Marketing Pro Info

You need to earn some money fast, like today. What can you do right now that can start bringing in some money quickly?

1. Join a reputable Survey company (the key word here is ‘reputable’)

If you search the web you will find numerous articles, opinions, reviews about Survey companies and whether they work or not in their ability to pay you money doing what they state - filling out surveys, completing questionnaires, helping with market research and product assessments - you’ll find lots of opinions, some good, some OK, some not-so-good.

In our experience (and we looked at a lot of survey companies!), there are some scam-type ones out there only really interested in taking your money without actually providing you with any value in the terms of quality survey work. That said though, there are a few Survey companies that do all they state and really do provide a great opportunity for folks to make money pretty much immediately.

Always take on board that an ‘opinion’ is generally only one person’s experience, so if they had a bad experience, their opinion is likely to be bad, and similarly the same goes if they have a good opinion. Their ‘opinion’ is just that - it’s just what they think and doesn’t necessarily make it right. We found some excellent survey companies amongst the not-so-good ones, yet there will still always be someone that has a contrary opinion. My feeling is some individuals who join survey companies aren’t prepared to do what’s required (which is actually very simple), and yet rather than blame themselves or take responsibility for not doing what they initially thought they would do, instead they prefer to blame the survey companies.

There is a wide diversity between the good survey companies and the not-so-good ones (as I said, we’ve tried them) but if you pick the right ones, the opportunity for you to make money fast with them is very realistic.

2. Register for Freelance Work

You have skills - regardless of whether you believe you have, or whether you’re clear yet on what those skills are, I will tell you now you are good at something - everyone is unique, and because of that they have unique skills and abilities. One way you can identify some of your skills is by becoming a Freelance worker.

One of the wonderful things about Freelance work is you have the opportunity to) work from home, at times that are best for you, AND do the freelance jobs that interest you! That’s the key - you look for and opt to take on work that interests you.

How it works is simple - Freelance agencies are exactly that - agents - they bring together businesses who are looking for someone to do a specific task for them on a short-term set-project basis, which they will pay a one-off fee for that task being completed. You, as a Freelancer, join an agency of your choice, review the projects that are posted, choose the jobs you’d like to do, complete them and get paid - it really is that simple.

Let’s say you enjoy writing - you’re not sure if you’re any good at it, but you certainly enjoy it - you could pick writing projects through the agency, giving you a chance to do what you enjoy, earn money and improve your skills.

Rather like Survey companies, Freelance agencies vary in the quality of service they provide - again, in our experience, we came across good ones and some very not-so-good ones! Take guidance from someone that really knows on which are the best ones, but as an option to earn money quickly, doing freelance work has to be seriously considered.

I get loads of folks asking me “I want to make money but how do I do it?” and my response is always the same - “Do you just ‘think’ you want to make money or do you REALLY want to make money?” …and yes, there is a difference.

You see most people ‘think’ they want to make some money but when it really gets down to actually doing what it is they need to really do to get the financial rewards which they thought they wanted, their ‘want’ for the money isn’t as strong. What people should be saying is - I want to make money and I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to get it!” (of course within legal, moral and ethical grounds). It’s the ‘do whatever takes’ commitment that will define you from the huge masses that just ‘want’ money.

So, assuming you have the ‘whatever it takes’ factor, what can you do to start making some money fast? How do you really get the money coming in quickly?

Let’s address one myth up front right now. There are many people proclaiming the virtues of the internet as a way to make big money quickly “I put a website up with my XYZ wonder product and I was a millionaire by 4pm!”. Well I will tell you that simply does not happen. Even the individuals that claim incredible results in a very short time, and can apparently prove it, are not telling you the whole story - much more likely is they spent months building, developing and testing their product launch; they probably spent months building their contact base to have huge amounts of business partners to help launch the product; they more than likely spent months working on the promotion and PR rollout ready for the big day they launch, and then when it all comes together in one big bang, they have the audacity to say “aren’t we great in what we created in a single day”. Start recognising there is always more to a story than you are often told and in my experience rags-to-riches stories very rarely happens. Our own personal rags-to-riches story took almost 2 years of massive, ongoing, consistent flippin’ hard work.

