Jim Cockrum Blog

Amazon Selling Expert & Internet Marketing Thought Leader

You are here: Home / Categories / Great Business Ideas / Creative Ideas / A multiple income stream answer to, “What do you do for a living?”

A multiple income stream answer to, “What do you do for a living?”

By 24 Comments

“So, what do you do for a living?”

How do you answer that question?

As an online “Multiple income stream” entrepreneur, here’s how I answer that question (in general):

“I know how to make things happen online. I can generate leads, grow an audience for an idea or a product, or even liquidate inventory for top dollar. I also teach other people how to do those things for their businesses.”

Answering in such a way has opened up new opportunities for me consistently in each of my three primary online businesses for years.

Or, if I want to keep it simple I’ll simply say, I’m “an internet business author”. Sometimes it’s best to keep it short and send new contacts one of my books if they are interested in more info.

Screen shot 2013-09-09 at 1.04.09 PM

An approximate breakdown of my personal multiple income sources

I have been teaching these three biz models since 2000, and I’ve been running these models myself longer than that. To my knowledge I’m the only one who has a business that teaches these three models and also runs businesses that does all three of them actively. The “CES” approach as we call it, is the secret behind the success of so many of our students, partners and my own biz.

A word of caution: Don’t attempt to launch multiple businesses at the same time.  Build up one at a time with hard work and commitment, but once you have a working system don’t get “stuck” in a repetitive mode that relies on your daily efforts to keep the system running. Instead, use some of your profits to delegate, hire, outsource and automate the systems you build.  We live in an unprecedented age where finding good help and building smooth running systems has never been easier.

I suggest you start where most of our students start- with the “S” model (explained below).

Some of my eBay/Amazon sourcing/selling crew. The crew includes my mom and my two oldest boys.

Some of my eBay/Amazon sourcing/selling crew. The crew includes my mom and my two oldest boys.

Here are the three models:
C: Consult (teach others what works online). You know more than you think! (We teach you how to ramp this at OfflineBiz.com, or in our free Facebook forum here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/offlinebiz/ )
E: Expand (grow your audience – build a tribe). This leads to affiliate marketing, your own books,  products, courses, followers etc. and done right a steady stream of new clients (see “C” above)
S: MOST START HERE!  Sell stuff (eBay, Amazon, your own website etc.) This is a great place to start. It’s a biz model that seems like too much work to many people, but it is the starting point for numerous success stories including my own. It scares off the lazy and leaves plenty of room for those of us willing to do a bit of work building a highly profitable online business.  We’ve helped thousands of people build businesses with this model.

Screen Shot 2014-12-09 at 9.52.44 AM

An actual note I got in the mail a couple of weeks ago. This is a local business guy who was sending me an invoice, but it looks like he could be my next “OfflineBiz” consulting client.

A note about the “S” model.  Right now Amazon is a HUGE opportunity. We have hundreds of students doing incredible well, but I tell them all the time – it’s risky to plan on staying right here long term. There should be more in your 5 year plan than just Amazon.  Just ask the thousands of eBay sellers who have now been forced to move on to something else after building what they thought was an empire. With that word of caution though, our ProvenAmazonCourse.com course has helped launch countless successful Amazon entrepreneurs. Recently we also introduced ProvenPrivateLabel.com as well for those wanting to launch their own brand online.

So where do you start if you want the sort of job description I have, or if you are interested in any one of the three biz models above?  I wrote a book about it over 10 years ago – and I’ve updated that book 8 times since. It’s my book titled “Silent Sales Machine” – you can grab it on Amazon here for $5. We’ve now built an incredible community and leadership team around the concepts in this book. Join our free community on Facebook to see for yourself: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mysilentteam/

Here’s a recent screen shot of my email inbox (unedited except to protect privacy). You’ll see income for the “E” and “S” biz segments shown here. The “C” income comes in larger checks from clients.Multiple Income Streams -JimCockrum.com

Originally written in 2013, updated for Dec 2014.

Comments

  1. Hi Jim,
    Well, right now I usually just tell folks about the J.O.B., but I have been slipping my eBay business into the conversation here and there. I find it funny that most people don’t think it’s possible to make a living by selling on eBay. Glad some of us know better! 😉

    Reply

    • Hi Jim,
      Been banging my head against the wall every time I read what you shouldn’t be doing if you want to make it on-line..I think I could be the golden child of “do the exact opposite” and you will make it.

      I probably bought most programs out there hoping it would be the one..

      I have been trying this for 2 years now and just make enough to pay my domains fees..

      I did see something a while back that perked my interest is selling on Amazon..I do have a web site that I do reviews on products and get the commission but selling on Amazon sounds so much better.

      The way I got here, ( no coincidences) was I was looking at a new? program out there about selling on Amazon and while reading a forum your name was mentioned many times and It was like a breath of fresh air..
      So here I am, oh I also just lost $1000 a month income from downsizing…

      I do believe you have a program on selling on Amazon?
      well, to much rambling..just happy to be here..by the way I’m unsubscribing from all the guru’s as we speak..

      Thanks,
      Don

      Reply

      • Welcome to my blog Don. The course you are looking for is the ProvenAmazonCourse.com course. It’s inexpensive, and it works. We’ve built quite an incredible community around this course…very active discussion forums and LOADS of success stories. It will be a breath of fresh air to join us and finally start doing stuff that WORKS!

        It IS work to accomplish your goals, but we have the system if you are ready to go!

        Reply

      • Hi Don/Jim

        I got here via the same Warrior Forum post while looking for information on the same ‘new?’ Amazon program. Looking for a way to help struggling small offline retailers out.

