How I Made $2,952 Online with a $0 Investment
By Christine OKelly | April 1, 2008
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This post may come off like I’m “bragging” - but that’s not the intent at all. My goal is to show you how you may just have a few thousand dollars lying around in your brain.
When I published my e-book How I Launched a Profitable Freelance Business for Under $50 (And How You Can Too) online about 10 weeks ago, I really had no expectations. I didn’t build it up with a product launch. I didn’t do any promotion whatsoever other than mentioning in a blog post and creating a separate page for ordering.
Learning the lessons described in the e-book took years of trial and error, but the actual 26 page e-book took only 4 days to write and produce. In fact, I even look my laptop along with me while getting a pedicure. I could have left the laptop at home, but I wanted to be able to say one day that I had written some of it while someone was rubbing my feet.
I didn’t use any expensive software. My original cover was not going to win any design contests - it was just a simple cover that I made on my own. Only after the book sold 200+ copies did I have the wonderful Nate Whitehill of Unique Blog Designs create a new cover design for me for $99.
It cost me a grand total of $0 to write and publish this e-book. However, in just 10 weeks, the e-book has sold 246 copies @ $12 for a grand total of $2,952. To put that number into perspective, here is a screenshot of an order record with 25 orders on a page. 246 sales equates to about 10 of these order records.
This may not be much compared to other people who have ideas and systems that will make millions of dollars. But I think that chasing “millions” of dollars may be one of the reasons why many people never even make $1 online. Instead of focusing on the few ways to make millions of dollars online, perhaps it is more profitable to pursue one of the millions of ways to make hundreds or thousands of dollars online.
I think that with gurus tossing around huge million dollar sales figures, many of us have developed a mindset that if something isn’t going to make millions of dollars that it’s not worth pursuing. $3,000 may not be a million dollars, but it’s nothing to scoff at. A few thousand dollars can greatly enhance the quality of your life. $3,000 can buy:
- A 10% down payment on a 2008 128I RWD 2-Dr Coupe L6
- A 7 day Mediterranean cruise for 2 with a balcony view
- A semester of in-state college tuition in many states
- A 42″ flat screen TV and complete surround sound system
- Freedom from $3,000 worth of credit card debt
“If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose—because it contains all the others—the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to MAKE money.’ …Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality.”
- Ayn Rand (Thank you to Steve Chandler and his audio “FREEDOM! The First Ten Ways to Create Wealth” for introducing me to this quote)
Turning Your Personal Experiences Into Solutions for Others
Every single one of us has years of experiences that are just sitting around inside of our brains - experiences that others would love to know about. If you’ve spent years learning something through trial and error, don’t you think that someone would be willing to pay a few bucks to bypass all those failures you experienced in order to obtain the valuable information you know today?
Instead of asking yourself, “what can I write about in order to sell an e-book,” ask yourself, “what have I learned through trial and error that could save other people a lot of time and heartache if only they knew what I know now?”
Dave Navarro told me something in one of our coaching sessions that really got me thinking differently about the potential for making money online. He said that there are 300 million people in the United States alone. If your knowledge could be valuable to even 0.01% of those people then you have a potential target audience of 30,000 people. Is what you know valuable to 0.01% of the U.S. population? And that’s just the U.S. On the internet, there are no geographical boundaries. (P.S. Thanks Simon for correcting my math in the comments!!)
Turning Your Failures into Dollars
For years, whenever anyone would ask me about my greatest fear, I would answer “fear of failure.” Now I truly understand that failure is just as much of an essential part of success as the success itself. For years I refused to try anything that I thought I might fail at. As a result, I just kept on doing the same old things that I knew I was good at.
Now I feel motivated and compelled to go out there and make mistakes. The more mistakes I make, the more first hand knowledge I gain about how to succeed. Having a license to try and fail is liberating! Every mistake that I make and can learn from can save someone else time, money, and stress. Thinking like this gives new meaning to the saying “what would you do if you knew you could not fail.” Because in every failure, there is a way to become successful - even if it is just through sharing your story!
