How to make money fast — with integrity

Not talking about “getting rich quick”, but giving yourself some breathing space…

An “opportunity” that promises overnight wealth is almost certainly a scam: they make money quickly by taking your money quickly. Or, you may be asked you to sell an "income opportunity" to your friends & family. I’ve been there. I'd advise you to decline any scheme that requires you to recruit other people to sell successfully before you make real money.

Making money fast is not what I typically discuss. An authentic business is built over years, not months. I even wrote about my own 10-year plan to semi-retirement. (Some people might even consider that fast!)

However, several of my readers have asked me:

“What if I do need to earn money quickly in my business?”

And I’ll add: “…with integrity.”

Here's my answer: 
There are 2 basic strategies. If you already have an audience, try both. If you don't have an audience yet, then skip to the second strategy below.

Offer a Rare Promotion

If you already have an email subscriber list or a social media audience: promote a product you truly believe in, at a price or package that feels like a rare opportunity to you.

(If you don't have an audience yet, skip to the next section below.)

To your existing audience, promote your most popular service or product, one that has proven to make sales, but on sale or bundled together with some bonus(es) that make it a great and rare deal. Be careful not to make hyped-up promises of results. Just say that it's your most popular product.

Alternatively: It may be easier to sell someone else's product if it already has attractive and authentic marketing. (To do this with integrity, find a product that you have used, can genuinely endorse, and believe wholeheartedly that your audience should know about it.) You could even bundle it with something you can offer (a product or bonus), to make it an especially good, and rare deal. 

Either way, make sure that you are profitable for every single sale.

Let's say that you earn $50 profit per sale; you sell 50 with this promotion; you earn a quick $2,500. You could repeat this promotion again the following month (a genuine "one more chance!") before giving it a break for awhile.

You could also repeat this strategy but with a different product each month, to keep things fresh. Always, make it something you truly understand and believe is valuable to your audience, so that your announcements feel genuine and exciting to you. 

For additional earnings, scale up your promotions to a bigger audience (e.g. through savvy use of Facebook Ads), or use the next strategy.

One to One Outreach

Even if you have no email list or social media audience, you can use this strategy, because no matter what, you still have friends, colleagues, acquaintances, that would probably love your services.  

Offer a medium-priced service, that you believe is truly valuable, to specific people in your network. Do this in a thoughtful, 1–1 way.

By "medium-priced" I mean something where you earn at least a few hundred dollars per sale. Let's say that each week you talk to 5 of your contacts, and 2 take you up on your offer; you earn an average of $400 per sale; that's approximately $3,000 additional income per month.

Why does thoughtful 1–1 outreach make sales quickly? Because:

  1. Few people are keeping in touch 1–1 with their network. Nowadays, most people just use social media to broadcast updates and requests.

  2. Only with 1–1 can you tailor a thoughtful offer to the recipient... which almost nobody cares enough to do. This sets you apart.

That’s really the principle behind all this: To care more than others are willing to care. 

To make money quickly with integrity, you need to care for others quickly with your business.

Implement this strategy by following these steps:
  1. If you are not yet clear about what you offer or its benefits, I recommend that you trade with other service providers for feedback (possibly testimonials), and therefore clarity. Then proceed to the next step.
  2. Once you are clear about what you offer and its benefits, apply the strategies in this blog post: How to get clients ASAP.

Whatever action you take, remember this: You have to take enough action to see enough results. If you’re not seeing enough results, do more of the above, and do it with more care. To make money quickly, you need both quantity and quality.

Get Some Breathing Space First

Lastly, I encourage you consider ways to get out of your financial bind first, to not have to build your business under such financial stress.

Can you get a part-time job? There’s no shame in that. Many now-successful entrepreneurs built their business on the side, while serving tables or working a retail day job. You can practice some mindfulness at work. Having a job might even motivate you and give you ideas to build your business.

Or can you sell something you’re not using? A client of mine had a car he sold (he got around with Lyft/Uber instead) and that allowed him several months breathing space to build his business.

I’ll end this blog post now, so that you can find the step-by-step instructions by clicking the links in the previous section above. Go and take imperfect action! It will bring you success and/or learning. You can't lose.

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If you have done something to make money quickly with integrity, and you don’t mind sharing to help others, please write a response below, or send me a private note.
No MLM offers please :)