1. What is your outlook on the crowdfunding fintech space now that realtyshares closed up shop?
2. What careers in tech do you recommend for someone with a talent for synthesizing numerics + intent?
1) they burned too much cash, probably going to see a few others close down. market feels hot
2) already covered, search bar intelligence
(throwaway email no more ID, purchased Triangle Investing)
Have followed your steps.
How do you lay low while upgrading lifestyle? People can tell from where you live, your clothes, how you spend your time etc how much money you have
Ha! no they cannot, comical question. Most guys with bmws etc are actually broke. The guy with the fancy suit could be worth $50K or $10M. They don’t know. People only know if you let them into your lifestyle
20 years old, currently a barista at Starbucks. I’m just getting my real estate license. Plan to become a broker as well. Is this a path worth taking? Learning sales now. Thank you
this is enterprise sales already covered
Q1: Side business is EU based and won’t be able to fully hide my name on registries. Not very close to my family either so I’m reticent to put anything under their name or even let them know of my motives and financial situation. Employer very restrictive with *obligation* to disclose everything (regulated position), which I am not willing to do. Best option I could think of is to register it on tiny third country in EU unrelated to residence or nationality, and hope that the employer never finds out. Any other ideas as to how to approach the situation and conceal ownership?
Q2: Besides gym, you recommend active hobbies such as team sports and/or anything that exercises your body in a *functional* way. You have never mentioned martial arts if memory doesn’t fail me (referring to only cautious training here, not jumping into cage). Is it because of potential health risks even at low level training, or simply because of lack of interest?
Book recommendation: The laws of human nature by Robert Greene.
Thanks
1) sounds like a good move
2) yeah that’s in our book efficiency, 1-2 days a week is sports related exercise as gym workouts aren’t real exercise
Can you clarify what you mean by “gym workouts aren’t real exercise”? I’m doing heavy compounds 3-4 times a week and adding some HIIT cardio. Is that not enough? I actually stopped my basketball league as I found it over strained my joints and hindered my lifting. I plan on doing more hot yoga (as discussed in previous Q&A).
It means you need something beyond just weights thats it.
1) I looked into Estonia for a while. They have an interesting e-resident program that might be a good option for you.
Was listening to Future Skills podcast (co-hosted by Mikael Syding) and a guest Erik Townsend predicts governments will eventually outlaw conversion of cryptocurrencies to fiat.
What do you believe will happen to their value if this happens?
ps: please third book!
they can outlaw it but then you’re just proving you can’t stop it making people look at it even more
Price would go down at that time
Efficiency was great! I deleted the email receipt. Hope this gets posted!
Why isn’t your blog more popular? I can hypothesize, but you have data to back up your answer.
It only attracts people smart enough to realize the information is legitimate. Also the name of the blog is purposely repelling to regular people as well.
Long story short it weeds out a large number of regulars who would love it if we posted stupid stuff like “stock tips”
Hi WSP,
Last year fired from Invt Analyst at 35bn Pension Fund (CIO got fired so Mgmt cleaned house) moved to Enterprise Tech Sales, great move thanks for classic WSP *actionable* insight.
Gotten 2 title promotions within the year, been told by RVP 6-12 months to getting promoted to Enterprise Exec (from BDR).
Question: How should I manage this situation/politics in sales, bump to Ent. AE is a huge *event* (not only base salary jump but % comm), should the focus be on the career (AEs I work with buy yachts for fun), or starting a side biz.
Obviously side biz is key eventually but once I get the promotion there’s more free time as solely judged on performance rather than performance + grind.
Thanks
Yeah nothing changes despite belief that promotions lead to change in work. Essentially, you do the same strategy, you work hard enough to be seen as top tier or “good” at your job. Then you spend all the rest of your time on side biz.
Just like how you were laid off, the product you are selling could die tomorrow so it’s always safer with 2 forms of income
Thanks WSPs. Assumed there would be a change in work moving from front of funnel to end of funnel.
Currently top-tier, will take the foot off slightly (won’t be trying to be #1 anymore, just top 10%).
I know you mentioned the 2nd laptop on desk before, any other advice for working on your side biz during office hours?
Especially as I can work from home 3-4 days/week with current gig.
You should have zero issues if you only go to work 1-2 days a week…
1.) have you guys or anyone you know seen *long term* success (in terms of time an account is up and running) for a google ads account that is selling the same product that a banned account promoted? (Assuming EVERY OTHER variable is new & fresh excluding the actual product)
2.) if selling the same product on a new google account as you did on one that is suspended, how much do you have to change the Lander? I’ve seen other domains run the same landers for products that I KNOW have been banned on other google accounts yet they run. Curious to hear your thoughts on changing the actual lander/website
1) no haven’t seen someone constantly get banned create success eventually… that’s because if you’re getting banned you’re not doing it legitimately so hard to create a biz
2) That doesn’t work just delays the eventual ban, but they do it because they are just trying to scrape money chasing the next thing over and over
A follow up q if you’ll allow as I think something needs to be clarified.
