Author: Elijah

Wow, so I’ve officially written my first “how to make xxx dollars” post title, and though I should feel accomplished, I actually feel kind of cheesy for doing so.  Regardless, the title of this post is fact – yesterday I profited around $800 for 20 or so hours of work.

No, I didn’t sell my beard trimmings to a scientific laboratory for the purposes of creating a perfect being, nor did I sell a bunch of iphone knock-offs on eBay.  I made this money doing what I do best – developing and selling niche websites online.

Website flipping, or whatever you want to call it, has been a primary source of our monthly income for the last several months, along side our growing Adsense portfolio.  Though the Sitepoint marketplace is getting saturated, primarily due to the natural hype of the Internet and a handful of crappy site flipping ebooks (not including any of my readers who’ve shared their techniques) there is still tons of room for you to step in and make your move.

Here’s the catch – in order to survive in any business, especially one which resides in the madness which we call the Internet, you have to be willing to think like Wayne Gretzky – and put yourself where the puck is going to be.  Remaining one step ahead of the game will ensure that your business, regardless of the model, has the tenacity to survive the inevitable hoards of hopefuls who jump on board once word spreads that your “model” is highly profitable.

Elijah, what the fuck does Wayne Gretzky have to do with you making $800 yesterday?

Absolutely everything – and here’s why:

Regular people trying to make money online do the following…

• Follow what they are told, step by step.
• Refuse experimentation because they fear the consequence is irreparable.
• Once they make money, they fall victim to comfort.
• Quantity over quality.
• They see proven methods in a single dimension, and fail to develop their own unique back end model to create foundation, stability and adaptability within the changing marketplace.
• When shit gets tough, they drop ship and move onto the next method.

People who will actually succeed at making money online do the following?

• Follow what they are told step by step for the first little while. Once confident, they begin to tweak.
• Often jump in head first to see how quick they hit bottom. Usually they won’t.
• Are constantly driven by personal and business goals. They don’t get comfortable because they value their accomplishments so much that the thought of failing is not even an option.
• Find a harmonious balance between quantity and quality – with quality always a few steps ahead.
• They observe each business model and method from every angle, often developing several layers beneath the initial point of sale or contact.  This also creates the opportunity for them to eventually remove themselves from the equation and enjoy the profits in a “hands-off” fashion.
• When shit gets tough – they find a brown paper bag, a lighter, an unsuspecting neighbor, and continue towards their destination.

So where am I getting at with this?  Well, as some of you know I’m a co-conspirator, good friend and proud student of SuiteJ – also known as Big Head.  A week back Jay and I were talking on Skype regarding the completion of NicheOnDemand.com, my back end site flip foundation, and he was giving me some advice regarding how I should present the packages and various other ideas surrounding that.  Jay mentioned that I should consider providing some sort of bundle option on a recurring basis i.e. get 3 unique niche sites per month for x amount of dollars.

At first I thought to myself there is no way someone will pay $700-$1000 per month for website packages.  But instead of dismissing the idea, I took it to heart and let it simmer on the back burner.

A couple days later I listed two new site flips that were recently completed and continued on with my day.  Less than 24 hours after listing the sites I received a pm from a woman we’ll call “Jersey” – Jersey informed me that she had placed bids on both of my auctions and was really interested in what else I had floating around.

Well one thing lead to another and after a few pm’s back and forth I secured a 3 site bundled sale with Jersey, and had a phone meeting arranged to discuss ideas and to get acquainted (communication is the difference between good and great).  Not only did Jersey grab a 3 site bundle from me, but we also spent an hour talking about future projects and idea’s she has (she’s super creative) for another site.

Here’s where the icing gets put on the cake…

I spent the entire day yesterday with my favorite person in the whole world, my grandma, and came home not only to see the payment of $775 from Jersey, but also that one of the sites I listed had sold at BIN for $297 to an awesome guy we’ll call “Hunter” who I just got off the phone with, and is a Broadcast Journalist in New York who’s looking to start a network of news related blogs.

That my friends is how I made $800 profit for about 20 hours of work.  Rather than dismiss the idea suggested by Jay, I let it sit and continued on with my business.  Opportunity knocked, I did what I do best, revisited his advice and benefited from it, even though I initially thought otherwise.

4 websites which takes around 4-5 hours per site to put together, and $200 in outsourcing and expenses equals $800 in profit for 20 hours of work.

“A good hockey player plays where the puck is.  A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” – Wayne Gretzky.

For those of you who doubt my ninja skills – eat a dick.  But for all you “earnings screenshot” whores, here’s your fix!  Click for the full size image.

Cheers,

Elijah