What I learned about making money successfully after watching 2,340+ videos
Here’s the thing.
When we are too busy taking everyone’s advice on how to make money online, it will prevent us from thinking outside the box and making money for ourselves.
After watching 2,340+ videos about making money online to learn about the different business models used, I stumble upon a number of ah-ha and learning moments that I would like to share with you.
First off, the Internet has given more people the opportunity to make money online. The cost of setting up a website is so minimal now when compared to 10 years ago. The setup time is very short. The risk of failure is very low.
Apart from making money online, there are also other means of making money. There’s investing. There’s multi-level marketing. And many more.
Through my sharing, I hope that you can chart out your own unique path to success and avoid the pitfalls that I have encountered.
Remember that there’s no shortage of money-making ideas. It’s a matter of finding the right one for you.
So, if you want to make money using the Internet, then hang on.
Always know your whys and goals for making money first
I have learned that my whys and goals for making money are so vital for giving me the required focus, strength, perseverance and commitment to show up daily and do the work in addition to my 9-to-5 job.
I am always reminded of a passage in Alice in Wonderland. It nicely captures the reasons why goals and destinations are so important for everyone.
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where –” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“– so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
So, what’s your true intention of making more money?
What are your whys for doing so?
What’s your destination?
Having more money is only a means to an end. Knowing what you are going to do with that money is important.
Firstly, I want to future-proof my income and achieve a state of financial well-being before it’s too late.
Secondly, in future-proofing my income, I also want to build a solid foundation upon which my children can live life to their full potential and be financially free themselves by doing the things that they want.
Thirdly, I would like to share the same information through this website with action-takers who desire to proactively plan for their future and future-proof themselves and their incomes.
My whys have given me the motivation required to succeed when the going gets tough. They have guided me in making key decisions about my future.
You cannot be all things to all people
I have learned that I must clearly identify my target audience for my blog. In doing so, it will give me greater clarity on the strategies that I will be using, the messages I will write, and the products and services I can sell.
My target audience is workers over 40 with teenage children who want to future-proof themselves from potential job losses and reduction in incomes.
Given that my research has uncovered 62 challenges workers face in their workplaces, I want to help middle-aged workers future-proof themselves, future-proof their jobs, and secure their future incomes from the effects of automation, demographic changes and income inequality.
The information they acquire for themselves can also be used to prepare and future-proof their own children. This will ensure that their children can build the right foundation upon which they are job-ready and future-ready.
There’s so much competition in the make money online space that you must find a micro-niche when starting out. Only when you have a foot-hole into that micro-niche you can then branch out to other parts of your wider niche.
The key here is to initially target a specific audience.
I have learned not to focus on the what, but focus the why and purpose. Sell them the benefits.
You may have a unique three-step solution to help introverted men aged between 25 and 35 who have not dated at all to secure their very first date with women of similar age within 15 minutes of their first face-to-face conversation with them.
It’s all about communicating your core message and getting people to ask, “Oh, tell me more! That’s exactly what I’ve been looking for …”.
You make money by solving problems
I have learned that people are more willing to pay me for something that will decrease their pain or increase their wealth.
Wonder why doctors make so much money?
They eliminate or reduce physical pain.
We are more than willing to pay someone who can reduce the back pain that has caused you sleepless nights over the past few weeks.
Once you have identified your exact target audience, you can now identify their exact pain points. They are more than willing to open their wallets and give you their money when they find relief from their pain by using your solutions.
By knowing your customers well, you can fully immerse yourself in what’s causing them grief. Writing articles or promotional materials become easier if you know your customers well. You can use the same words they use.
Your job, if you choose to accept it, is to show them that you understood their pain or problem and you know how to solve them.
Then you need to know their “why”; that is, why are they buying from you and not anyone else.
Lastly, find out how you are going to fit your product or service into their whys.
You must make money from your passion
I have learned that I must be able to monetize my passion in order to pay my bills. I must direct my passion for building the foundation and systems upon which I can monetise my efforts in the future and turn it into a sustainable business that will ultimately replace my 9-to-5 salary.
We usually hear the advice to “follow your passion” or “do what you love” repeatedly within entrepreneurial circles.
Unfortunately, passion alone does not pay the bills.
