How did you make your first $1,000,000 online?

Don't be asking that question here...save it for the Frank Kerns and Eban Pagans of the world. Warriors don't make millions.

The big dumb idea (I'm not even going to glorify it by referring to it as the "myth") most people seem to have when they stumble into the forum is that they are going to find something that will make them a million dollars with a few clicks.

Baloney.

That's what it is.

Baloney.

Nobody here has made a million dollars.

OK, you have ICUN and a couple other guys...Maybe...maybe someone who started out here has made a million. But they aren't hanging around here anymore. Warriors are poor. Warriors want something for nothing.

OK, not all of them. But a lot of them. Enough of them.

Fortunately, enough of them are NOT, and are here to share what they know. That's what makes it worth being here every so often. But if you spend your whole day here, you won't be making a dime; I promise you.

There might be 5 or 6 people who started on the WF and made a sizable chunk of change off heavily-affiliated WSO releases. It was not their first WSO, nor their fifth, I bet. Tough learning curve for this stuff.

The rest...the rest are happy if they make a couple thousand bucks.

So: REALITY CHECK.

Figure out how to make your FIRST dollar online. Don't worry about the millions. If you can't make one dollar, you can't make millions.

I've been doing this for awhile now and what I know is: there's so much I don't know. First there are the pieces of the puzzle (autoresponder, squeeze pages, lead gen/PPC/adwords, web design, video production, so on and so on)...most of which you aren't even aware of for the first year of your journey. Second there's the "Wait, how does the puzzle fit together?" You think you have it right. Nope, things don't turn out the way you expected. You keep thinking you're one change away from hitting it big. Nope, doesn't work that way.

Figure out how to make your first dollar online. It's so psychologically empowering. I had sold things worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the "real world", but questioned whether someone who had never even met me would shell out $20 for an info product. I remember the first sale. Friday night. An Australian buyer. Wow. It wasn't the money: it was the realization that this could work--and could be repeated.

It's nice to think about $1,000,000. It's motivating. I know. But don't waste your time. Concentrate on making your first $1, and then how to repeat and scale up. You'll make real dollars instead of chasing the fantasy version.

I know some won't like what I say here and will find it negative. I share this to give the reality check.

You can probably find a lot of stories "how to make millions" on wso's

Selling my own products.

Your statement is very true Jason. Don't apologise for it.

I seriously doubt the millionaire internet marketers are going to spend their time on a forum. They are probably too busy with seminars, interviews, and new projects.

Lol, it doesn't work like that. You don't make a million and pocket a million. Most people who make large sums of money form companies, and they add themselves to the payroll. So they'll earn a modest salary for tax effectiveness.

Leaving a lot of cash in the company. That cash can then be used to expand the business. You could well be a millionaire, on paper i.e. the company is valued at $1m+ yet still only have take home pay of $50,000 a year.

Making money is expensive, and a lot of companies typically work off margins between 10-30%.

I have and it was a combination of products, affiliate products, ebay and seminars (when it was easy to get people there). Anyone can do it online but less then 1 in 1000 do (at least my observation). Allot of the stuff that made tons of money even 4 or 5 years ago is dead now (at least for me) and I'm looking into Amazon Kindle for the first time I just finished my first book and been going over the rules so I don't get banned (I suck at rules and have been banned tons of times). I think it's much easier today then 5 years ago, but it's also harder because of all the info and distractions like social media (I shut down my facebook for that reason). The money in my opinion is in the mindset and that is hard to adjust if you are starting from a wrong mindset like I was, but with the right mindset it's actually easy to make sales. In any case I come here for ideas, never been able to make money on this forum but solved tons of problems by looking at how other wariors solve them. Find something you are good at and stick to it (but make sure there is a market first).

Lol I'll let you know when I get there.

egh....... i wont speak from a 1st person....

but I know there's millions to be made from the marketing of popular goods, that are drop-shipped from China...............................

i dont think it would be wise for anyone to admit to making a million themselves...........

I would say the right mentality to have is this: think about your goals, what you want to achieve, what you want in your life. But make sure you don't think of the monetary goals...they ought to be secondary only.

Money is the how, not the why.

I have made multiple 7 figures online and much of this can be credited to the WF through the valuable information and contacts made. Like Ron I still visit from time to time...even if I dont always log in.

There are actually a few Warriors who have went on to make millions!

Joe Russell

I believe everything is possible.. But the truth is, You can't get a million without a dollar! So why don't You try to focus on How to get your dollar first? In business, you can get really success by multiply Your FIRST success.

By telling people how to make a $1,000,000 with a single click.

No, not really, not my style!

There are people out there who have done this, and I expect the answer to be simple. Hard work.

The OP didn't actually say anything about a "few clicks"
or a "single click"... a lot of people seem to be reading more
into his post than he actually wrote?

