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Hello welcome back to the podcast i am dean

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seddon and this is my podcast and

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today we're going to be talking about how do you make

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money online as a writer how do you make money online as a writer and i'm going

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to talk about some different options different ways you can do it and then the

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way typically the most successful people do it making money online as a writer

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so So buckle up and as always, if you have questions,

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if there was something you'd love to know or my take on something,

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you can find me on all the social channels.

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Just search for Dean Seddon and you'll find me.

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So there has been a huge explosion in people making money from writing online,

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from people doing blogs, tweets,

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you know, the thought processes that you need to be an Instagram influencer

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or a YouTuber to make money. No, there are people making millions every single year by writing their thoughts

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and sharing their ideas online.

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And you will find these people, websites like Medium, Substack,

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you'll find them on LinkedIn, you'll find them on Twitter. They are everywhere.

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But how do you actually make money? and we'll look at some of the practical steps you can take.

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So let me just walk through how most people make money.

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So there's typically two revenue models of how people make money online as a writer.

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There is the back-end model. In

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other words, they are making money from somebody else, not the audience.

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So they might have a brand partner, an affiliate relationship.

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They make commissions, but they're being paid to write.

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So there is a revenue side on the back end. In other words, their audience pays them nothing.

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People pay to access the eyeballs. So that's the first model.

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So it's an affiliate brand partnership. The audience, it's free for the audience

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and brands pay to get access or to benefit from that audience.

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So that's the first model. that is the most widespread model out there and it's

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one of those models that you generally build to but if you're starting out as a writer.

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The front-end model is probably the quickest path for you to make money.

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So by that I mean that your audience buys from you.

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And this is where we've seen the explosion in online courses,

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paid little templates, masterclasses and online learning.

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And this is nothing new. Online learning and buying knowledge has been around for centuries.

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And if you can curate

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an audience a motivated audience who consume

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your content whether that's 200 people or

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200 000 people you can make money online as a writer and so typically how this

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rolls is social media is the means to get your message out so if you think about

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your writing platform, wherever that is, your website,

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it's your, it's Substack, it's a blogging platform,

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it's Medium, it doesn't matter where it is, but that's your main source of where

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your high value content that's going to make you money is.

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And so social media becomes the way to get eyeballs to it.

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And when I'm talking to people, because obviously I major in making money through social social media.

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Most people think that the money is in the social media itself.

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Well, just remember, you rent your audience on social media.

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In other words, social media platform can take that away from you.

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So typically, what will happen if we think about the components to making money

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online as a writer, or any way of making money, the first part is,

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I've got to have something to sell.

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So I've got to have something to sell. Well, number one, is that a course?

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Is that a book? Is that a template? Is that a framework?

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Am I doing affiliate relationships? Have I got a partnership with a subscription service of some kind?

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So I make a cut on every sale they make?

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Anything like that. What am I, how will I make money from this?

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Don't think about, I'll get the traffic and make money later.

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Think about how you're going to make money from the beginning.

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Beginning, even if it seems a little ridiculous at the beginning,

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because it seems like impossible, at least have a plan of how you're going to make money.

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So many people, I see this on social media a lot, so many people,

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what they do is they go, I'll get the crowd and then I'll figure out how to make money.

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No, figure out how you're going to make money and then go get the crowd.

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Trust me, it is better it's simpler

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it's more straightforward so there's there's

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a few components something to sell the content that's going to help you sell

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that your blogging platform your articles your insights that are going to help

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you sell whatever it is you're going to sell so something to sell your selling

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content your content that's going to attract people engage people and convert people.

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And then you've got to get a means of distributing that to new users and getting them into your world.

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Now, typically what people will do is they will build an email list,

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a subscription of some kind. It could be a free subscription, probably best at the beginning,

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but a free subscription. So in other words, you can email people your content. So you have a means to

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get your content to people and get their eyeballs on it.

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You're not relying on them coming to look and you're not reliant on a social media channel,

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and their algorithm to get it in front of people so

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something to sell the master

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content that helps you sell that thing the means to get people to continue to

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see it email list and then social media builds the email list so social media

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grows your email list your email list pulls people to your major content on your blog platform.

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You could just email it to people too and get people to sign up to your newsletter.

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And then that newsletter drives people to revenue.

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That is how most people can get started writing and making money with writing online.

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So it's social media, email newsletter.

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From the email newsletter, we go to actually delivering the content and the

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content sells whatever it is you're selling.

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That's how you make money online as a writer. Now, if you were getting started, I would encourage you to make a very simple

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product that is a no-brainer, a low ticket, $7, $5, $15, just to get some proof of concept.

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Once you've got proof of concept of what you're selling, of course,

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you can increase the price. And if you've got some satisfied customers, customers they will

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give you testimonials so there is a

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bit like starting a social media platform there

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is a critical mass that you have to get to make

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it viable and in the gap between

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it being a great idea and becoming financially viable you have to commit to

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improve to work hard to adapt adapt to learn so that you refine what you're

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doing to make it better and better to the point where you reach and it takes off.

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Now, I don't mean it takes off and you get 200,000 subscribers in a day.

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And unfortunately, social media has twisted our view of reality to that we think

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that that is what happens. It isn't.

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It's a long, hard fight to a thousand email lists.

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Then it gets it's a bit quicker then it slows down again then it feels like

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you're stuck then you know i i've had.

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I've had years building email lists and there are various places where it feels

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like it just sticks and you can't get it to move.

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And you've got to push through those and learn what will take you to the next level.

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What many people do is they start this and they don't realize the amount of

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work that's involved to get to that point and they quit beforehand.