Realistically, we must be able to make money in an area where we are passionate about, have the skills and knowledge to do so, have people who are willing to pay us for our passion and effort, and we have something to sell them that will enable us to pay our bills over the longer term. The intersection of these four requirements to make money online is the sweat spot we must all strive for in order to be successful.
Focus on giving free value first and don’t be concerned about making money
I have learned that I needed to establish trust and relationship first by giving free or unconditional value and lots of information before my audience will be open to my call-to-action.
To make money online, we have to earn the trust of our customers. We have to be genuine and giving them value first without any expectation of anything in return. Only when I have earned my readers trust will I see the fruits of my labour.
I believe that each one of us has a unique skill or knowledge that someone desperately needs. Finding that value will give them tremendous hope and financial returns for you.
Here are some excuses (not reasons) why people don’t want to start an online business:
“I’m not a real expert.” (Really? Who is? Don’t underestimate or undervalue yourself)
“Nobody is going to buy what I am going to sell.” (How do you know? Have you tried selling?)
“My material isn’t good enough.” (How do you know? Have you put in the required effort to make it good enough?)
“There are plenty of other people who do that now. How am I going to be any different?” (That’s why you have to find your micro-niche.)
The truth is that you are who you say you are. You may not have all the awards, testimonials, or seals of approval. That must not stop you from providing good value to other people when you are genuine and trustworthy.
You must create the best ever purposeful content for your audience
I have learned that I have to show up consistently to generate educational and improvement content that:
- is unique from everyone else on the Internet,
- is better than my previous content,
- is extremely valuable, useful and purposeful to my audience (rather than vague or cliché content that has no real message), and
- practically transitions my readers and customers towards the direction of my vision and purpose of my blog.
Let’s start off by saying that quality purposeful content should be the most important thing for everyone.
You should please your audience first, then Google second.
If your readers are very busy people and prefer short and sweet content that gives them the answer to their question in a flash, then a 500 to 1,000-word blog post may be sufficient.
If you want social shares, write purposeful content for your audience to share and that includes strong visuals.
If you find a blog post with a title like “50 Healthy Snack Ideas for Busy Mothers”, then publish a list of “150 Healthy Snack Ideas for Very Busy Mothers”. It’s about creating something better than anything else out there.
And if you want to have a better chance of getting your post rank by Google, then you have to write a post of 2,500+ words. The higher your posts rank on Google, the better chance you have of getting the traffic to your website.
Find the right strategies to make money
I have learned that finding my strategies as early as possible will focus my efforts to do the things that matter most and to earn an income in the future.
I am always reminded of this quote by a successful online entrepreneur.
“I initially failed in my quest to create a sustainable second income, simply because I didn’t have a clear strategy in mind. I didn’t follow a clear system. I did everything that everyone else seemed to be doing but I didn’t really know what my main goal was. Thankfully, now I do. Even better, I now know how to focus on my chief objective and more practically secure my present and future financial prosperity.”
Once I knew my destination that is motivated and guided by my whys, I am strategically focused to get there.
Your strategy selection will depend on many factors like:
- Your desire to succeed including time and commitment that you are willing to put in.
- Your personality, passion, values, and interest.
- The audience that you are writing for and selling to.
- Amount of money or savings you have to finance your strategy.
We know that social media platforms have specific target groups and fishermen will go to where schools of fish hang out.
By knowing the age group of your audience so that you can reach out to them, you can select the appropriate traffic source and platform where they hang out.
For me, I started out with a blog, used Pinterest and contributed articles to Medium and LinkedIn.
Find digital platforms that suit your interest and audience, and are aligned with your strategy and personality. Then start creating the best content you possibly can for these platforms.
The good thing about the Internet is that there’s no shortage of strategies and digital platforms to monetize your hard work.
It could be selling advertisements on your webpage, selling an eBook, affiliate marketing, or selling your personal coaching services. This list is endless.
It’s just a matter of finding something that you are comfortable with and will get you to your destination.
Be bold and unique and don’t follow the crowd
I have learned that with so many money-making ideas and strategies out there, I needed to cut through the BS and modify things that will fit my personality, my commitment levels, and the level of investment I am willing to put in.
