Passive income…is it attainable?
One day I woke up to the fact that I needed a compass.
Not the type a Boy Scout would have, but a business model for my online venture. For years I tried to learn how to turn my blog into a money-making venture, but I got frustrated.
I was tired of trying a bunch of different ideas and shiny new objects that didn’t work. I needed to find someone…anyone that had a tried and true method of making money online.
I finally found what I was looking for.
Actually, I found two entrepreneurs that had detailed courses of action I could follow.
My Almighty Disclaimer: I am not making a dime from promoting these two people or their businesses. I am not affiliated with them in any way. So, if you think this is one of those ClickBank affiliate things, it is not.
In my last post, I wrote about Chris Brogan who’s making a lot of money online. His mission is to teach you everything he knows to help you down the path of success.
Today, I’m going to tell you about one other entrepreneur that I’m following, Pat Flynn.
Before I launch into why I’m following this guy and why I’ve decided to use his business model, I want to tell you something.
This is only the second time I’ve profiled business leaders on this blog. Sure, I’ve written about great copywriters, but I haven’t profiled too many business leaders.
So, other than Chris Brogan who I profiled in my last post, this is only the second time. The reason why I’m telling you this is because I don’t take dishing out this kind of advice lightly.
Most online gurus are out to make a quick buck, but these two entrepreneurs are unique.
How?
They both dish out loads of outstanding content that can get you started down the right path. So, if you really want to learn about becoming an entrepreneur, these are the two to learn from.
Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income
There is no question Pat Flynn is living large, especially online.
Pat is well-rounded at online entrepreneurial adventures. In the past, he’s created all sorts of websites about a wide range of subjects. His claim to Internet fame and fortune is his SmartPassiveIncome (SPI) blog which has made him very wealthy.
In any 12 month period, Pat makes over $2 million dollars from his SPI site.
Pat Flynn’s Start
If you’re a struggling entrepreneur, this is the type of story that’ll drive you crazy.
Why?
Because of the haphazard way Pat Flynn got his start.
Pat was laid off from his job in architecture, so he built a site that would help him pass an exam in that field.
The crazy part?
He didn’t even know that his site was generating thousands of visits a day. He didn’t even think of himself as an entrepreneur either, because he didn’t realize that the direction he was moving in was the online business world.
One day, someone mentioned to him how they would gladly pay him for his expertise and knowledge and he decided to go for it. He started absorbing everything he could on the subject of running a business online.
He read every blog post, listened to every podcast he could, and also reached out to entrepreneurs that were killing it online.
Pat then wrote an eBook on how to pass the architect test and put it up online to sell it for about $20 a shot. “I launched the eBook deal in October of 2008 and in that first month, I made over $7000. That was my life-changing moment.” Pat said.
Pat got so excited that he decided to share how he did it. The result was his flagship site SmartPassiveIncome (SMI).
“As sales continued to grow on the site where I sold my architecture eBook, it gave me more information on my SMI site to talk about. I kept sharing how much I was earning and some of the right and wrong things I was doing.”
Like Chris Brogan, Pat’s success seemed to come from telling people freely how they could make money online. “I started to build a large following and some sort of a leader in the online business community. After that, I started podcasting and creating YouTube videos on my own channel.”
Pat then created a series of new businesses that were not a part of his SMI venture. He created sites like SecurityGuardTrainingHQ.com, CreateaclickableMap.com, and FoodTruckr.com.
What I learned from Visiting Pat Flynn’s Sites
I took the opportunity to check out Pat Flynn’s sites. If you were new to Internet marketing or starting a business, you could learn a lot by roaming around on them. Here’s what I noticed:
- Each of his sites has carefully selected niches. He’s thoroughly researched each one and knows that there’s a market for it.
- The sites are all professionally made and are easy to navigate.
- They all have blogs with high quality, professionally written posts. The Food Trucker site has a post made almost every 3 or four days.
- Pat’s sites also generate revenue in several different ways. His security guard site makes some of its money from Google Adsense.
Notes on Pat’s intro Podcast – SPI 101. This is just part of the first 3 passive income podcasts you’ll get from Pat. All three of them are highly detailed on the subject of creating a passive income online. You can download them so you can listen to them over and over.
If you’re brand new to starting a business online, you’ll want to listen to Pat’s 3 Free Podcasts. In them, tells you about everything you’ll need to know about starting a venture online.
The main takeaway you can get from listening to them is:
You can create online sites that make an income for you so that you won’t have to spend your time working a business.
Like Chris Brogan, Pat has a business based on how he can best serve his audience. Once again, his success is a byproduct of helping people.
If You Skip this Step – You Can Forget About It
When you’re going to make money online, you’ll have to understand what your market is looking for. This is very important. You’ll have to do your homework on the front end so that you’ll know what they want.
To do that, you’ll have to understand what it is that your market is looking for and what they want. In other words, you’ll have to do your homework on the front end.
When you understand what your audience needs you’ll have an excellent perspective on what you need to do.
Pat started making money by writing for different sites and posting them. He found he could make money from the sites that paid revenue for clicks people made on ads or links. He had hundreds of dollars coming in from doing this.
A Rather Large Bump in The Road…
Unfortunately, it was a costly lesson because he lost $500 in a single day.
As he reflected back on the lesson he learned Pat said that “for some reason, it didn’t feel right. What you should learn is that you want to build a site (asset) that people will want to come back to again and again.”
So, Pat now advocates building something of value. Whether it’s information, an application, or product that people will want to come back to again and again.
Unfortunately, it was a costly lesson because he lost $500 in a single day.
As he reflected back on the lesson he learned Pat said that “for some reason, it just didn’t feel right. What you should learn is that you want to build a site (asset) that people will want to come back to again and again.
Conclusion
Pat Plynn has 3 rather long Podcasts where he details exactly how he became successful online. You can listen to all 3 of them by going to the link below.
Do this Now to get Started: