Post: #1

Over the past few weeks, I've been fairly quiet here, but I've been looking at ways to contribute more - as this forum was what set a fire in my to work for myself, to quit my job, and to travel more.

The purpose of this datasheet is to show you the business models that I've used, and that I'm currently using to generate upwards of 5/6 figures a month completely online, from my laptop.

It will be a datasheet, as well as me documenting my continual journey on the three business models that I will list below. Making money online isn't really that hard - but where most people go wrong, is that they fail to specialize, and more importantly, they sell their time for money (a big no-no).

Frank Kern, an online marketing legend, says that you need to focus on three skills - then try these skills on one client, create a process & then outsource. You can hit $200,000 a year no problem with one skill - but without outsourcing, you'll never get above it.

The advice I give, and the business models I use are easy to learn, easy to implement, and easy to outsource, but you have to dedicate yourself, and really focus on the skills required to implement these business models - Online advertising (FB, Insta, and to a lesser degree Youtube), Creating a marketing funnel (Clickfunnels, leadpages etc) and Copywriting (a basic level is required).

Below are the business models I'm currently utilizing.

I. Print-on-demand (POD)
II. SMM (Social Media Marketing + Service Selling) Outsourced
III. SaaS (Software as a service) - more capital intensive, and step 3 of my plan

This will be a short initial post, but I will expand on each in subsequent posts. The point of this post is to get you thinking about the business models listed - and to do your own research, with me answering any questions you may have.

I. POD

If you've read my older articles relating to money, you'll notice that I was heavy into dropshipping. While it still is a viable model, POD is far superior, and generating me massive returns.

What's POD?

POD is print-on-demand. Have a design idea? Are you familiar with a niche? Then this is perfect for you. POD is when you get something printer on anything from a t-shirt, to a coffee mug. You can create a website that is for one specific niche, or create a website that is more general, and features numerous niches.

What is required?

POD requires a few things.

You need to have an idea, or you can find an idea by researching other t-shirt stores, finding funny quotes, or using whichever niche you already know and have ideas in.

In general, you need:

1. An idea
2. A platform to sell your products (Shopify)
3. A print provider (customcat)

POD is superior to dropshipping for a variety of reasons. Most print providers are in the United States - so shipping time is low, and quality is high. Additionally, it's your own brand - you're not importing crappy products from China (although again, this is still a viable business model).

This business model is easy to set up. Once you have an idea, you can contact a designer on upwork, or another freelancing site, have them whip up some designs, plaster them on a t-shirt and start selling.

You can outsource very easily, as well.

II. SMM

Social media marketing (or service-selling) is my bread and butter right now, and consistently brings in over 5-figures in revenue alone (revenue, not profit). This business model is where you manage the lead generation for a business, preferably a service-selling business. A real estate agents needs leads - using Facebook ads, you generate him/her leads. In return, they pay you either by commission (or my preferred method, a monthly retainer).

It's also a super easy business model to get into. You simply need to understand Facebook ads, and how to build a basic marketing funnel (ad -> landing page).

It's important that for this business model, you specialize though. For example, real estate agents. You would position yourself as an expert within that niche, and market your services to real estate agents.

What is required?

1. An understanding of Facebook ads + funnels
2. A Facebook page (for your brand)
3. A system to attract leads (your niche)

You can get your clients from good old fashioned cold-calling, or launching a Facebook ad targeting your desired niche.

You'll need a calendar booking application as well, in order to schedule meetings with your prospects.

Once you have a client, you can replicate the same process that you used to find your client, to find them clients as well - as you can see, it's a super easy process that can be outsourced eventually.

My process:

1. Create a FB Page (Attracting Wealthy Clients For Realtors, as an example)
2. Set up a leadpage which describes what you can do for your clients, how they can benefit + set up a calendar app
3. Launch a Facebook ad with targeting to your niche 'realtors'
4. Have prospects book calls
5. Close them
6. Repeat process, but for people looking to buy/sell homes, and with a different landing page (listings etc..)

III. SaaS

This business model is more capital intensive, and I'll expand on it later, but the premise is to have a software created, and licence the use of that software on a subscription basis.

