Creating Passive Income as a Service Provider

    When you’re a service provider, in many ways (unless you have a huge team) you are working trading hours for dollars. With only so many hours in the days, your income will eventually top off. But, if you work in your spare time to create passive income, you can create a situation where you can overcome the hours for dollars trap.

    First of all, let’s understand what passive income is. It’s not really as easy as the word “passive” makes it sound. You do have to do some form of work first to collect the income down the road. But, you do the work today and then collect on it tomorrow – many times months and even years down the road.

    The best way to approach creating passive income as a service provider is to consider who your audience is right now, then find products and solutions that can help them. For example, if you are a virtual assistant for life coaches, they’re going to need systems such as payment processing systems, course delivery systems, sales pages and more. You can become an affiliate for all of these systems that you then recommend and help set up for your customers.

    As a service provider, there are many things you know about your clients which can help you determine what they need. You probably know your clients more than other people who create affiliate products and systems to use, so you may be able to find and create even better offerings than others due to your insight.

    Here are some more ideas for creating passive income.

    * Write an eBook – You likely can teach other service providers or your client audience how to do something, and writing an eBook is an excellent way to go about it. You can write the book and get it up on Kindle within a few weeks.

    * Develop a Membership Course – You can turn your book into an eCourse easily with the right set-up. You can put your course on a website, or you can use one of the cloud-based providers such as Udemy.com.

    * Create a Blog – A blog is a good way, though a long term way, to earn some passive income by recommending tools, products and services to your audience. You technically can easily create two different blogs. One directed to other service providers, and one directed to your ideal client for whom you now work as a service provider.

    * Build an Online Directory – A directory is a great way to collect some money to allow people to list their business on the site. You can make it pretty hands off with the technology available from directory software like eDirectory.

    Link to eDirectory – http://www.edirectory.com/about-edirectory/spotlight.php

    * Promote Products as an Affiliate – Your audience likely needs various products that you can recommend to them as an expert service provider. When they use the link you provide to them, you’ll earn a little bit of commission.

    * Outsource More – As a service provider you can become the public name of a larger entity when you outsource. If you can find people to outsource to who will do the work less expensively but as well as you, you can make money without having to do the work. Your job becomes marketing the services.

    * Promote an App – You may be able to come up with an idea for an app for your audience. Even if you have zero coding experience, you can hire a coder to make the app for you, then promote it to your audience as well as your customers.

    * Create a YouTube Channel – Popular YouTube channels can earn a full-time income and you can get in on the action. You can either make videos yourself, or you can hire someone to make videos for you depending on which way you plan to go.

    Developing passive income sources as a service provider is a delicate balance. Always be honest with your clients when you recommend a product to them that it’s something you will earn commission on. Nothing is wrong with that at all, but you have to be up front with them about it.

    Categories: Run a Home Business, Service Tags: Tags:

    Creating a Memorable Portfolio for Your B2B Event

    Going to B2B events is a great opportunity to generate leads for your business. There are many types of events, such as seminars, workshops, webinars, teleseminars, conferences, tradeshows and even executive briefings. For many of these types of events, you’ll need to take a portfolio with you so that you can impress the other attendees.

    You can add these things to both a physical and an online portfolio. Put the URL of the portfolio on your business card, plus make a few copies of your portfolio to hand out to prospects who come to your event table.

    * Examples of Content – Any demonstration that you can write well is an important addition to your portfolio. Adding a few examples of your best work will help the attendees see what you can do.

    * Your Book – If you’ve published a book, you should bring plenty of signed copies of the book to give away and to sell if allowed.

    * Show Unique Work Examples – Any project you’ve worked on that demonstrates outside of the box thinking, plus how you solved problems, is a good project to include in your portfolio.

    * Include Your Education – If you have relevant education, courses, or certifications, include a copy of the certificates in your portfolio. This shows a commitment to your work.

    * Define What You Do – Ensure that anything you put in your portfolio demonstrates exactly what you do for your target audience who will be at the B2B event. Leave out anything that is not directly relevant.

