I Make $1M/Year With One Website

Summary

In this engaging video transcript, Alex, the founder of finversus.com, shares his journey from a side hustle to a seven-figure revenue business. Starting as a marketer with entrepreneurial aspirations, Alex leveraged his full-time job to develop his affiliate marketing business, focusing on health and wellness niches. His breakthrough came from understanding the Google algorithm and targeting low competition, high-margin keywords. Alex emphasizes the importance of identifying a niche with potential and creating high-quality content that meets user intent. He also discusses the strategic decision to partner directly with brands, the process of scaling his business, and diversifying traffic sources with paid advertising. As the business grew, Alex made key hires, such as an editor and a web developer, to focus on partnerships and revenue. Now, he is considering selling the business and advises aspiring entrepreneurs to start with a simple idea and adapt as they gain momentum.

Takeaways

• 🚀 **Starting a Business with a Full-Time Job**: Alex started his affiliate marketing business while working a full-time job, which allowed him to maintain financial stability while building his side hustle.
• 🌟 **Aha Moment with SEO**: The business didn't generate income for months until Alex discovered a change in the Google algorithm that significantly improved his site's performance.
• 🔍 **Keyword Research**: Alex emphasized the importance of targeting low competition, long-tail keywords that align with high-intent search queries.
• 📈 **Niche Market Focus**: Identifying a niche market that is not overly saturated allowed Alex to become an authority in a less competitive space.
• 🤝 **Direct Partnerships with Brands**: Forming partnerships with brands early on was a key strategy for driving sales and establishing a revenue stream.
• 💼 **Transitioning to Full-Time Entrepreneurship**: Alex didn't leave his full-time job until his side business was generating an income equal to or greater than his salary.
• 📝 **Content Creation**: Writing high-quality, in-depth content that meets the true intent behind user queries is crucial for SEO success.
• 📊 **Organic Growth and Paid Advertising**: Alex diversified his traffic sources by incorporating paid advertising strategies into his business model.
• 🤖 **Outsourcing and Team Building**: As the business grew, Alex outsourced tasks such as writing and hired a virtual assistant, editor, designer, and web developer to focus on partnerships and revenue growth.
• ⏱ **Work-Life Balance**: Alex maintains a work-life balance by setting work hours and dedicating time to family, with a focus on uninterrupted work during set periods.
• 🔮 **Planning for the Future**: Alex is considering selling the business and emphasizes the importance of understanding one's long-term goals for the business from the outset.

Q & A

What is Alex's annual income from his business model?

Alex makes over a million dollars a year with his business model, which is affiliate marketing.

What was the turning point for Alex's website in terms of revenue?

Alex's website made $0 for months until he covered something about the Google algorithm that changed everything.

What is the business model of Alex's website, finversus.com?

The business model involves driving shoppers to brands through partnerships. When someone buys something referred from their site, they earn a commission.

How did Alex start his business while working a full-time job?

Alex started his business as a side hustle in 2018 while working at a fin tech company. He wrote the first 60 articles himself and learned WordPress to build the site.

What was the key to Alex's initial success with SEO?

The key was creating content that anticipated the series of products or queries that shoppers might be making online and partnering with brands directly.

At what point did Alex decide to quit his full-time job and focus on his business?

Alex decided to quit his full-time job when his income from the side hustle replaced his salary, which was making $150,000 at the time.

What was the breakthrough moment for Alex's business?

The breakthrough moment was when Alex identified the opportunity for health and wellness, focusing on tele health and tele medicine platforms, which were not yet crowded niches.

How does Alex approach keyword research and article writing for SEO?

Alex focuses on low competition, longtail keywords that are high intent for the audience. He aims to write the best content online about the brands in the space, meeting the true intent behind the queries.

What was the reason behind Alex buying out his business partner?

Alex's business partner wanted to keep the business as a side hustle, while Alex wanted to go full-time. The solution was for Alex to buy him out.

How does Alex manage competition in affiliate marketing?

Alex focuses on serving his partners with net new content and ensuring the content is fresh and within his area of expertise to maintain topical authority.

What are some of the first hires Alex made for his business?

The first thing outsourced was writing. Later, Alex hired a virtual assistant, a full-time editor, a designer, and a web developer to manage various aspects of the business.

What is Alex's advice for someone looking to start a business?