Joshua Denney sent me a very thoughtful gift the other day out of the blue (thank you Joshua!) - a book called “How to be Happy, Dammit!” In that book are many sage words of wisdom, but one that very much relates to the topic of interpreting failures: “You live in a world of 1,000,001 interpretations. You must resist staying stuck on merely 1.” In other words, there are many ways to interpret your trials, errors, and life lessons. These lessons can become your greatest assets - so go out there and try things even if you fail!
Pull the Trigger
Now that you know that hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars are sitting in your brain somewhere waiting to be turned into a transferable knowledge, what will stop you from taking action? Even if you create an e-book that brings you a few hundred dollars, would it be worth your time? Just the simple act of creating something and putting it out there can teach you volumes. Here are some excuses that I made that kept me from publishing my information for far too long:
“No one will be interested in what I have to say”
That’s just not true. Humans have advanced rapidly because of our ability to learn from the experiences of others. Have YOU benefited from your experiences? Is it possible that even 0.01% of the population could also benefit from your experiences?
“I don’t know how to publish an e-book”
That’s easy. Start by creating a Word document. If you have a Mac, you can turn your Word doc into a PDF in the “print” options. If you have a PC, there are free programs out there like Primo PDF that will instantly turn your Word doc into a PDF. Next upload your e-book to eJunkie which will provide you with an entire payment processing system. eJunkie offers a free trial and then allows you to sell an unlimited number of your e-book for $5 per month. (Thank you to Alexis Dawes, author of the e-book “Desperate Buyer’s Only” for the heads up on eJunkie!)
I don’t have time
Yes you do.
Special Thanks
I want to give special thanks this week to Stephen Hopson of Adversity University Blog who was kind enough to invite me to do a two part interview on his blog. Whenever I think I “can’t” do something, I think of Stephen.
Not only is he an amazingly successful motivational speaker, he has achieved this level of success without ever having heard a sound in his life. That’s right - he is completely deaf and has excelled at his dreams of becoming a motivational speaker and pilot. Whenever you’re feeling challenged, I invite you to browse through Stephen’s blog for a dose of heavy inspiration!
More Special Thanks!
I definitely want to give special thanks to all of the people who were awesome enough to post about my e-book on their blogs. Thank you!
- Dave Navarro
- Michael Martine
- Jon Phillips
- Nate Whitehill
- Stephen Smith
- Fourty Plus Two
- Zeke
- Dave Starr
- Joshua Clanton
Topics: Business Opportunities |
Hey Christine!
Thanks so much for sharing this experience with us. It was just the encouragement I needed today as I’m trying to build a product to sell online and being hard on each of my ideas thinking that they won’t lead anywhere.
…and thanks for writing the book, it’s great!
That’s great Jarkko!! Your posts are so valuable - I can only imagine that your product will be incredible! I know what you mean about being hard on yourself. A little bit of that can be good - but too much can stop you in your tracks!
Of course, Christine already had her marketing in place prior to her ebook launch: a fantastic blog with over a thousand fans. Yet another example of how a great blog can be such a powerful asset.
At the same time, I’d like to know how you think you would have approached this if you hadn’t been blogging.
-Jeff
Very true! This story is a testament to the power of blogging. I suppose that if I didn’t have a blog to start with… I would start one first! Not only does it give you visibility, but it gives you unique insight about the real problems that real people are actually struggling with.
Another way may have been to guest post on some blogs that already had a significant audience. I’m sure you could work a deal with a blogger to provide high quality posts in exchange for a link and possibly even some free ad space for your product.
Those are just some ideas off the top of my head. All are related to blogging though. I agree - blogs can be an incredibly valuable asset.
Thanks Jeff!
This is very motivational post for those people wanting to write their own ebook and make some serious money online.
I like what you said about “Turning Your Failures into Dollars“. That is so inspirational!
Keep it coming! Love this blog!
Thanks Terence! Realizing that failures could actually be profitable has been one of the most fun and liberating realizations I’ve had in a long time!
Way to go Christine! This is outstanding! You definitely see all these top online money makers in the millions of dollars but the truth is they didn’t go form zero to millionaire hero overnight. Takes hard work, determination and time. I don’t care what anyone says… to me, at this point in time, $3000 is a nice chunk of change, so I’d definitely like to have my own ebook making that!
