Pod Insights The $100 MBA Show MBA2601 How to Actually Make Money Online: A No-BS Guide About this episode Wondering what it really takes to make money online? Sick of hearing about get-rich-quick schemes that only make someone else richer? If you’ve ever wanted to know how to spot scams and focus on legit ways to build an online business, this episode’s got your back. Omar breaks it down in a straightforward, no-nonsense way, cutting through the myths and hype about making money online. He shares the key skills and effort it takes to succeed, highlights red flags to avoid scams, and walks you through three low-risk business models you can start right away. You’ll get the real scoop on how understanding your market and sharpening your skills can help you build a business that actually works. Ready to level up? Hit play at the top of the page and dive into this practical lesson that keeps it real. Let’s do this! Download the Escape Plan here: WorksheetsWatch the episodes on YouTube: https://lm.fm/GgRPPHiSUBSCRIBEYouTube | Apple Podcast | Spotify | Podcast Feed
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Small business owners, listen up. You started your business, but you can't do it alone. And that means you have to hire people to help. That's where Justworks comes in. Justworks is the payroll, benefits, and global hiring platform to unburden your brain from all the complicated small business stuff. They handle the things you can't afford to get wrong, so you don't have to worry. So you can focus on the parts of running a business that you enjoy, knowing everything else is running smoothly. You don't have to worry when it just works. Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first, but didn't live up to the hype? For example, I really wanted to love the show Mad Men. I really tried to watch it and love it, but it just didn't do anything for me. As a marketer and business person, the show was a little bit of a disappointment.
0:45 Speaker 00 Marketers know that feeling. They optimize for the numbers that look great like impressions, but then we don't see revenue. LinkedIn has a word for that: bullspend. Instead, you can get the highest ROAS of major ad networks with LinkedIn Ads. Cut the bullspend, advertise on LinkedIn. Spend $250 and get a $250 credit. Go to LinkedIn.com/MBAShow. Terms apply. There are so many scammers out there trying to tell you that you can make easy money. Don't get fooled. Making money online isn't magic. It's not luck, and it's definitely not about finding some secret nobody knows about. But let me tell you what making money online actually is. It's a skill. Scratch that.
1:30 Speaker 00 It's a set of skills. And just like any real skill, whether it's writing, coding, or bricklaying, it takes time, it takes practice, it takes effort. So be on the lookout if somebody tells you that they have a shortcut to instant wealth online. They are lying to you. Today, we're going to break down the scams to avoid so that you don't waste your time and money like I did back in the day, what actually works, the real way to make money online, and three low-risk, not zero-risk, but low-risk business models you can start today. Let's get into it.
2:10 Speaker 00 Welcome back to the $100 MBA Show. I'm your host Omar Zenhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, to help you start, grow, and scale your business.
2:23 Speaker 00 Let's get one thing clear. Business is not a single skill. It's a collection of skills. Sales is a skill. Marketing is a skill. Managing money, hiring, operations, I can go on and on. They're all skills you need to improve over time. And like any craft, you need to learn them. You need to practice them. You need to get better over time. When I first got started in this whole business and entrepreneurship journey, I made a lot of mistakes. Even when I started my software company, Webinar Ninja, over a decade ago, which grew to 30,000 users and got acquired by ProProfs, I didn't know everything, but I knew enough to get started. And every day, I built upon that foundation. If you're not willing to do that, to get started, to learn
3:04 Speaker 00 as you go along, you're not going to make it. Listen, business is simple, but simple doesn't mean easy. Listen, putting a basketball in a hoop is simple, but to do it at the highest level, where you get paid really well, is not easy. And the same goes with business. All right, we're going to get real and honest about the scams you need to avoid, right? I'm going to call out the BS so you don't fall for it. Here's the first red flag that you need to be careful of. Just copy my system and you'll make 10K a month. No business works exactly the same for everyone. If you're selling a system instead of a skill, it's a scam. You
3:48 Speaker 00 are unique. Your business is unique. The customers you're going to attract are unique. Not one thing is going to work for everyone. This is why, through this podcast, I'm trying to teach you skills, things that you will use in your own way with your own experience. Next red flag, no work required, passive income on autopilot. There is no such thing as true passive income from day one. You need to invest time, effort, money to have some level of passive income in the future. Even most passive businesses, like online courses, or memberships, or even real estate, take a ton of work upfront to set up.
4:29 Speaker 00 But this whole set it up in a few days and forget it and make millions of dollars idea? Scam. Next red flag, buy this course and make money immediately. If making money was that easy as buying a course, everyone would be rich. Learning is great, but without implementation, it's worthless. And it's all about the implementation. I could tell you firsthand from selling coaching and courses and all kinds of programs and products, people that implement the program or implement the product are the ones that succeed. And most people don't implement. So the course itself is not going to make you rich. It's how you apply it to your business and your products and your services is what's going to make all the difference.