This should be your end goal - and for me, my software is within one of the niches above, so that I know it's useful, and know there's a market for it. This is the big-money business model - we're talking $10,000/days if you market it right.

Depending on what software you want, you'll be looking at $20,000 - $30,000 as an initial investment. My team for my own SaaS is based in Ukraine, and I would recommend using Ukrainian developers.

If anyone is serious about SaaS, send me a PM, but I will answer most questions here .

Any questions? Just ask.

Post: #2

What would you say are the three top profitable niches for dropshipping that are not overly saturated?

I also checked customcats they sell mens Tshirts for 20 dollars. I find that pretty high, but what are your margins?

Thanks for all the info

Post: #3

(11-23-2017 04:33 PM)NKD Wrote:  What would you say are the three top profitable niches for dropshipping that are not overly saturated?

It's impossible to answer this question. I don't believe in 'overly saturated niches', as a creative marketing strategy can overcome that.

(11-23-2017 04:33 PM)NKD Wrote:  I also checked customcats they sell mens Tshirts for 20 dollars. I find that pretty high, but what are your margins?

The G200 Gildan Ultra Cotton T-Shirt is what I've built my business on. The shirt retails for around $6, so I normally sell my shirts for anywhere between $19.99 - $24.99.

Post: #4

Print-On-Demand - Starting Out

PASSION, PASSION AND PASSION.

The first step in the POD business model is trying to figure out what niche you want to enter (or if you want to do a general store, you can use this step as well).

Preferably, you already have a niche in mind - whether it be one that you're familiar with, or one that you're already an expert in (MMA, certain TV shows that you know quotes of, or you're already in a community for a certain niche).

But if you're not, you can easily use research tools to find what designs are selling right now, or which have sold in the past so that you can ride trends.

My favourite tool is https://teespy.com/ (no this is not an affiliate link). It shows you a bunch of data on shirts currently selling (and designs). It's a good tool, but don't just use this.

You want to ride social trends as well - Trump shirts were huge a few months ago, sex scandal shirts are becoming bigger now (Weinstein etc). You get the idea. Comb social media accounts for other t-shirt stores, take a look at google images. No method of research should be off the table.

You could even go your own route, and create your own brand, with a vision, and market it that way.

The number one rule to keep in mind is to pick a passionate niche. There's money in passion.

I'll give away one of my POD niche right now - Vegans. I'm not a Vegan, but they're a passionate niche that loves to support their cause. I've created numerous shirts, sweaters and even mousepads with Vegan quotes, sayings and shit on them - they sell like hotcakes.

You'll want to spend a week or so gathering ideas before moving on to the design phase.

Post: #5

WeekendCasanova thank you so much, I love you man!!!

I opened a dropshipping store trying to sell The Fifth watches at a competitive price but failed miserably. I guess I should have went with a passion niche instead.

I’ll do some research and if my dropshipping store makes profit especially this coming weekend, I will definitely start my own brand in that niche.

It’s time I escape this rate race or hamster wheel I was brought up to believe was the right thing and be my own boss for once!

Post: #6

how long did it take to scale to 5 figures MRR w/ social media marketing, and what's profit %

Post: #7

I have been researching POD recently. Ironically, does anyone here think that feminism would be a very passionate niche?

Post: #8

WC: question for Model 2 - SMM

Are you doing sales calls on behalf of your customers? Or are you getting prospects to book via the client's scheduler and the client closes them?

If you are doing the closing, do you have a system for figuring out how to research a niche and a checklist for a phone FAQ for sales calls... or is your "close" getting the prospect to agree to talk to the client's salesman?

Post: #9

(11-23-2017 09:18 PM)qwertyuiop Wrote:  how long did it take to scale to 5 figures MRR w/ social media marketing, and what's profit %

The service itself is like 99% profit. The only thing you have to pay for is your backend, including:

-Automations
-Website
-Scheduler
-Prospecting expenses (advertising, etc)

Plus education of course. It's kind of like being a musician. You have to pay for lessons, books, equipment, etc., then you just show up at the gig and play.

Post: #10

Great post, could you break down your POD advertising strategy for the family here?

I haven't done it, but if I had a niched-down store like you describe I'd be advertising on REDDIT a ton. It seems totally undervalued. You can choose subreddits related to your niche and turn on the money hose.

Nobody is talking about this.

Post: #11

(11-23-2017 09:18 PM)qwertyuiop Wrote:  how long did it take to scale to 5 figures MRR w/ social media marketing, and what's profit %

As redbeard said, the profit margin is very high, because you're trading your time for money - the client usually pays ad and other costs, so your only cost is your time.

Once you begin to outsource, however, you will have to pay your staff - but your overall revenue, and thus profit will be higher anyways.

In terms of how long it took me to scale to 5 figures, I would say around 3 months - but this is because I already had considerable knowledge of Facebook ads, and the process from my background in POD/eCommerce.

It's not difficult to learn though.

Post: #12

(11-24-2017 04:40 AM)TooFineAPoint Wrote:  WC: question for Model 2 - SMM

Are you doing sales calls on behalf of your customers? Or are you getting prospects to book via the client's scheduler and the client closes them?


If you are doing the closing, do you have a system for figuring out how to research a niche and a checklist for a phone FAQ for sales calls... or is your "close" getting the prospect to agree to talk to the client's salesman?

The client has to close the prospect - I simply bring them leads.

My entire marketing funnel is material that that the client has provided to me (i.e what they're offering), but I have my copywriters make it sound nicer + more persuasive, and show their offer to their desired target demographic.

The closing is entirely on their end.

Post: #13

(11-24-2017 09:53 AM)redbeard Wrote:  Great post, could you break down your POD advertising strategy for the family here?

I haven't done it, but if I had a niched-down store like you describe I'd be advertising on REDDIT a ton. It seems totally undervalued. You can choose subreddits related to your niche and turn on the money hose.

Nobody is talking about this.

REDDIT is awesome for POD - I know a few guys who are using it. Personally, I've never had an account on REDDIT, so I've never experimented with this but I could definitely see it as being powerful.

My entire POD advertising strategy rests on Facebook & Instagram.

In terms of ad creative, a simple picture of your product with a wooden background, and a red border with some super simple text asking your niche a question "do you love xyz", asking them to tag others, and provide a link. It's really super simple. Another option, is to use the awesome provider (https://placeit.net/) which allows you to place your design on real models, and videos as well (super powerful).

At the end of the day though, Facebook is the most powerful advertising platform for niche-based POD ideas. With so many fan pages, it's super easy to target them as well.

Post: #14

Great post. I noticed a few POD apps, would you recommend customcat over the rest?

Thanks

Post: #15

(11-24-2017 11:36 AM)Brisey Wrote:  Great post. I noticed a few POD apps, would you recommend customcat over the rest?

Thanks

Good question, everyone I know uses

https://www.printful.com/

Post: #16

(11-24-2017 10:38 AM)WeekendCasanova Wrote:  

(11-23-2017 09:18 PM)qwertyuiop Wrote:  how long did it take to scale to 5 figures MRR w/ social media marketing, and what's profit %

As redbeard said, the profit margin is very high, because you're trading your time for money - the client usually pays ad and other costs, so your only cost is your time.

Once you begin to outsource, however, you will have to pay your staff - but your overall revenue, and thus profit will be higher anyways.

In terms of how long it took me to scale to 5 figures, I would say around 3 months - but this is because I already had considerable knowledge of Facebook ads, and the process from my background in POD/eCommerce.

It's not difficult to learn though.

I'm building up a few authority sites now but I'll add this to the idea list. Thanks -- also POD is a good monetization idea...

Post: #17

(11-24-2017 12:01 PM)redbeard Wrote:  

(11-24-2017 11:36 AM)Brisey Wrote:  Great post. I noticed a few POD apps, would you recommend customcat over the rest?

Thanks

Good question, everyone I know uses

https://www.printful.com/

I started my own brand using printful a couple years ago and their quality control was shit. I don't know if they've improved since then, but I placed several test orders of a bunch of shirts and maybe 25% of the shirts were fit to sell. I used their template on the site that allows you to center designs perfectly, at least in theory. In reality, most of them came out off center and wonky looking. I'd consider jumping back into this business model, provided I could find a really good POD service. I cannot recommend printful though.

