What’s the Number One Way to be Successful Online?
If you’re attempting to get an online business up and running, but you’re revving in first gear, it’s time to find the answer to this question. I’ll get right to the point.
Build a Virtual Team And Outsource Almost Everything
In my quest to help others create time and location freedom (and to thrive myself) I have been on a mission to really understand what is vital to making money online and to show others how to do it. The most effective way I could think of? Actually doing it by example.
This has presented me with a MASSIVE challenge – bigger than anything I have done in the past. My problem stems from the fact that I have huge dreams…. let me explain.
Some Background
Before I started this Blog I already had two websites, Jobaroo and Workgateways, which both receive a few thousand visitors per day – one of which has earned well over seven figures. Jobaroo and Workgateways are businesses in their own right. These sites can be pretty passive day-to-day but in order for them to grow and thrive they needed my love – lots of love – and time.
Along came this blog – Cubicle Free. This is my passion project where I do what I love – which is helping others make money online. I quickly found out that blogging is a serious time commitment and that I was crappy at writing quickly and well; it was taking me 8 hours to do one post – but I am committed.
To make Cubicle Free do well as a business I embarked on building new websites – RSACoursesOnline.com was the first, with the goal of paying me $72/hour – passively.
I have since built another site that I expect to earn in excess of $100/hour.
I also have plans for more websites, but only once I am satisfied that my existing ones are working well and growing in income. One of my new sites is a huge project – I think it can be a big business in its own right.
OK so enough about me and my time commitments. What about how YOU can make money?
Most people work full-time while trying to get their first online endeavor up and running. Or maybe they have been trying for a while and find themselves stuck in first gear – and revving hard.
What’s the Problem?
At the beginning of the year I went to the New Media Expo (NMX) in Las Vegas. At this Expo my main mission was to try to really understand what other people were struggling with – so I could work out what people needed.
I spoke with MANY, MANY people. It was so awesome meeting so many great people but it was hard to understand the main thing that I could help them with.
Then I started thinking about all the people I met at the NMX who inspire me in many ways. What did they get right?
There were others, but these guys spring to mind. They make me jump out of bed and think “if they can do it so can I – yipppeeee!”
So, what’s the difference between these guys and the thousands that struggle every day?
Is it drive? Goals? Ambition? Yep, partially. But I have seen heaps of people with bags of Rock N Roll and no music. I too have heaps of drive, ambition and even proven business success to some degree – and let me assure you that this alone was not my answer. I need something more tangible, and working my Arse off 24/7 for the next 10 years is not and never was my answer either.
Then It Struck Me. What made me successful in the past? What was happening or happened to make it work? What do I need to do NOW to do it all again, but BIGGER?
BINGO – Holy Crap – almost everyone I know who is successful (including the names above) does it,
“The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say ‘I.’ And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say ‘I.’ They don’t think ‘I.’ They think ‘we’; they think ‘team.’ They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but ‘we’ gets the credit…. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.” –Peter Drucker
This leads me to what I have been doing over the past month. This is where I DO what I SAY.
Building Awesome Teams
Team building in general is something that I am good at and love. Before starting my online business I was a recruitment consultant but I hated making cold sales calls. For a while I really struggled to make any money. Eventually I end up doing well in the highly sales driven world of recruitment without making cold sales calls.
How did I do this?
I focused on building teams. I spoke to clients I knew and tried to understand their business challenges and how another person – the right person – a person that I was going to charge them to find – could really help them.
I discovered, if you start solving your clients’ problems and they start doing a lot better as a result, it does not take long before the green stuff starts flowing.
Then in my online business – way before awesome services like Elance and Virtual Staff Finder the guys who built my website played a massive and super-important role – Kaj, Nicki and James from CityofCairns.com built the original version of Workgateways and Jobaroo, and are active to this day. But they didn’t just build a website – they got in the trenches with me and made the site work as a business. When things went wrong I called them at all hours of the day – even when they were sleeping.
After a few years of struggling to do everything myself and with the business stuck in first gear, I met Pru through my own forum. She was an Aussie traveler who really wanted to help the people who were coming to my website.