5:12 Speaker 00 Another red flag, drop shipping is the easiest way to get rich. It's not. Margins are razor thin, competition is insane because you're dealing with commodities, products that you could buy anywhere, and ad costs are through the roof. If it's pitched as an easy business model, it's probably not a profitable business. Because you need to put in some effort to get that profit. Real businesses solve real problems. Scams sell shortcuts. So anytime you see somebody telling you this is a shortcut to do this, this is a hack, don't believe it. So what actually does work? Let's break it down. Let's strip down what a business is to its core fundamentals. A real, successful business
5:57 Speaker 00 Does three things, just three things. Okay. Number one, it offers something that people already want. Okay. Very simple. You sell something that people want, whether they need it or want it or desire it. They are willing to buy it. Too many people are offering things that people just don't want. And they're struggling or they're kind of meh about. You want a business, you want a product, you want a service that people actually want or need. Because this is going to make your whole life a whole lot easier. It's going to allow you to push the boulder down the hill and not up the hill. The second thing a successful business has is it sells for a price lower than the value it provides. Timeout, timeout.
6:41 Speaker 00 This is everything right here. Now, this doesn't mean sell things cheaply. It means the value that you offer is so valuable, is so good, that the price is kind of not that important. All right. So you, you sell something for a price that's lower than the value it provides. So for example, why do people have an iPhone? It's $2,000 because they see more value than $2,000 worth in the phone. So they buy it. They say, that's a good buy. I will buy an iPhone because I value it more than $2,000 and therefore I'm happy to pay $2,000. When it comes to luxury goods, this is even more important.
7:21 Speaker 00 Do you think somebody who buys a Bentley cares if the car is 450,000 or 500,000? No, the difference between the 50,000 is not that much because owning a Bentley is more valuable than even half a million dollars to them. The way that makes them feel, the way it feels inside, whatever the experience you're having. At the end of the day, when you sell a product that is more valuable than the price, this is when you win. Number three, it does all this profitably, meaning after all your expenses, paying yourself, paying employees, your vendors, all your bills, you still have money left over. You're making a profit. That's it. That's business. You don't need to be first to market. I wasn't first to market with Webinar Ninja, my webinar software.
8:06 Speaker 00 You just need To do something better or more unique than somebody else. Okay. When I say better or more unique, this could just mean serving a specific audience that's underserved. For example, if you want to get into the travel business, be a travel vlogger, there's tons of vloggers that are serving how to travel on the cheap, how to travel for, you know, $20 a day. An underserved market are people that want to have luxury travel, want to spend a little money and have a memorable experience because they don't know how many times they're going to get to go to that country or have that experience. Making money online is about offering something people will pay for. That's it. Today's episode is supported by Rosetta Stone.
8:49 Speaker 00 I absolutely love Rosetta Stone because it's helping me learn Italian faster than I can ever imagine. Why do I want to learn Italian? Well, who doesn't love Italy? But of course Nicole's family is Italian and I'd love to have some quick Italian conversations with her mom. And Rosetta Stone just came out with Rosetta Stone Sapphire, their biggest launch in over a decade. One of the coolest features is chat missions, which turns conversation practice into a game. With chat missions, you're put in interactive scenarios and given three objectives. A mission to accomplish, like asking how much something costs, ordering a cold brew coffee or getting a wifi password. Along the way, you get real time corrections and feedback to help you sound more natural and confident.
9:32 Speaker 00 It's a supportive way to build confidence before putting your language skills to use in real life. I've been using Rosetta Stone for over two years and I actually can have some small Italian conversations with Nicole's mom now. Just the other day, she asked me, when are you traveling? And I said dopa domani mattina, which means after tomorrow morning. She was incredibly impressed I was able to answer in Italian. How could you put a price tag on a happy mother in law? If you want to take your language skills to the next level, don't wait to try Rosetta Stone Sapphire. The $100 rate show listeners can get 20% off the Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription when they sign up today. This gets you access to Rosetta Stone Sapphire in 25 languages. The holidays are the season business owners get pulled in six directions. More calls, more requests, more chances for things to slip through the cracks.
10:17 Speaker 00 Hoping you catch it all isn't a plan. That's why today's episode is brought to you by QUO, spelt Q U O. The business phone built so you never miss a call or a customer. Ever have a lead call or text at 10:00 PM? QUO's AI agent handles both 24/7. It answers questions, gets to the details, and can text them a link to book an appointment. By morning, you've got the summary and can jump right in. And nobody should have to ask customers to repeat themselves. In QUO, every call, text, and voicemail lives in one thread. So anyone on the team can jump in already knowing the whole story. If you have a business where your customers call or text you, this is a no-brainer. You must have QUO. Money is on the line. Always say hello with QUO.
11:02 Speaker 00 Try QUO for free, plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to quo.com/mba. That's Q U O dot com slash MBA.
11:13 Speaker 00 So I want to give you three low-risk, not completely no-risk. There's no such thing as no-risk businesses, but low-risk businesses you could start today. If you're starting out, you probably don't have a ton of money to invest. And that's okay, because you do have one asset, which is time. And here are three businesses you could start with low financial risk, but high time commitment and effort. And hey, you want this, right? This is going to change your life. And you're going to get to do something that will give you full autonomy over your time, your money, and your future. So let's get into the first one. Coaching and consulting. If you have a skill or experience in something, people will pay for your help.
11:55 Speaker 00 Now, you might think that, hey, the experience I have, the skill I have, is not that big of a deal. It is to somebody who has zero idea of your world, of your skill, of your experience. If you know a little bit about how to post effectively on Instagram, that's a really incredible skill to somebody who has no idea how to use Instagram, doesn't even have an Instagram account, but they have a business and you need to promote it. Some examples are business coaching, fitness coaching, career counseling, negotiation lessons, anything anyone is willing to pay for so that they can get better at whatever they do. So how to get started with consulting or coaching? Pick a niche. Pick a specific audience that you can help solve a problem for. Next, offer a free session.
12:40 Speaker 00 This could be like a live webinar to a group of people. This allows you to get testimonials and social proof that you can actually provide value. All you gotta do is ask on the webinar, "Hey, in the chat, can you tell me what your number one takeaway was? What was your favorite part of today's session? How did today's session help you in any way?" Next, charge for clarity, not complexity. Help people get results, not just give them advice. When I was a teacher in a former career, I started coaching on the side. People needed help setting up their websites and their branding. And I started small, I started charging what I could, and I built a client base. People want to get somewhere, they want a result. And I helped them build a website that got them clients.
13:23 Speaker 00 As long as I get them a result, I win, they win, they give me a testimonial, I have a profitable business on my hands. The second type of business that you can start is a service-based business. This is where you do the work for your clients. Some examples are like copywriting, graphic design, video editing, social media management. The reason why services is so compelling and actually one of the easiest things to sell is because it's done for you. It just solves the whole problem for the client. They don't need to learn how to write better, you just write for them. They don't need to learn how to put together some graphics so their website looks great. You create the graphics and put it on their website. Well, when I started my service-based business 14 years ago, I actually started on a marketplace.
14:07 Speaker 00 Marketplaces like Upwork or Fiverr. I only did this to get my first few clients, so I can get some testimonials, get some work, and a portfolio that I could put on my website. Once I secured those clients and had some testimonials, I was able to just get clients through my own website. I ran simple ads with Google Ads that just drove traffic to my website and got me clients. If you want to specialize in a specific skill, don't try to be a general freelancer. The services that I hire in my own business are very specific. Graphic designers, developers, copywriters. They do something specific very well. And another quick tip is as you Get more clients, raise your prices because you're getting more experience. You're getting better. The value offer is more.
14:52 Speaker 00 I used to raise my prices after every new customer. So for example, let's say I charged $2,000. The next time I had a client, I charged 2,500. The next time 3,000. At some point, I hit a ceiling. And when you hit a ceiling, you know, now it's time to hire other people to do the work for you. An example is a friend of mine started editing podcasts for small creators. Within a year, he was making six figures because podcasters need editors. They need somebody to edit their podcasts. And he positioned himself as somebody that is for the creative market. The third type of business that you could start is a digital products business. This is where you create once, but sell forever.
15:33 Speaker 00 Some examples are like online courses, ebooks, templates, memberships. How to get started? Well, teach what you know. Turn your knowledge into a sellable resource. Pre-sell before you build. Make sure people actually want your course before you build it. So maybe you can sell the course before it's available. So they get like first access. You just need a sales page and an outline of what the course is all about and the results that you are looking to achieve for your clients, for your customers through the course. And once a course is out, keep improving it based on the feedback you get. A good example is my program, the $100 MBA. We pre-sold the first version that we built. And that way, we were able to know the demand is there for our course.
16:17 Speaker 00 I then spent a few months creating the program and I was able to deliver to my customers and get feedback immediately. By the way, I'm not here to sell my program. I wanted to create this video so that you make an educated decision about how you want to move forward with your business education. The point I'm making is don't build something and hope people buy it. Sell it first, then build it. Making money online isn't about luck. It's about strategy. It's about skills. It's about patience. Choose a real business model, not a get rich quick scheme that somebody tried to sell to you. Focus on solving real problems for real people. And expect to work hard before you see big results. I think that's fair enough because here's the thing. The people who stick with it, they win.
17:02 Speaker 00 The people that look for shortcuts, they quit. So if you're in it for the long haul, you're already ahead of most people. And if you want a more detailed, step-by-step guide on what it takes to quit your job and start an online business, the reality of it, then we have a detailed guide that you can download for free. It's called The Escape Plan. Just go to 100mba.net and you'll see it right there on the homepage. It's absolutely free. If you found today's episode helpful and you want more practical business lessons to help you start, grow, and scale your business, the best thing you could do is subscribe to this podcast. Hit subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast app, the one that you're using right
17:44 Speaker 00 now, whether it's Apple or Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. By hitting subscribe, you get our next episode automatically, and it's the best way to support the show. It's absolutely free, and it's a way for you to commit to growing your business. And now that you've subscribed, I'll check you in the next episode.
18:09 Speaker 01 Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' safest new car brand. It starts with our approach. Every Mazda comes standard with proactive safety features, so you're more aware of what's around you, more focused on the road ahead, and ready before problems ever start. Mazda, more of what matters most to you. Go to mazdausa.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse or promote any product.
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