Category: Make Money Online

Why Starting An Online Business Is A Good Investment

Why Starting An Online Business Is A Good Investment

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Why Starting An Online Business Is A Good Investment

If you’ve always wanted to start your own business but are too afraid to take a huge risk with the investment, then an online business model might interest you.

There are many different ways you can run an online business, and there’s bound to be one that fits your needs and investment range.

Unlike with most business models, you can take much smaller risks with online models, and put in a much smaller investment – if you take the right opportunities.

Starting An Online Business Is A Good Investment

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It’s much cheaper to set up and run

You don’t have to go all out and rent any properties for your online business to get some recognition, you can go ahead and set up shop in an already established online market.

Take Amazon, for example, everyone knows Amazon, and all of the shops Amazon owns are online stores.

You can use these sites to sell your products, and you’ll benefit from their popularity, meaning you don’t have to go above and beyond trying to direct traffic to your items. If you’re only trying to sell a small number of products, or not trying to reach a huge audience – this is a great option for you.

It’s worth knowing that when you sell items on these sites, you’re not making 100% of the profit, as it costs to run your store on an already established platform.

Sites like Etsy charge even more if the product you’re selling was found through an advertisement that was put up on another page.

Even if you have your own website set up, you’re still not going to be paying as much as you would if you needed your own property. You can have a site hosted nestify.io/woocommerce-hosting/, and there are a lot of services that will build your site for you if you’re not happy with the website-building services out there.

It requires less input

If you’re not yet ready to sell your life away to your own business, then an online business shines here. Once you’ve got things up and running, you don’t need to be giving your online store your full attention. If you were to be working on a shop floor – you would have to be active all of the time whenever a customer comes in, but that’s no longer the case with online shopping.

A lot of orders can be handled automatically, and depending on your business model, you may not even come into contact with the products that are being sold.

It’s a little less hands-on, which is a turnoff for many entrepreneurs, but you can continue to maintain your social life while trying to run your business at the same time. It’s not going to be idiot-proof, but there’s a lot more room for mistakes when you don’t have to interact with customers as often.

If you’re new to the idea of running a business, the online route may feel a lot more comfortable for you. There’s a lot less pressure on your end, and you have a lot less to manage in terms of assets related to your business.

Ever thought of owning an online business but never had the courage to take the plunge? Here's why starting an online business is a good investment.

Upskilling is cheap or free

You don’t have to know everything there is to know when you’re just starting out.  You can take it one baby step at a time.

And virtually everything you need to know you can learn on YouTube free of charge.  Sure, it might be a good idea to take some paid courses but there is so much free information out there too.

Once you’ve chosen a direction for your online business you can look into who’s out there doing what you’d like to be doing and model what they are doing.  Many top online business owners are more than happy to share their knowledge and their business has become teaching other online business owners how to succeed.

Everything you learn is an investment in yourself

As you equip yourself with knowledge and learn new skills, you’ll find you gain confidence and know-how in more ways than you can imagine.

These skills can also be used for all your future endeavors.

No learning is ever lost, especially when it comes to being an online entrepreneur.   Even if you don’t succeed at first, you gain valuable experience.

Over to You

Have you ever thought of starting an online business but lacked the courage to take the plunge?

We trust you feel more secure now that you know why starting an online business is a good investment.

Alternative Freelance Writing Gigs

Getting Creative with Content: Alternative Freelance Writing Gigs

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Getting Creative with Content

Expert Guest Post by Award-Winning Author, Mark Plets

Last year proved just how viable remote work can be. From companies that required their employees to temporarily work from home to innovative individuals who turned disheartening layoffs into opportunities for crafting independent income, 2020 transformed the way we look at jobs.

This shift in the job market has created a plethora of new online work, much of which includes—or is entirely focused on—quality writing. Freelance writing offers both a means to generate multiple income streams and to free yourself partially or entirely from the ever-increasing constraints of the new in-person work world.

Blog posts are often a freelance writer’s bread and butter, but writing blogs is also very common and a highly competitive market, frequently reducing the pay rate to one-quarter minimum wage (U.S.) when all is said and done… discouraging, to say the least.

