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Pat Flynn has an inspiring story that you must listen to if you are like many people around the world who recently lost their job and want to transition to making an income online from your own business.
Pat lost his job as an architect and decided to start an Internet business. His blog was originally set up as a website to store his notes while studying a special type of architecture qualification called the LEED exam. The blog started receiving lots of traffic because of his LEED notes. Some of Pat’s readers emailed him and suggested he create a book on how to pass the exam, which he did simply by compiling his blog posts together in a sequence.
Pat published his ebook and made $8,000 in his first month. After just one year of running his online business he has made $203,219.04, as reported in his Annual Passive Income Report.
In this interview with Pat you will hear him break down his entire story, including how he set up his blog, how he created his ebook and sells it online. If you don’t think your life can change in just a few short months thanks to the Internet, this interview will change your mind. Enjoy!
Show Notes
- How Pat lost his job as an architecture during the economic downturn and started a blog
- What topic Pat wrote about on his blog that skyrocketed his traffic and led to making his first product
- How Pat was able to make $8,000 in his first month selling his ebook
- Pat explains how he managed his business from his iphone while in Hawaii, making $9,000 a week
- A step-by-step breakdown of how Pat started his blog, wrote his ebook by combining his blog posts, and then started selling it from his blog
- How Pat created a simple sales page and what shopping cart service he uses to sell his ebook
- Why Pat believes he is successful selling his first ebook online and others fail
- How Pat gets targeted traffic to his blog, mostly for free from Google
- Pat explains what elements of his sales page he tests using Google Optimizer
Resources
Mp3 Download
Click Here to Download the MP3 [ 49 Minutes - 22 MB ]
Thanks for sharing Yaro. This post combined with Gideon Shalwick’s video on making an e-book he posted recently (http://gideonshalwick.com/7-easy-steps-to-create-your-own-top-selling-ebook/) could sky-rocket anyone into business.
My wife Terrah and I have been thinking about doing an ebook. The google data on our blog (which I just wrote a post about) shows that people are really liking our content. We have also been told that people really want to see more of our content. So, we are thinking that maybe doing a free ebook, or selling an e-book will be great.
Thanks for providing such great information.
Your Message
This is one of the best interviews you’ve done, Yaro. I just love the way Pat took the content from his blog postings and reformatted / reorganised them into his e-book. I’ve been wondering for a while what the subject of my e-book should be and Pat has provided me with the answer!
I will be launching a new blog after Xmas, so I have a question for Pat: How many blog postings did you have before you turned them into your book?
Hi Carole,
Actually, I think my blog was sort of unique because there was definitely an “ending point” as far as the information that people needed. They needed enough information to pass the exam, and there was a clear set of “chapters” or “sections” that I had to cover, which made it really simple.
That being said, that doesn’t mean if you don’t have content that has a definite ending point you shouldn’t write an eBook. The eBook could be a great way to get people “started” with something, for example, and you can even upsell to premium content that you keep updating in some kind of membership website or paid newsletter.
My book ended up being 80 pages long, but depending on the subject, it may be proper to have it longer or shorter. I’ve seen eBooks on sale that were only 15 pages long, but were full of EXCELLENT content that made it worth my money.
Hope that helps! Good luck Carole!
Your Message
That’s a good tip – thanks. Pat. I notice that you don’t run PPC ads to gain extra traffic. When I typed in ‘LEED exam’, two ads came up: one for a study book from GreenExamPRep.com and one for seminar classes. Is there any reason you don’t run ads on Google?
Yaro, I’m a long time lurker but I had to say this was a really great interview. It is so refreshing to learn about people who are actually earning money from what they know and filling a need in their industry instead of I’m making money by teaching others how to make money. Please continue to interview more people like Pat.
Pat thanks for sharing your story, I’m glad you were able to find a place where you can do what you love and help others at the same time.
Thanks Kimmoy! I appreciate it!
What an amazing, inspiring story! It’s amazing how so many people kind of fall into online success without really even looking for it and the ones that go after it often end up spinning their tails!
I’m not even done finishing listening to the audio (yes I’m multitasking while listening to this), but I wanted say that your interview with Pat Flynn is jam packed with information. It was great to listen to you both talk about how he did what he did through trial and error. We all have our processes to learn, learn from others. You both have so much personality that conveys to the listener that makes it interesting to listen as it does have some length to it.
Thank you so much for providing outside resources that keeps your information fresh, gives the perspective of others experiences, and expands my pool of interesting people who provide quality writing and ideas to follow.
Layne
@Layne: this is how you actually learn… always through trial and error method. You learn mainly on your mistakes, trust me on this – I’m a teacher;) BTW I also think that it was really worth listening to that. Pat has got some interesting ideas… thanks for sharing them with us;)
Great post. Very inspiring. Thanks!
This was fantastic and I learned some valuable points here that I shall put into use with my own ebook. I’m actually going to listen for a second time and take notes.
I am curious about e-junkie because I use them for the delivery but at the moment I am using ClickBank for the billing part. Does anybody have any opinions on which is better for the billing side and whether one or the other scores more highly for conversions? I went to ClickBank originally because they are supposed to have the biggest number of affiliates.
Hi Yaro, this story was so inspiring I downloaded onto my MP3 Player and listened to it twice!
I especially appreciate your clarifying questions as you take the listener step-by-step through the process Pat went through to set everything up.
I am new to blogging, and am planning to sell some e-books myself.
I’m also curious about the pros and cons of using e-junkie and ClickBank so any info you could provide about this would be fantastic.
Hello Pat and thank you for sharing your great story with us
.
I listened to your remark about the 20% rise conversion rate with the big “Add to Cart” button, and would like to get the same, but I can’t understand the name of the Internet Marketer that gave it to you (English is not my primary langage).
Could you please share his name or his website with us ?
Olivier
Hi Oliver!
The internet marketer’s name was Ryan Deiss. You can look up “Ryan Deiss Magic Button” in Google and find a lot of posts about it.
It worked on my site, but honestly it shouldn’t be thought of as any type of quick fix. The best thing to do would be to split test it against other button designs, and/or colors to come up with what works best for your traffic. That is what I did, and this add to cart button seemed to be the best for me. Enjoy!
That is really great for the man. Unfortunately, not everybody will be able to do or achieve something like that. The Internet is open to everyone but success on the Internet is definitely reserved to those who know what to do to acquire it. And i also believe that in whatever you want to achieve, sometimes a bit of luck is needed. But it’s definitely inspiring to see this man’s success story.
I have been reading Pat’s blog for about a week or two now and I have to say I am quite impressed. I am always fascinated when a person makes a decision to take the road less traveled and less “safe” and makes a success of it.
I know when I was laid off a few years ago I immediately started looking for and found a new job. But that was before I was introduced to Internet Entrepreneurship. Now I don’t in anyway wish to be fired or laid off, but now I know that with a lot of hard work, planning and networking that I may be able to make a living online. Pat’s blog is an excellent roadmap of the road less traveled.
It’s such an inspirational post! I reall love reading success stories of people who came from nothing to become a really successful online.I will surely visit Pat’s site.Thanks for sharing Yaro.
I’ve found that there are so many success stories from guys who started their venture without the intention of making money off of it. They simply did what they knew how to do and ended up watching the whole thing take off
I have to thank Pat for leading me to this website. Tons of great info here for me to consume. I have been following Pat for awhile now and he has inspired me greatly. I always look forward to each and every post he offers.
Putting his information and tips into action will certainly help any website make money. Hopefully creating the lifestyle that you really want to live.
Thanks Pat for all you have done and thanks for leading me here.
Marty
Hey Pat is in my “disc golf internet mastermind group” he is definitely the real deal and an inspiration to us all!
Pat’s story is great, but i would be concerned about it being a flash in the pan, it sounds like he is leveraging his success to avoid this.
Hey haber,
I know Pat personally and I can assure you nothing this dude does is a flash in the pan. He is absolutely the real deal and one of the hardest working marketers I know.
I think one of the reasons Pat is so successful is that he takes absolutely everything he learns adds it to his bag of tricks and then applies it to his work.
