You want to make money working from home. But, you don't want to sell anything. You can solve this riddle and discover hundreds of income opportunities, if you understand that contraries are complements.
What is the perfect way to get into depression? Being a graduate without a job, trying to meet expenses without adequate income, living in debts without assets, having dreams with no hopes for fulfillment - possibilities are endless. Sanjala had all these problems - in abundance! Sanjala is a B.A. graduate. She was, three years ago, a homemaker in the deepest depression.
"When I was in college, I had many rosy and colorful dreams about my career, my future, my family and my life. But, the fire of fate consumed all my dreams and energies. Now I am nothing more than a robot that does babysitting and cooking. I have become a maid without pay. Sometimes I wonder whether there is any meaning in my existence," said Sanjala.
"We can never imagine or dream of something that can not be achieved. What sort of dreams did you have?" I asked her. "I lived like a princess before my marriage at my parents' place," Sanjala sighed and said, "After completing my undergraduate course I wanted to go to the USA or the UK and do research in Economics. I had so much energy during my college days that I spent almost two years in collecting every bit of available information about colleges and Universities in the United States and the United Kingdom."
"Why did you not go to the USA or the UK?" I asked her. "My parents did not have money to pay for even the initial expenses. Besides, my father wanted to get me married before he retired from his government job," Sanjala said. "Why did you stop dreaming after your marriage?" I asked her. "You have no idea about the life of an Indian housewife. When she comes to live with her husband, she leaves behind not only her relatives but also her dreams, wishes, comforts and everything that has a meaning in her life," Sanjala said.
"You are living in a self-created prison and blame others for your inaction," I told her, "I understand that you have many constraints as a homemaker. Do you really want me to believe that your husband will be upset if you earn some money working from home and thereby build your business or career?" "He will be happy, no doubt," Sanjala said, "But, what can I do sitting at home other than watching television serials? You know my background. Do you think I can ever spend my time productively? " Sanjala asked.
"Actually, right at the moment, you are sitting on a treasure," I told her with a smile. "You can earn some money working from home using your computer, internet and knowledge. You have tons of researched information on universities in the USA and the UK. Millions of students want to go to these countries. You can help them with your data and information."
"But, how will I make money?" Sanjala wondered. "Students use internet to get useful information on any subject. If you create a website with the content you have and promote it professionally, you can attract thousands of visitors," I told Sanjala. "There are two problems here. Students will not pay for the information and I don't know anything about creating websites and promoting them," Sanjala said.
"This is the attitude that stops you from achieving your dreams," I told Sanjala, "You must believe in yourself. You can learn new things easily with the help of self-help CD-ROMs and books. With hard work and sincerity, you can acquire reasonable working knowledge in computer and software in a matter of a few weeks."
"Working hard is not a problem. But, I don't think a student will pay for my content. Besides, I don't feel comfortable about selling something and interacting with customers," Sanjala said.
"In that case, if you understand that contraries are complements, you can make money," I said and continued, "You have quality content. But, you have nothing to sell or you don't want to sell anything. There are thousands of websites that have products to sell but don't have quality content to attract visitors to their websites. If you co-operate with these content-hungry websites, contraries become complements and both of you can make money. Do you think people go to amazon.com because they sell millions of products? That's a secondary reason. The primary reason is that the website has great organized useful content."
"Tell me more," Sanjala suddenly became interested. "You will use Affiliate Programs to make money. There are websites that sell useful products and services to overseas travelers such as students. Universities, hotels, hostels and airlines are examples. They operate in a heavily crowded market. If you send your visitors to their websites and if the visitors buy a product from those websites, you will get a commission from the sellers as referral or affiliate commission."
"How will these websites know that the visitors come from my website?" Sanjala asked. "Many websites advertise their affiliate programs on their websites. If you like the terms, you will fill in an online form. Usually there would be no fees. If they like your website, they will accept your application and will give you a customized affiliate link, a small piece of software code that you must add to your website. When your visitor clicks on this link, visits the affiliate websites and buys something, you will get money." I explained.
"How much will I have to invest?" Sanjala asked. "Internet and web hosting charges would be your only major expenses," I replied.
"That is not a big issue. How much can I earn?" Asked Sanjala. "A friend of mine earned $55,000 in the first year. Another friend made just $50 a year. These are extreme cases. I believe with a good website and an intelligent business plan, you can earn a few thousand rupees a month," I told her.
After a few minutes of thought, Sanjala said, "I have decided to setup a website with my content and use affiliate programs to make money. I like the idea of making money without selling anything. My husband would love the idea of earning money without any big investment."
Then I gave her the addresses of the websites from where she can gather more information. In the following months, Sanjala learnt about affiliate programs and website creation. She created a website with great content that ran into several hundred pages. She became an affiliate of a few great online bookshops, online travel agents and Universities. She wrote dozens of useful articles week after week. A repeat visitor would always find new content in her website.
In her articles, she reviewed good books, cheap travel agents, budget hotels and great Universities and recommended them All her reviews were unbiased and genuine. Each recommendation had links to the sellers' websites. Sanjala patiently promoted her website. The traffic grew over time. She updated her website regularly.
Whenever a visitor to her website went to the sellers' websites through her affiliate link and bought something, she got a commission. The sellers tracked the activities using affiliate tracking software and credited her account as and when sales took place. She could check her accounts online at anytime. Seeing the quality of the content and the traffic to her website, many vendors sent her emails to include their links also. But, she was selective as she did not want to dilute the quality of her content.
At the end of the fourth month of launching the website, she received bank drafts worth $500 (approximately Rs.20,000) from the affiliate websites. I think Rs.5000 a month is big money for a housewife like Sanjala.