*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?
