Full time internet marketers - when you left your day job...

I "took the plunge" and went full-time as an internet marketer long before I could afford to do so. Those were rough times. If you've got a job, my advice is to keep it until you're on your feet. Besides being able to pay your bills, you should also consider that many aspects of IM are easier when you have money to work with than when you don't.

That being said, if anyone reading this has already embarked down the same road I traveled, don't be discouraged. That's a waste of time. Just get to work.

Absolutely. The next time you hear a guru say they made "$5,000 within 24 hours using a little-known secret"... take a look at how their marketing to you right now. Obviously part of their "little-known secret" is using forums. So that's one of the strategies right there. You didn't even have to buy their product to learn that one.

Don't buy too many courses. You'll drive yourself nuts. Follow the simple way to make money online. Find a niche, setup a squeeze page, collect subscribers, and follow up on them with your email autoresponder. Create your own product for the niche, or get one from Clickbank, and promote it in each email. Get consistent traffic everyday, and then just wait for results.

I started an SEO company back in 1999 and still keep doing it. Have office now and employees as well. I believe the key is to have a true passion for something and hard work you can achieve a lot. Even if you fail you have to keep trying because even successful guys like Trump failed many times but came back.

Best of luck in your endeavours.

Best
Johan

I went full time because I did not have any other option for making money. I had just had a baby, I could not exactly afford a babysitter at the time and even if I could, I was on a spouse visa in a foreign country that didn't allow me work. So I just did what I had to do.

I didn't wait till I could make sufficient money to pay all my bills before I made my SEO company. This is merely because I know the amount of effort you need to put in to make that kind of money requires full time attention.

While you should have some money saved up, you are going to struggle to make a sufficient income from internet marketing (or any other aspect of earning money online) until you quit your day job and do this 14-15 hours a day. I know some people who would work 10 hours a day at work, and then 12 hours on their IM business initially until they got it going.

If you are unable to work such a heavy workload, I think you have to take that risk and back your ability to make a full time income online, and quit your day job

Be careful! Before you leave your job, be sure you earn your online income from several businesses! For example I had a website with only Adsense income, made around $5k a month and I felt myself safe, but suddenly somebody clickbombed me, and adsense banned me, I lost everything, I had no money. So keep in mind: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Sorry for my poor english, I hope you understand what I wanted to tell you.

Have good day!

Stay in your job as long as you can, make your determination all about reward for effort, in that when you are able to match or better your income for 3 months in a row or similar then use that as your reward to leave your job.

The flip side is that dreaming of working on line can sound easy and fun, but there is no fun in sending yourself broke and having your dream / passion of hanging that suit up ruined by needing to go back and find a job because your running out of money.

I spent 7 years building up my business to a healthy 2nd income, then I quit. The IM income is not yet quite what I was earning in my full time job, but I am much happier and more fulfilled doing what I want to do and - with much more time to dedicate to the marketing activity - it won't be very long before I exceed my old income level.

Will

I wouldn't do it:

1) If I had a mortgage
2) If I had children under 16 years old
3) I wasn't making at least $8k month for 12 months + first and the biz was secure as opposed to a method of making money.
4) Trial it first for a couple of months and see if you like the isolating life-style.

My opinion.

I took the plunge right after finishing grad school once I got the IM bug. My advice to you would be to keep your job until you are doing well enough to be secure financially. Also, if you are going to take the plunge, don't do so until you at least have a very strong understanding of what it takes to make money online... The fastest way to get out of your job and into IM would be to hire a coach, that way you'll at least have the security of knowing you're on the right track.

Hope that helps.

Paul

I would never ever advise quitting your job unless you are making a consistent income online. Maybe some of you will disagree and say go for it, but personally I would think you would find the pressure unbearable, especially if you have kids with a mortgage to pay etc.

Who needs that kind of stress in their lives?

I can't answer your question directly because I've not had a "day job" since my first job out of college.

However, way back then, leaving that job, I just took the jump and I think that it helped me because I had no other choice but to make it. I had no other source of income at the time and since I quit, no unemployment.

