Recently someone asked me, “What’s the easiest way to earn a million dollars”?  It’s easy to look at the question and assume that the person is just looking for a ‘get-rich-quick’ scenario. And I almost did, too.

Then, I thought: what if he’s like I was when I was getting started in business? What if he really IS serious and willing to do the work and he just needs a springboard for some conversation?

Okay. I’ll bite.

So, here’s my answer to “What does it take to earn a million dollars?”

First of all, making a million dollars is not as complex as many people believe.

Read that again. And be careful not to read something I didn’t say.

I didn’t say it was easy to do. I said it wasn’t as “complex” as a lot of people think.

Start by playing with the numbers.

Grab a piece of paper and a pencil. And a calculator.

Really. Right now. I’ll wait.

Okay, you’re back and you’ve got something to write with.

Let’s start with the basic question, “What is a million dollars?”

The first thing you should know is that you don’t have to earn all $1,000,000 all at one time.

Maybe you could. But it’s a lot easier to break it down into smaller numbers.

For instance, earning $1,000,000 can be:

250,000 people spending $4 each.
100,000 spending $10 each.
50,000 people spending $20 each.
10,000 people spending $100 each.
1,000 people spending $1,000 each.

Now, you might be thinking, “Ah, I see what you mean. But, it’s still quite a lot of people, isn’t it? How can I find that many people willing to spend that much money?”

Well, don’t kid yourself. During the time you’ve been reading, there have been millions of dollars spent on all kinds of things. There’s no reason why you can’t get in on that fact.

But, if you want to hit your goal with even FEWER customers, think about a business model that lets you get paid over and over. That’s called a “continuity” model or a “subscription” based model.

For instance, what if you had a product or service that you charged $83 per month for?

Finding people who are willing to pay $83 per month might be easier for you than finding people who are willing to pay $1,000.

But, in the course of one year, that’s exactly what they’ll do! ($83 per month X 12 months = $996).

Now….imagine that you have 1,000 customers.

That’s $83,000 you’re taking in every month. Multiply that by 12 months.

That’s not a million dollars; it’s a million dollars per YEAR.

Stop and think about that.

When you consider how many millions of people are on some type of recurring subscription every month for all kinds of things…..the possibilities are endless.

For instance, I have a friend who sells a newsletter for real-estate agents to learn how to market real-estate better.

He charges $99/month for them to receive a paper newsletter mailed to their home once per month.

So, let’s do the math.

At $90 per month for each newsletter, he needs just under 841 customers and he’s making $83,333 per month.

That’s a million dollars per year….selling people a newsletter that takes him less than 5 hours a week to produce.

Here’s another brilliant example….

Just a couple of weeks ago, I sent some friends of mine some gourmet cookies as a house-warming gift.

The company I bought from has a service where you can “subscribe” and have cookies sent to your house every month. (Imagine that! A cookie subscription. Brilliant.)

Let’s say the cookies cost the company $10 to make and they sell them for $50. If they had 2,000 people on such a subscription, they’re doing a million dollars per year in gross revenue.

That’s so mind-boggling you’ve got to read that again.

A million dollars a year. Selling cookies.

So…what if you don’t want to make your own product, newsletter or cookies?

That’s okay. You can still play the game.

All you need to do is find someone else’s product that you like and see if there’s an opportunity for you to get a piece of each sale you refer.

For instance, let’s use my real-estate newsletter friend as an example. What if he was willing to pay you $49 per month for every customer you help him find?

That’s still a good deal for him. He’s still making $50And you’re making $49/month on your referrals and you don’t have to write, produce or mail the newsletter.

If you had 1,000 customers….that’s $49,000 per month you’re earning. At that rate, you’d earn a million dollars in less than 2 years!

That’s sometimes called “affiliate” marketing. Someone else handles the product creation/delivery….and they’ll pay you a percentage just for helping them market their product.

It’s appealing because you don’t have to handle all the production, employees, warehousing, shipping, etc. You can just focus on getting the word out about the product or service.

This is the method I’ve used to average at least $100,000 per month in personal income for the last several years. It works.

No stocks.
No real-estate.
No Forex
No options trading.

Just plain old free enterprise with an internet twist.

It works.

Understanding the difference between ‘revenue’ and ‘profit’…

Now, keep in mind: this is a conversation about revenue; not profit.

You’re going to have some expenses. So you shouldn’t make the rookie mistake of thinking that you’re going to keep every dollar that comes in.

You’ll have expenses. If you’re coming up with your own product, you may have some manufacturing costs (e.g. printing your newsletter and mailing it).

If you’re making cookies, you’re going to buy ingredients.

Even if you choose the affiliate marketing route, you’re going to have marketing costs.

But, so what? Would you spend $10 to earn $20? Or $20 to earn $100?

Absolutely. It’s just a matter of finding which numbers work for you. And how you can be of VALUE to other people by providing them solutions to their problems.

That’s the key: you’re making your money at the SERVICE of others; not at their EXPENSE.

So, my answer is this:

Get a pencil and a piece of paper and start playing with the numbers.

Think about what solutions you can provide to help solve someone else’s problem….and what they might be willing to pay you for that solution.

Think about how you can be of value to others. Price your idea accordingly. Then take action!

Others have done it. Why not you?