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Gerry's Tips on Having Your Own Business
October 18, 2004
Gerry just posted a great comment in response to my post about jobfree living. It's a great, informative read - more of an article, really.
I thought I would pull out a few of his gems and write my thoughts on them. (To put things in context, Gerry also runs a graphics design site and a technology retailing site, in addition to working in the banking industry).
Gerry: Residual income is good. If the bank didn't get a single new customer next year it would make millions anyway...all these 20 year loans etc. providing ongoing income streams. So try to build that principle into what you're doing.
This is so true. I've been keeping my eye out for residual income opportunities for quite a while now. It's not so easy to find, although I have found one merchant that's looking good.
Gerry: Selling your time is bad. A graphic designer can only accomplish so much in a given time. If you get more work than you can handle you work all night or you have to pass.
And this is exactly where I'm find myself right now. I have basically reached the maximum income I can make with my businesses, which are all service businesses. I"ve actually been looking for something beyond "selling my time" for the last three years, which is one reason why Internet marketing looks so appealing.
As I said in my Jobfree Living post, freelancing is a great way to keep money coming in while you're developing a new business in Internet marketing. But the main problem with freelancing is that you're selling your time.
Being a freelancer beats a salaried job anytime (for me, anyway), but at the same time, once you've been at it for a while, the chances are good that you'll find yourself maxed out in terms of profit potential. I make more than most of my university friends who took the more traditional route of working for a large firm, but at the same time, it's not likely that I'll be able to increase my income by much more. My schedule is so booked up these days that I now turn down work unless the deadlines can be adjusted.
Gerry: And nobody wants to pay too much for your labor anyway, no matter how skilled.
I do make a good hourly rate, but it's only because I will only work on a flat fee basis. Partly because I always hated tracking my billable time when I was a salaried drone but mostly because I am fast at what I do while at the same time I produce quality work on time. The flat fee arrangements almost always work out in my favour. My freelancing is in an industry where the typical hourly rate is anywhere from $20 to $30 per hour (and that's Canadian funds, to boot), so if I told my clients my actual hourly rate, they'd have huge difficulties with it.
But I'm finding these days there's only so much time in each day ... and I'm not liking the limiting effect this has on my income potential!
Gerry: Make it once and sell it multiple times is good.
It's definitely starting to look that way to me!
Gerry: Selling other peoples' stuff can be okay, but often the margins available are too low. ... That's also the problem with most affiliate programs as far as I can tell.
This is very true, from what I've been seeing so far. I think that's why you see people being so private about any affiliate sites or products that are actually working for them (well, except in the Internet marketing niche itself) - when you find a merchant who converts well, has a high priced product AND gives a decent commission to boot, you have a chance of making it, as long as you do your Internet marketing right.
Gerry: the holy grail is high margin high volume
I'm adding this one to my list of wants!
Gerry: Unique is good. Almost everybody is doing almost everything. To have something genuinely different gives you a better chance.
I like this. It definitely suits me and my mindset. I haven't really seen much uniqueness online though, except maybe in Website design (and then that uniqueness can result in rotten search engine results).
Gerry: Make something of your own is good. If you control the product or service from inception and can develop it as you wish, and can control the marketing -in effect be the merchant - you've an advantage.
This is one of my goals, although I intend to mix it in with affiliate marketing. A friend of mine who makes a living online with his own information products regularly tells me about the hassles of being a merchant, so I keep that in mind as well. But the margins can definitely be a lot better, especially if you're dealing with an online, downloadable product.
Anyway, thanks so much, Gerry, for coming by and contributing your thoughts and getting my own thinking going on this!
- BJ
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Posted by BJ at 12:00 AM in Internet Marketing | Permalink
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Comments
And another thing! (now that I'm up and going!). Chasing debtors is bad! In many industries -like graphic design - it is standard practice to give your business customers 30 days trade credit, and it is standard practice for them to take 90! There's nothing more frustrating and time wasting than chasing up slow payers. So a business model which involves up-front payment is good!
BJ - I answered your question about Jennifer back in my blog...and I didn't know what the RSS feed you mentioned is. If it's something it would help for me to add, I'll check into it and do it. And of course Canadians are lovely people lol. I've an aunt married to one in Medicine Hat, Alberta. I've never been there though.
Gerry
Posted by: Gerry | Oct 18, 2004 6:15:48 PM
