Category Archives: Case Studies

Make Money No Matter WHAT The Market Does

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This one is clever and a bit diabolical and frankly maybe I shouldn’t love it, but I do.

The gal who does this is specializing in the stock market, but this will work in any financial market. Think Bitcoin and all the other cryptocurrencies, every stock market, commodities market, gold and silver, rare coins… anything that people invest to make money.

Here’s what Jill did…

She bought several books on the stock market. These were current books that were published within the last couple of years.

She made lots of notes for herself and then she visited investing websites and made more notes.

Essentially, she was looking at two things: Why the experts said that NOW is the right time to invest in stocks, and why other experts said that now is the time to get OUT of stocks.

Then she made two products. Essentially each one is a 100 page report of her own, written in her own words but quoting the experts for credibility. Both reports are compelling and make some great points. One of course is something like, “Why you MUST get out of stocks RIGHT NOW before the great crash of 2022 and here’s what to invest in instead” and the other one is something like, “Why now is the best time in history to put everything you own into stocks and retire in 5 years as a super wealthy person” or something like that. You get the idea.

Next, she created two personas for herself, along with two squeeze pages, one for each point of view. She created two corresponding reports that essentially sell the new subscriber on purchasing one of the 100 page reports. She gave away the short report on how the market was about to crash, and in that report she sold the 100 page report.

She then bought traffic and sent it to each squeeze page. People opted in to get the free report and were immediately offered the upsell of the 100 page report for a small fee. If they didn’t immediately buy the 100 page report, then they received a series of emails reminding them to purchase it.

As you can see, she’s building two lists of people – one list that’s being told to buy stocks, and another list that’s being told to get out of stocks.

Naturally she can continue to promote financial products to both lists, and she’s doing that in spades.

But it gets even better, because inside each 100 page report are all kinds of affiliate links to investing services, expensive investing courses and other things.

And those affiliate links are earning her a sizable income each and every month.

Here’s the best part: You can do this in any investment type of niche. I think it would work great with cryptocurrency, commodities and so forth. Of course, you don’t have to take both sides, but I find it interesting that no matter what people think, she is reeling them into one funnel or another.

And in case you’re interested, the “Get out of investing” report is selling at nearly 2:1 compared to the “Invest now” report. Bad news truly does sell.

You could even do this in other niches. “Why diets are the worst thing to happen to us” and “Of all the popular diets, here’s the best one and why it works so fast.”

For online marketing, it might be, “Why ‘how to make money online’ courses are pure BS” and “How anyone with half a brain can make a decent living from their laptop.” Or some such… I think you know what I mean.

One thing to avoid is taking opposing positions in ONE product. For example, some marketers might think it clever to put the two reports together so that they can simultaneously give the reader both perspectives. Nope. All that will do is confuse the reader into analysis paralysis. They won’t know which way is up and so they won’t do (or buy) anything.

Plus, when you take one position or the other, you can then slant your emails in that direction as well to reconfirm what you’ve already taught them. Jill sends more negative emails to her “get out of stocks” list and more positive emails to her “buy stocks now” list and she’s converting like crazy.

As I see it, the entire key to Jill’s business model is taking a STRONG position for or against the topic at hand. People want to be told what’s going on and what to think. No, they won’t admit that, but you know it’s true. They would rather you do the thinking for them, and if you sound completely confident in your position, then they will be happy to follow you and your recommendations.

I guess it all boils down to standing for something rather than falling for anything. And in Jill’s case, she’s standing for BOTH sides of the issue, but without ever letting her audience know that.

Simple Trick to More Comments and Better Ranking

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Whether you’re trying to get more people to interact with your written content, such as your blog, or you want more people to leave comments on your videos, such as YouTube, here’s a trick that will make it happen.

Why do you want people to interact with your content? Because it will often give you a better standing in search. For example, part of YouTube’s algorithm is to look at how many comments your video gets. The more comments you have, the higher your video might rank in search.

And when you get your readers and viewers to interact with your content by leaving their own comment, you also increase their perceived ‘ownership’ of that content. They are more likely to share it on social media as well as view more of your content in the future.

Now then, how do you get comments?

The usual way is to simply ask, and that does work. “If you’ve enjoyed this video, please like and leave a comment.” Or… “Which do you prefer, chunky or smooth peanut butter? Please leave your comment below and let us know.”

Now here’s how you can take this simple technique of asking and double or even triple the number of responses you get as well as increasing the quality of those responses dramatically:

Make it into a contest.

At the end of your video or article, let them know that the BEST comment will get a free valuable gift.

Yes, this freebie might be one of your products, but it doesn’t have to be.

I was watching a YouTube video of a gal talking about a certain kind of jewelry. She was wearing one of these necklaces throughout the video, and at the end she said she would send this necklace to the person who posted the best comment.

What a great idea! This necklace is something every viewer has been looking at and admiring for the entire video, and now they’re told they can OWN it?

And it gets even better, because at the very beginning of the video she said, “Stay tuned to find out how YOU can receive THIS necklace in the mail.”

