Category Archives for Affiliate Marketing
Your Hobby Can Be Your Financial Resource
When Your Hobby Becomes A Business
It is possible to turn ordinary activities into money-making projects. All you need is the determination to put yourself out there with the best of them. There is satisfaction in doing what you love and being paid for it. Here’s a quote by Les Brown: “Success is doing what you love to do and finding somebody to pay you to do it.”
Hobbies can be a fun way to pass the time and unwind. From early stages in our lives, we gravitate towards certain activities that align with our passions or skills. We can sum these activities up as things we are good at or things we learn from those around us. Examples include drawing, painting, dancing, sewing, writing, designing, baking, and so on. The list is endless. Everyone has at least one hobby that they have picked up from childhood; something they enjoy doing outside of their regular school or work schedule.
With the changes we experience because of shifts in global economics and technological advancements, it has become possible for hobbies to become more than just ways to pass time. With so many needs arising because we are always evolving, people use their skills and passions to fill gaps left by conventional businesses and service providers. Many use their hobbies to meet people’s needs. This not only fills the gaps mentioned, but it has also helped people turn their hobbies into profitable businesses.
There are people who found themselves unemployed because of automation. For some, it came as an effect of national and global recessions, with companies having no option but to downsize in order to stay afloat. Others found dissatisfaction in their regular nine-to-five jobs. To find alternative sources of income, they stumbled upon the idea of using their hobbies to make money. For some, the ventures turned into full careers and employment creation opportunities. For others, it put food on the table. When you research on the internet, you find many testimonials of people who are making profits out of things they consider to be hobbies.
Hannah Dale was made redundant in 2007. She was three months pregnant at the time and they had diagnosed her mother with cancer. The situation was stressful for her considering her savings were too little to support her to take care of the baby and her mother. Her hobby, watercolor painting, continued to be her way to relieve stress as she found it therapeutic. She started selling her paintings to local shops, but she was still not earning much. An idea hit her to print her designs on greeting cards and sell those instead. Ten years later, she had started her company called Wrendale Designs, with twenty employees and a substantial yearly profit, all from printing her watercolor animal and bird designs on stationery, tableware, wallpaper, and cushions.
As exciting as it can be to monetize your hobby, it is difficult to do. There is a significant risk that once you fail to make a profit, you will lose your passion for that activity you once loved. The pressure of working to a schedule and meeting financial goals and customer expectations can take away the fun, relaxation, and personal satisfaction in the activity. This, however, should not deter you from trying. After all, every business comes with a lot of risks and failure is a significant possibility.
The art of turning your hobby into a financial resource.
It is not automatic that you can make money out of your hobby. It will demand a lot of hard work, more so because you want to turn in a profit and not just do the normal activity to pass time. Commit the time to research if your hobby is marketable. Not every hobby can turn into a business. Carry out your research. You also have to risk failure. Encountering setbacks is no reason to quit trying to make money out of your hobby. It is normal to find obstacles in the journey to achieving your goals. Push through every barrier you encounter in order to see what is on the other side.
Hobbies that you can monetize.
If you are a performer, you can teach others or perform for a fee. If you are into crafts, you can create something for resale. If you are creative, you can write or draw or paint.
How to turn your hobby into a financial resource.
Do your research.
The first stage is to list your hobbies down. Which one can you turn into a business? This involves extensive market research, including people who are already in the same line of business. Find out if your competitors are lacking something and see how you can cover the gap. Find your niche. Research on how much capital it will require to turn your hobby into a business. Educate yourself further by taking a course. Do everything you can to attract attention to your business.
Come up with a plan of action.
It is never a good idea to delve into a battle without a strategy. It exposes you to failure. Create a plan for monetizing your hobby. Set goals and timelines. Get other people to help you if you must.
Do a trial run.
Take advantage of having friends and family that will give you honest feedback. Let them be your first customer base. Sell to them and record all the feedback they give. Ask for advice on areas of improvement.
Expand your reach.
Once you are in the clear, invest back into the business. Make the improvements you can to attract more customers.
Market yourself.
The only way people will pay you for a service or a product is if they know about what you have to offer. Take advantage of social media to let people know you exist. Build an intriguing online presence. Print out posters and fliers if you must. Attend networking events. Do what you can to get your name out there.