Congrats
Heck yeah Deron! Who would turn down $3,000? You’re so right, those millionaire dudes didn’t often go from broke to living large overnight. One thing most of them DID do however was conduct their own experiments, try new things, fail a lot, research and test like crazy, and finally come up with a system that worked for them. We can do that too if we’re not afraid to blaze our own trails and take some chances!
Hi Christine,
I am so tired of joining all these so called FREE
to join businesses, only to find out later I have to pay for an upgrade or something similiar to actually make any money. People should say what they mean and mean what they say and stop all the lies. I am a housewife/mother with a hearing impairment who needs to make money quickly since my husband is the only paycheck earner in the house and things have gotten tight. I have prayed God would help me find the right thing that is real and something I can do with no money to get started so that I can make money before I have to pay to make more money. I stay up nights trying to find an honest to goodness opportunity that I can make a decent income with and one that would possibly be a residual and one that could turn into a passive income. My God, it is just so crazy on the net and there are so many lies and voltures out here who are trying to steal what some of us don’t even have. I am trusting God to send some really honest godly people in my life who really want to help me with no strings attached so that once I get into a position of wealth, I can repay the favor.
God bless,
Rejoy
I hear ya Rejoy! If something is not free, then just say so! I think the key is not waiting for someone else to help us, but for us to have the courage to pull the trigger and help ourselves. Other people’s systems can work, but true joy comes from blazing our own trails.
Congratulations, Christine! Thanks for the inspiration. You always know how to cut through the fluff and show the basic essence that we need to know.
Thank you Pat! I’ll never forget that you were one of the first people to buy the book that night that I posted it only. Thank you! I know you’ve had success with your e-book as well - that’s awesome How’s it going with blogging less? You mentioned that you would be focusing more on money making ventures than blogging - does that mean that we’ll soon be seeing more products from you?
Christine,
How timely this post is– as I am about to embark on an e-book challenge with another disability advocate and those links are a great help!
Wow Karen! I know from reading your blog that you’ve got a great story to tell! I was bummed to read your most recent post “It’s time for me to stop blogging and start living.” But totally understand - I’m glad we’ll be hearing more from you in your e-book!
Great post. Also good you mention Stephen. He is truly inspirational. Since I had the honor to “talk” with him, I am opening up to all kinds of new opportunities!
Isn’t Stephen awesome? He never ceases to amaze me. I’m so glad you two met!
Everything seems to be time appropriate for me these days, and your post fits that bill as well. I’ve been struggling with how I can make the best out of a bad situation, and your post totally inspired me on how to do it.
Thanks.
OMG Kristen - that ‘good riddence’ letter to your boss who canned you is just awesome! I can totally imagine an entire book of collected “last letters” to bosses on the shelf at Barnes and Nobel. It would be the perfect gift to give to someone who had just gotten the axe - at least in my jaded opinion!
First, let me say congrats, Christine. Reaching such sales from an ebook in such a short time certainly must be exciting.
However, I would like to stress that ebooks are not that easy to write and produce. They take time, knowledge, research and effort. I don’t want to discourage people from writing and trying to sell them, but I do also want to show a realistic perspective.
This type of success is not typical to most people on the Internet. Does it happen? Certainly - and then some. Does it always happen?
No.
To write, you need good skills or the money to hire a copywriter. With a 30 page ebook ringing in at anywhere between hundreds to thousands of dollars, that may not always be possible.
Marketing matters. I know you say all you did was slap up a post and sell your ebook, but that’s not accurate. Others promoted your ebook elsewhere and commented about your ebook, which helps encourage sales.
In short: You can’t just hunker down and think you can write an ebook that will sell if you slap up one blog post.
That’s giving people false hope, and I would have preferred to see more of a realistic scenario that took into account the average person’s ability and potential to make that $3k happen.
That’s interesting James! I agree - not everyone will have the same results - but who is to say that the “average” person won’t have such results? Some people could and have sold much more and others much less.
I think you are underestimating the “average” person. I don’t want to do that. I think that everyone has valuable information that someone could and would buy - don’t you?
