Building Wealth Without Starting a Business

Recent posts have focused on starting a business doing something you enjoy.

But what if you want more wealth, but don’t want to start a business?

Fair question, especially since many folks are completely happy working a regular job, and not everyone wants to venture out into the unknown in pursuit of greater wealth.

But I do have to make one point.  Even if you’re an employee working for someone else, you’re still in business.  As an employee, you sell your time to a single customer, the company you work for.  And if you ever find yourself looking to move to another company, that process is akin to marketing and sales, in which you “sell” the new company on hiring you and paying you the salary you want.

So, back to the topic of generating greater wealth without starting a business.

The classic example most people used to follow was to pick up odd jobs here and there, like mowing someone’s lawn, shoveling driveways, or selling craftwork created as a hobby.

Not too hard to pick up a few bucks like this, but far from a viable plan for creating true wealth.

Creating true wealth as a sideline venture used to mean investing in stocks, bonds, real estate, and the like.  And this can work well if you already have a tidy sum of money to start with, and the 5 to 10% you’re likely to make these days is more than you spend on living expenses.

For most of the folks I know, this won’t work quickly enough to be of any real value.

In an earlier post, I mentioned the possibility of writing a great story, which may be licensed by Hollywood with merchandising rights, or creating music, which may be used for a TV show, commercial, or even a movie.

I even shared the story of how one guy found a way to make money playing Frisbee.

The possibilities are positively endless.

And, of course, there are thousands of folks who set up little income streams on the Internet, where they can spend as much or as little time as they want.

Honestly, for those without a lot of cash to invest, not a lot of creative talent, and who need to see a positive return quickly, I don’t know of any better way to generate a respectable income than using the Internet.

Of course, even here, you don’t HAVE to start a business, although the time investment can be so low, I don’t really see where it would be a problem.

In a report / ebook I wrote a few years ago, titled “Treasure Map to Online Riches,” I outlined a few ways to make money without a website, which is the Internet version of “without a business”.

It does take work, because let’s face it, unless you win a lottery or some other game of chance, the only way to make money is to do SOME work for it.

If you learn the basics of marketing and persuasion (topics I taught in the ebook above), even a beginner can make $1000 and up by writing a single webpage to sell a product.  A bonafide expert can get $5000 and more.  All you have to do is connect with someone who has a product to sell, and offer to write the sales page for them.  Even if they already have a webpage selling their product, if you can do better, you can still get paid for it.

Personally, I can write an effective sales page in a day, although I prefer to spend several days on it.  With a full-time job, this equates to one or two weekends.

If you’re good with numbers (or willing to learn), you can make money by simply placing ads for products other people have created, and even using ads they’ve created.  The trick here is to use tracking software to test various ad sources, and roll out a larger campaign only when a particular ad source has proven itself profitable.  In this, you earn a percentage of the profits through what is known as an “affiliate program”.

As an affiliate, you can even make money by taking ads created by a merchant, and posting them wherever you can, even outside the ad networks, in places where it doesn’t cost any money to post.  This does work better when the material available to post is in the form of articles and other useful content, but can also work with banner ads and text ads.

Before I go any further, let me explain what it means to be an affiliate.

An affiliate is essentially a commissioned sales rep.  You’re not an employee, but you’re not a full business either.  Unless you build a business around the products you represent.

As an affiliate, you set your own hours, so if you want to work only 2 hours a week, you can.

Most of the work is in the setup, but once things are set up well, you can sit back and relax while income comes in without you having to work for it.  This is what’s known as “passive income”.  Get enough things in place, and your passive income can take care of you for life.

As they say, “Once on the Internet, always on the Internet“.  Nothing ever really goes away online.  That’s why you have to be careful what you post to social media.

To become an affiliate, all that’s usually required is to fill out a form to open an affiliate account.  This way, the merchant has a way to pay you, and give you access to the marketing materials they’ve created.

Once you have access to the marketing materials, — and in particular, your special “affiliate link” which tracks your referrals — you can start to promote that merchant’s products and earn commissions when people buy that product after clicking your affiliate link.

Being an affiliate doesn’t interfere with whatever else you want to do.  For instance, as a content creator and business owner, I’m also an affiliate for a few companies, and periodically promote their products when it makes sense to do so.

Some of the products I represent as an affiliate include Terry Dean’s Internet Lifestyle System, which I feel is a great way for folks to learn how to make money online.  I also represent Transparent Corp’s Neuro-Programmer software, which is a great tool for using BWE (BrainWave Entrainment) to manage mind states and physical health.

I also represent Rosalind Gardner’s book, The Super Affiliate Handbook, which is the best resource I’ve ever found on making money as an affiliate.

There are others, such as the software I use to run my business.  As an affiliate, I can refer others to the same tools I use and earn a commission if they decide to purchase the same tools for themselves.

So, if you want to increase your income and generate wealth quickly, I highly recommend you consider becoming an affiliate.

When I first started online in 2003, I was making money within the first couple of weeks by promoting affiliate offers, and I was working a full-time job at the time.  I see people doing this even today, so it’s an opportunity that never goes away.

Until next time, be blessed, my friend.