So you want to make money online? How original. It’s almost as original as my decision to start this post off with a “So [insert post topic here in the form of a question]?”
I’ve been making money online since 1998. Looking back now, I can clearly see that all of the successful things that I’ve done online have something in common. Well, they actually have a few things in common, but this post is going to focus on the one thing that comes back time and time again at the very top of this list of commonalities.
And that one thing is: I didn’t try to make money Online.
I didn’t set out to make money, I didn’t focus on making money, I didn’t put any significant thought whatsoever into anything having to do with money. Instead, literally 100% of my focus, effort and time from day 1 went into one thing and one thing only… creating something great and building an audience for it.
Then, when I reached the point where I actually had something that was capable of making money, THAT’S when I focused on making money. Not a minute before.
It’s not just me, either. How many success stories have you heard that go something along the lines of: “I started the site for fun, just as a hobby. I never planned on making any money from it. I just worked hard on making it a great site, and eventually the traffic came. Now I quit my job and blah blah blah…”
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? They just worked hard on making a great site, creating great content, providing something useful in some way, and gradually built themselves an audience. After that, the money practically came by itself. Interesting, isn’t it? The people who didn’t try to make money online ended up being the most successful at it, whereas the majority of the people who are trying their very hardest to make money online… they’re failing. Yup, that sure is interesting.
There’s a damn good reason for it, though. When you start trying to make money, it gets in the way of you focusing on what you truly need to be focusing on. The idea of making money gets in your head and clouds your judgment and screws with your decision making and really just ends up distracting you from doing the things that you actually need to be doing. It makes you work with the intent of making money rather than work with the intent of creating an awesome site that people will love.
Many people sit down and think “Ok, how can I make money online? What kind of site could I build that will allow me to make the most money in the shortest amount of time? What blog niche will turn me into a 6 figure blogger the fastest?” This is all dumb and counterproductive. The only thing you should be thinking at this point is “How can I create an awesome site that people will love? What niche could I blog about that will allow me to provide something really good and useful that people will want to subscribe to?”
This is what’s important, and this is all that really matters. I’m not saying you shouldn’t expect to make money, or make it your long term goal to make money. No, I’m just saying don’t let what you’re doing be in any way influenced by your desire to make money. Don’t think about it, care about it, or focus on it at all.
Basically, don’t try to make money online until you reach the point where you actually have something to make money from.
Yeah, sure, there are exceptions to this. There are people who are some combination of good enough, experienced enough, or just plain lucky enough to pull off something successful online despite focusing on making money from the very beginning. What you need to understand however is that these people make up a very small minority, and if you are having any trouble at all making money online, then it’s very safe to say that you are not part of this minority.
Do you know what that means? It means you would then have to be part of the increasingly high number of people that will either be greatly hindered by or fail completely as a result of putting money before doing what’s really important.
So, if you truly want to make money online, here’s my advice to you: STOP TRYING TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE! Seriously, stop. Instead, put every single bit of your focus, attention, effort and time into creating something great and building an audience for it. Because if you do that, you’ll end up with something that is actually capable of making money. And at that point… the money will practically come by itself.
The above post was guest blogged by Create. Market. Profit.
Did you enjoy this post? Get John Chow Dot Com updates via email...
Stay up to date with all of John Chow’s tips for making money online and blog posts by subscribing via email. Your email will be kept private and never shared with anyone.
One of the most common complaint (or excuse) I hear from potential new bloggers is they don’t know how to install WordPress. Terms like FTP and CPanel are like a foreign language and setting up a database might as well be setting up the space shuttle for a launch. Because of the technology barrier, many would-be bloggers never start their blogs...