It’s a white hat product promoted with white hat methods. Ads ran for 2 yrs no issues then banned for payment issues. (Circumventing.. no coming back from that)
Basically looking to make another white hat account. Doable even if your promoting same product?
Honestly don’t know at this point, all of ours is legit now. Just try it and see if it works, we’ve heard they got significantly more strict but now sure what that actually means.
on #1 the only time you’ll see legitimate success on this is with guys that run large organized operations (organized, i didn’t say legit) with mechanisms to put up a new account when one goes down. Without going too much into it… those guys make insane money. Hard to get into, and the knowledge is specialized. Also requires a big bank roll.
For affiliate marketing as a newbie — I am running pop unders with the sweeps vertical.
What should I be prioritizing specifically for learning, when goal is to create a business?
Yes I’m learning to go through tons of landers and data, but I think the sales tactics for these are silly compared to those for a real product. Maybe I’m wrong?
you are wrong. Once you can sell their product you just make your own. That’s the transition!
Have a small side business online selling a product making $3-5k per month, not a recurring revenue per se but have an email list and can develop some complementary products down the line. I think given the market that I could probably double the monthly revenues over the next year if I put the time in, but that’s as high as the ceiling goes.
My question is about selling the site. I understand that 36x the monthly revenue is a very generic metric for valuation, but what value can I add to the site that will allow me to sell it at an even higher valuation than that?
you have to give a blue sky scenario. This is why most companies show good results then have them go up then sell. If you try to sell something that is flat or declining the valuation will go down.
Most people get too greedy, if you show declines you actually lose money because the equity value goes down a ton.
How do you feel about 4% rule over a long time period with that allocation? Would you change anything?
Congrats! Would probably get some actual real estate, assuming you’re still working try to get some actual real estate assets for tax purposes. The current mix looks like it is not tax efficient
Hey WSPs thanks for the great content and for the QnA.
Your advice is very useful and you haven’t left many things uncovered, so:
1) You have said getting rich is getting harder.
It seems that big players are getting more and more market share (there won’t be another FB or Google) and generally it feels it’s getting harder, but why do you think that is?
2) Why do you suggest people attend conventions/conferences before joining an industry?
These questions are mostly out of curiosity.
Thanks!
1) it’s because over time rent seeking is evaporating. there are very few people who can actually add value to anything and are primarily just picks and shovels that eventually a robot can do. Going to see a lot more dislocation since most people don’t have valuable skills
2) You get real experience this way, books/school isn’t real life. it’s just theories and nonsense with no real life application. By going to the actual events you learn different strategies from manufacturing to sales etc. If it’s taught in a book it’s usually stale since the only way to “add value” is by having something different, otherwise it is a commodity
When launching a new consumer product without any close comparables, what is the best way to determine optimal pricing?
Seems weird to launch with an arbitrary price and then frequently adjust until there’s enough data for a solid conclusion.
Standard A/B test. run traffic to two different offers and see which one gives you a better ROI and then tweak from there
I am a 25 yr old accountant, grueling over my CPA exams and will be finished by early next year. I only started working hard and saving last year, so my version of your plan would be to start my business at 50, while s(l)aving during the mean time. I make $30k after taxes.
Do I put the savings in the bank or the markets if I have less than a million?
Thank you.
Same answer…. all excess cash goes into business, then it goes into emergency cash, then it goes into stocks last.
Thanks for the quality content, I’ve been reading for a year and have seen an immense improvement in my thinking. I now have a solid plan and am focused on execution.
Awesome congrats!
With a business that has a good amount of money coming in from one traffic source, but you are spending a ton of time running traffic and testing new stuff…
At what point do you outsource the media buying to an agency or affiliates to not only open up time to focus on partnerships, backend offers, etc. but also to use their expertise to hedge risk and open up new traffic sources AND hedge “account risk”. This would also allow you to oversee the operation across various traffic channels versus always navigating levels between media buying and overseeing the biz.
Thanks!
when you no longer see month over month growth
1. Do you think that the next GFC has just kicked off? Stock markets globally have taken a nose dive over the past week.
2. Would you recommend hoarding cash and getting ready to buy assets when it occurs?
Thank you
Probably not as yield curve hasn’t inverted
We’re doing the following: all excess cash (money not needed for biz) = 65% cash, 35% stocks/bonds/Real estate. The 35% is just in case we’re wrong but don’t mind making 2-3% for no risk. If we could ever see 4-5% guaranteed returns we would probably dump it all in there.
