The Realization That Enabled Me to Make a Living Online

This is a guest post from Glen Allsopp of ViperChill.com. If you've been around on my blog for a while, you may notice that I refer to Glen and his blog quite a bit. Why? Because his content is just that good, and this guest post is no exception.

When I built my first website at 15, I honestly didn't know too much about what I was doing. I used a free site builder so didn't have my own domain, used the built in templates so I didn't have to mess around with HTML and used image generators online so I had no need for Photoshop. When I started looking at how to make money online and everyone I spoke to recommended that I should get my own domain, I felt totally lost.

For the next year I tweaked my MySpace pages as a way to help me learn HTML (and impress my friends. Sad, I know), I purchased domains as people had recommended and used a friends hosting company to get my website online. After struggling with databases and FTP software for a few months, I started to get a hang of what I was doing.

Though I had some initial success when one of my websites was featured in a popular book and I built and sold some websites for a few hundred dollars, I really wasn't making that much money online. I was even building websites around the things that I loved, but just didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

After much frustration, I went…

In Search of the Magic Bullet

If you've been trying to make an income online for a decent amount of time then you've probably came across the thousands of guides offering you tips on how to get rich overnight. The “secrets nobody is telling you about” in the form of an instant download or how one man “went from nothing to working from a beach in Thailand in just six weeks”. These are just some examples, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

Lured in by these promises, I spent what little money I had trying to gain knowledge in the area of making money online. I had built my skillset in terms of creating websites and getting them hosted online, but I thought there must be something missing that nobody is telling me if I couldn't seem to get further than a few hundred dollars per month.

One product turned into the next, and that one led me to another, until I ended up with piles of useless ebooks that had left me in a worse financial situation than I was in before. I was supposed to be learning how to make money, not getting other people rich by buying their products.

If it wasn't for my successful stint as a freelancer and my sheer determination to “get this down,” I think I would have given up my internet income dreams a long time ago. Product after product and promise after promise left me nowhere.

The magic bullet was nowhere to be found.

Today, I'm making a very healthy living online building websites around things I love and helping thousands of people around the world do the same. I don't make a living by teaching other people how to make a living online but I do try my best to help.

The last two years have been very instrumental for me, and they also helped me find the magic bullet. That's right, there is one. And it's much closer to home than you think.

My Realization

My realization is fairly simple, but once you grasp and internalize it, the results from your internet endeavors are sure to skyrocket. The realization was simply this: You are the magic bullet. Instead of looking for some genius idea or a secret that it seemed everyone was keeping away from me, it finally clicked that maybe, just maybe, it was the actions I took rather than the knowledge I seeked that would allow me to finally make money online.

Instead of buying another product, I bought a domain. Instead of looking for instant results in an ebook, I looked for a niche I could target. Instead of wondering why so many people besides me where making money, I decided to focus on one thing until I was the person making money.

And guess what? Things actually started to happen.

I built one affiliate site and a few months later it started making a great income. I used the same steps in another industry, and did well in that one too. I then went on to build a blog as I love writing and having an audience, and through nothing more than right action and a lot of determination, that also became very successful.

I will now say that it is very, very difficult to get out of the groove of looking for the secrets of the magic pill if you're already entangled in buying make money online products. I have a friend who is doing exactly that right now, and no matter how much advice I give him, he's still clicking the ‘add to cart' buttons on the next “can't miss” product launch.

For some people, the only way this lesson will click is when they go through the spiral themselves and realize it isn't taking them anywhere. Fortunately, you do have the opportunity to see that everything you really need to make money online is out there; you just have to start putting that knowledge into action.

What To Do Now

If you're still looking for some hidden information that you think I might have missed from this post, then you're still in the mindset that someone else has the knowledge you need to succeed. Sure, there's great advice out there (especially on Pat's blog, here) but it isn't going to take you anywhere unless your main focus is not that of a seeker, but one of a doer.

With whatever web properties you have right now, or the ones you're planning to build, commit to actually seeing them through until you start to see a return on your time investment. Decide that you wont buy another internet secrets guide until you've actually made the money to afford it via your income online.

The process may be slow, and it may be tough, and you might even fail.

But I guarantee you'll learn far more from the process and your mistakes than anything I, Pat, or any course online can teach you.

You are the magic bullet. You just have to put yourself to good use.

Glen Allsopp is the writer behind ViperChill, a blog on Viral Marketing. If you run a blog, he's also written an extensive guide to WordPress SEO that you may find useful.