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00:00I know for a fact that you're tired of searching the internet for the best ways to make money
00:05online. Every day, thousands of internet gurus tell you to try affiliate marketing or drop
00:10shipping, and they're all full of shit. Those things don't work in 2026, especially not in
00:16the new era of AI. In my AI venture studio, Martel Ventures, I've created dozens of companies that
00:22now generate millions, and I can tell you, there's only a few real ways to make money online.
00:27To make it simple, we're breaking everything into four buckets. Trash, the stuff you should
00:32run away from. Easy, businesses you can launch in under three months, earning $5,000 to $10,000 a month.
00:39Medium, skills that can be profitable within a year, making $10,000 to $50,000 a month. And hard,
00:45long-term plays that may take more time, but can make you millions if done right. I'll tell you the
00:51income potential, difficulty, how long it'll take to make money, and who is best for each bucket.
00:59So without further explanation, let's get into the real ways to make money in 2026.
01:04Starting with bucket number one, the trash bucket. The income potential for this bucket is zero,
01:10or even worse, could be negative. Difficulty, I mean, it looks easy, but it gives you nothing back.
01:16Time frame, waste months before you realize it was dead on arrival. Who is it best for? No one.
01:24NFT flipping. The hype is freaking done. Look at all the projects that launch. Nobody made money. The
01:30ones that thought they made money have lost money. And if you're going to start there and you haven't
01:34made money ever online, that's a losing recipe. Next, crypto trading. Moves really fast. Most people
01:42don't have the patience and it's without any crazy skill. Unless you're the person that tries to front
01:47run the whole freaking trade, most people lose money every freaking day. Next, multi-level marketing.
01:54If the way you make money is getting paid to recruit people to join your thing, and you don't
01:59shape the business, and you don't actually sell anything, and you actually spend more money to buy
02:04product to try to get up the leaderboard, that's not a business you want to be in. Most of these are
02:08scams. Next, basic caption or subtitles. Now, AI does it faster, cheaper, and way better.
02:16After that, we have low-level data entry. This is wild to watch if people still think they're
02:22going to make money on this, because AI tools have replaced this work completely.
02:26Fiverr Microtasks, my favorite website on the internet five years ago. Trying to make money this
02:32way, it's not the worst on the list, but it has zero long-term growth. Next, we got print-on-demand.
02:38Here's the thing. It's really crowded, and everyone sells the same shitty stuff.
02:45And last but not least, my favorite, day trading. Here's the deal. If you're not completely into it,
02:50obsessed on it, and just want to just live the day trading life, it is way easier to lose money
02:56than to make any. Basically, all these are like trying to race across the ocean in a car. You keep
03:03drowning because you need a different vehicle. So, to make sure your idea isn't in this bucket,
03:09I need you to run your idea through the trash filter. Three simple questions. One, is AI already
03:16replacing this? Two, is the industry shrinking or going obsolete? Three, is it easier to lose money
03:24than to make money? If you answer yes to any, move on immediately. Now, let's talk about the first
03:33bucket that actually pays real money. Bucket number two, easy bucket. The income potential,
03:39five to 10K a month, no problem. The difficulty, low, simple skills, fast turnaround, time frame,
03:4730 to 60 days to actually get paid. And it's best for beginners trying to gain some momentum and build
03:54a degree for these. These just need basic execution and learning how to talk to customers.
04:00Just get your first dollar online, build some confidence, and learn how clients work.
04:04Here's some examples. The first one, basic short form editing. If you haven't seen all the people
04:10that have like these clipping accounts and people like edit these short form videos all over social
04:14media, I mean, the demand is huge. Every person now seems to be a content creator and AI makes it
04:20incredibly easy. So it's easy to get paid fast. Love this one. Next, we got social media copywriting.