I manage a restaurant in Canada where I live on a work permit while waiting for my work permit. So I can not really do any business right now. Is there any side gig you would suggest to do while waiting till I get my permanent residence?
Use someone else’s name problem solved
Why do you keep the blog up and running? Don’t get me wrong, the information you give away is extremely valuable. But isn’t the information on here just increasing the competition for yourselves?
Pardon me if you have already answered this question, but I have read every article of yours, and still can not find a concrete answer you have given out.
If I were in your position I do not think I would care enough to hand out this info to people who do not even use it (can lead a horse to water, can’t make him drink).
It’s a fun hobby, if you’re not going to have kids you have to find a way to help people out. We only talk aggressively so we get rid of all the people who will fail anyway.
Already hit a networth level where we don’t care if someone comes in, don’t have to work anyway.
why not have kids? meanwhile everyone in the trailer park has at least two. SMH!
Where do you recommend getting high quality photos for your ads / content for affiliate sites besides promotional content affiliates offer? Not sure if it is best to use photos that aren’t owned by me and use those.
Regarding the consulting side, how would you recommend finding clients once site is set up? All I can think of is upwork and fiverr and browsing proposals that are within my core competencies
1) make them yourself safest option
2) tie it to your actual experience and get referrals that way. Fiverr and upwork won’t pay enough. Better to get the high paying clients
I purchased both books – unfortunately don’t have the transaction ID but have both emails (and you can verify my address).
Apologies if this has been asked before, but before reading your blog, I did not know about copywriting or AM – how did you learn about these avenues? I don’t mean the literal source but I’m trying to train myself to look for high value opportunities.
For ex: there may be other side gigs I could do based on my talents and skills – but I don’t know how to identify these.
You’ve disclosed you’re involved in crypto, and I know there are other areas you’re involved which you haven’t disclosed – how did you learn about these opportunities?
Research? Other people? I assume it comes down to continuous learning and some curiosity.
Just research and talking to people. If you hang out with rich people they always know what’s making money otherwise they wouldn’t be making money
You are who your closest contacts are which is why you have to brutally remove people who “dont get it” because they never will
Thank you very much for this and everything else . This may have been one of the best things I’ve ever read on this blog and that’s saying a whole lot.
I know you’ve mentioned to not take a pay cut if switching jobs. Looking to move from consulting (currently at ~100k/yr 1 year out of undergrad) to tech sales for higher earning potential and since its actually a “career” vs getting paid based on hours worked.
I have paid affiliate campaigns generating $XX/day and been working on scaling them. Would you suggest switching even if it means likely 30-40% pay cut? Upside is more time for biz and real “career”.
Thanks.
If you’re already making money online then yes it means you have the skills to make it so time is more valuable than the 30% pay cut
With the plethora of advice you guys offer on various topics (making money, life, women), I’m genuinely wondering how you guys got as smart/wise as you are.
Ha hilarious comment
I wanted to change up the theme of the question a little bit while I still have the time for it. Its about a man’s prime versus a woman’s.
Now I get that for a girl her prime is typically college and her youth years when she has the social life and a host of other fun things associated with those years. Life after 30, the way society portrays it, seems real depressing compared to youth. It kind of makes sense as most people your age will be married with kids and be “average” but that would significantly destroy your chances of a social life.
So for the guys who played their cards right, what does life after 30 have in store in terms of fun?
I don’t mean just dating I mean social fun, meeting people and how the better half who did things right lives.
just imagine you’re 21 but you’re perceived as better looking and you have the money to do anything you want.
that is how big the difference is.
Do you have any suggestions about how to reason through finding causes for a high amount of abandoned carts?
My current line of thinking is that the landing page is converting, but something with the checkout page is surprising customers into not buying. Is this the right track?
Abandoned carts are common so find the average for your industry and use that to decide if you’re actually seeing an issue or if its part of the normal churn for the space
Currently a Junior at college, have a software internship with a FAANG company.
Been doing online biz long before I discovered your blog but got some good tips from Efficiency.
I’m making 20k profit per month with about 10-15 hours of work per week right now.
I think I can scale anywhere from 30 to 50k per month (profit) by the time I graduate.
Right now I’ve kind of lost motivation to wage slave at all, how do I overcome this?
Seems ridiculous as I’ve worked hard to get good grades and land a good job and I don’t want to waste all that work but it doesn’t appeal to me anymore.
hahaha! nice post, no use for any sort of wage slave job just move on
Question: Been semi-retired for a year now (in my late 30’s) but I’m bored and have had some punishing paper losses in stocks/crypto lately. Decided to finally try to get into affiliate marketing to learn something new while making extra cash.