If high-paying blogging doesn’t come your way, think creatively about other types of content that you could provide.

Alternative Freelance Writing Gigs

When I realized one day that I was making about five bucks an hour for the amount of time I invested into finding, negotiating, writing, editing, and revising some clients’ blog posts, I started second-guessing this sort of work.

That’s when I made a list of topics I was both interested in and had at least some knowledge about or wouldn’t mind spending the extra time researching.

Creative with Content

Here are some of the new target content writing areas that arose from that search:

Product Descriptions

Many online stores have dry ad copy as well as mechanical-sounding product descriptions. While it is sometimes important to have plain language to be user-friendly, products need more than just weight and dimensions in their descriptions to really sell. Spicing up these sections can turn a save-for-later into a buy-it-now!

Beyond obvious products like clothing, coffee beans, and cosmetics, think about other businesses that constantly require new descriptions. Real estate agents need copy written for houses and property all the time and, if you have basic photography skills, can make a little extra if you take pictures of the places as well.

Freelance writing offers a means to generate multiple income streams, especially with these alternative freelance writing gigs from Author Mark Plets. #freelancewritinggigs #creativewithcontent #contentwritingPromotional Materials

Brochures, flyers, business cards, menus—you name it—both large and small businesses need creative copy written for promotional materials.

This is where I find it useful to list your topics of interest and knowledge because it will set you apart when approaching a given business and likely make your work experience smoother.

I find yoga teachers, independent coffee shops, and other small businesses and classes welcome promotional copy on their social media and websites since these individuals tend to already be busy running their businesses.

You will find that a lot of entrepreneurs and independent businesses are only too happy to hand over writing tasks to you.

Class schedules, different coffee bean roasts, alternative health providers, all need their blank pages filled with attractive copy.

Bios

I’ve never met anyone who likes writing about themselves (including myself!). By the time we writers have finished an article, a book, a blog, we usually are eager to publish it, not dissect our life story for the twelfth time.

When we are required to fill in those “about me”, “my story”, etc. blanks, then begins the back-and-forth conflict of the writing sounding too self-congratulatory or not flattering enough, or too bland because it falls in the middle safe ground. Sheesh! And we are writers!

Imagine how it feels for small businesses and entrepreneurs that have sweat blood to get their business going and now they have to write 500 words here, 1,500 words there, like they’re back in a college English class.

You, freelance writer, are their best friend in these situations.

Writing bios is a great freelancing niche since this work varies from social media “about” sections to mini-biographies for entrepreneurs.

Who knows? You may just end up writing the bio for another writer or author who doesn’t want to write it themselves.

The interesting dichotomy of bios is, while the work is usually a one-off, there is so much need for it that it can almost always be readily found.

A major advantage of this freelance writing niche is the never-ending need for this sort of work. I’ve had bio writing work come to me without seeking it.

I get to talking to people in line at the coffee shop or in the gym without self-promotion and somehow or other they start talking about a project they are working on or a friend who needs a bio written and before I know it, I have some extra work. Keep your ears open out there for people who need help telling their story.

Pique Your Perspective

Words are needed everywhere. When the glow of freelance writing first started to wane because of long hours and low pay, it was finding less-obvious content writing avenues that renewed my interest and boosted my income. Suddenly I saw content writing in everything and casual talk with people generated jobs without the back-breaking constant pitching on freelance websites.

Acknowledge your knowledge, get close to topics that interest you, and see the possibilities of freelance writing in the world around you.

Niching your writing skills is key. This topic and much more are discussed in my new book Content to Cash, a start-to-finish guide on making it happen and keeping it going in the arena of freelance writing.

Mark Plets Author Content to Cash

About the Author

Mark Plets is an award-winning author who writes fiction, non-fiction, web content, and blogs.

With a love of writing combined with a passion for languages, Mark’s life is driven by the power and beauty of words.

Follow Mark Plets on Facebook

Facebook Mark Plets Author

What is the Wealthy Affiliate Black Friday Special About?

What is the Wealthy Affiliate Black Friday Special About? (Video)

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This is the third year in a row that I’m purchasing Wealthy Affiliate’s Black Friday Special.  I save a big whack on Premium Membership fees at Wealthy Affiliate each year by purchasing on Black Friday.  Details are in the video below.

