I recently did an interview for a site called Online Money All Stars (they have a bunch of great content, check them out) and was asked an interesting question:

“What would you do if you had lost all your business and reputation?”

I gave an answer in the interview (again, go read it here) but I also wanted to share a full-length response that’s a little more in-depth. Mainly because of recent events like Alex Jones being deplatformed from everywhere, or last year’s big YouTube crackdown.

For this situation, there are some ground rules:

• You get to keep any money or non-Internet assets (stocks, BitCoin, rare comic books, etc).
• No crimes were committed, so you aren’t in legal trouble.
• You just lose what you already have (any websites, eBooks, Twitter accounts affiliate deals disappear. You also are perma-banned from your current web host). You’re still allowed to join programs and use services offered by any other company.
• What you do for money must be realistic or fitting your personality (i.e. no becoming a cross-country truck driver or professional arm wrestler).
• You must do something for income, and you can’t live at home.

Alright, those are the rules. And here’s what I’d do.

1. Move To A Second-Tier Asian City

Whenever you see “If I had to start all over again” articles, they’re usually full of advice like buying a $10,000 suit and pitching consultant services to executives in Manhattan.

Realistically, no one ever does this at their low-point.

If you’ve ever had a friend or family member wrapped up in lawsuits or a messy divorce, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Heck, even success guru Don Lapre stabbed himself to death when faced with legal trouble.

Likewise, many people suggest going “full Unabomber” and moving to the most remote area possible. This is also a bad idea. Many rural places are often as expensive (if not more) than living in an urban environment. Plus, you’ll need a car to get around. Something which adds to your expenses.

Instead, I’d move to a second-tier city in China or Vietnam. They’re safe, have nice infrastructure, and are massive in scale. Some of these places are completely unknown to foreigners, but have populations comparable to Seattle, LA, or even New York.

Plus, they’re super cheap.

I went on a road trip last week and got a hotel room (in the city center) for $4 a night.

So the first thing I’d do is move to an area like this, pay a full year’s rent up front, and rest easy knowing my housing costs were covered for an entire year.

Side not: Despite being super cheap, second-tier cities have all the amenities you’d find back home. Like movie theaters, shopping malls, supermarkets, fast food, nightclubs, book stores etc…

2. Re-Route My Emergency Fund To Investing

Since rent is a whooping $124 per month, I’d take my emergency fund and use it to continue investing in high-yield dividend producing index funds.

This (plus my current holdings) is an easy $1,200+ per year in passive income.

If nothing else, these dividend payments are enough to cover another year’s rent. But, more realistically, the next part of this plan will cover all expenses and then some.

3. Get A Low-Effort Online Job (Which Pays Hourly)

Instead of “brand building” or cranking out an eBook, I’d get a low-effort, low-brain power online job. Something that pays $8 – $14 an hour, and requires no prospecting, cold calling, or extra work.

I’d probably choose something like homework helper, transcriber, Zen Desk support staff, or some other easy job where you work for a company while getting paid hourly. I’d do this three to four hours a day, covering all my expenses and then some.

The rest of my day (for the first month or two) would be spent going to the beach, walking around town (or the mountains), and reading books.

Kind of like a mini vacation.

4. I Would Build An Old-School Adult Website

Instead of crafting information products (they’re harder to sell than most realize, my eBooks require around 40 – 50 visitors to their landing page just to sell one copy) or doing something in the fitness niche, I’d join every single adult website’s affiliate program. Then, I’d install the most aggressive ad network possible (pop-ups, banners, etc). This turns every pageview into profit. And with a strong enough program, you’re getting $4 – $6 per 1,000 hits.

At 60,000 views per month (2,000 per day, very reasonable) you’re making just under $400. This doesn’t include affiliate sales.

For content, I’d just repost all the promotional clips and pictures the affiliates provide. And for traffic, I’d link out to every forum, blog, etc…

This is about the lowest effort business there is.

You don’t make products or write copy.

Once the ad money started rolling in, I’d outsource everything through Mturk, paying someone literal pennies to run the whole project. Then I’d move on.

5. Build Some Legitimate Businesses

(On ClickBank, The Little Arrows Mean A Product Offers Recurring Commissions)

Grey area businesses are a great source of fast cash. But, they tend to get shut down quickly. As such, once I had some passive income coming in, I’d build some niche sites. For products, I’d pick physical goods (they always convert better than info products), or services with a recurring commission.

I’d also take my excess earnings, and also invest them into more high dividend index funds. This way you’re making money from three streams of income:

1. A job.
2. Investments.
3. Owning A Business (Your Sites).

This balances your cash flow between stability (a job), scalability (your business), and passive income (the returns generated on your investments). I would then stick to a simple formula of writing one article or sales letter per day (minimum) every day for the rest of the year.

Additionally, I’d build backlinks and do promotion daily, building up the traffic and boosting the page ranking. I’d also work on 3 – 7 sites simultaneously, allowing them to all grow at the same rate.

Within eight months, at least one will be generating $1,000+ per month. And even the smaller ones will make $100+ monthly.

Worst case scenario, all of them flop and you’re *only* getting $700 – $800 a month total. At that point, just keep what you’ve built as is, then start a new batch of sites.

Following this basic strategy, you’d still end up making $36,000 – $45,000+ over the course of a calendar year. This is also something of a low-end estimate, so the numbers could be much higher.

And, much of what you did (between investments and sites) will compound over time. So your second year of starting over is already positioned to be better than the last.