Over the years, I've seen many people try to build up a business while working at a job, and I have to say, I personally have not yet seen someone do it.

I personally think you have to give it your all. However, everyones situation is different and only you can make that decision for yourself.

Good luck.

This is a great question irdizzle - think this is the first time I respond to a post but the fun success stories motivated me.

I think it was in 2002 I had been playing around with a free hosted website (because all my credit cards were closed and I couldn't pay for hosting) for awhile (I used free e-course from Ken Evoy at sitesell) and I received my first tiny check of $50 and I went "WOW ... this is possible. I can actually put something on the Internet and then I get a check in the mail ... what a magic." --- so the first thing I believe we all have to realize before we take a jump is that it's possible and it doesn't require big startup cost.

Unlike many of the smart folks here on the warriorforum, I'm extremely slow learner. It took me for ever to learn the Internet marketing game and hit the jackpot. I still can't understand basic SEO. And since I was over my head in debt, was making what I thought then was a great income from my offline retail company, had a 3 year old daughter and a VERY expensive lifestyle, I wasn't going to jump in head first. In fact, it took me four years to build up the Internet company to replace the old one. But having a new income, gave me the courage to capitalize off the old business to support the new one. So I began to raise the price, which ticket off some old customers but the loyal once stuck with me. This meant service less customers, I had more time for new business. --- So once you begin getting income from your Internet business irdizzle, be bold and ask for raise, more time off etc. --- find a way to capitalize more off your job. Your final goal should be to get fired because you demand too much... but only when you and your Internet business are ready.

typoo999 had a great point. Be ready to suffer great ups and downs in your business. You can't imagine how often I thought now I had enough to close doors in my old business when all of a sudden there was a search engine drop, google slap, yahoo slap, I made a stupid mistake etc. What you'll however find in the long haul is that the new lows usually become somewhat close to the old highs. So be aware of the down times and don't overexpand thinking that the highs will always be higher.

Finally, when you make the move, never look back. And like most of the responses before mine discussed, you'll not want to be a slave to a job again. Several times when I hit the low in my Internet business I thought maybe I should get some supplies and redo my old business just for a few days. Maybe you'll think of getting your old job back. But the suppliers had changed, the business had changed, my old customers had moved. There is no turning back. It's like leaving a girlfriend, most of us think at some point maybe I can go back and make it work this time. But once the cream has gone sour, it's no bringing it back. Burn your bridges and determine to make it.

The rewards... well I'm now sitting in a beutiful hotel apartment in Cape Town South Africa in the middle of summer here. Looking over the ocean and the beach. I could fly anywhere in the world and this is exactly the place I want to be in. Freedom is what motivates me. I'd love to be one of those smart guys that can make millions in a day but I'm also happy to make a good living and have my freedom. Find out what motivates you and never, ever forget it and keep your eyes on the ball all the time.

Thanks for giving me a chance to recapitulate these years and all the great tips I've picked up on this forum.

- Christian G

All I have to say is WOW... this is the first forum I've joined in my life that people actually take the time to respond to questions (for a question similar to this somewhere else I would expect 2 comments).

Thank you everyone - I will read the rest of the comments when I get home from work tonight and will reply accordingly.

I still can't believe how helpful people are on this forum...!

People are very helpful in this forum, indeed.

I read and read and asked and asked and then when I had achieved a little bit of success in IM, I started answering people newer than me with things I had experience in.

So once you are doing better, or even now, you can help others with whatever knowledge, advice, etc. you can give.

It seems like you want a quick transition. do you have any workable skills? Article writing, programming, customer service, or search engine optimization are good things to check into. There are a lot of one time gigs that turn into steady work. Look on vworker and elance for the best way to break into the internet lifestyle. Elance is where I started 8 years ago and got me in with some very skilled marketers, great to learn from their experience so after time, being involved in their campaigns, you can sharpen your IM skills if that's your ultimate goal. Best of luck!