Alex advises to just get started without over-engineering the outcome. Begin by identifying a broad-based audience, understanding their problems, and figuring out how to help them.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Alex's Million-Dollar Affiliate Marketing Journey

This paragraph introduces Alex, a successful affiliate marketer who earns over a million dollars a year. Alex shares his business model, which revolves around affiliate marketing, and invites the audience to his home in California to reveal his websites and the strategies he used to build them while working a full-time job. The narrative highlights Alex's 'aha' moment when understanding the Google algorithm significantly impacted his business. The video promises to delve into building a business alongside full-time employment, lucrative niches, and the secret strategy Alex used to reach seven-figure revenue.

05:00

💼 Balancing a Full-Time Job with Entrepreneurship

The second paragraph details Alex's decision to start his business, Finn Versus, as a side hustle in 2018 while maintaining full-time employment. It emphasizes the importance of having a structured work-life balance to effectively side hustle and the influence of his entrepreneurial parents. Alex shares how he identified a gap in the market for product comparison in the fintech and telemedicine sectors, which led to the creation of his review site. The content also discusses the process of driving traffic through SEO, partnering directly with brands, and the breakthrough that came after six months of organic growth.

10:01

🚀 Scaling the Business and Expanding the Portfolio

In this paragraph, Alex discusses the growth of his business, including the decision to go full-time after two years when the income from his site matched his salary. He talks about buying out his business partner and the importance of finding a partner with complementary skills and a shared vision. Alex also covers his expansion into a portfolio of affiliate marketing websites, focusing on niche markets for economies of scale. He addresses the competitive nature of affiliate marketing and the importance of staying current with fresh content. Additionally, Alex touches on experimenting with paid advertising to diversify traffic sources.

🤝 Building Partnerships and the Future of the Business

The final paragraph focuses on Alex's approach to building partnerships with brands and the structure of his team, including the decision to outsource writing and hiring a full-time editor, designer, and web developer. It outlines a typical day in the life of an affiliate marketer, emphasizing work-life balance and the importance of setting aside time for family. Alex reveals that he is currently working on selling his business and advises aspiring entrepreneurs to start their ventures without overcomplicating the process. He stresses the importance of beginning and adapting as the business grows.

Keywords

💡Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based digital marketing strategy where businesses reward affiliates for each customer brought by the affiliate's own marketing efforts. In the context of the video, Alex uses affiliate marketing to drive shoppers to brands and earns a commission for each purchase made through his website, finversus.com.

💡SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO refers to the process of improving a website's ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) to increase organic (non-paid) traffic. Alex's business heavily relies on SEO to attract visitors looking for health and wellness options. His strategy includes targeting low competition, long-tail keywords and creating high-quality content that meets the intent behind user searches.

💡Niche Market

A niche market is a specific segment of the market that has particular preferences, needs, or behaviors, different from the mainstream. Alex identifies a niche market in health and wellness, particularly in telemedicine, which is less crowded and allows him to stand out with his content and reviews.

💡Side Hustle

A side hustle is an additional job or venture that one undertakes alongside their primary employment. Alex started his affiliate marketing business as a side hustle while working a full-time job, which allowed him to test the viability of his business without quitting his stable income.

💡Google Algorithm

The Google algorithm is the complex formula that the search engine uses to rank websites in response to a search query. In the video, Alex mentions a pivotal moment when understanding changes in the Google algorithm significantly improved his website's performance and revenue.

💡Content Creation

Content creation involves producing and publishing original digital content, such as articles, videos, or podcasts. Alex writes the first 60 articles for his website himself, focusing on providing valuable information to his audience and aiming to be the first and best source of information on certain brands and products.

💡Partnerships

Partnerships in this context refer to the business relationships Alex establishes with brands. When visitors purchase products through his site, the brands pay a commission, making these partnerships crucial for his revenue stream.

💡Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific keyword phrases that are less competitive but can target users with high intent. Alex uses long-tail keywords to attract targeted traffic to his site, focusing on queries that are less saturated with content.

💡Paid Advertising

Paid advertising involves promoting products or services on various platforms by paying for the exposure. Alex diversifies his traffic sources by using paid advertising strategies in addition to organic SEO, which helps him reach a broader audience and grow his business.

💡Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the practice of hiring external individuals or companies to perform certain tasks or services. Alex outsources writing and hires a virtual assistant, an editor, a designer, and a web developer to focus on partnership development and revenue generation.

💡Portfolio of Websites

A portfolio of websites refers to a collection of different websites owned and managed by one individual or company. Alex builds a portfolio of affiliate marketing websites, each focusing on a specific niche, to leverage economies of scale and partnerships across multiple sites.

