What is a good way to make money?

 The word “good” refers to the fulfilment of some standards, qualities, or requirements.  We need to determine what requirements we are measuring against to determine whether our money-making idea is “good” or not.

So, what are your requirements or criteria in order for your money-making idea to be considered as “good”?

For me, there are six criteria that I need to meet in order for the idea to be considered as “good”.

1. I must be passionate about and committed to my money-making idea. I want to spend all my free time working on it (even on weekends!).
2. I want to create value for people and desire to make a difference in people’s lives trying to solve their problems.
3. I have found a desperate group of niche customers who are willing and able to pay me for my unique product or service because I can solve their pain points or problems.
4. I can create a sustainable stream of income out of the money-making idea when I do decide to quit my 9-to-5 job.
5. I have the necessary skills and experience to build a business without much re-skilling or learning.
6. I want to align my business and work with my personal and religious reasons and beliefs. I have my WHYs of embarking on an online business.

Like any business, your business has to be profitable and sustainable over a long-term.

If you are an employee working in a 9-to-5 job, you must be able to ultimately depend on your online business for a sustainable stream of income, perhaps even replacing your salary someday.

The Internet has reduced the barriers to entry for so many people wanting to start an online business. It is estimated that there is 3+ million blog post published daily.

With opportunities, there are always dangers.

There are so much competition and noise out there on the Internet that it is really hard to build an online business if you do not find a very small niche to start off with offering unique products and services.

There is so much sameness that you have to be unique in your approach, in your product or service offerings, and in your marketing messages.

You must identify that one pain point or severe problem that your targeted niche market is experiencing and desperately needs an immediate solution. For example, people are willing to pay big bucks to an expensive specialist just to eliminate their physical pain.

Money can be made online when you can reduce the pain that your target customers are experiencing (or increasing their wealth or health) by offering them your unique products or services using various sales funnel and digital platforms.

Ultimately, you must ask yourself whether you are absolutely passionate about and committed to this money-making business idea and whether it is aligned with your personal and religious reasons and beliefs. If not, then this is not a business idea to embark on.

You should have the necessary skills and experience to develop or acquire, market, and offer these unique products or services to your niche customers and solve their problem. If you don’t, then you may need to upskill yourself first.

After determining and matching your criteria, it’s time to develop a personal strategy to build and make money online. Then you just have to focus on executing this strategy ruthlessly!

For simplicity sake, let’s use a four-step process for finding a good idea and making it work for you.

• Step 1 – You brainstorm and select your make money online idea and strategy that will absolutely solve your target customer’s problem or pain point. This step requires you to determine your criteria and meeting those criteria.
• Step 2 – You either buy or develop products (e.g., ebook, tools, etc.) or services (e.g., coaching, training, etc) that will help solve your customers’ problem and make money from them.
• Step 3 – You determine the best platforms (e.g., eBay, Facebook, blogs, etc.) where the majority of your target customers hang out so that you can sell them your chosen products or services.
• Step 4 – You work hard to market and drive Internet traffic to your chosen platforms so that you can convert your visitors into leads and thereafter transforming them into paying customers.

The bottom line is that there are so many opportunities to make money on the side that we will be spoilt for choice.

In particular, the Internet has created such a low-cost playing field for many people to earn money on the side.

What’s more, your target market is global, unlimited by geographical boundaries.

However, there are no get rich quick schemes to follow. There is no button to press and money comes pouring in.

Everything requires significant effort and perseverance.

It takes hard work to earn money.

Here’s the thing. If you are not prepared to put in the hard work, then the rest of this answer is not for you.

In my quest to make money on the side and to learn about the different business models for my blog.

There are a number of common principles and learning that I have documented and have shared on my blog.

What’s important is that I want you to avoid making these mistakes that I have made and to short-cut your learning.

I can tell you that Uber driving is a good way to make money on the side. But if you hate driving or if you do not have a car that meets Uber’s requirements, then this suggested money making idea is useless to you.

As a side note, my Uber friends tell me that to make decent amounts of money, they have to work long hours.

So, are you prepared to sacrifice family time to make money on the road if I told you that Uber driving is a good way to make money on the side?

What if I said to you that you can make money with a YouTube channel. But you hate standing in front of a camera. Then my suggestion to you about YouTube as a vehicle to make money is totally wasted.

Your personality plays a big part in how you make money.

Don’t follow the crowd.

Inject your personality into what you are doing.

You may love retailing or sell things. If so, then eBay, Etsy or drop shipping may be a good way to make money on the side.

You may love writing. If so, then blogging may be the thing for you.

You may love programming. In which case app creation or website development is something you may want to consider.

You may love marketing. Then affiliate marketing may be the thing for you.

You may love standing in front of crowds or a camera. Organising webinars or recording videos are some ideas for you to make money.

Your circumstances are different.

Your skills are different.

Everyone is different.

There’s no one size fits all.

My point is this – Don’t let other people tell you what you should do to make money on the side.

Make this personal. Then it will be a good way to make money on the side.

Remember also that the marketplace is very crowded and competitive.

As wage growth is stagnant and more people are losing their jobs, more and more people are looking elsewhere to make money.

You are competing with so many people to make money on the side.

Don’t be discouraged.