    * Prove What You Can Do – Find relevant samples that prove the best of what you can do for your audience. If you design websites, show the best websites, especially websites that are relevant to the audience at the B2B event.

    * Awards – If you’ve received any awards, put copies of those into your portfolio. This shows that your work has been recognized by others and makes people trust you more.

    * Press Mentions – If there are good press mentions including published press releases that you can include, do so. These show that you not only know what you’re doing but other people think you do, too.

    * Include a Resume or CV – Many freelancers balk at including a resume or a CV, but the fact is people want to know your history. This will help develop trust.

    * Testimonials – If you have some great testimonials, include them in your portfolio because word of mouth is powerful. Even if the person doesn’t know the testimonial giver directly, it can make a huge difference if they can at least verify the person.

    Including these things in your portfolio is a good start to helping you make any B2B event productive for you. The idea is to sell yourself to the right audience so before you start, choose who your sub-audience is from those who will attend the B2B event.

    Categories: organizations, presentations, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags:

    Creating a Continuous Flow and a Positive Experience from End to End

    Today, consumers are more educated than ever. They also access information in various ways from their mobile device and their PCs. If you want to keep your customers as well as attract new customers, it’s important to think about each customer’s experience so that you can create a positive experience from end to end.

    It should not matter how your customers access your information; they should get the same experience. Naturally, it will have to be a little different on each device in order to fit the screen space, but what is offered should be the same content and the same functionality. It should have the same look and feel regardless of the device the customer is using.

    * Offer the Same Content – No matter which device your customer views the information you provide on, they should be able to access it and see the same content. Although different aspects may be highlighted, based on the device, the user should have a good experience on any device.

    * Use the Same Colors – Don’t mix up your brand with changing colors or logos for new devices. The look and feel of your website, while the layout might be different due to screen space, should be very much the same.

    * Optimize for Each Device – On one device you might optimize a different area that is easier to use via that particular device, provided that it doesn’t take away from the experience. Perhaps when reading your report on a smartphone, the images are on a single page rather than so small that you cannot even view them.

    * User Friendly Design – No matter which device your audience is viewing your material on, the design needs to put the user first and foremost. What you want your audience to know doesn’t matter as much as what they want to know.

    * Consider Scrolling instead of Clicking – Clicking on a smartphone can be a very different experience than on a PC. If you can instead create everything on one continuous page, so that to see the “next page” on the smartphone requires only scrolling (and on the website it can be via a click or scrolling), you can make reading more a lot easier for your audience.

    * Keep the Search Bar Consistent – Keep the search bar in the same place on each device. If it’s at the top on a PC, keep it at the top on the mobile device. This consistency keeps your audience understanding how to use the site to find the information they want.

    * Make Recommendations – Never be afraid to make recommendations to your audience for more content that they might find interesting. Famous websites like Netflix and Amazon do this very successfully, and you can too.

    * Recommend Other Devices – Not only can you recommend other content that you’ve created, you can also recommend other devices and apps that you offer to help your audience member access more information from you.

    Your users should have an excellent experience regardless of which device they access your services on. It shouldn’t make a difference to their experience and the positive feeling they get when using your services or viewing your products.

    They should also be able to switch from one device to another as seamlessly as possible. For example, your customer might be on the train looking at your products, then come home and get on their PC; due to signing in and out they should be able to access the last thing they saw or page they were on without interruption.

    Categories: Run a Home Business, website Tags: Tags:

    Create Apps Even If You Can’t Code

    You may be wondering how in the world you can create apps, and ultimately sell apps, if you can’t even code. But, the truth is, you can. There are two ways to deal with not being able to code. You can find apps with reseller rights, or you can hire a coder to create an app for you. Both are good choices, and depend on the availability of reseller rights as well as how you want to sell the app and your budget.

    Reseller Apps

    A reseller app (sometimes also called a white label or private label app) means that, at least as far as the particular license covers, you can sell the app as your own. There is some advice you should follow when embarking on using reseller or PLR apps.

