Recently, I met someone who had been trying to make money online to no avail.
He had bought so many eBooks, paid for several digital business training sessions, yet had not made even $1 so far.
He called himself a hustler and felt that by now (3 years and counting) he should have started earning something from his internet forays.
So, I asked him a simple question.
What digital skill do you have?
*Crickets*
*Crickets*
Apparently, he had no digital skill, but wanted to make money online.
How is that possible?
Would the internet enable him to just print money from thin air? Without providing any value?
My Personal Experience
My interaction with this hustler guy reminded me of how I started my journey into the digital world.
I started with the hustler mindset and wanted to make money without developing any skill whatsoever.
I did surveys.
I distributed spam links
I did “click to earn”
I did affiliate signups
I did “watch ads to earn”
And even though I made a few quids here and there, looking back, it’s just so funny and laughable how I was wasting time on schemes that would never get me anywhere financially.
No wonder the other name for WWW is World-Wide Waste of time.
Now the surprising thing is that there are thousands if not millions of newbies today taking the same route of wasting their time online.
They have no skill, but they want to make money online.
If you are one of those, I’ll be very honest with you. The truth is, you’ll never make money online without developing strong skills in one or two areas.
You can buy the best ebooks on making money online, you could even pay exorbitant fees to join affiliate programs that are promising you millions, but if you have no skill, you’ll never make tangible income online.
There are no hard and fast rules. You must put your head down and grind.
So, what are some digital skills you can learn to start making money online?
Here are some:
- Web Development
- UI/UX Design
- Backend Development
- Copywriting
- Video Editing
- Graphics Design / Photoshop
- SEO & Site Optimization
- Digital Marketing
- Internet Data Processing
- Project Management
- Social Media Influencing / Management
- Etc.
What My Statistics Say
My first encounter with making money online was around 2010.
But in the first 4 years after that, I couldn’t make any significant income online.
I tried everything in the books, signed up for several programs, yet making money online seemed like a mirage.
Not until I decided to quit.
Yes, I quit on the idea of making money online and went to do some other things with my life.
In the process of doing other things, I picked up a few vital skills which then led me back to the digital world.
As ironic as it seems, most skills that are useful in the real world are just as applicable and useful on the internet.
Now, here’s the crux of the matter.
Before learning any skill, I made a total of $31 online after 4 years of toiling with different programs.
Now, after developing skills in different areas, I’ve been able to make over $30,000 online so far.
For me, the differentiating factor was developing skills in different areas that I could sell over the internet.
We don’t need to deceive ourselves. The internet is just a medium for communication.
The people there are real human beings and the money being made is real money, so you need real life skills to make any headway.
Making Money Online without Money
When I tell people that they can make money online without investing any money, they fail to believe me.
See, you don’t need to pay anyone to start making money online.
You don’t need to buy any ebooks.
You don’t need to pay for any affiliate program.
All you need is to develop an in-demand skill and then learn how to apply that skill over the internet.
The internet is filled with billions of free information. Use Google and YouTube. Learn things for yourself and test them out.
The long and short story is that it all depends on you.
Since I developed some skills that I use to make money online, I’ve never bought a single ebook specifically on making money over the internet.
Don’t get me wrong, I buy ebooks and physical books on many areas of life. I have role models in the business world and I buy their books.
But when it comes to the internet and making money online, I believe that once you have a skill and know how to attract money with that skill, you don’t need anything else.
Just keep updating your information and keep rinsing and repeating the process.
Since getting myself set on making money online, I’ve never paid to get into an affiliate program or subscribed to a “pay to earn” program.
Most times, these programs just don’t work for people who already know what they want.
They are mostly designed for confused newbies who are known to be easily excited by repacked information.
So far, all the money I make online is free money earned from using my skills and nothing else.
I simply deliver and get paid.
Using Money to Make Money Online
Recently, I was telling someone how he didn’t need to pay anything to start making money online.
His response was, “what about online arbitraging and high-scale affiliate marketing? They require money, so are these methods no longer ways to make money online?”
That’s actually a nice question.
But all I can say is that more than 80% of people who do online arbitraging and high-scale affiliate marketing do not make any money.
The biggest reason is that they are more fixated on paying the money to get into such programs than learning the required skills to make money from the programs.
To have any success in such programs, you need skills such as digital marketing and project management.
Even people who invest money online for profit need skills such as financial intelligence, money management, budgeting, etc.
Most newbies don’t have these skills, but you see them paying a fortune to hop onto these programs. At the end of the day, they are left disappointed.
Let me give you an example;
I came across a lady online who happened to have paid over 50k for a popular affiliate marketing program in Nigeria.
After getting signed up to the program, she couldn’t make a single dime after months of toiling.
Now, she wants to resell that same program for less than 5k to anyone looking to buy.
You can see that her problem is not in paying the money but in the implementation of the program.
Her current skills are not applicable to the program, hence she couldn’t make any money from the program.
Probably she knows nothing about digital marketing, but wants to make money from affiliate marketing.
What an irony.
Money can take you as far as it goes, but having the right digital skills should be the ultimate goal of any serious person looking to make money online.