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Can anyone elaborate on this advice?

by ovoxomo
16 replies
So recently a few successful online business owners (multi-millionaires) gave me some similar advice which I do not fully understand:

"Never take the quest for wealth seriously, it's just a game. This is very key. If you take making money seriously you won't get any. It's just a fun hobby like a video game."

"Taking money seriously means you are approaching the business as "cut-throat" a position of fear, which will blind you."


If anyone who runs a successful online biz or has some solid experience and can further elaborate on this advice, I would greatly appreciate it!
#advice #elaborate
  • Profile picture of the author Zodiax
    Because things won't be 100 percent in your control. There will be set-backs when running your business- and if you invest all of your emotional energy in the expectation of success or a preconceived result than you will give up under the right combination of uncomfortable circumstances.
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    'I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion'
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  • Profile picture of the author RS3RS
    It's good advice, although a bit misleading if you take it the wrong way.

    Think of it like this:

    You start from scratch. Your goal is to, say, start a blog to make money. You write content around keywords to get traffic (so you can make money). You build your content around affiliate products (so you can make money). You build an email list and use it to pitch products (so you can make money).

    Your users see right through your efforts and you make... probably not a lot of money.

    Now let's flip it. You start a blog not caring about money. Instead of keywords, you write what will be the most helpful, valuable posts possible. You put user experience and helping people at the top of your list. You don't pitch products -- instead, you just link to free courses and awesome tools. You speak from the heart. You use your subscriber list to provide more value to your customers.

    Scenario A leads to a low quality, small following. Scenario B gives you something really awesome, like the big popular resources we see online. When you then monetize B, people trust you, they follow you, and they are a thousand times more likely to buy anything you sell.

    By forgetting about making money, you've ended up making more money. And you've probably had more fun, which means you can work harder and longer hours without tiring out. Since money isn't the short term goal, if you've been working hard for 6 months and haven't made much, you don't care. Instead of giving up, you keep powering through and build something amazing.

    Blogging was my example, but you can apply that concept to nearly anything. Personally, when I stopped trying to make a buck and just started having fun, I made more money than ever before.
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    • Profile picture of the author ovoxomo
      Originally Posted by RS3RS View Post

      It's good advice, although a bit misleading if you take it the wrong way.

      Think of it like this:

      You start from scratch. Your goal is to, say, start a blog to make money. You write content around keywords to get traffic (so you can make money). You build your content around affiliate products (so you can make money). You build an email list and use it to pitch products (so you can make money).

      Your users see right through your efforts and you make... probably not a lot of money.

      Now let's flip it. You start a blog not caring about money. Instead of keywords, you write what will be the most helpful, valuable posts possible. You put user experience and helping people at the top of your list. You don't pitch products -- instead, you just link to free courses and awesome tools. You speak from the heart. You use your subscriber list to provide more value to your customers.

      Scenario A leads to a low quality, small following. Scenario B gives you something really awesome, like the big popular resources we see online. When you then monetize B, people trust you, they follow you, and they are a thousand times more likely to buy anything you sell.

      By forgetting about making money, you've ended up making more money. And you've probably had more fun, which means you can work harder and longer hours without tiring out. Since money isn't the short term goal, if you've been working hard for 6 months and haven't made much, you don't care. Instead of giving up, you keep powering through and build something amazing.

      Blogging was my example, but you can apply that concept to nearly anything. Personally, when I stopped trying to make a buck and just started having fun, I made more money than ever before.
      Say attaining wealth is your main goal (the main topic of conversation with the person in question), then this all seems counterintuitive to me.

      I get all this advice about how you hard you must work, how determined you have to be, self-belief, persistence, etc... which I FULLY understand and accept, however the "don't take it serious" advice seems to undermine all that. I am failing to see how you can not take it serious, yet pour every ounce of yourself in trying to make the business succeed?

      I am referring to building a business, whether online or off is irrelevant


      Thanks for the reply btw!
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      • Profile picture of the author joshthedoctor
        Originally Posted by ovoxomo View Post

        Say attaining wealth is your main goal (the main topic of conversation with the person in question), then this all seems counterintuitive to me.

