How I Replaced $200,000 Overnight

In online marketing, relying on a single income stream can be risky. I’ve seen first hand how quickly things can fall apart, whether it’s losing an affiliate program or getting shut down. In this episode, I’ll share why diversifying your income streams is essential for long term success and security.

00:23
I’m Igor Kheifets, and this is The ListBuilding Lifestyle. The podcast is for anyone who wants to build a wildly profitable email list working from home. If you’d like to make six figures, travel the world and help people improve their lives in the process, this podcast is for you. I also invite you to claim a free copy of my best selling book, The List Building Lifestyle Confessions of an Email Millionaire at www.igorsbook.com
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01:09
I believe, and I subscribe to the idea that you gotta diversify your income streams. You absolutely have to! And that’s simply because I’ve had the experience, and I’ve seen how different marketers out there have the rug pulled from underneath them, whether it’s because they had their, you know, Ad Account shut down, whether it’s because they somehow managed to lose their list, or whether it’s because the affiliate program they were a part of, decided all of a sudden to either change their compensation plan or to kick the the promoter out. That happens more times that I can care to admit.

01:49
For example, my good friend and student, David Deco, with whom I’ve been actually chatting just before this call. He ended up moving from Snowy Barry, Ontario to Thailand, and is having the time of his life right now. He says he never felt richer in his life given his income and the cost of living over there. And he’s just, you know, going wild. So, I’ve seen him one time, become an affiliate for a hosting company, sort of like some kind of small time hosting company, and they had a really cool compensation, and the compensation was, if you get people to sign up for an annual hosting account, you get, I think it’s up to $300. Because the hosting company paid what’s called the CPA, cost per action. So they calculated the average duration of what a hosting user would do, and would basically make them. And for anyone who would sign up, they would pay a preset amount one time.

So, when he discovered this affiliate program, he started promoting it, and it worked out really well. Within a couple of days, he was already making a couple of $1,000. So, he went on to build a whole funnel grab, and he created a consistent flow of people into that program. And before you know it, maybe within 30 or 45 days, he racked up about $12,000 or $15,000 in commissions, which is nice! But then, he got an email from the hosting company who said, “Hey, we looked into how you’re promoting. We don’t like it! So, we’re cutting you off and we’re not going to pay you the commission”, just like that! There was no explanation, there was no conversation,there was no suggestion to change the way he was promoting. They didn’t really care! They just said, “Look, we don’t like you. We don’t like the way you promote”, which basically is like we don’t like your face, it could have been just as good of an excuse! So, we’re not going to pay your commission, and you can f off.

So, this happens! Another time, he actually had this experience as well with another program called, I think, “Easy One Up”! At one point, he was bringing in about $30,000 per month with that program, and the owner decided to change the compensation plan. He kept the compensation plan exactly the same for like, 10 years, and then all of a sudden, he decided to change it, and David’s conversions tanked, so no more income!

04:47
I’ve had the privilege of being caught up in this situation more times than I care to admit. One time I was promoting a JVZoo program, and it was a high ticket one, my favorite! So, I ended up making about $200,000 or $200,000 something with that program, and I had it really nicely incorporated into what I was doing. So, systems are important, because that’s how you grow wealthier without having to work harder. So, I set up a great system. And I would refer to that program all the time. And within, I think eight months or so, I made $220,000 or $250,000. Life was good! That program alone covered everything, Let’s put it this way, upper middle class, affluent lifestyle.

And then all of a sudden, the owner, without any kind of prior notice, announces that, “hey, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, I’m done, I quit! And I’m shutting everything down. So, if you’re a customer, I’m going to keep supporting you. But, if you’re my affiliate, then essentially, that’s it! You don’t expect any more payments for me. Don’t expect any more communication. There’s not going to be any, don’t promote! Don’t promote my offers, and you just disappear!” And that was that! So, all of a sudden, the system I built around this program, all of a sudden, is useless!

06:27
Now, given that you truly kind of see this stuff coming, I was able to quickly replace that income stream with a different one within the same system, adjusting just a few things, a few emails, a few videos. So, again, systems beat anything that requires a customer. For me personally, even if I know I’ll be making, you know, in the short term, I’ll be making less money, if I can be making less money, but consistently over the next five years, I’ll take that! And I do everything in a way where I can interchange things. So, if I’ve got an income stream, and that income stream disappears tomorrow, I’m just going to place a different income stream instead of it.

I believe in creating a web of income streams. I believe in having ten, twenty income streams of all different shapes and sizes. $100 a month from here, $700 a month from there, $10,000 from here, $5000 from there, $4000 from here, $2000 from there. But collectively, it all flows into my pocket! And if one of them disappears, gets taken out, you know, something happens! No big deal, I will survive! I will just replace it with something else.

07:51
I actually had this happen at the end of last year, at the end of 2024, where an income stream that was producing roughly $15,000 a month for me, was super passive. I was really happy with it! The owner lost his payment processing account, that happens! I think, in the case of this guy, he had either too many refunds or too many disputes or something, and basically he got shut down. And all of a sudden, not only that income stream isn’t viable for me anymore, but he still owes me $7,000 that he hasn’t paid, and he’s been feeding me with stories about how he wants to sell his cabin, that he’s got in the woods and paid for it or whatever! Now, I’m not going to chase somebody for seven grand. Fortunately, I don’t need it to pay my bills! But again, it happens! It does happen!

So, I look at my income in general as a big table. And I want my table to have not one leg, not two legs, not four legs, but 400! You know, I want to have so many legs that even if there’s a tornado coming through, I’m going to still have enough of these legs to survive and for hopefully, to be comfortable and then to rebuild whatever is missing.

09:20
Thank you for listening to The List Building Lifestyle, get access to the previous episodes, transcript of today’s show, as well as other exclusive content at www.listbuildinglifestyleshow.com. Also remember to claim your free copy of my best selling book at www.igorsbook.com. It explains how I made millions with list buildings starting from scratch, plus I’ll give you $3,000 worth of free bonuses, including my best landing page templates, email swipe files and traffic blueprints. Go to www.igorsbook.com, now to claim your free package!