This may make you laugh…..BUT my talent is being very good looking, top 1% definitely. I won a modeling competition of 10k people.
Also I’m good at online sales ~~ I made a few million before turning 25 selling to women. Maybe I have top 1-5% potential here. Other successful millionaires compliment me on my creativity for advertising.
How do I utilize this talent stack to make money? Besides networking or getting laid I have never ‘shown’ my face in business.
I was thinking about going guru since there is so much garbage in that space (for Shopify)
That’s easy, enterprise sales face to face. If you can sell high end products to women you’ll see the highest roi (jewelry etc) real estate… tech products. If you do online then use your real face to help gain more traction.
Face to face sales is better than online in your case becuase you’re trying to leverage emotional behavior based on looks. Which is fine, use it I person for sure
Situation: you are surrounded with regulars. There is no escape. You decide to make the best of your time with these people. You have no choice anyway. What would you do?
Get drunk and rage with them. Easy call, it’s a lot of fun!
Third year IB associate looking to jump to PE (a little late, I know). Have you guys seen the jump from IB associate directly to PE VP? If not, what route would you recommend to get there?
It is essentially the same, you just need to get a recommendation from an MD who is close to a good PE firm.
That said we wager you’ll make more if you can get the VP promote. People glorify the buyside but over a long horizon, usually sell side wins unless you’re a baller. Meaning average sell side guy in a career makes more han buyside due to consistency in earnings. Anyway, that aside, you essentially need to ask an MD to help you get interviews. Going cold doesn’t work as well since you’re older.
What do you do for health insurance? A single freak accident (e.g. broken leg) can easily cost $100k+, not to mention more serious stuff. Or do you just keep an emergency fund? I’m wondering if you have a non-obvious approach here
Lol literally says no healthcare comments in the post?
We just pay for health insurance it’s a small amount of money and then pay for constant check ups. A broken leg will not cost $100K if you have decent health insurance, not a big deal.
Non-obvious approach is to get your non-urgent healthcare OOP in an different country.
Do you still stand by your assessment that blogging (about a service) is not a path to becoming a millionaire? From many convincing sides
people seem to still make money in 2018. Do you see any disruption in this trend? (by voice technology for example)
There are always stand out blogs, he syour average blog is trash and makes $100a month. If you have special talent in it, it’s possible. Just not very likely or efficient. You can make tens of millions with a product, blogs cap put at around a million and that assumes you’re 0.0001%. The top 2% in other industries get over a million, play the probabilities
Anyway go ahead and try if you really believe you have talent. Sounds like you’re sold
Hi guys,
I am deep into machine learning since at least 5 years ago, but I am not good enough for Google, FB, or similar. Any advice?
Get the best possible position in a stress vs. hours framework (highest money for least time) then follow the rules in efficiency. If you can get a spot in a top 50 company, then you’re going to be fine.
When you get job offers, efficiency has a framework for choosing the right company to get paid the most. Don’t buy into hype, buy into math since it’ll win in the end.
What is your philosophy on ethics?
As long as you are not actually hurting people on purpose you’re fine.
Ethics are largely a fake item put up to takeaway from someone’s success. If someone is willing to work for you for $50 an hour, you’re not screwing them by paying them exactly $50/hour. If they leave you should be paying market wages so you would get someone else.
There is no point in going out of your way to screw people, hence you’ll notice we almost never interact with anyone on the blog (other bloggers) unless it is positive. If we don’t like them we don’t interact, a lot easier and you don’t bring on an unwanted headache.
Long story short, maximize your life but don’t go out of your way to screw someone. You get nothing out of it anyway.
To be clear if someone comes after you, then you may be forced to fight hard and punch back. We are referring to a neutral setting. No point in screwing random people for “fun” just creates more headaches for you later.
My question:
Does finding your skills even apply to online business in the same way it does to choosing a career?
Seems, as outlined in Efficiency, online sales is a no-brainer for anyone who is intelligent. Learning copywriting even without mad sales talent will make you clear 6-figures easily.
Background:
I’m in my late teens and making 6-figures in my 3rd full year working on various online businesses / side-hustles.
School / university has always come easy to me (top 3% approximately – not US). So I’m obviously intelligent, but I’m unsure how to pinpoint & take advantage of my talents.
I took your advice of learning copywriting a few years ago and have sold over $300k in products since (partly as an affiliate).
I know that I suck at design. Other than that, I’ve done well at almost everything I’ve studied. Naturally good with numbers.
Anyone can make $150-200K period, thats possible for mediocre people.
Online is better for people with skills that are related to emotion (ie. sales). Some people do fail at it. The point is that if you dont have the skills to be an engineer at a top level, then you really only have one other choice which is sales (something easier to improve). We don’t know you personally, so if you sold $300K in products you’re already good to go you’ll figure it out.
One side note, not being rude, “school” is a terrible example of being smart. Most guys who succeed in school even at the highest level, end up being PHDs with no personalities and not that much money ($250-300K a year). Not sure how successful that is since they are generally miserable people as well. School is actually not a good indictor of real success.
That caveat aside, you already sold $300K worth of items, you’ll make it. Outsource the design side and focus on the sales side. Good to go.
Thank you for the response.
Agree with the comments regarding school. Just shows that you learned to play the system efficiently.
Hello,
Your blog and books have taught me many truths of life and guided me into the right direction regarding money/career/biz. But I feel naive when it comes to dealing with people (e.g. trusting people too quickly, unable to read their true intentions, etc.).
Are there any specific actions I can take to speed up this process of improving my skill with people and understanding their psychology (to leverage this for both personal/social life and business), or is this more experience which comes with time? (am 20 years old)
Thank you for your time.
There are no short cuts, since you already know reality at this point your path will be faster. We will bet on 3 years or so. It’s not going to happen over night, but if you already know the truth thats 90% of the battle. The 10% is just based on your execution which no one can do for you. Follow the right path and take it as far as you can.
What do you do to fix it when most people are bouncing off your add to cart or cart page? (the page where they input their credit card details)
I’ve got a funnel where people are opting in like crazy (40-48%), and clicking through from the sales page to the order form at similar rates.
ALL OF THEM are bouncing off the order form though. Checked my payment processor, it’s working.
If relevant, the offer is a 14 day free trial for a 47/month course. And yes, I did mention it’s a free trial with a monthly subscription on the sales page
Depending on what you’re selling the very last page typically has a lot of people who suddenly decide to skip out.
If it is above industry rate drop out, then there is something wrong with the presentation of the final page, find someone with a similar product and copy their layout for the final check out page.
Also evaluate the text, if it emphasizes cost in anyway it’s going to cause a large drop off
What are “non-compliant” sales techniques and products?
Covered in Efficiency, check your traffic source for an outline of what is non-compliant. Anything that breaks those rules.
10 best life improving purchases
Those are all in the approved products my man!
Thoughts on digital advertising to high net-worth individuals? Blog has mentioned selling prestige/exclusivity to the top but wondering if there is a fear-based angle to capture this audience’s attention?
Digital advertising is largely going to be replaced by AI (in fact already happening). That said there is always an angle for rich people, it’s called… materialism! Find a way to sell them high end goods (cars/watches etc).
It will always be around, rich people want to feel better than regular people so brands will sell best to high end. Always will. Insecurity.
What is your opinion on the future of the financial planning industry (and life insurance)?
Do you see full automation with services such as Personal Capital, or will regulars still need/want a human explaining their financial future with them?
We are positive on advisory services since people always want someone to talk to. That said, we are not positive on non-advisory (fund raising, accounting etc) this is becuase of automation and AI/crypto in the future.
It will take a while, but putting yourself in a position to be an authority and advisor should be fine for the next several years.
Financial planning is basically going to decline but not at the rate of those other items. Safest is m&a.
Confirmed my thoughts exactly.
Thanks G’s
I assume that you follow Mike Cernovich because you respect his ability to grow and maintain an audience through controversy.
If I’m correct, what have you learned from Cernovich?
Sure many years ago he got onto the reality of hormone replacement: trt, hgh etc. So it’s something to be aware of when people hit 35-40 or so.
Much more informed but that’s not in the scope of this blog.
I took your advice and got a B2B enterprise sales job. The company sells a subscription-based procurement/purchasing resource to companies that generate at least 75 million per year in revenue. The resource helps companies make the procurement/purchasing process for operational expenses more efficient.
My base as an SDR is 42,500 and I’ve been here 6 months. Commission is $40 per “converted” opportunity + 5% on the sale. After 6 months of being here none of my opportunities have turned into revenue and obviously haven’t made much in terms of commission. The sales cycle takes too long. On the other hand, I’m well liked by the top salespeople especially the woman who really matters – the Director of Business Development.
I’m the hard-working, eccentric, funny, clown in the office.
The upside of being here from my perspective:
-I work from 6:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. leaving plenty of time for more my own work after I’m off.
-I can call nearly anyone with no fear – Director of Supply Chain, Director of Procurement etc.
