310: How To Make Money When You Have No Money With Steve Chou

00:00
You’re listening to the My Wife Could Her Job podcast, the place where I bring on successful bootstrap business owners and dig deep into what strategies they use to grow their businesses. Now, one thing that I’ve noticed in the past several months is that many of my solo episodes have actually outperformed my interviews. So going forward, I’m going to try to do a few more solo episodes here and there. So today I’m going to talk about a common question I get asked, which is how to make money when you have no money. But before we begin, I want to thank Klaviyo for sponsoring this episode.

00:27
Now it’s safe to say that most of us have been doing more online shopping lately. And if you’re an e-commerce brand, that means you might be seeing more first-time customers. But once they’ve made that first purchase, how do you keep them coming back? That is what Klaviyo is for. Klaviyo is the ultimate email and SMS marketing platform for e-commerce brands. It gives you the tools to build your contact lists, send memorable emails, automate key messages, and more. A lot more. And that’s why more than 30,000 e-commerce brands like Chubby’s, Brooklinen, and Living Proof use Klaviyo to build a loyal following.

00:56
Strong customer relationships mean more repeat sales, enthusiastic word of mouth, and less depending on third party ads. So whether you’re launching a new business or taking your brand to the next level, Klaviyo can help you get going faster. And it is free to get started. So visit klaviyo.com slash my wife to create your free account. That’s klaviyo.com slash my wife. Now I also want to thank postscript.io for sponsoring this episode. Now if you run an e-commerce business of any kind, you know how important it is to own your customer contact list.

01:26
And that is why I am focusing a significant amount of my efforts on SMS marketing this year. Now, I sincerely believe that SMS or text message marketing is going to be a huge channel for my store going forward. And I have chosen Postscript.io to be my text provider. Now, why Postscript? It’s because they specialize in e-commerce stores and e-commerce is their primary focus. Not only is it easy to use, but you can quickly segment your audience based on your exact sales data and implement automated flows like an abandoned cart at the push of a button.

01:56
Not only that, but it is priced very well too, and you only pay for the messages that you actually send. So head on over to postscript.io slash Steve and try it for free. That’s P O S T S C R I P T dot IO slash Steve. Now onto the show. Welcome to the My Wife, Quit Her Job podcast, where we’ll teach you how to create a business that suits your lifestyle so you can spend more time with your family and focus on doing the things that you love. Here’s your host.

02:25
Steve too.

02:29
Welcome to the MyWifeQuieterJob podcast. Today I’m going to talk about how to make money when you have no money. Now, whenever I get asked for advice on how to start an online business, inevitably the following questions arise. Steve, how can I make money fast? I need money now. Steve, how quickly can I expect to make real money with my business? And Steve, what is the best business model to make money right now? Now your definition of fast may be different, but the general consensus among my readers is that making money within one to three months is pretty darn quick.

02:58
So in any case, I recently sat down and gave these questions some thought. If I were to start all over again from scratch, without an audience, without any connections, without any businesses at all, how would I make $1,000 as quickly as possible? So here’s what I came up with. And here are the assumptions that I making for this tutorial. One, you have at least two hours a day on the weekdays to work on your business, and your weekends are generally free. Two, your goal is to make $1,000 as fast as possible.

03:28
And three, you own a computer and a webcam and four, you have access to the internet. Now, please note that what I’m teaching you today is not about making a thousand dollars doing random odd jobs. So for example, if you do a quick search on the internet for how to make money fast or I need money now, you’ll see a multitude of articles that preach how you can make a couple bucks here and there, delivering food for door dash, driving for Uber, donating your blood, et cetera, et cetera.

03:52
And in fact, there are these places like survey junkie where you can take a couple of surveys, make a couple of dollars immediately, but it will suck up your entire day. And heck, you can even become a sperm donor for cash. But the problem with these making money schemes is that they are not sustainable in the long run and you aren’t building anything of value and it is not a good use of your time. So instead, what I’m going to teach you is how to make a thousand dollars fast using a method that can be scaled into a real business that has the potential to replace your day job income.

04:22
So here’s how I proceed step by step. So step one is to write down what you are good at. Now, in order to get someone to pay you money, you have to be able to provide value in some shape or form. As a result, your first step is to figure out what you are good at. How can you provide a benefit that someone is actually willing to pay for? What can you teach someone that will improve their life? Now, most people get hung up on this step because they don’t believe that they are an expert in any given topic, but this is actually the completely wrong mindset.

