In this blog post, we're going to discuss how to make a living online, and even deeper than that, how to secure your future in this digital economy. A lot of people will be of the opinion that the idea of making a living online is too good to be true, that it's not real it's all a scam, and Artificial Intelligence technology will take over the world, and we're all heading for a world controlled by Skynet.

But, jokes aside, Stuart Ross knows that making a living online is very real, as he's been doing so since 2007. He's the owner of a multi-million dollar business and also an online educator where he's helped thousands of people transition from the old sinking traditional economy to making a living online in the new digital economy.

The overwhelming factor behind people wanting to make a living online is that they want a better life – more time freedom, more flexibility, more geographical freedom, and they also want to make more money – whether that be a side income to supplement their job income, or to totally replace their job income altogether.

This is because these things are not being offered in their current jobs, careers, or traditional businesses. However, there's little doubt that more and more people are now starting to, not just accept that the world is changing – but, changing faster than ever before. The reality is that people really need to re-skill and rethink if they want to secure their future.

Futurists are predicting that two billion jobs will be gone within the next twenty years with the advent of artificial technology and automation. That's about half the jobs that exist today. With this prediction, people do need to have quite a drastic mindset shift and think differently than they did in the Industrial Age.

Be Prepared to Put in Some Hard Work Upfront

Be prepared to put in some hard work upfront. This is probably the number one secret of the ‘Modern Wealthy'. You need to get to work and create what Stuart refers to as digital assets.

Here's what he means. If you think about the typical and traditional way to build wealth, it would probably involve something like this: You get into a decent job, make a living, and invest some of that money into assets.

Often, these assets would be real estate. You would buy your first rental property, rent it out, and then maybe rinse and repeat that process over time until hopefully, you have enough rental income to replace your job income.

Now, this can be an effective strategy, but, it's not something that most people are ever going to achieve. These days, it's a big enough challenge just to get on the property ladder, let alone have a portfolio of properties. The property market is not like it was two decades ago when it was more affordable to buy real estate.

So, here's the advice Stuart gives, and thousands and thousands of people around the world do this: get some digital skills. For example, learn how to sell products online. As I've already discussed, this could be your own products, whether physical or digital, or it could be as an affiliate, where you are leveraging the products and services of other brands.

What's next? You do some research and find a product that you can promote and sell online. You do this by creating marketing systems that effectively market and sell that product 24/7 365 days a year.

You typically do this by running online advertisements and where you eventually get to the point where the money coming in from sales is more than the money you spend on ads. At this point, you'll be in profit. This process can then be repeated with your second and third products.

In this way, you can be as ambitious or modest as you choose. Some aim to make millions, while others like to have a little side hustle that gives them financial independence outside of their job.

Unlike investing in property or starting a much more complicated traditional business, you can start with a very small budget, do it entirely online, and do it all around your existing responsibilities – so no excuses.

This is the exact approach Stuart used to make his first million online, and it's the exact approach that many of the modern wealthy follow these days. I know this sounds overly simplified, but you can learn how to do this stuff.

Build a Brand, Not Just a Business

The second bit of advice Stuart gives is that you should aim to build a brand, not just a business. This could be a personal brand or a product brand.

The reason you want to do this is that once you put in the initial work and heavy lifting for the brand, you can leverage it to create multiple income streams.

You can imagine having just one online store brand for your first product. As long as that product is relatable to multiple other products in the future, you can just plug and play and sell other relatable products online with the same brand.

You can incorporate new income streams, and whether you're selling digital products or physical goods, or you're an affiliate or doing a drop-shipping model, or print-on-demand — you need to put in the groundwork to develop a brand.

I appreciate that this can often sound over-simplified, especially if you're starting from scratch and you see some of the nonsense stuff peddled on the internet. And it can seem daunting if you've never done anything like this before, but with the right advice and support from mentors, this process can be more straightforward and simple than you think.

Once you understand the power of learning effective digital skills and how to create digital assets, you can rinse and repeat the process of selling several products or services online and generate multiple income streams. When the process is successfully put into action, it's going to really change your mindset and your life.

The Most Frequently Asked Question: “How Do I Make Money Online?”

So, there is the obvious question that most people ask: “How do I make money online?” This is often the wrong question. If you go to Google and type that question in, you'll find lots of different opportunities. You'll also find lots of possible scams and different opinions and views.

The truth is that there are lots of different routes that are suited to different people's talents and the vision that they have for themselves. The bottom line is, there is more opportunity right now than there's ever been before in history.

An important question people need to ask themselves is: “How am I going to be of value in the digital economy?” This doesn't mean that you need to be a website developer, designer, or computer programmer. In fact, automation and AI are already starting to wipe out certain roles in those areas.

It doesn't mean you have to be a technical person. But, you do need to be a person who has an idea of what's going on in the online world, and how you can be a person of value in that environment.

