Why You Aren’t Making Any Money Online
It’s not your fault… mostly.
In 2013 I had $200. I had just quit college because I hated it.
Instead, I decided to start a dropshipping company to sell men’s clothing online.
I set up a Shopify store and an Aliexpress account (this was way before Oberlo was a thing).
In my first year, total revenue was only $10k. That’s revenue, not profit.
It took me 3 years of toiling away at it before I made it my full-time job, and I was the only employee.
At the 5-year mark, we did $500k in revenue and I hired my first employee, my younger sister, who was incredible.
In year 6 the company made $2.1M in revenue and I had 7 employees and 3 subcontractors.
In the year following, I made some huge bets that did not pan out well and, as a result, had to close the company down.
Then in 2020, I started freelancing as an “E-Commerce Consultant” for Shopify merchants.
In the first year, my freelance business made almost nothing, less than $20k.
But again, I toiled away at this business.
Everyday.
Learning to code, offering my services, telling people about my work, asking friends and family for referrals, doing jobs on Upwork, partnering with agencies.
Whatever I could do to get ahead.
In 2021 my freelance business will bring in nearly $70k.
My hopes for next year are even higher.
Because I am still toiling away, every single day.
Working, trying, experimenting, writing, asking for referrals, telling people about what I do.
Everyone on this platform and every other platform is writing clickbait articles that have you completely convinced that making money online can be both quick and easy.
You have been brainwashed by article, after article, that if you just “Do This One Thing!” or “Find The Loophole To Success!” you can make oodles of money online with little to no effort.
This part is not your fault.
It is the responsibility of writers everywhere, to be honest about their work and their results and the time and effort it takes to produce them.
But don’t get me wrong, this is the only part of the equation that is not your fault!
Make no mistake, I am not here to let you off the hook; because your success depends on this level of honesty. I will not hold back on you, because you deserve the truth.
The number one reason you suck at making money online?
You give up on everything.
As soon as things get tough, you find some new article about the “New! Super easy way to make money online in 2022!”
You are addicted to these articles like crack cocaine.
You crave and cling to the hope that you can flip a switch and make $100k a year as easily as winning the lottery.
The truth is, you are soft.
If it’s not easy and instant, you just move on to the next shiny object, never committing to anything for more than a month.
I dare you to stick to something for 2 or 3 or 5 years and see what happens.
I dare you to stop giving up on everything.
The real key to success online?
Habitual consistency.
The ones that are winning have been at it for years.
Dedicate yourself. Be consistent. Put the time in.
I know that’s kind of vague advice and I hate that so let me put it another way and give a real-world example.
Pick something you can stick with and build systems around it so that you can stay consistent.
I will use my current situation as an example.
Here is how I am dedicating myself to growing my audience on Medium:
I am writing every day.
This is new for me. I am not a blogger, writing is not in my nature, but I want to be good at it so I am putting in the hours.
I don’t publish every day, but I am writing every day and I will start publishing content daily as soon as it makes sense to do so.
In order to write every day, I am building systems to make it habitual.
In order to make anything a habit in life, we need to make it as convenient as possible. To make it convenient we need to systematize as much of it as possible.
I have a Google spreadsheet full of article titles and subtitles. I sit down once or twice a week and come up with new article title ideas. This allows me to grab and go. Pick a title, start writing.
Next, I research ahead of time. In my Google Sheet, I add relevant notes and links next to the article title so I have all the info I need to write the article before I begin.
Last, I write all of my articles in Medium with the Grammarly Chrome extension to check my work. Writing them somewhere else and then having to reformat them for Medium is a waste of time and I know I am more likely to finish and publish an article if it is already on Medium, ready to go.
I also try to stick to certain times of the day to write. I tend to be the most creative in the morning after my first cup of coffee. So I sit, plan my day, drink my coffee, then grab an article title and get to work.
I expect to have to do this, every day, for years or even decades before making any real money at it. Consistency is the name of the game.
This consistency, habit-forming, and dedication to the long haul is the only “Secret To Success”.
And it’s the only “secret” no one is talking about.
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