The premise of the book is that ideas come and go, but it takes work to make an idea happen. Scott Belsky is the owner of Behanc, a creative consultancy company that help major business execute their ideas, host conferences and produce web apps. So far I just read the introduction, and I’m already excited to share a paragraph from the book:

Why Most Ideas Never Happen

It is a shame that countless ideas with the potential to transform our lives - concepts for new drug discoveries, models for new businesses, inklings for musical masterpieces, sketches for iconic pieces of art -  are conceived and squandered in the hands of creative geniuses every day. The ideas that move industries forward are not the result of tremendous creative insight but rather of masterful stewardship. Yes, there is a method to the madness of turning an idea into a reality - it’s just not as romantic as you thought.

Talk about an arrow right to the heart. I can’t tell you how many of my ideas have come and gone without one consideration of bring them to reality. Then there are the ideas that you try to make a reality and then give up or move on for a variety of reasons.

This website is an idea, and I’m hoping this book will help me bring my dream of creating Earn Web Revenue to reality.

If you’re interested, pick this book up at Amazon. It’s highly rated and so far I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.

On the bright side I made some money from my Amazon Affiliate, and got to see how the transactions occur. So as we go forward I look forward to finish the development of the site and get the revenue streams established.

Here’s how we did in May:

I’m still working on developing the site, and haven’t tried to make money yet. So the dismal numbers aren’t discouraging. They’re exactly what I was expecting. Once I real push to build some revenue, I’ll let you know. Until then, take a look at what I did.

But I’d like introduce you to a different train of thought: By-product income.

I have a web design business. I strategize, design, develop and market websites for small businesses and non-profits. So I asked myself, “outside of what I offer my clients, what else MUST they have for their website to work”? Web hosting, email campaigns, content management systems.

I don’t build or offer all these things, but I personally pay money for all of them. I’d also recommend my clients do the same.

What if I could find a why to make money off of these services too? I don’t want to charge my client extra money. I simply want to find a way to get a portion of the price of these services. I provide business to a web host and, in return, I get a portion of the sale. Sounds fair, right?

Fortunately for you and I, a lot of great companies have built affiliate programs. Do you know about them? I’ve signed up for a handful of these programs and am using them to generate income.

The trick is to find products you believe in and see if they have an affiliate program. If they don’t, offer them a proposal where you drive them costumers in return for a portion of the sale.

It’s a win-win situation.

Affiliate programs are just one example of by-product income, but there are lots of others.

My challenge to you is to answer these questions:

1. What are your by-products?
2. How do you monetize them?

Then go and do it.

Whenever I signup for a free trial offer, I make a meeting notice a few days later to cancel my account. I get my reward for joining the free trial and eliminate the risk of getting charged for a service I don’t want.

What I’ve known for a long time, but just experienced yesterday is it’s easy to get more for free. In the past I’ve been embarrassed to ask for more, but slowly I’m coming out of my shell. It’s kind of fun. It gives me a little adrenaline rush.

I was given $5 of free postage from Stamps.com and when I called to cancel, they asked me to stay. I politely declined. Then the offer came: “How about I give you $5 more, and if you’re still not satisfied, there’s still time to cancel without being charged”.
An easy $5? Why not?

I took the money, setup another calendar notice and walked away feeling like I was king of the world. All of this, for $5.

Here’s how to get your extra freebie:

1. Call to cancel
2. When they ask you to reconsider, say “no”
3. When they insist you stay, say “no” again
4. When the offer’s right, take it run

Do you have a good story? Let’s hear it.

Rework: the inspiration

I’m reading a book by 37Signals called Rework. It’s an inspiring and thought-provoking book for anyone who owns or hopes to own a business, especially an online business.

The book has a section called “don’t out-spend, OUT-TEACH” which says: luring customers with money on advertising isn’t as effective as teaching them something. Because when you teach them something you raise your credibility.