    * Check the Licenses – Each creator crafts different licenses. Because of this, be sure to check the license before purchasing so that you can be assured that you’re allowed to do with the app what you need to do with the app for your audience.

    * Find Reputable Dealers – It’s very important to check the reputation of any dealer in private label rights or resell rights applications. You don’t want to purchase apps from just anyone who might have stolen the work of someone else.

    * Determine If Support Is Available – If you aren’t a coder, it can prove problematic to provide customer service to your audience. Therefore, you need to know if the creators will support your customers or if you need to pay for support for your customers.

    * Is It in Your Budget? – What is the cost to be able to be part of their reseller program and can you afford it? How many sells will you need to make to break even? Can you tell how much other resellers are selling the apps for and how they’re doing?

    Answering these questions for yourself will help you be more successful as an app PLR seller, because there is more to it than just getting the app. The app must work as described, look professional, and be affordable enough that you can return a profit easily.

    Hiring a Coder

    Another way to get an app made without being able to code is to hire a coder. You can find coders relatively simply and the cost may be a lot less than you think when it comes to having simple apps made for you to sell to your audience. Here are some things you want to know before proceeding.

    * Experience Level – How long has the coder been working and what type of certification do they have? Some coders offer simple coding and others more complex services, including getting your app listed on iTunes.

    * References – Of the people who’ve hired the coder, how many have given positive responses and feedback? Who will give the coder a good reference and is the reference someone you can verify as real?

    * Iron-Clad Contract – Be sure to craft a contract that spells out that the coder has no rights to the finished product and cannot ever claim rights over it. You may also want a non-disclosure clause or other elements in the contract that help you to ensure your rights with the app.

    * Is It in Your Budget? – This is based on how many apps you believe you can sell at a particular price to become profitable.

    There is another option, which is to use an app builder such as BuildFire.com, Como.com, Appsbar.com and others. These are good options too. You can build the app and then sell it to your audience. As normal, check the terms of service to find out what you’re allowed to do with the app you create. Also test out the app to ensure that it works as expected.

    As you see, anyone can create an app if they want to – even if they can’t code.

    Categories: Apps, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags:

    Common Online Marketing Mistakes

    When it comes to online marketing, everyone starts off thinking they know how to do it. But, the truth is, online marketing is not very different from other types of marketing. The tool is different, but the way you go about it really isn’t. You still need to understand who your audience is, what your product or service is, and know how to explain to your audience why it will solve their problems and why you are the one to offer it.

    The following mistakes can lead to problems with getting more business.

    * Not Sticking to One Brand – Don’t try to be someone different online than you are offline. Don’t try to recreate your brand for every social media network. Keep the same brand image, slightly changed up for each network’s platform and features, but keeping the same colors, values, and ideals as you have on your website. You want your customers to know who you are, no matter where they connect with you.

    * Not Watching Your Competitors – You don’t want to copy your competitors, but watching them will help you stay one step ahead of them. It might even alert you to some cosmic change in the marketplace if you are paying attention. Be aware of what type of products and/or services your competition provides and be ready to do them one better.

    * Not Having a Goal – It’s imperative that for each type of marketing you do, you have a goal in mind. Whether it’s content marketing, pay-per-click marketing, or social media marketing, having a goal to reach will help you know whether or not you’ve accomplished your mission. Plus it will help you know how to move forward.

    * Not Having a Domain Name – Not only should you have a domain name, but you should also have an email @yourdomainname if you want to be taken seriously as a business owner. You can easily set up your own email address with your webhost provider, sometimes at no additional charge.

    * Not Having Diverse and Regular Content – It’s no longer enough to simply put up 500-word blog posts and expect to get a loyal following. Today you need longer blog posts, video, podcasts, infographics, memes and more to ensure that you are reaching all parts of your audience. Everyone learns differently, and it’s your job to educate them in the way they learn best.

