The Three Skills That Print Money
If you can move people through a funnel, you can move money into your bank account
Every business on earth has the same problem.
They need to get strangers to care.
Care enough to click. Care enough to read. Care enough to hand over money.
Doesn't matter if you're Chase Bank with billions in assets or a solo entrepreneur selling info products from your bedroom. The fundamental challenge is identical.
You need a system that takes someone who's never heard of you and turns them into a customer.
That system is a funnel.
And if you can build one, you can make money anywhere.
The Universal Language of Business
Look at any industry and you'll see the same pattern playing out in different clothes.
Banks run print ads and TV commercials that push you to a website or phone line.
That website is selling you on features and benefits.
That phone line connects you to someone trained to close.
Different medium, same mechanics.
SaaS companies create content that funnels traffic to a landing page.
That landing page sells the features.
The CTA pushes you toward a trial or demo.
The email sequences nurture you until you convert.
Different product, same pattern.
Info product sellers run ads or organic content that drive to landing pages with a video sales letter.
You opt in, they capture your email and phone.
You enter an automated sequence.
Maybe you hit a second page with more breakdown videos.
Maybe there's a qualification form.
Then a setter reaches out, books a call, hands you to a closer.
Different complexity, same fundamental structure.
Three wildly different industries. One underlying skill set.
Copywriting. Funnels. Ads.
These aren't industry-specific tactics. They're the foundation of how money moves in the modern economy.
Online and offline. B2B and B2C. Physical products and digital services.
If you understand how to move people through a sequence that builds desire and removes friction, you understand how business works.
And the best part? Most of the technical execution can be handed off cheap.
Building the actual pages, editing the videos, setting up the automation - that's VA work.
The valuable part is knowing what to build and why.
The Stack That Matters
If I had to take someone from zero knowledge to making money online, there are three skills in a specific order.
First - Copywriting
Not because you need to be Shakespeare. Because you need to understand what makes people move.
How to identify desires, surface objections, create urgency, build trust. Every funnel is just organized persuasion, and copywriting is the language of persuasion.
Start with The Copywriter's Handbook.
Read it cover to cover. Don't skim.
Actually absorb how direct response works. Study the examples.
Notice the patterns in how offers are structured, how benefits are framed, how calls to action are constructed.
You're not learning to be clever.
You're learning to be clear about what someone gets and why they should care right now.
Second - Funnel Architecture
Once you understand the words, you need to understand the structure.
How pages connect. Where friction lives.
What order information needs to be delivered.
When to ask for the sale versus when to nurture.
This is where you reverse engineer what's already working. Find people killing it in different markets and map their funnels.
What's the first touchpoint? Where does it send you? What's the offer on that page? What happens after you opt in? Where are the follow-ups coming from?
You'll start noticing the same patterns everywhere. The same sequences adapted to different contexts.
VSL funnels. Webinar funnels. Application funnels.
They all follow predictable logic once you know what you're looking at.
Third - Traffic
You can have the most elegant funnel and the sharpest copy in the world, but without people flowing through it, you have nothing. This is where ads come in.
Learning how to target, how to test creative, how to read data and optimize.
But here's the thing - you don't start here. You start with understanding the message and the structure. Then you learn to put volume behind what works.
From Theory to Money
Knowledge without application is just entertainment.
So here's the path if you're actually trying to do this.
Once you've absorbed the fundamentals, you need a case study. Not a portfolio piece you made up.
An actual funnel you built that drove actual results for an actual business.
The fastest way to get this is to do it for free.
Pick an industry.
Make a list of 100 potential clients in that space - this is your Dream 100.
Businesses that could benefit from better funnels but probably aren't sophisticated enough to have them dialed in yet.
Reach out with a simple offer.
You'll build them a complete funnel at no cost in exchange for the case study and testimonial.
You handle everything.
They just need to approve the copy and provide any assets you need.
With the right templates and AI tools, you can knock out a high-quality funnel in a day. The tech is easier than it's ever been.
Tools that used to require developers are now drag-and-drop. AI can handle first drafts of copy if you know how to prompt it properly and edit the output.
You're not trying to reinvent the wheel. You're adapting proven structures to a new client. Swapping out their offer, their voice, their specific benefits. The pattern stays the same.
Get one yes. Build the funnel. Get the results. Document everything.
Now you have proof.
The Two Paths Forward
Path One - Do This for Clients
Once you've got that first case study, you're now a funnels and ads agency.
You've proven you can deliver. You charge for the next one. Then the next.
You refine your process, hire VAs to handle the execution work, and you focus on strategy and client acquisition.
There's real money here. Businesses will pay thousands for a funnel that converts.
If you can drive traffic and prove ROI, they'll pay you monthly retainers to manage it.
Path Two - Run Funnels as an Affiliate
Run funnels for yourself as an affiliate. Find offers that convert, negotiate affiliate deals, and build funnels that promote someone else's product.
You keep a percentage of every sale.
This is the Dream 100 strategy flipped. Instead of finding clients who need funnels, you find offers that need affiliates and build the funnel infrastructure they're missing.
You own the traffic. You own the funnel. You just don't own the product.
Same skills. Different application. Both print money if you execute.
What Actually Matters
The internet is full of people trying to figure out how to make money online.
Most of them are chasing tactics. The latest growth hack. The new platform. The secret strategy nobody else knows about.
That's all noise.
The signal is simple and it hasn't changed. Understand what people want. Communicate it clearly. Remove the friction between interest and action. Put that system in front of the right people.
Copywriting teaches you to communicate value.
Funnel building teaches you to structure the path to yes.
Ads teach you to put volume behind what works.
These three skills are transferable across every business model, every industry, every market condition. They're not sexy. They're not new. They're just fundamental.
And if you actually learn them - not just watch YouTube videos about them, but build real funnels and run real traffic and iterate based on real data - you'll understand how money works on the internet better than 95% of people out there.
The tools have never been better. AI can handle the grunt work. Templates exist for every funnel type. The barrier to entry is lower than it's ever been.
What's missing isn't access. It's execution.
So if you're trying to figure out where to start, stop looking for the magic bullet.
Read The Copywriter's Handbook.
Study funnels that are working.
Build one for free to get proof it works.
Then do it again. And again.
The skills compound.
The case studies stack.
The money follows.