James Swanwick

I’m ready to launch. Let’s do this. Let’s get into how to make a million dollars on the internet.

James Swanwick

I learned how to make a million dollars on the internet with just by picking a physical product that I was interested. I did it with just improving a physical product that I was interested.

I’m the creator of the Swannies Blue Light Blocking Glasses, which you wear at night time. It blocks the blue light from electronics and then, it helps you sleep a lot better.

But the problem was that I was wearing this ugly uvex glasses. They are the kind of glasses that you’d wear if you were mowing the lawn or you’re on a gun range.

James Swanwick

Yeah.

They’re very unsightly. And so, I had this idea. I wonder if I could get the same benefit of using the orange lens, which blocks the blue light but somehow put it into a stylish pair of glasses. That’s how I came up with my product called Swannies.

From my company Swanwick Sleep, that blue light blocking glasses. They look very fashionable. You can wear them out to restaurants and with amongst friends. People are always saying, “Oh, they look beautiful. They are very attractive. Tell me about those.”

I didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. I didn’t try to think up a new product. I just took an existing product, which was these ugly blue light blocking glasses, and I just made them a little bit better. I just amended that 20 % to get a stylish pair.

I launched in November 2, 2015, and learned how to make a million dollars on the internet in 11 months.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You just need to take an existing product and make it just a little bit better.

James Swanwick

The first I did on day one was just promote it on my personal social media. I had, and to a degree, I still have a pretty modest social media following. I’ve got maybe 27,000 followers on my Instagram, 10,000 on YouTube, and 10,000 on Facebook. It’s not huge, but it’s not small. It’s modest. I think that’s probably the most appropriate word for it. It can take some time to learn how to make a million dollars on the internet.

What I did was I posted five times a day and said, “These are my glasses,” and I would do little videos of me wearing them. I’d interview health experts talking about the dangers of blue light while wearing my glasses. I beg people to share on their Facebook page.

When I write a Facebook post, I will talk about the dangers of blue light and how my products can address those concerns and then at the end, I would say “Please share this with someone who might be interested in.”

Humans need to be told what to do. If you don’t say “Please share this,” then people won’t share it. But because I asked people to share it, some people shared it. Not a lot but maybe only two or three percent of individuals shared it. That was enough to get it out to hundreds of more people, which is hundreds of more potential buyers.

James Swanwick

I also made sure that I was interviewed on a lot of podcasts. Around that time, I had my podcast called The James Swanwick Show. It’s been around for about three years.

I was able to call up some of the guests that I had had on my show and just pitch them this idea, “Hey, would you like me to teach your listeners about how they could sleep better?” During that interview, I would then mention my glasses and the conversation would come out about the Swannies Blue Light Blocking Glasses.

And so, people became interested. People would then go to my website, or they’d go to Amazon. From there, there are all kinds of little marketing like things that you can do to coach people to buy from that point.

James Swanwick

Yeah, sure.

To the listener listening to my voice right now. You probably are listening to this on your smartphone. You probably downloaded this, or you might be listening to it on your computer.

There is a light that’s being emitted from your smartphone and your computer display as we speak. If you look at your smartphone right now, the light that’s shining up out of the screen is artificial light, and it’s mostly made up of blue artificial light.

James Swanwick

During the daytime, being exposed to that blue light is okay. It’s fine. At night time your body wants to naturally produce melatonin, which is the hormone that enables you to feel sleepy, to fall asleep quickly, and to sleep well during the night. When you stare into that screen, that blue light prevents you from creating melatonin.

If you’re the type of person who’s sitting on bed before they go to sleep, staring at your Instagram or your Facebook feed or doing emails, or you’re up at night watching Netflix, and you’re watching Game of Thrones on a Sunday night on HBO, and you’re staring at your TV screen in the last couple of hours before you go to sleep, your body is unable to produce melatonin.

Your sleep during the night is not as good sleep as you can get. It means you don’t spend that much time in that deep REM phase of sleep, which means you’re not restoring your body and your mind as well as you can. That means you wake up in the morning feeling just a little bit tired and just a little bit lethargic. Even if you get seven or eight hours sleep, you still wake up feeling tired.

People are like, “I don’t understand. I’m healthy. I eat well. I exercise. I just don’t understand why I’m still feeling so groggy. Most of the time, it’s because you’re exposed to too much light at night.

What my glasses do, these blue light blocking glasses is that you wear this glasses about 90 minutes before you go to sleep. You continue to look at your smartphone. You continue to watch TV, work on your computer, and brush your teeth in the kitchen light.

The orange lens blocks that artificial blue light. Your body, therefore, is able to produce melatonin. You’re therefore able to fall asleep quickly and spend a long time in that REM phase, which means you wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Your muscles have grown, or you’ve burned fat in the night.

