Over the years I’ve invested a good amount of money into index funds.
Yes, I’ve done other financial investments as well…but we won’t talk about those. Let’s just say I’m not a good ‘stock picker’ and the index funds have consistently performed better for me.
But the subject line of this email is asking a different question.
Are you thinking like an investor or a day laborer when it comes to your online business?
A day laborer gets paid for the work they do today.
But they’re not building any equity.
If they want money tomorrow…they’ll have to put in the same hours. In fact, they may have to work even more hours for the same amount of money because of increased competition.
They’re a commodity that’s easily replaced by the lowest bidder.
You might be in a position where you must do this for a season.
That’s OK. But you don’t want to stay there.
Let’s say you’re a freelancer taking ‘jobs’ on Fiverr. You do the work. You get paid.
How can you transition to an investment mentality?
Here are a few things you can do while you build your experience.
Collect reviews. Create templates for the work you’re doing…which speeds up the process in the future. As you increase your credibility, you can charge more and it takes you less time to fulfill the work.
You could also expand by taking on more of an agency role and outsourcing the work to others using the tools/templates you put together. You could even expand into bigger, more complex projects.
For example, let’s say you’re an email copywriter. You might help clients set up their entire ‘email business’ by teaming up with a designer, tech person, etc.
And of course, you can also get clients on retainer for consistent income plus ask for referrals.
Course creators and coaches also get stuck in day laborer thinking.
What? If you’re creating a course, aren’t you naturally investing for the future?
You’d think so. But a lot of course creators survive from one launch to the next.
They work their butt off to do the course, get a whole bunch of affiliates lined up, and make a bunch of noise to sell their course.
Then everything tapers off…until they launch their next, new course.
Their business exists on the edge of a knife…one poor launch away from bankruptcy.
Launch new courses, but there should be a destination in mind.
Plug buyers into a monthly or annual membership. Build an evergreen funnel where customers can ascend to higher levels of value and access. Create a long-term business…instead of a one-time promotion.
This also applies to consultants and coaches, especially those who sell one-off projects. It’s a revolving door. They’re constantly hunting for new prospects. They need to transition into retainers.
In addition, they should look for ways to leverage what they do through creating courses based on their expertise and/or training assistant coaches. Several of my clients have multiple coaches on their team to serve their clients. A side effect of this is it also allows you to raise your own rates…for those who want higher level access to you.
Of course, these are just a few random ideas for various businesses.
The point is to not limit yourself to being a day laborer long-term.
Put systems in place to deliver better results faster.
Outsource to others.
Maximize the value from anything you’re already doing.
Transition your offers from one-time to evergreen and ongoing.
I’ll be sharing more about strategies you can use to earn more, work less, and enjoy life next week.
