What is your online business? Please give a short description of the website that you are running and what it does.

I am the owner and co-founder of Proof, a full-service branding company based in Nashville, Tennessee. We provide branding, marketing, and design services for businesses, organizations, and individuals all over the world – everything ranging from marketing strategy to web design to video production.

What percentage of your yearly income comes from your online business?

Nearly 100% of my annual income comes from my work at Proof. A small percentage here and there comes from speaking engagements and other activities.

What did you do before you started your online business?

I followed a pretty standard path of a new college graduate. I spent a couple years working for the “man”, trying out big-agency life, and quickly found that it wasn’t for me. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated college, and even when I embarked onto the path of running my own business, I wasn’t so sure, but I learned very early on as I entered the workforce that I would never be fully satisfied if I was working for anyone but myself. The rest sort of fell into place…

How did you come up with the idea of your online business?

We saw a need, when we started Proof, for an all-inclusive one-stop shop branding and design house that didn’t exist, especially locally. We fit a niche that has proved to be very prolific – targeting small-to-midsize businesses who may not have the scope our budget to hire a large firm – but don’t want to hire 5 different companies to get the job done. We provide an all inclusive solution to our clients, in a very real, approachable, way, that defines us and makes us distinct in a very crowded market.

How do you monetize your website? Please share with us products/strategies that you use to make a living from your online projects.

I don’t think this question really applies to Proof, but I will say that my tenure over the past several years as a blogger has directly contributed to the success of my first bout as a solo-preneur, and eventually into launching Proof in September of 2010. Without the community I had cultivated prior to even considering starting a business, I wouldn’t at all be where I am today.

What would you recommend as the most useful online resources for someone who wants to start a web based business?

I’m not sure if I’d call it a resource – but I am a firm believer that blogging is one thing that can completely change your life. So often, we sit back, thinking we don’t have anything good to say, that it’s all been said before, and that no one will give a damn about our opinion. That couldn’t be further from the truth. It may have been said, but you can ALWAYS say it differently. Your approach, your story – is what is compelling. It’s what is unique. It’s what people are going to latch onto. It’s what employers in today’s world are looking for. It’s what clients want to hire. It’s what customer will pay for. You. And they’ll never find you if you don’t put yourself out there and say, “Here I am”.

What are you working on right now?

I’m glad you asked. We’re cranking away at Proof right now, but what I’m most excited about is a new packaged service model called LAUNCH. Launch is an all-inclusive fixed-price branding package designed specifically for individual entrepreneurs looking to turn their dreams into reality. If you’ve got an idea – and you’re ready to take the next step with it, this is for you. We provide you with the coaching to get your feet off the ground, and give you all the tools you need to get your business up and running and out there for the world to enjoy. I couldn’t be more excited about sharing this with the world in the coming weeks. You can find more details and get signed up for more info by visiting http://proofbranding.com/launch

What is the one business secret that you are willing to share with the readers?

Wake up earlier. Seriously. The early morning hours are without a doubt the best part of my day. Whether I’m cranking away at being productive before the rest of the world wakes up – or I’m getting in a workout before breakfast. I take full advantage of the hours of 5-7am. You can get a LOT done in a very short period of time with a little focus. So, set your alarm clocks to go off a little earlier, and you’ll be amazed and how much more freed up you are the rest of the day.

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What is your online business? Please give a short description of the website that you are running and what it does.

At Love Your Small Business we empower women entrepreneurs to craft a creative and conscious business strategy that allows them to achieve the income they deserve without having to compromise on their personal values, relationships, health and balance.
Through our programs fempreneurs clarify their purpose and vision for their life and business and then craft a compelling strategy to effectively leverage their time, authentically attract clients, and build great relationships.

What percentage of your yearly income comes from your online business?

100% at the moment – we are keen to shift this as we do more offline work. One of our passions is working face to face and bringing the outdoors into small business so our 2012 focus is on making this happen! However we will always have a hybrid biz that combines on and offline work as the online element is integral to our own work life balance and profitability!

What did you do before you started your online business?

