Ali Abdaal Profile picture
May 19, 2020 16 tweets 6 min read Read on X
“How to make money online” just went up - . here’s the takeaways if you cba to watch it - thread 1/
Money is a medium for exchanging value. Therefore, to make money, you have to provide value. 2/
There are 3 forms of value that people will pay for. These are the ‘3 Levels’ of making money online: (1) Services, (2) Products, (3) Attention. 3/
Level 1 - Services. Step 1 = Develop a skill / service that people would pay for. Step 2 = Find people to pay you for it. This is great for beginners (it’s how I started) but ultimately it’s dependent on your time. We want to scale up. 4/
Level 2 - Products. The ideal product has a fixed cost of production, and zero cost of maintenance, reproduction and distribution. Digital Products fit that bill best.

On level 2, we can sell other people’s products (Basic), or we can sell our own products (Expert). 5/
Level 2 Basic involves selling other people’s products via dropshipping and affiliate marketing etc. I’m not a huge fan of the dropshipping stuff (never tried it tbh and it looks quite scammy from the outside) but affiliate sales are great. 6/
Level 2 Expert involves selling our own products. We could try selling physical products but that’s quite hard (good job @PatFlynn and @CalebWojcik for the SwitchPod - there’s a good episode of Smart Passive Income where they talk about this). 7/
Alternatively, we could try selling software (eg: website, app, SaaS). This is also quite hard - *in general* you need to know how to code to a decent standard (or find a cofounder who does). Plenty of material about this in books, podcasts, YouTube, everywhere. 8/
My favourite way of making money by selling products is by selling info-products. Things like online courses, eBooks, digital downloads. @seanwes does a good job of this and has some great material on how to do it better. 9/
BUT we can make all the online courses we want, but unless we find people willing to buy them, we ain’t going to make any dollar. Level 3 is when we supercharge our money-making powers by leveraging Attention. 10/
‘Attention’ is what you get by building an audience. When you launch something (eg: a service or a product) you’ll have an audience of people who know, like and trust you, who are 100x more likely to hear about and pay for the value you’re offering. 11/
How do you build an audience? By giving out a tonne of value for free, on the internet, consistently, over a long period of time. You can tweet, blog, podcast, make videos - the medium doesn’t matter. What matters is showing up, providing value, and doing it repeatedly. 12/
I’ve been trying to follow the @garyvee playbook for past 3 years. The audience of people who know, like and trust me is now pretty big, and I couldn’t be more grateful. Firstly because it’s nice to be ‘famous’ in that way and help people out etc... 13/
And secondly because lots these people are buying the products that I’m selling lol eg: my online classes on @skillshare, my affiliate marketing bits (eg: @paperlike, @epidemicsound) and signing up to sponsors (eg: @brilliantorg, @CuriosityStream etc). 14/
To leverage attention to make money, you don’t even need a huge following. @kevin2kelly’s seminal essay “1000 True Fans” shows the power of having a small but loyal audience - kk.org/thetechnium/10… 15/
If you’re interested in this stuff, read these 3 books: - 4hWW by @tferriss , Show Your Work by @austinkleon , and then “Anything You Want” by @sivers. Thanks for your ‘attention’ hehe

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More from @AliAbdaal

Feb 25
We all want to get the best night's sleep possible.

Here's a mega thread of top tips to improve your sleep routine 🧵
1) It starts in the morning 🌞

Exposure to light in the morning sets our body clocks properly. Taking a walk first thing will give your body the light it needs to tell the time and start your day right.
2) Take 20 minute naps 😴

The occasional afternoon nap can be really beneficial. As long as you don’t sleep for more than 20 minutes, you'll wake up more alert and with more energy for the rest of your day. Try it next time you're procrastinating 😜
Read 21 tweets
Feb 24
How can we build a life that we love?

This is an evidence-based life design framework that I come back to every few years. I hope it helps you too 🧵
Step 1: Identify what matters to you

Step 2: Experiment with ideas

Step 3: Iterate on the good parts
Step 1: Identify

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you love the life that you’re living?

Try putting a number to your happiness levels. Now, write down the areas of your life that are contributing to that score, both positive and negative.
Read 16 tweets
Jan 12
I wasted seven years of my life.

And it was all because I was scared.

But you don’t have to learn the hard way.

Here's how to stop fear holding you back.
It took me seven years to make my first YouTube video and launch my business.

I’d block out time in my calendar and sit down to film, but for some reason I just couldn’t do it and I didn’t know why.

At first I thought I was being a perfectionist.
I didn’t want to make bad videos that didn’t live up to my standards.

But when I really thought about it, I realised that I was wrong.
Read 10 tweets
Jan 9
When we’re feeling really stressed out, it can be tempting to drop everything and hide in bed, ignoring our responsibilities and numbing ourselves with Netflix or doom-scrolling.
You might feel better in the short term, but in the long run this tends to cause more harm than good. Your mood will drop and you’ll only get more behind, leaving to even more anxiety.
So instead, let’s explore three methods which can reduce your stress AND help you stay productive.
Read 13 tweets
Jan 6
Can't attend the Annual Planning Workshop today? No worries!

You can still join in on the fun by answering the following prompts to help you reflect on the past year and manifest your best self for 2024 🎉

Let's start by reflecting on 2023 👇
📅 Key Events: What actually happened in 2023? Take a look through your calendar (or camera roll) and note down the key moments from each month.
🏆 Major Milestones: What were the 3-5 most significant events or achievements in 2023 for you? How did these impact your life?
Read 10 tweets
Jan 5
Do you have a beginner’s mindset?

If so, this could be a huge advantage.

Here’s why 👇
When we hear the words ‘beginner’s mindset’, we might conjure up some negative ideas. Perhaps you think of amateurism, or a lack of commitment or knowledge.

But it turns out that thinking like a beginner can help even the most talented people perform at their absolute best.
It is part of what turned Michael Jordan into a legend.

In the 1980s, the Chicago Bulls dominated the NBA. They were led by Phil Jackson, their coach, who found inspiration in an unlikely place - the teachings of Zen Buddhism.
Read 8 tweets

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