Of course on the flip side nothing on the internet is permanent and in a sense we are all “flashes in the pans” =)
Downloading the mp3 now. Hope it will be inspiring enough to keep me moving
Pat’s story is very inspirational. His story and success inspires me to go continue pushing to reach my ultimate level of success. My blog is just over six months old now and I’m looking to implement a lot of the techniques that you’ve taught, Yaro, as well as Pat into my business.
We can say, all day long, that Pat’s story in inspiring and motivational but until we get start to hustle and apply the techniques shared here and throughout Yaro’s blog to ourselves then we’re not using that inspiration to benefit us.
Thanks for sharing, Yaro!!
This interview really gets me thinking of all the topics in which I have moderate expertise. Listening to Pat’s success and how he went about getting there inspires me to get my own ebooks created. I think I need to listen to the interview again, I missed the course he took that taught him the ins-and -outs.
Wow I’ve been there before-laid off. The construction business is gone.
This is a great post Yara. We can and need to become masters of our future in every way.
@Pat – haha awesome, I played Magic The Gathering as well…
Pat is really an inspiration to any online marketer or blog writer. He really opens up and tells what he’s doing well and what his goals are going forward.
Pat, whom I’ve come to know lately as a blogger has been inspiring me greatly. I love his work and hope to one day make as much money as he does. Wish you the very best Pat. God bless.
Very inspiring story, especially for those who have lost jobs recently or can not find jobs in the first place. The key is never to give up, and try your best at what you are good at.
Dear Pat,
I like your blog. There is a lot of good useful advice and information for free in it. However, I am a critical thinker and can’t help but be skeptical about a few things:
- First, you seem to contradict yourself. In your 101 intro, you tell everyone that making passive income online is not easy, and that it requires a lot of hard work and time to build up, which is true. But then in your story, you say you made $8000 off one ebook during your first month attempt at this, and that in your first year, you made over $200,000, and now you make $30,000 a month. Isn’t that a direct contradiction? By your claims, you got rich quick easily, but you tell everyone that it takes a lot of time and hard work and is not easy.
- I’ve been making money online for 3 years now, and I know many others who are doing it too. $8,000 in your first month is an extraordinary claim, not a realistic one, even if you are a super genius. It took me 3 years to build up enough traffic and reputation to make a little over $900 a month. And that was through hard work and content generation, not with any secret formula. Your sites do look great, and do have top rankings I see, but there are many sites out there that look great with web 2.0 graphics and nifty wordpress themes too, and they ain’t making shit. I still think your claims are extraordinary. But your fans seem to believe everything you say, like a Gospel preacher in a church, with no skepticism. Why is that?
- What evidence is there to back your income claims? Why haven’t you posted screen shots of your Adsense report earnings, or of your monthly PayPal transactions? But even those are easy to fake. Anyone can download or save a webpage offline, and then manipulate the HTML in it to produce any numbers they want. On the internet, anyone can claim anything. Even in Amway and other MLM’s, lots of people making nothing are claiming to be doing well and pulling in thousands of dollars per month. It doesn’t mean it’s all true. Furthermore, if you really are making $30k a month, why are you always wearing cheap looking worn out t-shirts in your video interviews?
- In my experience, people who really are pulling in a lot of income do not like to draw public attention to it, unless they are celebrities. There are negative consequences to doing that. Especially if you are making a lot of money online, it is not in one’s best interest to publicize it, for it will draw bad people, and incite others to follow your business model and create copycat versions of your site, which could potentially jeopardize your income. No rational person would want to do that.
- In addition, there is an old adage that says: “You cannot make a lot of money by telling people the truth”. I wonder if that applies here. Another witty quote says:
“The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” – H. L. Mencken
So it makes sense to be skeptical here, doesn’t it?
Totally makes sense to be skeptical here, Winston. You just sent me an email with the EXACT same text just an hour ago. I think it would have been a little bit more courteous to not send the exact same message on other blogs and wait until I respond. I was in the middle of my response to you when I saw that you posted this comment. I’m getting back to you, I promise! I have nothing to hide, and if anyone else is interested in my answer to Winston’s thoughts (which are absolutely just) just let me know and I’ll send them to you. Just shoot me an email.
Thanks for your patience Winston. My answer will get to you shortly.
I am very interested in your response to Winston.
