My life has taken a few strange turns. I started a business in 2006 which changed my world. My marriage failed in 2012 and I left the UK for Thailand in 2014. More changes – as David Bowie would say, “Turn and face the strange”.
If you don’t know who David Bowie is, leave this site immediately and listen to his music – don’t come back for a while.
Things are getting stranger – both in my business and in my life. I’ll definitely look back on 2017 as one of the weirdest ever.
Remember, 12 years ago I was going to work every morning on London underground trains thinking I would be doing that forever. 6 years ago I was walking my dog in a suburban park every day thinking I’d be doing that forever.
I embraced that change. I wanted it. I guess that means there’ll be more change.
Personally speaking…
In 2017, I tried to spend as much time in Thailand as possible. When I’m in Chiang Mai, I tend to exercise more, meditate more, and work harder – or should I say, I just get more done.
There’s time for work and time for play. That’s the way I like it.
I apologise for the rude sign I’m making in this photo. I joking with my friend who has a drone.
In business things can change soooo fast
The one thing I can be certain of in my business is change. A few years ago, my business was almost wholly web and graphic design jobs for clients. Now I derive income from a multitude of sources: from selling online courses to selling t-shirts, from book royalties to affiliate commissions from this site, etc.
I love that things can change so fast. It’s stops us getting bored. And more change is to come in 2018 – big time!
I love that most of my targets and goals from this time last year were overlooked and missed.
For example, 2017 was meant to be my year for Amazon FBA. It turned out 2017 was the year I admitted my Amazon FBA journey was a complete failure. On the other hand, Merch by Amazon wasn’t even on my radar this time last year and now it’s the most successful new business venture of the year. More on that later.
The money comes from where you least expect it, and doesn’t come when you think it will.
Selling video courses
This is the part of my business that makes me most money – passive income at least. I have a solid audience on Udemy (c. 80,000) and on my email list (c. 13,500) and this makes me a reasonable passive income each month.
At the beginning of this year, after my site was hacked, I started using Teachable to sell courses from my own site. The result is I’ve sold more courses than ever before. Indeed, in the month of November, I made more on my site than I did on Udemy and that’s a big win.
Thank you, Teachable.
Here are the courses I published this year:
- WordPress Security: Secure & Lock Down Your Site Against Hackers!
- The Complete Steemit Course: Earn Cryptocurrency For Free
- Merch by Amazon: An Introduction to Selling Print On Demand T-Shirts
- Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator for Merch By Amazon and Print On Demand
I make courses on whatever I’m doing at the moment. What courses will I make in 2018? We’ll see …
Selling books
This time last year I was saying how publishing a new book, The New Freedom: Ordinary People Are Living Extraordinary Lives & So Can You!, had re-kindled (pun intended) my love for self publishing. So, what happened in 2017?
Nothing.
I realised selling books involves a lot of work and not a lot of profit. I’d still recommend it. But I decided to take a step back from writing after self-publishing eight books.
Selling t-shirts
I always wanted to run a business that was separate from my brand. Yeah, it’s great to have a website which is my name dot com and sell courses and books on it. But I envy those guys who are in the background.
And you can flip (sell) successful businesses that aren’t connected with your name.
So that was why I started my Amazon FBA business which, so far, has been an abject failure. But, this year, largely thanks to Lisa Irby, I discovered Merch by Amazon and the Print on Demand merchandizing business.
Upload a design, sell a t-shirt with the design on it, and earn the royalty. You don’t have to get your hands dirty creating the actual t-shirts, delivering them, handling customers, etc. I never spend more than an hour a day on it. It’s a beautiful business!
During the year I set myself a goal of making over $1000 on Merch in the month of December. Did I do it? I think so. But, Christmas on Amazon is just crazy, you make more than the previous three months.
Anyway, it’s great fun and I’ll be looking to scale this business in 2018.
Have a look at my Merch courses:
- Merch by Amazon: An Introduction to Selling Print On Demand T-Shirts
- Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator for Merch By Amazon and Print On Demand
Looking forward
The most important asset I have in my business … is you! Yes, you read that right.
