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Episode 22: The Straight Scoop on Royalties, Subscriptions, Affiliate and Network Marketing
157 Plays7 years ago
One of our guiding principles is to help people think about earning money in ways way beyond their paycheck. That’s what the 7 Sources of Residual Income are all about.
On our latest duocast, we dive into 4 of these sources that you might not think of. Some of them you might even dismiss as something you can’t or won’t do. We dig into royalties, subscription models, affiliate and network marketing, and try to take away some of the mystique and misconceptions around them. Never say never!
You might be surprised at the ways you can receive royalties on your original work. You might be surprised at the number of millionaires who are network marketing experts. You might be surprised that your business could be the perfect fit for a subscription model, giving you consistent cash flow and a solid client base. You might be surprised at what you can earn on what has been a hobby for you, through affiliate marketing.
And as usual, we don’t mince words. We want you to understand best practices around these income streams. Excellence and mastery are earned, so easy riches are not part of the conversation here.
What You Will Learn in this Episode:
- The different categories of royalties
- What real diversification looks like
- 3 sources of residual income to turn hobbies into cash flow
- Why licensing an invention might be better than building a business around it
- Earning money with your content through affiliate marketing
- Similarities and differences between subscription and affiliate models
- How a subscription model could bring consistent cash flow to your business
- Why subscription models are a win for both the client and the provider
- How network marketing is done right
Recommended
Transcript
The Uncommon Life Dream
00:00:02
Speaker
Everyone dreams about living an uncommon life, but how we define that dream is very different for each of us. And for most, it's a lifelong pursuit.
Introduction to the Uncommon Life Project
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome to the Uncommon Life Project podcast. We're going to introduce you to people who are living that life or enjoying the journey to get there. We're going to also give you some tools, tricks, and tips for starting or accelerating your own efforts to live an uncommon life.
00:00:27
Speaker
A life worth celebrating and savoring.
Meet the Hosts: Philip Ramsey & Brian Dewhurst
00:00:30
Speaker
Please welcome your hosts, Brian Dewhurst and Philip Ramsey. Hello and welcome, everybody. This is your host, Philip Ramsey with the Uncommon Life Project. Thanks for listening. Thanks for tuning in. And we also have the one and only Brian Dewhurst. Welcome, Brian. Good morning. Good morning. Or afternoon, if you're downloading this in the afternoon. It's a rainy Friday morning. It sure is here.
00:00:55
Speaker
But it might not be where you're at or listening. So welcome to the show. Brian and I are financial advisors. I hate that word by the way. What do you do? Like what do you do? And I say financial advisors. I always think like I wish I could take that back. But what we really do is we are in tune with our
Exploring Residual Income
00:01:11
Speaker
clients. We listen to them and we try to help figure out how to make what they want to have happen
00:01:17
Speaker
faster or more efficiently. If that sounds like something that you want to get a part of, please reach out to us. We've been talking about the seven sources of residual income this whole season on the Uncommon Life Project. Our company name is the Uncommon Wealth Partners and you can go on www.uncommonwealth.com, download our free PDF about the seven sources of residual income
00:01:43
Speaker
We started diving in on these because we've noticed that when people come to financial advisors, they only think about investments, stock bonds, mutual funds, that kind of stuff. And there are so many more things that you can put your money to. And what we think is way more
00:02:00
Speaker
Maybe advantageous. I don't know about advantageous, but it's fun and you control it and you can do things now instead of maybe wait till you're retired and have this big pot of money at the end of the rainbow. So today we are talking about three. You're getting three and one. It's a three-fer. It's a three-fer.
00:02:17
Speaker
not one, but two, or not one, not two, but three. So we're excited you're tuning in. Here's the three that we're gonna talk about. We're gonna talk about affiliate income slash subscription model. We're gonna talk about royalties. And then we're gonna talk about the seventh, which is network marketing.
00:02:36
Speaker
And we're going to kind of blow through these pretty quick. But we hope to give you a taste of all seven. And this is the end of our first season. And we think out of all the seven sources, these are the three that people either forget about or they just don't think that they can do.
00:02:53
Speaker
And we're here to try to prove you wrong, maybe give you a couple insights on maybe your own business or something business that you're thinking about starting that might be able to make it more profitable or make cash flow more smooth. So welcome to the show. Brian Dewhurst, any thoughts before we dive right in? I am so excited about these three because I think with technology and where things are headed with social media,
00:03:21
Speaker
in the internet. I think these are easier now than ever to start. And like you said, I think a lot of people don't think about them or understand them, although they're using them every day. And so I'm just excited to shed light on these. And the first season of the podcast is about setting the foundation.
00:03:43
Speaker
for the seven sources of residual income. And when you look at the statistics, most millionaires on average are said to have seven sources of residual income or seven streams of income. And I think we interpret that as non-financial advisors, even though we are financial advisors.
00:04:05
Speaker
diversification is not getting one of those streams from a Roth, one from an IRA, one from a joint account that's all in the stock market. And so we think true diversification is, you know, having a real estate that you own and that produces cashflow or owning a business that produces cashflow or a subscription model business that produces cashflow on top of investments, on top of social security, maybe a pension. So,
00:04:33
Speaker
Truer diversification isn't a balanced portfolio in the stock market. It's having multiple streams of income that come in based on what you're passionate about and what you understand. Yeah. And this podcast has been amazing for Brian and I because not only do we get to now speak into the clients that we currently have, but many more people are tuning in and hearing this uncommon approach to financial advising. And it's been
00:05:00
Speaker
It's just been such a joy to be able to serve more people in this sit down with them listen to what their goals are and give them really interesting options for them to get to where they want to go faster and so that's our main goal is we like to just hear where you're at.