Hey Pat,
Not to say your not correct, but I would also be interested in your response to Winston if you dont mind.
Thanks,
Rob
Well put.
I agree that the biggest query i have is if you have a good model why expose it. As you’re work is guaranteed to be copied.
My general impression is, its the Blog that generates the revenue. People follow success. If you claim to make money people will follow you no matter what. You can inflate your claims easily.
No disrespect to Pat, as he is good at what he does. It’s just ‘don’t believe the hype’.
Why expose it? Because I want others to succeed too. In this space, other people’s success will not hurt my own. On the contrary, it could only help my brand, if anything.
Can you create a site about the LEED exam like I could – probably not, but the model might work for you in another niche that I and several other people may know nothing about.
Hype? Where’s the hype? It’s just all truth and numbers. When you believe that it can’t happen, it won’t.
Still waiting for your response? why dont you post it here?
Hey guys – here’s my reply to Winston…sorry I didn’t get back sooner – I can’t monitor all 20+ sites he posted this same exact email on…
You’ll see me respond underneath specific portions of his email, below:
Hey Winston,
Thanks for the email. I was about to go to bed but I felt like I needed to respond to you. Like I said in the response to your comment on my post, I appreciate and welcome skepticism. I do because I know I have nothing to worry about because I don’t hide anything. My answers to your questions are below each of your comments…
On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 3:12 AM, Winston Wu wrote:
Dear Pat,
I like your blog. There is a lot of good useful advice and information for free in it. However, I am a critical thinker and can’t help but be skeptical about a few things:
- First, you seem to contradict yourself. In your 101 intro, you tell everyone that making passive income online is not easy, and that it requires a lot of hard work and time to build up, which is true. But then in your story, you say you made $8000 off one ebook during your first month attempt at this, and that in your first year, you made over $200,000, and now you make $30,000 a month. Isn’t that a direct contradiction? By your claims, you got rich quick easily, but you tell everyone that it takes a lot of time and hard work and is not easy.
Me: Indeed, making a passive income online is NOT easy. Not at all. October of 2008, when I made about $8k online, that was NOT my first month online. Not even close – in fact, my blog that I made all that money off of, which was previously at intheleed.com and is now greenexamacademy.com, was already up for almost 2 years. October of 2008 was the first month I monetized that site with an eBook. To get to $30k a month now has not been easy either – it’s taken a lot of hard work, dedication, and going through times of wanting to give up.
- I’ve been making money online for 3 years now, and I know many others who are doing it too. $8,000 in your first month is an extraordinary claim, not a realistic one, even if you are a super genius. It took me 3 years to build up enough traffic and reputation to make a little over $900 a month. And that was through hard work and content generation, not with any secret formula. Your sites do look great, and do have top rankings I see, but there are many sites out there that look great with web 2.0 graphics and nifty wordpress themes too, and they ain’t making shit. I still think your claims are extraordinary. But your fans seem to believe everything you say, like a Gospel preacher in a church, with no skepticism. Why is that?
Me: I don’t think the income from a site depends on how it looks. Okay, maybe a little bit, but it’s about the person behind the site, and the relationships that are built between that person and their audience. I know I do a lot of things that other blogs don’t do – even blogs that have a better design than my own. I’m 100% honest and transparent about not only my earnings, but how I run my businesses, and not only when I do things right, but when I fail too. A lot of other bloggers in this industry hide this.
See my niche site duel here: http://www.nichesiteduel.com – it shows, for free, how I took a site from scratch (i reveal the keyword and website and everything – you can find it at http://www.securityguardtraininghq.com) and got to #1 in Google in 73 days, and now a year later that site is now making 2k a per month. Again, not easy – I put a lot of hard work into it, but it’s paying off, passively now.
You see – not everyone does this, and this is proof that the concepts I talk about work. A lot of people out there talk the talk, but this is talking and walking the walk, which I always try to do. I go out of my way to provide the BEST content possible, some of the best content on the web, for free. The more I give away, the more I get back in return.
I think people care about what I say because I care about them. I truly do. My business model is this: give away as much information as possible, and it will always come back to me bigger.