Both of us (Janine and Jo) spent 10 years working as managers and trainers in the youth and leadership development industry. This took us all over the world working with young people and adults and empowering them to overcome self-doubt and realise their own potential. Finally in 2009 in Italy we had the opportunity to work together on a project. We were inspired to act on our obvious compatibility and complementary strengths to come up with some projects of our own. We soon began working on a shared business vision, the result of which is Love Your Small Business.

How did you come up with the idea of your online business?

Both of us have always had a deep sense that our purpose lies in creating positive social change, and we felt drawn to working with women. When we started researching our niche ideas and looking at what we wanted to offer through our business, we discovered a growing trend towards social entrepreneurship by women – it seems that women entrepreneurs are at the forefront of a new breed of ‘ethical entrepreneurs’ who have a strong belief in making a difference through business.

Through further research we came to understand that not only did traditional models of business planning fail to create space for women to take their personal values, relationships, families and goals into account in the structure of their business, but also that the processes used for business planning were SO boring that creativity was stifled and many women were giving up on their dream altogether!

This felt like a great match for our skills and passions, and it became clear that women entrepreneurs with a passion for ‘doing good’ was the way for us to go!
So – Love Your Small Business was born to help women connect with their purpose and values, and then craft a business strategy that aligns with their personal purpose, is profitable and sustainable, AND to make all this happen in a creative and engaging way! (and we were also really excited to show more women how they could bring the outdoors and nature into their way of working and saw a big gap here too)

Women all around the world are certainly resonating with our work and finding that as they become clearer about their own personal purpose and values, they grow in confidence about their work in the world, find marketing easier as it is very authentic and genuine, and consequently they are able to attract a stream of clients!

How do you monetize your website? Please share with us products/strategies that you use to make a living from your online projects.

• We have consciously created a multiple income streams business model that includes a mix of passive income (eg ebooks), active income (delivery of our core service), leveraged income (eg. 1:many models) and recurring income (create a product once and generate ongoing income over time, eg a membership site).
• We have just released our first two products, an Ebook starter pack (passive income) and a interactive online ecourse (leveraged income). Our future plans include the launch of a membership site/online community (recurring income) and one-2-one coaching (active income).
• We earn affiliate revenue through our list: we have built relationships with a couple of key partners whose values are aligned with ours, and use our site, our newsletter and social media to promote these partners and earn affiliate income.

What would you recommend as the most useful online resources for someone who wants to start a web based business?

Great question and one that we delve into in our Ebook!
There is no end of amazing, efficient, useful and time-saving online resources out there, in fact there are so many resources that it can become overwhelming. We spent hours (if not months) signing up for free webinars, white papers, how-to lists and free reports to try and discover great online resources and while there is a lot of gold in there, we now see that trying to do it all for free and on our own was a false economy. We ended up feeling confused and overwhelmed, and wasting hours of our time trying to sort out which people, resources and content were any good.
So – the most useful online resource we recommend is therefore: a Business Coach or Mentor!!! Our advice is to focus your time and attention on finding a business coach or expert online that you admire and resonate with and who can really sky-rocket your progress. Find someone who understands your needs and they will have already done the research and be easily able to guide you towards a set or resources that will save you time, energy and money. Do everything you can to learn from them, and definitely invest in yourself with their products or coaching services if you are in a position to do so (don’t make the common mistake of failing to invest in yourself and your business, it will limit your progress significantly!).

Having said all that:
THE TOP THREE RESOURCES WE’D RECOMMEND ARE:

1. Our “Work Less, Earn More, Make a Difference” starter pack online course (well, of course we would!)
2. Natalie Sissons ‘build your online business‘ resource.
3. Milana Leshinsky’s free resource ’7 secrets to creating a profitable multiple-income streams business”

And you can get all three resources for a total of under $150 US, so if you are really serious about making a great living online it’s a no-brainer really!
We recommend starting with our resource if you want to create a lifestyle business that is grounded in your life purpose, values and vision. You’ll first spend time refining your personal purpose and vision and we’ll then show you how you can design a business and action plan that will get you there (if you’d like to see if our starter pack is a good fit for you and get a sneak peak of our 7 Building Blocks of Success, we are offering a free Ebook sample download for Success Odyssey readers. Click here for your sample!)

