HOW TO START
YOUR $1,000 PER MONTH
SERVICE ARBITRAGE
BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH
Even If You’ve No Idea, No Sell-able Skills &
Not Much Free Time
By Ming
EarnMoreLiveFreely.com
HOW TO START YOUR $1,000 PER MONTH SERVICE ARBITRAGE BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH
Today, starting a side hustle to earn some extra cash has become much
easier than one would think.
The goal of extra income is to add multiple streams of income into your
life, so you don’t solely rely on any single job as your only source of
income.
When you start a side hustle that brings you extra income, you have
several unique advantages:
1. It protects you in case you lose your job. Just like diversifying
your investments, you do not put all your eggs in one basket. In the
event of an unexpected job loss, it can help ease some financial
pressure and tie you over till you find another job.
For example, if you are earning $2,000/month in extra income and
you lost your job, how would you feel? Compared to the situation
where you had no extra income on the side and you got fired, you
will feel much more at ease.
2. It gives you choices. You may choose to one day quit your job and
pursue your side business full-time. Or you could keep your day
job while experimenting with a new field of work. It is better than
just quitting your job and taking a leap of faith in some business
that you are not 100% confident of.
3. It's challenging and intellectually stimulating. Starting a side
business is actually quite fun and it helps improve your decisionmaking abilities.
Since you are your boss in your business, you get to make all the
decisions. What's rewarding is that the skills that you nurture from
your business, can be used in your day job to get a pay raise or
even a job promotion.
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HOW TO START YOUR $1,000 PER MONTH SERVICE ARBITRAGE BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH
4. More importantly, once you have the skills and know-how to
earn an extra income, you can do this for the rest of your life. If
you earn $1,000/month, $2,000/month or even $5,000/month or
more, you can make that for the rest of your life.
You also get to decide how much time to spend on your business.
Once you know how to earn an extra income, you can always tap
into that whenever you need it.
What Is Service Arbitrage?
As you know, there are literally tons of ways to make money on the side.
But one of the best ways to make money with no upfront cost, is to sell a
service or freelance.
There are two approaches that you can use to start a service business on
the side:
1. Sell Your Own Skills
2. Sell Other People’s Skills (also known as Service Arbitrage)
(1) Sell Your Own Skills
This first approach is to sell your own skills.
This approach is well understood by most people. In fact, many people
make a living from selling their skills (i.e. freelancing) all the time.
For example, I have a friend who is a photographer.
Photographers can make anything from a few hundred bucks to a couple
of thousand dollars depending on the project. He regularly takes on 3 - 4
projects doing wedding photography every month and make 5-figures
monthly.
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HOW TO START YOUR $1,000 PER MONTH SERVICE ARBITRAGE BUSINESS FROM SCRATCH
Not only is he doing what he loves but he is making a living, not to
mention a comfortable living.
And the best part is that he does not see it as work. It is his passion turned
into business.
Maybe you are good at playing the piano or the guitar. You could offer
classes or private tuition to friends and family friends for a start and start
to get referrals for your business.
Giving lessons is one of the best ways to get a side income because your
income will be recurring.
Or maybe you are good at designing. You could offer your services to
companies who require designs on a regular basis.
Designing is one of the most needed skill for companies because they will
always need design works for their marketing campaigns.
How this works is very straight forward. First, identify what skills you
have. Then, turn that into a service that people will pay for. Lastly, get
paying clients for your service.
But what if you don’t feel you have any sell-able skills? Or you don’t feel
confident about your skills?
The solution lies in the second approach that I am going to share with
you.
(2) Sell Other People’s Skills (i.e. Service Arbitrage)
The second approach is to do service arbitrage. This approach is not
widely known.
And this approach is suitable for people who
• Have no sell-able or marketable skills
• Feel not confident enough to offer the service by themselves
• Have not much time to run the business
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How it works is that you find in-demand services that freelancers are
already offering at a super low price on freelancing websites. Then you
market their services to businesses that need it. Once you get a sale, you
hire the freelancers to deliver the work for you.
How you make money is that you quote a much higher price to your
clients than what your freelancers quote you to pocket the price difference
as your profit.
This can be considered another variant of freelancing which is the first
approach we talked about earlier on. The only difference is that you are
outsourcing the work to other freelancers instead of doing the work
yourself.
