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Intro - how i just lost $8k/month because of CONTROL

krak

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Hello all,

Happy to share my first post here, while I am still reading "Unscripted ." I read the "Millionaire Fastlane " a few months back and wanted to hear more of what MJ has to say. Have a little story that might be relatable:

One of my main streams of income has been coming from a skateboarding Facebook page. I create videos featuring skaters from instagram that give me permission to use their clips. The page has grown quite a bit over the past year and has reached over 1 million views per day at some points. These videos have ad breaks in them similar to YouTube which is how they generate revenue. Anyways, after this page having its best month of about $8,000 in October, Facebook decided to turn off the monetization features. My videos still get the same amount of views, or more, but the revenue is gone.

Reading "Unscripted " reminded me of CONTROL, as I obviously don't have the control in this situation. I was expecting this to happen at some point since Facebook shuts down everything I do, but it's a good reminder not to hitchhike. I'm brainstorming ways to leverage the following on this page to help the skateboarding community in some way, but after losing the revenue it almost doesn't seem worth it. If anyone has ideas or wants to help I'm very open; if I don't come up with anything soon I'll probably just let the page slowly die and continue working on everything else.

Looking forward to reading more about the other people's journeys on here
 
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Kal-El1998

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You could work on maybe translating that to your own type of blog and run adsense on it similar to how mj does here. That would give you full control. Another thing you could start is lead generation. Building and ranking websites. You have full control of the sites and the money comes through the leads you pass on. I know several people who are doing this successfully and I'm getting there myself.
 

krak

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You could work on maybe translating that to your own type of blog and run adsense on it similar to how mj does here. That would give you full control. Another thing you could start is lead generation. Building and ranking websites. You have full control of the sites and the money comes through the leads you pass on. I know several people who are doing this successfully and I'm getting there myself.
A website is probably the best route to go for full control. I've considered it but not sure that a forum would be better for the community compared to FB groups or r/skateboarding. My FB page also has a community group with 6,000 members or so which could be useful
 

NewManRising

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A website is probably the best route to go for full control. I've considered it but not sure that a forum would be better for the community compared to FB groups or r/skateboarding. My FB page also has a community group with 6,000 members or so which could be useful
How about a podcast? Maybe you can interview skaters in some of the episodes?
 
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krak

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How about a podcast? Maybe you can interview skaters in some of the episodes?
Never thought of that. There's a go-to skate podcast called the Nine Club but that's an interesting idea
 

Kal-El1998

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A website is probably the best route to go for full control. I've considered it but not sure that a forum would be better for the community compared to FB groups or r/skateboarding. My FB page also has a community group with 6,000 members or so which could be useful
Yeah a forum probably wouldn't be the best...but you could make a blog and encourage your facebook group followers to tune in to it. Idk you definitely know how they interact much better than me.
 

StrikingViper69

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Sponsored product reviews? Do skaters have their own merch like bands do? Maybe you could have a featured skater of the week or something and split the profits on any sales from your page
 
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Johnny boy

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Let us never forget why people post ads on facebook in the first place

Eyeballs are $$$$

You have the eyeballs

Now give them your own ads.

Just IN the content.

Sell them skateboarding merch

Sell them whatever!

But don't change a thing other than placing your own ads. Keep the content good because it's working.

A million people a day...jesus christ....imagine what you could make if you put an offer in front of a million people...

This is such a blessing in disguise you have no idea.

You should think more creatively about what that community would fork over big money for. Give them something scalable, profitable, and specific to that community and watch the cash roll in.

If you launched a skateboarding brand, it would be more successful than most, simply because you have a million people a day hearing about it!

The ability to get eyeballs on your stuff is the most valuable skill of this decade. F*ck coding. F*ck "sales skills". Getting eyeballs is #1. And you've got it. It's a gold mine and all you have to do is pull in the gold.
 

krak

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Let us never forget why people post ads on facebook in the first place

Eyeballs are $$$$

You have the eyeballs

Now give them your own ads.

Just IN the content.

Sell them skateboarding merch

Sell them whatever!

But don't change a thing other than placing your own ads. Keep the content good because it's working.