Highlights

Alex makes over a million dollars a year with affiliate marketing.

He built his business model while working a full-time job.

His website made $0 for months until a change in the Google algorithm.

Alex's business, finversus.com, is a popular product review site for health and wellness options.

The business started as a side hustle in 2018 and grew to a seven-figure revenue.

Alex's partnership model involves earning a commission from brands for referred sales.

Identified a niche in the health and wellness industry that was not crowded.

Wrote the first 60 articles himself and learned WordPress to build the site.

Drove traffic through organic SEO by anticipating the queries shoppers might be making online.

Partnered directly with brands after 6 months of significant organic traffic.

Alex didn't quit his full-time job until his side hustle replaced his salary.

Finn versus Finn was one of six affiliate marketing websites in Alex's portfolio.

Economies of scale were utilized by having one partner across multiple sites.

Competition in affiliate marketing is high, but differentiation is possible through niche focus.

Alex diversified traffic by experimenting with paid advertising.

The first hires made were for writing, virtual assistance, editing, and web development.

A typical day for an affiliate marketer includes team meetings, brand discussions, content review, and ad campaign management.

Alex is currently working on selling the business and finding it a new home.

Key advice from Alex is to just get started and figure out the business as you gain momentum.

Transcripts

this is Alex and he makes over a million

dollars a year with a business model

that nobody's talking about anymore a

affiliate marketing he invited us into

his house in California to show us his

exact websites and how he built them on

just a few hours a day while working a

full-time job yeah the aha moment for me

in terms of unlocking my side hustling

and and my ability to build a business

was but Alex's website made $0 for

months until one day he covered

something about the Google algorithm

that changed everything if you're

building a business that relies on SEO

you want to go after in this video we'll

dive into how to build a business while

you have a full-time job niches that

make $100,000 a month and the secret

strategy that Alex used to grow to a

million dollars a year the smart kind of

innovative moment for us was the idea of

just directly I'm Pat walls and this is

starter

story well Alex nice to meet you thank

you for having me in your lovely home

yeah tell me about who you are and what

you built I'm Alex I am the founder of

fin versus.com it's a popular product

review site that helps visitors on the

web compare different health and

wellness options it's now a seven fig

Revenue business started the business as

a side hustle in 2018 and and never

looked back yeah what is the actual

business model how does it work we drive

Shoppers to Brands I make Partnerships

with those Brands and every time

somebody buys something referred from

our site on one of those partner sites

we make a a commission of some kind yeah

so you're essentially a middleman

between Shoppers and these Brands that's

right y totally so you started Finn

versus Finn while you had a full-time

job can you tell me that story both of

my parents were entrepreneurs I kind of

knew from day one that that was always

my dream my idea right out of college

was hey why don't I go work with some

early stage Founders and eventually have

an idea and meet meet enough people and

build enough skills to to be successful

as an entrepreneur but what I found in

my life as a marketer at early stage

companies is that it's not a 90 to five

it's it's really that you're sort of

having a Founder mentality in order to

be successful a big aha moment for me

was this idea that hey I I need a true 9

to5 I need to be able to close my work

laptop at 5 so that I can side hustle

and and and you know find a path for my

own entrepreneurship really the key to

that was working at a larger company now

you got this more chill work life

balance tell me how you get the idea for

Finn versus Finn and what does the

journey look like from there I was

working at a fin tech company at the

time the first iteration of a of a

product review product comparison site

was just that stupid like fintech fin

versus Fin and so we were going to

compare fintech companies quickly saw

$100 million series A's Venture funding

going to a wide range of tele medicine

companies and thinking huh there's

there's no content online about that and

that's a pretty considered purchase you

know if you're going to buy a medical

product how are you going to make that

decision by yourself how do I know which

one to go trust so it's sort of like

scratching our own itch there in terms

of what kind of content to write but

yeah I wrote the first 60 articles

myself I didn't hire anyone learning

WordPress at the same time that's where

the the site is was built typically in

the beginning we would drive traffic

through organic SEO kind of anticipating

the series of products or queries that

Shoppers might be making online you know

what are Shoppers searching for

essentially is the first question and

you can meet that Demand with content

the the smart kind of innovative moment

for us was the idea of just partnering

with Brands directly I'd say it took us

about 6 months before we saw a

significant amount of organic traffic

where I felt comfortable starting to

reach out to the brands that we were

driving traffic to and had enough

confidence to say I'm pretty sure we're

driving you sales I don't see those

numbers on my end but there could be

more um if if we work together it's a

pretty compelling pitch and they name

their price in terms of the customers

that you're willing to drive so at this

