Q&A: Which is better: direct or indirect income?
A listener has a clear business idea, but isn’t clear about the revenue model. They can get paid through affiliate and advertising revenue (indirect), *or* through selling to consumers themselves (direct). Which might be better?
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What It's About
Today's listener seeks advice on two different revenue models. What should they know?
Notes from Chris
Episode 1919
There are many, many different ways to get paid. Today, one of our listeners is going to help me make a distinction between direct and indirect income. These terms aren’t always used, so I’ll define them for you more specifically in my answer. Basically, the business model our caller is developing is either a B2B or B2C operation, depending on whether he/she chooses to get paid mostly through affiliate and advertising revenue, or through selling to consumers themselves. Note: these aren’t two different business ideas! They’re just two different revenue models. So if you’ve settled on your idea, depending on your project you might have one more big choice to make. Let’s see how we can help with this situation…."I'm deciding between different business models and have come across something I don't think you've talked about. In the SIDE HUSTLE book, you drew a distinction between a product business and a service business. But here's what I'm wondering: for both of those categories, there are also different ways to get paid. I want to start a website that publishes information on sports betting. In this business, I could get paid through affiliate commissions and advertising, or by selling a guide or some other kind of product directly to my visitors. I suppose I could technically do both, but let's imagine it was one or the other. Both options are services, but is it better to get paid by an advertising network or directly by customers for something you sell? Let's also assume the money is the same in this situation."Listen to today's episode to learn more...
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