Read Efficiency and researched the topic but I still feel like I’m missing the big picture somehow: e.g. What’s the biggest driver for success in the field? Good SEO? Buying search words on Google? Writing snappy copy, designing beautiful landing pages? Your advice and any suggestions on where I should go to flesh out knowledge would be much appreciated.
It’s all in there already, the holy grail is being good with ads. If you can master that you’re officially irreplaceable
Mid 20s guy on track with finances but slight concern about state of relationships. Female part is fine, and have a decent business network BUT I have few *real* male friends – i.e. guys on the same level as me that I can hang out with + call upon when I need help. Reason is that I left my home country which I hate living in for a foreign non-top tier country where I can’t really bond with local guys (closed social groups that’s hard to break into + people get married early then get into family life). Will I run into issues in my later life if I have few male friends?
Nope you’re set!
Why don’t you think having guy friends is necessary, or do you think that as I get older I’ll find more guys like me I can bond with?
Experience. In fact we wish it was possible to delete more of them wasting our time.
Read Efficiency, loved it but need to read it a few more times to absorb all the details. Starting an affiliate marketing (white hat) side hustle with a focused, high margin niche but keeping links and content/sales pitch global to reduce pigeonholing the myself to any specific geography.
Would you say multiple affiliate marketing sites with different product or service niches as being a decent way to scale over time or that having one domain with multiple products is a better way to scale? Not the ideal side biz by any stretch but appreciate any feedback you can provide. Thank you for continuing these Q&A sessions and all your posts.
Typically better all under one domain since the brand should eventually be able to sell anything
If you could please delete the following paragraph I appreciate it.
Not sure if you’re confident you can get something then obviously take it. Call it a month to two months you better have something lined up
Setting up first side e-comm biz. Day job is demanding but get paid well – so I thinking of hiring a freelance marketer to help build sales page and run ad campaigns with my supervision. I have professional marketing experience from previous job so know if the freelancer is doing a good job/ when to intervene. What do you think of this more hands-off set-up/ how could it potentially go wrong?
Yes works since you’ll be able to tell if the guy/girl is doing a good job or not. But could lose a lot of money if they suck (sunk cost)
Have you guys seen any huge long-term downsides for people who’ve done testosterone replacement therapy? Thought maybe this was something you looked into when researching and trying supplements
Don’t know this topic enough to comment
Thanks for all your work.
When building an affiliate marketing business, is a review based website (product comparison for example) preferable to other types such as a blog? Or is a combination a better way to go (or maybe I’m way off track with either)? Guessing a solid sales pitch, regardless of style of deliver, is all that really matters but your thoughts are appreciated
way off track its explicit in the book, get good at ads. Blogs are a joke and make next to no money
Stuck in government 9-5 mediocre pay. Love finance, should I CFA and move to govt finance role (structured financing or pension asset management) ASAP (to have career I like before it’s too late in case online biz doesn’t work out) and then start biz. Or take what I got (lots of free time since 9-5 job) and start AM, online biz, etc right away?
Nope already covered here not going to rewrite stuff that is a click away.
I’m starting to not value being rich as much. And I mean getting rich through meaningless ways (selling stuff you don’t care about to strangers online). What exactly will it do for you if you make it to the $1-10 mil range?
You will be able to travel but it’s mostly just luxury type travel that deep down is meaningless.
You will get with more girls but any that you get with because of money aren’t worth it for long term.
Health you can take care of by eating good organic food and high quality routine and supps. This is like $200 more a month max.
Most hobbies are like $1-3k to max out.
Why not just work in a lucrative career you find somewhat interesting with interesting people? Then take 2-6 months off in between jobs and live out your travel and other self pursuit goals?
I just don’t see what money is going to really get you besides more puss.
If serious just live that life, in a word freedom. Freedom is everything
Turned down a post-MBA (degree was a mistake) MBB offer to go into enterprise sales, thanks in large part to your advice. Crushing it career-wise, but am struggling on the side business front. Currently in the process of internalizing the lessons from my second business failure (used Efficiency methods to test both times, so thankfully I didn’t take big monetary losses on either one, but I did spend a lot of time on them) and evaluating options for my next project. Dealing with lots of frustration lately. How many shots did it take you guys until you hit your first successful side business?
Don’t really remember guessing around three. None of them really lost money though, just didn’t make much and are still up today collecting peanuts.
Dammit – you’re discouraging me from attending this fall ha. What tier MBA, what could I do to make it more worth it? Go to a lesser ranked school and maximize scholarship dollars while working on side business through school?
Genius timing the Q&A with the start of a bear market. You can’t fake this stuff
Just wanna say Happy Thanksgiving to you guys, Thanks for helping me realize that everything is sales. I missed the QA this time, hopefully will make it next time.