        I get all this advice about how you hard you must work, how determined you have to be, self-belief, persistence, etc... which I FULLY understand and accept, however the "don't take it serious" advice seems to undermine all that. I am failing to see how you can not take it serious, yet pour every ounce of yourself in trying to make the business succeed?

        I am referring to building a business, whether online or off is irrelevant


        Thanks for the reply btw!
        To be honest, it sounds like those guys started out with money and then used it to make a lot more. When you start out with money, you can just play it like a game. You don't have that deep fear of never having money and always having to slave away.

        I've heard and read similar advice from wealthy people, but it was much better phrased. The root of it is when your aim is to make money, you try to TAKE it from people. When your aim is instead to GIVE to people in the form of value, then they will GIVE back to you in the form of money.

        Now I'm a newbie at online sales and marketing so I can't speak to that, but I've done offline sales for several years and I can tell you that the psychology and principles work the same.

        When I was working entirely on commission, it was tough because people could feel that in my sales pitch. I still did well, but I could have done much better. When I switched to non-commission, it turned out to be a poor financial decision, but in terms of selling, I got MUCH better.

        I stopped caring if each person bought since my money wasn't riding on it. Instead, I wanted them to buy because I knew it would benefit THEM. I started selling A LOT more because of this. My only intention was to give my customers VALUE.

        Now, I know I can go back to commission or online sales with the knowledge of how to provide value and the understanding that the money will follow. Online sales is a new language to me, but the principles are the same.

        So get out there and provide value in the form of skill or knowledge that you can teach people. If you have no skills or value to give to people then you don't deserve ANY money.

        But everyone can learn a skill and you don't have to go to some fancy college to do so. Research and learn as much as you can about ONE thing and then teach people what you know. Make sure they actually want to learn it too and are willing to pay for it.

        You can sell other people's products too, but I don't think that's as fun or as profitable, but that's just me.
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  • Profile picture of the author GetPLRhere
    Online business should be something done on the side. Too many people go all in, spending frivolously, then gets upset when they can't break even, let alone make a few bucks.

    The only time you know your online business is legit is when it's earning you far higher than your current salary and that it's producing steady income for at least 2 years. Still, you should not quit your job. Outsource the work, hire some virtual assistants, or get family members to help you out, but don't quit your job. Unless you're a janitor or delivering pizza, don't quit your job.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ashok Panda
    I agree with RS3RS , in some areas,

    You have to be cautious about the need, if you are able to identify the issue , there where the opportunity lies.

    At the same time. the advice makes sense , in terms of .. not chasing money. when you chase money.. you might be misled by several thing such as shortcuts , whereas if it is your passion, you would gain expertise easily and come up with innovative solutions.

    So the morale of the story is . if you plan to build an online business.. consider what you are good at, and if you like doing it really good. if you have an analytical mind, if you can see through the market trends and ready to be flexible to make modification to your plans.

    If you are interested to build up a business and need any help don't hesitate to get in touch .
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  • Profile picture of the author TheGMa
    Guys, RS3RS does have it right.

    1. I was a huge online success before I retired. I spent $77 for Front Page + whatever Hostway cost per month back then. Over time, I spent $435 for a Declan Dunn course and $10 a pop for graphics from iStockPhoto. Making money was not my main concern - being the go-to place for help in my niche was. It was only when I saw affiliate money coming in that I paid any attention to money making at all, and it really wasn't hard. I had the trust, the traffic, I had the super quality content, people bought. 6 months into my site, any and all expenses were paid by sales.

    2. I personally know super marketers. They were all either hunting for dimes in the couch, living in their cars, working at dead end jobs and unable to pay the bills, you name it. Each and every one will tell you the same thing - stop thinking about making money and start taking other people's problems seriously. That's when you start making money. Once you start making money, you can refine how you do it. But without quality, trust, and traffic, forget it.

    3. I've made it, lost it, made it, and hit some really horrible times. I'll make it again, the same way I did the last time - by busting butt to help others find what they want, what they need, what they desire, by making life as easy as possible for those in whichever niche I'm working on at the time.

    Right now, I'm writing - articles, email campaigns, fan page posts, getting everything ready for drip feeds of information that are as helpful as possible in order to build trust and traffic when I hit the launch button. The money will come.

    - Annie

    P - Yes, it is a LOT of fun, but then I love solving puzzles and doing research.
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  • Profile picture of the author rialopez
    Money is not solely the important thing in a business.

