Mark and Silvia set a goal last year – to replace Marks teaching salary with more passive income from digital assets.
On our website investing program they learned how to buy passive websites with automated income and the opportunities for website renovation and growth.
Watch this interview to learn how in less than 12 months they went from zero online income and experience to $10,000 a month in passive income through their websites, because they learnt how to invest in digital real estate.
CLICK ON THE VIDEO BELOW to hear how Mark & Sylvia achieved their passive income goals in under 12 months
How Mark Replaced His Teaching Income in 12 Months Through Buying Passive Websites…
Liz Raad: Today I have some very special guests with me. These are the winners of our Ultimate Champions Cup for 2020!
And it has been an amazing journey for you both and I just wanted to talk to you today about how that’s played out and what you’ve achieved over the last year.
This is a pretty incredible story. Mark & Sylvia have gone from basically a standing start to incredible results in just one year. And at the beginning of the year (when you started with us), what was your experience online? Where were you guys coming from?
Mark: When I came into the Champions, I had completed the Digital Investors Website Investment Course. But before I met Matt & Liz Raad, I didn’t have any experience earning money online, which is the big differentiator. I had a little bit of experience, I would fiddle around building WordPress sites, but I didn’t have much experience there, and I certainly hadn’t done a lot of other things online that I can do now every day.
Liz: Right, so you didn’t come from a digital marketing or a technical-style background?
Mark: That’s right.
Liz: So then tell me, what is your background? Because it’s similar to us, isn’t it?
Mark: I’m a scientist. So, my training is in science and I love technical things. But I certainly didn’t have any training in digital marketing or making money online, building websites as a business, etc.
Liz: And is that the same for you too, Sylvia?
Sylvia: Yes, I work as a Project Manager for a not-for-profit organisation. So, this wasn’t my background, and I had no website experience whatsoever.
Liz: So, coming into our high-level coaching program what was your goal? What did you want to achieve?
Mark: I guess we were very open-minded about what we wanted to achieve with your online training program. But we certainly wanted to get to the stage of replacing my income.
Before I started training with eBusiness Institute, I had left my previous role at the university. So, the pressure was on to build up a stable income, otherwise I was going to have to go back to a P-A-Y-G job, which I didn’t want to do.
So, our aim was to be able to replace my income and it’s a nice round number. So we’re aiming at the $10,000 a month as a replacement income.
Liz: And I think that’s a level that (once you get to that level) most people feel pretty good. That’s a lot of people’s income.
Mark & Syliva used their digital skills to buy websites making Passive Income
Liz: So, the goal was $10,000. For Mark and Sylvia to achieve that goal faster, you went down the buying websites for profit route quite quickly.
Mark: That’s right. When we entered the Champions program, we were very open-minded about what we wanted to achieve online.
We had already bought a couple of websites after completing the Digital Profits Program, so we wanted to grow those. We were also thinking we may start our own digital agency building websites for local businesses. Then as we progressed through the course, we pivoted. So, the last year was good fun!
Liz: Yes, I remember the first website you purchased for online income. It was an awesome site, and that was one of the first coaching calls we did together, wasn’t it?
Click Here To Read How Marks First Website Bought For $6000 Ended Up Making $6000 Per Month
Mark: Yes, it was.
Liz: Do you want to tell the story of what happened with that website?
Mark: When we started learning how to make money online, we actually bought two websites within short succession of each other. One of the websites was in a science-related niche. This is a niche I felt was perfect for me.
By creating a specific Content Strategy, Mark was able to pay off his website in full in under 6 months
As part of the Champions program, we had our first call with you, Liz, to talk about what we could do with that site. When I bought the site I thought, “Well, we could do some renovations to it and improve it”. But during that call, you gave me lots of ideas. And one of them was to expand the site with more content. So, we looked at some content ideas together.
Our website is in quite a seasonal niche. We were coming up to Christmas and we knew that we may get a big benefit from expanding the site at that point in time. So, we did that and things worked out really well!
Liz: Yes! And then our Digital Profits students will remember seeing in another interview we did with you, Mark, at that time. It was very exciting because the website you bought for $6,000 actually made $6,000 in just one month. Woo-hoo!
Mark: That’s right. We bought the website in July and then in December, it made another $6,000.
So, the website paid for itself within half a year.
Liz: And it’s just gone further from there, hasn’t it? You’ve continued that content strategy for the website.
Mark: That’s right. We felt this website could be a lot bigger than what it was. So we really went in hard with creating more content, and focused on really building it up and making it a authoritive website in the marketplace.
This is something we really discovered in the Champions program. We were going down one path. But then as we were learning more digital skills, we started to see another angle we could take.
At one of the eBusiness digital training bootcamp events, our eyes were really opened to how big these types of websites can get. We thought, “Wow, this could be huge if we put a lot more content into it.” And in February of this year, we thought “Okay, let’s put a whole lot more content on that site.”
Liz: And your website’s income has improved dramatically from there.
Mark: Yes. So, our aim was to add around a hundred new articles on the website. We got pretty close to that. As a result, the income and traffic just keeps on climbing, so we’re really looking forward to a big Christmas with our website this year!
Mark is now Growing his Income by Expanding their Portfolio of Websites
Liz: Very exciting! And now you’ve actually expanded your portfolio from there, haven’t you? You guys are using both our portfolio strategy of building your own websites, and then also you’ve been buying websites to generate income too?
Mark: That’s right.
One of the exciting things that I love about creating money online is that when you have an idea (and you have some knowledge about how to monetise websites), then you can marry the two together. You can have a whole lot of fun along the way while earning some income.
So I guess, like a lot of other students, we have way too many ideas! We’ve built a number of sites (probably more than we can work on at the moment). But we know we can always come back to a manageable point. And there’s a couple of other sites we’re actively working on at the moment. And we’ve also bought some more websites.
We bought three more websites after those initial two. We’re focusing on growing those and we’re choosing what to work on according to how we want to grow those sites. So that’s completely up to us.
Liz: Yes. You can choose your own adventure.
Mark: Exactly, and that really stuck with me. We can do whatever we want with these websites. There’s no rule book we have to follow so it’s really a lot of fun.
Learning Due Diligence to Buy An Internet Business…
Liz: Well, one of the things I know you guys do very well is the due-diligence process for buying online businesses. This is a key skill you mastered very early in your digital training.
You both have a good eye for websites. So, was the due diligence checklist something that helped you pick these particular websites for your digital portfolio?
When we joined your digital community, our eyes were opened to the idea of websites being like a digital form of real estate. – Mark
Mark: The concept of websites being a digital form of real estate is something that sparked a light in my head, and the concept hasn’t left me since.
As part of the high-level training in the Champions program, we were shown how to do the website buying due diligence process thoroughly. And there’s no way I could have done that without some support and some training from the E-Business Institute.
It could have been a big mess without that process and website due diligence checklist, because there’s a lot of potential pitfalls when you buy digital assets. Fortunately, with the website buying training that Matt and Liz Raad have given us, we are able to go through those steps and be patient when looking for good online buying opportunities. It’s really helped keep our success rate high with our profitable website buys.
Liz: You’ve both done very well, because now what was the milestone you just reached quite recently?
Goal Achieved! $10,000 a Month Through Buying Passive Websites!
Mark: We surprised ourselves. We worked through the figures and realised, “Wow, we’re actually making that $10,000 a month that we’re hoping for!”
Liz: That’s absolutely fantastic!
When you think about it, to replace your income with an absolutely brand-new skill that you learned on the go in under 12 months, (and you were in our Digital Profits Program for a little bit before that). That’s just a phenomenal achievement and we’re so proud of you guys.
eBusiness provides their students with a close-knit community of supportive people
And the other thing that we’re really grateful for is that you shared your journey within the Champions and the Digital Investors community. Mark’s been giving our students updates and sharing really inspirational stories of what he’s been doing on our private Facebook group, and how the action he’s been taking has been generating results. So thank you so much for your contribution. It’s all part of being in a close-knit community.
Mark: Yes, well your Digital Investors community inspired us. We see everyone sharing their stories and it just feels like such a safe place and such a supportive place to share your website buying success with other people. It’s been a huge amount of fun and really rewarding.
Working Towards their Next Online Goal – Replacing Sylvia’s Income!
Liz: So, what’s next for you both now?
Mark: Well, it’s all part of the choose your adventure! So, when we saw that we have $10,000 a month coming in, there was a big light bulb in my mind that made me think we could just sit back and do nothing for the rest of the year if we wanted to.
But we actually really enjoy working on these sites, and we’re keen to grow them and have the flexibility that we have a replacement income for Sylvia too if she wants.
Sylvia is still working a nine-to-five job. If we can increase our online income to double what we currently have, then we could replace Sylvia’s income too. This gives her the option to quit her job and leave the workforce permanently if she wanted to.
Once we’re at that level, then I’d really like to have the ability to explore bigger ideas and big entrepreneurial opportunities.
Liz: Well, now you’ve got your writers, and you’ve got your team on board. You now have the digital skills and knowledge to do all those processes, and it’s just a matter of scale.
The True Value of Growing Your Online Real Estate
Liz: There’s one other exciting thing that we need to mention. So, over the last 12 months, Mark & Sylvia have created a digital asset portfolio that is generating a regular income of around $10,000 per month. Based on the income they’re now making, this portfolio (in under 12 months) is probably now valued between $300,000 and $500,000. That in itself is an awesome achievement. And looking at the growth of those websites, we believe that figure will double in the next year, even if you don’t do a lot more to them over the coming year. So that’s pretty exciting too.
So they have created real online assets that are highly valuable – literally digital real estate that they can sell out for a lump sum if they wanted.
So, an absolute massive congratulations to you both. We’re so excited for you and can’t wait to see what the future holds for you both.
Sylvia: Thank you for all your support throughout the journey.
Mark: Yes, Matt and Liz Raad have guided us along the journey, and we couldn’t have done it without you.
Liz: Fantastic. All right, thanks guys!
Looking to replace your income and buy websites for passive income?
Mark and Silvia, are now making $10,000 a month in passive income through their websites, because they learnt how to buy websites for passive income.
They started with our digital real estate investing Masterclass, which you can get free access at:
Well done to you both – keep up the good work and being and inspiration for others!