00:05:17
Speaker
hear where you want to go, give you more efficient ways to get there and give you options.
Royalties as an Income Source
00:05:22
Speaker
And we really do feel like our clients and the people that we sit in front of are smart people. They just don't always have all the options. And being independent, we can give them many options. In fact, options that maybe you never heard of. And that's why these three are fun to talk about because they just aren't readily on top of people's head. So where do you want to begin?
00:05:44
Speaker
Well, this is where I want to begin. I want to begin on number six, which is royalties. Then I want to go to subscriptions and affiliates and a network marketing. And so you know kind of why I'm going to go out of order here. I feel like royalties are pretty self-explanatory. And then it goes subscription and affiliate and network marketing and it gets a little bit more, I wouldn't say controversial, but it seems like there's a little bit different headwind on the last two that I want to talk about.
00:06:13
Speaker
Side note, Philip is working on the seven sources of residual income controversial index. Yes, I can't wait. More to come on that, I'm pretty sure. So let's go with royalties.
00:06:27
Speaker
Yeah. And you always say this is like real mailbox money. I think this is the closest thing to real passive income. I think when you hear the term passive, people automatically think that you're not doing anything. And with the other six sources, and certainly you can hire people where you're not doing anything, right? You can hire a property manager to manage your building.
00:06:48
Speaker
You can hire a financial advisor to manage your money. You can hire someone to run your franchise business. You can do those things. But I think this is truly where you could create one thing and profit from it for the rest of your life. And so I think the easiest way we think about this or see this in the media or whatever is probably music and or movie stars, Michael Jackson,
00:07:14
Speaker
Elvis, the people that their family or their estates are still getting money every month from the stuff they created 30 years ago and it's not going to stop. And you'll even see, I think I saw an article where some corporation was trying to buy out Michael Jackson's family.
00:07:32
Speaker
for all the future revenue that his content would generate so that they would own it and they would buy the family out of his, you know, future royalties. So this is real big business. A lot of movie stars now switched, you know, instead of just getting paid one time to do a movie, they say, hey, you know, instead of getting paid 20 million upfront, I think this is going to be a good project. I'll take 10 million upfront and I want 5% on the back end of ticket sales.
00:07:59
Speaker
So you've seen movie stars push more into getting the future stream, as opposed to just the upfront. And so we kind of broke it down into what, like four or five main types of royalties? We have like books, music, classes, inventions or licensing. Yeah. So I think the one that we think is most tangible for like, you know, I don't want to say everyday person because I think we're all everyday people, but
00:08:27
Speaker
There's more books being written now than ever with the internet. We have access to more information than ever. And so I really think of that Mitch Matthews interview that we we had and he talked about create space.
00:08:41
Speaker
It's brilliant. And if you didn't listen to that one, that was, I think, a good one to go back and tune into. But he talks about CreateSpace and how everyone could publish a book right now and how readily available it is through this website, which is basically an Amazon website. It's called CreateSpace.com. He does a really good job of diving into that. But I think just to edify your point, that's exactly what you're talking about. It seems to be more accessible than all the other ones, unless you're already built that way to
00:09:11
Speaker
And I think the other thing I'd say about writing books from just the little I've studied that I'm not saying I'm an expert, but it just seems to me that the people that are professional writers write professionally. And what I mean by that is they literally try to write something every day.
00:09:27
Speaker
And Jerry Seinfeld, famous comedian, I know is not maybe a book author, but his whole thing on how he got started was he just wrote comedy every day. That was his goal. It wasn't to be the most profitable comedian ever.
00:09:44
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It was, I need to write something every day. And so again, this whole idea of passive income is just passive, it's not. It actually takes mastery and professionalism. And in that though, when you get to those disciplines and you create something, it can produce income perpetually. Yeah. It's very interesting to me, somebody told me, when someone dies, a library is lost.
00:10:08
Speaker
basically like all their experiences, all their wealth of knowledge just goes away because they've never documented it in one place. And I don't know if you remember this, but we had a client who showed us, I think his grandfather put together some kind of published book about the family. Do you remember this? Yeah, it was about how they met.
00:10:31
Speaker
and how everyone had kids and it was just like then he was there and then his kids were there and it was obviously a little dated. But I thought what a valuable just asset for the family just to go back and like I even read almost all of it. Like I was so geeking out about this one man who just cared enough to document
00:10:52
Speaker
his experience and then how it kind of pulled out and how, you know, how God was intervened. He had a huge faith story in it. But what like that goes back to when someone dies and they don't do that, a library is lost. So that's something that like, even if you've never thought about writing a book, maybe it's something that you just document for your family. Just so you have some of your thoughts on a piece of paper because they are valuable.
00:11:18
Speaker
Yeah, I want to highlight music really quick. I don't want to highlight it in the YouTube sense or like Coldplay or those. But like even for us trying to figure out the music for our podcast, we went to these libraries where, you know, people make, I don't know what you want to call it, basically bootleg popular songs or make it sound kind of like popular songs. But there's a whole other world of music out there where people are producing
00:11:44
Speaker
you know, music and it's available to be purchased on websites. So if you want on your podcast or if you want it on the bumper for your YouTube channel or you know, you're producing an online TV show, there's libraries of musical content out there that you can make something once and people can keep buying it. So it's not just for the bands that make it to the top. There's lots of different ways to make money in music.
