Alright, hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!

The next question being answered is from Michael.

Michael wrote:

Aaron,
Since you’ve left your 9-5 job and are making it on-line. I would like to know (without getting too personal or using specific amounts) more about here your income is being generated from.
Do you find the bulk of your incoming coming from one area (selling traffic, products and/or affiliates, etc.).
Also, a time line of how long it has taken you for you to get to each level of success. (a bit more detailed than just ‘check out my archives for the dates and yes, ’success’ is a subjective term however I’m sure there were relevant milestones that you’ve reached in your business).

Thanks and keep up the great work. I really enjoy reading your blog.

Thanks for the question Michael.

My income, or “the bulk” as you say, is mainly generated from selling products right here on my blog. When you see me offer a 24 hour special to promote a new product, or when you see me write a blog article promoting a certain product I own, it’s generating income.

I don’t sell any traffic right now. I did generate some income a number of years ago by selling banner advertisements on other websites of mine, but I don’t do that anymore. As for affiliates, I do have a few. I have some affiliates who promote the Blogcast Course: http://www.blogcastcourse.com who make a 50% commission through ClickBank. Other than that, I don’t have any other affiliates since I only use Kunaki at the moment for the wrest of my products.

A time-line… Ok.

Before this blog was created, I released two products as Warrior Special Offers on the warrior forum: http://www.warriorforum.com

Each video product made $200 during a special. I released one per week, so right off the bat I put about $400 in my PayPal account in the first two weeks. Before that, I had never made nor sold my own information products. The products weren’t anything special… one was how to set up an autoresponder using 1shoppingcart, I think.

Soon after that, I created this domain name on April 19th, 2006. Then, soon after that I installed WordPress on my web host (This is my affiliate link) for the blog. That has allowed me to write articles, promote products, and grow an online business.

In March 2007, while I still worked a day job, I took a long weekend and went on a cruise to Mexico. Any co-workers I told were pretty jealous. I’m not sure why, when they had the same position as me, and could have just as easily taken a long weekend. The cruise changed the path I was headed. Did I want to work for someone else, or build my own business and seek freedom?

About two months after the cruise, I released the Blogcast Course. I sometimes refer to that as my first course, but is really my third. It’s the first course I put value into, and I no longer offer the first two. Several of my own blog readers own this course, and have put it to use on their own blogs. It has aided others in growing their blogs readership.

In the same month that I released the Blogcast Course, I quit my day job. I was drained and was pretty stressed every time I got off work. I knew that wasn’t healthy, so I decided to work on this business instead.

And, I recently released my own intern program. That’s a major accomplishment because it will assist me in getting that freedom I was looking for. Not only does it allow others to experience what it takes to run an online business, it’s also another step towards continuous improvement in this business.

I think most know about my recent trip to Costa Rica. I notice (and my blog readers notice) an improvement in my business each time I take these trips. So I will keep them up.

Thanks for the questions!

- Aaron Brandon