Be human. Don’t follow the crowd. Be bold and do something different. There’s enough sameness that we don’t need another one.
There are ideas and strategies that will suit every type of personality on planet earth. It’s just a matter of finding that unique one for you.
If you hate standing in front of crowds, then organizing events as a money-making idea is not going to work for you.
If you love writing, then blogging or writing books are two potential money-making ideas for you to consider.
If you love spending time on social media platforms interacting with people, then making money from Facebook is the thing for you.
If you love marketing but don’t have a product to sell, then affiliate marketing will suit you.
Do what you love. Do what you are comfortable with. Show off your personality and uniqueness in everything you do.
Don’t do what everyone else is doing. Write in your own unique voice and personality. Soon, people will start noticing your unique and outstanding approach. That’s when they fall in love with you and make your business as their new dwelling place.
Beware that some strategies don’t work today
I have learned that people are still recycling old ideas and strategies that they have used over 10 years ago. These strategies may not be as effective given that there are now an estimated 2 million+ online articles published every single day on the Internet.
People are fatigued with any type of sales pitch. And so, we have to find an effective but trustworthy strategy to cut through the noise.
The online course I bought uses guest posting as one of its key promotional strategy to get traffic back to my website. We were told in the course to reach out to industry leaders and add value to them first by doing things for free before asking for a guest posting opportunity. We were told to build up relationships first.
Not knowing better, I tried guest posting as one of my earlier strategies and failed miserably. No one responded. I subsequently ditched this strategy.
I realized that as a person just starting out, pitching for a guest post was virtually impossible. Industry influencers or people who have started out much earlier do get lots of pitching emails too. It was really frustrating. It was very time consuming for me.
More than a year later, I had ah-ha moments when I came across a video that opened my eyes to reality.
The person said that guest posting as a strategy for first-timers is dead. It will only work if we already have an existing network of relationships, guest post relationships (which no one will tell you about). Making and building new relationships do take time and effort.
Reflecting back, the course leader started his blog way back in 2008 when blogging was still new and the number of blogs published daily was far less than today. Years later, his advice to newbies like me was still the same without considering the vastly different digital landscape we are currently living in.
I would love to ask these two questions of anyone trying to sell me things; “If you were starting out all over again today without any knowledge, without any list, and without any relationships as a true beginner, would you still use the same strategy? If so, how long would you take from today to reach the same earnings that you have boasted about?
Beware of who you get advice from
I have learned that who you take advice from is important because there’s no shortage of “experts” prowling on the Internet trying to sell you stuff. Remember that there are experts and there are experts.
There are also experts who just focus on copy-writing. They will tell you that copy-writing is the most important thing you need to know.
There are experts who just focus on search engine optimization (SEO). They will tell you that SEO is the most important thing you must do to get traffic to your website.
There are experts who just focus on Facebook advertisements. They will tell you that paid Facebook Ads is the most important thing you need to do to get traffic to your website.
There are experts who just focus their advice on internet marketing or affiliate marketing. They will tell you that selling other people’s products is the way to go if you can’t create anything to sell.
And so on.
I have also heard experts say that as long as they are one or two steps ahead of the pack (i.e., that’s you and I), they are in the position to sell things to people.
What they are really saying is that if they can read a couple of books or do some research, they are good to go in selling their services and products.
Then again, people are lazy and will believe everyone who can sell themselves convincingly.
Beware of people selling you things you don’t need
I have learned that it is so easy to buy stuff off the Internet or “shining objects” from people that I hardly know. There are so many people on the Internet who wants to sell you things that you don’t need. Their copy-writing plays on your emotions. So, buyers beware!
For a brief moment, I did try out every new “shining object” until I got sick of it.
I felt overwhelmed by all the different systems presented. I prayed and hoped that the money tap will be turned on. When no results materialized, I ditched the product and tried out a new one that promises something better.
I realized that without clear strategies to get to my destination, everything sold on the Internet looks very tempting. I know of people spending thousands of dollars chasing the hope to strike gold with their purchases.
When we don’t focus, we get frustrated.
We don’t see the fruits of our labour.
We end up very busy doing things that will not get us to our endpoint.
When URLs are provided in articles recommending a product or service, I usually check the links to ensure that they are not affiliate links. (Affiliate links do contain other characters)
When you do buy these recommended products or services, the affiliate gets a commission from your purchase.
I have always wondered how “independent” these articles are with affiliate links dotted all over the article or website.
The best advice is this: leave your credit card locked away when you are surfing the Internet.
While some sellers do offer a money-back guarantee, some may not or have strings attached. Don’t assume you can get back your money within the guarantee period.
To succeed online, you must be able to sell
I have learned that I needed to tell the world about myself and my services and products in a non-salesy way in order to succeed and make money online.
If I cannot effectively communicate my message across to my audience, then I will not be able to sell anything.
I realized that I will only make money when people buy from me.
The reality is that until your customers know about your product or service, they will not buy from you. We must be able to promote what we do and cut through the noise of 2+ million articles published daily on the Internet.
Even if you use existing platforms like Amazon or eBay to sell, you need to promote yourself with good copy-writing. The ability to write and convince people to buy your product or service is the minimum we require to succeed.
If you hate or don’t like selling, promoting or copy-writing, which some people do by their very nature or personality, then making money online is not for you.
However, having said that, it is not impossible to learn new skills to succeed online, if you have the patience and attitude to do so.
This is where you can take specific advice from experts who can show you how. But it has to be part of your overall strategy to be trained in the skills that you lack and want to develop further in order to succeed.
If you are just blogging as a labour of love and you don’t plan to make any money, then it does not matter whether you hate selling or not. Without any website promotion, you may not even get any visitors reading your articles. In this case, you are totally cool about it.
You are all alone because there’s no road map to follow
I have learned that I am on my own to put the jigsaw pieces together, to join the dots myself, and to learn, formulate and execute my own strategies to make money. There is no one else who can do it for me.
Related to this, I have also found that there’s hardly any anyone who will give you the full end-to-end picture of how to make money online. Not one.
You must come to grips with the fact that there is no comprehensive road map for you to follow. You will have to take lots of different directions and pathways in order to succeed.
Without a road map, you will find that everything does take twice as long and cost three times as much.
Plan to be uncomfortable. Try out new things, even if you don’t know-how. Have a “just do it” mentality. Be teachable. Be flexible.
Be prepared to fail in order to succeed.
Don’t eat the elephant all at once. Take small steps and aim for small wins along the way to motivate you for the marathon you are going to run. Go for the low hanging fruits.
I have spent countless hours trying things out just to acquire knowledge and understanding. I have learned many things along the way. These hands-on learning moments are invaluable to me.
It is important for me to strategically purchase things online just to learn what they are all about and what business model they are using to make money.
If it’s a dud, I just return it to get my money back. Unfortunately, there are more duds out there than good ones.
Because I have a business background, I was able to piece together the jigsaw quickly and develop my own system that is suited for my personality.
The saving grace for wannabe online business entrepreneurs is that you can get a lot of information and help from the Internet if you know where to look and what to search for. YouTube is a good starting point.
You must develop systems to succeed
I have learned that systems are required for success. Systems are the collection of elements or components that are organised for a common purpose. They provide the necessary foundation upon which I can focus my efforts to make money and bring me closer to my goals.
You can either develop your own systems or adopt other peoples’ systems. There is no shortage of people trying to sell you their systems of success.
When you don’t have a system that encourages or pushes you to take the necessary actions, you risk losing the enthusiasm and passion. This will eventually result in the death of your desire to make money.
A good system will let you:
- identify who your audience is,
- identify all potential income sources,
- figure out how to serve and add value to your readers and customers,
- identify products and services to create,
- identify where will you get funds to sustain your business, and
- find the best promotional strategies and digital platforms to get your name, brand, and business out there.
Everything takes effort because there’s no get-rich-quick-scheme
I have learned that everything takes effort. Promises of quick or easy money-making schemes are just that; promises that are designed to entice people to buy products or services.
The Internet is full of articles on “easy ways to make money” or “quick ways to earn more money”. If they were so easy, why tell the whole world about them?
The only way to make money quickly is to strike a win in a lottery draw. Unless that happens, all of us have to work very hard for our money.
Just because some people make it look easy, it doesn’t mean it is. Successful people have to put in a tonne of time and effort to get to where they are. We only see the tip of the iceberg.