Nat Sisson’s resource builds on what we cover, going into more-depth about how to use online tools and social media to build a successful online business that you can run from anywhere.
Milana Leshinsky is the queen of the multiple income stream business. Her content is right up there with the best we have ever seen online. Her resource will go into more detail about how you can use multiple income streams to leverage your time and boost your biz income.

What are you working on right now?

Upskilling Ourselves: We have just completed the WE mastermind program as participants, with our own business mentors, Natalie MacNeil and Natalie Sisson. Two very inspirational ladies who are incredibly business savvy (and we learned LOADS from our Mastermind journey).

Programme Delivery: We are currently underway delivering our first 10 week online workshop with a group of women from around the world. We are also developing our online community as many of our clients and potential clients have told us that they are super keen to be connecting with other women entrepreneurs so we are looking at how we can best make this happen! We are working on relaunching our Starter Pack Ecourse as we had such fab feedback from our current clients.

Going Offline: We are starting to build our offline network and to examine how we can best connect face to face with our clients here in NZ which is super exciting.

Big Picture Strategizing: Right now, we are also making time to step out of the day-to-day running of our business to take stock and focus on our two major milestones for the next 6-12 months, and building our strategy and tasks lists around them. One of our milestones is to significantly grow our list in the next 6 months, and our strategy is to use our talents as speakers and presenters to make this happen. We are grabbing every opportunity we can to speak at online and offline events, the most recent of which is the creative women summit, coming up in April 2012.

What is the one business secret that you are willing to share with the readers?

Business secret from Janine: get crystal clear on what you want out of your business first, then get help from experts to make it happen. Too many entrepreneurs fail to do this and end up trapped in a business they don’t enjoy, or stuck earning far less than they are capable of. If you are serious about building a profitable business that delivers the lifestyle you want (as opposed to dabbling or ‘playing’ at being in business), then invest in yourself. If you can, save up before you launch your business and create a pool of money you can draw on when you are ready to kick things off.

Business secret from Jo: always make time to step out of the day to day running of your business so that you can check you are on track. It is too easy to get caught up in your to do list and lose sight of where you are heading so by scheduling in regular big picture check in’s you’ll have a much smoother journey.

Thanks so much for the opportunity to be interviewed here! We’d like to invite Success Odyssey readers to download our 7 Building Blocks for Success here, and receive our complementary weekly newsletter for women entrepreneurs.

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What is your online business? Please give a short description of the website that you are running and what it does.

I have two blogs now – here’s the story of how that happened. I’m a web designer and freelance writer. My husband and I have owned our own web design business for 14 years with both of us working from home. In 2007 we sold our home in New Zealand and moved to Costa Rica with our three kids. We spent 18 months there and had a brilliant time but couldn’t get an Internet connection in the jungle so in the end we moved to Australia.

I started blogging to improve my writing skills and learn about social media, setting up my travel blog in 2010. It was an experiment that took off.

Then people started asking me for blogging tips so I wrote Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps and set up Successful Blogging with blogging tips for writers and small business owners.

What percentage of your yearly income comes from your online business?

Web design and copywriting are still the core of my business but blogging has made it easier for me to grow that business because even though I live in a small community we now have blog design and copywriting clients all over the world. It still surprises me how my travel stories resonated with people and made them want to work with me more than my experience and qualifications ever did.

We have also diversified our income through blogging and I’m starting to explore blog sponsorship and advertising opportunities. At the moment probably about 15% of my income comes directly from my blogs and I expect that will continue to grow.

What did you do before you started your online business?

I used to teach English as a foreign language so that’s how I’ve been able to live in eight different countries and visit over 40. Then I moved into journalism and studied for my MA in Design for Interactive Media way back in 2005 because I didn’t know anything about computers and realized I was going to get left behind. That was a tough year but I’m so glad I did it because the internet has brought me amazing opportunities.