I’m always deeply grateful for the people who read my articles, buy my books, watch my videos, sign up to my email lists, and take my courses.
Thank you, really.
You are the best thing about the last year and you’ll be the best thing about the next year. And I love getting emails like this.
I wish you greater love, health, and happiness for 2018.
Peace!
Sounds like a good year!
How’s your Merch account doing so far in 2018? I’ve yet to make a sale this month but have been upgraded to 500 slots!
Need to grab your new Merch course when I get time!
Happy New Year!
Joe
Merch has been slow for me since Christmas, Joe. 18 sales this week. I think I was doing better than that in October or November! But I can upload 10 a day now so maxing out the uploads and hopefully I’ll be on tier 1000 soon! Can’t wait for the hoodies and sweatshirts either, although I haven’t got them yet.
That’s good. I just uploaded my first longsleeve but don’t have hoodies or sweatshirts yet.
I’ve got two uploads a day so slowly working my way through the slots.
Are you going to go back and increase the prices of your existing shirts to be ready for the royalty decrease? I need to do some research on what is actually happening!
Thanks,
Joe
Hey Joe, maybe by now you have hoodies and sweatshirts? I do. And I’m back to 10 uploads a day as well so happy days at Merch. I’m putting the prices up of the new shirts – I’m adding by about a dollar but I’m not bothering to change the prices of the ones I have up there at the moment. If you want to bulk edit prices you can with a paid-for Chrome Extension: Amazon Merch Batch Editor
Rob, I am new to your site, and I have a question: what makes Merch by Amazon better than, say, Zazzle, Society6, Cafepress, etc.? Is it a better earning opportunity because Amazon has a built-in audience who are already there to purchase other things? (Hmm, I may have just answered my own question, but I still would like to know your answer.)
I’m also curious as to how Teachable worked out better for you than other video teaching platforms. Thanks for your insights, looking forward to reading more of your blog.
Hello Jen, I sell more than 10 times more on Amazon than I do on Zazzle, Society6, Cafepress, etc. Yes, you answered your own question. 🙂
I wrote about why Teachable was better than other teaching platforms here.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Happy New Year Rob! Thanks for the shout and wishing you continued success. I always enjoy reading about your experiences and journey online. 🙂
Lisa
Thanks for popping by, Lisa.
Hi Rob,
I live in Egypt, and me and my dad are artists. Does Merch can work in Egypt? Can i make a passive income from it here? And if yes, one more favour, do you have a discount coupon for your Merch course? $59 is a lot of money for me. Many thanks.
Hello Hany, yes Egypt are one of the list of accepted countries that can sell on Amazon.com so you can certainly apply to Merch. Good luck.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200417280
Thanks for the reply Rob, I am glad to hear that. Now, what about that discount coupon? 🙂
send me an email
When I first opened this post I though “god he looks like David Bowie. Nice post Rob. It’s good to read someone being honest about failure. I listened to one “expert” on You Tube last night who beat all his massive goals within the first 6 months of the year and makes millions. Hmmmm!
I like that you’re now selling through Teachable. I started using them about 6 months back and their support is excellent. I’m not selling courses in the volumes I want to yet, but I’m sure it will happen.
Anyway, Happy New Year and keep the updates coming.
Haha, I wish I looked like David Bowie! Yeah, I find Teachable very easy to use. Wish you the best of luck with your course selling – it’s a great feeling when they sell.
Yes, I know David Bowie Well. Let’s Dance, Rob. Love your emails. Happy New Year, Rob. I will always be a Young American. Love you too, Rob. I have alot of work to do on my website to look similar to this one. Just been looking for an item to sell. It’s alot of work.
Hello Sedelia, yeah it’s a lot of work. All good though. 🙂
Hey Rob, love your posts and how you share not what has worked, but what hasn’t, it really helps and is interesting. Your job path is very similar to mine in that I’ve had my own website/graphic design business for over 24 years and over the next couple of years I’m trying to steer it into the way you have, with designing for PODs, affiliates etc. I’m a year in and have done a lot of ground work. Hopefully it will work and make me a passive income so I can semi-retire even though I’ll still be sitting at my computer/ipad!!!
