A few years ago I read a very insightful and timeless book by Earl Nightingale titled Acres of Diamonds.
It told a true story of a poor African Farmer who on hearing of riches to be made from discovering diamond farms, sold his farm and spent the remainder of his life travelling Africa searching for those precious gems.
After many years he eventually gave up – physically and mentally.
He threw himself into a river and drowned.
Meanwhile, the man who bought his farm happened to be walking by a stream in the farm and noticed a bright, shiny stone.
You can guess the outcome.
It turned out to be one of the most productive diamond mines on the entire African continent.
The poor farmer who set off to find those diamond mines was actually sitting on one himself.
If he just took the time and patience to uncover them.
This is a story I regularly come back to with my own journey to make a passive, online income.
I used to be distracted by tales of riches if I followed this path, or took that course, or subscribed to that program.
I can honestly say I’ve tried dozens and dozens of different ways to make money online (and offline).
My biggest failing was to keep jumping from one method to another, instead of sticking to one thing and working consistently at it.
It’s too easily done, and just like the farmer, I spent years wandering.
Now I concentrate on one method, and it’s paying off.
How To Uncover Your Own Diamond Mine
If you’re at a point where you don’t know what to focus on or your a beginner to all of this, there’s a proven method you can start right now.
Start your own website.
Let me repeat.
Start your own website.
Buy the domain name of your own name – as I did with this website, and start writing.
3 Reasons You Should Start Your Own Website
- Make money from the stuff you buy and the hobbies/interests you have.
- Enjoy documenting your life online.
- It will make you a better writer.
Make Money From The Stuff You Buy And The Hobbies/Interests You Have
Unless you don’t buy anything online or have any interests, this is by far the easiest, most enjoyable, and lucrative way to earn a passive income online.
All you need to do is write about the stuff you buy or already own, or have knowledge about, sign up to the Amazon Affiliate Program, and link to that item.
When someone reads your little review or article and clicks on that link which takes them to Amazon, and they then purchase that item, you get a small commission.
The process really is as easy as that.
No matter what you think about Amazon, it has the biggest, most successful affiliate program in the world.
People all over the world make millions and millions from Amazon every single day, and you can too.
Do you have any pets?
The pet market is huge.
Do you have children of any age?
The market for children’s toys/clothes/products is huge.
Do you have a home?
The home market is huge?
Do you have a garden?
Do you get the idea?!
Don’t like Amazon? There are hundreds of other affiliate programs you can join.
Even the strangest products/markets can be monetized.
A few years ago I had a vasectomy.
I decided to document the journey before-hand and afterward.
The article is titled Male Vasectomy – My Story and What You Should Know Before (And After) You Get the Snip!
Whilst writing about my experience I discovered a test kit you could buy to check if you were still producing sperm.
I thought it would be a good addition to the article, so I bought it, took some pictures of the kit and wrote about how effective it was etc.
I also included my affiliate link back to the page on Amazon.
That was over 4 years ago.
I still get people reading the article and buying the kit through my affiliate link.
I get a few quid in affiliate sales every single month and have done since 2017.
If you Google “male vasectomy story” you’ll see my article ranked in the top 3.
There are still plenty of men searching for success stories of having a vasectomy.
All I did was write about it.
Okay so it’s not hundreds of pounds a month in commission, but that’s just one item I chose to write about.
On the back of how popular the article became I wrote a separate article reviewing the Vasectomy Test Kit.
That too is ranked on the first page of Google for the term “Vasectomy test kit”.
Look, If that product can make money, hell.. anything can!
Enjoy Documenting Your Life Online
I look at children growing up these days and think how lucky they are to have their entire life documented in videos and photos.
It’s what Facebook is all about for parents and grandparents.
If you have your own website, you can do the same, except set it out exactly how you want it.
It’s just like keeping a diary, except you have far more control and creative license.
If you don’t want the entire web to know about your life that’s fine.
You can keep posts/photos etc private so only you or those you choose can access them.
Everyone shares their holiday snaps online. It’s what we do.
It starts off from uploading a photo of a pint of beer or glass of wine at the airport at 0630am.
Why not write about your holiday on your website?
It’s good to look back and remember exactly the things you did.
Plus you can monetize it.
How?
Link to anything and everything with your affiliate link.
Here are a few ideas..
New bathing suit/trunks from Amazon?
New clothes you bought and really liked?
Used a company for airport parking? There’s an affiliate program for that.
Hired a car? ..affiliate program.
Took great photos on your new phone? Affiliate program.
Almost anything has an affiliate program.
People Love And Trust Personal Recommendations.
All you’re doing is writing about the things you buy and the services you use and link to some of them for others to do the same.
It Will Make You A Better Writer
The more you write, the easier it becomes and the better at it you will get!
So many people fail to make money from a website because they don’t know what to write about, or think it won’t be interesting enough for anyone to read.
Stop thinking that way.
Having your own website gives you the freedom to write exactly about what you want.
Screw anyone else..it’s your site.
If they don’t like it they’ll leave. Simple.
Some will like it.
Some will like your style, your voice, your humour, your intellect..whatever.
Some people will be researching the product/item/service you wrote about last month and happened to stumble across your website article.
They read your article and click through to the said product/item/service and make a purchase.
Ca-ching!
Keep writing.
Keep writing.
Keep writing.
You will get better and you will start to see results.
The more articles I publish on this site, the better and faster I publish articles on my 2 other sites.
You just get into a habit.
30 minutes here, an hour there. It soon adds up and you’ll soon be producing lots of content.
More content = more page views = more money.
Final Thoughts
No matter if you already have a website or more than one, you should start your own, with your own name.
If your name is popular and the dot com or dot co.uk is already taken, use a hyphen or a dot org or dot net etc.
Having your own website is liberating. It’s fun. It’s profitable.
You don’t need to spend hours and hours every single day working on it.
Do so when it suits you.
But be consistent and don’t worry how good or bad you think your writing is.
Just write.
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