00:12:10
Speaker
I think the other one that I really want to key in on, because I think this is one of the fastest growing spaces in business, is online classes. You saw the proliferation of, I can't think of the name of it right now, but the one in Arizona.
00:12:28
Speaker
the online college thing. Phoenix. Phoenix, yeah. Huge business. And a lot of those online colleges have gotten fined for, you know, manipulative tactics and all that. Even Trump was, you know, president was involved in some sort of online university business. And so you're seeing the proliferation of education in a different way. I mean, you can watch 10 YouTube videos on how to
00:12:56
Speaker
you know, spackle a bump on your wall and paint it and you can figure out how to do things from just not going to college, you know, there's different mediums. And so in one of those ways is creating online courses and there's different platforms
00:13:13
Speaker
where you can post these courses for people to buy. So, I mean, obviously you can host it on your website, but there's businesses like, there's a business called Udemy, which is online class platform where you can post your content. Just think of it like a recorded PowerPoint presentation. Let's say you think you're an expert in, you know, how to tie fishing lures or something like that. You can post a class that teaches people how to do that and charge for it. And Udemy handles the billing of that and then you get your cut for that content.
00:13:43
Speaker
I think online classes are huge and I want to take a step back as we push into this vein because it's all about what you're passionate about. The reason these things work is because you're super passionate about something very specific. The internet allows you to connect with the 10,000 people that are of like mind or of same interest.
00:14:04
Speaker
And so when you're looking at mastering something, whatever it is, building a course around how you got there and what your understanding of that is, is a really easy way to monetize that time and effort.
00:14:17
Speaker
Right. So there's inventions here that you can get patents. We just had a meeting, a great meeting with a potential client. He was all about inventions that he made. He just was wired that way. He even said from when he was little, this is just what he did. So he was definitely something that we talked about inventions and it got really excited for him and how to align his cashflow in order to make some of those things happen.
00:14:40
Speaker
He was excited about it. So that's just an example. You mentioned fishing. So I think that that would be a good segue of, you know, kind of going to the next affiliate income source. So let's talk about the example of the fishermen and that's their hobby. Tell us like, let's walk through that example, just how he can maybe get royalties from that.
00:15:04
Speaker
Yeah. So I think this is one of the biggest things that we're trying to educate people on. And we, we haven't talked about it specifically, but I want to start talking about it. And we all have hobbies and hobbies are great. It gives us time to get away. It refreshes us. It's things we're passionate about, but so often our hobby becomes a financial drain because it doesn't generate cashflow. And as we age, that hobby or passion gets bigger, right? Like as you have more money,
00:15:34
Speaker
Let's say you're golfing, like you want to golf more, you want to golf more exotic courses, you want to retire and live on a golf course, right? All that takes money and it's an expense. And I'll never forget this, Paul Walker, the actor who was in Fast and Furious, who unfortunately passed away.
00:15:53
Speaker
His hobby was really fast cars. It was a total expense to him. He was losing literally millions of dollars a year as a hobby trying to race porches. Then he got hooked up with this guy who was actually a financial advisor, who was the gentleman who got killed with him in that car.
00:16:12
Speaker
Um, he showed paul how to turn his hobby and passion for exotic, you know race cars Into a business and because he made that shift from a hobby to a business Instead of being a total financial drain it became another source of income for him To explore his passions and expertise outside of acting And that was I think one of the key reasons that fast and furious became such kind of a hit
00:16:37
Speaker
cult you know movie series because of his passion and and You know expertise for fast cars and so that's what we want to show people is like alright So let's say you're a fisherman and you love fishing and we actually I think in the last two weeks have gotten Met two people that really love fishing
00:16:55
Speaker
Well fishing takes a lot of time and patience and there's a lot of equipment, right? And it's very like if you're fishing for walleye you're fishing for bass whatever there's different equipment to go get those types of fish and um, so let's say you're you're doing that And you're in your sixth or seventh year fishing and you're on the boat and you're just like gosh I wish there was a product that did this And you look and you google and you say oh there isn't a product that does that That's the aha moment of like man. I bet a lot of other fishermen would like this thing
00:17:25
Speaker
And you create that thing you create the prototype you draw it up you start talking to some friends and family You design it you build it and it's you work at it you perfect it and like oh that material is not good this I got to move the latch whatever it is and Then you could didn't take that because you're not gonna probably build a manufacturing facility around that you're not
00:17:46
Speaker
going to build a business around one product. I think a lot of times when you watch the Shark Tank, they're very good at this of saying, that's a really great product idea, but it's not a business. You know, and those people partner with that Lori Grenier, she puts them on the home shopping network and their millionaires and they just licensed their product. Let the professionals handle the manufacturing distribution.
00:18:07
Speaker
and all that stuff. So licensing, let's say you create this fishing product and you say you go to Rapala or whatever, I don't know how you pronounce it, those are the lures, I always remember fishing with my dad. And they build your product and you had a patent on it or you trademarked something and they pay you every time they sell one of your products.
00:18:27
Speaker
Um, that's how you would get a royalty off an invention, um, and not taking on starting a whole nother business. Uh, but you got to protect your intellectual capital with, you know, a trademark or a patent.
Understanding Subscription Models
00:18:40
Speaker
So that's kind of how, and we're going to use the fishermen as an example, as we progress through the show. It's good. Is that helpful?
