Have you ever heard the saying that you don’t have to “re-invent the wheel”? It is so true. Maybe you can innovate the wheel in some way to improve it, but the wheel is something that cannot be improved upon too much. It’s been around for a long, long time, and would be hard to improve on.
The same is true, although not to the extent of the wheel when it comes to making money online. You don’t necessarily need to come up with something totally new. Look at models of what people are doing now, and figure out how to adapt those models to your own situation. Do you have a product that you want to sell online? Well, there are dozens of online shopping cart solutions available, you just need to choose the one that fits your needs. Want to write a book about your subject of expertise? Well, lots of people are writing and selling e-Books, and you can too. Honestly, there are thousands of ways to earn money on the net, and there are thousands of “wheels” out there for you to emulate.
What you need to do first is to choose some good blogs about how to make money, and read them. Read them every day. Read them more than once per day, if you like. But, read them regularly. If you don’t, how serious can you really say you are about earning a living online? Yes, I would be happy if you decide to read this blog regularly, and I would thank you for doing that. But, I am far from an A-lister when it comes to this niche – how to make money online. I earn a nice living online, but others have much more experience than I do.
For me, the best source of information on this niche is Darren Rouse, the Problogger. Darren writes several articles every day, usually 7 days per week. When it comes to blogging, Darren is the best source for how to make money. How about affiliate marketing? If you want to learn about that, Shoemoney gets my vote for the best source on Affiliate Marketing. In my case, I have made money in many different ways. I have made money blogging, sales through my online stores, selling on eBay and other methods. I would say that the niche that I try to fill on this blog is not the huge “make money online” niche, but rather “make money online while living in the Philippines” niche. It’s a different niche, believe me.
Anyway, the place I am going with this is to choose a half dozen or more sites that are about making money online and read them religiously. If you are serious about wanting to make money online, reading these sites is part of your work for the day. It is just as important as picking up the hammer and swinging it if you are a carpenter. You will pick up a lot of new ideas and methods by reading sites like these.
Another tip, very important – beware of which sites you are using for your research. A lot of people put up sites about how to earn money online. The problem? A lot of these guys who put up such sites have never earned any money online! Have you ever heard the old saying – “Those who CAN do – Those who CAN’T teach.” Make sure that you are learning from one of those who “Can,” and the best way to know that somebody can earn money online is that he/she IS earning money online.
I think it is not just sites from people who have never actually made money online that should cause people to worry. You see this on television and in magazines as well.
A good general rule, I think, is to ignore them if you cannot readily identify how they made/make money beyond selling information on how to make money.
Hi Tom – That’s sage advice! I guess that the lure of people telling others how to make money (even when they haven’t made it themselves) is something that has been going on for decades, probably centuries!
Bob,
I realize this is a little off the subject. Ha-ha this might make for a good write up on one of your sites though. So I thought I would share this information with all of you. I have been looking at BPI and RCBC Banks. They have caught up with the rest of the world for the most part. They even have a decent Online Banking system now days. I am in the process of converting all of my USD into PHP. As some of you may have heard… The Philippine Government as well as the International community expect the Peso to rise all the way to P30 to $1… Now is the time to begin the conversion… Just think of it this way. A 10 Peso profit per dollar. Minus the transaction fees an average of $30 for international transfers. Now, just think if you invested $10,000 x 40 (current exchange average) = P400,000 versus $10,000 x 30 (Projected w/ in the next 2 years)= 300,000… That’s just the basics of it. I think this is a great opportunity for us all.
Lets not forget about HSBC. Although, they are from Hongkong they also operate in the Philippines and many other countries (including the US) around the world.
Hi Mike K. – While I do think that the Peso will further it’s gains against the dollar, I personally would be careful about converting *all* your dollars to pesos. That is risky. Some unexpected event could happen that would put the Peso at 60 to 1 just as easily as 30 to 1. It would just be my plan to diversify a little more.
Diversification is the name of the game. I would think for those who live in the Philippines having money in pesos and dollars would be more prudent. Even more, I would think it not unreasonable to have money in pesos, dollars, and euros.
Tom
Hi Tom – I’m with you 100%. I do have my money in all three currencies at this time.
Diversification is definitely a good thing. I do dabble a little with forex. I should have clarified that a little better when I said all. what I meant was all the money that you feel you can chance. A friend of mine has done really well on his PHP investment. He invested 6 figures while the exchange was 56. Ha-ha I’m sure you can imagine his delight as the Peso keeps rising against the dollar.
Hi Mike K. – understood.
On the particular subject of the post, I too got my start with Darren. I still read every single word he publishes. Interesting the earlier discussions about “how much to give away”. If you really packed up what darren has made available or free and sold it, it would likely be worth a pretty penny.
However, most people do not actually read for content. They skim over an article that says “Darren Rowse made a six-figure income with AdSense”, put up a site of some sort, plop on some AdSense and then wonder where the money is.
Darren never made any sort of money like six-figures with AdSense on Problogger.net. he does have an online income in that range, but it comes from many other sources … ProBlogger is mainly his site for sharing and building community.
the majority of Darren’s money comes from camera ads and camera sales on several digital photography sites he works at very diligently. this is all explained in some detail on ProBlogger,but I find that many people who ask me for help have never really looked at Darren’s income streams to see how he actually does make money. he also has a paid, ‘real’ job with the B5 blogging network … something I wouldn’t care for, but Darren enjoys the task of building out the dream he and his partners have. More power to them, but a salarired corporate job is _not_ making money from some AdSense code.
Yet if I had a dollar for everyone who has told me, I’m putting up a site like ProBlogger and making 6 figures, _I’d_ be a rich man. Giving away the information is one thing, getting people to actually use it is another, indeed.
Hi Dave Starr – I don’t read everything that Darren puts up these days, but I still read most of it! And, you’re right, he makes little money from ProBlogger. The big money is on his digital camera and cellphone blogs.