A million people a day...jesus christ....imagine what you could make if you put an offer in front of a million people...

This is such a blessing in disguise you have no idea.

You should think more creatively about what that community would fork over big money for. Give them something scalable, profitable, and specific to that community and watch the cash roll in.

If you launched a skateboarding brand, it would be more successful than most, simply because you have a million people a day hearing about it!

The ability to get eyeballs on your stuff is the most valuable skill of this decade. f*ck coding. f*ck "sales skills". Getting eyeballs is #1. And you've got it. It's a gold mine and all you have to do is pull in the gold.
Appreciate the kind words and I totally agree - the big question is essentially how can a product help these skateboarding fans. Many products in the industry look like a money grab and skaters are super super sensitive about being sold something, or whether someone is in the industry solely to make money.

I'd love to put my own ads inside the content and def think its doable but I would need to brainstorm some better ideas of what the skaters truly need. Something like indestructible shoe laces (if you skate for 8+hours per day, your shoelaces will rip almost every day - this is extremely frustrating and hasn't been solved perfectly yet)
 

Martzee

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You could work on maybe translating that to your own type of blog and run adsense on it similar to how mj does here. That would give you full control. Another thing you could start is lead generation. Building and ranking websites. You have full control of the sites and the money comes through the leads you pass on. I know several people who are doing this successfully and I'm getting there myself.
Full control with Google adsense? Google changes algorithms every year or so. Your best ranking and income in 2020 will suddenly turn around in 2021 due to different Google ranking. You have no control. It's just an illusion.
 
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Kal-El1998

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Full control with Google adsense? Google changes algorithms every year or so. Your best ranking and income in 2020 will suddenly turn around in 2021 due to different Google ranking. You have no control. It's just an illusion.
I mean throughout the years it seems to have been working for MJ...why wouldn't it work for you?
 

Martzee

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I mean throughout the years it seems to have been working for MJ...why wouldn't it work for you?
I was just disputing the claim that with Google Adsense you "have full control". You don't. You still rely on a third party. One day Google shuts down their service and your stream of income is gone. It works for MJ because it is one of his income venues, not the only one. Warren Buffett once said if the stock market shuts down today for the next 20 years, what will happen to your portfolio and income? Ask the same question in your business and income streams. If you see holes, you need to be looking for other options to have multiple streams.
 

krak

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I was just disputing the claim that with Google Adsense you "have full control". You don't. You still rely on a third party. One day Google shuts down their service and your stream of income is gone. It works for MJ because it is one of his income venues, not the only one. Warren Buffett once said if the stock market shuts down today for the next 20 years, what will happen to your portfolio and income? Ask the same question in your business and income streams. If you see holes, you need to be looking for other options to have multiple streams.
This forum also makes money from memberships not just adsense. If I remember correctly in TMF , MJ mentions something about one of his businesses making $15k/month but relying solely on Google adwords - one day Google could shut him out of business at the drop of a hat. All it takes is a policy change or an incorrect flag in the system. I get flagged for something new on Facebook every week.

For my FB page, I got shut down after my best 2 days of revenue. The last two days of my pages revenue were: Saturday $829.76, Sunday $1835.86. Before this month, my highest days were something like $400 or $500 and these were rare. After putting in a few years on this page growing it for the sake of the ad-break revenue, Facebook flagged and instantly turned it off. Now I have 0% control over getting it back. Trying to speak to a human at Facebook is as painful as it gets.
 
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Martzee

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This forum also makes money from memberships not just adsense. If I remember correctly in TMF , MJ mentions something about one of his businesses making $15k/month but relying solely on Google adwords - one day Google could shut him out of business at the drop of a hat. All it takes is a policy change or an incorrect flag in the system. I get flagged for something new on Facebook every week.

For my FB page, I got shut down after my best 2 days of revenue. The last two days of my pages revenue were: Saturday $829.76, Sunday $1835.86. Before this month, my highest days were something like $400 or $500 and these were rare. After putting in a few years on this page growing it for the sake of the ad-break revenue, Facebook flagged and instantly turned it off. Now I have 0% control over getting it back. Trying to speak to a human at Facebook is as painful as it gets.
That is exactly what I was referring to. You can get shut down in a heartbeat and it will not be your fault and you won't be able to do anything about it.