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And that's really really sad because if you can build a loyal audience you can

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actually make really good money. There's one particular new it's a newsletter

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but it's delivered on the website substack it's

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not my cup of tea personally but it's a really good site

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a site it's a good newsletter very successful and

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they make five million dollars from publishing

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one article a week week five

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million dollars now did

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they get there easily no did they

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get there in five minutes no can you

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get to five million dollars i don't know but i

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know if you stick to it and you work at it and

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build that content that speaks to a specific

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audience that and your product or

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your service or your offer that you're selling through that

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content really aligns you'll do very very well

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but it comes down to your commitment to building

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this and unfortunately one of

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the big complaints i have about social media is even

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though i'm in the social media world is it's

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harmed our culture and made everything look like quick and easy and so when

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people approach this when people go to social media and say i want to make money

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from there or when they go to build a writing business and I want to make money from there. Guess what?

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The gloss of social media about people saying, here's how I went from nothing

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to $10,000 a month in six months.

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And you read that and go, wow, I could plug away for six months and I could be at $10,000.

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Well, let me just give you, and I'm not trying to dissuade you here, by the way.

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I'm not trying to dissuade you. I think it's is a great and admirable task,

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but I want you to do it with your eyes wide open as a grown-up,

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not a child, not a baby, not an impatient teenager, and make a conscious choice.

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I am going to invest in building a writing business, and I am going to set aside

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time in my diary, even when I feel tired,

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even when I want to watch TV, even when there's something great on Netflix,

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even when I've had a bad week and I don't feel it, I am going to commit to writing something every week.

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But social media has done some heavy damage to our, first of all,

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our stickability to things because we see so much instant gratification and

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we think that that's what happens.

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But the other piece of damage that it's done is that the people who've had success.

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And often the people who've had the unrealistic success, in other words,

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they've done something beyond what is normally possible.

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So they are flukes, basically. They've achieved something.

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Oh, in five years, I went and built a $10 million business and I did it with no...

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They are outliers now i'm

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not trying to you know i was going

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to say something else then pee on your parade what i'm

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trying to say and hopefully my audience has grown up grown up to take this from

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me is that if you spend a lot of time around the outliers they can get you really

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excited and really disappointed at the same time they can get you really excited

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because they help help you see the opportunity,

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and usually they have a course or something to help.

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They can help you see the opportunity. And often their success makes it feel very simple.

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Their communication makes it feel very simple.

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But the reality is very, very hard. It's very tough.

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And I'm not saying you can't do it. I'm not saying don't do it.

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I'm saying if you want to make money writing online,

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the average person who goes into any form of content creation as a business,

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it takes them 17 months to get to the point where they are at the point where

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they could potentially leave their job. 17 months.

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So yes, you can make good money writing online,

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but strongly suggest number one, you do not want to be chopping and changing

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what you're doing halfway through so choose your topic choose your niche choose

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how you're going to sell and what you're going to sell have that all pinned

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down so that when you go to write you write specifically,

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in a way that aligns with that whole strategy of

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content's going to help me make money by doing this and you

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write that whole thing map out how you're going

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to distribute it how you're going to to get it out into the world

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social media's got a no-brainer one then build

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an email list and then move people to the long-form content

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that long-form content sells you sells your

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product or service that's the best easiest

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simplest way to make money writing online

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and i do it i make money from my writing online i sell products from writing

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online my business is from online training training and coaching and courses

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from content and marketing stuff online. I've done probably what?

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I know 9 million in four years, four years, five years. Um.

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But I started, I started and had to just go at it, go at it,

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go at it, go at it, go at it, go at it. And you will have to go at it, go at it, go at it, go at it.

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But yes, you can absolutely make money online. It's one of the best things you can do. It is a world full of opportunity.

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It is fantastic, but you have to push through that point until you reach the,

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like the breakthrough point where you've got some stability in revenue and you've

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got some growth and you know how to scale it.

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Many times what people do, I'll just leave you with this thought,

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many times what people will do is they will start something.

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Not realize the work that's involved or start something.

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They'll get a bit of a bellwether of this is going to go great.

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The first uptick, it feels great.

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And of course the reality is you will have ups and downs and highs and lows.

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I can remember when I

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was building my newsletter when it first

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got going I started making some money and then I

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got one like really nasty email from somebody who

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said I don't know why I signed up for this all that

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kind of stuff gave me their two pennies and in that

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moment I felt like do you know what I don't even want to do this

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anymore like one person nearly

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kind of derailed me because they just had a poison

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tongue and it would have been

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a massive mistake if i'd have done that but what i'm trying to

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illustrate is there will be tough times

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ceilings negative feedback all that

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stuff and look i would love to be in the position of some of these mega rich

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people but for every if you like say pick up a mega mega rich person who's made

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something you know amazing and and and had built a really successful business, or what have you.

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If you go online, you will find blogs and people ripping them to pieces. And...

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I don't see them crying over it. I don't see the billionaires crying over it. They've grown up.

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They realize that if you want to do something great, if you want to do something

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amazing, you have to be in it despite all the challenges, despite all the bumps

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and bruises, and really make it happen.

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And I know some of you listening to me who are thinking about how do you make

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money online as a writer? How do you do it?

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Well, I've just given you the layout there and then. Then that is the master

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plan you will pay money for.

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It's a newsletter site, a website, a blogging platform, build an email list,

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use social media to build that email list, and make sure you've got something

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to sell on that blogging platform. And you're done. That's it.

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Everything else you can learn on the way. I've just saved you $97 or $19,1997

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or whatever it is. But go do it. Give it a try.

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And have a play with it study what other people are doing follow their social

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feeds look at how it works and you will see that everybody's following the same

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model social media to email list monetize the email list using cut long form

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content to sell a course program what have you.