Pru helped me with so many things – she is a rock star. I love her like a sister to this day. Pru not only went the extra mile for me, she introduced her friends to me as well. I think I employed about 5 or 6 in total.
I had drive and ambition AND I had a great team. My success came from both.
Build Awesome Virtual Teams
I have always known that if you want to do anything significant in life, you will need the help of others – you simply can’t do it all yourself.
As Drucker said above – Teams are the key to a successful online business.
Here is how Workgateways looked in its prime, and it made me well over seven figures.
- Website Build – outsourced
- SEO – virtual assistant
- Inbound Emails – virtual assistant
- Social Media – virtual assistant
- Newsletter Creation – virtual assistant
- Customer Care – virtual assistant
So what did I actually do? Just sit back and collect the cash?
Well no, but I did travel a lot. I had free time whenever I wanted it, but I actually worked pretty hard – focusing on the things that made the business money and I enjoyed. These things included meeting the virtual assistants who worked with me and clients who worked with me. Part of my role included traveling to London and Australia every year and having coffees and beers.
Basically I worked ON the business not IN the business. The E-Myth Revisited book coined this phrase, and it’s a great primer for any business owner who is working hard and not able to grow.
The Situation
I see a lot of people struggling to get their businesses out of first gear or even getting their businesses off the ground.
The Solution
Get a VA and start outsourcing.
It’s not Hiring, it’s Team Building
Right now I am gearing up again. A few months ago I had scaled the business back to be basically just me again. At that time I was getting refocused on what I need to do online. Now I know what I want to do and I also know how I am going to achieve it.
I am building a Virtual Team;
Specialist VAs
Generalist VAs
Bloggers, Writers and Editors
Technical Support
So far I have hired two bloggers, a writer, an editor, bookkeeper, new accountant and a VA. I still need a WordPress website builder, coder, graphic designer and others, but for now I will have my hands full.
The difference between success and failure with VAs is your ability to engage them and get them working toward your goals.
All these people will become part of my team – not just people doing random tasks. They will be integrated into my company culture – my way of doing things – and they will be awesome. They will enjoy working with me. I will help them grow as individuals and we will thrive.
Now on to the real reason you are here.
Income for January 2013
Workgateways.com
This Month Income = $ 3994 Last Month Income = $3314
Difference = +20%
Jobaroo.com
This Month Income = $374 Last Month Income = $1475
Difference = -75%
RSACoursesOnline.com
This Month Affiliate Income = $50 Last month = $20
Difference = %-60%
New Website Launched 15 December 2012
This Month Affiliate Income = $0
Grand Total Income = $4503 Last Month = $4809
Difference = -6.3%
In future months I will start including expenses, but for now they are pretty minimal, although I expect that will change as I invest in outsourcing again and include items like the course I have started.
It is a long way from $400k but as I described above, my efforts have been focused on a much bigger long-term picture. This has meant that my direct income hasn’t increased significantly.
It’s fun to see how others are going and based on Matt Woodward’s Income Report Roundup I am middle of the pack.
RSA Courses Online – My Useful Niche Website
Traffic has remained low and stagnant, and there is a very good reason for this – very few awesome backlinks pointing to the site.
I find this a little frustrating as I have tried a few things, but then I remember I have not really got any great results. As I’ve discussed in the past, I believe that quality organic links will win.
However, initially I thought that based on the backlink profiles of my competitors in this space I could own this niche very easily. I know that I have much more to offer than anyone else on this subject and I add a lot of value, but traffic growth has been non-existent so far. Basically Google knows I exist but doesn’t care too much – yet. Admittedly it is still a young site, but the fact remains I thought it should be doing better – even just slightly better by now. The main problem has been my lack of action to get organic links which takes time and dedicated focus.
Positive Actions to Rectify This
Getting great backlinks so you can show up in the top results for Google is going to take some work.
The very first task I gave my brand new generalist VA was to research for high quality guest post opportunities on travel blogs. As I hit publish for this post she has found 51 awesome blogs, now it is time to hand this information over to the bloggers I have hired.
I also hired backpacker bloggers in Australia who can write awesome content including information about getting an RSA certificate.