But you are on the right track, you are looking for ways to make sure your revenue keeps coming even if one source gets shut down or is temporarily impaired.

That means, your source of information needs to be elsewhere - reside in a secured place where it cannot be shut down and use the services to monetize it.

Currently, all your data and info sits on Facebook... you are dependent at their mercy.

Move it to a blog, forum, website, something you own. Use Facebook, Google, Youtube, MeWe, and other streams to monetize it. I had a blog, and I had offers to get paid if I place ads or write reviews about the products on my blog directly from the owners or manufacturers of the products so that you can have income from the ads on your blog, direct reviews, Google Adsense, Youtube videos, Facebook, Patreon, and so on, and if Facebook shuts you down, you still have money from other sources coming. All you need to create the page and link all the sources together.

See a sketch attached. I believe that is what you need to start working on. But, be prepared for a lot of work.
 

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Johnny boy

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Appreciate the kind words and I totally agree - the big question is essentially how can a product help these skateboarding fans. Many products in the industry look like a money grab and skaters are super super sensitive about being sold something, or whether someone is in the industry solely to make money.

I'd love to put my own ads inside the content and def think its doable but I would need to brainstorm some better ideas of what the skaters truly need. Something like indestructible shoe laces (if you skate for 8+hours per day, your shoelaces will rip almost every day - this is extremely frustrating and hasn't been solved perfectly yet)
It’s totally been done before. Just find some decent laces made for skateboarders and sell them to your audience. They don’t need to be the best in the whole world, just good enough to not warrant a lot of returns. You have the audience now just sell them stuff.
 

BizyDad

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You could work on maybe translating that to your own type of blog and run adsense on it similar to how mj does here. That would give you full control.
I mean throughout the years it seems to have been working for MJ...why wouldn't it work for you?

Please stop with this nonsense.

First off, MJ didn't become MJ through "adsense riches". The revenue he earns here is likely a tiny amount of his overall revenue stream. I'd be stunned if he said the forum generates $8k/mo in adsense revenue.

Secondly, it is not control because at any time Google can decide to change the terms or even close your adsense account with no recourse for you.

Lastly, just because you see some other business doing XYZ, doesn't mean XYZ will work the same for you. It could, but it also might not. There are too many reasons "why" to list here.
 
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samuraijack

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Just adding ideas in:

You can also find sponsors for your content and put a few seconds of it directly in the video like how youtubers do.

You can also start and work to build up a youtube audience as well and take advantage of monetization from there.
 

Mr.Niceguy

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Hello all,

Happy to share my first post here, while I am still reading "Unscripted ." I read the "Millionaire Fastlane " a few months back and wanted to hear more of what MJ has to say. Have a little story that might be relatable:

One of my main streams of income has been coming from a skateboarding Facebook page. I create videos featuring skaters from instagram that give me permission to use their clips. The page has grown quite a bit over the past year and has reached over 1 million views per day at some points. These videos have ad breaks in them similar to YouTube which is how they generate revenue. Anyways, after this page having its best month of about $8,000 in October, Facebook decided to turn off the monetization features. My videos still get the same amount of views, or more, but the revenue is gone.

Reading "Unscripted " reminded me of CONTROL, as I obviously don't have the control in this situation. I was expecting this to happen at some point since Facebook shuts down everything I do, but it's a good reminder not to hitchhike. I'm brainstorming ways to leverage the following on this page to help the skateboarding community in some way, but after losing the revenue it almost doesn't seem worth it. If anyone has ideas or wants to help I'm very open; if I don't come up with anything soon I'll probably just let the page slowly die and continue working on everything else.

Looking forward to reading more about the other people's journeys on here
Hey!
i know this situation and can relate to that. It‘s not nice to loose an income stream because of other parties decisions..
However, you need to find a solution and we all know that anything can happen when changes are made. I suggest to not let the page slowly die, because you already put much work in.

My solution idea would be selling your own branded skater stuff on your site. For example you create a brand and offering cool t-shirts, socks, ... , that your audience can buy via spreadshirt.com. Just think about selling your audience exactly that what they want to buy. At that point, you still get the views on facebook AND can use your audience as a potential customer audience. In that way, you are independently generating money through facebook...

