Be sure to check out John Crestani's Super Affiliate System(affiliate) after reading this post. Great stuff! Affiliate marketing is a great method of earning passive income. To ensure your success, you need to know your audience and build a solid strategy. What types of products/services are you most interested in promoting? Do you already have an existing brand online? If so, will the product/service you choose to promote fit with your brand? Ultimately, your success is based on how much traffic you can drive and convert into sales, so your strategy for how you will do this needs to be well thought out. Will you become a direct affiliate for a business or find your potential client(s) via an affiliate network (i.e. Rakuten or ClickBank)? Which ever path you choose, make sure that you also choose the products/services that you believe in/are passionate about. This way your outreach to potential customers will be more genuine because you can communicate with the customer in a way that resonates with them and is tailored to their needs rather than seeming like a generic commercial to the masses. Will you focus on a specific communications strategy (i.e. social media, email, etc.)? Which ever method(s) you choose, how big is your audience? Be sure to incorporate the affiliate content into your messaging in a way that is organic/natural rather than forced and sales-like. Timing and tact is everything! Will you generate traffic through paid ads? If so, will it be Facebook Ads, Google Adwords? It all depends on your audience and what you are promoting. So far in my affiliate marketing journey, I have made a couple of hundred dollars. The first sale of course is always the most difficult. Once you have the first behind you, you continue to fine tune your strategy for even better performance.
One great course to try if you are a complete affiliate marketing beginner is John Crestani's Super Affiliate System(affiliate). The course has multiple modules that take you through the fundamentals of what you need to know to begin your affiliate marketing business and develop your strategy. Take a look and see what you think. You get a free training session to get you started as well. If you want to know more about John Crestani before you check out the course, take a look at the interview below. I like the course because it is super practical so I encourage you to sign up soon and get started. No time like the present.
I created this series to let you know what my experience has been in the last 6-12 months building wealth through passive income. Some of these opportunities may be more lucrative than others for you. I wanted to give you my thoughts on some of these opportunities and how much I have made thus far with these, in case any would be beneficial to you. The first I will share with you is Merch by Amazon (MBA). When I think of passive income, I think of opportunities where you do not have to put in a lot of work and can earn money while you sleep. If you are not aware of what MBA is, it is a print on demand platform that allows approved individuals to post t-shirt designs for sale and earn royalties on each sale. Amazon takes care of fulfillment and shipping of the item.
With Merch by Amazon, you can definitely earn money while you sleep but, in my experience I would not necessarily say that you do not have to do much work. If you care about the quality of the designs that you are creating, optimizing your listings with great keywords and are smart about defining your niche audiences to which you want to sell - this takes WORK. I started on MBA February of 2018, since then I have generated $14k in sales $2,700 of which are my royalties. Not a boat load of money by any means but a few hundred dollars a month earns more than most savings accounts on a regular basis (of, course depending on how much money you have in the bank and the interest. For FY19 my goal is to at least triple that and earn at least 1k per month. How will I do that, well let me tell you a bit more about the MBA platform.
Merch by Amazon operates in tiers, new designers start at Tier 10 (T10) which limits you to 10 slots to uploads shirts. Then you move up to the next tier based on the number of design uploads and sales you have. To get out of T10 to T25 you have to have sold at least 10 shirts and have at least 8 of your slots full. T25 as least 25 sales and 20 slots full, and so on. I am currently at T1000 and hope to get tiered up to T2000 within the next month or so. With the additional slots I am going to take a bit different approach to the one off tshirt sales and focus on what the industry is calling "Local Merch". Local Merch is essentially working with local clients to help them with their marketing/promotional efforts utilizing MBA to produce and ship the shirts to their customers. In turn for the customer buying the shirt, they receive promotional discounts for a limited time when they wear the shirt into the business. It is a great low cost way for local business and brands to promote their business while reinforcing customer loyalty.