04:52
As long as you know significantly more than the person you are teaching or providing value to, then your level of knowledge is probably sufficient. After all, you don’t need to be the foremost expert on any given topic. You just need to be expert enough. So for example, I don’t pretend to know everything about selling online and I’m sure that there are nine or 10 figure e-commerce business owners out there that know more than I do. But my strength is that I’m a good communicator. I can clearly and effectively convey e-commerce concepts to my students.

05:20
and teach them how to start an online business. Now, do I have all the answers? Absolutely not. But I possess more than enough knowledge to teach others how to quickly scale a business to seven figures and beyond. Now, for the purposes of this tutorial, I’m going to pretend that I don’t currently run an online business, so I won’t teach e-commerce, but I do have some other talents up my sleeve. So here are a few topics where I personally feel expert enough to provide value. For example, I can teach basic computer programming. I can teach a blogging class.

05:50
I can teach a fundamentals WordPress course. can teach basic web design. can teach Adobe Photoshop basics. I can teach volleyball fundamentals. I can teach an SAT prep class. I can teach people how to start a podcast. can teach a course on Street Fighter 2. Now looking at this list, am I the de facto expert in any of these topics? And do I have any credentials that justify teaching a course on any of these subjects? Hell no. But I can say that I know a lot more than the average person.

06:19
and can provide tremendous value on these topics for most people. So come up with a list of skills that you are good at and write them down no matter how random they are. So for example, one of my friends devours business books in his spare time. So we decided to summarize his favorite books into a cliff notes type publication that he now makes seven figures selling online. Another friend of mine who is a professional illustrator decided to teach a drawing class and now make six figures. Do not discount any talent or random skill that you possess.

06:49
and write down all of your talents, even if you don’t think people will pay for it. All right. So the next step is to find an audience for your skill. Now, for the purposes of this tutorial, I have chosen to teach others how to use Photoshop as an example of how I would personally make a thousand dollars as quickly as possible. Once you know the skill that you want to spread to the world, the next step is to figure out what aspect of their skill other people might potentially want to pay for. So you want to ask yourself,

07:16
If you were to teach your skill to a specific audience, what benefit would they get out of it? Now, if I to use Photoshop as my example, I wrote down the following ideas. You can learn how to use Photoshop to make high converting images for Amazon sellers. You can learn how to use Photoshop to create Pinterest worthy photos for bloggers. You can learn how to use Photoshop to reach any top influencer, and you can learn how to use Photoshop to create product infographics for e-commerce store owners. Now, once you’ve created a list of benefits,

07:44
think about who might be interested in learning from you. From experience, I also know that Amazon requires all main product photos to have a white background. In addition, Amazon sellers often pay one to $2 per photo to have their images processed by a professional. As a result, Amazon sellers would be a perfect group to market my skillset to. But where can you find Amazon sellers? Where do Amazon sellers hang out? A simple Facebook search reveals a multitude of Amazon groups that you can target.

08:13
So for example, these communities are likely to be interested in my photography content or my Photoshop content, I should say the MyWifeQuarterJob community, Amazon FBA Rockstars, FBA Today. What you want to do is you want to make a list of potential groups that you can market to with your knowledge. Step number three is to sign up for an email provider. So once you have a skill in mind and a group of people you want to target, you should sign up for an email marketing provider like ConvertKit, for example.

08:39
An email marketing provider allows you to gather contact information about your potential customers and easily send marketing messages to them. So if you are a tight budget, then sign up for MailChimp, which is free for up to 2000 contacts. But if you have a little bit more money to spend, then sign up for either Drip or ConvertKit, which are much better solutions. And once you’ve signed up, you want to create a quick and dirty landing page that is hosted by your email marketing provider. So here’s an example landing page that I created in Drip, which took me all of five minutes.

09:09
Now make note of this URL for this landing page because you’ll need it for the next steps. Now the next step is to create a video tutorial demonstrating an aspect of your skill. So after you’ve chosen a skill to market and you have an email marketing landing page set up, it’s time to record a video tutorial and your tutorial should showcase your skills, establish yourself as an authority and entice potential customers to sign up for your email list.

