Find what you are good at and build a business around that. There?s nothing worse than putting all your time and effort into a ?method? that dies to $0 a week later.
8) Diversify. Don?t put all your eggs in one basket. Similar to 7 it?s important to mix it up. Build white-hat web properties for longer term income and subsidise those with your income from elsewhere (whether it be BH or whatever).
9) Reputation. Reputation is important and will help you build you business. No, I don?t mean your actual rep count, thanks count or post count ? I mean having people know who you are and seeing you as the ?go to guy? for a certain subject or skill. It?s a great place to be and makes it far easier when/if you ever want to sell anything. It could be feedback on Ebay, feedback on Flippa, writing articles around the net attached to your name or whatever. Don?t hide behind your computer screens all the time as one of the most important things you can do is build trust with people. You can?t buy someone?s trust so run your business well and treat others as you would like to be treated.
10) Don?t be afraid to invest money. I know that not everyone has cash to invest, but it does help massively to get a head start. You will lose some, but when you make a profit it?s far easier to scale up if you have good cash flow behind you. Life is much easier if you can afford to buy a website making $100 a day with established traffic than having to do it from scratch.
With a combination of this forum, contacts you build and hard work, you can easily quit you day job and make a living online. I?ve only been full time in IM for 5 months since I finished my degree, but I don?t regret it at all. I earn more than all of my friends, even those in top City banking jobs so can?t complain and I can only see it growing from here.
That?s about all for now. Didn?t want to make this an egotistical post, but it?s good to give back to the community that has helped me gain the freedom I have today. Feel free to rip it apart if I've missed anything or you disagree - it's good to debate. Any questions, fire away!