-Learning a lot about what really large companies value (some of my prospects are Big Lots, Deutsche bank, Blue Bottle Coffee etc)
-Will eventually be able to work from home 1 or 2 times per week saving me 2 hours a day in commute time
Do I stay here and keep grinding with hopes of becoming a BDM where I make a higher base and 25% on deals or do I leverage my experience to get a higher paying B2B sales job? Thanks!
Easy
1) use your current situation to learn to sell, after you see conversions then you can look elsewhere
2) politics will only protect you short term. Stop wasting time being the entertainer, learn the ropes get good and leave. You are already well liked so no need to play politics any longer learn the skill and get ready to go to a higher paying slot.
3) no point in leaving until you can sell, because you’re going to simply leave and get fired if you can’t convert at a more competitive company
here i got this.
stay for 1 year….if you’re not promoted by then or see a path in the next 3 months (and not a vague promise, they love to lead you on) start job hunting for the role you want.
What are your thoughts on organic search as a viable method of driving traffic? In Efficiency, you always recommend paid traffic. I’ve primarily relied on organic traffic for my streams of income to date (Amazon affiliate sites and Merch by Amazon) and have had decent success (~5.5k/month).
As a corollary, do you believe the best way of starting with paid traffic is through dropshipping?
You can do the organic side but if you don’t learn ads you limit your income a lot. Once you learn ads you scale earning money while you sleep. Sounds like you already learned the organic side so time to move on.
We have never and will never recommend drop shipping, saturated.
23, tier 1 city, career in sales.
Intelligence lie in synthesis/intent, much heavier in synthesis. Don’t think I’ll break top 1% in sales, top ~15% is viable (had good success in fundraising).
I’m currently learning copywriting to freelance, building a niche site (content/info), networking for mentors and doing a few hobby meetups. Been also testing talent in other fields after your recent posts.
Which action should I focus on over others during free time? Sometimes feels like I’m doing everything but getting nowhere.
If you can ge tto top 10-15%, you should go to enterprise sales instead of B2C.
This is becuase top 10% in high end sales makes a ton more than B2C top 10%.
Some background information: 33, arrived extremely late to the game with one mediocre income, currently working on my side business.
Previously I asked you about starting out with Fiverr gigs with the aim to outsource the work. You responded positively but stated that Fiverr was a little too low on the totem pole. What else do you suggest? Upwork?
The reason I’m on Fiverr is that I’m currently practicing and learning copywriting, hence I want to “start low” and then go upwards from there.
You already went down that path so get the clients you worked with to go to a real website built by yourself. If you’re doing good work you have too many requests and time to raise prices. Don’t use someone else’s platform, just make your own
Thanks a lot!
currently am a software engineer, ultimate goal is to have my own business running, but as they said before that not every business is going to be successful, So my backup plan is to climb the corporate ladder(unfortunately) while trying to start my own thing. I understand that when you are at the higher up, CEO, COO level, it is more so sales and management at that point.
(Look at Mark Zuckerberg, he was a programmer initially, but now at this stage, he is mostly sales and management now, where he no longer codes, so is Sergy Brin and Larry Page, Sundar Pichai CEO of google is all sales and mangement)
Thinking about starting a youtube channel where I would talk about software engineering and give programming tutorials, as a way to learn presentation skill, sales skills and looking to use it as a self marketing tool, but most importantly to learn sales skills, which I can leverage into both programming and sales, I am thinking that as I get more following on youtube, I can start putting out a paid course where I teach about programming.
What is your thoughts on a path of a Software Engineer climbing the corporate ladder and using the youtube channel for sales, self learning and educational business?
Sorry about the long message, read your last post about volunteering and talent, I am still trying to figure out what my strongest talent is, but there is no doubt that sales is one of the top skills everyone needs, hence looking to develop it.
We have no idea what your question is to be blunt, you talk about climbing the corporate ladder but then use entrepreneurs as examples (which are not examples)….
Please clarify in 1-2 sentences what your question is. Tech is one of the recommended paths in efficiency so not sure what the question is.
Thinking about starting a youtube channel where I would talk about software engineering and give programming tutorials, as a way to learn presentation skill, sales skills and looking to use it as a self marketing tool, but most importantly to learn sales skills, which I can leverage into both programming and sales, I am thinking that as I get more following on youtube, I can start putting out a paid course where I teach about programming.
What is your thought about doing this to self promote as an software engineer and learn sales skills. Any advice on it?
Yes that will work. No we can’t give advice becuase we have never used YouTube and never worked as a software engineer
Hi WSP’s.
Thank you for this new Q & A.
I’m in Europe.
I have two possible business choices using your classification:
-I can sell an online product for regular and dumb.
-or I can sell info-products to smart and high IQ.
I know I didn’t give you enough details, but if you had to choose which path would you take?
And thank you again.
We would sell to the masses because it increase your communication skills with the masses. Which is useful for social life. See our prior post as we highlighted this. Good luck!
Thank you for hosting this Q&A.
Background: 25 year old shift worker + side job (80+ hours weekly), but since the Tier 1/2 Questions last year, I’ve since started an online income stream. I plan on reducing the hours for the side job when online business > side job — approximately Q2 2019 (back to 40 hours/week shift work).
I’m Sydney based. CBD to home – Public Transport (40 mins), Car (20 mins).
Question: Recommendations on how to have a social life with 80+ irregular hours of shift work? Currently none – apart from hobbies.
In your situation once the online stream is profitable reduce your hours to about 60. You’re 25 so you did everything right killing yourself till now, but once you see green online, it’s time to ratchet it down becuase your body will wear out.
No solutions, 80 hours is a lot but sounds like you’ll have a good enough buffer to take it to 60 and enjoy life going forward!
Question: Current biz is dying out because of FB scandal ….. you know what it is 😉
Made mills doing that and developed a good online ad skill set.
I started dropshipping and am making $3k profit per day now within 2 weeks of starting and could scale this. I know you just said it’s saturated but coming from a competitive space and knowing shadier skills… I have an edge in that lol. BUT i hate this business…It’s like AM all over!! No-long term asset and angry customers lol.
I want to make a beauty food/beverage product on a re-bill instead of dropshipping…. I made one and it didnt back out. I only tested front end sales and never charged anyone like you said, so small loss overall.
Current plan: Keep building out new store fronts every week and keep testing traffic until I find something that sticks. Anything else I should consider? Any conferences I should go to or specific product trends? I’m only using ad traffic.
We don’t know what you’re selling exactly but you’re doing everything g right, so congratulations. Not sure what your question is because if you are selling the product then you know what conferences to go to
Thanks again for doing this!
Was hoping you could provide an insight to how I should approach choosing a career.
Currently interning in commodity trading (power/gas). Previously done Ibanking/buyside internships. Studying electrical engineering at a semi target but with very shit programming skills.
Not sure if trading would be a good fit. I hear its getting more programming based/quantitative along with downsizing. I don’t seem myself being a full blown programmer and don’t see myself doing traditionally engineering.
Sales is tough for me. I think I m generally less energetic than other people. I m not talented at reading people’s personality and it would not be a good fit in terms of skillset. I suppose there is room for improvement but I can’t see myself being a top performer.
I would fair better on the analytical side. I could try to break into banking again, but I know I probably won’t make it pass the VP level. Its the “safe” path where if I grind it out for a few years, at least i will have some cash in the pocket to take bigger risks. Alternatively, the hours are better in trading so sticking with it would be easier to try to start a business on the side.
I think cryptocurrency is interesting so perhaps I could go towards going into a trading firm (DRW)? other than that, I m not quite sure where I can apply my skill.
Far too long, come back with 2-3 sentences this looks like a life story. There was no question just a rant.
Sure
I m trying to find a career that would fit my skillset. I would say I am stronger on the analytical side, but can’t see myself being a top performer, hence I didn’t venture into software engineering/tech. I’m in commidity trading now, but even then its becoming more quantitative and the future prospect might not be too bright (downsizing). Was considering recruiting for Ibanking but don’t see myself making it to the top (mediocre sales skills), probably stopping at VP level but at least I will have more money at the beginning.
Or would it be better to just do trading since theres more time to work on a side business in this case? Or am I missing other career paths?
Go into the sales role, requires less work and if you’re able to make VP that’ll be a good chunk of change.
Then create a few websites, sure they won’t make a ton but it’ll add up and you’ll be set. Affiliate marketing + sales. Competing with quants long term is just not a good idea.
I’ve read Efficiency. Great stuff.
So essentially there are 3 avenues for online sales:
1. Be an affiliate marketer. This is taking someone’s product and marketing it online using blogs, SEO-optimized landing pages, etc. to convert sales and then get a cut from them. You don’t deal with product creation/shipping/support.
2. Sell your own product that is mostly rebranded. Take a common product and rebrand it for a niche that you find. Create a website, SEO-optimized landing page, blogs, post on forums, etc. Here most of the pain of product creation is abstracted out.
3. Sell your own product that is completely created by you. Ex. Supplement for a niche, where you have it mixed and pilled by a supplier. Have the bottle designed, have it shipped out from a remote warehouse in US, etc. The legal issues could be difficult? (for this example)
Question is: is this overview above that I have in my mind right? And, is it best to play to the niches you know/enjoy the most? Ex. Know about fitness as a young professional –> market a fat loss PDF book to young professionals “cutting” for summer.
