Overthinking is a virus worse than coroni-macaroni.
The biggest problem I see people facing when they think about using the internet to make a living is they think it’s hard.
When you make a goal out to be massive in your head, it never happens because your brain is wired to resist hard things.
Making goals small is an art. Let’s apply that thinking to making money.
There are a million ways to make money. This is the one people miss.
You can sign up for Youtube today and start to make money from ads in a few months. It’ll be a real grind.
A guy I know calculated the average time to make a fortune on Youtube: 6 years. Not bad but it’s one hell of a goal that’ll take a lot of your time. Or you could start a paid Beehiiv newsletter. For that you’ll need eyeballs from another platform to divert to the newsletter.
Or you could start an eCommerce business. You’ll need logistics, debt to buy stock, and to source suppliers. Loads of effort.
Here’s what I don’t get…
Why not simply sell services to a couple of people a month?
Services such as:
- Reselling the skills from your 9–5 job
- Social media management
- Freelance writing
- Website design
- Consulting
- Coaching
It doesn’t matter what the service is. What matters is getting people who are willing to pay you money to do it.
Two clients a month that each pays you $5000 is $120,000 a year. You might think it’s too difficult. Let me show you.
Tiny audiences make the most money
Whatever it is you want to do online, you’re going to need social media and to post content. No way around it.
You publish content at your job — emails, Powerpoints, videos — what makes you think it’s any different with making money online? It’s not. Same sh*t different smell.
When the average person finds out they need a content habit it scares the pants off them. “No way man, you kidding? I can’t create good stuff.”
This is where things get unnecessarily complicated. The quality of content doesn’t need to be that high. You’re already good enough right now if you send work emails. And you don’t need a huge online audience.
The richest creators on the internet have the smallest audiences.
When you try to build a big audience, as I have, your attention goes everywhere. The focus shifts to vanity metrics — followers, likes, comments — and away from simply making a living to retire your puppy dog.
Remember: all you need is 1–2 decent clients and you’ll make 6-figures.
So even 500 followers is plenty. But how do you unlock this opportunity?
The overlooked thing that already happens to you daily
I don’t want to get into racism. Let’s call it too much judgment for now.
Every day you log in online and probably get a few direct messages or emails from strangers. If you don’t already, once you start posting content you definitely will — and you’ll get comments on your posts.
Comments, questions, messages and emails are a huge opportunity. The challenge is most of us delete them or apply a transactional mindset.
“What’s in it for me?” you quietly say to yourself when you open every message and read every comment.
Wrong.
If someone asks you a question that’s a hidden business inquiry. If you’re only looking for two customers to make a living then all you have to do is convert two of these conversations into customers.
So now it becomes about starting conversations and seeing where they take you. This requires you to have a clear idea of the service you can offer and to have memorized what problems you solve.
As you get deeper into the conversation, if someone clearly has a problem you might be able to solve, you send them a Calendly link and jump on a free 30-minute call. By the end of the call you’ll both know whether there is an opportunity to do business or not.
You don’t need to be a Slick Rick car salesman either. All you have to do is focus on their problem and naturally let them see you can solve it.
When the time comes all you do to ask them for money is this:
“I have a business on the side that can help you further. We could work together if you like?”
The word “business” quietly tells the person it will cost money without scaring the crap out of them. If they give you permission and say “sure, tell me more” then you tell them what it costs.
Repeat that process 20 times and you’ll likely have your two $5000 a month customers to quit your job and access financial freedom.
How to find millionaires who’ll happily pay you
Another friend of mine runs a ghostwriting agency.
He writes content for many wealthy people. I asked him what the social media accounts look like of his millionaire clients. Made me laugh.
“Dude, most of them have like 100 Twitter followers and the equivalent of Sponge Bob Square Pants as their profile pic.”
That’s right. These millionaires are cruising around the internet, sending messages, leaving comments — and they look like total randoms who’d never pay you a dollar.
Truly wealthy people move in silence. That’s why they’re wealthy, not rich.
So how do you find these millionaires and sell them your kickass service? Well, there’s the inbound strategy in the previous point, or the outbound strategy below.
Learn how to send sexy DMs
Do you meet someone for a first date and then say…
“Hey, should we go do it doggystyle in the bathroom first then eat and go to the movie?”
Like that’d be weird.
So why would you do things differently when DMing (messaging) people? Now you could straight up message potential customers if you want to cut to the chase. I have another approach.
If there’s someone I want to make a client of mine, I hang out with them first. Here’s what it looks like on Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
- Reply to their posts
- ‘Like’ their posts and share them
- Shoot them links via DMs that you’re 100% sure will help them
These three things build rapport. They help someone get to know your gorgeous face. Once you break the ice beforehand it’s way easier to start a conversation off social media. And you’ll already know a bit about them and what they like without being creepy.
Once you have their attention you can then try to understand any problems they have. If you find a problem and your service matches it then use the same line: “I have a business that does that. Maybe we could work together?”
Or if they don’t have a problem you can help with then they may become a referral source: “Hey, I help people with XYZ problem. Do you know any people I should talk to?”
Notice how all the dialogue is informal and doesn’t sound like a dumbass transaction? It’s just friends shooting ideas around and having fun.
Closing Thought
Too many people want financial freedom and chase long shots such as investing in property/index funds, getting paid by social media platforms, making affiliate sales, and even writing online.
Just ask two people a month to buy a $5000 service off you. If you don’t have a service to offer then learn a skill using Youtube and start selling it.
Quitting your job and accessing financial freedom is far easier to achieve when you master DMs. Now you know how.
Shoot your shot. Buy your time back. One life.