Greetings from
 

Martijnvh

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Why not keep doing what you are doing?
But instead of posting the whole video post 10-15 seconds and get them to view the full episode on your own blog, embed youtube video + enable ads.

Below the embeded video you can put affiliate offers. What do skateboarders buy? Get those clicks to amazon or other online stores - you know your niche!

Kind regards
 

Kal-El1998

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Please stop with this nonsense.

First off, MJ didn't become MJ through "adsense riches". The revenue he earns here is likely a tiny amount of his overall revenue stream. I'd be stunned if he said the forum generates $8k/mo in adsense revenue.

Secondly, it is not control because at any time Google can decide to change the terms or even close your adsense account with no recourse for you.

Lastly, just because you see some other business doing XYZ, doesn't mean XYZ will work the same for you. It could, but it also might not. There are too many reasons "why" to list here.
I was just simply listing an option, and it's totally valid. If you focus on all the reasons why something wouldn't work, you'll never take action.
 
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krak

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Why not keep doing what you are doing?
But instead of posting the whole video post 10-15 seconds and get them to view the full episode on your own blog, embed youtube video + enable ads.

Below the embeded video you can put affiliate offers. What do skateboarders buy? Get those clicks to amazon or other online stores - you know your niche!

Kind regards
Yeah this is a route to go down. I have a YouTube for the page which is monetized and currently making around $100/month. At the end of the day though, pursuing the YouTube and investing significant time and energy into it will end up with no CONTROL once again.

You are better off with a stable YouTube rather than Facebook page in terms of likeliness to get demonetized (YouTube will allow you to have strikes while Facebook turns you off instantly even with no copyright violations). But you are still not in CONTROL, which is why I'm hesitant.
 

Martijnvh

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Yeah this is a route to go down. I have a YouTube for the page which is monetized and currently making around $100/month. At the end of the day though, pursuing the YouTube and investing significant time and energy into it will end up with no CONTROL once again.

You are better off with a stable YouTube rather than Facebook page in terms of likeliness to get demonetized (YouTube will allow you to have strikes while Facebook turns you off instantly even with no copyright violations). But you are still not in CONTROL, which is why I'm hesitant.

Yes you are right, you are not 100% in control. But you never really are, even if you have your own video platform you still need advertisers to pay you to show their ads, what if they all of a sudden leave?
What if your hosting provider says, ok, I am done, I am out. Or people stop using the internet (LOL)?

Being in control is about having multiple income streams, just don't rely on one platform only. So if one goes down you have another stream backing you up.

In your case, start putting your videos on youtube, if that goes down you can still use vimeo or whatever, don't rely on youtube only but also use product placement inside the videos and put upsells below the video (amazon, other stores etc).

1) create your own website
2) sell product placement options
3) grow social's for multiple traffic sources (pinterest, instagram, facebook, youtube)
3b) also grow your google organic traffic
4) place uppsells (afifliate) offers below the videos
5) collect your visitors emailaddresses for bonus content
6) send automated email sequences with extra content + affiliate offers
7) sell your own products

You can grow so much doing this

For me personally, I run multiple affiliate websites (so I dont get hit in particular seasons or google updates) relying on multiple traffic sources so when google slaps me I still have social network traffic backup. I also sell my own products trough amazon so I also earn commissions. I collect email addresses to send them bonusses + discounts - I own this traffic.

I also recommend reading dotcomsecrets

It's about diversification so you stay in "control".
 
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krak

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Update:

It's been around 6 months and I have continued to post to this page in order to keep it active and alive - it has been growing quite a bit but monetization was still off for the last 6 months.

Out of nowhere one day it was magically turned back on, the results are much better than they were back in October - within the first 7 days of monetization the page has gotten around $4k in earnings. This is great to see but it feels like the page is still going to get shut down again, it's just a matter of time.

I am very grateful for this lucky break and am going to keep recycling the old videos as long as I can, only adding new videos that are 100% free of any possible Facebook violation. Curious to hear your guys thoughts
 
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