For me providing the service to clients I will likely make sales in a much greater volume on those designs and will in turn be able to tier up and have even more slots available. Much quicker way to generate revenue than by selling one offs. Now this may seem like easier said than done if you do not like having to connect with and gain clients. Perhaps getting groups like family reunions, schools, non-for-profits may be the route for you for Local Merch? But, can share more on that front in another post. For now, if you want to learn more about Merch by Amazon and sign up, click on the link. It is free and a fun way to earn passive income if you like to be creative and design things. There are also a bevy of low and no cost resources that I can share with you that I use to design and research for Merch by Amazon. So be sure to leave me a comment or visit absolutevenus.com for more into.
Merch Informer - Essential Tools for Merch by Amazon (affiate)
By the way if you are looking for a tool or two that have helped me immensely with research and design of my t-shirts, I recommend Merch Informer. Saves me a ton of time with design vs. the old method that I used to use, I would have to resize the design each and every time before uploading to Merch. Multiply that my hundreds of designs, that pays for itself. Time is MONEY!
Until next time, Visionaries...peace and blessings.
Happy 2019 Visionaries! Are you living your greatest passions? If so, Godspeed. If not, take this journey with us who are and you will be soaring with success soon. If inspiration is difficult for you to come by these days or if you just need to tune up, I created this book just for you.
Are you a creative person who has the passion to do great things? Do you feel bottled up? If so, this will be your guide to releasing the beauty of your talent in the midst of the ordinary. The brilliant thing is the best of this book is yet to be written by you! Enjoy your magnificence and keep creating. The impetus for me writing this book is that we are living in dynamic times yet we are sometimes stifled by the artificial connections that we are making via social media and the desire for instant gratification and acknowledgement. This type of environment makes it challenging for organic, long-lasting, genuine relationships to flourish. Too many distractions can cause even the most passionate create to lose focus. So, how do we remedy this? Go back to the source of what makes you unique and share that with the World. You are the master of creating the life you want. Carpe diem. For my international visionaries the book is available via Amazon in the following marketplaces. UK | DE | FR | ES | IT | JP
Venus Visionaries, As you know I am on my journey sharing my latest EP, "40" with hip hop junkies across the globe. I recently came across a great platform where indie hip hop and R&B artists can be heard. Clyde Reeves of Proof Radio discusses the vision for the internet station and opportunity for indie artists to showcase their latest projects. I look forward to having my single "40 Thieves" featured on the station soon! Thanks, Clyde. Clyde Reeves:What my plans are right now is to build the support for Proof Radio. And to build trust in the indie community. So on Proof Radio, we play hip hop and R&B music. We like to play main stream music mixed in with indie artists. The reason for that is to keep listeners engaged. Initially, we tried to play only indie music and it just didn’t work out. This way is working pretty good so far. We are streaming on 20 platforms at the moment. I’m adding to that list just about every week. Our mobile app releases this week for Apple / Android/ blackberry devices. We’re small right now, but growing. So, we are just trying to get our name out there and build trust.
We don’t charge the artist anything at all. If the track they submit is approved it just gets added into the rotation and it won’t be removed unless the artist or their label requests it. That’s why there’s an approval process. In the near future, I will start adding programs to the station mostly people that want to help the indie artist community. Either they can go live on the air, or if they have a podcast, we can just add it to the schedule.
Proof Radio was built to introduce new sound, whether it’s a indie artist or a artist that’s signed to a label that’s really good but, not getting radio play. I got tired of listening to the same stuff over and over on the radio stations, lol! So, I have big goals and dreams for Proof Radio. Looking to networking and build.
Visionaries, join Clyde in this music movement and visit the site, download the app, listen and support! If you are an artist and would like to submit your music for consideration, visit the site and follow the submission instructions.
Venus Visionaries, The 40 EP Album is here, take a listed below. If you enjoy what you hear select tracks are available for purchase via absolutevenus.com. Peace and blessings family!
Visitors to Planet Venus, I am excited to have connected with Mr. Complex to hear about his long awaited project "Forever New".
What inspires you to create music?
