Why Teenagers Are Becoming Millionaires On The Internet
Posted: Sunday, January 17, 2010
by Rhiannon Wilkinson
I sent this as an email to my little sister, who is 16 years old. She is at the age where she wants to go apply for a job so she can save up to buy a car.
I wish somebody would have sent me a letter or email like this when I was 16 years old. So, here goes nothing...
Dear Ali,
There was a girl who is your age named Ashley that created a website called www.whateverlife.com and about 2 years later, she was a multi-millionaire.
Since there are millions of people who go to her site to grab myspace codes, advertisers pay her a lot of money, because everytime somebody goes on her site - they see her advertisers, and they pay big bucks to be seen by a lot of people because they sell more stuff that way.
To to give you a perfect example of what I mean, let's pretend that you opened your own online store selling Ipods, DVDs and music. And your best friend Hanna decided to get a job working at McDonalds making $6 dollars per hour.
To make the math simple, let's say you only made $6 dollars everytime you sold something in your store (In real life, your commission could vary from item to item, but lets just say you only made $6 bucks to compare it to what you would make at McDonalds)
So, Hanna is slaving away and flipping hamburgers at McDonalds. She is asking, "Would you like fries with that?" and filling up people's drinks and wearing the McDonald's uniform and a hat.
After her first week of working at McDonalds, let's say she could only work 20 hours that week after school. If she made $6 dollars per hour, that means 20 hours times $6 dollars = $120 dollar pay check in one week.
Now, let's go back to you and having your own music store online. And you make $6 dollars, too. But the catch is that you have to find people to sell your products to. So, let's say for that week you talked to your friends and family about your business and what you do, and you only made two sales. That means for one week, you only made $12 dollars.
So, you look at Hanna's paycheck and compare it to your paycheck - and you might tell yourself, "Forget this, I'm going to go get a job at McDonald's with Hanna."
But let's pretend you decided to listen to your big sister, and you stuck with the store. Let's pretend you kept on telling people what you do.
So, the second week, Hanna is flipping hamburgers and doing her McDonald's thing... and you are just talking to people about how cool your store is. Once again, Hanna makes $120 bucks for 20 hours worth of work. And let's say you managed to sell 2 more items out of your store for another $12 dollars. So, this week looks exactly the same as the week before, because you made the same amount of money.
Now, by this time you are thinking to yourself, "My big sister isn't as AWESOME as she thinks she is." Because you might only see what you've made in that week. Meanwhile, Hanna is saving up a bunch of money, or has a lot of money to spend on DVDs. AS A MATTER OF FACT, the second week she gets her paycheck... she decides to buy from your online store instead of going to the mall.
So, the third week your first sale comes from Hanna. And then Hanna brings the Ipod with her to school that you sold her, and everyone asks, "Hanna, that is so awesome, where did you get that?" And she says, "Why, from my best friend of course." And then they come to you to buy their own Ipods, music and DVDs from your online store.
Week three passes, and Hanna once again makes $120 working at McDonalds for $6 bucks an hour. But this week something a little bit different happens. Your first sale came from Hanna, your second and third sale came from people Hanna referred your way, and then the person who you sold a DVD to now wants to buy something else. You sell them one, so now this week, you have made 4 sales at $6 dollars a piece - which is $24 dollars.
Compared to the $120 per week that Hanna is making, it is STILL not that impressive. Even though you have a cool music store , and everyone thinks its so awesome, and they want to buy through you because they like and love you so much. But still, it appears that Hanna has made the better choice working at McDonald's because she is making more money than you are.
Now, let's fast forward 6 months. There are 4 weeks in a month, right? So, 6 months times 4 weeks is 24 weeks.
While Hanna was working for McDonals for 20 hours a week making $6 bucks an hour, she brought home $120 per week.
In a 6 month period there are 24 weeks, so 24 weeks times $120 dollars is $2,880 dollars total she has earned working by the hour.
But let's look at what you could do in a 6 month period.
The first week, you made 2 sales at $6 bucks a piece for $12 dollars
The second week, you made 2 sales at $6 bucks a piece for another $12 dollars
The third week, you made 4 sales at $6 bucks a piece for $24 dollars (because Hanna told two people, you sold one, and your very first customer's cousin bought a hoodie from you, remember?)
