Gary,
I know it’s hard and that is why I gave myself 3 years to nuke my day job. I also am interested in any way to make money on or offline and that is why I have examples of both on my website. Money is money and I don’t care how I get it (legally). I wish I could find more examples of concrete step by step methods to make money online instead of the tons of ebooks that just regurgitate the same old generalities over and over. The ebooks are crap if you ask me.

I love that ya tell everyone the truth. For me making money wasn’t always my number one thing, honestly it still isn’t but it is becoming a big thing for me now. At first the internet was a toy, it was like going into a toy store and testing out the toys. There were so many different things I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to do. Today though, I’ve started focusing more and know that you can earn it, if you put your foot forward and do the work. I agree, one big thing is those scams. First of all, those ebooks (sorry ebookers but my opinion here) that promise you that they’ll tell you their secrets to making millions. I’ll cut to the chase for ya’ll.

“Secret to Making Millions” by Homemom3

Get suckers to buy this book, for every book bought at $45, $245, $499 I’ll be making money because I know they all want to know how to make millions. See all ya need to do is write a book with that title, wait for someone to buy and and tell them to make one.

UGh! I hate scams and while I’ve never bought one of those books I’ve read where someone bought into one of those to walk away feeling cheated. No, not saying all are but if there were a bunch that really taught us wouldn’t we all be making millions?

Be true to yourself, work hard, learn from other bloggers and you will start earning money. Great one Garry, I love the no BSing.

like homemom3, i didnt start out wanting to make money.. i really only wanted to make enough to cover my hosting costs so i wasnt loosing money.. but after a few months when my site was generating over $1,000/month i realized i might be able to quit my ‘day job’.. now nearly two years later, i just broke the $7k/month mark and NOW my main motivation is to quit my day job..

also, i think you’re mostly right about how most people selling things are just out to rip you off.. but.. last year i wrote an ebook detailing how my site was making $1k/month in only 4 months (it’s free in my blog now). I sold nearly 1,000 copies at $10/each - and i didnt have to cut anybody’s throat - and NONE of my customers came away feeling ripped-off. We arent ALL bad-guys..

Hey hon.

As always, great post. And you’re very right about the fact that it’s not easy, by any means. And yes, there are hundreds of people and places that try to sell you crap that just plain ass doesn’t work.

However, you missed one point. For myself personally, just because I don’t make as much money each month as Darren Rowse or John Chow, or even you for that matter, that doesn’t make me a failure. In my opinion, if I’ve made ANY money online from my endeavors, I’ve already succeeded. I try to make money online for the little things that come up in my life. Little things my kids need, little things I wish I had, and little things I’d like to be able to do for other members of my family.

I feel that if you’ve made any kind of a name for yourself, if you’ve got regular readers coming back time and time again, and if you can put some money in your paypal account, you’ve succeeded in the online money making game.

But that’s just my opinion. LOL

I’m ashamed to say it, but I was one of those goofballs who didn’t know any better at the time NOT to buy the crap they sold. It seemed to be a perfect fit: software used to monitor computer activity which was to be used to parents watching their children’s online activities. The”scam” was to buy the product and I could sell it forever for no less than the price I bought it for. I put it on ebay and my blog and got not one nibble. Live and learn!

I want to make money online because I love to make websites and who doesn’t want to make money doing what they enjoy? It just happens what I enjoy is working online and I would do it whether I made money or not

Because I Can.
Years ago I went into business for myself, designing and hosting websites. Between 9/11 and Open Heart Surgery I got wiped out financially. I realized I had to have a regular job with benefits to protect my family, but, being over 40 and having survived Cancer and Heart surgery I did not want the pressure of the Corporate job. Therefore, working a basic day job (which does not pay enough) and mixing it with Internet Income seemed to be the best fit. And I love it.

Some really great comments here. Thank you!

Christine, you bring up an excellent point. There is a niche of the make money online crowd that don’t really want to deal with all the political bull crap and don’t really have the intentions of “RULING THE DOT COM WORLD”.

What you have said is that there are quite a few people doing into the business of making money online to score just some extra cash for things. There are people who go into this business who have a goal of making only $100 dollars, etc…

This is all very true and perhaps I should offer to cater to this crowd more often. I know for a fact that I can help any blogger score $100 dollars per month.

I hate the idea of working for someone else, so I finish my 9-5 and work for a couple of hours each night on projects in the hope that one day I will be able to remove the 9-5 from my life.

