This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Happy Christmas Eve to all who celebrate. Hope you are well, whatever you celebrate and wherever you are in the world. Today's inquiry takes us into the dynamic world of telecommunications. Isn't that what you like to think about during the holidays? Well, we like to think about making money, about helping people start a side hustle, making money without quitting their job.
Nadia from Austin has her entrepreneurial antenna tuned to the possibility of reselling cell phone plans. You know how you pay every month for your cell phone and there's various companies all competing for your business. Well, this is a niche that sounds as challenging as it is intriguing, okay? Because with this desire to connect consumers to better deals, she's looking to call in some advice on steering clear of the static of multi-level marketing schemes. A lot of cell phone reselling plans are multi-level marketing, so you wanna stay away from that.
So she instead wants to dial in to a genuine side hustle opportunity. Let's see if we can help her in some way. Can I get paid for cell phone plan referrals? And perhaps some of our listeners out there as well, you wanna make money, you wanna find a way to refer people and make some kind of affiliate commission, whether it's cell phone plans or something else. Can you hear me now?
The episode's coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hey, Chris, it's Nadia from Austin, Texas. I've been a dedicated listener since I stumbled upon side hustle school during my search for entrepreneurial inspiration. I see an opportunity to become a cell phone plan reseller, but I don't know how to get started. When I Googled, all I found was a multi-level marketing opportunity, which I know I should avoid.
So what's the best approach to carve out a profit in this competitive space? [Music]
Nadia venturing into the realm of cell phone plan reselling is indeed a path less traveled just because major carriers typically handle their own sales directly or with authorized dealers. They do have affiliate programs. I just did a little bit of research. Most of them don't pay a great amount of commission.
We're gonna have a whole question and answer here about affiliate programs for 2024 coming up in a couple of days. One of the things I'll mention then is that it's really important to find programs that pay a strong amount of commission, both in a relative sense and an absolute sense. So in terms of the percentage of commission, that's the relative sense, and then the absolute sense, what is the dollar amount that you get paid for referring people to a specific product or service? And I noticed in the world of cell phone reselling, early cell phone affiliate marketing, a lot of the commissions are pretty low. They're like $30 in some cases or $75, which seems like it could be good.
But if you're referring a customer to a cell phone plan, they're hoping that that customer is going to be around for years. So I think you should get paid a little bit more than that, just my opinion, right? So maybe there's some others out there. I would just do some research and make a list. Google every cell phone provider in the United States or whatever country you're in, and search for affiliate program for that specific carrier, and see what is available.
And maybe just choose the best option, at least, if they're all more or less equal, which these days I feel like they are in terms of service, then choose the best affiliate partnership. Maybe a couple of other options. Besides the major carriers, there are what's known as Mobile Virtual Network Operators, MVNOs, this gets a little bit technical, but basically the MVMOs are just resellers themselves. So they often have their own affiliate programs. They are basically purchasing network services from major carriers, and then they sell them for a little bit less.
So it's probably possible to become one of those. That probably takes more work than we could talk about here, but that could be something interesting for somebody out there. Maybe somebody who's already doing that, let me know, and I'd love to feature you as a case study. And then you could also partner with independent carriers, which are just smaller independent carriers, not those resellers of the big ones. And that could work in certain regions or markets.
Really just depends on where you're based and what you're trying to do, who you're trying to reach for your ideal customer. But I definitely think it's smart to stay away from multi-level marketing, as we have talked about before. Nadia, I'm cheering you on. As always, listeners, cheering you on as well. Hope you're doing okay during the holidays.
sidehustleschool.com/questions. You have notes or questions or comments. New episodes every day, all through the holidays and beyond. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