 

If you're looking to find legitimate ways to earn money online, you'll want to look into Wealthy Affiliate's Black Friday special. That's why I shot this quick video. #WealthyAffiliate #BlackFridaySpecial #NicheWebsites #EarnMoneyOnline #AffiliateMarketing #OnlineMarketingTraining #AffiliateMarketingTraining #WhatistheWealthyAffiliateBlackFridaySpecialAboutVery briefly, Wealthy Affiliate is the place where I got all my training, support and tools so that I could create niche websites and earn money online.

It’s a great place to learn about Content marketing, SEO, Affiliate Marketing and so much more –  everything you need to build a profitable online business.

And there’s also a supportive community to keep you motivated every step of the way.

You can read more in this post: How to Start a Blog Free

And this post:  Can You Really Make Money on Wealthy Affiliate

And this post: 23 Reasons to Take Wealthy Affiliate’s Black Friday Deal

Here’s where you can sign up for Wealthy Affiliate’s Black Friday Deal.  *This is an affiliate link.

  • Don’t pay $49 a month for Premium Membership at Wealthy Affiliate.
  • That works out to $588 a year.
  • Get Your Annual Membership on Black Friday and you’ll ONLY pay $299 for the entire year.
  • Saving you $289.
  • That works out to just under $25 a month.
  • It’s also a $60 saving on the usual Annual Membership rate.
  • On any other day of the year, Annual Membership will cost you $359.

Black Friday is coming.  And with it your chance to start a profitable online business for $0.82 a day.

If you’ve ever thought of making money online, this is the perfect place to start. Who’s in?

* If you purchase anything through a link in this article, you should assume that I have an affiliate relationship with the company providing the product or service that you purchase, and that I’ll be compensated in some small way at no extra cost to you.

What is Email Marketing About

What is Email Marketing About? (Video)

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What is Email Marketing About?

Find out in this video.

Download the PDF Presentation below

What is Email Marketing About? from Lauren Kinghorn

Read more in the following posts: What’s an Email List For?  and What’s the Value Ladder

Would you like to become a Digital Entrepreneur? Start Here

Are you a Fempreneur? I would luuurve to have YOU join us on LinkedIn at Fempreneurs Unite

If you’re a Mom Entrepreneur, please join us at Mompreneurs Unite

* If you purchase anything through a link in this description, you should assume that I have an affiliate relationship with the company providing the product or service that you purchase, and that I’ll be compensated in some small way at no extra cost to you.

Next up, What’s a Sales Presentation?

Should I Join Legendary Marketer? YES - Here's Why

Legendary Marketer Review (Video)

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Should I Join Legendary Marketer?  YES – Here’s Why

See my full Legendary Marketer review here. 

How to Join Legendary Marketer’s 15-Day Challenge

As mentioned I paid $7 to do the 15-Day Challenge but Dave Sharpe has recently introduced a couple of new ways to get access FOR LESS.  You can save yourself 5 or 6 Dollars.

Here are your 3 options:

  1. Cough up the $7 like I did – join my mailing list and watch an intro video by Dave Sharpe.
  2. For only $1.99 you can get The Insiders Guide to Affiliate Marketing e-book by Dave Sharpe.
  3. For just $1 you can get The Copywriter’s PlayBook by Dave Sharpe.

**Please note that these are affiliate links.  I will earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) should you click on any of the above links and decide to purchase any of the products at Legendary Marketer. 

Next Up, When to Quit Your Job and Start a Business

Make Money Online with these High Income Skills

Make Money Online with these High-Income Skills (Video)

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When I learned about these high-income skills the penny dropped.

You see, when I started my web-based business, I fell into the trap of playing around online. I could spend days on Pinterest and Instagram enchanted by the gorgeous images, clicking through to read every post.  I could just as easily spend hours a day commenting on Facebook posts and watching inspiring Ted Talks on YouTube.

And I did at first – waste. time. online.

Playing. Enjoying. Indulging. Learning. Growing.

And that’s one of the benefits of the world wide web and social media, isn’t it? It’s entertaining, it’s educational, it’s informative.