Give me a few years and I'll tell you how..

i dont think anyone here in the forum made a million dollars through the internet. i bet being an entrepreneur makes you that kind of big money.

The millionaire marketers stay behind the covers so they wont keep getting inboxed by newbies who keep on asking how they can make their first dollar.

Heres a tip: Work on something scalable, & profitable.

That's my response all on the time whenever anyone asks me how they can make money online.

hmmm, when I read the question I thought, Oh there won't be many answers to that because no one has made that much. lol. I was wrong about the number of answers; seems everyone wants to have a say, even if they don't qualify.

I've had several clients who've had seven figure incomes.

Generally speaking they do the basics well on a bigger scale.

I think it is a bit crazy to be worrying about making millions when
you're haven't got to the point where you make a full time living
online.

Basics like finding a hungry market you can get easy and economical
access to, working out what they really want and need, delivering
real value, creating a sales process that's effective, following up
and delivering more value, charging premium prices...

These are all things you need to learn at every level.

Taking yourself from a few thousand dollars a month to tens of
thousands of dollars a month usually involves expanding on what
you're already doing and either joint venturing or outsourcing so
you can increase the scale.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

This thread................. is a strange one.

Anyone making 1mil online is charging 20k+ for coaching .. they will not divulge their info for free on here..

I haven't made 1 million but I will within 3 years.

here are my 2cents.

• Solo ads
• adswaps
• product launches instead of affiliate promotions
• have a high converting squeeze page
• have a high converting OTO once people opt in meaning you can buy solo ads effectively for free and build your list for free
• repeat

some years ago i made my first money online with selling massage tables at ebay.

Making a million in ten years isn't so hard. I have done it several times over.

How?

Well, to be honest, explaining my methods isn't going to give any guarantee that someone else will have the same results. But I will say that there are a few basic principles that all the people I know who make serious money have in common:

1. Forget hard work - that's for employees. Work smart and make your efforts count. By that I mean become self aware enough to know what you waste time on and try to minimise it as far as possible. The 80/20 rule rules!

2. Focus. Nobody gets rich by doing a lot of things badly. Focus on doing one thing really well and keeping at it until you see results before moving on to the next thing. Try to complete one job in a week and you'll have a pretty good chance of succeeding. Try to do two or three things simultaneously and the odds are none will ever see the light of day.

3. Residual income. It is hard (but not impossible) to make a million by selling individual things one at a time, but it is a whole lot easier to build ongoing income streams. Hint: membership sites rock!

4. Know when to quit. Not every online marketing method suits everyone. Learn when something doesn't sit well with you and move on to something that suits you better.

5. Don't waste time on stuff you are not good at. I'm hopeless at creating good graphic and have, in the past, spent days slaving over something that turned out looking awful. It is far better to know your limitations and pay an expert - you'll save money in the long run.

6. Never stop learning. I don't mean you should chase every shiny new thing, but an ongoing education is vital in business - and even more so in an online business. Just because you 'know' how to build an affiliate site doesn't mean someone else doesn't know a better way.

7. Networking. My online income only really took off after I started networking at seminars and other events. Now I run my own networking event (see my sig) where there are always several online millionaires in attendance!

Martin

The problem with that question is what worked years ago likely might not work on todays internet. The net has evolved so rapidly that it's no longer the web 1.0 era where a lot of online millionaires were made.

To be more ontopic:
If I ever become a millionaire, it's going happen owing to one of the following money-making methods:
1. I'll be an expert of a given field, I'll build a huge list, etc.
OR
2. I'll find exceptional and very talented content creators, SEO experts, designers, etc., and sell their services to big companies for big bucks.
OR
3. I'll have fiction and non-fiction novels written, and sell them on Amazon.

I have not made one million dollars online yet. But in the past few years I have learned that I cannot become a millionaire with the following methods:

- Building content sites and earning through display ads. Depend on SEO.
- Trading time for money (freelancing solo)
- Selling WSOs.
- Promoting affiliate products by relying on traffic from Google.

AFAIK, to make $1MM the following roads may take me there:

- Providing a unique service and scaling it up by leveraging people's help (Read Employees)
- Create a product (software or info based) and sell it to people. Create more products for upsell. Leverage other's content properties for traffic and scale up.

Traffic should be paid for. (Free traffic is not predictable and hence cannot be scaled.!)
Conversions should be high.

Predictability is the key for scalability.

I've made my first million being an affiliate marketer, Now I focus mainly on my own products.

Some people in this thread are right about one thing... 99% of the people on this forum are running in circles. It's the blind leading the blind here. This forum and digitalpoint are a running joke to most top internet marketers. It's like the kindergarten of the internet marketing world, but everyone has to start somewhere.