Many thanks gentlemen.
Largely correct, just remember we are very negative on e-books. Even though we have a large audience (decent) the money is peanuts compared to a product with the same audience and recurring revs, so we recommend products not information.
Information/books is for fun not a serious endeavor
You mean *physical* products that are recurring? ex. Fat loss nootropic coffee blend, delivered first Monday of the month.
Or *digital* recurring? ex. Subscribe to monthly newsletter for $5 that gives hand-picked science research on a topic.
Both work, must be recurring though. Physical is better, if the product is good you don’t need to make more content like the other option
What are some worthwhile career pivots for a 26 year old mediocre/slightly above average Software Engineer working in a cushy banking IT job? I have degrees in Comp Engr and Finance. I am good looking and personable so could probably “sell”, but my real strength is math and understanding things at a systematic/holistic level to HELP decision makers.
Should I bust it to improve in coding so that I can call the shots job hopping until I find a high-paying 40 hour a week job in an industry I care about? So I can do something low-stress I ENJOY while I stack and start side hustles.
Or should I just pivot to a people facing role like Tech Sales or Tech IB (idk if this is possible) to leverage my people abilities/tech knowledge combo and try and make it big that single way? (less diversification)
Thanks.
Easy tech sales for more money
Automate your job then move to sales role enterprise
Feel free to delete if this is retarded but what do you think of creating a YouTube channel or similar platform? The guys at the top with this make an absolute killing (views, product placement, sponsored IG posts, shilling products)
Normally wouldn’t even entertain this idea, but with all this talk of talent on the blog, well, that’s where “other people” (the regulars) tell me my talents lie (can make people laugh/entertaining/engaging). I’ve used these traits to my advantage in my current RE career.
wish I was born a quant-level numbers wiz instead, but not the case :/
Sure the downside is immense:
1) you’ll be quasi famous if you succeed this leads to harassment of family and large interactions with regular people
2) only do it if you’re certain you will succeed and you are creating you are okay with fame
Here’s the way I see AM from my niche (please correct me if wrong)
For the looks/insecurity market, nefarious promotion methods run rampant. Using paid traffic as a white hat can be a disadvantage since many of the “free trial” offers are dominated by a certain marketing strategy.
Ranking a white hat site can take a long time, especially with the way google appears to rank sites now. Consistently writing quality content can seem like “blogging for money” at times which you say to avoid.
And if you run paid traffic on white hat offers, this may not make sense as the commission is much lower.
Wrapping up here, Would you recommend promoting looks/insecurity based offers that offer a “free trial” (just pay for shipping!) if you DO NOT plan on joining the dark side?
Yes if it works
Not sure what you mean by the dark side, generally anything that is meant to make people feel good is marketing.
What’s the most efficient way to get feedback when trying to get traction for an ecomm store?
E.g. I’m on my 2nd store now (first failed), months have gone by, still very few sales made. I can’t figure out where I’m going wrong yet e.g.
Could be weak copywriting? Could be targeting the wrong audience? Maybe the audience are interested but aren’t warm enough yet?
The fact I’ve made some sales with no refunds suggests to me that the product must at least be OK.
(For context, I’m selling a skin care product targeted at 40+ Women, though I’m about to switch to younger demographics to see if it resonates).
P.S. My tag name is a troll 🙂
One question only come back.
I’m starting the interview process for software sales. From what I’ve heard it’s a grind to be an entry level SDR.
However, after learning in your latest article that selling B2C is better for improving social skills, I’m wondering if focusing on copywriting at a high level (financial publishers, in-house job, etc.) may be the better route. Seems like it is more closely related to developing online sales skills and may be more useful to personal life than cold calling boring C-suite execs all day.
TLDR; Software sales vs. copywriting for career?
All else equal software sales, recurring income.
Great job with Efficiency and the site overall.
I’m playing catch up at 36y/o, in post-sales/acct mgmt at big tech co. 5+yrs w ~$4-500k in assets stashed.
Internal movement’s limited, but do have offer for an analyst/technical role. Have a knack for numbers but don’t know if I can crack top ‘data science/ai’ territory from scratch at this point. Have tried for a few sales roles elsewhere but limited closing exp is a roadblock.
Better to 1) try the analyst path to find out or 2) push harder to move to sales, or 3) keep job on autopilot and go all in on starting side businesses?
Same answer as always, whichever you are actually talented at.
You named three very different paths, so choose the one where you’re at the top or could get to the top.
Looking to sell a product via paid traffic. The catch – the product requires collaboration with a few local businesses.
I believe in Efficiency you mention setting up a dummy sales page to test the market before fully investing in product development. However, since a big selling point would be the participation of local businesses, what’s the best way to test demand in this case?
Option A) Collect email addresses from paid traffic to a landing page, even though product features can’t list specific businesses participating
Or…
Option B) Sell the businesses first (even though no proven demand) then test demand (and risk backing out on the businesses if it turns out demand isn’t there.)
Nah, for high end there is no demand test, you should be able to sell it immediately to your network. Then build off referrals
Too much cost in setting up
I don’t have my Paypal Order Numbers at hand, but I bought both of your two books two weeks ago…
—-
What was your main goal when setting the prices for your eBooks?
Just maximum revenue, or maybe also making it affordable for the masses to improve their lives? (I know this sounds funny because your target group is a small elite)
It was to simply create something that was well below the actual value.
1) paid products are more likely to have people take action
2) lower than actual value = creates more referrals and growth
If we wanted to make money we would be on amazon, we aren’t
I’m 26, just got out of college and is wondering about what path to take while building a side business.
What is best, mechanical engineering/product development job or a career in sales?
This is just not a good question. We gave all the major money making careers in the book. You choose whichever you are good at. If you’re better at engineering than sales… obviously go that route. If better at sales then reverse, we don’t know you personally so we wouldn’t know.
Most people expect elaborate answers to general questions. That’s also know as complete bullshit and lies. We just go to the point
Taking your advice and getting a performance-based career for now (may do recruiting instead of sales), but how would you make money online outside of this? Besides affiliate marketing and launching your own company, what’s the best way to make money on the side? Another job, info products, dropshipping? How can I do affiliate marketing? I did not really understand the section in Efficiency. Thanks.
You contact the companies that offer affiliate links, you then create a website that sells said products… the step by step is in the book.
I have a good understanding of using paid traffic with “black hat” tactics and agree that in the long term, I’m better off creating something real initially.
How to use paid traffic as an affiliate with white hat tactics on top of trying to rank for keywords/SEO to boost income?
I see that google keywords/adwords are covered in the book but was wondering if there was something I was missing.
Not really, paid traffic main sources google and Facebook… that’s where the money is.
Or you go an intellectual Ip related item that’s sole sourced to you.
Guess my last question was stupid so I’ll try and ask it differently
What’s the most efficient way to test a new product idea? Efficiency says send traffic to a sales page but just because it doesn’t sell, this doesn’t necessarily mean the product is bad (it could just mean you can’t sell)?
So I guess the real question is: How do you efficiently differentiate between poor product market fit and poor sales methods? (fyi – I’ve sent the product to a couple of niche bloggers who gave positive feedback)
Feedback doesn’t mean anything this is why we recommend the following
1) sell a product you already know converts
2) create sales page and test demand, since you know the product is good the problem is 100% the sales page
3) once locked in create your own product similar niche small change
Trying to create something blind = never know if it was a product issue or sales issue so essentially guessing and wasting valuable time.
Makes perfect sense. Thank you
Thoughts on entering a space where there’s already 1-2 “major” players (not major as like FB/Apple in tech, “major” as in they are the biggest ones so far, ~200 people companies, and have the resources to spend on marketing,biz dev , ideas etc)? The space is still small, ~5 years old, have much more potential to get bigger every year. Just feeling a bit overwhelmed since they have a huge budget (millions) and I have $XX,XXX. Would estimate their revenues are about ~20mill/year and growing. Profit margins are high too.
Thx
If the space consolidated to two players usually means market is mature.
If there are two big players but tons trying to compete it means it’s fragmented and growing fast (worth pursuing)
Only pursue if certain you have a competitive advantage
Got it – it is the latter (1-2 major players, many trying to compete.
A lot of the smaller players are also doing well, at least ~4-5 that I know of making good money, I would estimate high 6 figs/lower 7 figs at least) — hope you still think this is worth pursuing.
Thx
71489781000187523
Thoughts on hedge fund business today?
As in, trying to enter/break in now (will most likely try to get a top MBA / network). A bit “old” though, ~30 y/o.
No change from efficiency. Nothing has changed in that space. Search hedge fund in search bar for how to break in general rules.
Got it – any specific page in efficiency you can refer to when saying no change from efficiency? Don’t mean to ask too many ?’s, just want to be sure to know where to look for your advice.
Thx
Search bar. As stated has your question.
I hear of “high ticket” closers(sales) online, where you sell other people’s products for them via phone if they get a lead or something and can get a few thousand per close. Thoughts on this being legit and if so, any clues on how to get in?