09:34
Now right now the simplest and cheapest way to share a video is by simply hosting it on YouTube or Facebook. Now using my Photoshop example, I would create a detailed tutorial video on how to place a product on a white background for Amazon sellers and upload it to YouTube. Now there are many ways to record your video tutorial. If you are on a tight budget, you can create videos for free using a service called Loom. Alternatively, Windows 10 actually has a built-in screencast software you can use as well.

10:01
or you can simply Google free screencast software and you’ll find a number of recording solutions. Now personally, I use a program called Camtasia to record all my screencast tutorial videos. But regardless of what video recording software you use, you want to make sure to mention in your video that people can receive additional free Photoshop tutorials by signing up for your email list and be sure to link to your email landing page in your YouTube or Facebook video description and display the link at the bottom of your video.

10:30
Now remember the primary goal of this step is to impress the heck out of the people watching and have them sign up for your free email list for additional info. Now the next step is to start posting your video in relevant Facebook groups. Now, once you have your video and landing page ready, the next step is to gather email subscribers. So armed with a list of relevant Facebook groups that we just researched, it’s time to post your tutorial to interested parties. Now, before you start randomly posting your video,

10:56
you must obey the following guidelines so that you don’t come across as overly promotional. So prior to posting your content to any Facebook group, it’s important to ingratiate yourself within the community first. So spend a couple of weeks leaving comments, answering questions, and adding value to this group without asking for anything in return. Then once you’ve established yourself as a helpful member of the community, you can then post your video tutorial to the group. So here is a sample of what I might write on a Facebook group.

11:26
Hey everyone, I really love this group and I want to give back to the community. If you’re tired of paying a company to put your products on a white background, I just put together this quick and dirty video that will teach you how to do this yourself for free. Check it out.

11:40
If you sell on Amazon or run any online business for that matter, you’re going to need a trademark to protect your intellectual property. Not only that, but a trademark is absolutely necessary to register your brand on Amazon. Now I used to think that any old trademark registration service would work and I could even try to register my own trademark by myself on the cheap, but I was dead wrong. Securing a trademark without a strategy in place usually results in either an outright rejection or a worthless, unenforceable trademark.

12:08
Now that is why I work with Steven Weigler and his team from Emerge Council. They have a package service called Total TM, which provides the same attention to detail and process that large law firms do at a fraction of the price. Now for me personally, I like Emerge Council because of their philosophy. Their goal is to maximize IP protection while minimizing the price. So before you decide to register a trademark by yourself or file for other IP protection, such as a copyright or a patent, check out Emerge Council first and get a free consult.

12:38
For more information, go to emerge council.com and click on the Amazon sellers button and tell Steve that Steve sent you to receive a a hundred dollar discount on the total TM package for Amazon sellers. Once again, that’s merged council.com over at EMERGECOUNSEL.com. back to the show.

13:00
So hopefully people will watch your video and sign up for your email list. And then you want to post this video on all relevant Facebook groups and build your list. And you want to rinse and repeat this step as many times as it takes to build your following with different tutorials that you create. Now the next step is to create a course or a service that you can actually charge money for. And if you perform the last step enough times, you should have a decent sized email list. Now remember, it actually doesn’t take a lot of followers to make a thousand dollars.

13:27
And in fact, all you need are a handful of true fans who are willing to pay you money for your knowledge. It is also important to note that you should never be afraid of giving too much information away in these initial video tutorials. After all, the better your free material is, the more people will watch you want to learn from you. In any case, once you’ve built a small following, it’s time to create a flagship course that you can sell to your audience. So using my Photoshop example, I would probably charge around maybe $300 and your price point is going to depend on your audience.

13:57
for a full blown tutorial on how to optimize your images for e-commerce. This course would include live, step-by-step instruction and full email support. Now keep in mind that it’s early on so you don’t have to have the exact details of your curriculum worked out at this point. But if you’ve established yourself as an authority, people will pay just for the privilege of having direct access to you. Now designing a full blown course can be intimidating, but it’s important to note that you don’t need to have your course completely done before you launch.