Again, part of my team.
Conclusion
Here’s the bottom line: if you want to start changing gears in your business, it’s time to rely on more than passion and hard work.
Your business should not be your life.
If all that you have is passion and hard work eventually the passion dies and your lifestyle becomes just hard work. The passion dies because eventually you end up doing everything the business demands – including many things you hate doing and many things that are better done by someone else.
The sooner you start outsourcing the quicker you can start building a team.
- Hire your first VA and you start taking your foot of the brake.
- Start building a team and you start pressing the accelerator pedal.
I am currently writing a guide on how to work out what to give your first VA. If you are interested in receiving an advanced copy, email me at Quinn @ cubiclefree.com with the subject “free guide”. Anyone who emails me before I publish will get it free. I will also be offering it to anyone already subscribed to my “latest blog updates” so if you have ever got an email from me you have nothing to do.
P.S. Bethany who I found on eLance edited this blog post. As I said, blog posts were taking me on average about 8 hours to write and edit and loading them onto WordPress – formatting, finding pictures and making sure I had a good point was sucking the life out of me. NOW they take me 2 to 3 hours and I have more time to do what I enjoy. Thanks Bethany – You Are Awesome!
If you want to work out what to outsource first – email me now for an advanced copy of that guide or simply put your email into the opt-in box below.
Thank you so much for reading.
Dominique says
Thanks for the update on your authority site – I was wondering how that was going. Is it possible that Google has sandboxed you? I heard that this is something Google does with all new websites. Look forward to seeing the results of your outsourcing efforts! Dom
cubiclefree says
Hey Dominique, Thank you for the post. That is a really good point! I have seen other websites seeming do well out of the gate – but perhaps these were domain names that were purchased long ago. The whole sandbox theory makes sense to me but I am not sure of how much an effect it actually has – if any… I suppose in the long term and if you are getting great links it does not matter. Quinn
Irwin says
Hey Quinn,
Nice, solid post and regarding your comment on the time it takes to make a blog post, I acknowledge that wholeheartedly. Blogging takes a long time, especially posts with great, helpful content. I’ve always respected bloggers before but my respect is at a whole new level now because I personally understand how difficult and time consuming it is to think of content, write it, put it together, and post it.
I’m glad to read that you have your VA up and running. That’s awesome and good job Bethany!
Irwin
cubiclefree says
Thanks Irwin! I sure am having a lot of fun making things happen at the moment. How do I convince I guy like you to get someone like Bethany or do you already? Quinn
Theodore Nwangene says
I missed you Quinn,
Where have you being? Anyway welcome back.
We all love to outsource too but the issue is that most of us are not making any dough from our efforts yet in order to pay the bill for a VA.
I’m working on creating a niche site now of which I’m still doing the keyword research. Its on weight loss niche and i know i will need the help of some VAs especially in the area of content creation and backlinks, but i don’t know how i will pay the bill.
Is there any affordable one you can recommend? Do you have any idea about those ones Jon Haver is using on for his Pay My Student Loans blog?
I know i will greatly need the help of you guys on this project of mine because this is the first niche site I’m building.
I will shoot you a mail now for the report you’re writing.
Thanks a lot Quinn and more strength to your elbows.
cubiclefree says
Hey Theodore,
Thanks for the great questions and it sure is nice to be missed!
Jon has a team of VAs and is the number one reason I can see that he can do well online and work a full time job too.
Everyone is different, but I want to tackle your question of affordability head on.
My questions are;
1) Are you building a business or a hobby?
2) How much are you worth on an hourly basis?
3) Can you afford not to hire a VA?
If you can answer these questions honestly above you will be able to decide if you can afford a VA or not.
Lets use me as an example;
1) I am trying to build something that makes an impact, helps others and I do want to get paid for it. My hours spent need to be effective. A hobby is something you do not expect to get paid for and you are perfectly happy spending many hours just doing it for the sheer enjoyment. If you are doing a hobby – terrific – hobbies are great. I am building a business though.
