Want to know how to make money online? Check out this inspiring true story of how a former bartender started making over $1,000,000 a year online. Read ’til the end to learn exactly how he did it.
Twenty-five years ago, my friend Gareth almost died.
On the way to the beach one morning, he was in a head-on collision going over 100 miles per hour.
His memory of that day is fuzzy, but he remembers being pulled out of the car.
He remembers the fear in his friends’ eyes when they saw him.
And he remembers counting backward on an emergency room table.
Luckily, he and his friends survived the accident.
I asked him what he learned from that experience, and he told me:
“You can be doing everything right in life, and there’s no guarantee that you’re going “make it,” says Gareth. “An unexpected event that we have no control over can literally change your entire life in a moment.”
While this may sound pessimistic, Gareth has used this thought to motivate massive action in his life.
Why?
Because he knows life is fleeting.
And more importantly, he knows that if one moment can change your life for the worse, one moment can also change your life for the better.
As his friend, I’ve watched Gareth go from being a single dad and bartender to having a business bringing in over $1 million a year.
Here’s how he did it and, more importantly, how you can too:
The beginning
In 2010, Gareth and I met in grad school. He was working full-time as a bartender, raising his daughter as a single dad, and working on an MBA. His ultimate goal was to start his own business one day.
Two years later, he started an Amazon arbitrage business reselling DVDs he found at deep discounts. This business allowed him to stop bartending and helped him pay the bills for a few years. However, he soon learned that it would be hard to scale and that price wars would eat at his margins. He had figured out how to make money online, but it simply wasn’t enough income for the lifestyle he wanted.
After shutting that business down, he dabbled in other business ventures with little success.
A big move
After being stuck in a rut for some time, Gareth and his new fiancee moved from California to Denver. They were trying to “shock the system and inspire what was next,” he says. At first, it worked. His fiance, Sarah, got a new job, and Gareth got a full-time job for a fintech company. Unfortunately, after 10 months of working there, he got laid off.
The turning point
Up until this point, Gareth says he had “poor success in business.” He got a full-time job in Denver because he needed to provide for his family. He thought getting a job would be the least risky way to provide for them. However, when he got laid off, he realized “there’s no job security” and that being an employee is often riskier than being an entrepreneur.
So after being laid off, he found quick contract work as a financial analyst and decided to look for his next business idea. The company he was doing contract work for offered him a full-time position. However, they wanted to pay him 25% less than their previous employee. At that point, Gareth realized that if he was going to make the income he wanted, he had to be all-in on entrepreneurship. So, with the support of his wife, he declined the underpaid full-time offer, bet on himself, and started another business.
A moment of inspiration
Having worked as an analyst, Gareth was an expert in Excel. His original plan was to share finance and Excel tips for small business owners online on YouTube. However, he wasn’t getting much traction with that idea.
Then, one day he read an article about Airtable and what it was capable of.
He thought, “That looks neat,” and decided to explore it more and put out a video on YouTube sharing what he had learned and the capabilities of Airtable.
He also offered a free 30-minute consulting session as a call-to-action at the end of his video to help people with any Airtable questions. Ultimately, these simple actions made all the difference and led to a huge pivot in his life and career.
So much so that within the first week of launching his first Airtable video on Youtube and starting his Airtable consulting business, he landed $10,000 in consulting work.
Time Investment Needed to Make Money Online
If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering how much time this took, especially since Gareth was giving his time away for free and then booking consulting gigs requiring more of his time. According to Gareth, he would spend 20 hours a week doing client work for existing clients and then 20 hours a week creating videos and marketing his business to help bring new leads in. While working 40 hours a week in his business, he was highly compensated for his time, and he had more freedom and fun than when he was working a traditional 9-5 job.
As Gareth puts it, “When I was working as an employee, I felt like my job was to have my ass in a chair. For 8 hours, I had to stare at a computer. Now, I could get up, do something else, make lunch, whatever, and then come back with a fresh head.”
Exponential Growth
In the early days, Gareth was doing all the work himself. However, once he realized demand outpaced the time he had, he started bringing in independent contractors to help do the work. He also created a course to help clients who couldn’t afford one-on-one consulting but still needed help. Within 24 months, he had increased his revenue to over $80,000 on average per month, 15% of which was from passive income.
The Truth About Passive Income
What I appreciate about Gareth is he’s no BS type of guy. When I asked him about his advice for people wanting to build passive income, he said:
“Everyone dreams about having passive income, but before you can work towards a passive income stream, you need to have a solid foundation for your business,” says Gareth. “You need to have consistent revenue coming in before you take a shot at creating a passive income stream because it may not work, and you need something to fall back on.”
According to Gareth, starting with a consulting business is the best foundation for creating a passive income business because it creates consistent income that can sustain your lifestyle. At the same time, you can take shots at passive income opportunities.
Additionally, consulting can help people get inside the head of their target customers. “It’s not until you’ve worked with dozens or hundreds of clients that you truly understand their setbacks, and that’s when you unlock the secret level where you know how to solve their problems before they even ask because you’ve seen it so many times,” says Gareth.
How to Make Money Online: The Simple Formula to Easily Make $10k a Month
If you’re interested in starting an online consulting business and want to know how to make money online, here’s how Gareth recommends you get started:
Step 1: What’s a problem you can solve for other people?
People pay for solutions to their problems. However, this is a broad question that’s easier to ask than answer. So, Gareth recommends you think about a specific tool that you are good at working with and consider consulting on that. For example, Gareth was good at using Airtable to help people solve their problems, so he went all in on that. I asked Gareth what other tools he’d recommend, and he quickly rattled off tons of ideas that he’s seen his students make money consulting in.
Step 2: Who do you want to help?
Once you know the problem you will solve, you need to define the type of people with that problem. These people will ultimately become your target market. Gareth’s target market was service-based business owners who needed help streamlining their operations with software. One insight that Gareth shared with me was to “solve problems for people with money.” Often times this is other businesses as they have big problems and the budgets necessary to help them get their problems solved.
Solve problems for people with money.
Gareth Pronovost
Step 3: How are you going to connect with your target market?
Once you know the problem you’re going to solve and the exact type of person you want to help, you’ve got to find a way to connect with them. For Gareth, he created YouTube videos and provided free introductory calls to help people solve their problems. However, not everyone is comfortable being on camera, and Gareth understands that. “An easy way to test your idea and connect with your target market is to find their communities online in free Facebook Groups, LinkedIn Groups, etc,” he says.
Final words of advice
Just because something is easy for you doesn’t mean it’s easy for everyone else. When people struggle with something, they’re willing to pay to have it done better and faster. That’s a perfect opportunity for you to come in and share a skill you have. Ultimately, with consulting, you’ll wind up doing work that you love, get paid handsomely for it, and get a sense of accomplishment because you’ll help improve other people’s lives.
The Bottom Line
As Gareth’s nearly fatal accident taught him, “Life is short, and it’s not guaranteed. We’ve got to make the most of the time we have. To achieve true financial freedom, your best bet is to control your own destiny – this means working for yourself and living life on your own terms. Can it be scary at times? Sure! But that’s life! Either live it or get the hell out of the way.”
DON’T MISS: Want to make your first $1,000 online? Check out Gareth’s free 5-day challenge.
Still here?
If you’re ready to start a business or side hustle that generates passive income, I have an amazing resource for you.
I created a free Ultimate Passive Income Startup Checklist because two of the biggest challenges people struggle with when making passive income are not knowing where to start and feeling overwhelmed. This checklist will solve both problems and help you create your first passive income product in as little as a day.
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