    You should also love and enjoy what you are doing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tony Fairminer
    What they are trying to say is that Money should not be your main motivator. We all need money but for the most successful people it is a Byproduct of following Their passion.
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  • Profile picture of the author karlamoreniche
    I guess what they're trying to say is that you should focus on something you really enjoy.

    Once you start seeing profit from something you really enjoy, you'll see that it's definitely worth it and you will consequently take it more seriously without even noticing it.
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  • Profile picture of the author discrat
    I don't know maybe it's me...but if I pursue something I go all in. And that means being serious. Of course it should be fun but imo you have to be focused and serious


    - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    Originally Posted by ovoxomo View Post

    Say attaining wealth is your main goal (the main topic of conversation with the person in question), then this all seems counterintuitive to me.

    I get all this advice about how you hard you must work, how determined you have to be, self-belief, persistence, etc... which I FULLY understand and accept, however the "don't take it serious" advice seems to undermine all that. I am failing to see how you can not take it serious, yet pour every ounce of yourself in trying to make the business succeed?

    I am referring to building a business, whether online or off is irrelevant


    Thanks for the reply btw!
    The key to understanding this advice is in your answer here. There's a difference between accumulating wealth and making your business succeed. As others have said, if you focus on making business an exchange of value rather than an exercise of picking your customers' pockets, business becomes a lot more fun. The money, once you have your basic needs covered, is just a way of keeping score.

    I will pick one little nit with the advice RS3RS gave. If you plan to monetize a blog or other resource, it should be obvious that there are things available to buy. Annie gave her example of making a site a go-to resource, but if she hadn't had things available to buy (as in affiliate referrals) she would never have noticed any affiliate income.

    There have been a lot of sad tales here over the years about people doing the give, give, give, everything has to be free routine for weeks, months, or more, and then when they do attempt to monetize, they get a serious backlash from their audience. "Whaaa, you're just another sellout marketer trying to get my money. I hate you. Whaaaa."

    Originally Posted by discrat View Post

    I don't know maybe it's me...but if I pursue something I go all in. And that means being serious. Of course it should be fun but imo you have to be focused and serious


    - Robert Andrew
    Robert, there are a lot of gamers who take their video games VERY seriously. I met a guy once whose wife gave him an ultimatum - choose her or the video games. He was coming out of the video game store at the mall, selling back some of his games to top off his child support payment...
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    • Profile picture of the author TheGMa
      Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post


      ... I will pick one little nit with the advice RS3RS gave. If you plan to monetize a blog or other resource, it should be obvious that there are things available to buy. Annie gave her example of making a site a go-to resource, but if she hadn't had things available to buy (as in affiliate referrals) she would never have noticed any affiliate income. ...
      Hi John!

      Funny thing about those first affiliate links - I put them up as a convenience to my readers!
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by ovoxomo View Post

    If you take making money seriously you won't get any.

    IMO, making money online (as well as offline) should be considered a journey rather than a destination. The money will flow to you if you don't set it as your ultimate goal.

    If money is the prize you're after, you'll never be satisfied, there will never be enough for you. So you made $1million this year . . . will that satisfy you next year? No. You'll up the ante, increase your goals, you'll have to do better for you to feel successful. When does it ever end?

    But if you consider your mission to provide benefits and help to your prospects and customers . . . you will be open to their happiness, loyalty, repeat purchases and money.

    Steve
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    Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
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  • Profile picture of the author silveroaks
    both quotes mean somewhat the same thing i think. it is good advice. As you should not run after money as the sole end. Money is a means that can be utilized for a number of other ends that give pleasure and satisfaction to the consumer. So concentrating your whole self on a monetary goal is emotionally, psychologically and socially counter productive in a number of ways.
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  • Profile picture of the author aizaku
    I agree to a point...

    Hell, my whole presence online is game like; from the 8 bit font i always use to the chiptune music in the opening of my youtube videos...

    having a fun relaxed attitude is important, but its an attitude.

    There are some aspects of your business that you need to take seriously. The most important one is:

    are you serving your traffic/subscribers to the fullest?

    That, I dont treat like a game...

    What I do treat like a game is trying and testing new copy or paid traffic..

    best of luck,
    Ike Paz
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