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So you want to make money online

Written by: Teresa Bohannon

Article Overview: Entrepreneur know thyself, or be doomed to failure.

So you want to make money online

So you want to make money online...

Making money online is easy. If you don't believe me just check your inbox and see just how many people are out there who are more than willing to teach you "The Secret". How much they charge pretty much depends on just how gullible, or maybe how desperate you are.

Does that mean that making online is hopeless and that everyone on the Internet is a liar, a thief or a con-artist? Of course not, but anyone who is online and doesn't believe in the old latin maxim Caveat emptor (Let the buyer beware) is either very foolish, or someone who desperately wants or needs to believe in a miracle.

Unfortunately that is the way con-artists and sociopaths work, they prey on the foolish, the desperate and those lazy individuals who want overnight success handed to them on a silver platter.

If all of that sounds cynical or discouraging or insulting then maybe running an online business is not for you. If on the other hand you can read statements like that, and still retain interest in working online then you just might have what it takes to succeed.

The truth of the matter is...there are no overnight miracles--not even on the technologically miraculous internet. Like aspiring young starlets heading for Hollywood and standing on a street corner hoping to be discovered, many more fail than ever succeed and pretty much for the same reasons.

On the Internet, like in Hollywood you can not just stand around and expect to be discovered, the competition is just too tough and the pretty faces who look just like every other pretty face in town are just not going to stand out from the crowd.

So how do you get started on the Internet and succeed? Well, as I said there are no overnight miracles. For every overnight success that you hear about, there was most likely months and months of preparation leading up to it. To succeed online you have to do exactly like you would in the real world...start with a plan and follow through.

Does it have to be a formal business plan? No, it can be as simple as a series of lists. But to make the lists you first need to do your research so you will know what to put on your lists.

Start by deciding what you want to do and how you envision accomplishing it. Be completely and brutally honest with yourself. I know that sounds insultingly simple, but it is actually the most important step. For example, if you know that you hate approaching people, you are not going to want to start a business that will require that you go out into your community and cold-call sell locally. Also, if you jealously guard every second of your fun time and know that personal discipline is not your strong suit you would probably be better off finding a good stockbroker and letting him or her do the work for you.

You will be setting yourself up for misery and failure if your dreams are not based on steps that you honestly know you are capable of accomplishing. Dream big, and give yourself credit and the benefit of the doubt, of course; but no one knows you better than yourself, so figure out what you can and will realistically do and then discipline yourself to do exactly that.

Succeeding online is going to take one of two things--money or time. You can make up for a lack of money by putting in the time, but I promise it is going to take an awful lot of money to make up for a lack of time.

Now that is the bad news. The good news that it is really is much easier to succeed online and in most cases it can be done from the privacy and convenience of your own home. No bus, train, subway or costly gasoline powered private automobile trips back and forth to someone else's office. No co-workers tempting you to go out to expensive lunches, or stopping by for a few drinks after work. No boss looking over your shoulder. Just you, your computer and your dreams and ambitions.

In the virtual world, it really can be all up to you.

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Article Tags: caveat emptor, con artist, con artists, cornell, crowd, heading, inbox, latin maxim, liar, making money online, miracle, miracles, overnight success, pretty face, pretty faces, silver platter, target, thief, truth of the matter, wex



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Re: The best course for starting an online business - Hi Keven, I would be more than happy to share it, but I'm really confused what to share, where to start. OK, here is the greatest lesson I learned from that course. It is realted with the starting an internet business. - If you want to start your online buisness, the first thing you should do is to find you [u:1vh6vyeb]own [/u:1vh6vyeb]niche (we have talked about this in forum on another threads). What most people trying to do is to find the hottest product on the net and try to market it to make money online. It is a WRONG concept. Or most newbies join money making programs and try to teach others how to make money too. And this makes the problem (because they don't even know how to make money themselves). It is a lesson which taught a lot in my online marketing business. This first lesson is simple, but great. Orxan
Re: How To Pick Keywords To Rank For - Hi GT, I use both methods in the same article, because the small competitive phrase is a part of the long less competitive one Example: Internet home business ideas to make money online. This long and over used phrase is example for using some keywords phrases: Internet home business, internet home business ideas, home business, home business ideas, make money, make money online, ideas to make money, ideas to make money online. It's hard to rank for all the short ones, but if you use the long phrase as title and first and last paragraph, your post/article will rank faster.
Re: Helping a Grade 5/6 student make money fast - I think there are no such a way to make money with in a quick time.To make money online you must have to put lots of hard work and it needs some time to grow your business online.Making $20 in 10 minutes!!!Needs more hard work.
Is Spam to Blame?? - I was reading the post about affiliate and ebay work to make money and had a thought. It seems that a large number of people think that its really easy to make money online. It can certainly be done, but I agree the learning curve is LARGE. Another fun thing about the internet, is that many of the rules change on a regular basis. I know a woman who wrote a book about promoting online about 4 years ago. I've tried to suggest updating some elements of the book in a new addition - because so many of the rules and especially the SEO rules have changed MANY times in 4 years. But, she insists that the principals are still accurate. They still work, but not nearly as well as they did 4 years ago. My thought is that one of the reasons that people feel they can make big money quickly is because the mountain of spam that sells that idea, must be extremely effective. Or, its the problem that my father insists that everyone wants to make easy money. Sadly, neither, ebay or affiliate marketing are that easy and they all require a lot of learning and a lot of work. I used to work for some extremely successful affiliates and they worked insane hours - but they knew the secrets and made a lot of money. They were very clear when they told people it didn't happen overnight and it wasn't easy. Shri
Re: What can You Learn from a Jobless and Homeless Woman? - [quote="Kevin":2ymouuky][quote="Alan Mater":2ymouuky]Hi Kevin, That would certainly be new and interesting. It sure puts things in a different perspective.[/quote:2ymouuky] Yes, it would be the ultimate bootstrapping strategy... but I think it could still be done.[/quote:2ymouuky] Well, in all reality, anyone that would be in her situation could make use of various online business opportunities. There are many different ways to make money that don't require any money to do. All you would have to do is change your marketing approach to emphasize the fact that "even a jobless and homeless person can make money doing this."


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