How did you come up with the idea of your online business?

I was a web copywriter in New Zealand but I never had to put my name to my writing. I never dared call myself a writer. But I wanted to write more and share my creative writing so in 2006 I set up a blog on Blogspot called In the Hot Spot and my first blog post boldly declared that I was going to: “overcome my fear of being read, my fear that my writing would be judged.”

I never wrote a blog post for three years!

I’m glad I gave blogging another go and stuck with it second time round. My writing has improved, I’m a more confident writer and a happier person. These days people commission me to write for them because they want my name on their site which is amazing. I’ve had some great jobs come to me because of my blogging and have been on all expenses paid trips to China, Japan and, in May, I’m off to visit Canada.

How do you monetize your website? Please share with us products/strategies that you use to make a living from your online projects.

The key to success with blog monetization is diversifying your income. So I recommend people blog first to sell their own services or products. I market my web design and copywriting services and sell my e-book and audio book Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps. One good tip is to have a base product like an ebook then offer an upsell with the e-book plus audio book. With my book around 80% of people go for the slightly more expensive package and the option of reading or listening.

Once you’ve built a good readership you can start selling affiliate products. I’m not keen on the hard sell so I only recommend a handful of products and there’s no pressure to buy. Sometimes one blog post about a new product can give you an income of several thousand dollars while another blog post or recommendation bombs – or seems to until a few months later when you make some sales. Bloggers should experiment to see which affiliate products bring you the most income and then focus on those or similar products.

More recently on my travel blog I’ve been selling advertising and sponsored blog posts. I price high because I don’t want to stuff my blog with adverts and I’d prefer to work with a small number of clients who love my blog and readers. My blog and brand is all about quality so it’s important to choose advertisers who reinforce that.

What would you recommend as the most useful online resources for someone who wants to start a web based business?

If you’ve got a new web business you absolutely must have a blog. Its’ a great way to find new clients, keep the old ones and improve your search engine ranking.

For content marketing tips I read Copyblogger while Problogger is great when you’re ready for monetization. Then of course there’s Successful Blogging which is for freelance writers and small business owners. My aim there is to demystify blogging and make it accessible for everyone because so many blogging tips are quite technical which only puts people off blogging.

What are you working on right now?

I’m writing a series of posts on my travel blog about my recent press trip to Japan and over on Successful Blogging I’ve got a series about the ABCs of blogging to take things back to basics.

What is the one business secret that you are willing to share with the readers?

That you don’t have to be all about business all the time. In my experience my personal stories are what has really helped my businesses take off so don’t be afraid to share those. Of course you don’t want to share everything, and you should always be professional in every way, but do let your personality shine too. There may be a thousand businesses similar to yours but there’s only one you.

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What is your online business? Please give a short description of the website that you are running and what it does.

Leo: I created Zen Habits at the start of 2007, and I focus on simplicity, changing habits, and creating a life that makes you happy. In addition to free regular articles, I publish e-books and courses to help people with those goals.

What percentage of your yearly income comes from your online business?

Leo: Almost all of it (more than 95%). A small percentage comes from a print book I published in 2008, The Power of Less, but everything else is from e-books and courses. My most recent income stream is from a subscription-based program that I call The Zen Habits Sea Change Program that includes articles, videos, mini-courses, live webinars and guest experts.

What did you do before you started your online business?

Leo: I was a journalist for many years, and was working at the Guam Legislature helping the veteran’s committee. I wasn’t too happy working for other people, though – I love the freedom of working for myself.

How did you come up with the idea of your online business?

Leo: I wanted to share some of the things I’d been learning about changing my life. I was incredibly excited about these ideas and changes, and thought I could help others. It turns out there’s a lot of people who really want the same things I’ve done.

How do you monetize your website? Please share with us products/strategies that you use to make a living from your online projects.

Leo: My entire strategy is to create content that helps people, and to sell it in different ways. So I sell e-books, but also expanded digital products that include an e-book, multiple PDFs, videos, audio interviews with other experts, etc. I also create live online courses that include live webinars, forums, articles, videos, etc. Lately I’ve created the Sea Change Program, which is a subscription program that’s like an ongoing course.

