Read time: 4 mins
In this week’s issue, I want to talk about five popular online business models you can do as a solopreneur…
But there’s one that stands above all the rest for a particular reason.
However, it might not be what you think.
Let’s jump in.
Popular Online Business Models
Before we get into each one…
I want to stress that these are all GREAT business models…
And they all work!
But the competition is increasing and profits are getting smaller and smaller.
Affiliate Marketing
Pros:
- You don’t have to create a product or come up with any ideas
- You don’t have to worry about offering customer support
- Most marketing materials are provided for you
Cons:
- It’s difficult to find a high-converting and high-ticket product
- Your affiliate commissions aren’t always recurring
- You start at $0 every month
- You are either spending your money or your time building someone else’s business
- There is tons of competition, especially for the most popular products (which are typically high-converting and high-ticket)
Information Products
Pros:
- You get to keep 100% of the profits
- You’re building a long-term asset you can sell everyday
Cons:
- You need to spend your money or your time to drive traffic to your offers
- You need to have expertise in whatever it is you’ve created as a information product
- You need to spend your time (and maybe your money) to create an information product (and it might not even sell!)
- You need to spend your time (and maybe your money) to create marketing materials (logo, graphics, sales funnel, copywriting, etc.)
- Your information product might become outdated and either no longer sellable or needs constant updating
eCommerce (Amazon FBA)
Pros:
- All order fulfillment is done-for-you through Amazon’s FBA
- You don’t need to solve the traffic problem as Amazon has 184 million monthly visitors
Cons:
- You don’t own your customer data, Amazon does
- Amazon seller/ad fees cut down your profit margins
- You need to invest a lot of your own money for inventory
- There are constant pricing wars that will further eat into your profit margins
- Amazon has been known to “steal” winning product ideas, thus creating more competition, driving down your sales and margins
eCommerce (Dropshipping)
Pros:
- You own your customer data, no one else
- All order fulfillment is done-for-you by the product manufacturer or distributor
- You don’t need to invest any of your own money for inventory
Cons:
- You need to create your own eCommerce website/store
- There’s a high probability that it will take a long time to find winning products with paid ads
- Paid ads (Facebook, YouTube, Google, etc.) can get expensive when testing products and audiences
- You have no control over shipping times and delivery typically takes 21 days or longer
Local Small Business Consulting (Custom Digital Marketing Services)
Pros:
- You can generate recurring revenue
- You can sell high-ticket services which produce high profit margins
- You only need a few clients to build a 6-figure business
Cons:
- You need to be disciplined enough to stick to a schedule to consistently contact local small businesses in order to gain new clients
- You need to know how to market and sell your digital marketing service(s) through phone calls, Zoom meetings, or even face-to-face
- Local small business owners have likely been burned in the past by other “Digital Marketers”, thus making it difficult for them to trust you
- You never know when a client will cancel their service(s) with you
- You never know if a client will pay their bill on time
What Does All Of This Mean To You?
If you’re a Local Small Business Consultant (which you probably are if you’re reading this newsletter)…
Then you probably weren’t ready to hear that about Local Small Business Consulting.
But that’s the truth…
However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be a Local Small Business Consultant…
Just the opposite in fact.
Let me explain…
The 1 Business Model You Should Do Over All The Rest
Local Small Business Consulting can have more “Pros” than “Cons” if the digital marketing services are delivered “eService” style…
Meaning, that each service offered is done so using assets and automation (or as close to it as possible) in the form of systems.
Why?
When you provide an “eService” in this manner…
The local small business owner can subscribe to your eService through your website/sales funnel and then you can either deliver the eService yourself…
Or…
It can be delivered through a third party solution.
Either way it usually consists of software you own or software you rent…
Plus “digital assets” that can be reused over and over, again and again for client after client.
A prime example of an “eService” is what I refer to as a “Micro Automated Service”…
Such as:
Social Posting
Email Newsletters
Chatbots
Etc.
All of which can be sold as a “productized service” where it can be purchased through a sales page and delivered automatically or in some cases semi-automatically.
But either way…
The local small business owner knows exactly how much it is (usually a low-ticket fee) and what to expect as far as the deliverables are concerned.
Local Small Business Consulting (eServices AKA Micro Automated Services)
Pros:
- You can generate more consistent recurring revenue
- You can sell low-ticket eServices which produce high profit margins
- You can easily scale this to as many clients as you want to build a 6-figure or even a 7-figure business
- Local small business owners will trust you more since the eService you’re delivering isn’t expensive and they know exactly what you’re delivering for them
- Local small business owners won’t likely ever cancel your eService because it’s inexpensive
- Your client will likely pay their bill on time because it’s inexpensive and the billing is 100% automated
Cons:
- You still need to be disciplined enough to stick to a schedule to consistently contact local small businesses in order to gain new clients/customers
- You need to know how to market and sell your digital marketing service(s) through sales copy
As you can clearly see…
This online business model has more pros than cons and there’s no ceiling on how much you can make from providing an eService to local small businesses.
The best part is that even as your monthly recurring revenue increases…
Your workload WILL NOT!
That’s the magic to providing digital marketing services for local small businesses.
They get what they need at an extremely reasonable monthly fee…
And you get what you want…
As close to passive income as possible.
1. Free your time and scale your Digital Marketing Agency without increasing your workload by getting easy to sell recurring clients in 8 weeks or less here.
2. Build better, faster “Hybrid Sales Funnel Websites” which are proven to reduce bounce rate and generate more leads & sales here.
3. Easily schedule & recycle 18,000+ images in over 101+ niche/industry specific image packs here.
4. Use these high quality professionally designed social media image packs in over 101+ niches/industries here.
5. Level up your knowledge through training programs & done-for-you digital assets specifically for Local Small Business Consultants and Digital Marketing Agency Owners here.
6. Turn your social media profiles into lead generating landing pages here.
7. Remove the complexity, confusion, and overwhelm when it comes to connecting all the tech with sales funnels, email marketing and paid ads here.
Here are some shortcuts to my socials and other important information… 😉