2) I want to earn six figures or $100k/year – work 40 hours per week and 48 weeks a year. Therefore my hourly rate is 100k/1920hrs = $52/hr
3) I want to achieve my goal of building a business and making $52/hr by the end of this year I need to get things done.
Reasons for engaging a VA for business reasons
A) Better
B) Quicker
B) Cheaper
Some examples.
– My accountant charges me much more than $52/hr but I do not have the time to learn accounting or stay up to speed on taxation issues. I outsource it. (Better and Quicker)
– I needed three quality logos and I am not a designer so I had them made for $5, $99 and $499 – all made good sense from a business perspective. (Better and Quicker)
– I need content written for some of my other websites – It would take me at least 3 hours to write these and load them on WordPress – For me to do 5 articles is $52/hr X 3 hrs X 5 articles = $780. I get five articles done for $25 from a native english speaker who was a journalist. (Better, Quicker and Cheaper)
In my case, I want to create a business that can grow. My time has a value and I need others to help. Also by giving my accounting, logo designing, writing and other tasks to others I can do things that I enjoy – make more money for the business or just spend more time with my family.
Hope this helps!
Business or Hobby?
Quinn
Theodore Nwangene says
Hi Quinn,
Thanks a lot for your reply, very comprehensive indeed.
Now to answer your questions….
I want a business for sure. In as much as I want to help lots of people, but just like you said, I also want to get paid for my efforts.
The answer you gave to your other questions are also smart thing I would answer.
I can’t make a logo either and I’m ready to outsource that at least, I can afford $5.
The issue is that I want a business but don’t really have much to pay for VA’s as I’m still a student.
Please any help will be appreciated a lot.
Thanks again for your response and the email.
cubiclefree says
No problem. Hey great news on the logo – start there. That will help you to get the ball rolling for the potential that outsourcing brings. I think I am starting to understand the real reason you are hesitating. Is it possible to be a student and have a great business? I certainly believe so. If you could visualise clearly how your business was going to be profitable in the future – Wouldn’t it be easier to hire a VA? You are going to like my guide to outsourcing!
Tung Tran says
Hi Theodore,
You should make it clear and seperated: Entrepreneur or Student?
if you want to build a business, you must outsource or delegate.
I tried outsourcing when I was at grade 11 in high school. I was a student, yes.. But it was only my role at school, when I sit in front of the computer, I was an entrepreneur, so I threw away the student’s mindset and started acting like a real entrepreneur.
Start with very small specific tasks that you can’t do or dont want to do like : logo design, writing code, backlinking… Try Odesk.. you can hire a per-hour VA at a cheap rate ($2-$3 per hour).. the great thing is you only have to pay for amount of hours they work for you.. so start small.
Don’t be afraid to pay some money :D.. you will get it back soon.. if you dont try, you will never know how great outsourcing is.
Of course when first started, some of us (include me 😀 ) don’t have a high budget, but remember to systemize your business from the beginning. You can do many roles in your business at first, but remember to make them replaceable parts of your business… and when the income roll in, handle those tasks to others and DONE 😀
PS: I’ve just drop out of college so I am not a student anymore hehe 😀
Financial Samurai says
That’s a long time to spend on a post Quinn! I spent a little over 10 hours writing my “Recommend Net Worth Allocation” post and felt completely burnt out and idiotic for doing so. I think my optimal time spent is around 2-3 hours.
Hope your chunky income continues to increase!
cubiclefree says
Hey Sam! Thanks for you comments. You have some awesome sites and I am constantly amazed by how much great content you produce – well done my friend! Quinn
Matthew Allen says
I second Theodore’s comment. It’s tough to commit to paying for outsourcing, especially when just starting out and being uncertain on the return value that it will have.
I think building something successful and then outsourcing the mundane tasks and things you just hate to do is the way to go. Much like you laid out in this post Quinn. Great stuff here. This is motivational for me and is kind of encouraging for me to go forward with some small outsourcing projects that I’ve been wanting to try.
cubiclefree says
Hey Matt, Thank you for your comments! You and Theodore are asking exactly the right questions – Thank you. What do you think of my answer to Theodore? Would love to help you guys. Quinn
David Novak says
Hey Quinn,
I’ve been following your website for about 6 weeks now, just signed up today to receive your emails, but waiting on the confirmation email to come through. I am impressed with you and your website and what you say makes a whole lot of sense and it’s the commercial/business minded approach you take to getting things done that resonates with me.
