How did you guys hustle back then?

12 replies
I know many of those who make a successful living online are in the "providing a service for the long-term as a business" mode. To really earn money, you must provide great value with recurring costumers.

Of course, every good IMers I know all had to hustle the cheap way online when they first started. By that I mean, many had a "make money quick" attitude.

Did you guys spammed back then? I hope not!

Did you guys just randomly post on free classified ads back then to make a quick buck?

Did you guys just set up a banner-frenzy site on a free webhost hoping someone will click of them?

Did you guys bought a $1 PLR product and sold it for $27 to desperate people?

For many, it just take a simple mindset shift from being desperate to really being inspire to do greater things.

Many of "real" gurus success did not happen overnight -- some took years of changing their belief system, some had to "hustle" to make quick money really after learning from their mistakes.

Every master was once a disaster somehow, right?
#back #guys #hustle
  • Profile picture of the author Jeremiah Walsh
    At one time I dabled into the active x toolbar affiliate programs. Man was that a disaster. I didn't know how much havoc it caused on someone's PC until I installed the thing myself out of curiosity.

    I regret it still.
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    • Profile picture of the author direct_marketer
      What do you mean - back then?
      Who said we stopped?
      Do you understand that this forum is responsible for most of the garbage on the internet?
      Every single TGP, Popup, Toolbar, forced re-direct, hidden offer, reverse charge, spam site and adsense page started like right HERE. Or at least by people who go through this place. At least the successful ones.
      And this is not a BAD thing. It's just the ones that move fast get the big bucks.
      Like, it actually scrambles my mind to see people on this forum still asking about blogs and articles and ****.
      It's almost like no thought goes into their business strategy.
      Business or 'hustling' as you call it, is not a skillset - its a behavior!!
      You either act like it and get it done, or you read about it and understand it.
      I say kudos to the hustlers - we should all take a moment to reflect on what they've shown us.
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  • Profile picture of the author biggsy
    Everything evolves and has to start somewhere
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    I spammed once... Someone sent me a spam email in 1997 with all of the recipients shown... I did a reply all and sent another commercial email...

    I lost my Internet access on that one action... Since I lived in small town America, in a town that only had one ISP, in order to use the Internet, I had to log into the Internet using a friends' account... I certainly did not want to get his account turned off too, so I was extremely careful from that day forward...

    In 1999, I got my own ISP account, because another ISP opened in town... Suddenly, we had two ISP's to choose from...

    I skipped most of the junk advertising things, except for the Safe Lists and FFA sites... I played with FFA sites and Safe Lists in 1999... Then I pulled my head out...

    I started my own newsletter, towards the end of 1999 on YahooGroups (OneGroups then), but I did not start making money until 2000. That first sale forced me to turn the corner and start treating my "play business" like a real business...

    I only look back at times like this...
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    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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    • Profile picture of the author AndrewCavanagh
      I made my first real money selling my services...writing online press releases, writing reports etc etc.

      I had to do that because I had no money to spend on things like domain names, webhosting etc (everything was VERY expensive back then).

      Selling your services is still one of the best ways to start making a good income very quickly.

      In many cases you can charge 50% or even your full fee upfront meaning you can start getting paid today.

      It also gets you focused on developing skills that have real value to others which is a great way to invest your time when you're starting out.

      Kindest regards,
      Andrew Cavanagh
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  • Profile picture of the author D_M_S
    Two word: Don LaPre

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    Looking for new affiliates for a penny auction web site -- please send me a PM

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  • Profile picture of the author Wounded
    Well sometimes you have to do less than desirable jobs to build up some revenue. But plr articles into an ebook would be one that I am guilty of.
    Regards
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin_Hutto
    About the craziest thing I ever did was paid somebody to put about 500 ads a day on craigslist... This was 6 or 7 years ago when it was easy...
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  • Profile picture of the author excoder01
    I remember coming into Yahoo! Chat back in the days (late 90's) and posting affiliate links....but I was only 15 yrs old at that time. Just a teenager hustling to pay for school supplies and games. =)

    Took me about 10+ yrs later to get into IM again...the proper way!

    Thanks everyone for sharing how they had to hustle - nothing to be ashamed of...you did your thing, learn from your mistakes, and now you're better.
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    Affiliate Review Templates - get affiliate review templates every week. No tech or marketing skills required!
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  • Profile picture of the author Coby
    mlms and free classifieds . . . lol, that didnt' work
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    • Profile picture of the author Bokonon
      Interesting interpretations of the word "Hustle". I have always thought of the word Hustle to mean describing that quality that someone has who is willing to work their butt off using whatever resources available to them to achieve a goal. That goal most often being making money, but to me it can be anything that someone works really hard and resourcefully to make happen.

      I see hustle in most of the extremely successful people I've met (financially or otherwise). Millionaires who are always (24/7, it never turns off) looking for the next edge, the next move. Most have that "what am I going to make happen right now in my life?" quality about them in most things they do. I love seeing that quality in other people, as it perks up my hustle even further.

      We all work within our comfortable moral boundaries. For some, using people up and ripping them off are OK. For others, the only acceptable business deal is one in which everyone walks away very happy. But I have always seen someone's morals and their amount of hustle as two completely separate things. Some selfish jerks I've met have an incredible amount of hustle, they always seem to be looking out for the next victim to sap, while some people I know are always hustling to foster true friendships and/or business relationships, always looking to meet new people and form new bonds.

      When I first started looking into making money online, it took me 3 years to take action. I read, studied, researched and took no action; complete and utter Analysis Paralysis.

      2002 is when I actually make my first profit, and that very instant I found out about my profit, I found my hustle. Once I started hustling, I started seeing more and more success.

      I still had some failures along with successes and still fail a fair amount, but those are the learning costs in life; don't repeat what failed and repeat what succeeded. If it weren't for my hustle, one of those failures would have stopped me a long time ago.


      Hope my perspective helps some random reader...
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