Of course it helps when other people promote it and comment about it! Dave’s Freelance Smackdown was a killer example! Why can’t others expect that the same thing would happen for them?
This scenario is realistic from my perspective which is the only perspective I ever claim to offer. Like Jeff asked, “what if you don’t have a blog with readers?” If you don’t then obviously you’d have to come up with some other strategies to get visibility - but it’s still totally possible!
And thank you James! Your comment inspired me to add another “Special Thanks” section to all of the awesome people who mentioned the e-book on their blogs
I don’t think I’m underestimating the average person - I’m as average as anyone else.
There are a lot of average people out there. A ton. I’m really not big on the “you can do it too” take if it’s not something that is realistically attainable versus a shot in the dark with a lot of hope and faith.
Everyone has something to offer - yes. Not everyone has what it takes to produce and write a good, solid, value-for-reader ebook and market it successfully. Likewise, I can’t sit down and pretend I’m an accountant or an electrician or run a grocery store.
These things take particular skills. I don’t want to discourage people and I’m not saying that your perspective isn’t valid,, but I do want to say that it’s far, FAR too easy to play into people’s personal hopes and dreams.
Hopes and dreams are good. Toss in some reality and a lot of caution, then add some good planning, some networking and some investment.
Writing an ebook is hard work, and it isn’t a miracle solution. That’s all.
I hear what you’re saying James - and it makes sense. However, I don’t like to discourage anyone from doing and trying anything because there have been times in my life when I’ve felt so down and out and completely worthless that I needed this type of encouragement and inspiration.
Someone wrote to me once and told me that she had a great story to tell, but had always been afraid to write a book because of her language skills. I would hate to think that someone’s valuable message never got out into the world because they were afraid of their language skills. That stuff can be learned. You can hire a proofreader - or a writer.
I read an autobiography once written by a 76 year old man that I met met when I was working at Kinko’s during college. His writing wasn’t stellar - but the story was so fascinating. It would have been a shame if this story had never been told.
A lot of people who come here are writers and bloggers so have an interest in writing anyway. If not, I think most people have some sense of what is somewhat within reach and beyond what they are willing to do.
Like when I watched Brian Clark’s screen casts about setting up a teaching website. He said it was easy, but when I was watching the videos I was thinking - there’s no way I want to do all this to set up a website! The technical part would just frustrate me until I wanted to poke my own eyes out. It wasn’t a learning curve that I was willing to embark on!
Certainly writing an e-book takes some writing skills that can be learned and perfected, but a great message is really what counts. I hope I never came across as saying that an e-book was a miracle solution! It’s just something I tried and reported on as part of my journey through entrepreneurship. As I say in my bio “This blog is a place to learn from my trials and errors and to share your stories and challenges of entrepreneurship.”
Thanks for sharing - and I appreciate your point of view!
I understand your point of view, Christine, and I appreciate that you like to encourage people. I do, too. I just think you have to be careful how much you build them up, because it can be a long, hard fall.
Anyways - thanks for the discussion; I appreciate that.
James - I think you are looking at it to narrowly. It’s not just about ebooks.
I have dysgraphia (simliar to how dyslexia makes reading difficult, writing is painfully slow for me). There is no way I could attempt an ebook (without someone to do the writing).
I used the ideas in Christine’s book and in 3 days, came up with a service offering that I already sold for $2500.
This service will cost me $1500 to create (outsourcing parts) and give me a nice $1000 profit.
I have 5 other people in conversation about this service. I used a slightly different marketing approach.
I bet i will make more than $2952 on my service in the next 30 days. We’ll see.
Tim
PS: this is something I thought about doing and didn’t act on for over a year.
Did Christine really teach me something life changing in her book? Nah. But that $12 book did get me off my ass and in front of my computer creating deliverables and a questionnaire.
PPS: This post took me 38 minutes to write.
@ Tim - The post was presented as a “sell an ebook and make money,” to my eyes - but yes, I’m hypersensitive to that and biased to the argument.
There’s no doubt that taking an *idea* and marketing it effectively to make money works. Hell, I built a hugely successful business through good management, skills, trial and error, planning etc etc.