But, even though the overnight-success-story happens very infrequently, there still IS money to be made with your own internet business, if you know what to look for and what to focus on.

If you want to make money right now, and need to make it fast, it is very possible and you can earn certainly a few hundred dollars a day (refer to our recommendations).

If you are looking to develop a longer-term bigger business, you will need to start developing your own website presence, and in turn start developing your own products to sell. With your own web site, selling your own products, the financial rewards are clearly much bigger than simply selling someone else’s perhaps as an affiliate. It takes more effort, more learning, and more resources but the rewards in the end over the long-term are there.

In conclusion realise there are things you can do to make money quickly using your computer from home, but choose them wisely; don’t believe all they tell you on their colour-filled big headlined websites - take advice on what opportunities work, and which ones are the best. Then, when you pick one, you will know your time, effort and energy is invested wisely.

We’ve been there - when you need to make money fast now, and quickly have it coming in. When the pressure is on and the need to make some money quickly is required, we often don’t make our best decisions. Under pressure; through panic or desperation; through necessity - whatever has brought someone to the point that they need to make money fast, it can often cloud judgement and force us to grab at the first thing that seems to present itself in some way as a possible solution.

We’ve personally been in that position; we’ve been at a place where we needed to make some money fast.

Here’s 3 ways that we discovered that can work for you…

1. Affiliate Marketing - don’t be confused or intimidated by this term; it’s simply the case of identifying a product you think there may be a demand for, ascertaining if they have an affiliate program (a commission payout) for that product, then figuring out how to get people to buy that product through your unique affiliate ID number or code. Then, every time someone does, you earn a commission.

Many large, high profile companies now run affiliate marketing programmes - Ebay, Amazon, etc - and any business you send them through your affiliate ID number will earn you a commission. And yes, to solve your issue now regarding can you make money fast with Affiliate marketing - yes you can. Many affiliate programmes pay out either fortnightly or even weekly, so you could be earning some healthy commissions pretty quickly.

The question that was on our mind when we looked at this, and it’s probably on yours, is how do we get people to buy the products we want to promote through our affiliate ID? The good news is that many companies who run these affiliate programmes also have a whole support system in place to give you great ideas, help, information and support to show you ways to ‘promote’ your Affiliate ID to the world, and in doing so, earn yourself commissions.

2. Taking Surveys - we had heard a lot about ‘taking surveys’ as a way to make money fast now; some of what we had heard was really good, but sadly some not so good. So rather than take other’s opinions we decided to join some of the most popular survey companies and see what they offered, and whether their promises stacked up in their ability to make money fast.

On the whole, ‘taking surveys’ to earn money does actually work, and certainly CAN earn you a reasonable income each day very quickly, though we did discover there is a huge difference between what each of the survey companies offer, and yep there are clearly good and bad ones.

If you are the type of person who enjoys data entry or form filling, then you will love making money from surveys. If you’re not, then we have to warn you that it’s likely you will find it somewhat boring, though taking surveys can clearly get the money coming in quickly, and so if that’s your goal this is clearly a serious option IF you pick the right company.

3. Doing Freelance Work - If you can write, design, programme, are artistic, creative, can motivate or inspire, then there are loads of opportunities for you out there right now. One of the fastest growing sectors is the freelance market.

Simply put; more and more companies, small businesses and individuals are finding they need someone who they can employ on a freelance basis (so not formally employed) to do some work for them. So a whole industry has emerged of primarily home-based freelance workers who offer their services to freelance agencies who have a database of clients with work projects that they need someone to help them with.

And you will be amazed at how many people will want your services. If the idea of working from the comfort of your own home, working the hours that suits you, and yet still having the ability to earn good money quickly, then you need to consider becoming a freelance worker. Again, rather like survey work, there are good and bad companies out there acting as freelance agencies, sadly of which many don’t deliver what they say. But if you find the right company to work with, you certainly can earn a very healthy income as a freelancer.

