Anyone who’s spent any time on the internet will have seen it: Long, money-driven salespages with bold red headlines, and a general message that sounds something like: ‘Do this and/or buy this product, and you can sit back while the cash rolls in at no effort of yours!’
Aside from the very questionable nature of such offers, there’s a far more important matter: Common sense. Come on people, how likely is it that you can rake in cash without any effort? Not very bloody likely at all, is what.
Oh sure, there are examples of people who struck lucky and built an autopilot business, but guess what? Even those people spent years learning how that is done. Their stroke of luck actually was nothing of the sort – rather, it was the culmination of years of study; research; trial&error and very often, lots and lots of money invested – and lost.
And then finally, they create out of all that experience something that actually brings cash without having to slave away hour after hour.
But what you can’t do is just start something, or buy some magical miracle ‘get rich quick’ program and expect it to create wealth for you. Nobody can. It just doesn’t work that way.
Seriously: Would you teach your kids that they can have something without some sort of expense, sacrifice or effort? Of course you wouldn’t. So why would an internet business be an exception?
There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
Do you think old Henry just designed a car and made it big? You don’t think he saw a whole bunch of them explode, collapse, run into a tree or off into a ditch, before the Ford Motor company finally started to sell the T-model and make some money off it?
Or look at Richard Branson. Must be great to have a golden touch, right? The guy even has the clout to make a profit by sending people into space, no less!
Yup, but read his interviews and biography: You’ll find he failed big on many of his projects (and he took it as learning experience) and lost tons of money over the years. That there are his school years, and if you’re going to achieve any amount of success in earning money on the internet, you too will have to do your homework, and probably fail a few times as well.
And all that is fine. It’s OK to lose money. It’s OK to see your startup business fail. It’s perfectly fine to get back to square one and start over again. Those things hurt and they can be a lot of trouble, but everyone who’s ever been successful at anything will have gone through those kinds of experiences first. In fact, mistakes and failures have to happen. It’s OK.
What isn’t OK is to consider failure; loss; or disillusionment as proof that you can’t. That you shouldn’t or that you’re not fit for this.
If Even Einstein Tells You… Shouldn’t You Prick Up Your Ears?
Einstein is quoted somewhere, saying something to the effect that it wasn’t him being successful – he just spent a LOT of time being wrong. Now think about that for a while. Then, think about the famous and successful people, the ones you admire for their business prowess.
You can bet your bottom dollar – quite literally – that each and every one of them has had their full share of mistakes, losses, failures and disappointments. Every. Single. One.
It’s not that this article tries to sell you some sort of foo-foo feel-good pseudo-spiritual attitude to life and earning money – far from it.
It’s a simple reality that if you want something in life, there’s a price to pay. For a good job you need to spend years in education, for a decent car you need to drop money, and for a happy married life you have to sacrifice things you like, such as weekly drinking sessions with your buddies.
Can you give any credible reason as to why earning money online would be any exception?
If you answer: ‘Well I just bought this course that promises X results in Z time’ there’s a fairly good chance you’ve been suckered into the purchase.
If you really, really want to succeed in business online, there are a few basic things you just can’t do without.
Persistence is one. Being willing to learn is another important one. Putting in the hours. In fact, lots of people find enormous inspiration in a manifesto written by Hugh McLeod which sums it up very nicely. It’s originally written for people of creative ilk, but it translates remarkably well to internet business in general, so I would say start with that. Here’s the link: http://gapingvoid.com/2004/07/25/how-to-be-creative/
I’ll part wishing you luck, and the strength to give it what it takes.
David Ferrini is a freelance writer for First Choice Loans, a mortgage broker that specialises in home and business finance. Check out their Guides and Articles section for more info on finance and real estate.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