I have to admit though that I have been trying to write all of the articles myself on my website, and I have all great intentions to get one post a day written, but like you, they take me 2+ hours to write about 700-1000 words and I feel like half the day is almost over by the time I have done keyword research, research for the article, written it, published it on WP etc. Not to mention promoting the post once it is live!
You mentioned in your response to Theodore about paying $25 to have an article written, do you feel that it can be done for less? I have obviously seen the $5 offers out there, and I realize they will be worthless, but I have also seen offers of $10/$12/$15 articles that seem like they might be worth a shot. I am basically building an authority site and doing so by writing blog posts using long tail keywords, and I have read that the general rule of thumb is that for each article you write you should be able to earn approx $1 per month (reoccurring) on Google AdSense. I understand this is a fairly raw rule of thumb and there are other ways to earn other than adsense, but if for instance I could get good articles written for say $10, they have the potential to return me $12 (maybe more if I promote them well) over a 12 month period. I would then look to get approx 10 paid articles per month written, and probably write a couple more myself. Am I way off base here in my thinking?
You have certainly made me realize that I need to outsource my work because I can see myself this time next year with a website that only has about 10 more articles written on it, and making me diddly squat! Thank you, David
cubiclefree says
Hi David,
Great questions and I really appreciate that you signed up – Thank you!
I have changed my response to Theodore – what I meant to convey was $25 for five articles or $5 for 500 words. (Sorry this was not clear)
Here is one of them – http://www.rsacoursesonline.com/do-you-need-to-do-an-rsa-course-before-you-start-work/. At present I then hand these articles over to be loaded up with images. This takes about 1/2 an hour or so to add pictures and load the post onto WordPress. All in I am looking at $8 per article including $1 for an image (I decided it was quicker and I would get better results if I paid for these but you could get free ones).
So yes, it certainly is possible. You could do it cheaper but I think it would be hard to keep the quality reasonably high.
I got the method for finding my writer from Jon – http://authoritywebsiteincome.com/cheap-article-writing/ – I have however adapted it to my way of doing things (which I will do a post about). I believe he has also settled on paying a little more at around $5 for an article at present for the same reason – higher quality.
Really great that to hear that I helped you see the potential.
Quinn
David Novak says
Hi Quinn,
Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly. By the way, that “changed track” link in your welcome email that refers to Pat Flynn goes to this website: “http://www.iana.org/domains/example” so I think something might be messed up there, and thought you would like to know.
You have definitely put my mind at rest on the $5 versus $25 for an article, and I really appreciate the link to Jon’s website that talks all about how to get $2 articles created, and I am going to try this method out, and I’ll let you know how I get on. I had an email from a guy in Kenya last year offering article writing services, so I have replied to him too so I can see what he charges and what his quality is like, we’ll see! I think your method sounds good and I don’t mind paying a bit more, and spending 1/2 hour of my own time in getting an image and adding the article to WP. May I ask where you get your images for $1? The one on the RSA site seems nice and professional and not a tiny thumbnail either, so $1 seems like a good price! I am impressed with your RSA website and also since you already have a PR3. I am still stuck at PR0, but hopefully this will increase over time.
Thanks again for everything Quinn, and I’ll keep in touch and continue to be an avid reader of your blog.
David
cubiclefree says
Thanks David,
Unfortunately Pat has been having a few problems with his site so I think he had his domain pointed at the iana site… anyway thank you!
Depositphotos.com is where I have been getting my images. Lowest resolution pics are all you need for most articles – 80c to 1.20 for these.
Cheers,
Quinn
Tung Tran says
Photodune.com is good as well… I purchased 1$ images from this marketplace
David Novak says
Sorry for the delayed reply Quinn, just been a little crazy around here! Thank you very much for letting me know about deposit photos, much appreciated. They seem to have a good selection, and definitely at the right price! Also thanks to Tung for recommending photo dune. Cheers!