Hello Annette, thank you for your comment. Wow, you’ve been running a business for 24 years! You’ve got at least 12 years on me.
Passive income does take a few years to get up and running. But the beauty of it is you can build it up on the side while you’re still taking care of your clients and your main business. Gradually it will grow. But you have the experience of running a business. So you are already resourceful and have experience with allocating your time and resources so you will find it easier than most people, perhaps. What a great plan! Best of luck with it!
HI Rob,
Can you tell me how to recover my password from “Steemit”. I am still able to log on to my computer and get into Steemit and create post. And being that Steemit has 4 passwords, all the passwords that I have written down, don’t work.
Yes, I know that Steemit has a lost password recovery, but I don’t know any of my passwords. What would you suggest that I do?
thank you,
Carol
Hi Carol,
Rob, I hope you don’t mind me chipping in here.
Carol, if you are able to get into Steemit and create a port, it suggests that your browser has the password stored and is automatically logging you in.
Each browser has a different method, but all browsers have a way that you are able to find out what the stored password is.
As each browser has different methods, I suggest you Google “how to retrieve stored passwords in …” and substitute your browser name for … in the query. e.g. “how to retrieve stored password in chrome”
I hope that helps. Rob may have other ideas.
Cheers,
Mike
Thanks for helping Carol, Mike. Yes, there is a chance that her browser has stored the password. Remember the password is very long about 30-40 characters.
I’m sorry to tell you this, Carol, but Steemit does not have a lost password recovery. It doesn’t have 4 passwords, you should only have one. If you have four you’ve maybe tried to open four accounts. I would keep trying – there’s nothing else you can do.
Thanks for another great post, and happy new year to you as well, Rob.
Thank you. Happy New Year!
Hey Rob,
Once again I love your honesty Rob and really enjoy your yearly experiences.
My take away here for your year is the Amazon Merch. I’m going to add this to my business as a side earner now before it gets too big like FBA has.
Out of interest. One thing you didn’t mention was how you made more money selling your digital online courses Vs when you sold them on Udemy. Did you use Facebook advertising or just good ol’ fashion email marketing to your list?
Much appreciated,
Jack
Hello and thank you, Jack! Best of luck with Amazon Merch – and all your other businesses.
Yes, it was good ol’ email marketing that helps me sell my courses through my Teachable site.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi Rob,
Thank you for sharing with brutal honesty your ups and downs. The part where you write how money change insecure people to total dickheads is spot on! Couldn’t put it better.
My journey with business started in 2014. Your book about running web design business inspired me with one crucial thing… to hunt various departments within one company! That was ace! And it worked and paid well for the past three years.
Although I recently realised that I would like to head towards new challenges and generate online passive income. Definitely will be reading your sources about Merch by Amazon – which I am building everyday now along with other POD sites. Trying to figure out what may work best.
Keep doing the great work Rob.
Best wishes
Zu
Hello Zu, thank you so much for your comments. You know, there’s a possibility I’ve been a total dickhead in the past lol. I’m delighted the web design business book helped you. Yeah, Merch and POD is great fun. Best of luck with it and with your design business.
All the best!
Hi Rob,
Great post!
Will you continue to expand your Amazon business for 2018?
Regards,
Doug
Hey Doug, thank you very much. I’ll definitely be scaling the Amazon Merch business this year. No so sure about Amazon FBA, I might just let that one go. 🙁
Interesting. I plan on scaling up the Print On Demand business for this year with Shopify, Printful, Redbubble, and Merch by Amazon. Do you know roughly how much the top earners are making with Merch? I really like how you set your virtual lifestyle up. Cheers!
No idea, to be honest. And things have been up and down this year for everyone.
Hi Rob,
With your success with Merch by Amazon, where all your sales generated by keywords or did you run paid traffic ads too?
Are you going to do more with dropshipping with Shopify?
Cheers,
Doug
Just keywords, no advertising, Doug. No plans on dropshipping with Shopify yet.