What was your first successful business or work from home Job? (Everyone Welcome)

My first successful business that make money was through Market Research and Marketing online.

Tell us your first business you knew that you could maybe start working full time at that Job or Business.

What was yours?

 

First it was website design and hosting.
Both were/are recurring income for 20+ years.
After that, affiliate marketing using those skills.
Add to that photography and tech support.

Who needs a job?
There are thousands of ways to earn from home.
A side job was re-filling ink-jet cartridges for 1,000% mark up.
Still do it for myself and friends, just not as a business now.
Under a buck worth of ink returns $10-$15 in 5 minutes.

 

I struggled for 5 years online and then I met my mentor who taught me how he earns a full time income online with affiliate programs. He was VERY VERY specific on what he does and that was how I actually earned my first $1000 PROFIT online after 5 years of losing more the $10,000 on my credit cards.

If you want to make money online with affiliate marketing and have your own website selling them, just know that it takes money to make money.

 

Well,

My first successful (i.e., made a profit, not just earned some money) work-at-home venture was when I decided to start working as a Personal Trainer/Nutrition Coach from home when I left the fitness club I was working for. It took me some time to build a reputation. Most of my business came from word-of-mouth referrals from previous clients and the rest came from some social media marketing.

Since then, I've also started doing a few other things to earn money from home, like affiliate marketing and software sales. What I find is that the more expensive the product or the more the commitment involved with the product/service is, the longer it takes to build a reputation as a respected party in that field. However, once you do start obtaining customers, they also tend to be more loyal.

 

I tried a number of different things and ended up in the free money making niche. It worked well because many people are looking to make money without spending any. Some are leery about paying for anything upfront online and some simply cannot afford it.

You may also need to try different things until you find something that works the best for you. Do your research and don't be scared to try different things.

Best of luck.

 

That is a great spot to be in. It's important to know what you like to do and what you don't want to do as well. Despite having two college degrees that have very little to do with writing, I write. Luckily, my skills from college transfer over...but you know what I mean. Turns out I'm good at being a paralegal, but I don't love it. Psychology is fun, but I don't want to be a therapist.

 

Transferable skills make you a lot more flexible in a tough economy and also online. It's a great plus that you have them Robin.

You could even consider writing about legal and psychological topics and tie all of those skills together.

 

That was a great read, you definitely have the entrepreneurial skills needed to be successful. Great work, Great Pic too...

 

CPA lead gens were my first success.

 

Been there, done that. LOL You wouldn't believe some of the things I've written about.

 

Now that makes me curious.

 

I actually started as a virtual administrative assistant using sites like elance.com to find clients. I finally paid off in October of 04 when I picked up a steady client. I worked with him for 9 years. It was a completely virtual company that worked in marketing. Picked up a lot of knowledge and had a lot of fun. Left in February when it stopped being fun. Now I'm open to finding new opportunities again with elance.com or maybe just maybe some affiliate marketing

 

Great Work Stephanie you definitely understand what it takes to be successful working freelance for the countless freelancing jobs that has flooded the market, you have been in business for many years but I think you would agree that their has never been a better time to start working from home, especial when most business is done online these day.

 

ahhh, let me see.... I so well remember the day we bought our very first computer in '06. We lived way back in the boonies at the time, 30 miles from the closest gas station ( for those of you that don't know what the 'boonies' are) and we looked at that contraption - it was a desktop and my husband told me we need to figure out how to make thing work for us. He said, '' we have the world at our fingertips, we need to figure out how to get their money" .... and that is how the journey started....

One of the very first things we tried was Ebay... I taught myself everything as I didn't have anyone to go to for help, and I had no idea how to even ask online or search for help. Started selling log furniture for a local furniture shop and I still do that to this day.

In the next few years we tried various things, including a high ticket network marketing company ( or mlm), affiliate marketing ( heck, I even did the envelope stuffing thing!) ... and then I started learning what SEO was all about and got hooked up with SiteBuildIt ( which is an awesome program to help you learn how to navigate the jungle of keyword research, SEO, etc) .... took almost 2 years but I was making over a thousand a month with it and it was awesome residual income.

Then Google released their SEO algorithm zoo animals....Panda and Penguin. ( for those that have been on the forum for awhile, you will remember those nasty little critters!) I fought hard after the first one and made a comeback but after the second one I just decided it's too much work to have my paycheck rely so heavily on someone that could control it with a flip of a switch!

So I sold my sites.

Kinda wish I still had them sometimes as I always wonder if maybe I coulda made a comeback....

But seriously tho, NOTHING is ever a failure in all of this. We learned from everything we did.

But anyways, here's what I do now for the most part...

I still sell on Ebay both as a dropshipper and with stuff I buy and sell in various niches as I find things here and there.

I am pretty much sticking with mlm for several reasons right now....