This no doubt increased the average viewing time her video received because people were sticking around to find out how to get the necklace.

And the reward was very specifically targeted to the exact audience who would want the reward, since the video was about this specific type of jewelry.

The cost to her? I doubt it was more than $10. And yet there was a true element of scarcity because in this case the necklace was vintage (approximately 50 years old) and not something people could buy at their local store.

What I love about this is that the prize would be physically mailed to the recipient. Because it was lightweight the postage wouldn’t cost much regardless of what country it would be sent to.

And scrolling through her comments it was obvious that people really were going for the gold in trying to have the most interesting, wittiest or most helpful comment of everyone there.

She uses this technique with many of her videos, which gives her an immediate bump in views from her regular audience as well as a ton of comments. Views in the first 24 hours are especially important on YouTube to help with getting your video seen by more people.

She states in the description below the video that she will choose the winner in 30 days. But since she does not show the date the video went live, she continues to get more and more comments even when her videos have been up for months. She also uses this reward system to encourage viewers to become subscribers so they know when she posts a new video, too.

Depending on your niche, you might have to get creative to make this work for you. If you have electronic products, then the key is to offer something of high value, like a course you sell for at least a couple hundred dollars.

If you teach dog training, maybe you could give away adorable handmade dog sweaters. Let your own dog be the model. If you have a book, then that could be your prize.

Try this on your next couple of videos and watch the magic happen in the comments section.

90,000 Instagram Followers in 365 Days

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TikTok might be the latest, greatest social media channel, but don’t think for a second that Instagram is to be ignored.

You can build a huge, active and engaged audience on Instagram in just months or even weeks using this strategy.

Instagram has over 2 billion monthly active users, it was the most downloaded app in Q4 of 2021 and 59% of Instagram users log in daily.

The most expensive influencer charges $1.015 million per post, and yet the most liked photo on Instagram is a photo of an egg with 55 million likes.

In other words, while people are making big money on Instagram, if you can post something more interesting than an egg then there is room for you, too.

Here’s how “SocialMediaQueen” built her following from zero to over 90,000 followers in 365 days:

First, you need content. A LOT of content. But that’s true on any platform. When you’re trying for organic growth, you’ve got to put your message out there several times a day.

And the content must be valuable your audience.

Generally, content has value if it’s entertaining, encouraging or educational.

If you can manage to hit all three, then that’s even better.

Second, you don’t need new ideas to make this work. If you can find a hundred different ways to say ten different things (that’s 1,000 posts right there) then you’ve got what it takes.

Remember, not everyone will see all of your posts. And no one will remember all of your posts, either. Repetition of message works great if you can just find news ways of conveying your message.

For example, “Don’t give up, you can do it.” How many different ways do you think you could convey this message? There’s no doubt you could find a thousand different quotes, anecdotes and stories with this theme, or perhaps even ten thousand.

Third, you’ll need a content schedule to keep you on track. Here’s Katelyn’s weekly schedule:

  • 3 photos or carousels
  • 4-7 Reels
  • 9-15 Stories
  • 1-2 Videos

This is as much as 27 pieces of content every week, or approximately 100 per month. That sounds like a lot for one person to create, but keep in mind this plan will grow your following fast.

If you check out Canva you’ll find templates for creating quality content quickly. Sit down once per week and create all of your content for the week, or even spend an entire day making content for the month.

Notice, too, that on Instagram you can monitor not just your number of followers but also the number of accounts you reach. Even if you fall short of 100 posts per month, you can still reach a large number of people on Instagram. Even starting from scratch, you can reach 25,000 people every week.

Note that the vast majority of your reach will likely come from Reels, since the algorithm is currently pushing those.

$3,210 in 3 Weeks via PLR

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I know I’ve said it before, but I love membership sites because of the ongoing income. Sell it once, get paid each month for as long as they remain members.

But one of the objections I often hear is, “But it’s going to take me months to build up the membership!”

Not necessarily.

In July Lucy set up a membership site on MemberVault. If you want a free place to host your products, she recommends SendOwl.

She gave her membership a cute, memorable name which is important. If no one can remember your site’s name because it sounds just like all the others, then they’re more likely to forget about you.

She creates and sells PLR templates that can then be resold to customers with a commercial license.

To begin, she created a months’ worth of templates as well as some launch bonuses, added them to the membership site and then launched a month after she started.

Now here’s the key: In the past she purchased a lot of products in the same niche she’s in. She went back to all of these product sellers and asked if they would like to promote her membership for 45% commission.

And most of them said yes.

Because of her relationship with these vendors as a customer, they were willing to not only read her email but also consider her offer.

No matter what you’re launching, if you first purchase products in the same niche, you can then approach those vendors and ask them if they might be interested in promoting your product.

She created her affiliate program through ThriveCart and uses ConvertKit for her email.

She set up both Paypal and Stripe accounts to receive payments, giving her customers a choice.

And anything technical she had to do along the way, she simply outsourced to someone she found online. If you don’t want to hire someone for technical stuff you don’t know how to do, then simply use the tutorials provided on the platforms or use YouTube to find someone to walk you through the processes.