    * Not Having an Email List – It’s surprising how many business owners there are who don’t realize the importance of building an email list for successful online marketing. But it’s true; some people don’t build an email list, and they should.

    * Not Having Well-Written Content – You can’t just slap anything up and expect it to be successful when it comes to content marketing. You need original, unique content that speaks directly to your audience. In addition, you need curated content from other experts which you comment on.

    * Not Focusing on Benefits over Features – It’s tempting to discuss all the features of your product or service instead of the benefits. All marketing messages, even on your “about us” page, need to be focused on your client and how your products or services benefit them. That can be difficult to wrap your brain around sometimes, but it is imperative in order to get more conversions.

    Don’t make these mistakes with your online marketing. If you really want to be successful at online marketing, learn from those who have gone before you, and do not try to reinvent the wheel.

    Categories: Marketing, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags:

    Common Mistakes Made in JV Partnerships

    A JV partnership is a joint venture where two different businesses join up to work on a particular project together. They do not become one business entity; rather they stay separate through the JV experience and after.

    There are many advantages in having a JV partnership. At the same time, here are some common mistakes that you’ll definitely want to avoid.

    * Not Having a Contract – So many people get involved with JVs without a contract and this is a huge mistake. If you have no control over the purse, the domain, or the intellectual property, you could end up being left out from the profit too.

    * Not Having a Clear Delineation of Duties – Each partner in the relationship should have some type of duty or responsibility. There are cases of silent partnerships where one gives their name, their list, or some funding in exchange for a split of the profits, but everything should be spelled out specifically. If you want one person to deliver a specific amount of work each month, say so.

    * Giving Up Too Much Control of Your Brand – In a joint venture, sometimes one person is in control and in charge. However, you want to keep an eye on your brand so that you don’t give up too much control over it.

    * Unrealistic Expectations – It’s easy to get excited about a joint venture, but don’t place all your hopes and dreams into a single venture. You never know what can happen, but you need to have contingency plans.

    * Entering into Partnership with a Competitor – It’s a bad idea to enter into a JV partnership with someone who is a direct competitor. Instead, try to find people to work with who market complementary goods and services to your audience.

    * Not Planning an Exit Strategy – Most JV partnerships don’t last forever. Therefore, you should write into the contract how long the relationship will last and how it will end. Planning everything in advance usually works better than just letting it dissolve on its own due to potentially having different expectations.

    * Not Offering Something Valuable to the Partnership – If everyone is to be satisfied in the partnership then each person needs to contribute value to the partnership. Everyone will feel better and it will cut down on resentment.

    * Trying to Hook Up With Someone in the Wrong Niche – It’s hard sometimes to differentiate between working with someone who offers complementary products in your niche and someone who is in an entirely different niche. But you need to stick to what you know and only enter JV partnerships within your niche.

    When you enter into a partnership, it’s more important than ever to cross all your T’s and dot all your I’s. Don’t be afraid to ask for a better contract or better terms when working out the initial phases of the JV relationship. If you’re setting it up, don’t have a “me first” attitude about the situation. Instead, find a way to make the JV a win-win association for everyone involved so that everybody can contribute talents and benefit as equally as possible.

    Categories: Joint Ventures Tags: Tags:

    Choosing the Right Business Entity

    When you start up your business you’ll want to figure out your tax-related business identity. There are a few choices depending on where you live. In the USA you can choose to be a sole proprietor, partnership, a limited liability corporation (LLC) or a corporation. Each has different rules, regulations and tax consequences. It will depend on your individual business and what works best for you.

    Some types of businesses are required to be in a certain category, but a large share of businesses can run as sole proprietors or LLCs easily.

    Sole Proprietor

    This type of business set-up means that there is just one owner who is totally responsible for everything. It’s the easiest way to start a business, and how most people get started as long as they’re not in a category that requires another entity.

    One problem with this type of business is that if something goes wrong and a customer or other person is harmed in some way and brings a lawsuit, they can win your personal funds and even take your home. Taxes are easy in the USA with the schedule C on personal income taxes.

