When I talk to people about the fact that I make a living online, one thing becomes very clear: this is something that they often want for themselves. When I describe the way that I manage to make a living from my own ideas, the way I work either from home with a cup of tea or in coffee shops listening to music, they will often tell me that they’re jealous or comment on how nice that might be. And often they will then tell me of the site that they had thought of building and that they had thought of, but of course that’s just a pipe dream: they have their real job after all.
The thing is though, that I’m living proof that you can make money from doing the things you love online, and that this way of life can also constitute a ‘real job’. So if they have an idea for a website and would like to work for themselves, the only question is… why aren’t they already doing it? Or at least making a go of it? What’s holding them back from taking a chance on a lifestyle they’d clearly much prefer?
Well in most cases the answer is: ‘lots of things’, though that doesn’t mean that they’re necessarily good reasons not to take the chance. Read on to find out why there’s no good reason not to give online work a proper go…
Fear of Failure
Many people are afraid of setting up their own website and trying to make a real go of it because they think they’re going to fail and don’t like the thought of having to admit that to themselves and others, or of losing money in the process.
What they need to remember though is that a website is one of the most risk-free business models out there. There are practically no overheads and no expenses meaning that you can start up without having to put any money into the site at all to begin with. You can also put as much or as little work in too, meaning that there’s no need to quit our day job. Finally, you don’t even need to tell people what you’re doing – and if you prefer you can think of the project as a hobby for now until it starts to take off. And by doing all of this you can start off cheaply, without making any sacrifices and no huge expectations.
Lack of Technical Knowledge
Many people are under the impression that you need to be tech savvy in order to start a website and understand programming, networks and other complicated topics. In fact though, you can build a website with almost zero computer knowledge relatively easy. Not only are there plenty of site building tools out there, and the incredibly useful ‘WordPress’ to make designing great looking sites very easy, but it’s also possible to outsource any parts of the process that you do find complicated. This way you can focus on the parts of the process that you enjoy and understand and leave everything else to pros who are willing to do it for you cheaply. Need an article written? You can get a brilliant one written quickly and easily on Fiverr!
Lack of Business Knowledge
You might also feel like you lack business knowledge and worry that you won’t be able to turn a profit from your website. Again though, this is easier than it seems. With no investment and no overhead any money you make is going to be profit and there are plenty of pre-existing systems like AdSense you can use to start bringing that in easily. You’ll learn on the job, so you really don’t need any experience going in.
Lack of Ideas
Some people will have an idea for a website but be afraid to jump into it, but others will be eager to start working online but just lack a good idea to get them started. If you find yourself in that latter camp, then take a look online and you’ll find plenty of articles to help you come up with ideas. Alternatively you can always just start ‘writing’ whatever comes to mind, and over time you’ll find that you start to create a theme to the kind of content you publish that helps to define your site.
So stop waiting for that perfect moment, or questioning your ability to create the site you want. You have what it takes, you just need to give it a chance…
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