Over the past few years I have built up a pretty sizeable email list and at times I have made decent money from this list. When I ran the full time blog SmarterWealth.net I could easily make $100 per product review because of the size of my list.
I run my list through Aweber, which is an email marketing tool, and Aweber allows you to send out automatic emails to my subscribers. So when someone signs up for my list (for example by using the form in the sidebar of this blog) then emails are sent out to them automatically.
Recently I updated my series of emails and I wrote about 20 emails that taught people basic concepts about wealth and thinking the way rich people think. But I wasn’t making any money from any of my emails. Then the other day I realised why:
I didn’t mention any products or have any advertising in any of my emails. No mention of products = no sales = no commissions. How dumb have I been. My list has been growing, and all the while I have been getting poorer because I haven’t been making any money from my life.
Starting Afresh and Making Some Money
So I have decide to start changing my emails one at a time. Whenever I want to start something new I always want to delete everything that is old and just write everything completely new.
But at the moment with family/work/freelance writing/everything else I don’t exactly have the time to delete and rewrite 20 emails in one day (or even one week). My other emails aren’t bad, they just don’t serve their purpose. So over the next few months I will be replacing them one by one with teaching emails.
These emails will be helpful but they will also mention products that will help people to achieve their financial goals. I won’t be spamming people, all of the products I market will be helping people to achieve their financial goals for a fraction of the price of say a mutual fund manager or a stock broker.
Why I Think This Has Clout Over All The Other Ideas In My Brain
As an entrepreneur I have many ideas rattling around in my brain, so why is this idea worth writing a blog post about?
I guess what makes this idea so good is that it can generate me a passive income. I can and am already making money online through freelance writing and writing sales copy, I don’t need another source of income that will make more work for me. My email list is already there, and it is already growing on autopilot, so I may as well take advantage of that fact.
Also, because emails can be sent out automatically, this has the potential to generate me passive income through affiliate sales and sales of my own products. This means I will be able to make money without having to work and I can then drop back on my working hours and spend more time with my family.
My Retirement Fund
I like to think of my email subscriber list as my retirement fund. Over time I am growing it by putting a little bit of time and effort into it here and there but mostly I am letting it grow on it’s own. Eventually it will earn enough money to pay for my lifestyle and I will be able to officially retire.
Making This Massive
Once these emails are written (the ones that market products) I can then begin to work out my average cost per subscriber. So if I get 100 new subscribers and make $100 from them then each subscriber is worth $1.
Once I have worked out my cost per subscriber I can then kick things into high gear and as long as I am not spending more than $1 to get a new subscriber I am either breaking even or making a profit. So I can start spending money to grow my list and make more money…this will be when my retirement fund really starts working for me.
Do You Have A Retirement Fund?
No I am not talking about a traditionally retirement fund, I am talking about one that can generate your passive income NOW so that you can quit or cut back on work and still live the life you are living (and afford to live it). My retirement fund is growing and it is costing me ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to grow it. My return on investment is infinity because it doesn’t cost me anything.
If you want to grow your retirement fund like me then I have the deal for you. You can sign up for Aweber for just $1 for the first month. You can try this out for JUST $1!!! What do you have to lose? Start building a retirement fund (aka an email subscriber list) so you can retire early like I will.
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