What would you recommend as the most useful online resources for someone who wants to start a web based business?

Leo: WordPress.com. It’s the best blogging software (you can build a website with it too), and it’s not hard to use. Sign up for a free account, read some tutorials, start posting useful stuff right away, learn as you go.

What are you working on right now?

Leo: I mentioned the Sea Change Program — I’m excited about finding the best ways to help people transform their lives gradually, using small steps.

What is the one business secret that you are willing to share with the readers?

Leo: There’s no secret. Create things that are insanely valuable to people, and you’ll build an audience. Once you’ve done that, creating an income doing the same thing — helping people — is not that difficult.

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What is your online business? Please give a short description of the website that you are running and what it does.

Sure! I run tinybuddha.com, a community blog that features stories and insights from readers all over the world. I launched the site in September, 2009, after tweeting daily quotes on Twitter for more than a year.

The site has really taken off this last year, with hundreds of thousands of people following for daily wisdom, but what’s really exciting is to see the community engagement. People share themselves authentically and generously in their writing, and that leads to some thought-provoking conversations in the comments. From what I can tell, it makes a big difference in people’s lives. It certainly helps me.

In December of 2011, I launched my first book Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions. Including stories from my life, tweets from the community, and action-oriented ideas, it’s a guide of possibilities for happiness and meaning, based on many of the themes that are central to the site.

What percentage of your yearly income comes from your online business?

Roughly 50% of my income comes from Tiny Buddha, through a combination of advertising dollars, eBook sales, and sales of my print book. The other half of my income comes from writing I do for ‘tween girls, for both a magazine and a website.

What did you do before you started your online business?

I worked online! I started writing for the web in 2006. In the year before I launched tinybuddha.com, I was working from home, putting in somewhere around 60 hours per week for two different websites.

I didn’t do much on the technical side of things, but my earlier experiences taught me a lot about blogging and building an online community. I also learned about SEO basics, which helped a great deal.

How did you come up with the idea of your online business?

When I first started tweeting wisdom quotes, my main intention was to do something meaningful online. I felt disconnected, isolated, and purposeless in the work I’d been doing, and this seemed like a simple way to do something positive with the time I had available.

After tweeting for a number of months, I knew I wanted to start a community blog where we could all take the wisdom off the page and share how we apply it to everyday life. My hope was to create a space where people feel safe and inspired to be open with their experiences and lessons.

Really, I created the type of community that I longed to be part of: A place with friendly people who care and are happy to share what they’ve learned to help themselves and each other.

How do you monetize your website? Please share with us products/strategies that you use to make a living from your online projects.

I have ads in the right-hand sidebar. I sell these directly to interested parties, because this allows me to ensure I’m aligning with likeminded individuals—and allows me to pick and choose the type of ads I’m comfortable displaying. I also have an affiliate book store on the site through a partnership with Sounds True.

Last year the bulk of the site’s revenue came from my eBook; however, I’ve been promoting my first print book, Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions since December. I earn a lot less through that book, since I released it through a traditional publisher, but it’s reaching a much larger number of people, which I find exciting!

What would you recommend as the most useful online resources for someone who wants to start a web based business?

I think the best thing someone can do when they want to start an online business is connect with other people who’ve already done what they’d like to do. So the best online resource for one person might not be the same as someone else’s.

What are you working on right now?

I’m getting ready to start a second book, and I’m also making some upgrades to tinybuddha.com, with plans to launch forums soon.

What is the one business secret that you are willing to share with the readers?

I don’t really have any business secrets, but I will share with you the “not-so-secret formula” I shared in another recent interview: positive intentions + loving connections + people helping each other = growing community. That’s what Tiny Buddha is all about.

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What is your online business? Please give a short description of the website that you are running and what it does.

My website is www.becomingminimalist.com. It inspires people to find more life by intentionally living with fewer possessions. It defines minimalism as the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of everything that distracts us from it. We encourage others to find a rational approach to minimalism that fits their unique lifestyle.