My Incomeway Review
My experience with the Incomeway program
Choosing a reliable online program that will actually work for you can be an uphill battle, especially if you are a beginner who is just starting out. My experience with IncomeWay thus far has been nothing short of stellar.
If you are still finding it difficult to generate Traffic, Leads, and Commissions online, look no further than IncomeWay!
Stan Thompson is a developer and mastermind behind Incomeway. He actually owns many websites (like Top-Surfer) and discovered that his Adboard type of website was very easy to get other marketers to submit their ads for free and also upgrade as well.
Stan knew that other people would want one of his websites, so he made it easy for them by renting them out or to put it another way, leasing them. Income Way Inc. is a small business that’s family-owned. Stan continues to manage Incomeway and develops other websites.
What I Like
First of all, it’s affordable! Second, you’ll be providing a service that all marketers want and need when you join Incomeway. If you ever wanted to own your own website and make money from it look no further.
With Income Way:
Your website is easily set up within minutes
You get to choose a real domain name of your choice
You get hosting for your website
You can customize your website to look the way you want it to
Your website is designed to go viral
You can create your own mailing list members joining to advertise for free
You get awesome customer service, you are not alone
You don’t need an autoresponder to communicate with your leads
The last benefit alone is worth the measly $14 a month price. The admin area has several ways that you can email your subscribers. Send emails immediately, or send them later. They also have an option for recurring emails that you can set and even emails that can go out in sequence. Priceless!
What I Dislike
Quite honestly, I haven’t come across anything I don’t like about Incomeway, but if I had to pick something it would be that I don’t own the domain name I choose. The domain name we pick becomes a part of Incomeway’s property if you ever decide to cancel your subscription.
Final Verdict
Incomeway works! I became a member last year in 2020 and have been making consistent money from it. This is one affiliate program that I have no hesitation recommending.
10 Commandments Of Marketing Online
Over the past few years, the Internet has completely changed the rules on how products are marketed with new and exciting advents in online marketing mediums and strategies.
However, online marketing is also ever-changing, and businesses need to change with the times. It could be likened to taking a journey. You may have taken the same road many times before and arrived at your destination successfully. However, if for some reason there are road works and road closures along the way, you will need to change your route and detour from time to time.
Trying to go the way you used to go will result in frustration, difficulties, and lost revenue. This is what can happen to a business if it relies on the old ways of online marketing.
What are the new 10 commandments of online marketing?
- You must write high-quality content. Gone are the days when cutting and pasting was a good way to add content. If the content is of high quality, people will be encouraged to share it, use it and buy from you. So spend enough time preparing content, which engages people.
- You must regularly update your content. Quality content is one thing, but you also need to post regularly on social media and blogs. This will keep people coming back for more.
- You must diversify. This means not just using one or two marketing ways. Have a blog on your website, use article marketing, pay per click, and press releases. Every piece of content that is published is one more way that the search engines will find you.
- You must use social media. Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google are essential for online marketing. If you can add more, then, that is better. Don’t forget: post regularly and make sure that the content is of high quality. A word of warning – research your audience as not all social media platforms work for every audience.
- You must use images. Image-based content is becoming more and more popular to share. It is said that a picture says 1,000 words. Pictures and images will do more than you can ever write. Use also infographics – a combination of an image and text to make a point.
- You must not ask people to “like.” If the content is of high quality you will never need to ask a person to like it. It will come naturally. Asking people to like can seem desperate and a cheap way to increase your audience. Quality content will give your audience a great reason to “like” or re-tweet it.
- You must remember quality and quantity. Never sacrifice one for the other. There needs to be a balance of both quality and quantity.
- You must remember that marketing is not advertising. Marketing is a two-way relationship, which involves the business and the consumer. Therefore, don’t keep bombarding your customers will opportunities to buy. Offer information, training, advice, and the possibility to engage.
- You must use less to get more. People don’t like spending a lot of time examining a web page to try to decipher the message. More and more companies are taking a simplistic approach to online marketing. This is seen as a way to draw, not push, people in.
- You must be prepared to develop new strategies. The way that people respond to online marketing is constantly changing. Therefore, you need to keep up-to-date on what is trending. Even with established online marketing platforms, campaigns can be altered, changed, and adapted.
The rules of online marketing have changed. Follow these new 10 commandments of online marketing and watch the results of your efforts grow. You will increase the size of your audience; you will engage with more of your audience and in the end, your sales will grow.