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How to make money helping broke people ...?

by bullfrog
20 replies
I've got a client that specializes in helping people figure out where to go to college ... they do a great job of helping them get into school, qualify for financial aid, etc ... the best part is that they're able to offer their service for free, because colleges pay them to provide the service.

I've helped them build their business to the point where they currently help about 20,000 people per month. Not bad.

I'm looking for ways to expand their offering ... to help these same 20,000 people in other aspects of their lives and hopefully pick up more money along the way.

Last month, we conducted a fairly exhaustive study that ultimately focused on finding other areas of their lives where they feel they need help.

We learned that they OVERWHELMINGLY need help with either "finding a job" or "paying bills" ... over 60% of those surveyed listed one or both of those as critical needs in their lives.

Through other questions, we learned that these people are desperate for help, but they are broke. They are WAY below the poverty level.

So, here's Question 1 ... if you had an active audience of people that felt good about your brand, that you had done something nice for in the last 30-days, and you found out that they needed help finding a job, or that they needed help paying their bills ... how would you help them?

Question 2 ... how would you make money while you help them?

I'm not looking for tricky scammy stuff here. This is a real company with a reputation to uphold. Pretend like you really care about these people and really want to help them find a job and pay their bills.

Thanks!
#broke #helping #make #money #people
  • Profile picture of the author salegurus
    Originally Posted by bullfrog View Post

    Pretend like you really care about these people and really want to help them find a job and pay their bills.
    Thanks!
    Aren't there non-profit organizations, Gov agencies that actually do care about these people and help them for free?
    I mean if they are broke they're broke, i don't see a way to squeeze any money out of them...
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    • Profile picture of the author bullfrog
      Originally Posted by salegurus View Post

      Aren't there non-profit organizations, Gov agencies that actually do care about these people and help them for free?
      I mean if they are broke they're broke, i don't see a way to squeeze any money out of them...
      That's fair, but two counter-arguments ...

      1. The non-profits and Govt agencies aren't doing a good enough job. These people want help finding jobs and they want help figuring out how to make ends meet.

      2. When Govt agencies help people ... it's not really free ... there's a price.

      Now, I do agree with you that we probably don't want to try to squeeze blood out of turnips ... but there are other people that want to market to these folks ... job board affiliate programs ... colleges (we're already doing a ton here) ... personal finance Web sites ... I'm looking specifically for ideas on how to bring these folks together with other people who want to talk with them.
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  • Profile picture of the author dhaniramkesari
    This maybe a risk, but consider that some people swear by the idea that 80% of the work brings in 20% of the profits. Now I'm not telling you how to run a physical business as I have never done so myself (although I was an assistant manager in an office for a small airline), but consider if you would be able to employ these people in your organization. Find the areas in your business that make the most money already and employ people in those areas
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    • Profile picture of the author bullfrog
      Originally Posted by dhaniramkesari View Post

      This maybe a risk, but consider that some people swear by the idea that 80% of the work brings in 20% of the profits. Now I'm not telling you how to run a physical business as I have never done so myself (although I was an assistant manager in an office for a small airline), but consider if you would be able to employ these people in your organization. Find the areas in your business that make the most money already and employ people in those areas
      That's interesting. While I certainly couldn't hire more than a fraction of them (there are 20,000 every month, after all) we might be able to put the more qualified ones to work generating profits for the company. Not a bad idea.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    Generally speaking, online social entrepreneurship may be a good way to earn money helping individuals who are broke, so to speak.
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  • Profile picture of the author Snow_Predator
    sell 'em sky tv, payday loans or lottery tickets.
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Create a report or guide with info they need. Fill it with value. Credit counseling maybe. How to be a minimalist. Bargain shopping. How to grow your own food. Have a reasonable number of valuable and related affiliate offers in the thing or your own product.
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  • Profile picture of the author LeonLion
    The only thing I can think of is adding an employment agency to that business.
    You have a large resource of people willing to work, so you match them with companies that'd rather not invest in recruitment themselves. Company pays you and tadaam.
    Okay, oversimplified? However, for most employment agencies in my country, finding people willing to work is a bigger problem than finding job openings. When I worked at one, we had the most difficulties to find cleaners! I remember having set up 14 job interviews after cold calling hundreds of job seekers and only 3 people actually showed up...

    Okay, I'm rambling too much. It's just an idea that I wanted to throw out in here.
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    • Profile picture of the author bullfrog
      Originally Posted by Michael Ten View Post

      Generally speaking, online social entrepreneurship may be a good way to earn money helping individuals who are broke, so to speak.
      That's exactly what I'm thinking ... in a somewhat unrelated note, we also talk to hundreds of people each day who don't have a high school diploma or GED ... we're working on a project to help them, too.

      Originally Posted by Snow_Predator View Post

      sell 'em sky tv, payday loans or lottery tickets.
      Good old CPA ...

      Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

      Create a report or guide with info they need. Fill it with value. Credit counseling maybe. How to be a minimalist. Bargain shopping. How to grow your own food. Have a reasonable number of valuable and related affiliate offers in the thing or your own product.
      Very good ... the trick then is to pull together and manage all the affiliate offers ... I wonder if it would be easier to partner with someone who was already doing that ...

      Originally Posted by Fredbou View Post

      Using delayed gratification as a mentor/agent, get paid when they start making money:

      Micro-business Ideas- home business, work at home, teen jobs, work at home moms

      Persuade businesses to fund micro businesses for the unemployed and work as an agent, deducting a small percentage for admin work.
      I love this idea. Many of them might not want to do it, but wouldn't it be great if we could help a couple hundred people start their own business each month?

      Originally Posted by theonemansell View Post

      I would find out if anyone has any hidden strengths that they may have never thought they could use to monetize themselves.
      I think this could go well with the microbusiness idea above.

      Originally Posted by Art of Marketing View Post

      You can find a way to train these people to become assistants or do specific activities in an industry that that industry will be willing to pay for.

      Telemarketers reading a script, sending mail, etc.

      -Art
      So, build out our own specialized agency ... train a couple thousand new telemarketers / VAs / etc. each month and provide their services to employers.

      Originally Posted by LeonLion View Post

      The only thing I can think of is adding an employment agency to that business.
      You have a large resource of people willing to work, so you match them with companies that'd rather not invest in recruitment themselves. Company pays you and tadaam.
      Love it!

      Originally Posted by rosetrees View Post

      Maybe have an Amazon store page selling books on cooking on a budget, how to save money on your groceries, guide to living cheaply, etc

      Also books on writing a resume, how to act at interviews, etc
      Not bad. Time to start creating content!

      Originally Posted by Portlandrocks View Post

      If you are getting thousands of people help every month, then I am assuming you are doing that by releasing some pretty awesome content.
      We actually produce very little content. We find the people we help through traditional advertising. But, I love the rest of your idea.
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  • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
    Maybe have an Amazon store page selling books on cooking on a budget, how to save money on your groceries, guide to living cheaply, etc

    Also books on writing a resume, how to act at interviews, etc
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  • Profile picture of the author gabibeowulf
    Help them start a blog they can monetize and start making some money with Amazon or Adsense.

    Don't charge for your services, but make them sign up with your hosting service of choice (and you'll get $50 - $125 for each new customer you refer).

    -Gabriel
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  • Profile picture of the author adeelv
    Very thoughtful post and questions.

    I ran a helpline. It is hard to make money helping people in such core things. But,there are ways. I find that there are services out there that are genuinely trying to help these target markets in these areas. Some of them have an affiliate program or you can talk to them and they can share commissions with you if you tell them how big your audience is.

    Learnvest is one such company: https://www.learnvest.com/

    You can also check out service websites like udemy and skillshare where there are plenty of trainers trying to teach this stuff and again, they'll be open to affiliate commissions.

    Hope that helps.

    Take care
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  • Profile picture of the author Igor Fridrihs
    The real help for broke people can be teaching them how to open their own business and never ever depends of employer or government.
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    • Profile picture of the author bullfrog
      Originally Posted by adeelv View Post

      Very thoughtful post and questions.

      I ran a helpline. It is hard to make money helping people in such core things. But,there are ways. I find that there are services out there that are genuinely trying to help these target markets in these areas. Some of them have an affiliate program or you can talk to them and they can share commissions with you if you tell them how big your audience is.

      Learnvest is one such company: https://www.learnvest.com/

      You can also check out service websites like udemy and skillshare where there are plenty of trainers trying to teach this stuff and again, they'll be open to affiliate commissions.
      Very cool. The helpline model has always interested me. Also, I didn't know about learnvest ... thanks for sharing.

      Originally Posted by Servicy View Post

      The real help for broke people can be teaching them how to open their own business and never ever depends of employer or government.
      AMEN!

      Originally Posted by gabibeowulf View Post

      Help them start a blog they can monetize and start making some money with Amazon or Adsense.

      Don't charge for your services, but make them sign up with your hosting service of choice (and you'll get $50 - $125 for each new customer you refer).
      Good call. I could teach a free course, filled with aff links. My only concern is that just teaching them that they can blog and earn money is a long road before they see a significant return (at least in my experience) ... but at the same time, they've got to start somewhere.
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  • Profile picture of the author rleejr
    The only idea that came to my mind was to let them write for you. I mean, granting that they are already in college, I suppose writing short articles would not be too hard to do.

    You then can create a blog network and monetize it. Add some affiliate links, adsense, etc.

    Even if they only write 3-5 articles per day, the sum that they would get in a month could already be a big help. It may not pay all of their bills but it could cover some, right?

    While they're on that, they could start creating their own blogs as well. It does go a long way for them to learn how to fully monetize it, but at least they're going somewhere.

    It's a win-win for all of you.

    Hope that helps!
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