Making a Living Online as an Intrapreneur

Within Stuarts's organization, he has staff from all over the world. They work from home, and they are what Stuart calls intrapreneurs rather than an employee. This is because they are not micromanaged. They don't clock in at 9 am and clock out at 5 am. What they do is they come into the organization and provide lots of value to the company, whether that be to the internal team or to customers.

For example, there is a fifty-eight-year-old lady who's based in the United States, and she provides an immense amount of value to the business. A few years ago she had never worked for any IT company, tech company, or any company that was an internet business. She'd always worked in traditional businesses.

Now what she has done is shifted her focus to being one of providing value. She's extremely strong in the area of customer service, she's incredibly nurturing in the way she supports the customers, she's compassionate and offers a lot of life experience that a lot of the younger employees can't offer.

Several years ago, she re-skilled and mastered the art of communication in the online world. For example, she can use Facebook and Instagram well, and she can use the internal customer support application effectively. Most important of all is that she's open to evolving and learning. The result is that she brings incredible value as an intrapreneur to Stuart's company.

She achieved this by shifting her mindset from the nine-to-five, working for a boss in a traditional job, to being a huge value to an internet-based company.

Another example is a twenty-six-year-old guy who's based in the United Kingdom and has a background in sales. He's educated himself across different types of business models and opportunities that exist on the internet. Within Stuarts's company, he helps brand-new customers and students figure out a plan to find the best way to start their first online business.

He finds out what their skills are, listens to what vision they have for their future, spends time with them to understand what's driving them, and guides them to the best opportunity that exists out there for their particular circumstances.

Where his old role as a sales guy was being on the phone all day, he is now conducting consultative selling as he has a good grasp of the opportunity that exists in the digital economy. He's now working for a fast-moving, fast-growing, internet-based company and providing insights and awareness about all the opportunities that are out there in the online world.

Now, he hasn't started a business from scratch, he's not invented the wheel, he just gained a good understanding of what's available in the online business space and put that knowledge to work within a forward-thinking internet-based company. He's the classic example of an intrapreneur.

So, intrapreneurs are employees who have entrepreneurial qualities and are responsible for driving growth and innovation within a company, similar to entrepreneurs. However, unlike entrepreneurs who start their own businesses, intrapreneurs work within an already established company. They often have a high level of accountability and bring a large amount of value to the company by having the right skills.

In order to be someone of value, it's just a case of re-skilling. The first step is not a case of wanting an online business so you can change your life, the first step is finding out how are you going to be of value in the digital economy.

How are you going to find the skills? Are you going to be on the internet learning for free? Are going to sign up to an academy? Are you going to take part in e-learning and do courses? You have to be open to expanding your awareness.

The great thing is that you can gain digital skills while still having a job. One or two hours a week of learning new skills is a great way to start. You'll then begin to notice all the opportunities that are out there in this online world.

Affiliate Marketing: A Simple Way to Start an Online Business

Most people who join Stuart's online education platform, Launch You, want to start their own online business. They think the best way to do this is to pick a model, pick a business route, get going with it and start making money and hope it will be successful.

Stuart thinks that this may not be the right route for most people. He suggests going back to gaining digital skills and taking the time to figure out the right path for you. For example, as a digital business owner, you could do affiliate marketing. With this type of marketing, you can earn commissions for referring people to the products and services of other businesses.

Affiliate marketing is a type of referral marketing. You would do some form of online advertising with the aim of referring prospects to a business website. When a person you've referred becomes a lead or makes a purchase, that company pays you a commission. Some companies pay for a lead, some companies pay only when a person purchases.

This is a great business model to start with, as you can do it from your laptop and do it while traveling around the world, so long as you have an internet connection. There are members of Stuart's online education platform, Launch You, who have done this very successfully. Greg and Fiona have a home in London. They house swap with people in other locations where they want to travel to, and so don't have to spend lots of money on hotels or other accommodation.

They literally work from their laptops doing referral marketing. This is a lifestyle business. This is the type of business where you can pick up your laptop and travel to a destination of your choice. There is no more spending cold winters in London for them if they choose not to.

So, if you want freedom and flexibility, and don't want to carry out the fulfillment of your own products, or grow your own team – affiliate marketing is a straightforward business model that is simple to start. Once you gain digital skills, you are more likely to pick the right path and what is best for you at that particular time.

Selling Physical Products Online with eCommerce

Another example of an online business is eCommerce. Amazon is a great example of this, and they are eating a lot of other businesses' lunches right now. They are getting more effective in delivering products. They have a wide range of products, and soon they will deliver these products using drones. In some countries, products can be delivered in an hour or two after ordering online.

As an eCommerce business owner, you could be somebody who imports products from China, for example. These products could be taken directly to the factories of Amazon, where they do all the selling and distribution. All you have to do is pick the right product and take control of the marketing processes that occur within the Amazon Marketplace.

With FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon), it can become a very hands-free eCommerce business. You are not competing with Amazon. You don't need your own drone technology or one to two-hour delivery, or Prime services. Amazon has already done all of that. But, as an independent business owner, you can actually supply products to Amazon, and they can do the fulfillment, the selling, and everything else.