Now, let's take a look at an example of how service arbitrage works in
real life.
Let say you are doing service arbitrage in logo design.
You have a client that requires a logo design. Instead of designing the
logo yourself, you outsource it to someone else to do the design.
And what you do is to just manage the process and work flow.
So, here's how it will happen:
1. Client requests a quote from you to do a logo design.
2. You do research to find people who can design logos. You manage
to find freelance designers that are willing to do the job for $10.
3. You quote your client $99 to do the logo design.
4. Client agrees and pays you the $99 upfront.
5. You pay your outsourced designer $10 to do the logo.
6. Your designer passes the completed work to you and you pass it on
to your client.
7. Job completed and you pocket the difference of $89.
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And that's it!
It is really very simple.
Your job is just to get clients and to manage your outsourced workers.
When you do this, you free up your time to do the stuff that matters –
getting sales.
The advantage of outsourcing is that you use the power of leverage on
your side.
If it was just you alone, you probably can only handle at most 2 to 3 jobs
in a week.
But if you have outsourced workers, you can easily get 10 – 20 jobs and
all you have to do is manage your outsourced workers.
When you do this, you start to run a business rather than work in one.
And this is especially ideal if you have a full-time job. Because all you
would be doing is managing orders.
In fact, outsourcing is nothing new. Many companies all over the world
outsource parts of their business to other parts of the world to reduce cost
as well as to increase efficiency.
7-Step System To Start Your Service Arbitrage Business
Now, I am going to walk you through a simple but proven 7-step system
which I have used myself to start my own service arbitrage business. It
has worked for me very well. I hope that you will find it very helpful too.
Step 1: Find a profitable idea
When I first started, I didn't have any idea either.
And I am really glad that I didn't let it stop me. Otherwise, I would still
be trapped in a 9 to 5 job and would not have the freedom I have right
now.
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Having no idea should not be the obstacle stopping you from making
your life better and richer.
If you have no idea about how to find an idea, all you need to do is to
learn how to do it. The right way.
People always think that, to make money, they must come up with the
most brilliant idea or an idea that nobody has ever thought of before.
If no one has ever thought of doing it, there is a pretty good chance that
there is no demand for it.
If there are already people who are offering this kind of service, that is
actually good news. That means it has a market for this type of service.
It is not a bad thing that you have competition. If you are smarter than
them, provide a better service than them or market better than them or
work harder than them, you can make more money than them.
So, how do you find an idea?
First, you go take a look at all the services that are already being offered
by freelancers on popular freelancing websites such as Fiver and Upwork.
From there, you can see if there is any service that you would like to do
service arbitrage in.
Once you have come up with a list of ideas for your service arbitrage
business, what you have to do next is to validate your idea.
How?
First, you go to freelancing websites such as Fiverr.
Next, you look for the service that you are thinking of offering.
Let say, you want to offer logo design service.
So, you search for logo design service on Fiverr. It will then show you all
the logo design gigs being offered there.
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What you do next is that you sort all of them by customer reviews. Then,
you click on the first few gigs to see how the gig has been performing so
far.
After you click on one of the gigs, it will bring you to the page where you
can see how many orders have been placed for this service so far and how
many orders there are currently in queue.
This data will help you determine if there is high demand for this type of
service.
From the image above, you can see that close to 40 thousands orders have
been placed for this guy's logo service so far. What is more is that he has
more than 180 orders in queue currently.
This is proof that logo design will be a profitable freelance business.
Step 2: Identify your target audience
Classic marketing rule number one is to know who your ideal target client
is. Then, cater specifically to them. When you do this, the marketing
message will seem like it is meant for them.
Let me give you an example. A few weeks ago, I wanted to buy some eye
drops because I had been staring at the computer screen for too long. My
eyes became dry and I wanted to get eye drops to refresh my eyes.
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I went into the nearest drug store with the intention of simply buying the
cheapest eye drop there is because as for all I know, all eye drops do the
same damn thing.
They refresh your eye and supposedly soothe tired eyes. That was my
impression.
So, you can tell I absolutely know nuts about eye drops.
As I was browsing through the eye drops section in the drug store, I saw a
range of eye drops from different brands.
In the description it all said the same – Soothes and relieves tired eyes. I
was about to choose the cheapest one in that section until I saw this:
Guess what? I bought it.
