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Introduction

Upon retirement, seniors are more likely to create a marketing internet business, which is not to be confused with aget-rich-quick schemes. Ian Pribyl’s 2019 book From Nothing: Everything You Need to Profit from Affiliate Marketing, Internet Marketing, Blogging. e-Commerce and More…Starting With < $100 shows the reader, cover to cover, how to run a successful internet marketing business that has the right niche for success based on their individual interests and life experiences.

This book is dedicated to you, the reader.

I hope it helps you build an internet business that provides you the same freedom and independence that mine had provided me.

Dedication, From Nothing: Everything You Need to Profit from Affiliate Marketing, Internet Marketing, Blogging, e-Commerce, and More…Starting With < $100

So begins Pribyl’s book.  

Summary of Book

Pribyl’s book spells out the requirements to start, and maintain, a successful internet business, beginning to end. It is a handbook for retirees or anyone else who wants to begin an internet marketing business. The step-by-step diagrams he uses to assist readers begin an internet business are user friendly for everyone of all ages. However, there are some concepts that he uses that are more familiar to people who make a living in technology than people over 65; older adults with limited technical experience may be unfamiliar with technology because they do not own a computer. If retirees own a computer, it may be used play video games, or check balances, for example. Unless seniors’ jobs included working on a computer as part of their jobs, terminology such as key words, SEO (Search Engine Optimization, and meta title and meta description, may go over their heads because they are unfamiliar with those concepts.  This book is for anyone who is serious about creating something from nothing they can be proud of, developing a renewed sense of self-confidence.  Pribyl shows the reader how to set up a website from choosing a niche to writing the first post to eventually making a profit.

Encouraging the Reader

Something that stood out for me was that Pribyl began the book by comparing “Get Rich Quick” schemes vs. Internet Marketing. Pribyl said internet marketing is not another “Get Rich Quick” scheme; however, he outlined the rewards and challenges of creating an internet marketing business. He pointed out that internet marketing involves a lot of work with very little money to invest (between $700 to $110). But, once an internet business gets going and becomes profitable, there is nothing like it.

Facing Reality

Pribyl does warn the reader that the success of an internet business is only as successful as the time they are willing, or unwilling, to put into it. However, he makes it clear that that if a potential business owner does not give their business at least 10 hours a week, then they shouldn’t be building a business. He also cautions the reader that results (income) will come at least within six to 12 months. The more time a potential internet marketer spends building their business, the more likely they will see income results. Finally, in order to be successful in internet marketing, Pribyl suggests a person have what he calls an iron mindset, which consists of:

• Being extremely determined
• Understanding building a business is a non-linear process
• Never giving up.

The Four Paths to Wealth Online

Pribyl outlines the four paths to profiting from an internet business:

• “a content-based business monetized through advertising.
• a service-based business.
• an e-commerce business selling physical products.
• a content-based business selling your own digital products”.

How These Paths May Be Confusing to Potential Business Owners

Pribyl clearly defines each of the paths. However, it is possible that readers who have little to no technical knowledge (seniors over 60, for example) confused. Pribyl does talk about the importance of creating an internet business that they have expertise (what they did in their career) or transforming a hobby into a full time (or part time) internet marking business. The point is, a potential business owner should do something they enjoy to avoid eventual burnout.

“Reverse Math”

Pribyl next introduces the concept of “reverse math”. He suggests someone considering beginning a business decide how much revenue they want to make by using the following formula:

“To earn X amount of dollars per month, you’ll need Y customers multiplied by Z dollars per customer”.

Pribyl next translates this into an equation for revenue, which is:

“Y (customers) x Z ($ per customer) = X (goal amount to earn per month”.