04:27Every business in the world needs to learn how to use words to get customers to buy,
04:32and they need somebody to help them. And the tools are getting so good. Just get the client,
04:37do the work, get paid. Next, we've got the AI chatbot set up for small businesses. I love this one
04:43because every small business needs more time back. And if you can be the person that comes in and help
04:48them set this up, they will pay you money because it's easy for them to redeploy their time to make
04:54more money than what they paid you. Use this one. Next, we've got the AI receptionist along the same
05:00lines. It's crazy today when you can use tools like youratlas.com that you can get paid to set
05:05up for small businesses to take all the inbound calls to qualify, sell, fill up schedules, answer
05:11questions, and it'll do it without being upset, complain, take time off, or call in sick. Helping
05:18businesses do this is a great way to make money. Next, we've got UGC content. Brands want to pay
05:26for real people showing their products, not professional models. Helping a brand connect
05:31with a creator, and you're the middleman, and you get a piece of this. My buddy in Dubai, this is his
05:36whole business, and they're already doing 100k a month. So you can make five to 10, starting with this
05:41one. And last, the virtual or executive assistant. It's one of my favorite categories because I wrote
05:45a book called Buy Back Your Time. See, rich people hate wasting time, and they'll pay you to get it
05:50back. The best part is you get paid to hang out with smart people that can teach you about life
05:56to help them get you done. No brainer. A great example of this bucket is my buddy Mark. No background,
06:02no experience. He decides to start approaching companies to help them take long-form content that
06:06they were creating, using AI to break it down into short-form clips. And that simple process of
06:13using AI tools, making it repeatable, and turning around really quick has scaled now, whereas a
06:18freelancer, he earns $30,000 a month with only seven clients. This bucket is about learning how to master
06:24a high-income skill. Because if you already knew how to make millions, you'd be making millions.
06:29Which means you're going to have to invest in yourself to develop the skills to add value to the world.
06:34If you want to try any of these ideas, follow these specific steps. First, create your outcome-based
06:40offer. Don't sell your time. Map to a pain the customer already has. Help them make money or
06:46save time around an area that they're really in pain around. Because pain is a perfect way to figure
06:52out what they're willing to pay for. Make a promise that's specific around a result in a very specific
06:58timeframe. That's how you create a compelling offer. And then just remove all the risks. Just tell them
07:03what the guarantee is. And then say, because it's just you, you can only take so many clients. So
07:07I'm only looking for three or five clients. That creates urgency and it'll get them to buy right
07:11away. And for what it's worth, if you want to make this super easy, I can send you my exact offer
07:16template. So all you have to do is copy and paste it. It'll save you hours of tweaking and adjusting and
07:22testing. Just DM me the words YouTube offer on Instagram or click the link in the description below
07:27and I'll send it over. So once you have your offer, just do one daily outreach. That's a
07:32non-negotiable. If you want to make money online, set it and forget it. It's just a habit. So reach
07:36out to one potential client every day until you get customers, but you just have to have a clear
07:42offer. That's what this bucket will teach you. That skill of crafting an offer, getting somebody
07:46to understand it and paying you. This will get you the best chance to be successful in this bucket.
07:51That being said, if you already have experience or you want income that's more consistent,
07:55the medium bucket might actually be better choice. Bucket number three, the medium bucket.
08:02Essentially the income potential is 10 to 50 K per month minimum difficulty level. It's medium,
08:08but multi-skill work tied to real business outcomes makes you money. You're not just doing tasks anymore.
08:14You're solving revenue and growth problems for businesses. And the timeframe to make real money
08:19could be three months, maybe worst case 12 months, but you're setting up your future. And it's best for
08:24people that have some skill, but want more stability and scale. When I look at Sam on my media team,
08:31Sam didn't ask for a step-by-step instruction to be successful. He just framed the outcome. He took
08:36ownership and he delivered because of that, he got opportunities to step up. That's why you've
08:41probably seen the video of me giving him his dream car, a Porsche GT4. It wasn't because he was doing
08:46little tiny tasks. It's because he actually delivered the outcome. And for me, that became vastly more
08:52valuable. And that's, what's different about this bucket. You're no longer just doing the skill.
08:56You're actually tying your pay to an outcome. The only way for your clients to make more money
09:01is for them to focus on solving bigger problems, which mean you come in and take the smaller problems
09:06off their plate. So what are some examples in this category? The first one, AI automation agencies.
09:11This one's a new hotness. Why? The demand for this alone makes it a fantastic opportunity.
09:16And it makes you bulletproof for the future. Businesses are literally drowning in opportunity
09:22to automate and it makes the money quickly and it saves them time at scale. And it's going to
09:27future-proof you for other companies. Next, we got LinkedIn growth systems powered by AI.