I haven’t in any way opposed the idea that proactive action can reap rewards. I’ve taken opposition to the idea that instant get-rich-quick is highly possible and accessible to all. I’m all for motivation - I’m also all for motivation with caution and careful planning.
Too many people are lured into the overnight wealth perception of the internet. They invest it all, quit their jobs and dump their money into some online scheme. It’s not a lottery. It doesn’t work that way.
That’s what I’m opposed to pushing as an idea. Getting off your ass and putting action to dreams is something I promote myself on my own blog - so if that’s what people take from the post, then GREAT. If it makes money, GREAT.
Just be careful and realistic with your expectations, that’s all.
This comment took 4 minutes to write.
“This comment took 4 minutes to write.”
If you didn’t make fun of my disability, I would take your concern for “victims” of high expectations more seriously.
@ Tim - Relax. I wasn’t making fun of you in the least, and the tone of that was said with a smile, not a smirk. I made note of your pointing out the minutes by responding in kind - not to show you up. I understand the difficulties of disabilities. There’s no need to be sensitive about it; they are what they are.
I’m sorry you took offense. I didn’t intend to cause any.
James, rising may come with falling, but where will you place your focus on?
When you were a little baby, you were creeping and crawling. Then, one day, you realized you could pull yourself up by holding on the chair. Here you are, standing, shaking little legs, looking at the world from up there, then your body weight falls on your heels and - “boof!” - you fall on your toosh. But now that you’ve got a glimpse of what it’s like to be “up there”, you want it again. Under Mom’s watchful eyes, you pull yourself up, grab on the chair again, and stand! This time, you know not to place all of your body weight on your heels, so you place it on your toes - and “bang!” - you’re on the floor again, this time, on your tummy. You pick yourself up again, shaking and walking clumsily, holding on furniture as your big eyes explore the new perspective. You learn to equally distribute your body’s weight on your little feet, and you walk.
What is your Mom announcing the world? “Today my baby fell”? Heck, no. She’s tell the world the truth: “My baby WALKS!”
James, to what extent do you focus on your successes and learn from the “hard falls”?
Christine, you remind me of my first step-aerobic instructor. I went to her classes as an overweight, sedentary woman, dragged along by a friend. Yaffa, the instructor, had this upbeat way of encouraging us: “C’mon, girls, it’s only the toosh!” “Four more times!” “Let’s go, girls, it’s easy!”. Easy?!?? I thought I’d die of a heart attack! But eventually I ended up staying at two classes of Yaffa’s in a row, and getting preety good at it too because she kept saying I could do it.
I’m curious how soon before I start telling everyone that I’m a happily published author thanks to Christine OKelly!
Rejection? Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield, co-authors of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books and millionaires, send their first manuscript to all the publishing houses in New York, and were rejected. So, did they break down and cried? Apparently not!
They tell the world the same message as you, Christine: “You can do it!”
@ Tana - No offense, but you make a lot of presumptions about my upbringing.
As for what I learn from falls, I learn a great deal and learn it very well. I don’t focus on my failures, as I see them as learning experiences.
As a psychology student, I also know that many people fall much harder than I do and have trouble getting back up. I know many people who fall and CAN’T get back up or who take a self-esteem battering.
My caution was to not build up the false promise of instant riches, which I felt this post had done. Its motivation? Great. Perfect. Go for it.
But be prepared that things might not work out and be ready to cope. That’s all I’m saying.
I appreciate both of your perspectives - and all points of view here! James is an awesome guy and I know had only noble of intentions when sharing his opinion. I don’t ever want anyone to feel that their valid opinion isn’t welcome here on this blog. Together through discussion, we can explore topics from all of their many perspectives.
Tana, I am so thrilled to hear that you were inspired by this post. You are exactly the type of person I think this info if valuable for - you are already a writer, but hadn’t yet turned your writing into a way to generate revenue. I know from our emails that you have a lot of fascinating information to share that people can certainly benefit from.
Since writing this post, I’ve gotten emails from several people who are already great communicators that have decided to pull the trigger and give e-book publishing a try. Wow! If you never try, you’ll never know what may have happened.