Why Reverse Math May Be Confusing For Some Retirees

Reverse math as Pribyl explains it, makes sense for a senior (or anyone else) who is interested in creating an internet business if they ultimately want to make a profit from a potential business. However, reverse math complicated for seniors, or anyone who has been challenged by math throughout their lives. It may be particularly complicated if they were married to husbands who handled the household finances and suddenly find themselves having to handle financial matters themselves. Pribyl to his credit does acknowledge that understanding internet marketing in general, much less, reverse math, is complicated. He encourages the reader to “take a deep breath, review the reverse math again, and remember you don’t have to learn everything”. Pribyl encourages potential business owners that being overwhelmed is what stands “between you and success; what stands in the way of changing your, and your family’s, life”. He seems to be saying to people who are thinking about starting an internet business: it’s going to take time, and that’s OK.

The Keys to Success in Internet Business

Pribyl next suggests to the reader that to become successful in their internet business, they will need to develop the following three core competencies to successfully drive traffic to their website:

• Obtain the most money for their traffic
• Obtain high-quality labor that is inexpensive, and
• Obtain high-quality products that are relatively inexpensive.

Choosing The Right Niche

Pribyl lists the three most evergreen niches as follows:

• “Health and Wellness (including Health and Beauty)
• Making Money Online (including Business Opportunities, Forex, and Investing)
• Relationships and Dating”

What Pribyl meant by evergreen is simply that customers will always buy from one of these niches in that there is always high demand for these three niches. However, Pribyl also emphasizes that while evergreen niches are always marketable, there is also more competition for traffic; businesses with these niches are competing for customers who have a demand for products from the above evergreen niches.

Traffic and Niche

The term “traffic” takes on a whole new meaning for most seniors wanting to start an internet business. They would need to redefine their concept of traffic from something to do with automobiles to attracting customers to purchase whatever products their business sells. But, Pribyl continues, to obtain enough traffic, a new internet business owner needs to narrow down a niche, Pribyl goes into the struggle business owners go through to decide on a niche.

Once a niche is chosen, Pribyl emphasizes the need to narrow it down. For example, Pribyl points out that people should not simply choose “Dieting” or “Motivation”, which are entire industries. Instead, he suggests that a niche should be narrowed down to a specific topic that is doable. He advises writing about a topic like “Men’s Fitness” will make it harder for search engines (a potentially technical term that not everyone understands) to recognize the site as an authoritative source. Instead, Pribyl recommends narrowing down Men’s Fitness to “Home Fitness Equipment” to “Kettlebell Exercises”. After reading Pribyl’s reasons for narrowing down a niche to build a successful internet business, even readers with little to no technical knowledge can understand his reasoning for narrowing down a niche from “Men’s Fitness” to “Kettlebell Exercises”. However, depending on their knowledge of technical terminology, potential business owners may or may not understand what “search engine” means and why it is the difference between a internet business’s success or failure. But Pribyl does acknowledge that choosing a niche isn’t something that happens overnight but takes time.

Complicated Lingo

Pribyl devotes part of the book to how to set up the business in different steps once a specific niche is decided; as mentioned earlier, the diagrams and descriptions he uses throughout the book are user friendly. However, the technical terms that are used are difficult to understand for anyone with little to no experience setting up a website.

Terms Pribyl uses that may be confusing to readers who are considering beginning an internet marketing business is “Search Engine“, or SEO (Search Engine Optimization), followed by keywords. Others terms he uses include domain name, hosting account followed by shared hosting. indexing and ranking, and domain privacy. Pribyl highly recommends Bluehost as the best hosting site for a successful website. Pribyl also strongly suggests Google Analytics and Google Search Console as the most efficient to track website traffic. Finally, he also advises a potential business owner choose WordPress as the ideal Content Management System (CMS); WordPress is easy to set up and maintain. Pribyl clearly defines all of these terms in language the average reader can understand..

What Terms Mean

While I won’t go into each term mentioned above, I have chosen some of the terms Pribyl uses to help the reader create a successful website. Pribyl defines the terms clearly so the reader won’t feel confused and overwhelmed by the steps needed to create a successful website that will eventually make money for the reader.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO and keywords are linked together. Pribyl wrote that, basically, the pages you write should “rank highly for the keywords you’re trying to rank so that more people will visit your website”. He highly recommends Google as the search engine to use when ranking keywords. He also suggested that keywords in a post should be inserted in the post’s title, meta title, meta description, and URL slug; Pribyl defines these terms in clear language most readers can understand.