09:33Every CEO or leader out there, they need more reach. They need people to know who they are. They
09:38need people to know, like, and trust them. And if you're the kind of person that come in and own
09:42that outcome of getting that attention, that audience, that trust, they will pay you to help
09:46them grow. Next, we've got micro SaaS near and dear to my heart and really AI tools for small
09:52businesses. These are like really small, tiny tools that help save people time. So you can have like
09:57a plugin, an extension, an app for a marketplace. But the cool part is you charge monthly for simple,
10:03clear value. And that's how you stack revenue. Next, we've got an AI content agency. This one is super
10:11fun, especially if you love content. I mean, brands are always looking for more content that's aligned
10:16to help them create associations to help their business. So you use AI to produce high volumes
10:22without shooting. It's crazy. So look into like HeyGen, 11 Labs and other tools like that that'll
10:28make this job easy. And for these last two options, just take a screenshot for all the AI tools that I
10:33put up on screen so that you can make this option way easier. And last, we have high quality
10:37motion graphic designers. The more AI can do all kinds of low quality stuff and like people are
10:43shooting more and more content. What's missing is somebody to understand how to do motion graphics.
10:47This is the separator. This is where you make content look pro. So you want to learn After Effects
10:52plus all the AI tools that help you make and deliver premium assets fast. And for these last two options,
10:58take a screenshot of all these AI tools that will make it so much easier for you.
11:02If you fall in love with this bucket, here are two pro tips that you need. One, build three to five
11:08measurable case studies that you can tell to other people. That way it'll allow you to sell to more
11:13clients fast. So if you're just starting off, maybe you find people that represent your ideal
11:17customer profile and offer to either do it at a discount or free. I don't love free, but let's say
11:22discount. And in return for that discount, they agree to let you use their project as a case study to
11:28talk to other customers about. Two, sell outcome-based monthly retainers instead of one-off
11:33projects. I still see people in today's age that are selling their time for money. You have to
11:39disconnect from that. Don't get stuck in it. Don't start there. Don't get in the trap. When you can sell
11:44outcomes, especially like monthly retainers for a specific outcome, that creates predictability
11:49and reoccurring revenue in your business. And that is the most beautiful place to get. And that is how you
11:54make real money online. But if you want to build something way bigger than yourself, something that
11:59could actually change your entire life, the hard bucket is where it's at. Bucket number four, the
12:05hard bucket. The income potential here could be like a million plus a month. Honestly, millions.
12:11The difficulty level though is high because it's going to require systems, leadership, and honestly,
12:16long-term thinking. It's hard to get into and it may need some capital or expertise, but you will see a
12:22massive return. And the timeframe to get to this level, if you start from zero, could take two to
12:2810 years or more, depending on your level of effort. It's best for people who want to build something
12:33bigger than themselves, essentially an asset or even better an empire. And the reason why is because
12:39you're building something that someone else might actually buy. The people in this bucket are my kind
12:44of people. So let's run through some examples. The first, investing in AI first founders. This is my
12:50world. See back in the day, I've been doing AI investing for over seven years. Companies like
12:55FlexPay or Intercom, et cetera. These are all companies I was involved in, in the early days.
13:00And what's cool about it is that if you have the capital and you invest in them, when they win,
13:05you win. When you get equity without running the company yourself, you get a lot of time back. So
13:09this is a great way to create leverage and create an empire. I've personally invested in over a hundred
13:14companies using this method. And starting from 2026, this is going to get way bigger. A lot of people are
13:20going to be able to do this one. Next, we got software AI products. Essentially, this is my
13:25world. This is what I build at Martell Ventures. We have built or partnered with people that have
13:29launched a new AI company every month for the last year and a little bit. And I'm telling you,
13:33this one has made me more money than anything I've ever done my whole life. The key to make it work
13:38is you've got to build tools that solve real problems in a way that's unique. Most of the applications
13:44that I'm working on, honestly, the AI isn't powerful enough yet for it to work. Not only is it a
13:50great way to generate reoccurring revenue because it's software, but you build some value where
13:55people will pay you 10 to 50 times more than your top line revenue for the business. Next is buying
14:01small businesses and using AI to automate 30 to 50% of it. It's so crazy how there's like these really
14:07simple businesses that are still stuck in the 80s. My friend Jason bought a campground a couple of
14:12years ago, and all he did was put in AI powered booking software, management software, maintenance
14:17software, and the thing prints cash today. But buying a boring business that somebody else is
14:22done with using AI is a great way to create real wealth. Next, we've got personal brand or content
14:28machine for deal flow. I break it into content and commerce. You've seen this with Mr. Beast and
14:34Feastables. You've seen this with Logan Paul and Prime. You've seen this with all these content
14:38creators. But if you can build a personal brand, build distribution, then you have a way to introduce
14:44customers to a product that creates equity, that creates enterprise value. And this is in the hard
14:49bucket because most people are willing to stick with it. It takes time. It takes commitment. It
14:54takes dedication. You got to be consistent. Most people would rather take the easy way. That's why
14:58it's in the hard bucket. Next, we've got subscription communities powered by AI curation. I've seen so many
15:05of these online communities now where essentially people pay every month to be part of a group so that
15:10they have access to knowledge and experience. And the AI is designed to answer their questions to
15:15support them. It's faster, it's easier, and you can build a business from it. And last, licensing AI
15:22playbooks. This is where most companies don't realize their system prompts is their new IP, their
15:28intellectual property. So if you have a business that has created these playbooks that are AI powered,
15:32you can copy paste those and sell them to other businesses by making them passive income. Like just go look
15:38at all the custom GPTs you can buy. A lot of people are like creating innovation inside their own
15:43business and licensing it to other companies and making a ton of money. This is a really cool one
15:47that I think a lot of people are sleeping on. The hard bucket is near and dear to my heart because
15:51it's a reflection of my life. I mean, a lot of people see me today and they see all the success and
15:55the accolades, but they don't know where I started. I started as a software programmer at 17 writing code,
16:01and it took me almost seven years to finally find any software, any traction, what I was doing.