James: there is value in caution - thanks for voicing it.
Christine, I agree with appreciating all points of view: this world is interesting and rich thanks to all the different perspectives taken on things. Vive les differences!
Hey Christine,
First—congrats on the number of ebook sales, that’s excellent work (and let me say I’m just a touch jealous that you have one finished, mine has been a long work in progress).
I also wanted to second what James mentioned; ebook writing is hard, and takes time and effort. When it’s finished though, it can really pay off. I’m certain your ebook will continue to sell for years from now.
Lastly, I also wanted to thank you for inspiring me in several of my blog posts, including a recent product launch (just today, check out the link on my name). Your writing style shows off so well what mine is missing: that personal flair and storytelling. If I can add your style with what I have currently, I think I’ll be very happy.
Thanks Christine,
- Mason
Thank you, Christine. Your post was very timely.
And well done! May your ebook be translated to different languages!
take care…
Christine,
I have your blog page permanently loaded in my web browser. When I need inspiration, I go back and read the different articles. I have PDF’d a lot of them too (hope you don’t mind) so that I can take them with me.
This one is just one more to add to my collection. Seriously, when I read your words I just get so pumped to go out there and take over the world.
So that’s what I’m going to do…
Again, what a wonderful post, Christine! Thanks for sharing what you’ve done and making us realize what’s possible.
I’d like to talk about a few things that have been raised in the comments. While I agree that writing an ebook (or anything else for that matter) takes quite a bit of skill, I agree with you Christine, that what counts is a great message, something that resonates with others. People will gloss over a grammatical mistake or a forgotten comma or even clunky prose if they’re fascinated by the material. I’m a writer, so I understand the value of being able to clearly and skillfully tell your story, but my point is that truly inspirational writing has less to do with mechanics and more to do with content.
Also, it was mentioned that this blog helped Christine sell her book, both because of her posts here and because of exposure on other blogs. Sure. But let’s not miss the point here. While I’m sure that Christine did her fair share of self-promotion, she generated much of her interest and got that promotion in the first place because she had something valuable to say that resonated with a lot of people. People wanted to talk to her. And that puts me back to my first point that content is key.
Also, while it’s true that a valuable ebook should have good quality, and that such quality would require research, the goal of this post (and several before this one) has been to tell people that they already have that research inside their heads! It’s so easy to forget that we all have something to contribute. Everyone has something they’ve learned from, or something they’ve endured, or some enlightening story to tell. Everyone. And I think a small tragedy occurs every time someone doesn’t share their experience because of fear of the “long, hard fall” of failure.
Debbie Macomber is one of the most successful and prolific writers in romance publishing, and she’s dyslexic. Would it have been right to discouraged her? Because her goals of being a NY Times Bestselling author of hundreds of millions of books would have been beyond her?
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do something every day that scares you.” So jump in. Face failure. Laugh in the face of it. Be courageous enough to do what you think you can’t. What’s the worst that happens? Failure? So what? Be tougher than that. Be tougher than failure. Learn from it what you can and move on. And consider that true failure is in never attempting.
Diane - these are such great stories! I love this: “I think a small tragedy occurs every time someone doesn’t share their experience because of fear” wow - that’s powerful. Thanks for sharing ~
Christine,
Wow, sometimes I read things and “I just get it”. This post not only motivates me to just do what I’ve been “thinking” about doing for quite some time. I purchased your eBook but confess I have yet to read it. I also confess that I am a procrastinator. No More, I will read it today. I will also consistently contribute to my blog. Thanks for the inspiration.
Drew
Hey Christine,
CONGRATULATIONS! It made my morning to read how well you are doing.
So, where are you going on vacation with all of your dough…?
Mark Hayward
Lifestyle Design Consultant
Hey Mark,
Cool to see your new signature in action. Looks great!
lol Mark - no vacations - I’m buying “time” to pursue other ventures.
Inspirational article that has made me open my mind to explore new avenues of increasing my income. I think an eBook is something that we are all capable of creating but I suppose most of us just keep on finding lame excuse that prevent us from doing so.