        I retired recently from 32 years doing the offline equivalent of CES, at least it started with the ‘S’ then the ‘C’ came about by accident and lead eventually to the ‘E’ :). But I like to stay in touch with business in some way.

        After reading said Warrior post and others, I won’t be recommending the ‘new?’ course in question but will be happy to suggest people take a look at PAC. I had already written a blog post on the Amazon Seller opportunity but needed somewhere to point my readers for expert advice. Looks like I’ve found it!

        Thanks

        John

        Reply

  2. Hi Jim,
    I hate to admit this, but I have not yet made a dime (Yes mostly lack of focused action and confidence). I have been registered for a year+ with Offlinebiz and purchased a few courses which have been proven to work – but I haven’t proven such to myself. I have talents, skills and abilities which even others recognize, yet I continue to under utilize or have them go to waste on J.O.B’s I hate doing. I can’t stand being told what to do, yet I still submit to it (albeit with extreme discomfort). I suppose I have not yet replaced my employee programming with entrepreneurial confidence/thinking. I suppose these reads like a confession, but I hope it serves some sort of help for would-be entrepreneurs.

    Reply

    • I hear you, and you are in the EXACT same boat as so many others.

      To me “breaking free” is a great analogy. Imagine you are breaking out of orbit…or pulling away from the grasp of gravity. Once you get through the period of intense focused effort suddenly all the rules change and you can operate with more freedom, new opportunities, and all the rules change.

      Reply

      • Thank you Jim. That is encouraging. I know I’ll get there, as will anyone who maintains their conviction to “break free” =)

        Reply

  4. “scares off the lazy” …. As usual.. You nail it Jim!! Keep the good posts coming 🙂 George The Pizza Man

    Reply

  5. Hey Jim, here’s my request for a deeper answer to this question: What is your personal strategy and mindset for making sure you don’t lose focus on any one of your businesses while creating multiple streams of income? i.e. I am an FBA seller for the past 5 months. I love it! However, I want to create multiple streams of income without killing my momentum on Amazon by taking focus off it.

    Reply

    • I love this question.

      I’ll invent a new term as part of my answer:

      “Disciplined Distractibility”

      My personality allows me to quickly adjust the lower “80%” of my priority list from day to day or even hour to hour. I don’t know if that “flexibility of priorities” can be taught or not, but it serves me very well. I find most entrepreneurs don’t struggle with that required character trait (most of us consider it a curse to be so easily distracted, but I think it’s a gift if you use it with discipline & have multiple biz’s to run with constantly shifting priorities as a result.)

      The top 20% of my priority list is non-negotiable. My spiritual walk, my family, my health, the “must do’s” to keep my established businesses GROWING and THRIVING

      So now that we are clearly talking about the “lower 80%” of my priority list here are some tips for adding new income streams:

      1) Keep ROI in mind constantly in regards to your TIME
      2) Build stuff that lasts…don’t trade $ for hours unless absolutely necessary or VERY profitable
      3) Hire and pay great people to do just about anything that doesn’t 100% REQUIRE your presence
      4) In regards to #3 there is almost ALWAYS someone better, faster and cheaper than you unless we are talking about “the big three”
      5) The “big three” are Creativity, Relationships and Leadership – work on those once the “top 20%” is covered.
      6) If your biz isn’t profitable enough to do these steps it just might be a bad biz model or you are making bad decisions…or you lack

      “Disciplined Distractibility”

      Reply

  6. Hi Jim
    Just caught a youtube video of you with Facebook Lead Finder , You seem like someone who is genuine and real… I spent a few years 3-4years dipping in and out of the internet marketing world with no success as there is a lot of noise and I didn’t know how to focus and tell what were scams..

    But I have restarted with building a mailing list with a squeeze page as I eventually found my passion and it’s fitness, fatloss and sixpacks ..cos well I was fat and trained bloody hard and now I got a sixpack and well I like the whole fitness thing and it’s given me a new passion etc, etc you know the score haha …
    Anyway Jim my question is….

    1) Would you say I should focus most of my energy building a audience ..if so is strategies like commenting on facebook posts and groups and fan pages one of the quickest and effective ways from your experience ..or Facebook ads ??..

    2) Or a better question.. if you Jim were to re-start over again ..how would you do it and how would you build your audience and your first online income ?

    Kind regards
    Matt Ng UK

    Reply

    • there is a lot more info on my blog about “building an audience”, but in general the FASTEST way is to parter with “gatekeepers” or those who already have an audience that looks like the one you want, and then from there find a 3 way win that gets your information (with an email opt-in option included) in front of their audience. People are gathered into groups already on Facebook. The demo you saw at 22s.com/jimcockrum was for a tool that helps you find these groups – that’s a GREAT place to start.
      Tip: A 3 way win is when the “gatekeeper” wins (is made to look like a hero for providing great content at little or no cost), the audience wins because you’ve given them something for free that they really like, and you win b/c you grow your list. Eventually, once your list is large enough (you decide when) you can survey them and find out what else they want from you. Give them what they want..70% of it for free, and the latest and greatest “premium” stuff for a price.

      Reply

  8. Hi, Jim, this is fantastic! I really like the CES model and plan on adding the OfflineBiz model to my strategy in 2014. I specifically like the short and sweet answer “I an internet business author” and think I will reserve this for those times when I need a 5 second answer. Thank you.

    Reply

  9. Jim, Great content as always! For someone starting out, pick one – Sell and start an income stream then Expand/Consult. It takes some time to have all three legs running smoothly.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *