It is funny how my grade one teacher playing video games during class, would lead to the skills I needed to make money from home. The 80’s computer on his desk did not have the internet. It was limited compared to today’s technology. Yet, it provided the foundation that I needed to get to where I am today.
Now I make an income working from home with a computer and an internet connection. This allows me to make money working at various tasks from the comfort of my home.
This article is about the progress I have made over the years. The skills started in grade school and developed for a long time. Nothing in life comes easy, it may appear that way, but most people that have succeeded at something put in numerous hours to get there.
It started with me selling stuff online through eBay. The technology in the late 90’s was starting to get better, but there were still some limitations. The cost of a digital camera was high and the pictures were pretty bad. The bridge technology was a scanner that I bought at a discount. It allowed me to take pictures with my film camera, get the film developed and scan the pictures into the computer.
Things progressed and I was able to find other opportunities online. That scanner not only helped me sell items on eBay, but I used it to scan pictures to upload to my first web site. There was no Google Adsense at that time, but there were banner exchange programs that you could make money with. The banner exchange paid a few cents if someone clicked on the banner. The banners were not paying sufficient to pay for the web site hosting.
The first payout was for about $5.00 from a service Microsoft had at the time for a banner exchange network. It was pretty exciting to get a cheque from Microsoft and at the time I was tempted not to cash that cheque, but I needed the money.
As technology continue to get better I started to make more money. It started on eBay making a small profit which helped me cover my car payment.
The jump in income came with my Amazon affiliate account.
The Amazon Associated Program changed everything, I could start a web site based on a niche and place links to products that would be of interest to the web site audience.
These little successes kept me motivated and wanting to learn more. At every step I learned something new and eventually all those skills were tied in together. My current income comes from a variety of sources, but affiliate marketing and social media marketing account for a substantial amount every month.
The affiliate program from Amazon and other companies allowed me to find products or services that I wanted to add to my web sites.
In 2020 these are my five main sources of work from home income. I would not have had success at these sources if I had not tried a bunch of new things over the years.
5. Selling online through eBay and Amazon I source items from various sources and ship to customers
4. Social media marketing of digital products
3. Content creation on various platforms and on my own websites
2. Consulting
1. Drop shipping 50%of my income is generated this way
These 5 methods of making money online took years to build to the point where I earn a substantial income from each one.
There have been many times that I have considered quitting eBay, but it’s where I got my start online. Having a small presence on eBay brings me back to my roots. It is not the same income that I was making back in the early 2000’s, but it is still sufficient to pay some bills here and there.
Through the years I have used social media to promote digital products that I have created. In recent years I have promoted other peoples products and focus on that aspect of the business. The time required to create a new digital product take time that I can use more wisely in another part of my business and earn more.
One part of my business that I enjoy the most is the content creation. As a creative person, this aspect of my business gives me a chance to explore new ideas and to create and share with a worldwide audience. It is also the one business that you get feedback and a chance to connect with the audience. When I create content that inspires others it gives me a feeling that I do not get from my other businesses.
The consulting does provide a substantial part of my income. Although not as much fun as my content creation. There is a value that is provide to my clients that is also satisfying.
When I started to drop ship a few years ago I wasn’t expecting much. It was a simple business. The idea that I did not have to carry inventory and someone else would handle shipping and storage added an additional stream of revenue that has just continued to grow over the years.
As you can see starting with a foundation and building on it took time. It is been a long journey from grade one till now, but it was that journey and everything that I learned and applied that got me from barley being able to pay rent to making over $100,000 a year and counting.
So, if I can tell you just one thing it is to learn how to connect the dots. They do connect and you will be surprised at the pictures they create.