I think what separates the successful from the wanna be’s, is mentality! Winners are prepared to put the time and effort into what ever it takes to achieve success. Wanna be’s look for the easy options and if it takes too much time or effort they find excuses. I come across people ever day who spend too much time searching for inspiration, instead of trying to create it themselves.
A technical question: How did you handle the actual purchase of the eBook? Did you set up some kind of purchase and download through PayPal? Or use cart software?
Good question Mrs. Micah - I spent a lot of time trying to figure this out. I started by using PayLoadz, but found out later that they are quite expensive. A few people pointed out e-Junkie which has been awesome and costs only $5 per month. You simply upload the document, and e-Junkie creates buttons that you can put on your site. Then they take care of the payment processing and providing the link to download. It’s an incredibly simple process once you know which service to use!
Thanks Christine!
Christine,
Congratulations! It’s not a huge pile of cash but it’s a nice bit, and a wonderful rah-rah post to go with the news. I think fear holds a lot more people back than lack of talent does, so if a few without skills pull a trigger they shouldn’t, well, the market will tell them that. The market is telling you that slow and steady wins the race, and I’m sure the earnings are not enough to convince anyone this is a get rich quick idea.
You didn’t say no mental investment, just no cash outlay. It’s important for folks to know that, because a lot of people just don’t realize that more ($) barriers to entry are lowering to nothing every day.
Regards,
Kelly
I think you and Dave need to buy new calculators.
0.0001% of 300 million is 300 people, not 30000.
Or to put it another way, 0.0001% is 1 person in a million.
You found your 1 in a million, 246 of them. Well Done.
Lol! Thank you Simon! That was totally my error and not Dave’s
0.01% of 300,000,000 is 30,000 - damn those extra zeros!
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Hey Christine,
You’re scoring great Karmic brownie points, did you know that?
I read your book, and I read this post with tears rolling down my cheeks, realizing that my life long dream of writing and publishing is within reach!
After telling myself creative lies, such as “What do I have to write that hasn’t been already written?”, “I’m e-challenged” plus the classics “I don’t have time / money / the right creative athmosphere” I’m now on my way to blogging and ready to write for money!
After going through heck-on-Earth several times in my life, and emerging happier than ever from those times, I now believe that there are people out there who could use my experience and save themselves some tears.
I worked nine years in a bank, underworked and underpaid, and so stressed out that at night I’d either stay awake with thoughts racing or have nightmares. I quit the bank to be a healer, teacher and coach. How many people are stuck in jobs they hate who would like to hear how I found what it took to quit?
So your posting, and your book, really got me moving. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Tana
That is a great achievement Christine. I strongly think that having the exposure you do helped with this fact since you do have a lot of credibility.
Writing an ebook is easy for me, the hard part is to configure it so all looks right. My biggest nemesis is Word Doc. I know how to write and save them but get me to add page numbers, images and tables and I’m lost in frustration. LOL
I am sure you put a lot of effort to achieve it,is not a one day thingy..Correct?To success in online business,we must passion and patient on what we do although we can’t see result in one day.Keep up the good work!!
Christine for President!!!!!!!!
Hi Christine,
I just surfed in and I loved your post. I just recently quit my cubicle job as well, so I understand where you are coming from and have been. I think your comment on the value of failure is extremely important. Is there any better teacher in the world than failure? If there is, I haven’t found one
To Your Success,
- Dave
PS I liked how you had that box at the top of the post saying that I hadn’t subscribed to your RSS Feed ( I have now). Is that a plug in of some kind? Just curious
The Internet Apprentice - Yes! That is a plugin that Jon Phillips (www.freelancefolder.com) suggested. It’s called the “What Would Seth Godin Do” by Richard Miller. You can find it here:
http://www.richardkmiller.com/blog/wordpress-plugin-what-would-seth-godin-do
I love this plugin too!
Hey Christine - So I “StumbledUpon” your article here and was absolutely inspired to figure out a way to move forward with my version of an e-book. I’m an illustrator whose work focuses on the “Outdoor Lifestyle” - ie: skiing, snowboarding, mt. biking, hiking, kayaking etc. I’ve been drawing since I could sharpen my own pencil without injury and professionally illustrating for about a dozen years. From all of this, I’ve generated stacks of sketchbooks just sitting on my shelves not doing anything. I’ve always wanted to create a coffee table-stylized version of my best ’sketches’ and designs & market it to various outdoor markets; but with the cost of production & a solid fear of the unknown (will they sell?!), I’ve never done it.