What percentage of your yearly income comes from your online business?

33%. I currently hold a full-time job outside of my online business. Not because I have to, but because I want to. My career allows me to be active in my community making a significant difference in the lives of people who need it. My website has always been just a hobby to me… requiring roughly 15 hrs/week. Likely I could make more income online if I needed to, but at this point I am content with the supplemental income that the website provides.

What did you do before you started your online business?

Same full-time employment as before. Community service focusing on teenagers.

How did you come up with the idea of your online business?

The website was inspired by the changes that were taking place in my life. My young family had been introduced into the lifestyle of minimalism by our neighbor. The decision to live with fewer possessions immediately addressed the avenues of discontent that were swirling in our souls (financial/emotional/family/intentionality). We started the website initially as just a place to record our journey, but soon found the message resonating with countless others.

How do you monetize your website? Please share with us products/strategies that you use to make a living from your online projects.

At this point, 75% of our income has come from sales of our self-published ebooks, 15% from affiliate book sales, and a remaining 10% from freelance writing. There is likely a significant amount of revenue available to us if we were to pursue advertising on our site, but thus far we have seen no need to pursue this option on Becoming Minimalist. The online business has also provided us with numerous income-generating opportunities off the Internet as well: speaking engagements and writing opportunities with traditional publishers.

What would you recommend as the most useful online resources for someone who wants to start a web based business?

Any resource that allows you the opportunity to interact with others. Business has been – and always will be – conducted face-to-face. People want to meet you, know you, and trust you before doing business with you. In the past, this was accomplished in person (literally), but the Internet provides a place to interact with potential customers from all over the world in a moment’s notice. You’ve just got to show-up. Social media sites such as Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Pinterest have become the new street corner and business front.

What are you working on right now?

I just signed a contract to write a print book with a traditional publisher. While I’m not announcing any of the details quite yet, we’re hoping that the book progresses quickly and is released in the very near future. I’m really excited about it and I’m confident that people are really going to like it. I’m also pursuing more speaking opportunities to take this message of living with less to a broader audience.

What is the one business secret that you are willing to share with the readers?

Help others. The secret to business is not answering the question, “What can I do to serve myself?” The secret to successful business is answering the question, “What can I offer to others? How can I improve their lives?” Once you answer that question, the income follows.

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What is your online business? Please give a short description of the website that you are running and what it does.

I run Personal Excellence (personalexcellence.co), an online community for people who are passionate about achieving excellence in life. With over 1 million pageviews every month, it is one of the top personal development platforms in the world today, and has been featured in international press such as CNN, Cosmopolitan, CBS Business Network, Sun-Herald and more.

At PE, one can get access to over 350 high quality articles on how to pursue your growth (and new ones added every week). There are monthly challenges, almost all of which are free, where thousands of people around the world work together to achieve their goals and dreams. There are also plenty of free resources, such as ebooks, wallpapers, manifestos, and more. All the articles, challenges, and free resources have been created by myself. (i.e. I don’t outsource the work or engage in a multi-author approach, by personal choice.)

What percentage of your yearly income comes from your online business?

100%. I’m running my business full-time.

What did you do before you started your online business?

I was working in the corporate world – Brand Management in P&G (Procter & Gamble), handling billion-dollar brands

How did you come up with the idea of your online business?

I’ve always been passionate about growing and helping others to grow. I discovered and defined this as my purpose 5 years ago, when I was still studying in university. So when I went to P&G to work, my intention was to work for a while and learn as much as I can in a prized corporate environment – then quit thereafter to pursue my passion.

So given my passion in growth, I know that my business will definitely revolve around personal development. The question was “how” to pursue it; the best model to take. I brainstormed on a variety of mediums which I could use to pursue my passion, from being a counselor, writer, blogger, coach, teacher, speaker, vlogger, and so on. In the end I narrowed it down to blogging / online as my top medium of choice (along with coaching and speaking), and launched my blog thereafter in Dec ’08, which subsequently became my platform for my coaching and speaking work. I’ve not looked back ever since.