1. What is your outlook on the crowdfunding fintech space now that realtyshares closed up shop?
2. What careers in tech do you recommend for someone with a talent for synthesizing numerics + intent?
1) they burned too much cash, probably going to see a few others close down. market feels hot
2) already covered, search bar intelligence
(throwaway email no more ID, purchased Triangle Investing)
Have followed your steps.
How do you lay low while upgrading lifestyle? People can tell from where you live, your clothes, how you spend your time etc how much money you have
Ha! no they cannot, comical question. Most guys with bmws etc are actually broke. The guy with the fancy suit could be worth $50K or $10M. They don’t know. People only know if you let them into your lifestyle
20 years old, currently a barista at Starbucks. I’m just getting my real estate license. Plan to become a broker as well. Is this a path worth taking? Learning sales now. Thank you
this is enterprise sales already covered
Q1: Side business is EU based and won’t be able to fully hide my name on registries. Not very close to my family either so I’m reticent to put anything under their name or even let them know of my motives and financial situation. Employer very restrictive with *obligation* to disclose everything (regulated position), which I am not willing to do. Best option I could think of is to register it on tiny third country in EU unrelated to residence or nationality, and hope that the employer never finds out. Any other ideas as to how to approach the situation and conceal ownership?
Q2: Besides gym, you recommend active hobbies such as team sports and/or anything that exercises your body in a *functional* way. You have never mentioned martial arts if memory doesn’t fail me (referring to only cautious training here, not jumping into cage). Is it because of potential health risks even at low level training, or simply because of lack of interest?
Book recommendation: The laws of human nature by Robert Greene.
Thanks
1) sounds like a good move
2) yeah that’s in our book efficiency, 1-2 days a week is sports related exercise as gym workouts aren’t real exercise
Can you clarify what you mean by “gym workouts aren’t real exercise”? I’m doing heavy compounds 3-4 times a week and adding some HIIT cardio. Is that not enough? I actually stopped my basketball league as I found it over strained my joints and hindered my lifting. I plan on doing more hot yoga (as discussed in previous Q&A).
It means you need something beyond just weights thats it.
1) I looked into Estonia for a while. They have an interesting e-resident program that might be a good option for you.
Was listening to Future Skills podcast (co-hosted by Mikael Syding) and a guest Erik Townsend predicts governments will eventually outlaw conversion of cryptocurrencies to fiat.
What do you believe will happen to their value if this happens?
ps: please third book!
they can outlaw it but then you’re just proving you can’t stop it making people look at it even more
Price would go down at that time
Efficiency was great! I deleted the email receipt. Hope this gets posted!
Why isn’t your blog more popular? I can hypothesize, but you have data to back up your answer.
It only attracts people smart enough to realize the information is legitimate. Also the name of the blog is purposely repelling to regular people as well.
Long story short it weeds out a large number of regulars who would love it if we posted stupid stuff like “stock tips”
Hi WSP,
Last year fired from Invt Analyst at 35bn Pension Fund (CIO got fired so Mgmt cleaned house) moved to Enterprise Tech Sales, great move thanks for classic WSP *actionable* insight.
Gotten 2 title promotions within the year, been told by RVP 6-12 months to getting promoted to Enterprise Exec (from BDR).
Question: How should I manage this situation/politics in sales, bump to Ent. AE is a huge *event* (not only base salary jump but % comm), should the focus be on the career (AEs I work with buy yachts for fun), or starting a side biz.
Obviously side biz is key eventually but once I get the promotion there’s more free time as solely judged on performance rather than performance + grind.
Thanks
Yeah nothing changes despite belief that promotions lead to change in work. Essentially, you do the same strategy, you work hard enough to be seen as top tier or “good” at your job. Then you spend all the rest of your time on side biz.
Just like how you were laid off, the product you are selling could die tomorrow so it’s always safer with 2 forms of income
Thanks WSPs. Assumed there would be a change in work moving from front of funnel to end of funnel.
Currently top-tier, will take the foot off slightly (won’t be trying to be #1 anymore, just top 10%).
I know you mentioned the 2nd laptop on desk before, any other advice for working on your side biz during office hours?
Especially as I can work from home 3-4 days/week with current gig.
You should have zero issues if you only go to work 1-2 days a week…
1.) have you guys or anyone you know seen *long term* success (in terms of time an account is up and running) for a google ads account that is selling the same product that a banned account promoted? (Assuming EVERY OTHER variable is new & fresh excluding the actual product)
2.) if selling the same product on a new google account as you did on one that is suspended, how much do you have to change the Lander? I’ve seen other domains run the same landers for products that I KNOW have been banned on other google accounts yet they run. Curious to hear your thoughts on changing the actual lander/website
1) no haven’t seen someone constantly get banned create success eventually… that’s because if you’re getting banned you’re not doing it legitimately so hard to create a biz
2) That doesn’t work just delays the eventual ban, but they do it because they are just trying to scrape money chasing the next thing over and over
A follow up q if you’ll allow as I think something needs to be clarified.