Thx
Sounds like a standard enterprise sales position for an online company. Enterprise sales in search bar for overview.
Hello! Thank you for your great contribution.
Short background; 28y. Broke into top 3 corporate law firm right after uni at 25. Was top 5 Associate within m&a until I burned out after 2.5 years. Ended up quiting and taking a job at a smaler litigation boutique firm. Problem is that I hate my new job and I was undoublty alot more talented as a m&a lawyer (think top 1% in the country under 30 before I quit due to stress).
1. Should I return to corporate law and make my way up to partner? The upside paywise is tremendous. The stress and long hours will be a problem tou.
2. Stay and try to get good at litigation. The stress levels and freedom is better.
3. Do something completely different like apply for an analyst/associate position at an IB?
4. Any of the avlive combined with a side biz with online sales?
Cheers
One question. Which one.
1
If you can really get to the 1% in corprorate law the payoff is huge. Probably the best course of action for money. Find a way to reduce hours if you’re a top performer should be achievable.
My first job out of college was a crappy job at a big-name company. I quit after a year, to join a startup. I like the startup but don’t see it being successful/growing much (and the pay isn’t great), so I want to go to a larger company again. I’m in my early 20s (age < 25).
How do I best explain my decisions in behavioral interviews with HR or a hiring manager? For example, why did you quit your first job, why do you now want to quit this job as well, why do you want to be at a big company again, etc. The true answers are "I hated that first job", "I don't see this startup going anywhere", and "I could use the cash" of course, but I'd appreciate some ideas on how to formulate something with a positive spin
Much appreciate your help – your no-nonsense posts have kept me sharp.
Just say “I graduated and wanted to see both sides of the fence: start up versus established company. I concluded established was a better fit to me due to xyz (xyz represents your actual experience at both)”
Done!
Thanks for another QnA.
If you have a business that makes solid money regardless of your time, your goal is to not stop working, but be financially independent (and not working for someone else), why sell the business and do something else with that money if you have already achieved what you wanted?
(assuming you enjoy the business you are in)
Thanks, hope you have a nice summer!
No reason to sell.
1) sell if another option pops up that needs more time
2) sell if you’re simply looking to cash out
Otherwise just keep it especially if it is easy
You mentioned most areas of finance are in secular decline except for things like M&A -what would be the best “future-proof” exit opps that you recommend for a BB IB analyst who isn’t ready to go full-time with his business yet? HF, PE, something else, or even stay climbing the ranks in IB?
Either climb IB or PE.
Most hedge funds underperform so doesn’t work out long-term. If you want to swing for fences then go for HF once you’re set financially
If you had to choose between…
going camping with a regular dude for 3 weeks straight
Or
drinking 6 cups of boiling water in a row…
what food would u order in the emergency ward while they pumped your stomach??
Lol!
Any thoughts on careers in data science and is there a possibility to be self-employed as one?
Sure data science is basically AI/machine learning so yes it’s viable. Most “research” will end up being data science in the future.
Love the blog. Thanks for taking time for the Q&A.
I’m currently working a job with tons of free time to work on a side gig. It doesn’t pay very well but the freedom it offers has made it worth it. It pays about 50k plus some commission if I work the sales end generating leads.
Recently I’ve been considering moving to a bigger city to get a job with a higher salary but I would have significantly less time to work on my own thing.
Would you recommend sticking it out with what I’m doing and continue to build my online presence? Or look to make the jump to a higher paying position to try and expedite the process?
You don’t have a question because you don’t have a job offer. If the new position paid much more adjusted for cost of living you leave. Otherwise no point, so we don’t really like these hypothetical questions.
Assuming one has been lazy and lacking aggression over the past few years (long periods of inacticity, not completing projects, coasting), how would he increase work ethic/discipline /confidence and get back on track?
Are there any actionable steps, or just grind it out?
We don’t do motivational nonsense, if you want to get rich work to improve if you don’t then no worries.
Expecting some random people on the internet to inspire you is pretty bad to be honest. No successful person attends motivational seminars, so that should be a hint on how this stuff works.
Just decide what type of life you want. Some people are okay being regulars.
Thanks for opening the Q&A–
Background: 23y. 1 yr in IB. Offers at l/s and credit buyside fund, pay is a slight bump but ultimately not that interested in public markets work.
Question: In the book you recommend careers in 1) tech 2) wall street 3) enterprise sales. Can’t code…so enterprise sales seem to have the skills slightly more catered to my strengths. Given the background, would you recommend continuing on the Wall Street track or going into enterprise sales route?
Best
Unless you are below middle of pack for IB don’t switch not worth the headache to start over.
Hey Wall Street Playboys,
Appreciate you time in opening up this Q&A.
A somewhat brief background story that will give you some context to my question at the end – I’m 30 years old now and working in a well paying blue collar government job. Growing up my family was always well off and i (being young & dumb) wrongly assumed we were rich and i could spend my life focusing on self improvement, travel, and pursue lower paying but enjoyable jobs and have a family fortune to fall back on. I did a psychology undergrad (but not a masters which you need to be a psychologist), traveled, partied and worked supermarket jobs enjoying my early 20’s greatly.
When i turned 25 i found out my family were not rich and were just living off capital previously acquired when my dad sold his business, and so my naive dreams of not having to worry about financing my own future came plummeting back to earth. Up until now i had a relatively useless degree, no savings, no skills and no professional work experience whatsoever and had really put myself in a bad place, feeling very much lost and far behind everyone else.
Back then i decided that since i had nothing to lose i would kill 2 birds with one stone and figure out how to create an online income which would also allow me to travel and work at the same time, which lead me into the murky world of affiliate marketing. During this time i lucked out and found a very well paying side job with minimal hours (but crap conditions) and used this to fund my affiliate ambitions. I worked hard at this for many years trying a variety of affiliate marketing tactics, scouring the STM forum, and throwing countless money at training programs gurus, and traffic sources only to see very minimal return from both my time and money.
By age 28 i was burnt out and sick of wasting my time and money and threw in the towel for affiliate marketing, but fortunately was able to use my experience to get my foot in the door at a large online marketing agency as an Adwords specialist. The pay was pretty crap but the experience and skills i picked up were priceless, including Adwords skills and also seeing how other businesses operated. The pay however was crap, and for an introvert like myself doing complex work all day – the noisy and distracting office just drained all my energy and made me want to quit.
Being almost 30 and earning such a low wage was depressing so because of this, whether right or wrong i applied for a very competitive, highly paid government job in a completely unrelated field (train driving) that paid 2.5 times my Adwords job, and against the odds (5,000 applicants), i was one of the 34 people to be accepted.
My goal since i was 25 hasnt changed, and that was to create a high level income with an online business, and i figured having this new job would give me a lot more capital to invest into my venture. It was halfway through my driver training at age 30 that i came across Efficiency and this really opened my eyes as my whole working life i was just blindly chasing a high salary when i should have been focusing on acquiring valuable skills.
So im at a point now where im not really enjoying this high paying job, im not learning any valuable skills, and ideally i dont want to be doing this for anymore than a few years and im only in it for the incredible salary. My end goal is still to have a high level online income which ive been getting back into recently (researching ecommerce) or potentially find Adwords clients and open up my own agency. Im just interested in your opinion and what you would suggest i do based on what ive told you.
I see my options as….
1 – Continue working at my current high paying job and invest all my time and money into my side business until it’s making profit, then quit my job and commit all my free time to the business.
2 – Quit my high paying job and get a lesser paying job in digital marketing (Adwords account management most likely) and use this opportunity to sharpen my Adword skills and also learn new skills (Analytics, Display ads, etc) with the intent to find my own clients and start my own Digital Agency.
3 – Quit my high paying job and live off my savings (enough for 2 years easily) whilst putting all my free time into developing a profitable online business. (Granted i’m not at all keen about living off my savings without some sort of income as my city is disgustingly expensive to live in).
4 – A long shot but i get a bit excited/nervous at the idea of just diving into an entry level sales role but could see the huge advantages in the longer run. My personality type is more towards the technical/analytical type so i’m hesitant to invest all my time on a skillset that will always be a natural weakness no matter how good i may get.
My current restrictions right now are time based – just not as much free time as i’d like.
Any thoughts or advice based on all this? Being aged 30 i don’t feel like i have as much time to fuck around as someone in their early 20’s as i hope to start a family one day so my time is very limited.
Thank for reading!
Easy answer number one. Unless you’re ultra rich you may as well maximize your potential since you’re only 30. Rest = you will regret unless you have a legitimate biz to run already
If you can’t create a biz while holding down a job you’re likely not talented enough to start one. This is why we laugh when people say they will “quit to start something” most smart people already built part of it before quitting. E.g. Warby Parker.
Thanks, yeah i think you’re right on the money there.
My heart tells me to quit and go hard at the business full time, but my head says exactly what you suggested – build a profitable biz first then quit, which makes the most logical sense.
Question: Speaking of your post on talent….