Your membership could be about anything that interests you and that people are willing to pay for. Purchase products in your niche to begin building relationships with your future affiliates. Create a month’s worth of content, get your affiliate program up and running, and then get busy promoting your membership site.

One last thing… encourage your members to become affiliates as well. Most of them won’t, but a few of them will, and sometimes your customers will surprise you with the sheer number of sales they can bring – maybe even more than the product owners you approach.

No one can sell a product like a satisfied customer, which gives them an edge in sincerity that’s impossible to fake.

6-Figure Instagram Business Using Nothing but Quotes

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Or… how to go from bankrupt to mid-six figures posting stuff other people said and wrote.

If you had told me that it was possible to earn six figures by doing nothing more than posting other people’s quotes online, I probably would have told you it was a pipe dream.

But what do I know?

Believe it or not, the Instagram account @StoicReflections has grown to 850,000 followers and six figures of income in under three years.

The creator chooses famous motivational quotes and posts them every day, including strategic hashtags to get more traffic to them.

And once he started to build a significant audience, he created two simple products that have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.

When Alexander, the man behind the popular Instagram account @StoicReflections, went bankrupt only a few years ago, he took up philosophical meditations to see him through the tough time.

Then he began posting those mantras online and grew enough of a following that he now makes a full-time living from Instagram.

There’s an important lesson here: When things seem especially bad, ask yourself, “What’s good about this?”

And maybe also ask yourself, “How can I use this experience to help others and even build a business?”

Alexander doesn’t use his last name on @StoicReflections because he wants to keep his identity separate from his account.

Since he’s not the face of his page, he’s not a typical Instagram influencer. And yet he has seen growth in line with other successful personalities on the platform.

@StoicReflections has gained over 850,000 followers in less than three years simply by sharing tenets of Stoicism, an ancient Greek philosophy that preaches an indifference to pleasure and pain.

Alexander shares quotes he feels resonate with the stoic philosophy with his fans, most of which are business-minded people.

But Alexander does not post ads or sponsored deals since he feels it would dilute the virtue of his Instagram account.

“There’s a lot of brand equity you’ll just lose by just taking ads,” he said.

Then last year, Alexander created two simple products that have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, allowing him to earn a full-time living from his motivational Instagram account.

Before @StoicReflections, 28-year-old Alexander ran a business selling inexpensive products from China that he said turned a nice profit.

Alexander was successful enough that he was able to travel a great deal and live in expensive luxury apartments. But then the bottom fell out of his business, and he ended up going from the 34th floor of a luxury apartment to a five-bedroom roommate situation.

It seems that as fast as he was pocketing money from his e-commerce business, he was also spending it. His debts were in the five-figure range when his business dried up and he found himself with no income and in debt.

To cope with his situation, Alexander began studying Stoicism in 2019 to help him get through this tough time in his life.

“It teaches you resilience and the dichotomy of control: What you can control and what you can’t control,” he said.

Alexander initially created @StoicReflections to keep himself accountable. He posted quotes every day, like “Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings,” so he could try to live up to them.

@StoicReflections started as a hobby and not a business, but he quickly discovered ways to cultivate an audience in the self-help and motivational corners of Instagram.

To build his first 100,000 followers, he used hashtag discovery.

Alexander favored shorter quotes that were easily legible even on a square grid. And he inverted the traditional black text on white background to make his posts stand out with white text on a black background.

There were accounts on Instagram that were similar to his, so Alexander looked for more ways to differentiate himself. He noticed that popular hashtags, like #wisdom and #philosophy, would have over a million posts. The competition for those was simply too high, so he would strategically used hashtags with fewer aggregates of 10,000 or less to boost his posts to the top.

This hashtag discovery method allowed his account to grow 100,000 followers in the first year alone. His method was to post a quote every day, hashtag every post and gain about 100 new followers a day.

When a famous person shared his posts, he would sometimes get thousands of new followers instantly. And by his second year, his page had well over 400,000 followers.

That’s when he began to get requests from brands to post sponsored content but refused them on the grounds it would take away from what he was doing.

Then last year Alexander created two new products of his own.

One was digital cellphone wallpaper of famous philosophical and motivational quotes. A pack of 55 quotes downloadable wallpaper sells for $9. Next, he created a calendar rooted in ancient Stoic beliefs that “help you harness the concept by visualizing your life week by week,” according to its description. You can buy a digital copy for $19, a printed copy for $39, and a framed version for $79.

These 2 simple products have allowed him to make a full time income with his part time Instagram hobby.

While he doesn’t want to publicly disclose the exact revenue number, Alexander has made in the mid-six-figure range from sales of his wallpaper and calendars. He’s able to run his Instagram account with very little overhead costs because his products are mostly digital.

He said he also now only spends about 30 minutes a day preparing posts and interacting with commenters.

Alexander added he’s not sure if @StoicReflections is a long-term career for him, but he is considering introducing new products for the account, such as an app.

From simple hobby to mid-six figures – it really does make you think of the possibilities, doesn’t it?