There has never been a better time to create an income online. In 2010 I was pushing 50, unemployed with a hefty mortgage to pay and very bad prospects of securing another job like the one I’d just lost. By 2012 my partner and I were living in our dream location. We’d bought a house on the west coast of Scotland and I was earning more than I had ever earned while working far less. Here’s my story.
I clearly remember watching a superb event I had won for the company that had made me redundant just the week before. It was at the SECC in Glasgow – a musical celebration of the legendary old Glasgow concert hall The Apollo.
It was a passion project and labour of love for the guy who organised and financed it. Loads of talented youngsters performed songs played by the many big names acts who treaded those legendary boards decades before. My ex colleagues had worked for days to set up the lights, sound, video effects and stage set.
I’d spent weeks negotiating the deal with the organiser to make it a memorable night for all concerned. The show made more money for my ex employer than the redundancy payment 12 years of hard work had entitled me to. This was one of many events I’d won for them against stiff competition. Yet here I was at 47, jobless and I have to say as I watched the show, feeing a little bitter.
The Recession Groundhog Days
But that’s the way the corporate cookie crumbles when times are hard. It was 2010 – a couple of years into the last global recession – the credit crunch. Lots of jobs had been lost before the axe fell on mine. Sales people (or business development execs to use the fancy title) were the last to go as we could still bring in new business.
Sound, lighting, video and project management people made the events happen. But when things are quiet they are seen as just another overhead. By then we were down to a skeleton crew of full time technicians. Freelancers were brought in when needed – a more cost effective alternative to salaries for idle hands.
Lots of people I’d worked with for years were now freelancers. They could earn a better daily rate but with the general down turn in spending on live events, times were tough. I had built a strong reputation and a large contact database so freelance consultancy was an option.
Somehow though as I watched that event, the industry’s glitter had lost its shine for me. I knew what was behind it. “Its not all glamour” was our in joke, often shouted at 3am in passing as we pushed flight cases towards hotel loading bays.
I’ve got to say I often felt that this industry was completely at mercy of the traditional economy. Like a lot of traditional businesses it had very high overheads. The equipment itself is expensive. It needs to be stored properly which takes a lot of space. That space needs to be close to transport networks too so can be expensive. Equipment needs to be maintained, repaired and replaced. It needs skilled operators and is constantly being moved around so transportation costs are high.
The Best Time To Create An Income Online
Add to that the admin, management and sales staff and you have an expensive opearation. When times are good and profit margins are high all of that is no problem. When times are tough though live events are an easy place for clients to save money. Their event budgets go down or stop entirely but the costs don’t. It all starts to go pear shaped pretty quickly.
Fast forward to 2020 and another recession – some say it’ll be the worst in modern history. This time the cause is a global pademic no one saw coming. The live events industry is in tatters. Most of the people I know who are still in the industry haven’t worked in months. The same can be said for most industries. The traditional business world is at a standstill. But the industry I moved to a decade ago is thriving. It already was in 2010 but now it is positively booming.
I’m talking about the Internet of course. I decided to learn how to create an income online back then. I did a lot of research into online business models like e-commerce and affiliate marketing. It wasn’t an overnight success and took a lot of hard work and commitment but I have reaped the rewards. The rewards are financial of course but maybe more importantly, lifestyle, time and location freedom.
The Best Investment In Tough Times
I hadn’t stumbled upon some get rich quick internet secret or push button scheme. I’d found mentors who taught me how to market real, high value goods and services online. Through them I’d learned how to set up automated marketing systems and how to feed them with hungry buyers.
Unlike the industry I’d been in this business has little or no overheads. Some new skills, a laptop and an advertising budget is all it takes to create an income online. I actually do a lot of free marketing with blogs like this and Youtube videos. The profit margins therefore are very high and the market size – basically the connected world – is practically infinite. It never sleeps – even when I do.
I run it from my living room with expansive views over the firth of Clyde or from my garden deck. Before the pandemic put the brakes on travel I sometimes worked on it from holiday apartments in Italy, France and Spain.
What I did spend some of my redundancy settlement on was my education. That investment has repaid itself many times over. In a world where we are advised to rethink, reskill and reboot I strongly suggest you do that on the internet.
The mentors that I invested in have now been helping people like me to transition to the internet economy for over ten years. They have introduced a ton of resources, training, tools and systems in that time. If you can see the sense of learning how to create an income online I recommend you subscribe for their free video series. The link below will take you to the subscription page where you can learn more.