It’s a white hat product promoted with white hat methods. Ads ran for 2 yrs no issues then banned for payment issues. (Circumventing.. no coming back from that)
Basically looking to make another white hat account. Doable even if your promoting same product?
Honestly don’t know at this point, all of ours is legit now. Just try it and see if it works, we’ve heard they got significantly more strict but now sure what that actually means.
on #1 the only time you’ll see legitimate success on this is with guys that run large organized operations (organized, i didn’t say legit) with mechanisms to put up a new account when one goes down. Without going too much into it… those guys make insane money. Hard to get into, and the knowledge is specialized. Also requires a big bank roll.
For affiliate marketing as a newbie — I am running pop unders with the sweeps vertical.
What should I be prioritizing specifically for learning, when goal is to create a business?
Yes I’m learning to go through tons of landers and data, but I think the sales tactics for these are silly compared to those for a real product. Maybe I’m wrong?
you are wrong. Once you can sell their product you just make your own. That’s the transition!
Have a small side business online selling a product making $3-5k per month, not a recurring revenue per se but have an email list and can develop some complementary products down the line. I think given the market that I could probably double the monthly revenues over the next year if I put the time in, but that’s as high as the ceiling goes.
My question is about selling the site. I understand that 36x the monthly revenue is a very generic metric for valuation, but what value can I add to the site that will allow me to sell it at an even higher valuation than that?
you have to give a blue sky scenario. This is why most companies show good results then have them go up then sell. If you try to sell something that is flat or declining the valuation will go down.
Most people get too greedy, if you show declines you actually lose money because the equity value goes down a ton.
40 year old +, wife and kids. Hit my number.
Asset allocation – stocks 50%, bonds 35, reits 10, cash 5.
How do you feel about 4% rule over a long time period with that allocation? Would you change anything?
Congrats! Would probably get some actual real estate, assuming you’re still working try to get some actual real estate assets for tax purposes. The current mix looks like it is not tax efficient
Hey WSPs thanks for the great content and for the QnA.
Your advice is very useful and you haven’t left many things uncovered, so:
1) You have said getting rich is getting harder.
It seems that big players are getting more and more market share (there won’t be another FB or Google) and generally it feels it’s getting harder, but why do you think that is?
2) Why do you suggest people attend conventions/conferences before joining an industry?
These questions are mostly out of curiosity.
Thanks!
1) it’s because over time rent seeking is evaporating. there are very few people who can actually add value to anything and are primarily just picks and shovels that eventually a robot can do. Going to see a lot more dislocation since most people don’t have valuable skills
2) You get real experience this way, books/school isn’t real life. it’s just theories and nonsense with no real life application. By going to the actual events you learn different strategies from manufacturing to sales etc. If it’s taught in a book it’s usually stale since the only way to “add value” is by having something different, otherwise it is a commodity
When launching a new consumer product without any close comparables, what is the best way to determine optimal pricing?
Seems weird to launch with an arbitrary price and then frequently adjust until there’s enough data for a solid conclusion.
Standard A/B test. run traffic to two different offers and see which one gives you a better ROI and then tweak from there
I am a 25 yr old accountant, grueling over my CPA exams and will be finished by early next year. I only started working hard and saving last year, so my version of your plan would be to start my business at 50, while s(l)aving during the mean time. I make $30k after taxes.
Do I put the savings in the bank or the markets if I have less than a million?
Thank you.
Same answer…. all excess cash goes into business, then it goes into emergency cash, then it goes into stocks last.
Thanks for the quality content, I’ve been reading for a year and have seen an immense improvement in my thinking. I now have a solid plan and am focused on execution.
Awesome congrats!
With a business that has a good amount of money coming in from one traffic source, but you are spending a ton of time running traffic and testing new stuff…
At what point do you outsource the media buying to an agency or affiliates to not only open up time to focus on partnerships, backend offers, etc. but also to use their expertise to hedge risk and open up new traffic sources AND hedge “account risk”. This would also allow you to oversee the operation across various traffic channels versus always navigating levels between media buying and overseeing the biz.
Thanks!
when you no longer see month over month growth
1. Do you think that the next GFC has just kicked off? Stock markets globally have taken a nose dive over the past week.
2. Would you recommend hoarding cash and getting ready to buy assets when it occurs?
Thank you
Probably not as yield curve hasn’t inverted
We’re doing the following: all excess cash (money not needed for biz) = 65% cash, 35% stocks/bonds/Real estate. The 35% is just in case we’re wrong but don’t mind making 2-3% for no risk. If we could ever see 4-5% guaranteed returns we would probably dump it all in there.