    Partnership

    If you are running a business with another person, then you may want to form a partnership. You don’t have to in order to run a business with someone else, but it can offer another level of protection for both parties in the event of a disagreement or even a lawsuit. Income taxes are simple and somewhat like the schedule C reporting, with an additional information return filed. This type of business can be difficult at times, but it’s just as easy to set up as a sole proprietorship.

    Limited Liability Corporation

    Many people like to form LLCs because they have the opportunity to file taxes as a partnership, corporation, or even as a sole proprietorship. The LLC is mostly just to protect individual business owners from personal liability if something goes wrong and a lawsuit happens, or if the business goes under.

    Corporation

    There are many types of corporations such as an S Corp and an INC. These are the most expensive types of entities to form, and have many requirements such as having a board, separate taxes for the business and owners, and other issues. You’ll definitely need to work with a CPA and perhaps a corporate lawyer to help you form a corporation and keep compliant with the laws.

    The business entity that you choose will make a difference in how you file income taxes and run your business on a daily basis. You’ll need to speak to a financial expert such as a CPA to help you determine which entity is best for you.

    Categories: Legal, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags:

    Check Your Stats for Hot Pages on Your Site

    When you are trying to come up with new video topics, one way to do it is to find out what is already popular on your own website. What pages get the most views? What pages get the most interaction? What blog posts get the most questions and “likes”? This information is important because any time you have some topics that are popular already on your website, they will also end up popular as a video.

    * Install Google Analytics – You will need to have analytics on your blog in order to know which blog posts are getting the most traction. You can use Google Analytics to figure out what your website visitors go to first, which page they entered on, how long they stuck around, whether they read something else.

    * Understand What a Hot Page is – A hot page is the page that gets the most views on your blog. In addition to views, find blogs that get the most comments, likes and shares. Read the comments to find out what people want to know, as this is a good way to determine what video to make.

    * Make a List – Using a spreadsheet or other method, make a list of the hot blog posts, with links, notations on visitors, likes, discussion notes and so forth. Use this as your starting point for coming up with video ideas.

    * Create a Video Creation Calendar – From the list, create a publication calendar that makes sense with your current and future promotion ideas. You don’t want to make videos without knowing what your goals are (more sales, more newsletter sign-ups, etc…).

    * Repurpose Blog Posts – If you have a popular blog post, turn it into a video. Your script is practically written. You need to determine how you’ll show it visually, and how you might either cut it down to a smaller and shorter point or expand it so you can go more in-depth about the topic.

    * Start with a How to Post – If you have any “how to” blog posts, start there. They are super easy to transform into videos; you can even make an explainer video with a how to post that will blow your viewers out of the water.

    * Fill in the Gaps – If you notice you have some hot pages, read through the posts. If you find gaps in a post even if it was popular, make a video that fills in the gaps, and then link to the video under that blog post.

    * Make Them Special – Consider doing more than “talking head” videos. Talking head videos are great because people like seeing your face (or any face) as it develops trust. However, you should also add in visuals such as charts, and images that advance your message.

    When you go with what is already popular, you’ll start off on the right foot when it comes to making videos. More than likely the people who liked the blogs you already made are going to like the videos you make, using the blogs as your starting point.

    Categories: video Tags: Tags:

    Check Your Competition for Video Ideas

    If you’re running out of video ideas, look to your competition to find out what’s working and what’s not working in terms of content for videos. It’s not cheating to get an idea from someone else, and it’s not plagiarism. As long as you don’t copy it directly, there is nothing wrong with that. Think about how many brands of soap exists or how many different romantic novels (with the same basic theme) have been written, and you know they get their ideas from each other or from what already exists. And, that is perfectly ok.

    * Subscribe to Other Channels – If you’re on YouTube putting videos up, subscribe to your competition so that you can watch what they’re doing and find out if what they are doing works. You can go to SocialBlade.com to find out which YouTube channels are making money, and you can also look at their video list to find out which videos get the most views and likes.