00:18:46
Speaker
Yeah, that's great. Let's go to the next, I think that we've talked through that enough. Yeah. Let's go to the next seven source of residual income, which is now subscription and affiliate income. Subscriptions. These are something that when Brian and I are doing our consultations for business owners, it seems like we always, at least Brian and I will go to
00:19:09
Speaker
Is there a way that we can somehow subscription eyes your business because what it does is it smooths out our clients cash flow we've gone to that we've had a business coach who kind of spoken to us and our practice.
00:19:23
Speaker
And when we're doing such different things for clients, we need to get paid different, but it also helps round out our cashflow. And so we really are strong advocates of the subscription model. Let's first talk about it and then let's give a couple examples of that. Yeah. So subscription model is, I think, one of the fastest growing trends in business.
00:19:45
Speaker
It's basically a monthly fee or an annual fee for a product or service and it's recurring. And before you discredit that, think Amazon Prime. Yeah. Okay. Oh yeah. That's pretty good. We've got five here in our notes. Amazon Prime, Costco, Sam's Club, Netflix. Yep. Every person listening knows those companies. Yep. Amazon just came out recently because the number was not known and they just said, Oh, by the way, we have a hundred million people and Amazon Prime.
00:20:15
Speaker
And so, 100 million people at 120 bucks a year, you do the math, how much money that is. So, yeah, and now there's so many different types. So, what galvanized us with the subscription model and kind of opened our eyes to it, one was our business coaches, Philip alluded to, and then another one of our clients is like, hey, you need to read this book.
00:20:38
Speaker
And it's called The Automatic Customer by John Wierlo. And if you are interested in being an entrepreneur, or if you're interested in the seven source residual income, or you are super passionate about something, I would really challenge you to read this book. It's probably one of the top five business books I think everybody should read. So I don't say that lightly. Anyways, in that book, he walks through, there's nine different models of subscriptions.
00:21:07
Speaker
and so They're not all created equal and so he breaks them down. I'm going to read them real quick I don't want to dive into each one, but I think it's important sure the membership website model The all you can eat library model the private club model or like I call that one the velvet rope
00:21:23
Speaker
the front of the line model, the consumables model, the surprise box model, the simplifier model, the network model, and the peace of mind model. So there's multiple different ways or multiple different products or services that you can offer which change a little bit the subscription nature to your end customer.
00:21:43
Speaker
You know, I think it's important. I would like to go through each one of those quickly and just give an example because those, that's, I mean, that's great, but I don't know. I think it would be good just to quickly, let's go for this one. So the membership website model. I think that one, again, I'm a little rusty on all of these, but the membership website model, I think was pretty much Amazon.
00:22:03
Speaker
Yep, the all you can eat library model would think Netflix. Yep, the private club model. I think that's country club Yep model the front of the line I excuse me I think is the velvet rope and that's like where you're paying a premium to get better content I'm failing to think of one at the moment, but Everybody's that yep, that's what that is. The consumable models is think dollar-shave club the surprise box model is like
00:22:33
Speaker
I think that's like the wine thing or like you're just paying one every month and yeah, actually the one that I like this is a shout out because I've been so happy if your spouse or future spouse in my case is their love language is gifts getting gifts
00:22:49
Speaker
I got Megan the FabFitFun subscription model. It's a box for women and it sends them like jewelry and makeup and clothing and bags and you know stuff and It's a subscription model and they get to choose anyways It's been super fun for us because it kind of takes some of the pressure off of me And she gets to customize it and all that so that would be the surprise box model. Yep
00:23:13
Speaker
The simplifier model is something that's solving a problem. I can't think of one off the top of my head, but it was just something that simplifies your life. Well, like let's say there's a calculator that helps you with your budget. Yeah, the network model. I'm failing to remember what that one is, but I think it's like giving you access to information. And so I would actually say that's probably the air DNA, which we talk a lot about if you're interested in Airbnb, that's giving you access to some sort of data and they charge a subscription fee.
00:23:42
Speaker
And then the peace of mind model is the example of that is your home security system. You know, you're paying a monthly fee to feel safe. Another example that would be a lifelock.
00:23:53
Speaker
Yeah, like social security number and identity theft. So those are the seven or the nine sources that that book talks about. And I think that's just good just to hear just because when you're thinking about your business or somebody else's business, you can latch on pretty quickly to one of those like people will pay for that. I mean, they're definitely value there. And I would say for our clients,
00:24:13
Speaker
knowing that they can call us anytime is peace of mind. But it's also just like that makes me feel like I'm paying you for the questions I'm asking you. Because at first, we just never had this model. There were some clients who were like, I just didn't want to bother you because I didn't want to feel like I was taking advantage of you. So it's really helped us actually to have closer relationships with our clients because we've gone to the subscription model.
00:24:38
Speaker
And it's helped us tremendously. I want to go down one layer because it's easy to say like, yeah, I've heard of Amazon Prime, Costco, or Sam's Club, but for like the average entrepreneur, that's like not tangible, right? Like I can't start the next Amazon.
00:24:50
Speaker
But I think there's a lot of tangible examples in our just everyday economy that are tangible. And so the one that comes to mind for me is like Massage Envy. You know, I always get my mom like a Massage Envy gift card, but she does it like on the subscription. You know, we're traditional massage therapists. You really, you know, you're trying to build rapport with people.
00:25:13
Speaker
But there you know you get they gotta get you to come in you gotta get to come in and you don't know what your cash flow is gonna be. Well then these massage you know massage a month club start and it really smooths out the cash flow you know for the massage therapist and it's easier to build a business around it.