Last month was sort of a mini-breakthrough month for me, not only in terms of starting to see some small regular income flowing in, but also learning to separate the fluff from the real by chancing upon sites like yours, Garry. Apart from the points you brought up, another one which is really basic but because of all the scams out there, many are hesitant or skeptical, and that is to really get your head down and doing things. Small little steps to greater things.

YC,

Your blog is doing great man… very healthy blog! And I think you are doing a lot of great things and have the drive and motivation towards pushing your site, your venture into higher levels. The domain name itself is perfect. Very awesome domain name. Your site design looks great.

Now I haven’t carefully looked real deep into your blog as far as the content that you write. But I think with your level of motivation to find success and your striking ability to learn from others first before you execute yourself will make the difference for you in the long run.

My perception of you is that you tend to be a very cautious type and you don’t really execute things unless you truly feel that they are a sound decision. In other words, you sleep on your ideas for a day or two before you roll out… and that is good! Randy Brown makes an awesome comment above… and in my opinion, this guy really gets it! BTW, want to talk about commitment level, the dude has a tattoo of his website on his arm. I got an email from his this morning that I will be responding to in a bit.

After speaking with my partner David and listening to what Randy has to say… I have to say, not every product is a scam. But unfortunately, it is the actions from thousands of other people that make it difficult for people like Randy to sell wonderful products. As David told me offline today, there are tons of awesome products online and not every one is a scam. I do feel the same, but man it sure is hard to filter thru the garbage to find the good stuff.

@ Randy,

Thanks for taking the time to drop me a comment and contact me via email… We’ll be in touch very soon! The sale of your e-book is a true success story. Congrats and I can only imagine how much of a positive impact that has had for the people who read it.

I was fed up with my day job around 3 years ago, started working online part time, evenings and weekends, gradually building up my sites, I kept reinvesting and putting my money back in to my business until eventually I was able to quit my day job! Leaving your day job and Working for yourself without having a boss is one of the best things that you can do. I must admit, I dont think its for everyone, if you dont like your own company It can get pretty lonley sitting at your computer all day long! But can also be great fun and very rewarding

Ryan,

Congrats on the sale of your site. Seems like the first week of Nov was “Lets sell our blog week!”.

You are an inspiration and I will eventually make it!

It does seem that you need a few well targeted blogs and sites to actually make it and that is what i’m going to be putting my effort into very soon.

Thanks man for the very honest overview, Garry - yes I am generally cautious as I do come from a conservative Chinese background, but that sorta held me back for a while from jumping into things. Now I try to achieve a balance, if not I’ll always be on the outside staring at the pond and wondering whether lilies actually float or are rooted to the bottom.

Randy is right about not all products being a scam. I think I came over as implying that - there are ebooks which are great although they get buried by other poor products. If only there was one true authority that lists the good ones, unfortunately most of these are marketers who look at the dollars first.

Wow…that’s telling it like it is I love it! And I totally agree! Don’t waste any money on the bullshit Internet marketers who will spam you to death. They have a good ‘ol boy network of guys laughing at all the money they are getting off the poor suckers who fall for their BS.

Garry said it in a nutshell. Get traffic and CONVERT! That’s all there is to making money online. And both are HARD work, that is ongoing. All those Internet marketers showing how much money they make (and you can too - bullshit) is a total crock. Visit blogs like this one and you’ll learn a lot.

Mike,

Wow… I am very happy to hear that I have that kind of impact on people. Blogging is a business for me. Just like you, I have attacked a niche (a few of them) and have opened up such a huge can of whoop ass on it and haven’t looked back. With this blog however, this is different. My business is in helping others. Eventually, I hope to grow this blog to a level to where it can give me future options. As I say that this blog doesn’t make me money via monetization… it does make money for me by way of making great connections with other business owners and various clients I have provided a professional service to. Thanks for the compliment. Its comments like yours that keep me motivated to work even harder at growing my blog. Thanks man!

Another great post Garry. Thank you I too like the honesty you give us in your tips.

I’ve been blogging for almost 8 years now. I did it for fun but lately I felt I was getting bored. So when I started my new website I decided why not try to make a few bucks too? I like the challenge that comes with it. Who knows? Maybe I’ll make some money (I’m going to try) and maybe I won’t. But it has brought the fun back into blogging for me.

Just today I wrote a new post “7 Reasons to Hate Your Day Job” so I can give you 7 answers for your questions

I have to be honest with you, I love the videos. Not only will it undoubtedly bring you traffic from youtube to your site but it is also a lot easier to digest your posts when you tell them to me. It’s quite nice.