But you raised your hand and said, I want to make money online.  And that’s why, like me, you’ll want to find out about these high-income skills.

Make Money Online with these High-Income Skills

I want to make money online

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You want to become a Digital Entrepreneur, don’t you?

You want to generate real cash.

You want to build an online empire.

When you’re ready to make money online, when you need cash in your pocket or money in the bank to feed hungry mouths at home, it’s time to stop playing and spring into action. It’s time to hone in on the skills that produce the most income.

High-Income Skills

Here are the Top 3 High-Income Skills to either learn in your business or outsource to experts.

1. Sales and Presenting

2. Copywriting

3. Lead Generation

That’s why I recommend you keep these top of mind while you’re building your online business.

Focus your attention on mastering these skills.

Choose one of these skills to master every year you’re online and by year 4 you’ll be a master Digital Entrepreneur.

Incorporate these skills into your daily action plan.

Make sure you are practising these skills every single day. Because if you’re not, you’ll never build a profitable online business.

And here’s another massive benefit of mastering these skills.

Each skill makes you more valuable in the marketplace.

Let me show you what I mean by this.

Inspired by this list of the 8 Highest Paying Side Hustles on Fiverr (CNBC.com), I created my own list of the 10 hottest skills to make money as a freelancer.

Join Fiverr as a Freelancer here. *This is an affiliate link.

These are the side hustles you can turn into main hustles.

10 Hottest High-Income Skills to Make Money Online

Make Money Online with these High-Income Skills (Video) |

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Here are 5 High-Income Skills that fall under the Category Sales and Presenting.

1. Video Marketing

Just think of how much money YouTubers are making online.

2. Public Speaking

Here’s a strategy you could use. Start with small unpaid talks locally and then advance to Tedx Talks and before you know, companies will be booking you for paid talks.

3. Coaching

Once you’ve learned how to do something and do it well, you can coach others to do what you do.

4. Consulting

If you are experienced or have a highly sought after skill-set, become a Consultant. Why sell your skills at wholesale to a company when you can be selling them at retail?  When you work for yourself you can charge premium rates.

5. Course Creation

Course Creators are making a killing online. This is one of the hottest skills you can master because it’s not paid by the hour. There’s a lot of initial work involved in creating a course and getting it off the ground. But once it’s done that course can pay you over & over again. *Passive Income Idea.

Copywriting

Image Credit: Free on Canva Pro

Here are two High-Income opportunities that fall under Copywriting.

6. Business Copywriting

You’ll be doing a lot of writing as a digital entrepreneur. Writing articles on your website and, if you want to build Domain Authority, it’s wise to write for other sites too,

In time you’ll learn to write emails to send to your subscribers. You’ll also be crafting posts and Adverts for social media.

Email marketing and Social Media Advertising could also fall under Lead Generation.

7. SEO Content Writing

Search Engine Optimisation is an art in itself and that’s why it’s very handsomely paid. SEO Content Writers learn how to research keywords and insert meta tags to get posts ranking on page 1, position 1 of Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Lead Generation

Image Credit: Free on Canva Pro

This one falls under Lead Generation.

8. Website Building

And in particular, building Sales Funnels and Landing Pages.

These high-income skills fall under lead generation.

  • SEO Content Writing
  • Email Marketing
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Social Media Ad Copy
  • Social Media Marketing (Targeting Ads)
  • Designing Ads for Social Media

And that leads us to another High-Income Skill, that falls into its own category.

9. Graphic Design

Graphic design could be added as the 4th high-income skill to master.

Because you’ll be using graphic design in virtually everything you do online, creating an article, creating a post or infographic for social media, creating a YouTube thumbnail. And that’s exactly why graphic design is in such high demand.

You’ll either need to learn how to do it yourself or outsource it to an expert.

10. Mobile App Development

This one is for the techies. And, in fact, there are many technical skills you might learn along the way in your digital marketing journey that could make you wealthy.

For example, you might add an online store to your website using WooCommerce. Once you’ve learned how to do this, you’ve acquired a technical skill you can either teach to others or do for others — in other words, you have a saleable skill.