point uh the the numbers the revenue is

starting to seem shockingly good

unbelievable yeah when you when you

first have that aha moment like this

this could be a business and um imagine

what could happen when you step on the

gas yeah you're starting to make some

money you're starting to balance do I

still work my full-time job do I not

what does that look like what does that

Journey look like for you so at some

point um you know maybe a full year in I

felt like my income was being replaced

it could be replaced at the same time I

think there's a fear or there was a fear

for me around is this legitimate and

will this last and how foolish if you

quit your day job and it doesn't really

last for very long and and then where

are you you know so I think at that

point I just said okay one year we'll

see and if the lights are still on in a

year um then this is super fun and and I

could see myself doing this full-time

yeah how much were you making from Finn

versus Finn at the time that you're

working a full-time job I guess I didn't

feel comfortable making that switch

until my income was replaced so I was

making 150k in salary so that's kind of

my own personal earnings from the site

when I felt comfortable making the

switch Yeah my favorite part about

Alex's story is that he didn't quit his

full-time job until he was making

$150,000 with this new side project and

just like Alex I actually did this same

thing I started a million-dollar

business while I had a full-time job but

it wasn't easy it required having the

right idea in a solid execution plan in

place if you're curious about doing

something similar and you have a

full-time job well we're running a free

workshop on how to build a

million-dollar business on Just 2 hours

a day we'll talk about how to overcome

self-doubt how to find a million-dollar

business idea and exactly how to execute

on that idea on Just 2 hours a day head

to the first link in the description to

save your seat we have just a limited

number of spots see you there back to

the video peace you guys really weren't

making money for months can you tell me

about the Breakthrough moment where you

started to realize that this could be a

business we identified the opportunity

for health and wellness and that was

like a a bullseye right we were amongst

the first in the world to to review some

of these tele health and tele medicine

platforms which are now public and

household names and and super common so

I feel like you know in some sense that

is the secret sauce figuring out a niche

that is not super Crow cred you can't

win in a crowded space when you're when

you're young and and new and your site

isn't authoritative on any level but you

can win queries that nobody has ever

written something for so generally if

you're huning for ideas that meet that

criteria I would say it has to be new

and there has to be sort of high margin

in that product category and there has

to be kind of a lot of activity or

momentum that will keep it going a space

where no one has talked about those

things but it has a lot of potential

because it's tried and true at the end

of the day it's not going to just be

here and an end what does your keyword

research process look like from starting

to research the keywords and then

writing the articles in the early days

if you're going to if you're building an

SEO a business that relies on SEO you

want to go after low competition

longtail keywords if you're in the

audience that you're trying to serve you

they might be just super intuitive to

you there's query patterns as well that

you start to recognize um that are high

intent if you have the pattern it's just

about fitting in the product or the

brand or best this for that in the early

days it was mostly focusing on the

brands that we wanted to cover so okay

this is a space we want to be in or

maybe we've already written about and we

have some Traction in okay so who are

the players in that space who do we

actually think is going to be here in 3

years and then strive to write the very

best thing online about that brand

sometimes that means going more in depth

than the article that's number one on

Google sometimes it means being more

concise and and more to the point it's

just what is the true intent behind the

query that somebody typed in and how

well does that piece of content that

you're creating meet that intent that's

how you wi be there first write the

first thing online about it and write

the best thing so everything's going

great you're gaining traction you're

building this business what happens next

I decide to go full-time at the business

after about 2 years my business partner

who I started the business with didn't

want to forego his career and sort of

always wanted this to be a side hustle

which at the time I very much respected

it's where we started it was our

agreement the solution to that really

was me buying him out now on the second

run I think I'll have more confidence to

do it myself but I still very much value

the contributions of a partner but I

think I also would be just more choosy

and and um more long-term oriented when

I think about the skills that we each

bring to the table Yeah tell me more a

little bit more about what you'd be

looking for in a partner you just want

somebody who who who matches your

intensity and shares your vision and

hopefully also has some skills that are

uh not just pure overlap with yours yeah

if you were to meet someone a potential

partner and you have some alignment on

Vision The Next Step would be hey maybe

we just see how we work together on some

small projects feel it out and if it's

right then Double Down double down and

pretty soon you you will either see

traction or need to formalize or both

yeah Finn versus Finn is not your only

uh website you built you decided to uh