Putting on my teacher’s hat

I love to teach people. The best part of teaching is when they have that “ah-ha” moment where everything starts to click. In my presentation, my sole goal is to teach the group of grad students how to successfully use the internet (and in particular, their website) to further their mission.

I have devoted the last 3 years of my life to learning the ins and outs of online business and web development, and I want to share this with them. Through teaching, I hope to build a trust and respect from them. Ultimately, I’d love to hear their future success stories inspired by my talk. I truly hope they build a successful online presence for each of their non-profits.

Where’s the passive income?

It costs money to get a web site started, and there are lots of places willing to set these things up for them. Fortunately, I have tried many of them and found which ones are good and which aren’t. Even better, my web host of choice for startups and non-profits has an affiliate program.

I’m going to create a web page with notes from my presentation and links for the students to get started. Ultimately if half the class signs up with Host Gator, at $50 each, I’ll make about $500 from referrals.

Future Growth

If I do a good job, maybe I’ll get invited back to talk to another group. Or the talk was so inspiring, that they tell their friends about it, and come to the page I built with the directions and affiliate links. Now, we’re talking about revenue stream that can build some momentum.

“Earning their loyalty by teaching them forms a whole different connection.” I’m going in as a teacher, but hope to come out as a mentor.

I’ll let you know how the talk turned went and the revenue it developed by the time my April Earnings report comes out.

So here we go…

Last year, I had the opportunity to hear EllisLab President, Leslie Camacho, speak on building the EE community. He credits the community of users as one of the biggest reason EE has been so successful, and gave insight to some of EllisLab’s core values that drive the development of the community.

He said:

The customer is NOT always right… [dramatic pause] the truth is always right

It’s an interesting concept because we’re taught from a young age that the customer is always right. But what about when the customer is wrong? If the customer says the $2 + $2 = $3, and they should get a $1 back, they are wrong. Maybe that’s a bad example, but the idea is that when you create your business, it’s important that you develop principles to guide your decision making. Then even if a customer says otherwise, (not matter how angry or fired-up they are), you have to stick to what you value.

I think this is where EllisLab has been genius. They’ve built a community where it’s okay to be wrong. They’ve led by example how to tell someone they’re wrong without alienating the individual. I believe this is accomplished by doing the following:

• Always listen

  Nothing is more agrevating when someone tells you you’re wrong without listening to what you said. Try and understand why they feel the way they do, so you better understand how to respond to them.

• Share your reasoning

  Now that you know what they think. Explain how there thought goes against your core values.

• Keep it personal without attacking them

  It’s not a personal attack, but when someone is told they’re wrong, they’re going to be defensive. Be honest, and stay on topic. If you stray from the topic to the person, you’re going in the wrong direction.

I’d encourage you to write down your core values for your business, blog or even life. Then put them in a place where you see them often. Each year read through them and reflect on your actions. If you’re not, determine what’s off track (your actions or your values). And adjust them accordingly.

What are your values?

I’m not in this earn a quick buck. (Though I often day dream of bumping into Paul Allen in Seattle and telling him about my dreams, afterwhich he writes me a check for at least $1,000,000… that’s not gonna happend). Rather I’m here to build a resource for, you my readers, and learn how I can make a living online.

The keyword is this is “learn”. You don’t learn overnight. It takes time, and I’m alright with that. My goal is to establish a foundation for a site that will last and provide useful infromation NOW. I believe my profit will naturally happen if I can accomplish that.

While I continue to design and setup the site, I’m also exploring my potential revenue streams. So far I’ve setup 4 accounts:

• ExpressionEngine - my content management system (which I absolutely love) of choice.
• Web Hosting Pad - my quite affordable web host.
• CashCrate.com - an online survey aggregator that pays you to fill out surveys.
• Google AdSense - Google sponsered ads.

All of these are extremely easy to signup for, so go get your accounts started too. Remember all of this takes time, so the sooner your signup, the better.