Why?
Because it specifically said Computer Eye Drops and the description on
the back said that it was specifically meant to relieve tired eyes from
hours of staring at the computer.
The marketing message was specifically catered to me!
And that's exactly what happened.
I wanted to look for eye drops to soothe tired eyes from staring at the
computer for a long time. Then, I happened to find a product that exactly
solves my problem which I had.
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I even paid several dollars extra for it.
Now, was there actually much difference between that eye drop and other
types of eye drops?
Not that I can tell. They would do the same job.
But the only difference was in my mind, I was looking for a specific
solution to my specific problem and I got it.
And that is how you should market yourself and your services.
In order to do that, you need to know exactly who your target market is
and go deep inside their mind and find out what their problem is, so that
you will be able to offer a specific solution to solve their problem.
And not only will they buy from you, but you will be able to charge
premium prices because of this.
Step 3: Craft an irresistible offer
In order to design an irresistible offer, you have to know what problems
your target clients actually have and what results they really want.
Let’s look at a hypothetical example.
Two freelance blog writers, when asked what results their clients want
with their service, give these two different answers:
Blog writer A: They want to have new blog posts on their website on a
regular basis.
Blog writer B: They want to have valuable, engaging and viral/shareable
SEO-optimized blog posts to bring in more targeted leads and therefore
more clients and more revenue.
Obviously, I can tell that blog writer B did her homework and went deep
inside her client’s mind because she was very specific about the benefits
which her client was looking for.
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On the other hand, blog writer A does not know her target clients very
well because her answer was very vague and general.
So, if you were the client, who would you prefer to work with?
Clearly, the latter.
Why?
Because she understands what her client's real problem is and knows
EXACTLY what results they want for their business.
So, what does this mean?
You need to truly understand what problems they have and what benefits
they want. Only then can you present them with an offer that they cannot
refuse.
Step 4: Generate Leads
Once you have decided what service you want to offer for your service
arbitrage business, it’s time to get leads!
There are 2 types of leads that you can pursue – Warm Leads and Cold
Leads.
The fastest way for you to get clients immediately is to approach your
warmest leads – who are none other than your family and friends!
If you are just starting out and have never provided a service before, this
is the best place to start.
Why?
Because in general, your family and friends tend to be more forgiving and
patient than strangers. It is the best place to get your feet wet and to build
your momentum and confidence.
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1. Word of Mouth – Just by letting your friends and family know that
you are now providing a service, they can actually help you get the
word out. You will be surprised how many people are willing to
support you.
2. Facebook – This is the fastest way to reach your friends. So why
not just make a post on your Timeline to say that you are offering a
service.
Once you have gotten some business with your Warm Leads, then you
can try to approach cold leads! Sometimes, Cold Leads can be better than
Warm Leads because they will treat you professionally.
Here are 2 proven ways to generate Cold Leads for your business:
1. The Fish Bait Method
If you have gone fishing before, you know that you need to tie a hook to
your fishing line and bait your hook, then cast your line where all the fish
is. Next, you wait for the fish to take your bait.
You are going to do something similar here. You find popular free
classified ads websites, and post your offer in the relevant section. Then
you wait for people who need your service to get in touch with you.
For example, you offer graphic design service. What you do is post an
advertisement under "Creative" in Craigslist service section.
Only people who need such services would go there and click on your
ads. People who don't need it would hardly find their way there.
2. Direct To Source Method
Going direct literally means putting your offer in front of people who
need it.
Generally, you use this method if you are offering a service that certain
businesses will need. Then all you need to do is find their email address
and simply shoot them an email to get them interested in what you have
to offer.
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Step 5: Close the sale
Now, we have come to the part about closing the sale.
This is actually something that most people struggle with.
Why?
Not everyone is born a natural salesperson.
Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of selling.
I believe that you all had the uncomfortable experience of a pushy
salesperson trying to force you to buy certain products or services,
whether you really need it or not.
I am not comfortable with hard selling myself. I know many of you feel
the same way.
Here is the good news for you. My approach to selling will allow you to
be your natural self and not feeling bad about asking for the sale.
How do you do that?
All you need to do is a mindset shift.
You need to change your mindset from selling to genuinely helping and
serving.
This way, you stay true to who you really are.
What is more?
It also removes the pressure on you and your client.
When you are genuinely helping your clients, they can feel it and they
can tell. They will know that you care and you are honest.
Now, you have the right mindset.
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Next, we will talk about what you should do when you are talking to your
client.
You just need to remember two things:
•
•
People only buy from someone whom they believe can solve their
problem and get them the results they want
People only buy from someone whom they trust and like
Once you can internalize these two points, you will find closing a sale is
actually not difficult as you would imagine.
Step 6: Find Outsourced Worker To Deliver The Work
Getting a good outsourced worker to do work for you is vitally important.
You don't want to end up with one who is unreliable. Worse, they take
your money and disappear.
Luckily for you, I have laid out the following for you to ensure that your
outsourced worker is reliable and will do a fantastic job for you.
Here's what you should look out for:
 Work Samples
This is very important. You always want to know what your
outsourced worker is capable of. The first thing you should always
request for is their past work.
Ask them for as many samples as possible to get a better idea on
what their skills and capabilities.
 Rating
On most freelancing websites such as Fiverr, there is a rating
system where past customers will review and rate the freelancer's
performance on their job.
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This will give a very good indication of what your outsourced work
is like. Generally, if there is a bad rating, I'd like to know why.
Then, before I finally make a decision whether to use him for my
project or not, I'd like to have a chat with him first and more
importantly, find out how fast he responds.
 Response Time
To me, this is very, very important.
In fact, it is critical.
Why? Sometimes my client may need me to make some changes
quickly.
As such I need to get hold of my outsourcer as quick as possible.
So, what I'd do is to message him and see how fast he responds.
As long as it's within 24 hours, I'm happy with it. Sometimes your
outsourced worker may take a couple of days to reply you. That is
a warning sign to me. So, only choose outsourcers who have a
habit of replying you quickly.
 Language Fluency
Equally important is that he or she must be fluent in English
because I live in an English-speaking country. Sometimes you may
get outsourced worker whose native language may not be English.
If your outsourced worker is not able to understand you, it could be
difficult to give instructions to him.
I once had a freelancer who I thought was rather fluent in English,
but I had a hard time communicating with him for a project as he
wasn't able to follow instructions.
Needless to say, I had to find another freelancer to do the job in the
end.
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 Have A Conversation
It is important to speak with your outsourced worker and explain to
him what you need him to do.
Sometimes, my clients have very specific requests, so it is
important to tell him about that request and see whether he will be
able to do the job.
If he says he can and you feel comfortable with him, then go ahead
and hire him.
Normally I will ask at least 5 different freelancers and see whose
answer I feel the most comfortable with before I go ahead to hire
him for the job.
 Too Many Orders
Certain freelancing websites such as Fiverr allow you to see how
many jobs your outsourced worker is working on.
The more work your freelancer has piled up for him, the less likely
he is going to finish your job quickly, unless you have spoken to
him and he has specifically said he can finish your job within a
certain time.
However, I have found that even if your freelancer says that he can
finish your job by a specified date, he may not necessarily do
revisions quickly.
So, I tend to find freelancers with fewer jobs in queue for his
services. That being said, the freelancers that have many people
queuing up for his services must be good at what they do.
 Interview Them
One of the most efficient ways of getting a good outsourced worker
is to interview them. This is only if you have a really big project
that can potentially make you thousands of dollars and on a
recurring basis.
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If you have such a project, then I strongly recommend that you at
least get them on skype and speak with them. Because you have a
big project on hand, it is vitally important that you find an
extremely reliable and trustworthy outsourced worker to do the
work.
Of course, you most likely will have to pay him much more as
well. If you choose to get a good freelancer for the job, I
recommend Upwork. Don't use Fiverr for high-end jobs as you will
only land yourself in hot soup if your Fiverr worker disappears.
Step 7: Hand Over The Completed Work After Client Pay For The
remainder
So, we have come to the final step of this 7-step system for starting your
own service arbitrage business.
This step should be the easiest of all.
After your freelancer has completed the work and your client is happy
with the result, it’s time to collect the remainder of the full payment from
your client before you hand over all the deliverables.
Conclusion
Congratulations on finishing this eBook! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it
as much as I’ve enjoyed creating it for you. If you would like to find out
how I can help you implement this system and get your own service
arbitrage business started in the shortest time possible, you can see the
full details here.
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