How do you monetize your website? Please share with us products/strategies that you use to make a living from your online projects.

My main approach in monetization is simple: (a) it should be passive – it should not require me to actively trade my time for money. Because my time is too valuable to be frozen up for exchange of money. I much rather be spending it creating high value (free) content to share with the world. (b) it should provide a constant stream of income, on a long-term potential. For example, I’m not going to set up a revenue stream that’s only going to bring in revenue for 3 months or 6 months. That’s just not worth my time.

Given that, I’ve experimented with various monetization methods, and only kept the 2 which worked the best for me – (a) advertising (Google Adsense) and (b) ebooks (I have 2 products: First is Live a Better Life in 30 Days Program(30DLBL), which is a premium life development program where one changes his/her life around and brings it to the next level in just 30 days. 30DLBL is where I share my best life development strategies and tools which *I* personally have used and experienced success with in my life. My second product is Personal Excellence Book, essentially a compilation of 101 of the best articles I have written on PE (along with exclusive bonus articles). There are currently 2 volumes on sale (each volume with 101 of the best articles), with a new volume produced every other year.

These 2 channels have worked the best for me and fulfill my 2 criteria for monetization. Everything else – 1-1 coaching, speaking/training, affiliate products/services, sponsored reviews (never did this before), corporate tie-ups/engagements, etc usually only bring in a boost of income for the time where I was engaged / working on it / promoting it. Hence they are not approaches I kept / would use.

What would you recommend as the most useful online resources for someone who wants to start a web based business?

NA. Unfortunately, I can’t help in this regard – I don’t read any resources or books on running web businesses. Everything I’ve shared above were picked up via trial and error while running my business. I would recommend http://problogger.net and possibly http://copyblogger.com as good resources for someone who is starting up in blogging. I don’t read them anymore but I did peruse them actively for the first 2-3 months when I started my blog.

What are you working on right now?

Having sufficiently established the Personal Excellence platform, with its plethora of free articles and monthly challenges which have a high level of participation every month, I feel I’m now ready to take on a new medium in sharing my message with the world. My latest project is The Celes Show, which will be my new video channel where I enable others to achieve excellence in life via the video platform. It will be a huge complement to the work I’m doing at PE already. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while and I’m very excited that it’s now coming to fruition.

What is the one business secret that you are willing to share with the readers?

I don’t think I have any business secrets – I’m pretty open in sharing what I do.

That said, the #1 thing I recently started doing and am really digging is outsourcing. I recently got a virtual assistant, a graphic designer, and soon a video editor (for my new online video channel), and it has freed up so much of my time for higher value work, such as content creation and business development. In retrospect, I should have done this much sooner. If you’re running your business and you’re doing everything by yourself, you should look into delegating the more administrative, repetitive, and lower value work to others, while using the free time to grow your business further. The returns will be invaluable.

Latest Posts from the Personal Excellence Blog

• Insights on Getting Your Startup Acquired for $24 Million in Just 7 Months (Interview with Karl Chong, CEO of Groupon SG) [Video]
  Today I’m very excited to share my latest episode of Celes.TV. This latest episode features my interview with Karl Chong, CEO of Groupon Singapore, which is one of the fastest growing companies …
• Singapore PE Readers Meetup on 23 Jun! (Plus My 29th Birthday Celebration!) [RSVP Now!!]
  Hi everyone! This month of June is my birthday month (I’m turning 29!!) and as with last year, I would love to celebrate my birthday with all of you since you are such a big part of my life! Com …
• Bullied at Work? 5 Crucial Tips to Handle Workplace Bullying
  Last month, a 17-second video of an office bully went viral on the internet. In the video, a Singapore office supervisor could be seen repeatedly slapping an intern. While it is good that the issue ha …

What is your online business? Please give a short description of the website that you are running and what it does.

I have several different websites that show the history of my journey. When I began making a living online around three years ago, I built niche websites, then I moved to article and affiliate marketing, and finally to blogging and creating my own products and services.