I need a beat to make me move. It has to be more than just a head nod. My back has to get into it. Then I envision being on stage or something exciting. Then the lyrics come out.
What is your latest project entitled? Why? The latest album is called "Forever New". I make timeless music. I feel at times I'm a ahead of my time and I've never been in a position to where I reach the world all at once. So when people eventually find my music, it will be new to them even if its20 years later.
What is the vibe of this album? Its nice range of pure hiphop. I have a mix narratives, word play, a couple of conscious joints, even love songs, well semi love.
How is this project different from ones that you have done in the past? This is definitely grown man rap. I have some relationship songs that I really let you feel the pain. The flows are more mastered than from my early records. I'm still just having fun. You can hear the love in my voice.
Are there any collabs (lyricists, producers, etc.) you would like to mention?
This album has one producer, Mortal 1. Strong history with this one. High school buddy that never participated in any studio work when we began straight after school running with Organized Konfusion, as matter of fact he's also Prince Po's cousin. But, he joined the work force and retired early and got into producing late in the game. I have a few features, quite a few female vocalist Maya Azucena, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Anna Simpson, Tiye Phoenix. Then Sadat X, Prince Po, OC, Truth Enola, General DV, and a few others.
What are your favorite record(s) right now on the album? I really like "Gotta Get Home", "Then was Then", and "King Kong Love"
Where can hip hop heads buy the album? What formats (i.e. MP3, CD, vinyl)? Digitally available after May 30th. Also, available on CD.
Any upcoming concerts/performances? I have a NYC album release partymay 31at the Delancey. I have a few more shows at the end of the monthjune 28@spirit in Pittsburgh.July 1Saratoga NY looking for moremrcomplexbookings@gmail.com Are there other projects that you are working on that you would like to mention (music, film, otherwise)? I have 5 feature scripts but I'm also finishing up a doc called "She should be on the radio" @ssbotr on IG
Let the people know about the project that you are currently working on.
Currently, I am finishing up the project P.E.A.C.E. which is an acronym for Proper Education Always Corrects Errors. It was taken from the mantra of the NGE or The Nation of God's and Earths or The 5% nation. The album deals with the revelation of truth in efforts to wake people up to their own godhood. It's my goal to show people that with the correct mind set one can manuever through the hells of life and bring themselves to a place of peace. But, the only way to that mind set is by way of coming into the knowledge self.
What inspired you to create this record/album?
I was inspired at first by Jay Electronica's absence and inconsistencies in the game. As a fan of substance filled music I like many were very interested in seeing what he was gonna do for the game. After he took so long to give the people what I felt like they needed to clean themselves up, I felt like it's my duty to do the same thing. Especially since I'm a MC as well under the same doctrine he subscibes to. It's in our lessons that our duty is to civilize the savage. I'm from Chicago and we are reknown in the news as being the epicenter of spiritual warfare and a city filled with savages. So, therein lies my agenda. It's plenty of work to be done.
In these days and times, is there a particular message that you would like to share with the world?
My message is simply educate yourself. And you will discover truth. Accept the truth because it will never change. It's something you can stand on. Listen and observe, also respect what you find. Gain perspective because that's how you get to the bottom of things.
Throughout your career what has been your mantra/theme in creating music.
Throughout my music career my mantra has been FEEL GOOD MUSIC! I always strive to help people find some serenity by way of music. I think I hit my mark a few times too! Lol.
What drives you personally, spiritually, professionally?
The things that drive me personally are my sons. And also my desire to create environments where love, peace, and happiness can thrive. Spiritually, is my desire to ascend to a place of divinity while I'm alive in this body. I give energy to people through my music and also as a counselor. It helps me elevate spiritually because the more people I can help the more positive energy I'm bringing forth. Spirit and energy are the same thing. Professionally I'm motivated by competition. I'm very competitive and always feel like I have something to prove to those who think I'm not the G that I am. I will make you a believer! Don't ever doubt.
Any words of wisdom/jewels you would like to share with younger generations?
Understanding is the best part. So, gain understanding and then build!