build actually a portfolio of affiliate

marketing websites when did you decide

to do that and what does that look like

so we have about six sites in the

portfolio total and they tend to focus

on more Niche or more narrow Focus than

just general health and wellness and all

things tele medicine the reason I did

that is because you have economies of

scale when it comes to your Partnerships

if you have one partner you can put them

on five sites that was the idea there in

terms of adding sites to the portfolio

affiliate marketing might be one of the

most competitive side hustles you can

start in terms of anyone can start it

how do you differentiate and how do you

think about competition the expectation

that you're going to be able to stay at

top of Google forever I think is is

wildly not true you're going to be

competing with other people in your

Niche other experts and authoritative

websites as well as big Publishers that

go after everything under the Sun so I

think Forbes in Myspace health line but

you can always serve your partners with

net new content even as your past Money

Maker content starts to erode as as your

rankings start to erode stale content at

the end of the day will will not win on

Google so it needs to be fresh and it

needs to be within your area of

expertise that from Google's perspective

not going too far outside of your lane

topical Authority or kind of Niche what

I think is really cool about your

business is that you're not just doing

organic search you actually have dabbled

a bit in paid advertising can you tell

me about that trying to diversify the

the traffic is definitely something that

every online entrepreneur should be

thinking about realizing that you could

go to your partners and say hey I know

you want more growth I have an idea for

more growth it's outside of the realm of

what we normally do and it will cost you

know a test spend of a few a few

thousand do something like that and it

very well may fail and fall on its face

but we will be stronger and we'll have

learn something for it and the upside is

is that if it works it's extremely

scalable it's actually scalable to the

moon and

[Music]

pushed out further cuzz no one else is

going to do that work running an

affiliate business what does the team

look like and what were some of like the

first hires you made or some of the big

hires you made for the business the

first thing that we outsourced was

writing after that was hiring a virtual

assistant to sort of um take on a lot of

the publishing tasks from there one of

the biggest decisions was hiring an

editor full-time taking the editing off

my plate and then additionally we've

added a designer to the team and a web

developer that gives me enough space to

just really focus on the part

parterships which is where I feel my

interest is as well as the ability to

have the most leverage from from a

revenue perspective what is a typical

day in a life look like for an affiliate

marketer in 2024 so I really start my

work day probably around um 8:30 or 9

maybe I might have a weekly meeting um

with some of my team members sort of set

the agenda for for the week I likely

have a few meetings on my calendar with

with Brands themselves um to discuss how

we're continuing to expand their

partnership and and the the customers

that we're driving to them I likely you

know stop for lunch and and you know

head out out of my little dark office in

my H in my home hop back on my computer

to either review content tweak some ad

campaigns of some kind you know we do

have a paid media strategy it's a big

part of the business I typically stop

working around 4 which is when our our

the help for my son leaves and I don't

do a lot of of work on the weekends

anymore but I do have a nice window

after sort of evening family time when I

after I put my son to sleep where I I

can have a few interrupted hours to

respond to emails and make sure that

folks on my team who are distributed

across the world have their next steps

for the next day essentially yeah you

built this awesome business what's next

I'm actually uh working on selling the

business and finding it a new home so I

think it's important to understand your

purpose for the business is it just

about the lifestyle and you actually

don't care about how much money you make

is it something that I see myself

working in or yourself working in for

the remainder of your life or is it

something that you know has a short

period of time that you want to be

running it but you ultimately want to

have an exit so thinking through those

and and then um which corporate

structure which functions you take on

yourself and what you Outsource I think

is are key considerations yeah if you

could stand on Alex's shoulder and give

him some advice on some of those things

what would you say one of the key things

that I've learned in this process is you

can try and engineer the outcome as much

as possible from the gecko but the

reality of the situation is that you

can't see around very many corners and

you're going to have to Pivot a bunch so

my key piece of advice to anyone who

wants to own a business one day and

start it and be the entrepreneur is to

just get started um because where you

start is not going to be where you end

by by any means just pick a broad-based

audience and start trying to figure out

what their problems are and how you can

help them but it doesn't need to be more

engineered than that you don't need to

be thinking about this being um a

business that's going to be

multi-generational or IPO or it doesn't

even have to be business necessarily

that you're hoping to sell one day it's

important just to get started and figure

out the pieces once you have a bit of

momentum thank you man yeah follow this

advice and you will be a million dollar

affiliate marketer

peace that was

great