On the fourth week, the two friends Hanna referred to you told 3 of their friends about you having a fashion store online. And both of those 3 friends came to you in order to buy. That is 6 people who buy 6 things out of your store for $6 bucks a piece - which is $36 dollars. Plus, you made 2 more sales of your own.
On the fifth week, about 10 people are wearing your clothes, while their friends and family ask, "Where did you get that?" To which they replied, "My friend Alicia has an online store!"
So on the fifth week you get about 2 phone calls from people who are interested in buying, so you are back down to making only $24 bucks in a week.
On the sixth week, you get TEN phone calls from other people - plus you sell 4 to people you've just met. That means you sell 14 items at $6 bucks a piece for a total of $84 dollars in one week. And week after week, it steadily grows with a few rises and dips inbetween.
As your customer base grows, and people tell their friends and family about who you are and what you do, you get more and more phone calls. Now, the people who originally bought from you ALWAYS come back to buy some more things from you. So now, you have repeat customers, PLUS you are getting word of mouth referrals by them to their friends and family. And as their friends and family buys from you, your customer base grows. Then they also tell everyone that they know.
Pretty soon, you are selling 100 items in your store per week from repeat business and new customers combined. 100 items times $6 bucks an item equals $600 bucks in one week.
Yet, poor Hanna is only making $150 dollars per week now, because she works at McDonalds. Because no matter how many hamburgers she flips and sells to customers - she will only make $6 bucks per hour. She could sell a million hamburgers at McDonalds in one week and be the most beautiful, hardworking, smart, and dependable employee the world has ever seen. But she will STILL only make $6 dollars per hour as an employee.
But when you have your own online store, the harder you work the more you get paid. It doesn't seem that way in the beginning, but if you are patient and watch it grow - your business will just grow and grow and grow and grow. Your customers will keep coming back, they will tell all their friends and family about you, plus you will meet new customers youself. And everytime you make a new connection, you make more and more money.
In three years, Hanna could still be working at McDonald's making $6 bucks an hour, or $150 per week. Where you have over 50,000 customers who are buying your products online, and averaging 500 orders per week. 500 orders times $6 bucks an order is $3,000 dollars per week.
In ten years, Hanna may have graduated college and got a high paying job as an attorney that makes $5,000 per week.
But now your customer base for your store is over one million people , and continues to grow. Your average orders are now about 10,000 orders per week, and you make $6 bucks per order. So, that means you are averaging $60,000 dollars per week.
Also, you invest in some real estate with your big sis, and buy you a few 100 unit apartment complexes . And those apartment buildings generate another $20,000 a month for you. And you have enough money to hire the work out so you don't have to manage them or fix toilets. The apartment makes enough money to hire somebody by the hour to fix it.
And as your money grows and grows and grows, you can buy more and more and more things that generate money. You can generate as much money as you want, whenever you want. But the key is you have to be very patient and work hard from the beginning. Getting started and sticking with it until business picks up is the hardest part. But after you do it for awhile, it gets easier and easier over time, because the business comes to you naturally instead of you having to chase after it.
Do you see where I am coming from about being a millionaire at an early age?
I have a business partner, and we talk to young girls just like you about opening up their own online stores. It is absolutely free, and it doesn't cost you anything to get started. You don't have to buy anything to open your store. All you have to do is point people to your website, and tell them to go buy something. Once they do, you get a commission for it that ranges anywhere from $3 dollars all the way up to $40 dollars or sometimes more.
You can sell anything you enjoy selling. I think you would be the coolest girl in school if you sold all the stuff at your store that all the malls do.
It isn't easy, and I don't want to lie to you and say that it is. It is very, very hard when you are first starting out. But you have to realize that you are growing something, and that it takes time before it gets easier. After you build it up, it gets easier and easier to make money. But when you are first starting out, it is hard.
If you can see the value in working really hard for a short period of time so you can take it easy for the rest of your life and enjoy it, then this might be something for you, sweetheart.
Love always,
Yer Big Sis
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