Domain Name

Pribyl strongly advises that unless you choose a domain name, you cannot set up a website. Like SEO and keywords, choosing the right domain name and hosting/shared hosting site are crucial steps in that one cannot be done without the other in building a website. Pribyl emphasizes that choosing the right domain name is not something that can be done in 10 minutes, but rather anywhere from several hours to several days. He also recommends that the domain name be short. Finally, he advised that once a domain name is chosen, it cannot be changed. While Pribyl offers several suggestions about what makes a good domain name, he also strongly advised that it should not be an Exact Match Domain (EMD); one important reason is that it is easy for spammers to eventually catch on.

Hosting Site

Pribyl defined hosting site as “a service that companies provide to website owners”. He also defined shared hosting as when “you’re sharing server space with a lot of other websites”. As mentioned earlier, Pribyl recommends Bluehost; out of all the services he has worked with through the years, Bluehost has better service and support than other hosting companies. Bluehost was also recommended because they are the most likely hosting company to help First-Time Internet Marketing Profits (FIMP) community members who are beginners/mid-stage website owners.

Google Analytics

Pribyl recommends Google as the ideal search engine. He suggested that if a potential business owner has neither a Google account nor a g-mail account, they will need to be created before Google Analytics can be set up. Google Analytics is defined as a free service from Google “that tracks website traffic and gives insight to how users find, use and interact with websites”.

Again, Pribyl combines clear explanations for the purpose of Google Analytics and Google Search Console with detailed diagrams; in addition, Pribyl shows what each screenshot should look like once the correct information is entered.

Conclusion

From Nothing: Everything You Need to Profit from Affiliate Marketing, Internet Marketing, Blogging, e-Commerce and More…Starting With < $100 is helpful for seniors 60 and over post retirement (or anyone else) who is considering starting an internet marketing business. However, there is also a lot of information to process, especially technical terms. As mentioned earlier, it is helpful for anyone interested in starting an internet business that will make money to read it cover to cover. It is also helpful that Pribyl offers detailed definitions and diagrams to help potential business owners set up a successful internet marketing business. However, as I mentioned earlier, if readers of any age, but especially older readers, either do not understand technology or have little to no experience with it, the book, despite its user friendly definitions and diagrams, may be a little overwhelming for them; if they take the time to read the book cover to cover readers, especially seniors, may ask someone who is somewhat technically savvy to help them understand the concepts involved with setting up a marketing business outlined in the book. It is a very thorough analysis of not only how to set up an internet business, but what to expect, and not expect. Pribyl makes it clear that while setting up an internet business is challenging, confusing, and complicated, it is also rewarding financially, with a lot of patience. He also gives anyone, especially retired seniors, the confidence of creating something themselves from nothing. Research has shown that keeping your mind active as you grow older, whether through taking a class, working on crossword puzzles, or beginning an internet marketing business, helps delay the onset of dementia. Finally, Pribyl proves that setting up an internet marketing business is possible, despite the confusion and frustration that goes with setting it up. It can be done. Despite all its challenges, creating an internet marketing business is ultimately rewarding financially, emotionally, and intellectually.

About The Author

Ian began studying digital marketing in 2004 when he was 16 years old. He had no startup capital, no mentor, and was repeatedly scammed until he “cracked” internet business and became profitable three years later in 2007.

Present-day, after exiting the startup he built from $2,000/mo to over $250,000/mo, Ian focuses on providing the guidance he wishes he’d received when he was beginning his journey almost a lifetime ago.

He’s firmly committed to always working “in the trenches” alongside his readers and community members to ensure that he remains current and effective in an always-changing digital marketing and online business climate.

www.ianpribyl.com