With greenexamacademy.com, that site was up for almost 2 years, just pure content, not selling anything, and I worked with people to help them pass the LEED exam (which is what that site is about). When I finally wrote an eBook (which was actually done after several requests from my own audience), I already had the audience there, and some people even bought the book from me even though they had already passed the exam, just to thank me for giving away all the free information I did on that site.
It’s all about relationships, and I can tell you I take great pride in how I relate to people from my blog – with those who support me, with those who don’t, and those who are skeptical about what I do and the numbers I report, like yourself.
- What evidence is there to back your income claims? Why haven’t you posted screen shots of your Adsense report earnings, or of your monthly PayPal transactions? But even those are easy to fake. Anyone can download or save a webpage offline, and then manipulate the HTML in it to produce any numbers they want. On the internet, anyone can claim anything. Even in Amway and other MLM’s, lots of people making nothing are claiming to be doing well and pulling in thousands of dollars per month. It doesn’t mean it’s all true. Furthermore, if you really are making $30k a month, why are you always wearing cheap looking worn out t-shirts in every video interview you give?
Me: There’s no way to understand if anybody is totally being honest online – but I can tell you that I wouldn’t take a chance doing that because with the FTC involved now – anyone could get into major trouble providing false claims like that.
I could do a screenshare with you on Skype and walk you through my accounts and show you the affiliate earnings I make – but I don’t think that’s necessary. I shouldn’t have to do that, but if you ask I have nothing to hide.
And your comment about cheap shirts, I think that’s a little uncalled for. Why does the fact that I make good money mean I have to look a certain way, or wear certain clothes, or live a certain lifestyle. If I was homeless but had a nice tuxedo on, would that make you automatically think I was a millionaire?
Plus, I’m comfortable in those shirts. What I wear has nothing to do with how much I make.
- In my experience, people who really are pulling in a lot of income do not like to draw public attention to it, unless they are celebrities. There are negative consequences to doing that. Especially if you are making a lot of money online, it is not in one’s best interest to publicize it, for it will draw bad people, and incite others to follow your business model and create copycat versions of your site, which could potentially jeopardize your income. No rational person would want to do that.
Me: I’m me, and this is what I do. So in your experience, people don’t like to bring attention to it. Well, I do – because it shows that making money online is possible. It inspires people, and it pushes me to do more by holding myself accountable. In light of my audience and what would help them, it’s in the best interest for them because it’s authentic, it’s real, and I think that if anyone is teaching anybody how to do anything online, they have to show proof first – and this is my proof.
- In addition, there is an old adage that says: “You cannot make a lot of money by telling people the truth”. I wonder if that applies here. Another witty quote says:
“The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.” – H. L. Mencken
So it makes sense to be skeptical here, doesn’t it?
Me: Totally makes sense to be skeptical, and again, I appreciate that you are because it’s really easy for me to send you an email and just tell you the truth.
With the quotes – I think times are changing now – especially with social media and everyone being connected. Sure, it’s an old adage, but it’s a new age, and authenticity and truth is what people want, it’s what people appreciate now, and in this world of blogging and building trust and earning fans – success starts with the truth.
Do I expect that after reading this you’ll change your mind about me – I have no idea, that’s up to you. But, if you have any more questions or even want to chat over Skype – I’m here to show you I’m a genuine, nice guy who is doing well online and trying to give others good advice on how to do the same.
Sincerely,
Pat
p.s. A couple of my other blogger friends have been telling me you posted this exact same email in their comment section. Why did you do that without even giving me a chance to answer you? I find that to be pretty unethical. Looking forward to your response, and would appreciate it if you found answers from me first before spamming all of my friends’ blogs.
I also did share a few screenshots with him of my first month of sales on GreenExamAcademy.com in October of 2008 (again, that’s first month of sales – of monetizing – not the first month the site was live), and he has yet to respond to that. Actually, he took the time to send me a lengthy (and quite entertaining) followup email about the shirts I wore in my videos and why I should look more like news anchors on CNN or guests on Oprah if I was really making money online like I claim. Again like I said in response – I like those vintage shirts, and they are comfortable. They are me, and when I’m doing an interview, who else should I be but…me. Steve Jobs wore jeans and a black shirt during his keynote speeches, does that make him a liar and all Apple products are just fake?