I manage a restaurant in Canada where I live on a work permit while waiting for my work permit. So I can not really do any business right now. Is there any side gig you would suggest to do while waiting till I get my permanent residence?
Use someone else’s name problem solved
Why do you keep the blog up and running? Don’t get me wrong, the information you give away is extremely valuable. But isn’t the information on here just increasing the competition for yourselves?
Pardon me if you have already answered this question, but I have read every article of yours, and still can not find a concrete answer you have given out.
If I were in your position I do not think I would care enough to hand out this info to people who do not even use it (can lead a horse to water, can’t make him drink).
It’s a fun hobby, if you’re not going to have kids you have to find a way to help people out. We only talk aggressively so we get rid of all the people who will fail anyway.
Already hit a networth level where we don’t care if someone comes in, don’t have to work anyway.
why not have kids? meanwhile everyone in the trailer park has at least two. SMH!
Where do you recommend getting high quality photos for your ads / content for affiliate sites besides promotional content affiliates offer? Not sure if it is best to use photos that aren’t owned by me and use those.
Regarding the consulting side, how would you recommend finding clients once site is set up? All I can think of is upwork and fiverr and browsing proposals that are within my core competencies
1) make them yourself safest option
2) tie it to your actual experience and get referrals that way. Fiverr and upwork won’t pay enough. Better to get the high paying clients
I purchased both books – unfortunately don’t have the transaction ID but have both emails (and you can verify my address).
Apologies if this has been asked before, but before reading your blog, I did not know about copywriting or AM – how did you learn about these avenues? I don’t mean the literal source but I’m trying to train myself to look for high value opportunities.
For ex: there may be other side gigs I could do based on my talents and skills – but I don’t know how to identify these.
You’ve disclosed you’re involved in crypto, and I know there are other areas you’re involved which you haven’t disclosed – how did you learn about these opportunities?
Research? Other people? I assume it comes down to continuous learning and some curiosity.
Just research and talking to people. If you hang out with rich people they always know what’s making money otherwise they wouldn’t be making money
You are who your closest contacts are which is why you have to brutally remove people who “dont get it” because they never will
Thank you very much for this and everything else . This may have been one of the best things I’ve ever read on this blog and that’s saying a whole lot.
I know you’ve mentioned to not take a pay cut if switching jobs. Looking to move from consulting (currently at ~100k/yr 1 year out of undergrad) to tech sales for higher earning potential and since its actually a “career” vs getting paid based on hours worked.
I have paid affiliate campaigns generating $XX/day and been working on scaling them. Would you suggest switching even if it means likely 30-40% pay cut? Upside is more time for biz and real “career”.
Thanks.
If you’re already making money online then yes it means you have the skills to make it so time is more valuable than the 30% pay cut
With the plethora of advice you guys offer on various topics (making money, life, women), I’m genuinely wondering how you guys got as smart/wise as you are.
Ha hilarious comment
I wanted to change up the theme of the question a little bit while I still have the time for it. Its about a man’s prime versus a woman’s.
Now I get that for a girl her prime is typically college and her youth years when she has the social life and a host of other fun things associated with those years. Life after 30, the way society portrays it, seems real depressing compared to youth. It kind of makes sense as most people your age will be married with kids and be “average” but that would significantly destroy your chances of a social life.
So for the guys who played their cards right, what does life after 30 have in store in terms of fun?
I don’t mean just dating I mean social fun, meeting people and how the better half who did things right lives.
just imagine you’re 21 but you’re perceived as better looking and you have the money to do anything you want.
that is how big the difference is.
Do you have any suggestions about how to reason through finding causes for a high amount of abandoned carts?
My current line of thinking is that the landing page is converting, but something with the checkout page is surprising customers into not buying. Is this the right track?
Abandoned carts are common so find the average for your industry and use that to decide if you’re actually seeing an issue or if its part of the normal churn for the space
Currently a Junior at college, have a software internship with a FAANG company.
Been doing online biz long before I discovered your blog but got some good tips from Efficiency.
I’m making 20k profit per month with about 10-15 hours of work per week right now.
I think I can scale anywhere from 30 to 50k per month (profit) by the time I graduate.
Right now I’ve kind of lost motivation to wage slave at all, how do I overcome this?
Seems ridiculous as I’ve worked hard to get good grades and land a good job and I don’t want to waste all that work but it doesn’t appeal to me anymore.
hahaha! nice post, no use for any sort of wage slave job just move on
Question: Been semi-retired for a year now (in my late 30’s) but I’m bored and have had some punishing paper losses in stocks/crypto lately. Decided to finally try to get into affiliate marketing to learn something new while making extra cash.
