How One Digital Nomad Was Able To Make A Full Time Living Working From Home

Story of Zach Zorn making a living online

 

nomad living

 

 

If your goal is to earn a stable living by working from home, I want to share my story in the hopes of inspiring and helping you meet your dream. I started my “online” journey in 2016 with selling on Amazon, which turned into buying and selling websites, and now I consult others looking to pursue similar paths. I entered the online space as “passive income” was an attractive way to earn money. I put passive income in parenthesis because in my experience it takes a lot of up-front work before reaping the benefits of passive income. Too many times, people share their passive income successes without clearly explaining the months and years of work that went on before success.

In all of my online ventures, I hire freelance workers that are also earning a living by working from home or any location of their choosing. By being a soloprenuer, it’s a necessity to hire freelancers to do tasks that I can’t do or don’t have the time to do. A majority of my success came because of the freelancers that I worked with in the past. Don’t try to tackle every project on your own, hire out when you can! Enjoy the process of building your dream and do not get discouraged when a bumpy road appears. With all of this said, let me explain the two ventures that have allowed me to make a stable living with just a computer and internet connection.

 

Selling On Amazon

As the largest online retailer, Amazon offers sellers access to their massive customer base by allowing individuals and companies to sell on the Amazon marketplace. Selling on Amazon is attractive for soloprenuers as little marketing needs to be done by the seller, and Amazon handles all of the customer service and return tasks. This system is called selling FBA or Fulfillment By Amazon.

 

I use a suite of tools to help find popular products that are already selling well on Amazon, and then use Alibaba to find a supplier that can make a similar but better product. After hiring a freelancer to create a logo, I am ready to sell. Since the tools that I use estimate demand and sales, I’m fairly confident that each product I choose to sell will be profitable. In my first month of selling back in 2016, I made over $5,000, and last year, I helped a friend earn over $120,000. The potential to make money almost immediately is possible when selling FBA.

 

One downside to selling on Amazon, is that you need to purchase your product in bulk, so having cash on hand to spend $3,000 or more for inventory can be challenging, and if your products don’t sell then your cash is tied up. Additionally, competition can be fierce on Amazon, so success with an individual product may be short lived. If your sales or margin begins to drop, consider selling out and not replenishing your inventory. Find another product to sell and repeat the process.

 

Amazon selling is a great business to enter if you have $3,000 to $5,000 to invest!

 

Buying and Selling Websites

After successfully selling on Amazon, I wanted to become involved with affiliate marketing in the form of a review style website (example The Wire Cutter). What makes affiliate marketing awesome is that as a middle man, you’re paid a commission when you direct someone to a product but don’t have to deal with storing inventory, customer service, etc. Since I didn’t have website experience, building a website was out of the question.

 

In 2018 I bought my first website, that was monetized with affiliate marketing links, for $49,000. I built the site up, adding more income and profitability. I hired freelancers to help create code, graphical elements, and content. After four months of ownership, I sold the site for $75,000 and made nearly $40,000 in just four months! From this experience, I discovered the huge potential in buying, owning and selling websites and highly encourage anyone that has over $40,000 to invest in pursuing this. My ROI was nearly 60%, an unprecedented return.

 

Since the sale, I have purchased another website, built review websites from the ground up, and created a course teaching others how to build their own websites in 2 hours. If you’re interested in buying a website, or want to cash out on one that you own, I suggest checking out Empire Flippers, an online asset brokerage.

Once you have a website you might want to check out this Youtube Optimization Guide by DigitalTriggers to drive traffic and for SEO.

 

These two ventures are just the tip of the iceberg, but I hope one of these sparked an idea of your own. It’s ok if your original idea begins to morph into something else, as long as you are staying dedicated and working with purpose, success will come. Surround yourself with reliable freelancers that can work with you to help make your dream become a reality. If you have any questions about Amazon selling or website ownership, email me zach@moneynomad.com

By Zach Zorn