Entrepreneurs are known to work 70-hour weeks just to escape the normal 9-to-5 slog. For them, it’s a lifestyle. It’s freedom from a job.
If you can’t handle those sorts of hours, it’s likely that you won’t make it.
I have tried filling up online surveys to make money. It is really hard to make a decent amount of money considering the time I have invested in completing these surveys. It does take a long time just to complete one survey.
This leads me to this. We really need to translate our time into a per-hour cost basis and evaluate this amount against the basic minimum pay. This will tell us whether what we are doing is really worth our time and effort.
Uber drivers tell me that when fuel, car wear and tear, and insurance are factored into the total cost of providing the service, the money earned from customers from a per-hour basis is not worth the effort in the long-run. One driver said that Uber driving only helps him with his cash flow until he finds a permanent job.
I have learned that starting a side business part-time while still working a full-time job is the best way to go for reducing my risk. It does take time to generate sufficient online traffic and income to replace my current 9-to-5 salary.
Once you have a proven business idea that’s also profitable and sustainable, you can scale back your 9-to-5 job or quit altogether.
In the worst-case scenario, you’ll find that your business idea doesn’t work. You need to stay in your job longer. But at least you still have income coming in from your employment.
On the flip side, however, this strategy could help you earn more money in your spare time as you scale up while you continue building a side business that will ultimately replace your entire income one day.
If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is
I have learned to ask the “why” questions frequently and don’t assume anything.
Why is this person selling this product to me? Why do I need to look at this? Why is this person telling me this?
Here’s a case in point.
Why is this person selling me private label rights (PLR) to his whole library of “educational” videos that I could use as my own or on-sell them to others for just a cost of a meal?
I did purchase one such PLR package just to learn more about the seller’s business model.
It was truly disappointing to find out that most of the videos had affiliate links peppered all over. The person who sold the package to me will get all affiliate revenue commissions when my customers click on their affiliate links to buy the products recommended in the videos.
It’s a sneaky way to make money from other people’s efforts!
It was too good to be true.
The business model was favourable to them, not me. I have to promote their PLR products at my cost and they get to keep all affiliate commissions for themselves!
I definitely asked for my money back.
Beware of testimonials
I have learned that testimonials given are not always what they are. Success may not be directly attributed to the use of the product or service.
Many years ago, I bought a product costing thousands of dollars. It had great video testimonials.
A year later, I came across the person featured in one of the videos. She essentially said that her success was not directly attributed to the use of the product that both of us purchased from the same guy. In fact, her approach is so different from the one sold.
I guess that with video editing, this fact wasn’t evident from the video testimony. I felt cheated.
In the internet marketing space, I noticed that the same internet marketers’ names do appear frequently giving testimonials for other internet marketers’ products and services.
According to BrightLocal’s 2017 Local Consumer Review, 79% of consumers have read a fake review in the last year, but a worrying 84% can’t always spot them.
Now, I just switch off from reading or listening to any testimonials provided.
Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.
Build relationships and collaborate with others to spread the word
I have learned that no man is an island and networking with other like-minded individuals who share the same vision have motivated me to succeed and help me get the word out.
I spoke to someone I knew previously and I shared with him my passion to help workers future-proof themselves. He was totally supportive because of his network marketing work. He was willing to share my links and information with his own networks and tribe.
The collaboration will open doors for you. It will help you grow your following.
It’s really hard to build wealth on your own!
We all need each other to succeed.
It’s worth ensuring that you have sufficiently built up your work and Internet traffic to showcase something to other people.
Purposeful content is king. It will open up doors of opportunity for you.
Let your content and effort speak for themselves.
Here’s what someone wrote to me on Messenger, “just checked out your website, I signed up… it’s phenomenal!!! You have put so much work into it, what a credit to you… you must now be SUPER busy… love to talk about it.”
Today is always the best time to start making money
I have learned that today is always the best time to start making money online. I did have regrets about not starting my blog much earlier. Since I started, I have not looked back.
This Chinese proverb comes to mind, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
Procrastination and regrets are the two biggest killers to success. It’s always hard to start something new. I get that.
That’s why there are so many people around who can help you on your journey to success.