Read Efficiency and researched the topic but I still feel like I’m missing the big picture somehow: e.g. What’s the biggest driver for success in the field? Good SEO? Buying search words on Google? Writing snappy copy, designing beautiful landing pages? Your advice and any suggestions on where I should go to flesh out knowledge would be much appreciated.
It’s all in there already, the holy grail is being good with ads. If you can master that you’re officially irreplaceable
Mid 20s guy on track with finances but slight concern about state of relationships. Female part is fine, and have a decent business network BUT I have few *real* male friends – i.e. guys on the same level as me that I can hang out with + call upon when I need help. Reason is that I left my home country which I hate living in for a foreign non-top tier country where I can’t really bond with local guys (closed social groups that’s hard to break into + people get married early then get into family life). Will I run into issues in my later life if I have few male friends?
Nope you’re set!
Why don’t you think having guy friends is necessary, or do you think that as I get older I’ll find more guys like me I can bond with?
Experience. In fact we wish it was possible to delete more of them wasting our time.
Read Efficiency, loved it but need to read it a few more times to absorb all the details. Starting an affiliate marketing (white hat) side hustle with a focused, high margin niche but keeping links and content/sales pitch global to reduce pigeonholing the myself to any specific geography.
Would you say multiple affiliate marketing sites with different product or service niches as being a decent way to scale over time or that having one domain with multiple products is a better way to scale? Not the ideal side biz by any stretch but appreciate any feedback you can provide. Thank you for continuing these Q&A sessions and all your posts.
Typically better all under one domain since the brand should eventually be able to sell anything
If you could please delete the following paragraph I appreciate it.
Not sure if you’re confident you can get something then obviously take it. Call it a month to two months you better have something lined up
Setting up first side e-comm biz. Day job is demanding but get paid well – so I thinking of hiring a freelance marketer to help build sales page and run ad campaigns with my supervision. I have professional marketing experience from previous job so know if the freelancer is doing a good job/ when to intervene. What do you think of this more hands-off set-up/ how could it potentially go wrong?
Yes works since you’ll be able to tell if the guy/girl is doing a good job or not. But could lose a lot of money if they suck (sunk cost)
Have you guys seen any huge long-term downsides for people who’ve done testosterone replacement therapy? Thought maybe this was something you looked into when researching and trying supplements
Don’t know this topic enough to comment
Thanks for all your work.
When building an affiliate marketing business, is a review based website (product comparison for example) preferable to other types such as a blog? Or is a combination a better way to go (or maybe I’m way off track with either)? Guessing a solid sales pitch, regardless of style of deliver, is all that really matters but your thoughts are appreciated
way off track its explicit in the book, get good at ads. Blogs are a joke and make next to no money
Stuck in government 9-5 mediocre pay. Love finance, should I CFA and move to govt finance role (structured financing or pension asset management) ASAP (to have career I like before it’s too late in case online biz doesn’t work out) and then start biz. Or take what I got (lots of free time since 9-5 job) and start AM, online biz, etc right away?
Nope already covered here not going to rewrite stuff that is a click away.
I’m starting to not value being rich as much. And I mean getting rich through meaningless ways (selling stuff you don’t care about to strangers online). What exactly will it do for you if you make it to the $1-10 mil range?
You will be able to travel but it’s mostly just luxury type travel that deep down is meaningless.
You will get with more girls but any that you get with because of money aren’t worth it for long term.
Health you can take care of by eating good organic food and high quality routine and supps. This is like $200 more a month max.
Most hobbies are like $1-3k to max out.
Why not just work in a lucrative career you find somewhat interesting with interesting people? Then take 2-6 months off in between jobs and live out your travel and other self pursuit goals?
I just don’t see what money is going to really get you besides more puss.
If serious just live that life, in a word freedom. Freedom is everything
Turned down a post-MBA (degree was a mistake) MBB offer to go into enterprise sales, thanks in large part to your advice. Crushing it career-wise, but am struggling on the side business front. Currently in the process of internalizing the lessons from my second business failure (used Efficiency methods to test both times, so thankfully I didn’t take big monetary losses on either one, but I did spend a lot of time on them) and evaluating options for my next project. Dealing with lots of frustration lately. How many shots did it take you guys until you hit your first successful side business?
Don’t really remember guessing around three. None of them really lost money though, just didn’t make much and are still up today collecting peanuts.
Dammit – you’re discouraging me from attending this fall ha. What tier MBA, what could I do to make it more worth it? Go to a lesser ranked school and maximize scholarship dollars while working on side business through school?
Genius timing the Q&A with the start of a bear market. You can’t fake this stuff
Just wanna say Happy Thanksgiving to you guys, Thanks for helping me realize that everything is sales. I missed the QA this time, hopefully will make it next time.