Only problem is that most people who start out here will most likely never succeed, not because they don't have the determination or skills... It's because this whole place is like a stagnant pond. There's a lot of talk and discussions, but it doesn't go anywhere. It's just recycled knowledge that gets passed down from the guys at the top and get's sold as a WSO and circulates here for years.

The whole mentality here is sickening to be honest. So much laziness and self doubt...

If you really are serious about making money on the internet, you need to start looking beyond just warriorforums for information and you need to get out there and get your hands dirty. You will never make money if you sit around and make threads like this every week.

Selling drugs and pimpn; my ass, that's how I did it.

What? Oh you mean online?

Pimpin my ass on a webcam.

Sal

Making a million or even millions online is much easier than doing it offline in my mind
and I am doing both. Of course you have to know what you are doing but it's the same
in the offline world.

Just think about how many people you can reach on the internet, it's crazy. I mean even
the offline companies, who are selling physical products are heading to the internet to
either sell online or find business partners.

adsense!!!

I'll tell you how after a few years...

Thatz a huge target to reach..

Anyone who has made any consistent money online knows questions like these don't get you there. Time spent on the whipping post called life is what gets you there. Being crushed to pieces by your failures and bad decisions, and getting back up. When you have the resolve to do that, you can take any one of an endless sea of working systems and make millions, or you can make your own.

Attitude and mental toughness make millionaires, nothing else.

okay, i didn't yet but if I did, I don't think I will be sharing it anywhere lol

I do believe the money is in the mindset. As vague as a statement as that is, its still one of the most profound things to realize.

For instance, when I came onto this forum I had a spark, and I had a dream. And I refused to let anyone else try and impose their reality into my world. I've never made a million, but I've accomplished many things that still suprise me on a day to day basis.

If the OP sounded frustrated and upset, like he had tried everything and was fed up that he didn't make a million dollars, then that calls for a bit of tough love imo.

But I did not sense that at all from him. He almost sounded happy to me, and that is a terrible time to piss on someones parade.

As much as I realize we have lazy people on this forum, as much as I realize there are charlatans and snake oil salesmen, I still think its crucial to have a completely irrational dream, and to preserve that dream as much as possible.

Like someone else said, its not visions of a dollar that cause people to take massive action in life and get rich. I remember when I got in shape years ago. When I went to the gym, my days weren't spend thinking "I just want to look less puney". Of course I would think about it, but most of the time I was dreaming about being in incredible shape. Having the 6 pack, the biceps, thinking about how cool it would be to look like Arnold.

Now laugh at my dreams all you want. And no I didn't wind up looking like Arnold. But I got in better shape than 99% of my friends and family BECAUSE of those irrational dreams.

So I carry those same types of dreams with me everywhere I go in life. And yes, they are tempered with logic and reason. But not to the point where it stifles and suffocates me. There are too many broke, bitter, excuse making people in this world. And as annoying as it might be to hear a question like the OP asked, wouldn't you much rather hear that than "you're all FOS, nobody on this forum is making money, I can't make money, you're all liars, I hate WF" type stuff?

So dream on brother, dream on. Don't let anyone rain on your parade.

BTW, I do definitely believe that Kannigan had the best intentions when he wrote that post. But I think the calibration was a bit off, and he wound up revealing more about himself than anything else.

Again, I'm not saying its a bad thing. We all have our fears and dreams in life, and this thread could have wound up in either direction. The only reason it didn't turn into a pity party, is because some vets spoke up. And there is something profound to take from that as well. Nobody is really right, the optimistic folks or the pessimistic ones. We all view life from our own distorted versions of reality. But I'd much rather live a fake happy fairytale, than a nonrealistic negative nightmare.

-Red

/\ Absof##knlutely.

Post count to me just means that a certain person might be more willing to help you out. But as far as them being more successful, I do not see that correlation & never have.

Cosmetics. Not quite $1,000,000 but close, $750,000 from one product. 2 partners.

i made it with CPA and then i woke up.

$290k so far... but planing to hit 1 mil this year. i dedicated myself to work all year full.

You're talking about Monopoly money, right? Well, I was maybe 7 or 8 years old....the whole hotel domination thing.

Did some research and came up with something

It is a paid one will be comparing there here but not being specific as I don't want to make waves

I'm not gonna tell you.

hahah pretty sure anyone who's made "their first million" probably isn't hanging around the main internet marketing discussion forum

hahaha where send me the link

yeah I would like to hear someone how did that

Interesting thread and interesting responses actually. They were also quite predictable. Everyone answered from their own experiences and perspectives which is completely understandable.

I'm not a millionaire and there are not very many of them on the planet or even in the US although the numbers here in the US are greater. By definition in any industry there will only be a few high earners because those earners are at the top of their industries. If someone makes it to the top then most of the others will be on the bottom. Success is not an equalizer. Opportunity is.

Broad sweeping generalized statements and assumptions cannot be truly made about any group of people anywhere including on this forum. There are always exceptions. Everyone has an equal opportunity online to be successful even to the tune of 7 figures or more and yes even from this very forum or any forum for that matter. That does not mean that every single member here will instantly or even eventually become a millionaire. Who can even attempt to guarantee or predict what will or won't happen or what can't happen?

In any game there are certain rules and the game to become an online millionaire has it's own rules too. The same rules that apply in any industry to succeed greatly in that industry apply to online marketing as well. They are slightly adjusted to fit this industry and the fast changing dynamics of all tech based industries. Look at AOL, Myspace and Ask Jeeves or Excite from just a few years ago.

The bottom line is that if a person wants to become an online millionaire, finds the paths that other online millionaires have taken and follows that or similar path and sticks to it he has the same chance to succeed that the others before him did. Success always leaves clues. Not everyone is willing to do what it takes to succeed. Internet marketing is no different even starting from this very forum.

Not yet there, but I will sure be here when I get my first million.
You are learning every day. The moment you think you know it all it's when you will begin to lose.

I have not made a million yet. I have spent my time doing my homework looking for the right opportunity.

Business to business sales seem the most promising to me based on my research and those kinds of businesses tend to scale most quickly. Just review the Inc. 500.

I have spent time learning tactics and techniques for reaching consumers here which may prove valuable in terms of marketing business services to the people who are in the online marketing arena. From newbies to the expert marketers, and I believe I have identified a tool that just about everyone needs and which they will pay for repeatedly.

I have also identified a needed service for existing online businesses that is being unserved. I have also spent time learning about back office things and pitfalls to avoid right here.

At the moment I'm teaching myself to code because I have time to do so and those skills will be valuable in launching my service and in leading what I hope will become a fast growing business.

I could be wrong, but I believe I will launch this summer, and within two months of launch I expect the company will be earning somewhere in the mid five figures per month.

I believe if the profits are properly reinvested and I continue to maintain a leading position in an underserved area of the market while competitors join the bandwagon, I will continue to grow quickly while developing a patentable technology on phase two of operations that should allow the business to scale into at least the tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue per annum realm.

Phase three of the growth cycle will be to further streamline costs and turn the technology used to streamline costs into a new profit center, while investing in lateral growth by diversifying the products offered by the company and the markets served.

If all goes well, within ten years the company launched this year will be in the multibillion dollar range.

Of course there are about twenty million things that need to go right for that to happen, but this opportunity is the first I've seen that can be started for under a thousand dollars and scale.

By not spending money on stupid stuff.

You'd be surprised how many affiliates making in HUGE amounts of money back in the rebill days spent it all on bottle service and yayo.

Live humble, and re-invest.

I've made my first million $$$, but I was not so lucky, my happiness ended very fast because I just woke up))))

For instance it's still in my dreams only))

I was happy to earn $286 from AdSense a few weeks ago. If you know how to make $1,000,000 please tell me.

The easy way to get to 1.000.000 $..........

....

Start with 10.000.000$

Really interesting and strong opinions here. Once again I'm motivated to work now

Most people who are making that much only occasionally stop by this forum. They're obviously busy figuring out how to make even more money.

I will again replay here after 2 years. and i will say , how i did this

It just goes to show that HARDLY anyone makes one million here...

It's kind of depressing to see how many people ARE NOT making a good amount of money...hearing success stories motivates me so much more.

the first million I made...

I found a passion - marketing.
I then got involved in the community and joined a forum (was a similar one to WF).
I just shared my story and created a journal thread.. 'Come follow me as I make money online'.. I knew nothing. I was brand new to marketing at the time.. but I freely shared what I had learned and gave value...

This caught the attention of a few guys who were successful marketers.. They started giving me some tips. We'd jump on phone calls and just talk. One day I recorded it... I just basically asked him newbie questions and he answered them..

Then we tried doing videos.. (I did a call with him then I added slides to it afterwards.. it was super ghetto.. lol) BUT...

I then shared the calls + videos with people on the forum.. Then I got tons of emails come in from people.. " OMG! this stuff is great.. do you have an afifliate link for this? I want to promote it to my list.."

I was shocked.

What.. you mean I could actually make money from this stuff?!
Lol. all this time I had been sharing this stuff.. and never even thought about making money from it..

I turned the interviews and content I had into a membership site. I called it Traffic Dynasty. I had no idea how to write copy.. but bought an ebook on it and figured I'd give it a shot.

Honestly.. the copy was bad lol.

But I was excited.. I just put together my own membership site..

I charged $47/mo from it..

ALL I did to promote the place was I added a little signature to my forum post that said something like 'Check out what Jarrett is up to now! - Click Here to Join Traffic Dynasty'

Just from that signature link alone.. I got 1500 people to sign up in the first 2 months.

That's $70k/mo = $840k /yr

There were a few affiliates that jumped on board.. helped me get alot more sign ups.. I gave them 50% commission /recurring.

members loved the content. my average stick rate was 5-8 months.
Inside the membership site I told them to get hosting with Hostgator.

Hostgator paid me $100 / sign up. I got about 15% of the people to sign up for it.
They needed Aweber. Got commissions from that.
Market Samurai, other keyword tools, etc.

And I promoted 2 of the higher ticket guru launches ( John reese and Andy Jenkins)

Between that stuff right there.. that all put me over $1mil.


After that.. I focused on PPC (mainly Google Content Network)
I love google content network because there is SOO much traffic, there is cheap clicks, if you've got a great product in a big market you can crush it.. and get laser targeted.

I sent traffic to CPA offers.. Mainly Teeth whiteners, weight loss, colon cleanse, etc.

The teeth whitening campaign alone was doing $1k/day.. Payout was $46, I was averaging 25 - 30 sales a day. so there ya go.

Later.. I started creating products because it was something I really enjoyed doing.
I'd pick a market like Weight loss / IM / or whatever vertical I felt like taking over.
That had a desperate market and mass appeal.

I would then create a super high quality product in that niche.
Then I would find out who the biggest players in that market was (it's pretty easy.. chances are they have a best seller on Clickbank already or a top selling book on amazon)

Contact them. show them the course. If you've got something killer.. it should sell itself.
Then I'd just ask them if they wanted to partner up and help me launch it.. we'd split the profits.

It worked. and that was how I got my first #1 product on clickbank.

And you'd be surprised how many other top marketers have got their start from creating a great course and then just partnering up with people

If you want to make your first million... here would be my advice to you.. take one of the following paths:


1.) Membership sites - seriously some of the easiest money I've ever made.
It's recurring.. so it adds up QUICK! even if all you can do is add 10 new members each month.. that's a win!!! because at that rate.. by the end of the year.. you'll have 120 people paying you monthly on autopilot.

Give them incentive to tell their friends.. and watch it explode.

Also.. if you run a membership site.. you are now instantly seen as the expert. Which means you've got a huge following of people who now know/like/trust and look up to you.
Find solid products to endorse.. affiliate offers.. high ticket stuff to sell.. and you'll make a TON more money.

I'd integrate facebook group into it, do weekly group calls / webinars, find ways to stay involved and create a community.. give tons of value and watch as people stay on forever.


2.) Product Creation
Find a desperate market that has money and is willing to spend it..
ideally a big market where you can scale. Either pay people who are the best to help you launch it (launch managers, jv guys, etc.) or create a killer product and just partner up with someone who crushes it. This is how you can go from broke to making 7 figures quickly.

3.) Paid traffic
Pick a medium.. Facebook PPC. Media Buying. Google adwords etc.
and own it. Keep cracking away at it.. Focus on really hot offers that are already tested and that pay out well.

4.) High ticket / Webinars.
Seriously.. if I had to start all over from zero right now.. this is probably where I'd start.
One of the fastest ways to make serious cash online.

Create a high ticket product, coaching, consulting package.. Ideally something that is scalable.. Then just pitch it via webinar or auto webinar (Evergreen business / Stealth Seminar / Webinar Jam all are awesome)

You can sell it straight off facebook PPC.. it's a wrap.
Or get Jv's etc.

If you're selling a product for $1,000.. all you need is 1,000 sales that whole year and you got $1mil...
At $2,000 all you need is 500 sales the whole year..
If you've got a coaching program.. sell it for $5k... All you need is 200 people that year to make $1mil.


With the webinar templates in leadpages you can easily get 50-60% opt in rate straight off cold traffic.. (hello, fb ppc anyone / higher level solo ads?)

Do some good follow up emails.. you can get alot of people to show up at the webinar..
A decent webinar.. you can get 15 - 25% of people to sign up.. even at $2k+

So just do your numbers and crush it.

Well, I haven't hit a million, but I have made thousands, and it has been with a mix between Adsense, Kindle, affiliate marketing, and selling my own products.

I'm amazed that some erudite individuals believe making a million is beyond anyone on Warrior Forum. Having been at this for 20 years, I strongly - fervently - disagree. It's less than $3K a day each year!

I will be crossing the million dollar mark this year and 90% of it will have been from affiliate marketing.

And I still hang out here...

Jamie Lewis and Anik Singal have accounts. They make millions!

Also, Congratulations man! I do not plan to hit that for another 2 years. Lol

If you remove the get rich quick sellers, the snake oil salesmen and those skirting the law and add the caveat that the $1mil was made on a single project in a reasonable period of time, is there anyone here?

This is probably what the OP was looking for. It's also probably what Jason Kanigan had in mind when he wrote his controversial reply.

I and who knows how many others are at $1m+, but keep in mind this may be over a 15 year period and involve many different projects. Even the fast food worker will eventually make $1mil given enough time and $ inflation.

There's a big difference between making $1MM and being a "millionaire".

I thought it was true, but I just checked our QB's to verify - My business partner and I made a bit over $1MM in 2012-2013.

I think it's important to qualify what that means, though.

Our business brought in total revenue of more than $1MM in the last two years. That's impressive to some and I'm proud of it, but others in our space or in business would say (KNOW) that it's chump change in the grand scheme of things.

Ultimately, we have to cover staff, office costs, software expenses, marketing, our own salaries, etc. While we've built up reserves + a small war chest, we do our best to reinvest most of the profit into growth...something we'll be heavily focused on this year.

We know others (you'll see this often in the eCommerce space...especially if they have small margins) that are bringing in multiple millions per year and their actual cash-flow is worse than ours.

That $1MM I mentioned is split pretty evenly between our outsourcing company and our online activity with Empire Flippers. We got started outsourcing our own jobs, setting up a company, and then acting as 3rd party vendors to our previous employers.

Don't feel too badly. I was at my bank yesterday to take care of some paperwork and cash a small check. Next to each teller station was a placard warning people about common scams, including the "Nigerian scam" and all its variants.

I have been involved in IM for 10 years now - actually, it's a bit longer if you count my first 2 failures. But my main site was actually 10 years old this Christmas. So what I have to say comes from 10 years of experience, sticking with the same project.

There have been times I felt like quitting and there have been many things I started along the way, some of which I am still involved with. I like to start sites to try things out. If they work out, I keep them; if they don't I dump them. I don't bother with flipping; I just let them expire if I think they are not worth my time.

I've said this many times here at the forum, but here it is again: in my first year I made $29! Seven years later, I quit the day job to do this stuff full time. I am still not a millionaire, but like one of the previous commentators above, I still dare to dream.

For the first 9 years of my online journey, I never set a single financial goal. All of my goals were performance based rather than outcome based. But last year, I wanted to experience what might happen to my thinking if I were to be bold enough to set a really big goal - completely out of my comfort zone. And, although it sort-of scared me a bit, I eventually decided to set a goal of making $1million in 1 year and I began to chart my progress on my blog.

What I didn't know at the beginning of last year was that Google were about to shake things up in a big way with the algorithm zoo. The notorious penguins, pandas and hummingbirds came after me and seriously impacted my traffic. I watched my Adsense earnings plummet (it's directly proportionate to traffic, of course) and I saw my earnings in other areas falling too. This despite the fact that I was working a lot harder than in previous years.

By around Sept 2013, my site was receiving a fraction (about 1/6th) of its previous traffic and - discouraged - I completely stopped my normal activities. For a couple of months, I watched how much of the income I had built was genuinely passive. It turned out I had about $1600 per month trickling in without effort around that time.

Instead of writing articles for my site and others, I simply started walking the dog a whole lot more and we went on much bigger walks too. I was turning things over in my mind to some extent, but I was also just walking, breathing in the fresh Exmoor sea air, enjoying the beautiful scenery and the amazing array of natural wildlife. People wrote to me to ask if there was anything wrong as they had stopped receiving my emails (nice to know you are missed eh?).

Out of all of this walking and thinking (and not thinking too - at least consciously) eventually, came a new business plan. Actually, I would say, it is still solidifying i.e. there are still bits of it that are not completely decided upon. But the main ideas are there and, I am pleased to say that they are different ideas because, if there is one thing I have been thinking consistently is is ...

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

So anyway, the year passed and I did not make the $1million and furthermore (for the reasons I explained above) I actually ended up making less than I did the previous year. But I think, for me, last year was a very important year. It made me think again about whether or not I would be prepared to stick with the same project.

10 years of trying would probably be enough for most people, but me, I can be donkey-stubborn. Somewhere last year, I learned that the guy who runs the #1 Abs product in CB failed repeatedly for a significant length of time. I can't now remember how many years it was, but I took encouragement from the fact that he eventually succeeded with the same product after years of failure.

So the answer is 'yes' I am still committed to my main project. I have not changed the goal. But, as Zig used to sometimes say, I needed to 'change the route'.

What has come out of this experience for me is learning. There is something I needed to learn and, this past year, I learned it. It is this: I need to build a business that is independent of Google as its traffic source. It took the might of the entire Google programming team to teach me that lesson. But, I can tell you - the lesson has been learned!

Actually, it goes to show how stupid I can sometimes be!!!

I can recall various Warriors here saying the above. But I thought I knew better. After all, I create quality sites offering excellent information. So why would big G ever come after me, I reasoned? Of course the truth is that they didn't come after me, but I got caught in the crossfire.

The good news is that I do now have my new traffic strategy worked out and elements of my Business Plan are coming together so I am neither giving up on the project nor the dream.

In writing this, I hope I might have helped a few people here to realise that it is possible but, it ain't easy; that failure is a part of the process; and also that ...

"Those who forget the pasta will be condemned to reheat it!"

My best to all fellow Warriors who share the dream

Will

I just got back into internet marketing, I dont expect to make a million dollars but in my time off Ive found and become succesful with another business venture and it changed the mindstate I originally had. You can be a millionaire for sure with the info here but it will take propper procedures, and business mindset, and be ready to stay up late working on projects, and getting everything you need in order, if it doesn't completely consume your life as you work on projects you probably wont get far, in internet marketing or anything else

Those who really make his/her $1million online will not share what they did. That's is their secret and why they need to tell us.

I have made it net as well, but it was over so many years that there is nothing to shout or to be proud about. It was done mainly though e-commerce and link selling. At its height, my e-commerce shop had over 0.5M sales per year but we had to employ four full time staff including a web designer. We sold electronics and the overall margin was low. In fact, I really don't have a clue exactly how much we earnt from the business. As for sales, the total sales was 0.9M and majority of it was profit.

We decided to close the e-commerce after being hit by staffing problems. We also had trouble in transitioning to smartphones because there were so many models. As for link selling, it was truly near a "4 hour week" passive income business. I hardly spent over 1.5hours a day on it.

But that was in the past and right now I am in big trouble. The link selling business was already very bad since Google undertook a series of campaigns against it. Last month, the business was virtually wiped out. However, I knew that was coming along and switched to affiliate marketing last year. However, that was even worse. I produced sales of over $600,000 for my main merchant last year by PPC. They then suddenly decided to cut affiliate commissions by 25% in Sep. But worse was to come, the conversion rate suddenly dropped from over 4% to less than 1%. After contacting them, they said that they may have done something to the website that could have interfered with sales tracking. The conversion rate is back up to 2% but my profit dropped to a quarter as a result. Last week, they threatened to impose conditions that would virtually end my association with them as an affiliate. However, they have held it off for the moment and so I will see how it goes.

So I am absolutely fed up right now. My two main sources of income collapsed within a few months. They were completely unconnected and so I was supposed to have some degree of diversification. I was hamstrung much of last year because of my elder autistic daughter. She was in hospital for over 4 months and now, I have to spend over 2.5 hours taking her to and from school every day. I was not lazy last year, it is just that I was not lucky to hit it big with other merchants.

My advice to those who go full time is that you must try to save up some of the money you made if things suddenly go wrong. Also, you are very dependent on others and Google if you concentrate complete on affiliate marketing and passive income.


Derek

Never hit that much, but have a dream to hit

RE: this entire thread

I know quite a few people who have made over a million dollars in this industry. Of course they didn't make that money overnight and it took many years of blood, sweat, and tears. Some are members here. Some aren't.

There are plenty of millionaires in this industry. Whether they hang around online forums is debatable though.

To sell my own product and sell other people product.. it's simple

When I fast time earn money is not easy for me. Because My skill are not good. But now I earn money and easy for me. I am not earn lot of money. I use this site to earn money. It is easy for me.

i am green hand here and would like to hear too.

How did I make my first million? I'll let you know when I get there! I've crossed the $500,000 mark (profit) in the course of 3 years, so at this rate, I will make my "first million" in about 3 more years. Over a million per year would be great- and I am quite sure there are a small handful of people that do this. It's possible with e-commerce but it takes a lot of work (as well as knowing what you're doing!) It's great to hear the stories of others who are out there working toward similar goals!

Its not so much about the million.

Its the person you have to become to make that million

To hit those 7 figures you need your own product in my opinion. Look at the celebrity IMers like Shoemoney or John Chow. These guys have created their products and rarely sell others'. The money food chain is as follows:

Affiliates -> Networks -> Advertisers

One thing I often hear is that making your first $100,000 (10k per month) is the hardest. Getting started is the hard part. Once you're making a few hundred thousand a year the game gets a whole lot easier,that's if you know how to manage your money.

I haven't made a million dollars online (yet) but I can tell you what I've learned over the last few years.

1 - Create a business around your passions
2 - Oustource what you suck at
3 - Know your worth (you don't have to give everything away for free)
4 - Have realistic expectations (this one is a biggie)
5 - Be unique
6 - Don't quit your day job until you're making 5X what your take home pay is
7 - Enjoy the journey

I know a few people that went from making 10k per month to delivering pizzas (back to where they started). Want to know how? By mismanaging their money. I totally disagree with you on point #6.

I apologize for my English, and I personally still quite far from a million =), but a good tool for this is the Internet magazin.With a minimum of technical knowledge, you can earn good and after a year off to a good level.

Here are a few ways to make $1 million online:

Start an SEO agency (results based work)
SAAS (Software as a Service)
Consulting (Frank Kern is good at this)
Leverage Affiliates (create your own products and get people to promote them for you)

I haven't made a million yet, i am actually just starting. but here is how i will make a million, invest in ideas that are sure to make money, turn them into companies so that they have more valuable merit, create jobs, invest in offline businesses/services, get involved with other opportunities till they work for me and repeat the entire process.

That was advice I got from someone who makes close to a million a year.

I really make that figure by promoting clickbank products.

I hired an overseas printing company to print it for me, Man was that easy.

All of the 7-figure internet marketers I know and work with achieved their incomes through creating and marketing their own information products. (Many of them market their products on Clickbank, which seems to get criticized a fair amount on this forum, but I certainly have no complaints about it.) Some of these marketers are most certainly on this forum.

I read this artilce and i like to share it with you guys :
******************************************

First, understand that you no longer want to be just a millionaire. You want to become a multimillionaire.

While you may think a million dollars will give you financial security, it will not. Given the volatility in economies, governments and financial markets around the world, it's no longer safe to assume a million dollars will provide you and your family with true security. In fact, a Fidelity Investments' study of millionaires last year found that 42 percent of them don't feel wealthy and they would need $7.5 million of investable assets to start feeling rich.

This isn't a how-to on the accumulation of wealth from a lifetime of saving and pinching pennies. This is about generating multimillion-dollar wealth and enjoying it during the creation process. To get started, consider these seven secrets of multimillionaires.

No. 1: Decide to Be a Multimillionaire -- You first have to decide you want to be a self-made millionaire. I went from nothing—no money, just ideas and a lot of hard work—to create a net worth that probably cannot be destroyed in my lifetime. The first step was making a decision and setting a target. Every day for years, I wrote down this statement: "I am worth over $100,000,000!"

Related: Seven Rules for Coping with Sales Rejection

No. 2: Get Rid of Poverty Thinking - There's no shortage of money on planet Earth, only a shortage of people who think correctly about it. To become a millionaire from scratch, you must end the poverty thinking. I know because I had to. I was raised by a single mother who did everything possible to put three boys through school and make ends meets. Many of the lessons she taught me encouraged a sense of scarcity and fear: "Eat all your food; there are people starving," "Don't waste anything," "Money doesn't grow on trees." Real wealth and abundance aren't created from such thinking.

No. 3: Treat it Like a Duty - Self-made multimillionaires are motivated not just by money, but by a need for the marketplace to validate their contributions. While I have always wanted wealth, I was driven more by my need to contribute consistent with my potential. Multimillionaires don't lower their targets when things get tough. Rather, they raise expectations for themselves because they see the difference they can make with their families, company, community and charities.

Related Video: Grant Cardone on Closing the Sale

No. 4: Surround Yourself with Multimillionaires - I have been studying wealthy people since I was 10 years old. I read their stories and see what they went through. These are my mentors and teachers who inspire me. You can't learn how to make money from someone who doesn't have much. Who says, "Money won't make you happy"? People without money. Who says, "All rich people are greedy"? People who aren't rich. Wealthy people don't talk like that. You need to know what people are doing to create wealth and follow their example: What do they read? How do they invest? What drives them? How do they stay motivated and excited?

No. 5: Work Like a Millionaire - Rich people treat time differently. They buy it, while poor people sell it. The wealthy know time is more valuable than money itself, so they hire people for things they're not good at or aren't a productive use of their time, such as household chores. But don't kid yourself that those who hit it big don't work hard. Financially successful people are consumed by their hunt for success and work to the point that they feel they are winning and not just working.

Related: How to Conquer Your Sales Fears

No. 6: Shift Focus from Spending to Investing - The rich don't spend money; they invest. They know the U.S. tax laws favor investing over spending. You buy a house and can't write it off. The rich, in contrast, buy an apartment building that produces cash flow, appreciates and offers write-offs year after year. You buy cars for comfort and style. The rich buy cars for their company that are deductible because they are used to produce revenue.

No. 7: Create Multiple Flows of Income - The really rich never depend on one flow of income but instead create a number of revenue streams. My first business had been generating a seven-figure income for years when I started investing cash in multifamily real estate. Once my real estate and my consulting business were churning, I went into a third business developing software to help retailers improve the customer experience.
Lastly, you may be surprised to learn that wealthy people wish you were wealthy, too. It's a mystery to them why others don't get rich. They know they aren't special and that wealth is available to anyone who wants to focus and persist. Rich people want others to be rich for two reasons: first, so you can buy their products and services, and second, because they want to hang out with other rich people. Get rich -- it's American.



the source : entreprenuer.com