What is the laptop lifestyle and does it really exist? Back in 2014 I was a struggling affiliate marketer when I found a video of this guy on a pedalo. His name is Stuart Ross and he was talking about his online business still making money while he was on holiday!
I was sceptical, but was getting nowhere with my online efforts to make money selling other people’s products. So I joined Stuart’s community of online mentors and coaches. Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek created a business called SFM back in 2010. Their aim was to help people transition into the digital space and become online entrepreneurs.
Laptop Lifestyle – Real People
Having been an affiliate marketer previously, I thought I knew something about it. But what was lacking was support. I had joined course after course to learn, and jumped from one strategy to another. But nothing I did seemed to work. After joining The SFM Mentors in 2014 I was able to connect with other members and even met founders Jay and Stuart at a London meeting.
Pre-pandemic, Stuart and Jay ran seminars around the world to connect with their members and offer help and support.
Just being able to meet other students of Jay and Stuart was pretty inspiring at the time. Before this, I wasn’t able to meet any other affiliate marketer, despite having taken various online video courses.
Laptop Lifestyle – Business Model
Before I joined the SFM, I had been promoting various products online as an affiliate. One of the programs I had joined was Amazon. But what I didn’t know was that Amazon didn’t pay very well! In fact, products promoted by affiliates through Amazon’s partner program only pays between 3% and 11% commission.
I was promoting books which sold for around $10/£8 and making less than $1 on most of my sales! Following advice from some previous courses, I was attempting to get traffic from Google through blogging and building niche websites. I was following this advice but being rather unsuccessful getting traffic and making tiny commissions from the sales I eventually made!
The SFM’s business model offers a lot more in terms of earning potential. Having used Clickbank, eBay and Amazon’s affiliate programs, I knew nothing of recurring income affiliate programs or high ticket programs. I was able to make my first high ticket sale within a few months of joining Stu’ and Jay’s program!
Laptop Lifestyle – Understanding
My quick win came with a price because I didn’t know what I was doing. I quickly pocketed the money and went back to my old strategy of blogging. But the sale came through paid marketing. What I didn’t understand was that top affiliates were reinvesting their sales commissions back into their marketing and scaling up their businesses.
The true laptop lifestyle didn’t come from the odd sale here and there. It came from having many members (recurring commissions), up-sells and high ticket commissions. It also came from multi-tier sales – commissions coming from sales made by your referrals.
And all of this came from understanding the business model and how to scale up using paid marketing. My blogging, by contrast produced little in the way of results and although I did make a couple of high ticket sales, they were sporadic and I hadn’t made sales with any consistency.
Laptop Lifestyle – Positioning
You can join Stuart and Jay’s community for very little investment. But in order to access the top commissions and multi-tier sales, you’ll need to invest at a much higher level. There’s also a variety of trainings and mentorship programs you can access which gives you a variety of earning levels. So you can choose the level which you want to position yourself according to earning potential.
Even as a basic member though, you can still earn 101% commission through the sale of the Mentors All In package (at the time of writing). Plus you can earn from the high ticket items too and earn 5% commissions on the sales. In order to earn 40% commissions on the high tier products, you’ll need to purchase the products yourself however. See image for basic member earnings on the product range:
I Went All In!
To access the higher level commissions you need to position at the top of the product range. Purchasing the Mastermind Experience, Brand Incubator and Marketing Mastery courses wasn’t initially part of my plan! I initially planned to place myself at DEA Gold (as it was called back then). That’s now the Import Xperts level. This gave me the largest levels of commission I thought I could reasonably afford.
After following one of the top affiliates for several months through his Q&A sessions, I realised I had an opportunity to go all in (and purchase the Mastermind Experience course). I didn’t think I would ever do it and it felt completely crazy at the time! But since doing so I’ve been able to access more personal training and even 1 on 1 affiliate marketing coaching with those who have already achieved a “laptop lifestyle” income (5 and 6 figure earners).
The Mastermind Course is lifetime access to top coaches and mentors and in June of 2020 proved to have been worth the investment when I made my highest ticket sale to date and my best month ever! (see below).
Surrounding yourself with others who have already achieved success online is one of the best things you can do if you’re serious about making a full time living online.
Here’s the payout structure for the same product range if you’re positioned at DEA Mastermind Experience level membership of the SFM.
Struggles
Having had a month like June this year didn’t come easy of course. I had been learning marketing and following a number of mentors. I had switched marketing strategy from blogging to YouTube marketing and this isn’t cheap!
Here’s my video campaign which brought in the high ticket sale:
After spending a considerable amount on running this campaign I was close to stopping it when the sale came in. Of course it’s now 2020 so this success seems marred by the pandemic and global lockdown. The laptop lifestyle isn’t what I thought it would be – working from home during lockdown! But I’m grateful for the skills and mindsets I’ve learned through the SFM.
I consider the mindset shifts I’ve taken over 6 years of working with The SFM the biggest skillset I have learned and of far greater value than the monetary success alone. Not everyone sticks at it for long enough and it did take me a considerable time to make a consistent income online. I’m not done yet either and still am learning from other mentors who are far ahead of me in earnings stakes.
If you’re considering starting a lifestyle business, I would definitely recommend The SFM.
Learn more about their program through accessing the free video series here. Or join through Mentors All In to access the full program and become a member.