I’m sure you have seen Pins on Pinterest “How I Make $5000 per Month with My Mom Blog” or posts from your friends on Facebook “Join My Team Selling Toothpaste to Make an extra $1000 a Month for 10 Hours of Work.” It sounds good, right? Maybe a little too good to be true? Making money online and working from home really does seem like an ideal situation. Being able to work online provides time and location freedom that is really appealing to many people, especially busy moms. We can help provide income for our families while we spend time with our children and take care of our homes. We are in a digital age where online commerce is a growing and very attractive job market. Keep reading for the honest truth about making money online.
*Please note, this post contains no affiliate links, referral codes, sponsored content, or anything of the sort. We are just going to dig into the real truth behind online marketing. I will link to other posts that include affiliate links and specific ways for you to make money online as well.
The honest truth about making money online.
Let’s talk about the reality of making money online.
Can you make money online? Yes!
Can you turn your online job into a full time income? Yes!
Will it be easy? Maybe!
Will you succeed? That’s up to you!
Here are some things to keep in mind if you want to make it happen.
Is It Really As Easy as it Sound?
When someone explains to you how to make money online, they make it sound so easy right? They might be making a full-time income online, working from home, and living the dream. You can just do what they do, and live the dream too, right?
Keep in mind that anyone who is talking to you about making money online likely has something to gain by convincing you to do the same. They might get a referral bonus for you joining or they might get commission if you sign up through an affiliate link. Either way, they have skin in the game. Are they going to tell you how much they struggled in the beginning? Are they going to tell you about the hours and hours that they spent hearing no 100 times before hearing that 1 yes? Probably not…unless you ask! Always ask those hard questions and do your research. Find out what it takes to get going when you are starting from ground zero.
Going right along with that…
Don’t Compare Your Chapter One to Someone Else’s Chapter 10
If you were offered a position as an accountant where the boss would train you on the job, would you expect to be as successful as the other accountants who had been at it for years? Maybe someday, but you would have to work your way up first. The same is true of making money online. You can’t expect to be as successful as the people who you look up to from day one. Remember that everyone started somewhere, and you are just starting.
Well, yes, that one blogger that you admire made $1000 in her third month of blogging or that make-up lady had a team of 100 people within two weeks of joining the company. It does happen! What you don’t see is the background, education, and failures that led this person to start with their new project.
The biggest misconception that people have about working online in my opinion…
If You Want to be Paid Like a Job, Treat it Like a Job!
Chances are that you are looking to start a successful business, not some get-rich-quick scheme. If you want your business to be successful, you have to run it like a business. That means that it will take work, time, and research to get going. Be ready to learn and grow. You may have success right away, but you may not.
So, the real question…
Can I Actually Make Money Online??
In short, the answer to this is yes. You need to find the right business for you and then treat it like a business. Find other people who are making an income by doing what you want to do, and follow their example. Make friends with them, network, ask questions. Decide how you want to go about starting your business and make a plan. It may be hard, and it may take a while, but if you keep going, you can do it.
So HOW Do I Make Money Online?
It seems like there are an infinite number of ways that you can make money online. There’s freelance writing, online surveys, customer service, proofreading and editing…the list goes on and on. For the sake of this post we are going to stick to online marketing – specifically blogging, influencer marketing, and network marketing/direct sales. These areas are growing very rapidly, and seem to be the most commonly misunderstood ways of making money online. These are all great options with high potential incomes, so they can be very attractive.
Blogging – Yes, you can make money from blogging! There are several ways to monetize a blog using affiliate marketing, sponsored posts and reviews, referral links, advertisements, and free product. I go more into how you can start a money-making blog in this post here.
Influencer Marketing/Social Media Influencing – Think of influencer marketing like the product endorsements that you see from celebrities, but on a different scale. Brands will pay influencers to share their product and talk about how much they love it on their social media channels. Many influencers use a blog as one of these channels, but there are people who make money on social media without running a blog at the same time. I mention some of the influencer networks that I use in this post here.
Network Marketing/Direct Sales/MLM – These are the companies that you see your friends posting about on Facebook when they say things like “join my team” or “get paid to play with lipstick.” Distributors in direct sales companies get paid for products that they sell and for building a team of distributors under them. MLM companies are a great option for moms who want to work from home for many reasons. If you have considered joining a direct sales company, I have a list of 10 great companies for moms here. I personally work in network marketing with a wine company.