So here’s a killer strategy for you:-

Learn. Sell. Teach.

Any skill you can master online is one you can either SELL as a Freelancer or TEACH as a Coach.

Starting a web-based business can be daunting. There are so many ways to make money but which one should you focus on? Find out in this post. #makemoneyonline #highincomeskills #highestpayingsidehustles #fiverr

When I learnt about these high-income skills, I changed the way I view my online business. I stopped wasting time on low-income tasks and started focusing all my attention on high-income activities.

How do you spend most of your time online?

Are you doing course after course but never applying your knowledge and turning it into income?

Then check out my no. 1 recommendation

At Wealthy Affiliate,  you cannot complete a certification without applying your knowledge.  It’s a great way to learn because as you apply each lesson, you’re building your online business.

* If you purchase anything through a link in this article, you should assume that I have an affiliate relationship with the company providing the product or service that you purchase, and that I’ll be compensated in some small way at no extra cost to you.

Next Up, How to Create a Video for Your Online Business

How to Make Money in Affiliate Marketing

How to Make Money in Affiliate Marketing (Part 2)

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In Part 1 of How to Make Money in Affiliate Marketing, we focused on how to choose the right affiliate marketing company.

Today’s post is about YOU, your part in creating a rip-roaring Affiliate Marketing empire. You’ve chosen the company (or companies) you want to align yourself with and now it’s time to start promoting their products and services.

How to Promote Affiliate Products

How to Promote Affiliate Products

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There are two distinctly different paths to follow when it comes to promoting affiliate products. You can use:

  1. Paid Methods (Advertising)
  2. Unpaid Methods (Organic Methods)

I’ll focus on unpaid methods in this post because, if you’re new to Affiliate Marketing, you probably don’t have much cash flow yet. I’ll touch very briefly on paid methods though, just so you know what your options are.

Paid Methods

Here are the most common paid methods to market affiliate products.

  • Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) e.g. Google Ads and Bing Ads
  • Social Media Advertising e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest
  • Video Advertising e.g. YouTube Ads

Advertising online is based on volume. You have to put out a lot of Ads to get a return on your investment, which is why I recommend you start with organic methods.

Unpaid Methods

Very simply, these are free ways to draw traffic to your affiliate offers. Well, no marketing methods are entirely free, there is a cost involved. The cost is your time.

Because driving organic traffic to your affiliate offers usually requires you to create a lot of content — and targeted content at that.

This is how you build a career as an Affiliate Marketer. This is your journey, this is what you’ll be doing most days as an affiliate marketer, while you are building trust with your market and authority online.

We can also call this Trust Marketing or Relationship Marketing.

Content Marketing

Content Marketing

There are many different ways you can create content online. Here are the seven most common ones.

7 Types of Content to Promote Your Affiliate Offers

  1. Blog Posts
  2. Social Media Posts
  3. Videos
  4. Podcasts
  5. Sales Funnels
  6. Emails
  7. Digital Products (eBooks and Courses)

The Purpose of Content Marketing

The purpose of all Content Marketing is to

  • Educate
  • Engage
  • Inform
  • Inspire
  • Entertain

Bear these 5 aims in mind as you consider each piece of content you put out.

GOLDEN TIP:

If all you’re doing is promoting your affiliate products, you’re basically spamming your audience. Aim to give value to your audience in each and every piece of content you post online. That’s how you build a tribe, a loyal following and ultimately how you will build a client base.

Blogging

1. Blogging

The most common way to promote affiliate products is by setting up a blog or niche website. Bloggers create posts that highlight and address challenges or solve problems their visitors might be experiencing.

They also create reviews of products they feel will further benefit their audience.

It’s worth learning the fundamentals of Keyword Research and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) if you want to drive organic (free) traffic to your posts.

However, keep in mind that it takes time to generate organic traffic and build authority.  Be prepared for the slow build.

GOLDEN TIP

Did you know that you could be a blogger without owning your own domain or creating your own website?

Simply write your posts and publish them here on Medium (as Stories) or on LinkedIn Publisher (as Articles).  There’s a massive benefit to doing it this way.

Publishing platforms already have Authority and traffic. You’re more likely to get visitors reading and commenting on your posts than when you’ve just started your own blog.