14:27
In fact, you can develop your course on the fly based on customer input. And this is exactly how I launched my create a profitable online store course back in 2011. I literally sold my class with zero content prepared ahead of time. Now, in case you’re looking for an online store course platform, I actually highly recommend the platform teachable to host your course. They have a hundred percent free plan that you can sign up for, which is great for starting out. Now also keep in mind that if you do not wish to create a course at this time,

14:55
You can actually simply offer your services as a freelancer as well. Now the final step is to give a webinar and launch your class or service to your email list. Now at this point, you should have all the pieces in place. You should have an email list of people interested in your material. You should have the framework for your flagship course set up on teachable or a service that you can sell. You should have a small library of tutorials in your tool belt, either on YouTube or on Facebook. And here is where it’s time to start making money.

15:23
The best way to sell your online course or your service is by giving a live webinar. Now, if giving a live presentation sounds intimidating to you, keep in mind that a live webinar is just a fancy term for a tutorial with an offer, just like the YouTube videos that you’ve been making. Now, just like all the other videos that you’ve been providing up to this point to gather emails, you’re simply just creating another tutorial with an offer to buy your course or your service at the end. So here’s how you should structure your live presentation.

15:52
start with an introduction of yourself and your experience and spend no more than one to three minutes on this. Then you want to provide a detailed step-by-step tutorial and teach like crazy. Do not hold anything back. And the better your tutorial, the more likely that you will generate sales. Then you want to present a discounted offer of your course to the attendees. That is time sensitive. You want to create a sense of urgency to entice people to sign up right now. And then finally, you want to provide some testimonials of your work.

16:22
grab screenshots of comments on the Facebook groups that you posted on and use them as social proof. All right, it’s actually that simple. If you want to see a sample webinar in action, you can sign up for one of mine the next time I give one. And what’s cool is that setting up a webinar does not require any money. And in fact, I currently run monthly webinars using free software online and my setup is basically YouTube Live. Now here’s some average conversion statistics to expect with your webinar based on the information that I compiled with my colleagues.

16:51
Now the average attendance rate for your webinar is about a third of your signups and the average conversion rate of your live attendees is between five to 15%, depending on your offer and your presentation skills. So let’s do a little bit of math, shall we? To make a thousand dollars, you would need about four sales if you charge $300 per course. And if you assume a 10 % conversion rate, that basically means you need about 120 people on your email list, which isn’t a whole lot if you think about it.

17:17
And now here’s actually a real life case study of a student in my class who followed these exact directions and did pretty well with it. And if you’ve read all the steps above, you’re probably thinking to yourself, man, this is a ton of work. However, not only will the strategy make you a thousand dollars in one to three months, but there’s actually a high likelihood that it will lead to a sustainable business that can make you six figures or more. Now, one of the students in my Create a Profitable Online Store course, Ari Chung, followed this exact strategy outlined in this video.

17:46
and made $4,300 with an email list of only 80 people. He had no website. He had no audience before he began. And today he runs a six figure business teaching others how to publish their own picture books. None of this is rocket science. Everyone has a skill that they can teach someone else and you do not need to be an expert to add value. That’s actually the most important concept of this video. You do not need to be expert. You just need to be expert enough.

18:12
So take some time to compile your knowledge into a cohesive structure and start building a following right now and start gathering emails.

18:24
Hope you enjoy that episode. Now a common misconception is that you need money to make money. And I can say that none of my businesses that I’ve ever started required more than $1,000. Now if you don’t have money, you have to make up for it in hustle. For more information about this episode, go to mywifequitterjob.com slash episode 310. And once again, I want to thank postscript.io, which is my SMS marketing platform of choice for e-commerce. With a few clicks of a button, you can easily segment and send targeted text messages to your client base. SMS is the next

18:52
big own marketing platform and you can sign up for free over at postscript.io slash Steve. That’s P O S T S C R I P T dot IO slash Steve. also want to thank Clavia, which is my email marketing platform of choice for e-commerce merchants. You can easily put together automated flows like an abandoned cart sequence, a post purchase flow, a win back campaign. Basically all these sequences that will make you money on autopilot. So head on over to mywifequitterjob.com slash K L A V I Y O.

19:18
Once again, that’s mywifequitterjob.com slash K-L-A-V-I-Y-O. Now I talk about how I use all these tools on my blog and if you are interested in starting your own eCommerce store, head on over to mywifequitterjob.com and sign up for my free six day mini course. Just type in your email and I’ll send you the course right away. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening to the My Wife Quitter Job podcast, where we’re giving the courage people need to start their own online business. For more information, visit Steve’s blog at www.

19:46
My wife quitter job dot com