In August 2005, I “retired” from Affiliate Marketing after spending the previous five years building the business up to a level that it could run without me. After a few months of doing nothing at all, the entrepreneurial spirit was bored stupid of lie-ins and long walks with the dogs, and I needed to do something just to keep the business brain occupied – I looked into buying a pub, a nightclub, a hairdressers, a chain of Arcades, none of which really excited me. And then I remembered that a couple of years earlier, I’d become a distributor for Telecom Plus, a company offering cheap Gas and Electricity, as well as deals on Landlines, Mobiles and Broadband.

Here was a business that I’d already invested in (It cost less than £200 to set up), and could run as part time as I wanted – It was the perfect work-from-home business for me, as I could just work a couple of hours a day, or even a couple of hours a week if I wanted, and slowly build up my earnings. I didn’t need to immerse myself in the business (but could if I wanted to), so for a period of just over six months, I worked as a very part-time Utility Warehouse Distributor (Utility Warehouse having become the trading name for Telecom Plus some time before). I managed to use my experience in Affiliate Marketing to my advantage, and obtained some very cheap advertising on Google that converted really well – For about three months solid I was one of the Top 5 customer gatherers in the whole of the company – and my earnings were really starting to take off.

The thing I loved the most about the Telecom Plus Business Opportunity is the residual income – Ever since I learned about Residual Income in 2001/2002, I’ve been steadily finding ways to increase both my own, and my companies residual income streams. The fact that the Utility Warehouse pay their distributors commissions on their referred customer’s bills for the lifetime of the customer sold it for me! I was having a fine time, working an average of just 1 hour a day, with my earnings after 6 months up around the £700 a month mark, and rising considerably.

Unfortunately, at this time, events elsewhere dictated where my time needed to be spent – My original Affiliate Marketing company was heading for trouble, and was within 3 months of going out of business. I had to return to lead the company straight away, and go back to working 15 hour days on that business, as well as making half the staff force redundant, which is not something I ever want to do again. I had left the Affiliate business too early – I thought the company could run successfully without me at the time, but I was wrong.

I’ve now been back “at the helm” for nearly two years, and whilst the company is much stronger now, it’s still a long, long way off being able to run without me, and I’m still putting in the 15 hour days. I’m working to a brand new business plan, that should see me returning to part-time work within the next 3 years, at which point (after some much needed time off), I’ll probably pick up where I left off with my Utility Warehouse business.

Why do I love Residual Income? Well, for these last two years that I’ve done zero work as a Telecom Plus distributor, I’ve continued to be paid every single month without fail – Being paid around £250-300 per month, for doing no work whatsoever – Sweet! And the icing on the cake was receiving a letter early last year from Telecom Plus, telling me that as one of their best customer gatherers from the previous year, I’d “earned” myself a free holiday – And I wasn’t alone..

They paid for around the top 200 (yes 200!) Utility Warehouse Distributors and their partners to go on a 3-night cruise from Monte Carlo to Genoa and Rome, including guided tours of all the cities, all food and drink (including gourmet meals, 24 hour room service, champagne and fine spririts), and great entertainment on the Silver Whisper, a six-star luxury cruise liner. We had a massive suite, complete with our own butler, and looking at the price list when we got home (yes, we’re true Brits!), a similar holiday should we choose to book it ourselves would cost in excess of £3,000!

So, a company that continues to pay me, even years after I’ve stopped working for them, and send me on a free holiday worth several thousand pounds – That’s my sort of company! If you’re interested in becoming a distributor for the Utility Warehouse, then please click here for more information.

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