00:25:30
Speaker
So that's another, that's one example that I think is like really successful and tangible of, of just like a typical service provider that uses subscription model to smooth out their revenue, build client loyalty and that type of thing. Yeah. And we've, we've definitely done some consultations with people for health, like reasons like there was a homeopathic doctor that we said, you know, if you just take cash,
00:25:56
Speaker
wouldn't it feel better to have people on a subscription model where they would get two, let's say, physicals a year or whatever it is, two times to see you, and you're just breaking that cost up into 12 months? And so that's their kind of health insurance as well, or something that they can budget for their health insurance.
00:26:15
Speaker
$65 every month that goes to this clinic and then they get a go, you know, if they have a sore throat or they have some doctorate, but it really would solidify his business quickly because he knew how many patients that he had. He just didn't know when they were going to come in. Therefore, his cashflow was super lumpy and when they did come in, he'd have to charge them.
00:26:39
Speaker
for it all and it was just a big budget or big bill. So these people like that. We also talked to an eye doctor and we talked about maybe going more to a subscription model. Just things that you maybe avoid going to because you know how expensive they're going to be.
00:26:56
Speaker
there's ways to maybe have a subscription on that. So I think it's fun to talk through, especially with different businesses, just see is there a way that we can even our cashflow that it's even better offering for our clientele.
00:27:10
Speaker
So, for our personal testimony, I think it's kind of fun to talk through that. We were always giving advice for free and then selling the contacts if we're going with the eye doctor, selling the contacts for a commission, right? So, now we charge for our eye exam and then we also try to limit our costs with the glasses and the contacts. So, that's really helped us. But there's other examples like car mechanics. I mean, you can start going through all these different
00:27:39
Speaker
industries and seeing how a subscription model could be overlaid on those and really help the overall business. And I think you hit the nail on the head too that I don't think people appreciate. Budgeting is hard. We have a lot of clients and the biggest struggle is like, where did all my money go? And people don't want to track every penny. It's arduous now.
00:28:02
Speaker
You know, and obviously your uncle Dave Ramsey, that's his big platform track every penny. I think there's truth in it, but it's just difficult and it's time-consuming. And so when you have a subscription model for the things that you, you know, feel like you need or want, it is a kind of a good way to budget for it. And I'm a huge proponent that I can't believe car mechanics don't have a subscription model. I think it is the like single biggest opportunity
00:28:27
Speaker
that's like biggest big business ideas just because we drive a lot and it's just like I would love to know that I'm what like they know that I'm loyal to them every dollar I give them is gonna go towards my car and then they don't have to make up stuff that I don't need when I come in because they don't know what I'm gonna come in it's a great point it just solves so many different things and you got to get it done you know we all need safe cars anyways I'm off my soapbox nice
00:28:53
Speaker
Okay, so let's go to like the second half of this residual income, which would be affiliates.
Affiliate Income Essentials
00:28:59
Speaker
Now, this is where it starts kind of like getting clunky. And I would say starting to get a little bit of the what's the scale that I'm like the controversial index, the controversial index, it starts still seven sources, controversial index, it's starting to slip. But the affiliates, I think this is when, well, let's just talk about it first. And I can tell us where we can have pitfalls.
00:29:22
Speaker
Yeah, so this is a little bit different than subscription, but it's under the same vein. That's why they're together affiliate income is like We all see it, but I don't think we realize how much money can be made in or is being made in it Let's say I think it the easiest way is like the recipe blogs because we're all looking on Pinterest for new recipes and You find I don't know what
00:29:47
Speaker
Website or you know, the the the example I would use is like pioneer woman. She was a just like a stay-at-home mom I think they homeschool or whatever and She just started posting her recipes on her blog and then her blog kind of got massive traction Mainly because she was really good and she was super consistent and so the traffic that was generated from her blog is
00:30:11
Speaker
you know, gets to a point where these companies will take notice and they want to advertise because so many people are coming to your content. She didn't start out with this plan, but then it's like, oh, you know, Betty Crocker wants to advertise on her website or, you know, whatever, all these different kitchen food companies, right? So then they're paying her because of the content that she's creating and they're running ads on her site.
00:30:37
Speaker
And so that's a little bit different from affiliate. But then let's say she's like, you know what? I love this knife set. This knife set, I've used it for 10 years. It's amazing. I wouldn't buy anything else. And she puts a little link inside that blog post on her knife set.
00:30:52
Speaker
and people, you know, 20,000 people going by that knife set, well, she's getting a commission for every person that goes and purchases that. The biggest platform for this right now is Amazon. I mean, you can link to almost anything sold on Amazon through your blog, website, social media posts that you do, and they will pay you a commission if someone clicks through that and buys it. So that's affiliate income.
00:31:16
Speaker
You're not charging a subscription to come view your food blog, but because of the content that you're creating and the traffic that you have, you can backlink or link to different things that you like and you can get paid for it. Totally. And you can see like how this is powerful because like just in that knife set example, when Susie Homemaker
00:31:38
Speaker
is thinking about it, maybe the knife set people want obviously more clients than they have to sell their knives to. So there's two ways they can do it, right? They can get on Susie Homemaker's TV show and they can have a commercial. But the number one thing that happens for me when I hear commercial and that amazing voice, Brian has a great radio voice,
00:31:59
Speaker
the amazing knife set. Holy cow. Okay, you tune out, right? But if they can pay Susie Homemaker to be like, I've been using these knife sets for 10 years, I love them. And it's a true testimony of what she likes and what's helped her gain some success in what she uses in the kitchen.