    * Read Their Books – If your competition puts out books, read their books, or at least look at their table of contents. You can get a lot of ideas from books and their tables of contents, because it explains what the topics are and what answers the reader can look forward to as they read it. You can make videos about any of the chapter topics but in your own words and with your own opinion.

    * Join Their Lists – If your competition has an email list, join it. You can find out how they deliver messages and tell their audience about their new videos, and you’ll also be less likely to miss something if you’re on the list.

    * Buy Their Products – Go so far as to buy their products, especially if they are very popular. In this way you can see where the gaps are, and seek to fill those gaps with your own videos and information.

    * Participate in Their Groups – If they have a message board or a Facebook group or other group on social media, join and participate in their groups. Don’t market yourself but do be a voice of knowledge and reason within the group.

    * Follow Them on Social Media – No matter which social media your competition is on, you should be following them. You’ll not only get to observe how they use social media, but you’ll observe what questions the audience has. You can make a video on any question asked.

    * Know Their Audiences – You need to be sure that the audience of your competition matches up with your own. If not, how are they different? This is important because you don’t want to duplicate something that won’t work with your own audience.

    * Don’t Plagiarize – There is a difference between emulating something and downright plagiarizing it. For example, if someone is doing a video about making videos, just because you do one doesn’t mean you’re plagiarizing. However, if you take their script word-for-word and then deliver it in your own voice, that’s stealing.

    Your audience follows many different people offering them similar information. Find out where they go, and follow them there. Learn what they’re learning. Learn about their complaints about what they’re learning as well as their compliments.

    Categories: Run a Home Business, video Tags: Tags:

    Building Long-Lasting Business Relationships

    The best way to build long-lasting business relationships is to participate in the group or communities that the members participate in. You need to know how to get into any group, fit in, and get to know your customers and clients in a whole new way. It’s no longer good enough to just sell them something and then move on. Now you need to cultivate relationships that ensure that the relationship lasts longer.

    * Give Freely – Before ever asking anyone you meet for a favor, always do things for them first. Freely give of yourself to people and they will remember you. If you’ve done a good job letting them know what you offer, they’ll come to you when they’re ready.

    * Stay Professional – It’s especially important to remember that social media is part of the way you communicate professionally today. You need to keep the things you share business-like, avoiding personal oversharing or inappropriate sharing.

    * Practice Your Elevator Speech – Some people object to calling it that, but it’s just a way to say that you should be prepared with a short way of introducing yourself, your business, and what you do for people. Be sure to frame it with the benefits for the client instead of making it all about you.

    * Be Honest and Ethical – It can be a dog-eat-dog world out there, and you’ll have to compete with a lot of unethical people. But, keep your own morals and don’t cross those legal and ethical boundaries just to get business.

    * Do What You Say You Will Do – Don’t volunteer to do things you don’t have time to do. If someone asks you to do something and you simply can’t do it due to a time crunch or something, say so. But, when you say you will do it, do it, and do it to the best of your ability.

    * Don’t Monopolize Anyone’s Time – We’ve all met the person who talks too much, or the person who doesn’t talk at all, or the person who sticks by one person at an event. Don’t be that person. Instead, learn to converse intelligently and appropriately with a variety of people.

    * Be Welcoming – When someone new wants to join the group, be welcoming and open to them. Sometimes groups can become cliquish, and it can cause serious problems with the group. Not allowing new people in and making them feel like they belong can make a group stagnant.

    * Listen a Lot – You’ve heard the saying, “You have two ears and one mouth for a reason”? Well, it’s true. Use this as your guide to listen twice as much as you talk. Sometimes talking too much is a sign of nervousness; if you can focus more on what people are saying than what you want to say, you can also calm your nervousness.

    Building long-lasting relationships takes time in business and in your personal life. Both have many of the same characteristics for success. Be yourself, be honest, listen, and be helpful. But, don’t overshare or act in an unprofessional manner. If you want business relationships to be fruitful, they have to trust you, so be trustworthy.

    Categories: organizations Tags: Tags: