Last Updated on October 1, 2023 at 8:11 pm
We see a popular website, YouTube channel or Instagram account and often wonder how much they would be earning. We would like the same too but do not know where to start. Search for “ways to make money online” and you would see the same list everywhere – freelancing, stock trading etc. The problem lies with our “search intent” as the SEOs would call it. We want a quick solution to a problem that requires patience and constant nourishment, end up losing money when our aim was the very opposite. A discussion on how to aim right and start right if you want to earn money online.
Anyone who calls themselves a “passive income expert”, “digital marketing expert” today would have never had a clue about their future success in terms of money and visibility when they started out and would have failed several times along the way. When they project their monthly earnings – which is quite simply an advertisement to buy the product they own or promote – we tend to define their and our success in terms of money. This is a big mistake.
The success of an expert lies in their perseverance. When we hear the phrase “never give up” we tend to think it means, “if something fails try again”. Yes, that is true but it does not mean “try the same thing”. Success in online money generation (or anything else for that matter) depends on intelligent course correction. Even as one attempts to correct a step after appreciating a mistake they become successful regardless of how profitable that action is.
We need to define success in terms of how well defined our goal is, and how consistently we are moving towards that goal and not in terms of money. This is nothing but a paraphrase of Earl Nightingales quote “Success is really nothing more than the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” This line when I first head it, shook me deeply. It made me calmer and infinitely wiser. Each time I see a website with more views than freefincal or a YouTube channel with more views/subscribers I remind myself of this line.
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We are so used to asking the wrong question? 1: Where should I invest in for good returns? 2: How should I make money online? There is no difference between these questions – it is like asking when will the Sun rise in the south? The truth is someone else is always making money by writing a list of “best investments” and “ways to make money online” by catering wrong answers to our wrong questions.
Just as investments have to be made after appreciating personal requirements, making money online is all about appreciating our skills. In fact, the aim should not be to “make money”. The aim should be to become better at something and help others without expecting anything in returns. The should be to become so good that our readers message us: “take my money and guide me” (Ps. I get 2-3 such messages each day – all of which I refuse as that is not my cup of coffee)
The trick to making money is to focus on one particular aspect of any topic. Take for example email marketing:
- How to acquire new leads without annoying readers
- How to send thousands of emails each month at low cost
- How to create an email marketing funnel – showcasing products to only those interested in basic content, sending info about an advanced product only to those who purchased the basic version etc.
These are specialised topics one can learn (if interested), research and write articles that simplifies information learnt (with proper references – good for SEO) and personal thoughts. Do this once a week for a year and you would have 52 expert articles. Your readers would call you an expert and the machines (Google, Facebook, Twitter etc) would call you an expert.
The point I am trying to make is this: do not ask how to make money (online or anywhere else). All you would then get is a list of methods: stock trading, domina buy/sell, affiliate marketing etc.
Ask instead which of my interests should I develop, which of my skills should I develop to help others. Everything else will follow. You can still be a content writer for others; you still sell related affiliate products; you can get ad revenue, sponsorships, sell your own products and services etc.
This is the most assured way to make money online – not just pocket money that you would get now and then but a sustained income that will last a lifetime. The “How to get people to pay for your skills” course was designed with this key idea.
Course Objective: A complete framework to build online visibility with your skills; Create a community of readers and viewers based on expertise and trust and generate an income that will gradually grow to become significant and last a lifetime.
- How to find a skill that you love and others will find useful
- Get better at this skill, find out problems that the community has and solve them for free
- Build trust
- Soon they will ask you to help them for a fee
- That is when the income gates open
- You can create a bucket of active + passive products and services, interlink them and keep the income coming slowly, steadily and then strongly.
Naturally, those who need extra income immediately should become part of the gig economy and could only help them learn more skills which can be leveraged towards long term income. (Ps. email marketing is a module in the course!)
The “How to get people to pay for your skills” course, aka “Earn from Skills” was launched on Sep 28th for a fee of just Rs. 5000. (one-time purchase; forever access;).
I am happy to announce at the time of writing, 450-plus members are now part of the exclusive Facebook group in which the course videos (10 units, 8+ hours of content upload so and more on the way!) are hosted. The fee is one-time and the access forever!
Join the course to start your journey!
Course Fee: Full Price Rs. 5000. The fee is deliberately kept low to enable young earners and college students to participate. Enter the course via this link: How to get people to pay for your skills: A guide to win trust and build income.
Your FB email need not be the same as purchase email! Just enter the purchase email in the question box of the group to join
This is for anyone looking to earn extra income (aka side hustle) or passive income; anyone who wants to start a blog or YouTube channel or build a social media following; for entrepreneurs; small business owners; anyone who would like to build a business by showcasing their expertise, for example, financial advisors, insurance advisors, software consultants, writers, just about any service that requires an online presence. Watch the first video for free below.
Course FAQ
- Is the fee one-time or recurring? It is one-time.
- Can I watch the videos any time I want? Yes. Access is forever. You will need a Facebook Account to access the course (the email used for Facebook and the email used to buy the course can be different)
- I would like to resell the course. Is this possible? Yes, you can resell the course for a 30% commission.
- I am a professional, entrepreneur or a small business owner. Will this course help? Yes! It will help you quickly set up your website and online profiles right and show you how you can leverage them for building a brand, a community that trusts you and would buy from you or hire you.
- I am salaried with some interests I want to develop. Will this course help? Yes! The course discusses how you can use online communities to understand problems and issues that you can address to increase visibility.
- I want to earn some extra income but I am not sure about the area. Will this course help? The core idea of online money making is to help others without expectations and the money will come. Tom Cruise said “everyone has a story. Similarly “everyone has something to offer”. Some way in which they can help others. It should not take long for you to list that. Even if you are not an expert in that area, you can learn while you create content. This is what I did and am doing with freefincal. Once you think of at least one way to help someone else, the course will help you get ideas and create content around that.
- Will this help me set up a website? Yes. A start to finish guide is included along with “how to write SEO optimised content”
- When can I start seeing results? This is not a get rich quick scheme. Results will depend on your circumstances and the topic. For example, a financial advisor may see faster results than a salaried person working on this as a side project. Simply because for the financial advisor, online visibility is bread and butter. Similarly, a person writing about politics may get more revenue than a person writing poems because of community size interested in each are. Increasing visibility in the area we are good at is more productive than chasing after a “hot topic” we know nothing about.
About Me
Check out this video if you wish to know more about my experience and expertise?
Course Contents
(Each number will correspond to one video approximately)
1: Overview of objective and what will be covered. (This will be free for all). Watch this part below
2: Step Zero: What is your goal? How to define success and making money.
Step one: What will make you truly happy? Some members may already know what they want to do (eg sell mattresses or become a financial advisor) and some members may still be searching for what topic they would like to work on. We shall keep this mind as we discuss.
What is a ‘solution gap’? How this will decide your online presence, trust, following and income.
3: Steps two-four: Choosing a topic to work with. Choosing a format. How to find problems in a particular topic that you can address
4: Basics of setting up a website – why it is indispensable. Different ways to showcase your competence. Pros and cons of each method.
5: Overview of making money online. Pros and cons of each method
6: Deciding your game plan (whether you are sure about what to do or not!). Choosing a monetization strategy that is right for you.
7: Website site walk-through Part 1: From buying a domain, hosting to setting it up before you write your first blog post.
8: Website site walk-through Part 2. I have purchased a new domain – earnfromskills.com for this purpose. (screenshot below).
9: Social Media Account Set up. How to develop a following without trolling others
10: Why and how to develop an email list
11: Setting up a Google My Business Page and how to maintain it
12: Youtube: How to use it, how not to, how to get started and what to expect.
13: Automating tasks: Tips and Tools
14: How to always have ten ideas to create content with
15: How to let potential products and services evolve from content and community
16: Active vs Passive Income: What Should You use. What does passive really mean?
17: When to start selling products; How to ensure consistent sales?
18: How to launch a product? When to advertise and when not to! What to advertise and what not to!
19: How to stay updated on the latest developments in your area and online visibility. How to stay ahead of the curve by not being afraid to experiment.
20: How to exploit features specific to mobile to showcase our content to new audiences
21: A look at all the tools I use strategies
22: Plus other topics that you think would help. Send an email to pattu “at” freefincal.com if you have suggestions.
Features of the course
- The course will mention popular products/services you should not waste money on. The total cost of this alone will be 3-5 times the full price of the course.
- All products mentioned in the course are those I use. You can get to see methods and plugins I use.
- Interested members can resell the course for a 30% commission.
- If you a professional consultant, even the full fee will be a fraction of what you charge from a single client.
- Essentially what I have learned over the last eight years will be part of the course.
- There is a lot of nonsense peddled around in the marketing and SEO worlds. The course will aim to dispel much of this.
Course Fee: Full Price Rs. 5000. The fee is deliberately kept low to enable young earners and college students to participate. Enter the course via this link: How to get people to pay for your skills: A guide to win trust and build income.
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About The Author
Dr M. Pattabiraman(PhD) is the founder, managing editor and primary author of freefincal. He is an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He has over ten years of experience publishing news analysis, research and financial product development. Connect with him via Twitter(X), Linkedin, or YouTube. Pattabiraman has co-authored three print books: (1) You can be rich too with goal-based investing (CNBC TV18) for DIY investors. (2) Gamechanger for young earners. (3) Chinchu Gets a Superpower! for kids. He has also written seven other free e-books on various money management topics. He is a patron and co-founder of “Fee-only India,” an organisation promoting unbiased, commission-free investment advice.Our flagship course! Learn to manage your portfolio like a pro to achieve your goals regardless of market conditions! ⇐ More than 3,000 investors and advisors are part of our exclusive community! Get clarity on how to plan for your goals and achieve the necessary corpus no matter the market condition is!! Watch the first lecture for free! One-time payment! No recurring fees! Life-long access to videos! Reduce fear, uncertainty and doubt while investing! Learn how to plan for your goals before and after retirement with confidence.
Our new course! Increase your income by getting people to pay for your skills! ⇐ More than 700 salaried employees, entrepreneurs and financial advisors are part of our exclusive community! Learn how to get people to pay for your skills! Whether you are a professional or small business owner who wants more clients via online visibility or a salaried person wanting a side income or passive income, we will show you how to achieve this by showcasing your skills and building a community that trusts and pays you! (watch 1st lecture for free). One-time payment! No recurring fees! Life-long access to videos!
Our new book for kids: “Chinchu Gets a Superpower!” is now available!
Must-read book even for adults! This is something that every parent should teach their kids right from their young age. The importance of money management and decision making based on their wants and needs. Very nicely written in simple terms. - Arun.Buy the book: Chinchu gets a superpower for your child!
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