00:32:21
Speaker
I mean, that is way better money, more efficient money for that knife set company to pay into. So you can see how like even like let's say there's a board game that I like, right? Would there be a let's say intermission in our podcast and then have a commercial of the board game or it's just like, hey, this is a sweet game I just played. Like this is why I liked it. Like that to me is a personal testimony of something that I am passionate about that will sell way more
00:32:47
Speaker
and it's way more, I guess, accessible to the listeners and to the radio, I mean, you can see this everywhere. But like even on YouTube now, like there's commercials on YouTube. Oh, yeah. And I hit the skip, like the skip. But if it's somebody that I really know, like and trust, or I think I do because they're on a platform and they're talking about it, like I think Dave Ramsey, when this happens or
00:33:12
Speaker
Um, I think Glenn Beck, like he talked about a board game, but it was like, is this a commercial or not? Cause he was specifically talking about it. So he was just ranting on and on. And he was like, Hey, this reminds me of a game I was playing. And then all of a sudden halfway through, you're like, Oh my gosh, it's a commercial paying for this. They got me. Yeah. They got me. Uh, but it's, it's a really smart way to do that.
00:33:33
Speaker
So but I think you said something I want to touch on and it's that consistency, right? It's having a platform and a following and just being consistent in order to get that that's a huge component of that I want to go back because I told we told the listeners that we would weave in this fish
00:33:52
Speaker
Fisherman example and I went to city homemaker so I screwed up but so really quick if you like fishing and you're posting videos on where you fish how you fish the tackle that you used to fish And you say man, I love this lure and you create that following boom you put the link in there This is where I buy my lures you could get a commission for everybody who clicks on your link and buys those lures and
00:34:18
Speaker
And so this is another way that I think it's important to turn a passion From an expense and a time suck not time's like in a bad way, but it does take time That's why I stopped playing golf because it's like I don't have six hours every once a week. I just don't not in this season of life, but um
00:34:38
Speaker
You know if you want your passion to become more of your full-time gig, you know because we ask people all the time What do you want to do if you won the lottery tomorrow? What would you do? Well, I would do this and it's like well Why aren't you doing that right now? Yeah time and money. Well, if you could get paid to do those things, would you do them right now? Well, yeah, of course. I'd do it way more Well, these are the ways that people are doing that like these three sources in my opinion are very
00:35:03
Speaker
Important in how you step out of your day to day whatever you don't like doing and you want to step closer to what you do like doing These three especially subscription models and affiliates is a big way where you can start generating real money Based on the time and energy you're putting into your passion or hobby of what you want to do and you're done working Yeah, so it's a great way to monetize your passion and experience in something. It's just a great way and
00:35:28
Speaker
So, are we ready? I think we're about ready to go to network marketing. I would say the downside of affiliates, just so we can kind of talk about that quickly, is that you start doing things too quickly and you lose your credibility and reputation that you're just
00:35:49
Speaker
You know, like, okay. Yeah, we're there. Uh, but like, I think that's something that Brian and I have talked about just in our practice is we always want to be uncommon, which is great, but we don't want to do things that are common. For example, a newsletter and send our newsletter out every month to our clients, like, okay, we're not going to do that unless that newsletter is something that you actually are excited to get every week or every month and you read it. So then it like,
00:36:18
Speaker
I would rather do things that are going to be a little harder but it's going to create more value that other people are going to find valuable than just do something that everyone else is going to do. Almost to the point where people would be willing to pay for it on its own. Yes. Like a stand-alone like, whoa, I'd give three bucks for that. Yes.
00:36:35
Speaker
Yep. And then we wouldn't ask them to, but exactly it would be that type of poll. Exactly. There's an example that I always remember. I love Acuras. Like this is not a commercial. They have not paid us, but if they want to pay us, they want to sponsor us. I'm in. We're all in. We're totally selling out for this. So, uh,
00:36:52
Speaker
So, but Acura, they would send a quarterly magazine. And I'm telling you, everyone, I read every stinking article, every page of that. And it was like Christmas when I got it. It was like, how do they know me? Like, dog sledding in Alaska? I need to read it.
00:37:11
Speaker
You know like architecture like that stairwell, how did they make that like just stupid things had nothing to do with cars but it Inherently made me more of an accurate follower than I ever was and I was a pretty big accurate follower at that point So there's ways to do things. But if you do it too quickly back to my point, you'll lose credibility and you'll also lose like Value and and so there is a very I would say delicate
00:37:40
Speaker
Part there, and it reminds me of that interview that we did with Nadine Habaker. And we ask her, how do you get paid for your art? She's like, oh, what do you mean? Like, I just love to paint. Like, oh, so there's no money in that at all for her. She's passionate. She's consistent. And it doesn't matter if she gets paid or not. She's gonna keep painting. And because of that, she gets paid, right? So, all right. Lead with the passion, not the money.
00:38:08
Speaker
Yes.
Network Marketing Dynamics
00:38:09
Speaker
Okay. So that's actually a beautiful segue into network marketing. I nailed that for you. Thank you. Um, we, we obviously have differences of opinions on this. It's been good for me on the show, listening to like a Doug Shiplet, like some, a man that I truly respect doing it the right way. So I think we should probably start by saying in any profession, in any professional setting, there's going to be Gomers and there's going to be rock stars, right? Everything.