In your opinion, do you feel an ebook full of fun, themed sketches with little backstories on various designs would make for a viable & interesting (& sellable) ‘product’? Any creative promotional ideas to get the word out there, beyond what’s listed above in your article — which I will definitely incorporate. I’ve got a few immediate additional ideas, but I’m wide open to suggestions.
Also, being mostly graphically-based, is there a standard or limit to stay within as far as file size? Do people mind a larger file size if they know to expect it, & if it contains ‘the goods’?
Thanks in advance Christine and congratulations in a huge way on your success!
Hi Senan! I’ve been checking out your site - wow… you do excellent work!
Have you looked into print on demand services like www.lulu.com? That might be a great way to get your sketches into a physical book format… I imagine this might be really useful to send to prospects as a gift - but really to get your work in front of prospects.
About the e-book: I wonder if you could market a book to other illustrators… show the image, add the back story, and then explain why you decided to apply x technique for the particular project. You’ve obviously got talent and a laundry list of big name clients, so your knowledge would definitely be valuable to others.
Keep up posted!
Christine
Hey Christine - Thanks for the comments on my work. I very much appreciate it! The site itself is a bit of a bandaid as I’ll be revamping it completely shortly.
I have checked out lulu.com which is a great service. I’ve considered creating a marketing-based “NPD Sketchbook” for prospects as a cost-effective short run piece.
RE: The ebook side of it - great suggestion to apply the concept to other illustrators. It’s a tough field to make a living in (that is for sure!) and you’re right, other illustrators, particularly those just starting out, might very well benefit from the examples, insights, and techniques that have culminated over the years. Great ideas and I will definitely keep you posted.
Meanwhile - if anyone else has ideas/suggestions, I’m all e-ars. Thanks!
Senan
Awesome article and definitely a confidence booster for me.
Also, for printing PDF files, open office comes with an option built into it. Plus, openoffice is free, open source solutions to microsoft word
Mike
I think there’s so much negativity out there that has to be fought against — to the point where we’re negative without thinking about it. It’s really sad, but posts like this definitely shine a light on what’s possible when there’s belief involved.
To Senan (even though I’m not Christine) — I’m intrigued and I’m probably not even the target audience! I would say it’s more about the story than anything else — if you can “sell” me that story to the point where I’m willing to download it and check it out, I’ll go through small hurdles (downloading speed, etc.) to absorb the information. The best approach I would take is to be up front about the format as much as you can — if you downplay this point, it could bite you in the rear, and no one wants that.
As far as promotion, my team has hd the best time of getting more social — social networking is something we’re still fairly new at, but the learning curve is low and the water’s nice
Hey Isabella - Thanks for your comments! There’s definitely a ’story’ to each of my many sketchbooks
as each seems to represent a phase of my life, what I was doing during the time that I filled it, where I was, etc. For instance, I spent 5 years as a ski bum, er I mean working on rounding out my portfolio, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. So a lot of time was spent living the culture; which has helped to define where I am with my professional career to date. Full circle kind of stuff, which I think those who are the target audience will see/appreciate. That’s the hope anyway.
I’ll definitely focus on making the download time as small as possible. I think I can get each page to a pretty reasonable size, but in order to make it as interesting & worthwhile as possible, it’s got to have some meat to it. But you’re right, being up front on the file size will be mission critical!
And the social networking is an awesome method of marketing. I too am fairly new at it, but there are outdoor lifestyle-oriented groups all over the big players, some of which I’m already a part of, but absolutely, being more involved will only help ‘the cause’.
I really appreciate your comments and welcome any further suggestions with open arms…running towards them through fields of wavy wheat…sorry. Visual guy here
I miss my SMC fix. when is a new entry coming?
lol - thanks tiffny! I’m working on another post for tomorrow!
I’m EXCITED now. anticipation…..I really do look forward to your writings. They are so inspiring.