Do you work an online business? I would love to hear about it in the comments! What is the number one piece of advice that you would give to someone who is just starting out?
Great post Lexi! Keeping it real, yes you can make money, no not overnight. You have great actionable tips to start making money And good advice to treat it like a business if you want to make money! I’ll definitely be reading some more of your posts. If love to stay influencer marketing, getting free product would make me feel kinda like a rock star. Haha.
Haha. Totally true! I didn’t even mention all of the free products. That is a nice perk. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Allie.
Hi Lexie, I didn’t start blogging to make money, but it would be great if I could. I do have a job that I enjoy, but to be able to make a little money on the side doing something else I love would be a real bonus. Having said that your advice is spot on. All too often people start blogging just to make money, which is not for the right reason and it will show. I love the advice about not comparing a new blog to an older more established blog, that is very true. What ever we do in life takes time and effort, which others don’t always see.
Thank you for linking up with the #MMBC.
xx
You are so right. We love to share our accomplishments, but no one sees all the time and work that we put in.
Thanks for stopping by.
All good things to think about; I especially love the “don’t compare your chapter 1 to some else’s chapter 10.”
Thank you! I think that one is so hard in the world of social media!
That’s all sound advice. Success doesn’t happen overnight, but persevere and work hard and it will happen. I like the different avenues that you mention. definitely worth looking into
Thank you, Vicky! Your encouragement is great for all of us who are still learning the game. 😉
It’s definitely viable to make money through blogging, but I hate it when people say “oh you get so much stuff for free” well no I don’t because I still have to put a lot of time into it! #fabfridaypost
That’s true! Yes, it’s fairly easy to “get stuff”….but you’re getting paid for your work in things as opposed to money.
Thanks for stopping by.
A very interesting post. I have a blog and every now and then I get approach from brands wanting to working with me. Yes, if you want to make money from blogging – it is rather hard I say, but if you stick to it there is a way like you’ve mentioned as above. Thank you so much for linking up with us on #FabFridayPost
It can be done! It’s just not as easy as some people imagine it to be. At the same time, any other job is a lot of work too!
Thanks for stopping over.
This is a great post. It’s very realistic and down to earth. You’re right, if people want to make decent money they need to work hard and ‘treat it like a job’. Too many people think they can ‘dabble’ for a couple of hours then expect a full time income! #FabFridayPost
Thank you! Yes, you are right. A lot of people want a hobby that pays, not a business. That’s not going to end up making you the same income as treating your “hobby” like a business!
This was an interesting post, but I think you’re glossing over how hard it really is and how much work it takes. I have a sister who blogs and I did social media for her during the summer and never realized how hard it all is, I was just helping a few hours a week and thought my head was going to explode. If you want to make money, it takes time and time and time. And all that time that’s put in does not get rewarded with money. You need traffic or great partnerships to make money. We calculated it once, and the amount of time she spent in one week alone, she would have earned way more at a “regular” 9-5 job.
So I think this article should come with a bigger note of caution, that no, blogging isn’t some easy thing that you’ll make money at overnight.
I agree with you 100%! Thank you for pointing it out so strongly.
The amount of time that it takes to get started varies per person and per blog. I know that I get as much traffic as some of my blogging friends who participate in 5-10 times the number of social media threads that I do in a day. There are also bloggers out there who don’t do any that are getting much higher traffic than I am.
The thing that a lot of people don’t realize about blogging is that the number of views and followers doesn’t always correlate to income potential. I know bloggers with very small followings who make consistent money from their blog. They have relationships with brands that have evolved over time.
I did not mean to gloss over the amount of time and work that it takes. In fact, I would like to point out that truth to people. Blogging itself, social media, doing research, finding brands to work with, joining sponsored content networks – all of that takes time.
Yes, most people could make more at a 9-5 job depending on the industry, but the trade off is the time and location freedom that some people find more important. There are also people like me who work a blog around their 9-5 and family life.
Thank you for your input!
What a great post. When I go to Pinterest I started wondering if blogging was a pyramid scheme of some kind. What I have realized if you want to blog first you need to enjoy writing. Like any other job we are better at it if we care.
Haha. Not quite a pyramid scheme…but there are a ton of bloggers out there who make a living off of those affiliate links!
It is definitely better, easier, and much more worth it if you enjoy the blogging process!