This may make you laugh…..BUT my talent is being very good looking, top 1% definitely. I won a modeling competition of 10k people.
Also I’m good at online sales ~~ I made a few million before turning 25 selling to women. Maybe I have top 1-5% potential here. Other successful millionaires compliment me on my creativity for advertising.
How do I utilize this talent stack to make money? Besides networking or getting laid I have never ‘shown’ my face in business.
I was thinking about going guru since there is so much garbage in that space (for Shopify)
That’s easy, enterprise sales face to face. If you can sell high end products to women you’ll see the highest roi (jewelry etc) real estate… tech products. If you do online then use your real face to help gain more traction.
Face to face sales is better than online in your case becuase you’re trying to leverage emotional behavior based on looks. Which is fine, use it I person for sure
Situation: you are surrounded with regulars. There is no escape. You decide to make the best of your time with these people. You have no choice anyway. What would you do?
Get drunk and rage with them. Easy call, it’s a lot of fun!
Third year IB associate looking to jump to PE (a little late, I know). Have you guys seen the jump from IB associate directly to PE VP? If not, what route would you recommend to get there?
It is essentially the same, you just need to get a recommendation from an MD who is close to a good PE firm.
That said we wager you’ll make more if you can get the VP promote. People glorify the buyside but over a long horizon, usually sell side wins unless you’re a baller. Meaning average sell side guy in a career makes more han buyside due to consistency in earnings. Anyway, that aside, you essentially need to ask an MD to help you get interviews. Going cold doesn’t work as well since you’re older.
What do you do for health insurance? A single freak accident (e.g. broken leg) can easily cost $100k+, not to mention more serious stuff. Or do you just keep an emergency fund? I’m wondering if you have a non-obvious approach here
Lol literally says no healthcare comments in the post?
We just pay for health insurance it’s a small amount of money and then pay for constant check ups. A broken leg will not cost $100K if you have decent health insurance, not a big deal.
Non-obvious approach is to get your non-urgent healthcare OOP in an different country.
Do you still stand by your assessment that blogging (about a service) is not a path to becoming a millionaire? From many convincing sides
(here: https://www.makingsenseofcents.com/category/business-income
and here: https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-to-start-a-profitable-blog )
people seem to still make money in 2018. Do you see any disruption in this trend? (by voice technology for example)
There are always stand out blogs, he syour average blog is trash and makes $100a month. If you have special talent in it, it’s possible. Just not very likely or efficient. You can make tens of millions with a product, blogs cap put at around a million and that assumes you’re 0.0001%. The top 2% in other industries get over a million, play the probabilities
Anyway go ahead and try if you really believe you have talent. Sounds like you’re sold
Hi guys,
I am deep into machine learning since at least 5 years ago, but I am not good enough for Google, FB, or similar. Any advice?
Get the best possible position in a stress vs. hours framework (highest money for least time) then follow the rules in efficiency. If you can get a spot in a top 50 company, then you’re going to be fine.
When you get job offers, efficiency has a framework for choosing the right company to get paid the most. Don’t buy into hype, buy into math since it’ll win in the end.
What is your philosophy on ethics?
As long as you are not actually hurting people on purpose you’re fine.
Ethics are largely a fake item put up to takeaway from someone’s success. If someone is willing to work for you for $50 an hour, you’re not screwing them by paying them exactly $50/hour. If they leave you should be paying market wages so you would get someone else.
There is no point in going out of your way to screw people, hence you’ll notice we almost never interact with anyone on the blog (other bloggers) unless it is positive. If we don’t like them we don’t interact, a lot easier and you don’t bring on an unwanted headache.
Long story short, maximize your life but don’t go out of your way to screw someone. You get nothing out of it anyway.
To be clear if someone comes after you, then you may be forced to fight hard and punch back. We are referring to a neutral setting. No point in screwing random people for “fun” just creates more headaches for you later.
My question:
Does finding your skills even apply to online business in the same way it does to choosing a career?
Seems, as outlined in Efficiency, online sales is a no-brainer for anyone who is intelligent. Learning copywriting even without mad sales talent will make you clear 6-figures easily.
Background:
I’m in my late teens and making 6-figures in my 3rd full year working on various online businesses / side-hustles.
School / university has always come easy to me (top 3% approximately – not US). So I’m obviously intelligent, but I’m unsure how to pinpoint & take advantage of my talents.
I took your advice of learning copywriting a few years ago and have sold over $300k in products since (partly as an affiliate).
I know that I suck at design. Other than that, I’ve done well at almost everything I’ve studied. Naturally good with numbers.
Anyone can make $150-200K period, thats possible for mediocre people.
Online is better for people with skills that are related to emotion (ie. sales). Some people do fail at it. The point is that if you dont have the skills to be an engineer at a top level, then you really only have one other choice which is sales (something easier to improve). We don’t know you personally, so if you sold $300K in products you’re already good to go you’ll figure it out.
One side note, not being rude, “school” is a terrible example of being smart. Most guys who succeed in school even at the highest level, end up being PHDs with no personalities and not that much money ($250-300K a year). Not sure how successful that is since they are generally miserable people as well. School is actually not a good indictor of real success.
That caveat aside, you already sold $300K worth of items, you’ll make it. Outsource the design side and focus on the sales side. Good to go.
Thank you for the response.
Agree with the comments regarding school. Just shows that you learned to play the system efficiently.
Hello,
Your blog and books have taught me many truths of life and guided me into the right direction regarding money/career/biz. But I feel naive when it comes to dealing with people (e.g. trusting people too quickly, unable to read their true intentions, etc.).
Are there any specific actions I can take to speed up this process of improving my skill with people and understanding their psychology (to leverage this for both personal/social life and business), or is this more experience which comes with time? (am 20 years old)
Thank you for your time.
There are no short cuts, since you already know reality at this point your path will be faster. We will bet on 3 years or so. It’s not going to happen over night, but if you already know the truth thats 90% of the battle. The 10% is just based on your execution which no one can do for you. Follow the right path and take it as far as you can.
What do you do to fix it when most people are bouncing off your add to cart or cart page? (the page where they input their credit card details)
I’ve got a funnel where people are opting in like crazy (40-48%), and clicking through from the sales page to the order form at similar rates.
ALL OF THEM are bouncing off the order form though. Checked my payment processor, it’s working.
If relevant, the offer is a 14 day free trial for a 47/month course. And yes, I did mention it’s a free trial with a monthly subscription on the sales page
Depending on what you’re selling the very last page typically has a lot of people who suddenly decide to skip out.
If it is above industry rate drop out, then there is something wrong with the presentation of the final page, find someone with a similar product and copy their layout for the final check out page.
Also evaluate the text, if it emphasizes cost in anyway it’s going to cause a large drop off
What are “non-compliant” sales techniques and products?
Covered in Efficiency, check your traffic source for an outline of what is non-compliant. Anything that breaks those rules.
10 best life improving purchases
Those are all in the approved products my man!
Thoughts on digital advertising to high net-worth individuals? Blog has mentioned selling prestige/exclusivity to the top but wondering if there is a fear-based angle to capture this audience’s attention?
Digital advertising is largely going to be replaced by AI (in fact already happening). That said there is always an angle for rich people, it’s called… materialism! Find a way to sell them high end goods (cars/watches etc).
It will always be around, rich people want to feel better than regular people so brands will sell best to high end. Always will. Insecurity.
What is your opinion on the future of the financial planning industry (and life insurance)?
Do you see full automation with services such as Personal Capital, or will regulars still need/want a human explaining their financial future with them?
We are positive on advisory services since people always want someone to talk to. That said, we are not positive on non-advisory (fund raising, accounting etc) this is becuase of automation and AI/crypto in the future.
It will take a while, but putting yourself in a position to be an authority and advisor should be fine for the next several years.
Financial planning is basically going to decline but not at the rate of those other items. Safest is m&a.
Confirmed my thoughts exactly.
Thanks G’s
I assume that you follow Mike Cernovich because you respect his ability to grow and maintain an audience through controversy.
If I’m correct, what have you learned from Cernovich?
Sure many years ago he got onto the reality of hormone replacement: trt, hgh etc. So it’s something to be aware of when people hit 35-40 or so.
Much more informed but that’s not in the scope of this blog.
I took your advice and got a B2B enterprise sales job. The company sells a subscription-based procurement/purchasing resource to companies that generate at least 75 million per year in revenue. The resource helps companies make the procurement/purchasing process for operational expenses more efficient.
My base as an SDR is 42,500 and I’ve been here 6 months. Commission is $40 per “converted” opportunity + 5% on the sale. After 6 months of being here none of my opportunities have turned into revenue and obviously haven’t made much in terms of commission. The sales cycle takes too long. On the other hand, I’m well liked by the top salespeople especially the woman who really matters – the Director of Business Development.
I’m the hard-working, eccentric, funny, clown in the office.
The upside of being here from my perspective:
-I work from 6:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. leaving plenty of time for more my own work after I’m off.
-I can call nearly anyone with no fear – Director of Supply Chain, Director of Procurement etc.