00:38:37
Speaker
everything. Realtors, financial advisors, network marketers. There's always going to be this polarizing where there's good and there's bad. Go ahead. You want me to do the pro? Yeah. I'm not saying there are pros.
00:38:54
Speaker
Yeah, network marketing, I want to do a little data. And again, this isn't like, I don't know how factual this is, I'm going to try to keep it high level. But from the research I've done, network marketing has produced more millionaires than any other industry in the world. It's been around for about, to my understanding, about 60 to 70 years.
00:39:16
Speaker
And so the pros that I just wrote down about network marketing, I've been involved in network marketing. My fiance's been involved in network marketing. It's kind of like a fly with a light. It just seems like Brian is just attracted to those things. It's great. It's a fascinating business model. It really is. But what I tell people is it's the simplest business model, but it's the hardest business.
00:39:41
Speaker
because it's people. And, you know, Phillips probably arguably one of the best people I've ever met with people.
00:39:49
Speaker
but it's difficult. It's a difficult and emotional business and uh, and it can eat you alive. And so with that, I think the pros for network marketing is, you know, we meet a lot of people too that they're looking and searching for like an idea, you know, and I think about McDonald's, if you watch the movie, the founder, which I don't know how accurate that is to the Ray Kroc story and all that, but, um,
00:40:17
Speaker
Anyways, if you watch that, his first couple McDonald's that he franchises are to his kind of like rich country club buddies and then he goes to their store and there's just trash everywhere and they're really run poorly. And then he finds like a first young couple who's just looking for an opportunity and that McDonald's is everything to that young couple and they just run it. It's immaculate. Everything's just perfect. And then he starts recruiting young couples.
00:40:45
Speaker
because that was what he was looking for. And those young couples were looking for an opportunity to work hard, do good work, make a profit, and treat people with respect. I think that's what network marketing can provide for a lot of people that can't financially afford to invest in a franchise, can't financially afford to start their own business.
00:41:09
Speaker
maybe can't afford to get into real estate for whatever reason. There is such a low financial monetary capital startup cost to getting into network marketing. It really is one of the easiest ways to start building a business with almost, you know, very little money down. And you can literally start a business with less than a thousand dollars, less than $500.
00:41:34
Speaker
And if you work it like a business and you treat it with respect and you pursue mastery and professionalism, you can become a multi-millionaire in network marketing. But to your point, you have to treat people with respect, you can't lead people on, you have to be disciplined in communication and leadership development, and you have to treat it like a business. With that, a lot of the research says that most Americans would be ecstatic with an extra $500 a month.
00:42:03
Speaker
And I think there's, that's why network marketing is really powerful because if you do get passionate about a product, which is kind of funny because as Philip and I are getting more and more clients, it's like the last few, they're like, they're getting income off of network marketing. And originally they were like, I hate network marketing. I'll never do it. It's not for me, but they got involved with a product that they're super passionate about for whatever reason.
00:42:28
Speaker
And it is a way that they could generate a couple hundred extra dollars a month and be around like-minded people, be around people that are pursuing growth and mastery, and being around people that want to design their own life. And network marketing helps provide that because you can do it whenever you want from wherever you want and kind of market yourself however you want. And that's a pro, that's also a con because there's a lot of people doing it the wrong way and turning a lot of people off from it.
00:42:55
Speaker
So, the other pro for network marketing is business services are in place. You don't have to do accounting. You don't have to hire, you don't have to be the HR manager and the plant operations manager. You're not shipping stuff. The company is generally taking care of most of the business operation. You are literally just trying to market the product and or recruit and equip other people to market the product.
00:43:19
Speaker
Yep. You can do it in the pockets of your time. So it's easy to do, you know, if you're a stay at home mom, when the kids are down for a nap or they're at school, or if you're working two jobs, I mean, it's easy to fit in nights, weekends, lunch breaks, morning, that type of thing. You can build it on your own terms in your own time.
00:43:39
Speaker
And then I think finally the biggest thing for me is, you know, you're part of a community. You're part of like-minded people that want to grow, that want to design their own life, that want out of the rat race. They're passionate about similar things, whether it's the product or a service or, you know, hiking, whatever it is. You know, there are people moving in the same direction and as we get older, it's harder and harder, I think, to make friends or it's like maybe more awkward.
00:44:06
Speaker
And so it's an easy way to just get connected with people and feel a part of something and move forward.
00:44:12
Speaker
Those are kind of the pros that I listed off. Yep. I think those are all pros and I think they, they are developing. And, but like in everything, there could be a million millionaires being built from this thing, but there's also a lot of failures too. And so that's something in any business that's a risk. I would say although the cost of entry is very low, the cost, the reputation cost could be high.
00:44:41
Speaker
And this is what my advice to network marketers or anybody in any business. This is what's helped us get success to where we're at today.
00:44:50
Speaker
And it's something that I learned early in this industry because at first I thought everybody that knew me would just throw their money at me like this is easy. That was not the case and I remember the first time I finally had a meeting with, it was actually my sister and brother-in-law coming to our house after I got in this industry and I could not wait to get my first clients in my head, right?
00:45:13
Speaker
So, they come and I just couldn't wait. It's like, when do I get to talk about it? When do I get to talk about it? I can't wait to talk about it. Is it now? Is it now? Is it this? Like, in the first 45 minutes, it was like they were Charlie Brown's adult parents. Like, it was like... Like, I didn't hear a word, they said. Not a word.