WC, I'm also curious why you chose customcat. Did you do test runs with various POD services and determine they were the best? And thanks for the datasheet...+1 from me!

Post: #18

(11-24-2017 11:36 AM)Brisey Wrote:  Great post. I noticed a few POD apps, would you recommend customcat over the rest?

Thanks

I've tested a few others, and in terms of quality, shipping time, and price, I prefer customcat above all else. They have a ton of variety in terms of their product catelogue as well.

They have good customer support, and it integrates seamlessly with Shopify.

Printful is decent for some things, but personally I prefer CC.

Post: #19

I really need to get back into this. I'm currently working as a consultant and I'm finding my return on time isn't there. Profit margins are low overall for the company and I get a small cut of that.

Thanks for the post!

Post: #20

SMM Agency

I received a ton of messages regarding the SMM Agency - the business model is pretty straight forward, despite how I described it above.

Most businesses simply aren't using social media to market - or if they are, they're doing it horribly. Even something as simple as broadly targeting local customers is more than most businesses are doing, but if you're not confident in your abilities yet, offer them a free trial for a week before switching to being paid.

You should be able to get your first paying client within 30-days, if you follow the basic process I listed above.

Two books I highly recommend for this business model:

- The ultimate sales letter by dan kennedy
- No bs guide to social media marketing

Post: #21

Amazing datasheet WC! This data sheet is a huge value-add to this forum.

I've done a bit more research on POD and found this datasheet on reddit which shares a lot of the same thoughts you do on the topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/co..._on_how_i/

I'm curious what your overall thoughts are on a few items in particular:

1. Any impressions on using Teelaunch for the POD?
2. Have you sold on amazon and are you integrating in into your shopify? How lucrative is that compared to FB/Instagram?
3. Any other overall thoughts on his strategy?

Post: #22

(11-28-2017 03:51 AM)gringoed Wrote:  Amazing datasheet WC! This data sheet is a huge value-add to this forum.

I've done a bit more research on POD and found this datasheet on reddit which shares a lot of the same thoughts you do on the topic: https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/co..._on_how_i/

I'm curious what your overall thoughts are on a few items in particular:

1. Any impressions on using Teelaunch for the POD?
2. Have you sold on amazon and are you integrating in into your shopify? How lucrative is that compared to FB/Instagram?
3. Any other overall thoughts on his strategy?

1. I've never used Teelaunch - because CC has everything I need, and more.
2. Nope - I don't like Amazon, as I like to have a storefront. In terms of integration, that's a no as well. I have dropshipped from Amazon, however. FB/Insta is #1 in my books though.
3. I didn't read all of it - but it looks like he's overcomplicating it..that's just my opinion though.

Post: #23

Curious about POD as I was in a band a while back and have some pretty novice small-time experience in printing custom merchandise:

How do you automate this? We used to make up designs, pay a screen printing company to print them, then sell them at shows and on our webstore (so therefore we held an inventory and handled all shipping and customer interaction directly ourselves).

Do you acquire an inventory of all your products before you sell it? Or do you only submit order(s) when you have order(s). The latter of course being a lot of wait time for the customer.

Do you have other people package and ship your products for you? If so, do you have all your orders shipped to them along with a list of outgoing orders?

Post: #24

WeekendCasanova, is it a good idea to start with facebook ads? I keep seeing people on YouTube saying to start Instagram first.

But when I think about it, it’s really easy to figure out my customers with facebook ads. I can also run ads for 5 dollars a day to test products and different customer base.

What do you think? I just feel instagram is garbage in my opinion unless it’s a 2+ million page with insane engagement, and gotta pay alot for shout-outs.

Post: #25

General Stalin, he just uses an app on Shopify that does everything for him.

He does not acquire any inventory, he submits orders when he has orders.

Customcat, makes the shirts/mugs/etc, prints on them and ships them. All WeekendCasanova does is use the app and fullfill orders online with a few clicks.

His orders are sent to them digitally through an app on Shopify once he’s done with his “few click” mentioned above.

It’s exactly like dropshipping or it is dropshipping!

It’s actually really simple and easy. Just need some bad ass designs and marketing skills. You can even hire a virtual assistant to fullfill orders for you while you watch the money pile up.