1. No one but me can control my paycheck
2. Pretty much anyone can do it.... even the ones that have no CLUE what internet marketing, SEO, blogging etc is all about. As long as they know people and aren't afraid to share with them, we can help them.
   
3. The sky is the limit and the residual income is awesome!

But I honestly don't remember how long it took me in the beginning to make a grand a month.

 

Memories,

Since I transitioned from traditional corporate world decades ago, I have started several businesses over the years, but as to work at home types of businesses, I like many others was introduced to network marketing with Amway which a friend of mine was involved with. I never earned more than I burned trying in this business, but I saw that those who were making the big money were those who spent their time recruiting, not door to door sales. This was the eye opener for me.

Nothing wrong with Amway, after all, they have been in business for over 50 years and a good friend knew the owners and they indeed were living like the multi-millionaires they were and are, so success is undeniable. Sadly, most who joined Amway were lucky to break even and in most cases became customers for they do have some good products, but selling the same old same old was not for me.

Back in the early days of telcom deregulation I jumped on a company called Network2000 which was a offshoot of tel com deregulation and had a very compelling compensation plan, as well as lower rates than the majors like AT&T which was the giant in those days. Since I had a tech. related business with a client base already in place, I simply offered them a lower cost option and this was start of my first home based internet business. In just the first two months I was earning enough to cover all my own telcom costs, so this was my first goal, and I achieved it with a couple months of work, not bad as I saw it.

Long story short, in just over six months I was at just over $1000. a month with just 50 customers, and it was growing nicely as my customers started to refer their contacts, just as any MLM type business operates on, leverage. So for all the naysayers about MLM, no one can say it doesn't work if you work it, as long as you can save people money on what they are already purchasing elsewhere. That is the key to success as I have learned over the many years in network and affiliate marketing.

By the end of my first year I was at $7000. plus a month, so this got my full attention and I sold my travel agency to free up more time for my new focus of telcom services. As one who never put all their eggs in one basket, I started several traditional businesses which complemented each other, all were focused on saving my clients and customers money, first and foremost. That was the second secret to success, focus on saving others money or time, and they will refer others even if their wasn't a compensation plan attached to opportunity.

With all the lessons learned along the way, my strategy of working more than one business saved my butt several times over the years. Network2000 became Sprint and they cancelled our independent agent positions, and along with it a six figure income vanished. Hard lesson to deal with if you were solely dependent on one business, similar to depending on your current job alone, not smart, even more so now with down economy and more people earning less, never mind more unemployed than ever in history. I went from running three businesses to more than double that to date to insure a recession, or depression never again impacts my current income. That is the advice I pass on to everyone, never put all your eggs in one basket, never. PERIOD

Success to all,

 

Okay folks, I've decided to actually learn web design after buying into these work-at-home junk that came in the mail for several years. It seems like even eBay is a struggle for me. Bottom line, I've never had a real job that paid a salary in my whole life. I'm ashamed to say this but I chased after work-at-home opportunities for several years and neglected school/day jobs. Now I need to go to school and learn a skill. Then save maybe $10,000 to start something.

Could any of you, esp. YAGOOFT give me advice. I've recently come back on the forum after a long hiatus. It seems like the real deal rich folks do big time things like importing textiles or stuff like invoice factoring. I've just about given up my dreams to become "rich".

And this guy in Arizona took away my cash in one of those illegal gifting stuff. Also Larry Oxenham.

Those two infuriate me. Ostentatious Fools.

 

ahhh, thanks for the reminder YAGOOFT on Amway.... I actually think that was my very first introduction to mlm way back in the early 90's when my kiddos were babies.

And I totally agree to NOT put all your eggs in one basket. Ever.

We are entrepreneurs. We dabble in this and that and find success in a few of them.

 

Mazzini Auto - you don't need $10k to start a business! Having more start-up money is not your key to success, especially not with network marketing or mlms... Determination and consistency will play a key role in your success in those kinds of businesses. But most of them have start-up costs that are very do-able.

Even the great millionares like Warren Buffet and others on the Forbes list have invested in network marketing. The main investor in the company I represent is one of the Forbes list guys.

 

Mazzini Auto,

You have nothing to be ashamed of. What are your interests? What possibilities are you considering? It may take some time, but keep looking and ultimately you'll find a niche. The key is to find something you can both enjoy and monetize.

 

Could one get into trouble blackmailing pedophiles and perverts on the internet? I read about this in another forum.
Or locating spammers and conning them into paying me? mountainmom I was talking about saving for a franchise like what I've seen in Inc. 500 magazine. All of those require a large upfront fee.

payment proof, I would like to know if you have a LinkedIn Profile or a YouTube page?

Cash gifting is a thing of the past, those are all hyper-saturated by now and won't work anymore. Avarice is bad motivation and so is low self esteem.

Do any of you guys promote Clickbank products? any niche? There used to be this kid named Saj P who knew about IM and all that stuff. Also the guy who created Commission Blueprint from way back.