Making Money After 7 Years Online -2k Posts Yay!

Hello,

I'm struggling for words to type to be honest.

I have seen those posts before 1k, 2k, 5k, 10k posts "Here is the secret to my success..."

People usually put a fair bit of effort into it.

I'll give it a go.
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7 years ago I was in Dresden Germany with my girlfriend. We where living there at the time. I had burned out my cash and was on my last few hundred dollars that where left on the credit card.

I walked into an Internet cafe which would become a habit for me.

I cant remember what or who it was first but I think it was either something from Frank Kern or that guy that did the 'Rich Jerk' stuff that first introduced me to online marketing and the ability to make money online from anywhere in the world.

Like most other people I began paying for ebooks and programs that where all empty promises. Some where straight out scams.

I spent hours in that Internet cafe... the beer was cheap.

One of the first things I ever did online was to setup a free blogger blog. Like every other newbie I tried to do what I saw others doing and created my blog around the MMO (make money online) niche.

I remember researching and writing about stuff that I had read or already knew a little about. I made like $13 in adsense one day and I was over the moon!

My morals got the better of me and I deleted that blog. I couldnt be a fake. I resented people like that.

Fast forward a few years, we moved back to Australia and I had lost about 5k on "ideas". "BIG Ideas" yeah right.

That is what I wanted, a big idea to come along and abracadabra...

I didnt want to work my butt off. Not because I was lazy, I have never been lazy. Never. I have worked every damn muscle, bone and cell in my body until it was sore and aching... I can tell you about real work in trenches, factories and snow covered streets. I have done every pain in the ass job in the Universe I think!

That's why I respect blue collar workers so much!

I think it was me just being naive and believing all of the "get rich in 12 seconds BS" that the pros where putting out all the time. I would have loved for someone to tap me on the shoulder and say "Hey, you do realize most of these guys where working 14, 15 hours per day and well into the night when they first started and some still do".

I must admit, some of the ideas where great. But my lack of understanding as to how things worked and my ADHD turned "enthusiasm" got the better of me.

I got scammed by Mexicans, the Chinese and even some American teenage video gamer! What a dumb ass I was! (I love all people, just sayin...)

Fast forward again, almost 10K down the guzzler... don't, please don't remind me...

Some people on this forum may even remember my last BIG idea. Reviewdoo.com I worked on it for a while then got rid of it... how sad, what a waste...

The way I look at it, all the years of failures, late nights spent behind a computer screen, trials and tribulations. I have learned a s**t load! I basically have a doctorate degree in failing at stuff online!

... and what is worse is that I knew what the guru's did, I knew how they made money. They built lists, and sold stuff. They sold physical goods, they owned membership sites, SEO yada yada yada...

I was just too thick headed and I wanted to do things my way.

Only just in the last few months of my 7 years online I have started to make money. Real money, real hard cash! And boy does it feel good!

I finally gave in. I did what I was good at and what I knew would bring me in some money (not pole dancing). Sure it's not sexy, and you have to work your ass off. But I decided to do the smart thing and "go for the money", you know stop worrying and planning and strategizing so much.

I just decided to go for the money.

I started Writing.

It is consistent. No I don't want to do it forever, but it pay the bills and puts extra money in my pocket, money for other investments. That is the plan after all...

I swear to you when I say this, in 7 years I didn't see not one single dollar.

Sure I made a few sales on clickbank, a few on adsense and made some money on eBay (eBay was different, I did that with my Girlfriend) but I never hit the level where I saw a check. And it was not because of anything other than the fact that I had my own ideas, I thought I knew but I didn't, I wanted to do stuff the easy way because I thought I was ahead when in fact I was simply dazed and confused.

Even though I could have consulted million dollar companies because of the stuff that was in between my ears from all the stuff I had read both offline and online, I chose to struggle like an idiot.

However, I am thankful for it now. Thankful that I did things the hard way and learnt them. Properly. Who could have asked for a better education.

Here is what I have learnt:

-Marketing is exactly like fishing! Exactly!

-Stop thinking and start doing, just think about what you are doing before you do it... haha that was supposed to confuse you. Leads me to my next point.

-Learn to balance. There is no 7 steps, 3 rules, 10 habits or 1 secret. Trust me there really isn't. There are a million shades of grey and you have to learn to balance them. One person is going to tell you he made it by selling socks on eBay the other is going to swear that CPA is the only thing to ever make anyone successful. But guess what? They are both different people and so are you. Learn to balance. Take what you can from everything.

-Read and don't stop until your eyes burn! The more you learn from articles, videos, books, blogs, forums etc. It is going to teach you and will start to see patterns. When those patterns take place and you notice them that is when you can really start deciding what is right for you, and what will work, for you.

-Sell something! Until you offer someone something and put a price on it you will always be gambling. Gambling time and possibly money. Third party money makers are a gamble. Adsense and all that is for people who are already cleaning up or people that are just bored and need a new hobby. Dont listen to the stories you hear about how that 1 guy made 250K in a month. Those are the 1% of cases. It is much better to sell one thing for $100 then to work on a website day and night for months just to see a check from Amazon or Google.

-Know your numbers. I am terrible at math and so I have been forcing myself to learn more by calculating things manually. You will never truly appreciate things until you can see the math behind them. And on top of that, you need to know if a business is viable and having some guru tell you he made 2k in a week does not suffice. Learn about tax, over heads, marketing costs. Once you are done with every cost you will learn that what most people take home is far less than what they advertise.

-Stop trying to "Make Money" and instead build a sustainable business. You can make 100, 200, 500 or 5k in a week but if that dries up what have you got? Nothing. Either get in and get out or get in and stay in. Have a plan and don't just do things because you can see "How it will work out for you".

-Provide value, make sure you are a perfectionist nut job about your work. Go the extra mile and really dig deep. Your customers will love you for it and it will do wonders for you. Remember, word of mouth is still the biggest form of advertising.

-Throw out all the crap. Get to the guts of the information. The core. Forget about all the bulls**t law of attraction, time management, influencing people, karma crystal ball tony robbins nlp magic dance prayer thing! What are they really trying to say?!

-Success really can be described as opportunity meeting preparation. Have patience, today may not be your day. But it may be next week, next month, next year or like me in 7 years time and if you give up you will never know. The more you prepare yourself through learning and experience the better prepared you will be when the opportunity comes along.


Last but not least. Be thankful, be positive and learn to have fun. At the end of the day the world keeps spinning and time moves on. The last thing you want to say on your death bed is that you didnt spend enough time with the people you love and doing the things you want to do. Any business is only a means to an end. Never forget that.

Thank you Warrior Forum.

p.s. if you want to see the exact thread I used to earn money: http://www.warriorforum.com/warriors...ally-read.html

p.s.s. if you want to copy my exact methods for putting it all together: http://www.warriorforum.com/war-room...-warriors.html

-Andrei