Your posts also rank faster in the search engines. A whole bunch of benefits, really. Just saying. 🙂

Related: How to Start a Blog (FREE)

2. Social Media

Social Media can go hand-in-hand with blogging or stand-alone. Here’s what I mean by this. Blogging and Social Media As a blogger, you can build social media profiles linked to your blog.

Each time you create a blog post, you also share your post on your chosen social media platforms. You can also create Groups on Facebook Groups or LinkedIn to build a tribe, a free version of a membership site.

But be warned, Facebook has been known to shut down groups with no notice. Social Media Influencer You can also utilise the power of social media even if you have no blog or website of your own by becoming an Instagrammer or a YouTuber.

Infographics If your top skill is graphic design, design infographics or illustrations to share on social media. Unique social media posts with images that really pop can drive huge traffic to your offers.

3. Videos

If writing is absolutely not your thing and you come across much better on camera, go video. Video marketing is hooooge right now and it’s here to stay.

Again, you can use video as a blogger by embedding your own videos in your posts, or you can skip the blogging bit and just become a YouTuber. You can also use video as a Social Media Marketer.

Live Video is one of the biggest trends, with Facebook Lives and Instagram Live leading the way. Did you know that you can also go live on YouTube? And even LinkedIn is starting to introduce Live Video now.

4. Podcasts

Not quite ready to go video yet? Why not try the audio version, Podcasts? Oh, and it’s really easy to create a podcast from a video — simply record the audio version and upload.

And if you are brave enough to go video you might as well set up a podcast while you’re at it. This way you can reach a wider audience with each piece of content you create.

GOLDEN TIP

While we’re on this subject, why not put some extra effort in and do this…?

For each topic you cover, create 5 types of content

  1. A blog post on your own website (if you have one)
  2. Repurpose your content and create a post on a publishing platform (e.g. LinkedIn or Medium)
  3. Create corresponding social media posts and/or infographics
  4. Create a presentation on Canva or Powerpoint and upload it to Slideshare
  5. Shoot a video and upload it to YouTube

This technique can have a huge impact because you can link to each platform from each platform, giving your audience new ways to find you.

Sales Funnel

Pic of Sales Funnel Image Credit: Free on Canva Pro

5. Sales Funnels

Here’s another technique that can stand alone or work well with a website. Serious affiliate marketers build sales funnels to drive traffic to their affiliate offers.

Not sure what a sales funnel is? Totally understandable if you’re brand new to affiliate marketing.

It took me nearly 4 years to find out. Wish I’d got this information sooner because it’s a critical piece in your success as an Affiliate Marketer.

Essentially, a sales funnel is a nifty way to guide your prospects through the sales process — to turn your prospects into buyers. Most sales funnels start with an email capture form so that you can start building a relationship with your prospects or customers by email. And send them your freebie.

Read more here.

6. Emails

This brings us to email marketing. I never quite understood the value of email marketing until I realised that my website traffic had kind of come to a standstill.

With each post I published, I’d get new visitors but I wasn’t retaining my old visitors. Email marketing is a way to keep your website top of mind.

With a gazillion websites putting out great content every day, you need a way to entice your visitors to keep to yours. If you’re not reminding them, who will?

7. Digital Products

Once you have a body of posts you’ve created on one topic, you’re ready to start creating your own digital products. Digital products fall into one of two main categories.

  1. eBooks — free or on Amazon Kindle
  2. Courses — these can include Video Courses, Email Courses, Webinars, Virtual Summits or Masterminds

Consider which of these methods suit your personality and which work best for your audience.

In each product you put out online, you can pop a link to your sales funnel and drive prospects to your affiliate products.

And, at this stage of the game, you might even consider creating your own affiliate program to market your products.

Here’s where the Affiliate Marketer becomes the Digital Entrepreneur.

Are you excited? Wishing you all the best as you build your rip-roaring online empire. You’ve got this!

* If you purchase anything through a link in this article, you should assume that I have an affiliate relationship with the company providing the product or service that you purchase, and that I’ll be compensated in some small way at no extra cost to you.

Next Up, What’s an Email List For?