One question I am often asked is “Steve, should I run my new home-based business on a part-time or full time basis? Is it a good idea to give up my job and throw myself into it 100% both in commitment and time, or should I start working it just a few hours a week, part-time, initially?” Well, here’s my thoughts…

The thing is the question over part-time or full time can really only be answered once I know who I answering - the answer is specific to the individual. If you the type of person who needs to ‘burn all your boats’ and put everything into something flat-out 100% of your time for you to really get results, AND you have the financial means to survive at least 6 months on any existing income or savings you, then starting your own business full time is the best way from day one for you.

On the other hand, if you have a reasonable amount of existing financial commitments and you need to maintain a certain amount of income because you don’t have the luxury of savings to fall back on, then my advice would be to definitely start part-time initially, and build up your new home based business income steadily over time until it’s at such a level that you could give up your job and then focus on your new home business full time.

That said, I have worked with people who have really got their home business up to a good new supplementary income level, all whilst holding down a job, and yet (usually because they really enjoy their job) they’ve maintained their job and continued their home based business still part-time, even though it was bringing in a healthy income.

What you certainly don’t want to do is have a heavy burden of overheads on top of you that puts obvious pressure on you to ensure you maintain paying those overheads, and then you throw on top the added pressure of giving up your job with it’s steady income to run your home-based business full-time. That’s heaping far too much pressure on you to make your new business a success, and believe me when I say, you don’t want to start a new business with that initial financial pressure. Starting your own business will already have many new headaches, things to learn, stressful issues, etc - don’t compound all these things by also putting yourself under unnecessary financial pressure as well.

I respect the challenge is that when you’re in a job you really don’t like, there is naturally going to be the natural temptation to throw in that job for your new exciting new business, all with the added enjoyment of working from home much more. But you need to resist that temptation to chuck in the job, at least in the short-term and channel the dislike you may have for your job into motivation to get your new business at home making money as soon as possible. Because then (and only then) once the money is starting to roll on, you have the choices to decide if you then go full time with your new business, with the huge plus that at that point you know your new business is making enough to take the strain of your financial commitments.

With many people now wanting to work their own business from home, is it all it’s cracked up to be? Let’s look at some of the ups and downs of your own home-based business.

Firstly, let’s look at the downside to having your own business based in your house…

1. Working from home means you will have intrusion into all elements of your home and family life; phones ringing, perhaps people calling at the front door, paperwork everyone, hogging computers, etc - whether you like it or not, or even think you can avoid it, you need to recognise right up front that your business and home life will be entwined once you run a business from your home.

2. Your family may not be that sympathetic to the fact you are trying to run a business from home. They won’t always allow you to have a quiet area to work - you will have to fight against TVs, people on the phone, toys, computer games, friends over for tea, and more - all this will be going on when you’re are trying to make that key sales call!

3. Other family members in the home will get fed and frustrated with you because you’re there but not really there. What I mean by this is they will see you around and so think it’s fine to ask you to do something, yet you may well be in the middle of a key business proposal or drafting a quote, yet they won’t understand that, thinking as you’re there why can’t you help them.

4. It’s sometimes hard to often get the motivation - when it’s you on your own working from home, with no work colleagues around you, it can be hard sometimes to find personal motivation to get ‘into gear’ workwise, and to really get stuck into your work.

5. Many people will simply think because you are ‘at home’ then its fine just to drop in for a coffee, chat, catch-up on latest news, etc. Being at home doesn’t mean your not working, yet that can often be hard to get the ‘I’m working’ message across to others.

Yet, with all these minor ‘downs’ to running your business from home, the upside is very positive and hugely rewarding…

- Control of your own time, working when it suits you.

- Highly cost effective, often offsetting many home costs to your home-based business.

- Quality of life is much better, allowing you to spend much more time with those you love.

- Dramatically reduced the time you need to travel to work avoiding long and boring work trips …you only have to walk across the house to wherever your ‘home office’ is, taking you minutes rather than hours.

- Greatly reducing stress levels and much better for relationships and overall well being.

I’ve spent 20+ years helping people start their own businesses working from home, and increase their incomes with their own home-based business - part-time and full time - and I can wholly endorse the huge ‘ups’ of working from home far outweigh the ‘downs’.