16:07And eventually at 28, I sold my company and I became a multimillionaire. And it's the thing
16:12that ultimately made me financially successful, but better than anything, it created the confidence
16:17in my abilities that I could then apply to my other companies. So don't forget, you don't get the hockey
16:23stick without the flat first year. So you have to learn how to invest and reinvest and recommit if you
16:29ever want to be successful. Here's how you do this for yourself step by step. One, tie your strongest
16:36skill to a fast growing industry. If you don't know what that is, ask AI, it'll tell you. Second
16:42is systematize your service. Don't sell your time, sell an outcome so that you can build the system
16:49around delivering that outcome and create automation. So it's systematized. Third is build a small team
16:55slowly. Surround yourself with killers. I believe the first 12 people that come into your business will
17:00dictate your success. You want to be slow on making sure they're the right fit for what you're trying to
17:05do. And for what it's worth, avoid adding head count where AI could do the job for you. Number four,
17:11layer AI into your operations to increase your margins. Get rid of the costs, get AI to build that
17:17automation. And last, use content to create inbound deal flow. If I would have known when I started
17:23creating content that not only would bring opportunities to me, but it would bring talent,
17:27it would bring friendships, it would bring invites of things that you couldn't even pay for,
17:32I would have started a long time ago. So no matter what you decide to do in this bucket,
17:36just make sure you create content around it. None of this matters if you fall into the trap that
17:41destroys more businesses than anything else. The shiny object syndrome. Most people fail,
17:47not because they were in the wrong bucket, but because they switch buckets every few weeks.
17:52I've got a friend. He's the same age as me. I've watched him go from like one idea to the other
17:57idea, to the next idea, to another idea. And he hasn't found any traction. Why? He keeps resetting
18:03every time, every two or three years. It's like, oh, that didn't work because of this. I'm going to do
18:07this now. Here's why. When you start from scratch, you can't be wrong. If you stick long enough with
18:12something and it doesn't work, then it can feel demoralizing. But the real way to win is to stay in
18:17the game long enough to win. See winners lose more than losers by definition of being a winner. I
18:22know it sounds crazy, but that's what it's going to take. So don't get distracted. Focus. Follow one
18:28course until successful. Pick one of these options out of these buckets and execute. Just remember,
18:34you can do anything, just not everything. So here's how you avoid the shiny object syndrome. One,
18:41commit to a thousand days of focus. Don't stop. Be consistent. Two, document the journey. Put it in
18:48public. Build in public. It'll actually hold you accountable because everybody's going to be
18:53waiting to see what you're going to post next. If you just do these two things, it'll increase
18:57your probability of success more than anything else you could do. And the most important thing
19:02is that you commit. Don't just hear all of this and do nothing. The separator in 2026
19:08is the people that show up and do. And those are the folks that make it this far.
19:12So if that's you, I want a commitment. Type commitment below. Look me in the eyes and let
19:17me know you're one of the people that are different. You're the one that's not just going to do shelf
19:21help, listen to a lot of stuff and put it up on a shelf, but you're actually going to focus until you
19:25get results. And remember, if any of you are entrepreneurs out there and you want my exact
19:29offer template to help you get clients, just DM me the word YouTube offer on Instagram or click the link
19:35below and I'll send it right over. And if you want to learn how to scale any business from
19:40absolutely very beginning to the end, click here and I'll see another side.
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