-Learning a lot about what really large companies value (some of my prospects are Big Lots, Deutsche bank, Blue Bottle Coffee etc)
-Will eventually be able to work from home 1 or 2 times per week saving me 2 hours a day in commute time
Do I stay here and keep grinding with hopes of becoming a BDM where I make a higher base and 25% on deals or do I leverage my experience to get a higher paying B2B sales job? Thanks!
Easy
1) use your current situation to learn to sell, after you see conversions then you can look elsewhere
2) politics will only protect you short term. Stop wasting time being the entertainer, learn the ropes get good and leave. You are already well liked so no need to play politics any longer learn the skill and get ready to go to a higher paying slot.
3) no point in leaving until you can sell, because you’re going to simply leave and get fired if you can’t convert at a more competitive company
here i got this.
stay for 1 year….if you’re not promoted by then or see a path in the next 3 months (and not a vague promise, they love to lead you on) start job hunting for the role you want.
What are your thoughts on organic search as a viable method of driving traffic? In Efficiency, you always recommend paid traffic. I’ve primarily relied on organic traffic for my streams of income to date (Amazon affiliate sites and Merch by Amazon) and have had decent success (~5.5k/month).
As a corollary, do you believe the best way of starting with paid traffic is through dropshipping?
You can do the organic side but if you don’t learn ads you limit your income a lot. Once you learn ads you scale earning money while you sleep. Sounds like you already learned the organic side so time to move on.
We have never and will never recommend drop shipping, saturated.
23, tier 1 city, career in sales.
Intelligence lie in synthesis/intent, much heavier in synthesis. Don’t think I’ll break top 1% in sales, top ~15% is viable (had good success in fundraising).
I’m currently learning copywriting to freelance, building a niche site (content/info), networking for mentors and doing a few hobby meetups. Been also testing talent in other fields after your recent posts.
Which action should I focus on over others during free time? Sometimes feels like I’m doing everything but getting nowhere.
If you can ge tto top 10-15%, you should go to enterprise sales instead of B2C.
This is becuase top 10% in high end sales makes a ton more than B2C top 10%.
Some background information: 33, arrived extremely late to the game with one mediocre income, currently working on my side business.
Previously I asked you about starting out with Fiverr gigs with the aim to outsource the work. You responded positively but stated that Fiverr was a little too low on the totem pole. What else do you suggest? Upwork?
The reason I’m on Fiverr is that I’m currently practicing and learning copywriting, hence I want to “start low” and then go upwards from there.
You already went down that path so get the clients you worked with to go to a real website built by yourself. If you’re doing good work you have too many requests and time to raise prices. Don’t use someone else’s platform, just make your own
Thanks a lot!
currently am a software engineer, ultimate goal is to have my own business running, but as they said before that not every business is going to be successful, So my backup plan is to climb the corporate ladder(unfortunately) while trying to start my own thing. I understand that when you are at the higher up, CEO, COO level, it is more so sales and management at that point.
(Look at Mark Zuckerberg, he was a programmer initially, but now at this stage, he is mostly sales and management now, where he no longer codes, so is Sergy Brin and Larry Page, Sundar Pichai CEO of google is all sales and mangement)
Thinking about starting a youtube channel where I would talk about software engineering and give programming tutorials, as a way to learn presentation skill, sales skills and looking to use it as a self marketing tool, but most importantly to learn sales skills, which I can leverage into both programming and sales, I am thinking that as I get more following on youtube, I can start putting out a paid course where I teach about programming.
What is your thoughts on a path of a Software Engineer climbing the corporate ladder and using the youtube channel for sales, self learning and educational business?
Sorry about the long message, read your last post about volunteering and talent, I am still trying to figure out what my strongest talent is, but there is no doubt that sales is one of the top skills everyone needs, hence looking to develop it.
We have no idea what your question is to be blunt, you talk about climbing the corporate ladder but then use entrepreneurs as examples (which are not examples)….
Please clarify in 1-2 sentences what your question is. Tech is one of the recommended paths in efficiency so not sure what the question is.
Thinking about starting a youtube channel where I would talk about software engineering and give programming tutorials, as a way to learn presentation skill, sales skills and looking to use it as a self marketing tool, but most importantly to learn sales skills, which I can leverage into both programming and sales, I am thinking that as I get more following on youtube, I can start putting out a paid course where I teach about programming.
What is your thought about doing this to self promote as an software engineer and learn sales skills. Any advice on it?
Yes that will work. No we can’t give advice becuase we have never used YouTube and never worked as a software engineer
Hi WSP’s.
Thank you for this new Q & A.
I’m in Europe.
I have two possible business choices using your classification:
-I can sell an online product for regular and dumb.
-or I can sell info-products to smart and high IQ.
I know I didn’t give you enough details, but if you had to choose which path would you take?
And thank you again.
We would sell to the masses because it increase your communication skills with the masses. Which is useful for social life. See our prior post as we highlighted this. Good luck!
Thank you for hosting this Q&A.
Background: 25 year old shift worker + side job (80+ hours weekly), but since the Tier 1/2 Questions last year, I’ve since started an online income stream. I plan on reducing the hours for the side job when online business > side job — approximately Q2 2019 (back to 40 hours/week shift work).
I’m Sydney based. CBD to home – Public Transport (40 mins), Car (20 mins).
Question: Recommendations on how to have a social life with 80+ irregular hours of shift work? Currently none – apart from hobbies.
In your situation once the online stream is profitable reduce your hours to about 60. You’re 25 so you did everything right killing yourself till now, but once you see green online, it’s time to ratchet it down becuase your body will wear out.
No solutions, 80 hours is a lot but sounds like you’ll have a good enough buffer to take it to 60 and enjoy life going forward!
Question: Current biz is dying out because of FB scandal ….. you know what it is 😉
Made mills doing that and developed a good online ad skill set.
I started dropshipping and am making $3k profit per day now within 2 weeks of starting and could scale this. I know you just said it’s saturated but coming from a competitive space and knowing shadier skills… I have an edge in that lol. BUT i hate this business…It’s like AM all over!! No-long term asset and angry customers lol.
I want to make a beauty food/beverage product on a re-bill instead of dropshipping…. I made one and it didnt back out. I only tested front end sales and never charged anyone like you said, so small loss overall.
Current plan: Keep building out new store fronts every week and keep testing traffic until I find something that sticks. Anything else I should consider? Any conferences I should go to or specific product trends? I’m only using ad traffic.
We don’t know what you’re selling exactly but you’re doing everything g right, so congratulations. Not sure what your question is because if you are selling the product then you know what conferences to go to
Thanks again for doing this!
Was hoping you could provide an insight to how I should approach choosing a career.
Currently interning in commodity trading (power/gas). Previously done Ibanking/buyside internships. Studying electrical engineering at a semi target but with very shit programming skills.
Not sure if trading would be a good fit. I hear its getting more programming based/quantitative along with downsizing. I don’t seem myself being a full blown programmer and don’t see myself doing traditionally engineering.
Sales is tough for me. I think I m generally less energetic than other people. I m not talented at reading people’s personality and it would not be a good fit in terms of skillset. I suppose there is room for improvement but I can’t see myself being a top performer.
I would fair better on the analytical side. I could try to break into banking again, but I know I probably won’t make it pass the VP level. Its the “safe” path where if I grind it out for a few years, at least i will have some cash in the pocket to take bigger risks. Alternatively, the hours are better in trading so sticking with it would be easier to try to start a business on the side.
I think cryptocurrency is interesting so perhaps I could go towards going into a trading firm (DRW)? other than that, I m not quite sure where I can apply my skill.
Far too long, come back with 2-3 sentences this looks like a life story. There was no question just a rant.
Sure
I m trying to find a career that would fit my skillset. I would say I am stronger on the analytical side, but can’t see myself being a top performer, hence I didn’t venture into software engineering/tech. I’m in commidity trading now, but even then its becoming more quantitative and the future prospect might not be too bright (downsizing). Was considering recruiting for Ibanking but don’t see myself making it to the top (mediocre sales skills), probably stopping at VP level but at least I will have more money at the beginning.
Or would it be better to just do trading since theres more time to work on a side business in this case? Or am I missing other career paths?
Go into the sales role, requires less work and if you’re able to make VP that’ll be a good chunk of change.
Then create a few websites, sure they won’t make a ton but it’ll add up and you’ll be set. Affiliate marketing + sales. Competing with quants long term is just not a good idea.
I’ve read Efficiency. Great stuff.
So essentially there are 3 avenues for online sales:
1. Be an affiliate marketer. This is taking someone’s product and marketing it online using blogs, SEO-optimized landing pages, etc. to convert sales and then get a cut from them. You don’t deal with product creation/shipping/support.
2. Sell your own product that is mostly rebranded. Take a common product and rebrand it for a niche that you find. Create a website, SEO-optimized landing page, blogs, post on forums, etc. Here most of the pain of product creation is abstracted out.