But what’s always been constant is the lifestyle business factor in what I do. I value my time and freedom, and I design everything around that.

What percentage of your yearly income comes from your online business?

100%

What did you do before you started your online business?

I was a professional online poker player for about half a decade.

How did you come up with the idea of your online business?

It evolved out of taking action. Like I said above, I started by building niche websites, and as I took action, I simply followed my heart and did what I enjoyed. Eventually it led me to what I’m currently doing.

How do you monetize your website? Please share with us products/strategies that you use to make a living from your online projects.

If you look at everything I do, I use affiliate marketing, advertising, products, and services (i.e. coaching and consulting).

What would you recommend as the most useful online resources for someone who wants to start a web based business?

That’s a tough one, because it depends on what you’re after. If you want passive income, then Pat from SmartPassiveIncome.com is fantastic. If you want more focus on lifestyle, you might want to check out what I do. If you want to become an authority, then Chris Garrett from ChrisG.com will help you with that.

What is the one business secret that you are willing to share with the readers?

The one secret is a complete anti-secret, and that is to constantly take action, especially when you’re confused, because the longer you try to figure things out, the longer you’ll wait.

When you take action, you’ll gain experience and gain insight. Yes, you’ll make mistakes, but it is through mistakes that you learn.

So ask yourself: what small step can you take today toward building your business?

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What is your online business? Please give a short description of the website that you are running and what it does.

My website is called EngineFacts.com. It is a database for engines built mostly in the 1950s, 60s and 70s for car enthusiast and people searching for general information about engines. The site provides visitors with the ability to look up any U.S. built engine from 1950 – 1979 and read about the history of the motor as well as get basic technical specifications such as horsepower and torque ratings.

What percentage of your yearly income comes from your online business?

Right now the percentage is pretty small but since the site has had a recent explosion in traffic and popularity I am definitely working on some new ways to create income which, Lord willing, will be successful. I am also seeing an increase in companies who are contacting me wanting to promote their businesses which is good news.

What did you do before you started your online business?

I pretty much did a lot of job hopping back in those days as well as messed around with some of the affiliate type sites which a lot of Internet newbies do. Thank God, the affiliate sites gave me an income to live on but I wanted something more. I then realized that if anything big was going to come out of making money online, then I had to create a unique site that I was passionate about.

How did you come up with the idea of your online business?

The idea more or less came from my love of older cars and the history behind them. I have a closet full of books about cars but one of my favorites was a book that gave a brief historical description of each car and some basic specs on the car such as the top speed and horsepower. I realized that there was no website around that actually did the same thing for car engines. Not everybody who loves cars wants to read a 200 page technical manual about every engine that was created. They simply want to read a few paragraphs about the engine as well as the horsepower specs so they can discuss it with their friends. That is what I feel really has created a niche and following for the site.

How do you monetize your website? Please share with us products/strategies that you use to make a living from your online projects.

The site right now is pretty much 100% Google Adsense based in regards to revenue streams. The site enjoys some pretty heavy traffic from Google and because it has such a large community of repeat visitors, I feel that it is time to reach out to advertisers more in order to hopefully increase income.

What would you recommend as the most useful online resources for someone who wants to start a web based business?

Definitely free web template sites like www.opendesigns.org and www.oswd.org. I can create a web site from scratch but getting free templates like these guys offer and then customizing them to what you want is definitely a huge time saver when it comes to running your online business.

What are you working on right now?

Besides EngineFacts.com, I have developed a big interest in web hosting promotion. My latest projects, www.discountwebhostings.com and www.vpswebhostings.com are sites that I really am excited about. I want to create a place where people can go and feel comfortable with the reviews and recommendations presented in order to make a better choice when choosing their hosting platforms.

What is the one business secret that you are willing to share with the readers?

Don’t give up. I have created so many websites that have completely failed and left me a little discouraged but then I get back up and try something new. The great thing about this business is that once you buy your hosting, you can host as many sites as you want. If one site is not doing anything then forget about it for a few months and go work on another site. You might even get some fresh ideas about the older sites and come back to them later which could turn into something successful.