00:45:36
Speaker
because I was so focused on what I wanted to do and what I wanted to say, how I was going to get it as clients, but I was very selfish in my actions. And I didn't even hear anything they said. Anyway, I was super convicted about 45 minutes into it by that time, like no clue what they're talking about. But I
00:45:54
Speaker
again, did the thing that I do best, which would be selfish, and thought I need to stop and just listen. These are my sister and brother-in-law, people I love, and I'm too selfish to even be present with them. For the next maybe 25 minutes, I would just dialed in probably more than I've probably been in a long time at that point.
00:46:16
Speaker
and just present. Where are they at? What are they struggling with? How are they doing? And at the end, it was spectacular because they were like, okay, Phillip, tell us about your job. And it was like a softball lob. It was funny. I was like, you know what? It's okay. You know, like I was at that point just so beat up. Like I am such an idiot and I didn't even talk about it. So my advice to people in professional settings, people in networking,
00:46:44
Speaker
is lead by example, be present with people and let them come to you. How are you doing what you're doing? How are you being such a big giver? How are you living the life that you've always wanted to live? It seems like you're always super happy. Let them come to you. And even today, like I learned from that moment in my past to be able to, now when we're with people or I get to hang out with people for coffee, the last thing I want to talk about is what I do.
00:47:13
Speaker
I want to know more about them, where are they going, and maybe some ideas or some strategies that helps them get there. But never once am I thinking about, oh, I want them as a client. In fact, I would say it's probably the opposite. Like, hey, I just want this person as a friend.
00:47:30
Speaker
And when you lead with that kind of enthusiasm and passion and true thinking about for the best interest of the other person, you'll get clients like crazy. And people will come into the door and when they do want to ask you, they're ready to listen. Instead of just giving your opinion when no one's really listening, it just seems like it's a hard thing. So that can be probably
00:47:54
Speaker
advice for anybody in any industry. But for us, at least for me, it's our job is to care for people and service them, right? Be good stewards of what God's given to you today. And for me, it's just listening to people where they are and how can I help them get to where they want to go. So that's helped us in our business because I think there's a lot of financial advisors who do a very network marketing way and they're gomers as we talked about earlier.
00:48:21
Speaker
Uh, but I also think there's, you know, I mean, at times I was Gomer, right? And I probably still am a Gomer. And so it's not beating ourselves up, but it is about serving other people and serving them well in such that they, it's attractive enough for them to ask
00:48:36
Speaker
tell me what you're doing, how are you doing it. And like Doug Shiplet, like having him on the show was like, he was like, he's a rock star. Let's just say that. And he does it the right way. And so if you can do network marketing the right way, it doesn't have to be a high reputation cost, reputation cost. And if you don't do the affiliate too fast, right, like try to sell people too quickly,
00:48:58
Speaker
It can be a powerful business model. And if you truly believe in the product, eventually people are going to ask you about it. Um, so anyway, I got on my soapbox a little bit there, but, um, I didn't want to just completely slam network marketing other than like, everybody has this in every industry. There's gomers and there's rock stars, be a rock star and put others in front of you, uh, and let people come. And hopefully that's some advice that I don't know. People can take some excellent. So those are the seven sources. You want to tell you anything else about network working?
00:49:28
Speaker
No, I think it's more prevalent than people think. And I think with how margins are being cut with Amazon and online retailers, it is a viable way for companies to launch products now.
00:49:44
Speaker
you know, outside of those traditional channels where margins are getting cut so dramatically. So, I think it's going to be more important as a future business model or source of residual income as things progress. I think you're going to see more companies launch their product in that way. I
Strategizing Multiple Income Streams
00:50:02
Speaker
think also you're starting to see bigger companies kind of
00:50:06
Speaker
leverage that type of model. I know Tesla, a company that I'm very bearish on, uses that for people that refer friends that buy Tesla. For those of you who don't know what bear is, it means that he thinks it's going to zero.
00:50:22
Speaker
And like, yeah, so I mean, you're seeing a lot more Verizon now has, you know, referral network benefits, that type of thing. So I think you're seeing a lot of traditional businesses start to leverage some of the stuff from network marketing. And so it is a viable viable way to monetize your passion and design your own life. And I'm glad that we talked about it. And I'm glad that we get both sides of it. And
00:50:45
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was very informative. Yeah. So there's our seven sources of residual income. You know, the biggest thing for me is like, how do people now weave them together? Right. Like I've got a couple, I think I might have something. It's like you have parts in your garage for a Ferrari, but they're on the shelf or you don't know how to put them together. You need a plan. You need a plan.
Season Reflection & Future Prospects
00:51:04
Speaker
And that's where Brian and I feel like we can step in and show you not only how to put them together, help kind of master that together. And at the end of the day, you're the one who's putting the tools together. You're the one who gets to drive it off a lot.
00:51:15
Speaker
But we try to empower other people just to take control of where they're at with some of these seven sources And then we can help as much as you guys would like to and so man, it's been fun this first season Thank you for tuning in. We've had amazing guests. We're excited to roll into season two But yeah, you've been listening to the uncommon life project. I'm your host Philip Ramsey and I'm Ryan Dewhurst Thanks for listening. Thanks everybody
00:51:42
Speaker
That's all for this episode of The Uncommon Life Project, brought to you by Uncommon Wealth Partners. Be sure to visit uncommonwealth.com to learn more about our services. Don't miss an episode as we introduce you to inspiring people who are actively pursuing an uncommon life.