3. Sell your own product that is completely created by you. Ex. Supplement for a niche, where you have it mixed and pilled by a supplier. Have the bottle designed, have it shipped out from a remote warehouse in US, etc. The legal issues could be difficult? (for this example)
Question is: is this overview above that I have in my mind right? And, is it best to play to the niches you know/enjoy the most? Ex. Know about fitness as a young professional –> market a fat loss PDF book to young professionals “cutting” for summer.
Many thanks gentlemen.
Largely correct, just remember we are very negative on e-books. Even though we have a large audience (decent) the money is peanuts compared to a product with the same audience and recurring revs, so we recommend products not information.
Information/books is for fun not a serious endeavor
You mean *physical* products that are recurring? ex. Fat loss nootropic coffee blend, delivered first Monday of the month.
Or *digital* recurring? ex. Subscribe to monthly newsletter for $5 that gives hand-picked science research on a topic.
Both work, must be recurring though. Physical is better, if the product is good you don’t need to make more content like the other option
What are some worthwhile career pivots for a 26 year old mediocre/slightly above average Software Engineer working in a cushy banking IT job? I have degrees in Comp Engr and Finance. I am good looking and personable so could probably “sell”, but my real strength is math and understanding things at a systematic/holistic level to HELP decision makers.
Should I bust it to improve in coding so that I can call the shots job hopping until I find a high-paying 40 hour a week job in an industry I care about? So I can do something low-stress I ENJOY while I stack and start side hustles.
Or should I just pivot to a people facing role like Tech Sales or Tech IB (idk if this is possible) to leverage my people abilities/tech knowledge combo and try and make it big that single way? (less diversification)
Thanks.
Easy tech sales for more money
Automate your job then move to sales role enterprise
Feel free to delete if this is retarded but what do you think of creating a YouTube channel or similar platform? The guys at the top with this make an absolute killing (views, product placement, sponsored IG posts, shilling products)
Normally wouldn’t even entertain this idea, but with all this talk of talent on the blog, well, that’s where “other people” (the regulars) tell me my talents lie (can make people laugh/entertaining/engaging). I’ve used these traits to my advantage in my current RE career.
wish I was born a quant-level numbers wiz instead, but not the case :/
Sure the downside is immense:
1) you’ll be quasi famous if you succeed this leads to harassment of family and large interactions with regular people
2) only do it if you’re certain you will succeed and you are creating you are okay with fame
Here’s the way I see AM from my niche (please correct me if wrong)
For the looks/insecurity market, nefarious promotion methods run rampant. Using paid traffic as a white hat can be a disadvantage since many of the “free trial” offers are dominated by a certain marketing strategy.
Ranking a white hat site can take a long time, especially with the way google appears to rank sites now. Consistently writing quality content can seem like “blogging for money” at times which you say to avoid.
And if you run paid traffic on white hat offers, this may not make sense as the commission is much lower.
Wrapping up here, Would you recommend promoting looks/insecurity based offers that offer a “free trial” (just pay for shipping!) if you DO NOT plan on joining the dark side?
Yes if it works
Not sure what you mean by the dark side, generally anything that is meant to make people feel good is marketing.
What’s the most efficient way to get feedback when trying to get traction for an ecomm store?
E.g. I’m on my 2nd store now (first failed), months have gone by, still very few sales made. I can’t figure out where I’m going wrong yet e.g.
Could be weak copywriting? Could be targeting the wrong audience? Maybe the audience are interested but aren’t warm enough yet?
The fact I’ve made some sales with no refunds suggests to me that the product must at least be OK.
(For context, I’m selling a skin care product targeted at 40+ Women, though I’m about to switch to younger demographics to see if it resonates).
P.S. My tag name is a troll 🙂
One question only come back.
I’m starting the interview process for software sales. From what I’ve heard it’s a grind to be an entry level SDR.
However, after learning in your latest article that selling B2C is better for improving social skills, I’m wondering if focusing on copywriting at a high level (financial publishers, in-house job, etc.) may be the better route. Seems like it is more closely related to developing online sales skills and may be more useful to personal life than cold calling boring C-suite execs all day.
TLDR; Software sales vs. copywriting for career?
All else equal software sales, recurring income.
Great job with Efficiency and the site overall.
I’m playing catch up at 36y/o, in post-sales/acct mgmt at big tech co. 5+yrs w ~$4-500k in assets stashed.
Internal movement’s limited, but do have offer for an analyst/technical role. Have a knack for numbers but don’t know if I can crack top ‘data science/ai’ territory from scratch at this point. Have tried for a few sales roles elsewhere but limited closing exp is a roadblock.
Better to 1) try the analyst path to find out or 2) push harder to move to sales, or 3) keep job on autopilot and go all in on starting side businesses?
Same answer as always, whichever you are actually talented at.
You named three very different paths, so choose the one where you’re at the top or could get to the top.
Looking to sell a product via paid traffic. The catch – the product requires collaboration with a few local businesses.
I believe in Efficiency you mention setting up a dummy sales page to test the market before fully investing in product development. However, since a big selling point would be the participation of local businesses, what’s the best way to test demand in this case?
Option A) Collect email addresses from paid traffic to a landing page, even though product features can’t list specific businesses participating
Or…
Option B) Sell the businesses first (even though no proven demand) then test demand (and risk backing out on the businesses if it turns out demand isn’t there.)
Nah, for high end there is no demand test, you should be able to sell it immediately to your network. Then build off referrals
Too much cost in setting up
I don’t have my Paypal Order Numbers at hand, but I bought both of your two books two weeks ago…
—-
What was your main goal when setting the prices for your eBooks?
Just maximum revenue, or maybe also making it affordable for the masses to improve their lives? (I know this sounds funny because your target group is a small elite)
It was to simply create something that was well below the actual value.
1) paid products are more likely to have people take action
2) lower than actual value = creates more referrals and growth
If we wanted to make money we would be on amazon, we aren’t
I’m 26, just got out of college and is wondering about what path to take while building a side business.
What is best, mechanical engineering/product development job or a career in sales?
This is just not a good question. We gave all the major money making careers in the book. You choose whichever you are good at. If you’re better at engineering than sales… obviously go that route. If better at sales then reverse, we don’t know you personally so we wouldn’t know.
Most people expect elaborate answers to general questions. That’s also know as complete bullshit and lies. We just go to the point
Taking your advice and getting a performance-based career for now (may do recruiting instead of sales), but how would you make money online outside of this? Besides affiliate marketing and launching your own company, what’s the best way to make money on the side? Another job, info products, dropshipping? How can I do affiliate marketing? I did not really understand the section in Efficiency. Thanks.
You contact the companies that offer affiliate links, you then create a website that sells said products… the step by step is in the book.
I have a good understanding of using paid traffic with “black hat” tactics and agree that in the long term, I’m better off creating something real initially.
How to use paid traffic as an affiliate with white hat tactics on top of trying to rank for keywords/SEO to boost income?
I see that google keywords/adwords are covered in the book but was wondering if there was something I was missing.
Not really, paid traffic main sources google and Facebook… that’s where the money is.
Or you go an intellectual Ip related item that’s sole sourced to you.
Guess my last question was stupid so I’ll try and ask it differently
What’s the most efficient way to test a new product idea? Efficiency says send traffic to a sales page but just because it doesn’t sell, this doesn’t necessarily mean the product is bad (it could just mean you can’t sell)?
So I guess the real question is: How do you efficiently differentiate between poor product market fit and poor sales methods? (fyi – I’ve sent the product to a couple of niche bloggers who gave positive feedback)
Feedback doesn’t mean anything this is why we recommend the following
1) sell a product you already know converts
2) create sales page and test demand, since you know the product is good the problem is 100% the sales page
3) once locked in create your own product similar niche small change
Trying to create something blind = never know if it was a product issue or sales issue so essentially guessing and wasting valuable time.
Makes perfect sense. Thank you
Thoughts on entering a space where there’s already 1-2 “major” players (not major as like FB/Apple in tech, “major” as in they are the biggest ones so far, ~200 people companies, and have the resources to spend on marketing,biz dev , ideas etc)? The space is still small, ~5 years old, have much more potential to get bigger every year. Just feeling a bit overwhelmed since they have a huge budget (millions) and I have $XX,XXX. Would estimate their revenues are about ~20mill/year and growing. Profit margins are high too.
Thx
If the space consolidated to two players usually means market is mature.
If there are two big players but tons trying to compete it means it’s fragmented and growing fast (worth pursuing)
Only pursue if certain you have a competitive advantage
Got it – it is the latter (1-2 major players, many trying to compete.
A lot of the smaller players are also doing well, at least ~4-5 that I know of making good money, I would estimate high 6 figs/lower 7 figs at least) — hope you still think this is worth pursuing.
Thx
71489781000187523
Thoughts on hedge fund business today?
As in, trying to enter/break in now (will most likely try to get a top MBA / network). A bit “old” though, ~30 y/o.
No change from efficiency. Nothing has changed in that space. Search hedge fund in search bar for how to break in general rules.
Got it – any specific page in efficiency you can refer to when saying no change from efficiency? Don’t mean to ask too many ?’s, just want to be sure to know where to look for your advice.
Thx
Search bar. As stated has your question.
