Making money online feels like building a rocket to take humans to Space.
I’ve done a lot of studying and listening to various podcasts and live events. I also met every guru that claims to be Elon Musk’s cousin.
It is very difficult to make money online, and I am ashamed of how hard it is. It is also discouraging people from trying to do it.
My approach to making money online is simply simple and it has served me very well. Steal it. Then do it if you dare to make money.
Build a skill.
You need a skill to make money. It doesn’t matter if its the perfect skill or not. Instead, it’s a decision to cut all the other options out.
You can pick all the skills necessary to become a great teacher, a good musician, a good writer, a great graphic designer, or a skilled skater.
Imagine a fat guy in a town who likes doughnuts and turns it into an empire.
Pick any skill.
Do it for 2 years
We’re at step two. This is where most people turn their back. If only it were common knowledge that two years of working on a skill could make all your dreams full of unicorns come true, we’d all be a lot better off financially.
You’ve heard you need to be consistent. You’ve heard you need daily practice. You’ve heard it takes discipline. You’ve heard it takes time to achieve a goal. Yet, this simple mistake ruins potential empires. Five years equals ten thousand hours of work.
Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book on it called “Outliers.” Some gurus agree with his philosophy and some don’t. Consistent practice can’t be bad for you, right? Of course not.
We punch holes in the 10,000-hour rule because it’s easier than spending 10,000 hours working on a skill. It makes complete sense..
I used to be flakey. I would hop between progressing with a skill around the 1000-hour mark. I’d get frustrated. I’d hurl rocks at social media platforms. I’d scream at strangers in the youtube comments because the skill I practiced didn’t produce the same results as them.
If you could see what five years of practice with a skill could do for your life, you’d stop restarting your progress all the time and switching between different skills you can master.
You make money after five years.
Any money you earn before five years is a gift.
Genuinely help people along the way
Selfishness destroys your chance to earn money online.
It’s way more fun to help others on your way up. Because on the way down, you’re going to need them more than ever. There will be ups and even bigger downs as you progress towards making money online.
The help you get back is determined by the help you dished out when times were good. Think of it this way: the more people you help, the faster you build your skill.
Making money online simply equals helping a group of people. Learn to be helpful and you’ll learn the path to making money online.
Make money a few different ways
I see people go all in a lot. I admire their braveness but cringe at the way they gamble with their life.
You don’t need to take huge risks to make money online. All you need to do, as with investing, is diversify. Make money from a few different places. I have six different income sources. If the tap gets turned off on any one of those income courses, it’s no big deal. The other five will keep going until I can replace the income source I lost. This approach gives you peace of mind.
Making money from one place is dangerous in a world accelerating towards digital trends that change every few months. Get used to seeing businesses that rise to glory and enter bankruptcy in shorter timeframes, like a year.
Smile through the process
There will be good days and bad days earning money online. If you can learn to smile at both, you’ll be better for it. Don’t take it all too seriously. Your life is about more than making money online. Remember what matters if the grim reaper comes for you tomorrow.
Use the money to retire and then go back to work
Financial freedom is lovely.
There, I said it. Make it past your five-year apprenticeship and be wise with your money. Give yourself the gift of feeling what it’s like to retire. Once you’ve experienced a stint of retirement, thanks to the skill you built, go back to work. Make one subtle change: focus on the work, not the income you earn from the work.
The paradox is when you don’t focus on the money you earn, but instead focus on the work you do, you earn even more money — it’s counter-intuitive.
Use the money for bizarre stuff
Gift a person education. Put money into experiments. Play around with the idea of living as though you are worth three times less money than you are. Eat beans and rice for a month.
Put money into people who have big ideas you believe in. See what it’s like to use money for the greater good.
Add bitcoin if you want to be naughty
Invest some of what you make into bitcoin to protect your purchasing power. Or keep your investing PG and do whatever you want.
200% year-on-year growth is hard to ignore if you’re serious about making a little extra money online through building a skill. The worst that can happen is you open your mind to the religion of bitcoin and then walk away. You won’t when you understand it though.
As fast as you can become a millionaire, you can lose everything
As I started writing this story, midway through, the fire alarm in my apartment went off. The alarm is normally a test. This time it wasn’t.
I grabbed my shoes, phone and keys, and ran for the exit as quickly as possible. In that moment, I realized how quickly everything you’ve ever worked for can be taken away. A random fire. A lawsuit. A rogue business partner.
A romantic breakdown.
There are thousands of ways you can lose all the money you make online.
That’s why my approach to making money online is centered around the experience, not the rewards. Once you’ve experienced making money online, it doesn’t matter if you lose some or all of your money.
You can always rebuild your life again on the foundation of a skill you have mastered for five years or more.
This article is for informational purposes only, it should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.