Let’s face it – we all want to multiply our income and create more impact. It’s our motives that differ. More money means more options. It gives us the latitude to do the things that matter to us, the kind of things that we cannot do when we are busy slaving our lives out to make ends meet. We all have lofty dreams. We want to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless and rehabilitate the destitute. We want to live prosperously to affect others positively. We want to publish books, build businesses and create products that will solve people’s problems and perhaps change the world.
So, why are we not doing these things? What is the most obvious challenge that is holding us back? Well, the answer for most people is money. Little wonder the Good Book says that “Money answers all things.” Now, money is certainly not the first or most important thing. My brilliant and enterprising friend, Olugbenga Odeyemi of e86 Technologies, recently pointed out that the real issue for most people is preparation of the mind. Are you prepared to take advantage of the opportunity that you seek?
If you were given N10million right now, would you know what to do with it? The truth is 90 percent of us would keep this money in the bank while we think of what to do with it. This is because, like my friend pointed out, most people’s minds are too blocked to think through their situation. Now, the question is: why are people’s minds so blocked? And that for as large a proportion as 90 percent! Well, we can adduce reasons like indiscipline, poor resolve, lack of ambition and a host of others. While the foregoing factors are certainly relevant, a closer examination of the situation will point us to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
In a 1943 paper, A Theory of Human Motivation, Abraham Maslow pointed out that all of us have a desire to do great things, maximise our potentials and be all that we can be. However, to achieve these ultimate goals, we must meet some basic needs first – needs like food, good shelter, financial security, physical safety, healthy lifestyle, love and self esteem. It is only after meeting the basic needs – also called deprivation needs – that we can go on to meet the higher needs also known as the being needs.
However, most people are so trapped at the lower levels that they don’t have the margin to even think about or effectively pursue the higher goals. In other words, most of us are living as human doings rather than human beings.Most people would love to engage in more profitable activities but they are stuck with their current jobs because they have bills to pay right now, and a job is the only thing that offers the promise of providing money right now.
What do you really need; job or income?
Against this backdrop, the first goal – or the most basic reason – for desiring to make more money is to put us in a position where we can trade less time for money so that we have more time and energy to pursue our higher aspirations. What if you could make more money while still working your job? That will give you more latitude to not only sufficiently take care of your basic needs but also to explore more options to make your life count even more.
My goal in this article is to acquaint you with five channels through which I am making more money so I can sufficiently meet my basic needs and have the presence of mind to clarify and pursue my dreams. You might be familiar and comfortable with some of them. You might be sceptical and wary about others but I assure you that I have personally explored and I’m still exploring all these avenues with good success and modest results.
Over time, I am confident that the results will go from modest to over-the-top. That is why I’m inviting you to come along and let’s enjoy the journey together. Please note that you need a self-hosted website to take full advantage of the strategies I’ll be talking about. However, that should not deter you. You can still implement some of them without having a website. And when you decide that you need you need a website, just talk to me and I’ll be glad to help you set it up. Alternatively, you may refer to my website setup tutorial and get it done easily. So, if you want to make extra money while working on your business or job, what are your options?
Affiliate Marketing
This is perhaps the simplest way to make money online. You recommend a product or service and get a commission when someone purchases through you. The key here is to recommend products and services that you use and honestly believe will offer tremendous value to your audience or clients. Don’t recommend a product simply because of how much you can make from it. I recently stopped recommending a web host because I can no longer vouch for the quality and integrity of their services. I moved over to another host that only pays me 50 percent of what the other host used to pay.
Do I like to make more money? Certainly! But it is more important to me that I provide value for my people, keep their trust and preserve the confidence they have reposed in me. What I love most about affiliate marketing is the fact that it enables me to help people get what they need at a great bargain while I also make money at no cost to them. In most cases, they would still have bought the product anyway, maybe even at a higher price. So if I can help them get it at a cheaper rate and get paid for that, why not?
Selling eBooks
You are not open for business until you have something to sell. One of the low hanging fruits in this regard is eBooks. Everyone has knowledge that can be packaged into an eBook. The key is to make the information you’re sharing valuable and of practical use to your audience. Seek first to add value before making money. Your primary goal should be to solve a problem or ease a burden. But you need to make money so you can continue to offer value. You can be so focused on adding value that you get to a point where you cannot even cover your basic costs, thus taking you back to square one.
One good thing about selling your own products is that unlike affiliate marketing where you build customers for another company, you are building customers for yourself when you sell your own products. And you can make recurrent income for many years from a single product, with occasional tweaks. My preferred platforms for selling eBooks are mypersonal website, Smashwords, Amazon and Gumroad.
Offering Services
Another way to make some good extra income is by offering services that meet the need of your audience. For instance, a good proportion of my readers are speakers, writers and young professionals. They want to create a professional profile, build a decent web presence and look good online. Some of them also want to become published authors. And since those needs are within my areas of expertise, I offer to meet them with a bouquet of relevant services.
Network Marketing
Yes, networking marketing is on the list. Of course, I know that many network marketing businesses are little more than pyramid schemes that only benefit those at the top. However, there are a few good ones that have refined their business models such that everyone gets rewarded handsomely for their efforts, and that within a relatively short period of time. For instance, one of the network marketing businesses I’m involved with rewards you with twelve times your initial investment within two weeks. That’s a profit of 1200 percent!
The beauty of network marketing is the synergy it affords, especially when you have a good team. You realise the truth in the saying that “Together, Everyone Achieves More”. We also know that your network determines your net worth. Network marketing provides a platform to leverage on this knowledge. The first challenge I have experienced with network marketing has to do with selling products that no one wants to buy. The second challenge is creating time for one-one-one physical meetings with prospects. However, since I have verified that network marketing is a realistic business model, I chose not to be deterred and eventually discovered improved models that do not have those bottlenecks. I don’t have to sell expensive products; rather I help people to solve their financial problems. I don’t need to have face-to-face discussions with prospects; we can have virtual meetings.
Coaching
If you have been using information products and eBooks for any considerable length of time, you would find that as good as many of them are, they do not afford the same kind of help that you have when you have someone to literally hold you by the hand and show you exactly what to do. Even when you have training videos, you can learn more from a good teacher than you can from a video. Coaching goes beyond providing information to offering the help and support that you need to achieve your goals. That’s what Michael Hyatt does with his team at Platform University. Many popular bloggers have similar programs. If you prefer to engage in physical one-on-one coaching, one platform that I highly recommend is Tuteria. Backed by team that is relentlessly committed to excellence, Tuteria has a remarkable application process with a wide range of options for teachers and learners alike.
Conclusion
Now, those are my top five recommended channels for making extra income and massive impact right now. You’ll certainly need to invest a measure of effort to have the kind of results you desire. Truth is: there is no such thing as passive income; effort is always part of the equation. The key is to find a system that allows you to leverage your efforts such that with little time and effort, you can achieve massive results. Do you remember the concept of load and effort in elementary physics? With a small lever correctly deployed, you can lift a load that you would ordinarily not be able to lift. That’s what the five strategies we have discussed will do for you.
Your Turn
Now that you have read this, what do you think and what are you going to do about it? Which of these five channels are you using already and which ones do you intend to start using? If you have any question or need any help, let me know in the comments section. Alternatively, you can send me an email and I’ll be delighted to help.
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