I hear of “high ticket” closers(sales) online, where you sell other people’s products for them via phone if they get a lead or something and can get a few thousand per close. Thoughts on this being legit and if so, any clues on how to get in?
Thx
Sounds like a standard enterprise sales position for an online company. Enterprise sales in search bar for overview.
Hello! Thank you for your great contribution.
Short background; 28y. Broke into top 3 corporate law firm right after uni at 25. Was top 5 Associate within m&a until I burned out after 2.5 years. Ended up quiting and taking a job at a smaler litigation boutique firm. Problem is that I hate my new job and I was undoublty alot more talented as a m&a lawyer (think top 1% in the country under 30 before I quit due to stress).
1. Should I return to corporate law and make my way up to partner? The upside paywise is tremendous. The stress and long hours will be a problem tou.
2. Stay and try to get good at litigation. The stress levels and freedom is better.
3. Do something completely different like apply for an analyst/associate position at an IB?
4. Any of the avlive combined with a side biz with online sales?
Cheers
One question. Which one.
1
If you can really get to the 1% in corprorate law the payoff is huge. Probably the best course of action for money. Find a way to reduce hours if you’re a top performer should be achievable.
My first job out of college was a crappy job at a big-name company. I quit after a year, to join a startup. I like the startup but don’t see it being successful/growing much (and the pay isn’t great), so I want to go to a larger company again. I’m in my early 20s (age < 25).
How do I best explain my decisions in behavioral interviews with HR or a hiring manager? For example, why did you quit your first job, why do you now want to quit this job as well, why do you want to be at a big company again, etc. The true answers are "I hated that first job", "I don't see this startup going anywhere", and "I could use the cash" of course, but I'd appreciate some ideas on how to formulate something with a positive spin
Much appreciate your help – your no-nonsense posts have kept me sharp.
Just say “I graduated and wanted to see both sides of the fence: start up versus established company. I concluded established was a better fit to me due to xyz (xyz represents your actual experience at both)”
Done!
Thanks for another QnA.
If you have a business that makes solid money regardless of your time, your goal is to not stop working, but be financially independent (and not working for someone else), why sell the business and do something else with that money if you have already achieved what you wanted?
(assuming you enjoy the business you are in)
Thanks, hope you have a nice summer!
No reason to sell.
1) sell if another option pops up that needs more time
2) sell if you’re simply looking to cash out
Otherwise just keep it especially if it is easy
You mentioned most areas of finance are in secular decline except for things like M&A -what would be the best “future-proof” exit opps that you recommend for a BB IB analyst who isn’t ready to go full-time with his business yet? HF, PE, something else, or even stay climbing the ranks in IB?
Either climb IB or PE.
Most hedge funds underperform so doesn’t work out long-term. If you want to swing for fences then go for HF once you’re set financially
If you had to choose between…
going camping with a regular dude for 3 weeks straight
Or
drinking 6 cups of boiling water in a row…
what food would u order in the emergency ward while they pumped your stomach??
Lol!
Any thoughts on careers in data science and is there a possibility to be self-employed as one?
Sure data science is basically AI/machine learning so yes it’s viable. Most “research” will end up being data science in the future.
Love the blog. Thanks for taking time for the Q&A.
I’m currently working a job with tons of free time to work on a side gig. It doesn’t pay very well but the freedom it offers has made it worth it. It pays about 50k plus some commission if I work the sales end generating leads.
Recently I’ve been considering moving to a bigger city to get a job with a higher salary but I would have significantly less time to work on my own thing.
Would you recommend sticking it out with what I’m doing and continue to build my online presence? Or look to make the jump to a higher paying position to try and expedite the process?
You don’t have a question because you don’t have a job offer. If the new position paid much more adjusted for cost of living you leave. Otherwise no point, so we don’t really like these hypothetical questions.
Assuming one has been lazy and lacking aggression over the past few years (long periods of inacticity, not completing projects, coasting), how would he increase work ethic/discipline /confidence and get back on track?
Are there any actionable steps, or just grind it out?
We don’t do motivational nonsense, if you want to get rich work to improve if you don’t then no worries.
Expecting some random people on the internet to inspire you is pretty bad to be honest. No successful person attends motivational seminars, so that should be a hint on how this stuff works.
Just decide what type of life you want. Some people are okay being regulars.
Thanks for opening the Q&A–
Background: 23y. 1 yr in IB. Offers at l/s and credit buyside fund, pay is a slight bump but ultimately not that interested in public markets work.
Question: In the book you recommend careers in 1) tech 2) wall street 3) enterprise sales. Can’t code…so enterprise sales seem to have the skills slightly more catered to my strengths. Given the background, would you recommend continuing on the Wall Street track or going into enterprise sales route?
Best
Unless you are below middle of pack for IB don’t switch not worth the headache to start over.
Hey Wall Street Playboys,
Appreciate you time in opening up this Q&A.
A somewhat brief background story that will give you some context to my question at the end – I’m 30 years old now and working in a well paying blue collar government job. Growing up my family was always well off and i (being young & dumb) wrongly assumed we were rich and i could spend my life focusing on self improvement, travel, and pursue lower paying but enjoyable jobs and have a family fortune to fall back on. I did a psychology undergrad (but not a masters which you need to be a psychologist), traveled, partied and worked supermarket jobs enjoying my early 20’s greatly.
When i turned 25 i found out my family were not rich and were just living off capital previously acquired when my dad sold his business, and so my naive dreams of not having to worry about financing my own future came plummeting back to earth. Up until now i had a relatively useless degree, no savings, no skills and no professional work experience whatsoever and had really put myself in a bad place, feeling very much lost and far behind everyone else.
Back then i decided that since i had nothing to lose i would kill 2 birds with one stone and figure out how to create an online income which would also allow me to travel and work at the same time, which lead me into the murky world of affiliate marketing. During this time i lucked out and found a very well paying side job with minimal hours (but crap conditions) and used this to fund my affiliate ambitions. I worked hard at this for many years trying a variety of affiliate marketing tactics, scouring the STM forum, and throwing countless money at training programs gurus, and traffic sources only to see very minimal return from both my time and money.
By age 28 i was burnt out and sick of wasting my time and money and threw in the towel for affiliate marketing, but fortunately was able to use my experience to get my foot in the door at a large online marketing agency as an Adwords specialist. The pay was pretty crap but the experience and skills i picked up were priceless, including Adwords skills and also seeing how other businesses operated. The pay however was crap, and for an introvert like myself doing complex work all day – the noisy and distracting office just drained all my energy and made me want to quit.
Being almost 30 and earning such a low wage was depressing so because of this, whether right or wrong i applied for a very competitive, highly paid government job in a completely unrelated field (train driving) that paid 2.5 times my Adwords job, and against the odds (5,000 applicants), i was one of the 34 people to be accepted.
My goal since i was 25 hasnt changed, and that was to create a high level income with an online business, and i figured having this new job would give me a lot more capital to invest into my venture. It was halfway through my driver training at age 30 that i came across Efficiency and this really opened my eyes as my whole working life i was just blindly chasing a high salary when i should have been focusing on acquiring valuable skills.
So im at a point now where im not really enjoying this high paying job, im not learning any valuable skills, and ideally i dont want to be doing this for anymore than a few years and im only in it for the incredible salary. My end goal is still to have a high level online income which ive been getting back into recently (researching ecommerce) or potentially find Adwords clients and open up my own agency. Im just interested in your opinion and what you would suggest i do based on what ive told you.
I see my options as….
1 – Continue working at my current high paying job and invest all my time and money into my side business until it’s making profit, then quit my job and commit all my free time to the business.
2 – Quit my high paying job and get a lesser paying job in digital marketing (Adwords account management most likely) and use this opportunity to sharpen my Adword skills and also learn new skills (Analytics, Display ads, etc) with the intent to find my own clients and start my own Digital Agency.
3 – Quit my high paying job and live off my savings (enough for 2 years easily) whilst putting all my free time into developing a profitable online business. (Granted i’m not at all keen about living off my savings without some sort of income as my city is disgustingly expensive to live in).
4 – A long shot but i get a bit excited/nervous at the idea of just diving into an entry level sales role but could see the huge advantages in the longer run. My personality type is more towards the technical/analytical type so i’m hesitant to invest all my time on a skillset that will always be a natural weakness no matter how good i may get.
My current restrictions right now are time based – just not as much free time as i’d like.
Any thoughts or advice based on all this? Being aged 30 i don’t feel like i have as much time to fuck around as someone in their early 20’s as i hope to start a family one day so my time is very limited.
Thank for reading!
Easy answer number one. Unless you’re ultra rich you may as well maximize your potential since you’re only 30. Rest = you will regret unless you have a legitimate biz to run already
If you can’t create a biz while holding down a job you’re likely not talented enough to start one. This is why we laugh when people say they will “quit to start something” most smart people already built part of it before quitting. E.g. Warby Parker.
Thanks, yeah i think you’re right on the money there.
My heart tells me to quit and go hard at the business full time, but my head says exactly what you suggested – build a profitable biz first then quit, which makes the most logical sense.
Appreciate your advice 🙂