Once you gain the knowledge of selling online, you begin going through life where everything becomes an idea incubator. Stuart was recently in Dubai and decided to visit a brand-new sellers' marketplace. It's called Yiwu, and there are aisles and aisles of different types of wholesale stores, with product after product… from electrical products to kitchen, cooking, jewelry, and clothing.

So, if you acquired the skills to sell products online, imagine the number of ideas and creativity that would come from that from visiting a marketplace like eWoo. You could literally walk past a store and find out about the wholesale price. You have the knowledge to set up your own online store or leverage something like Amazon FBA and run with the process of selling. Try out an idea, and if it works and gets traction, you can then decide if you want to scale it or not.

The Flexibility of Freelancing

If you're somebody who already possesses a particular skill-set already, like sales, marketing, leadership, or management, and you understand the digital economy, then you could earn income by offering your skills. You could do this by freelancing. What you're able to do is rather than work a nine-to-five job and be tied to a particular location, you can offer the existing skills you have as a Freelancer to other businesses.

Most people underestimate how simple it is to find forward-thinking businesses that are happy to pay fantastic money to individuals with specific skill sets that can provide work to for specific periods of time. The appeal to a lot of people with freelancing is that they are working for themselves for the hours they choose.

Yes, they have someone they are doing work for, but as a Freelancer, the money is going directly to you. This is another example of how to provide services and be of value in the digital economy.

Consulting in the Digital Economy

If you are somebody with digital skills and awareness of digital business models, then you could become a Consultant. You could help other businesses bring their products online and get their services into effective online marketing campaigns with sales funnels. You can then profit by helping other businesses. There are so many examples and opportunities to monetize digital skills.

Making a living as a consultant in the digital economy can be a rewarding and lucrative career path. If you have a background in online marketing and a passion for helping businesses succeed, consulting may be the perfect fit for you.

One of the great things about consulting in the digital economy is that you have the freedom to work with clients all over the world. With the right digital skills and the right tools and resources, you can easily connect with businesses that need your expertise and offer your services remotely.

To get started as a consultant, it's important to have a solid understanding of online marketing strategies and tactics. This includes things like search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, email marketing, and content marketing. You should also have a good grasp on the latest trends and best practices in the industry, as well as the tools and technologies that can help you deliver results for your clients.

In addition to your technical skills, it's also important to have strong communication and interpersonal skills. As a consultant, you'll be working with a variety of people, including business owners, marketers, and other stakeholders. Being able to clearly communicate your ideas and strategies, as well as listen and understand the needs of your clients, will be key to your success.

One of the biggest challenges of consulting in the digital economy is standing out from the competition. With so many talented professionals offering similar services, it's important to have a clear value proposition and a strong personal brand. This can involve showcasing your expertise through a personal website, blog, or social media presence, as well as networking with potential clients and industry professionals.

Making a living online as a consultant in the digital economy requires a combination of digital skills, strong communication and interpersonal skills, and the ability to deliver measurable results. With the right combination of these qualities, you can build a successful and rewarding career helping businesses succeed in the digital world.

Conclusion

There are numerous ways to make a living online, from working at innovative and forward-looking companies as an intrapreneur, consulting and freelancing with businesses, or starting your own online business, whether that be an eCommerce store selling physical goods, or an online business providing digital products and services.

Whatever you decide, you need to be prepared to put in some hard work upfront. This is most probably the number one secret of the ‘Modern Wealthy'. You get to work and learn some simple digital skills and create digital assets. The new digital skills will enable you to sell products and services online. These can be products or services that you have created or products or services provided by other businesses and brands.

You can learn some digital skills by watching videos online. Start to find leadership and online education platforms that you like and resonate with. Don't be afraid to seek help and advice from mentors or industry experts.

Stuart has helped thousands of people make a living online. His students and customers are learning the digital skills required in the online marketplace and attending live events and seminars. Do some networking because the moment you get yourself on the right path, you will no longer be on the other side of the fence where people are fearful and scared, saying that things are scams and they are not real.

You may already have a lot of life experience, you may already have a lot of skills. What you need is a mindset shift. You don't have to be working for a company that's blind to the online business world. If they are not adjusting to the ever-changing business environment, they could be wiped out very quickly. You don't want to be somebody who is relying on the traditional job path, where more and more businesses are being eradicated and workers are left unemployed.

Be one of those individuals who know how to put bread on the table in this new economy. It's not all about flashy cars and the laptop lifestyle, although that does exist and many have attained it. But, don't let it make you feel skeptical. There are many ways of making a living online, and they can be very straightforward forward, as I've explained in this post.

What is required from most people is a mindset shift to realize the abundance of opportunities available and the skills required to take advantage of them. So don't let a lack of experience hold you back – with hard work, a positive mindset, persistence, and a willingness to learn new skills, you can make a living online and not only survive, but thrive – even in an uncertain and volatile economy.

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