James Swanwick

You’re clear in mind. You’ve got clarity and focus, and you’re able to live your life the way that nature intended you to.

James Swanwick

Yeah.

There’s a setting called Flux, which you can download on your computer. It naturally reduces the brightness level of your computer. It reduces that blue light.

Also, on an iPhone is a setting called Night Shift, which does the same thing. It turns orange the closer you get to bedtime, which reduces that blue light.

Those two settings are excellent, and I would encourage you and your listeners to use both of those. What they don’t do is they don’t stop you from being exposed to the kitchen light, the bathroom light, the streetlights, and the TV screen, and the alarm clock on your bedside table, which is why a pair of Blue Light Blocking Glasses to complement those two things would work great.

James Swanwick

Whatever you start doing, it has to solve a problem.

All businesses are discovering problems and then exploring ways to address those problems.

Like I said in the beginning, you don’t have to invent something new. You just got to take something and make it a little bit better.

I’ll give you one more example.

There’s a guy called Ryan Moran. He’s a friend of mine, and he has a podcast called Freedom Fast Lane. He took a yoga mat, the traditional one. All he did was he added an extra foot to that yoga mat, and he called them Extra Long Yoga Mats. He learned how to make a million dollars on the internet selling extra-long yoga mats. That’s all he did.

He just went to a manufacturer and said, “Hey, can you just add an extra foot to the standard length of a yoga mat?” Because of that, he was able to market that to people then.

People will like these yoga mats are too small because they’re like “I can’t fit on this damn thing. I want a little bit of extra space. I want to do my power poses.” And there you go. He learned how to make a million dollars on the internet right away.

So, I would encourage you to think about those things. The other thing is you have to tell people about the benefits of using your product whether it’s a digital product or a physical product. Too many people talk about the features.

I’ll tell you the difference.

The features of my blue light blocking glasses, for example, are they’re made of acetate. They have spring hinges. They’re well made. They look good. They’re in orange lens that blocks almost 100% of the blue light. They’re all features. But the benefits of my product are you sleep better.

James Swanwick

You fall asleep quicker. You wake up feeling refreshed. You look better. They’re the benefits.

James Swanwick

If you go to my website, for example, swanwicksleep.com, you’ll see the first headline there is, “Sleep better.” That’s it, “Sleep better.” That’s a benefit.

So now, when the prospect is landing on my website, they’re not seeing acetate frame, fancy 2.5 centimeters spring hinge, and other features, which is what most entrepreneurs do. They just see the benefit because all the prospects want to know how the hell this thing is going to help me.

Few things there I would say about how to make a million dollars on the internet and get a business off the ground.

1. Try to improve on an existing product. Just make something a little bit better.

Facebook made Myspace just a little bit better. When Facebook came and said “Let’s do it better,” it just completely blew Myspace out of the water.

2. Just start.

Sometimes, people get stuck in their head, and they’re thinking about it for 12 months, 18 months. “Oh, I’m going to start. This is going to start.” Just start.

3. Once you’ve started, talk about the benefits. Not the features but the benefits.

There’s a lot more things, but if you stick to those three things, then you’re on your way to having a great business.

James Swanwick

A lot of it was when I reach out to suggest to people with podcast or newspapers or magazines, and I reach out to them to somehow getting them to interview me about my product and promote my products. This helps if you want to know how to make a million dollars on the internet.

I didn’t go to them saying, “Hey, can you please write about my product?” Or, “Hey, can I please come on your show and talk about my product?” I did not do that.

What I did do is I spoke in their interest. What I said was, “Hey, would you like me to teach your listeners about seven ways that they can sleep better?” So now, I’m talking about what I can do for them. “Hey, would you like me to educate your readers on seven ways they can sleep better?”

James Swanwick

So I wasn’t saying “Hey, can you interview me about my new product that’s come out? The Swannies Blue Light Blocking Glasses which helps you sleep.” It was, “Hey, would you like me to come on your show and teach your viewers how they can sleep a lot better? Do you think your listeners or your readers would appreciate that?” And then they go, “Oh, yeah. Great.”

The host of the podcast and the reporters are always looking for ways, stories, and interviews that will help their listeners or their readers.

James Swanwick

So just by switching the framing of it, I was able to book on podcast. I was able to book on newspapers and magazines. People started writing about the product, and that just drove organic traffic to swanwicksleep.com, and also to the Amazon page.

Whenever you want anything from anyone, you have to approach it by thinking, “How can I give them value?” rather than “How can they give me value?”

Ultimately, your end goal is for them to give you value. With press and promotion and things like that, you have to approach it with, “What can I give them? What can I give their viewers? What can I give their readers? What can I do for them and speak in their interest?” This is what you need to know about how to make a million dollars on the internet.