Make Money?
How soon before I make money? I hear that question all the time when I speak to people wanting to become digital entrepreneurs. First of all, you don’t make money you earn money. Furthermore, if you are making money you are counterfeiting and I have to report you (a little humor there). Now when I hear this question it tells me several things:
1. Is this person looking for a quick buck?
2. Are they interested in acquiring the skills to become a digital entrepreneur?
3. Why do they need the money so fast?
4. Do they have enough capital to sustain the business?
5. Do their expectations match the reality of the situation?
Another tell-tell sign is that experienced people in business and investing ask the question “How soon will I make my investment back?” It is not a play on words but the terminology people use lets me know your understanding about the business.
These Things Take Time
If you want to earn money fast go do a yard sale. Go sell all that crap in your house, garage, or storage unit that you haven’t used in years. Or go to a temporary labor agency and do some hard labor. Usually, you get paid the same day. But if you want to start a business… if you want to succeed… it’s going to take some time.
It also depends on the business. There is a difference between starting up an e-commerce store and a network marketing business. In network marketing, there are usually low entry fees and you can enroll people or sell your stuff right away. There really isn’t a skill set involved in asking your family to join you or help you buy your lotions, potions, and magic notions.
Now e-commerce takes a little longer. What platform will you use? What are you going to sell? Will you drop ship or carry inventory? How will you reach your customers? Who are your suppliers? Do you even know how to advertise? How will you develop the skills to actually succeed? How long before you quit? I ask these questions of my potential clients. They need to know the difference between having a business and making money.
How Long Will It Take?
This reminds me of myself when I started 5 years ago in Internet marketing. I had a completely different mindset. I was not thinking about building a business, I was thinking about making money. One of the big reasons why people don’t get started with the right foot (and I don’t say this in a bad way), is because they mix up making money online, with building a business.
I remember when my friends at work asked me what I was doing all the time with my computer. I told them, “I have an online business. About marketing… blah blah… “
But then I asked myself “Wait, do I really have a business?” What happens if I stop reaching out to people to generate more sales? What happens if I’m not there on my computer? I stopped making money…
That’s when I noticed that I was not building a business. I was only looking to “make money online”. For me, it’s very important that you understand that making money online and building a business online are 2 different paths that you take. Both are going to take your time either way, so you would rather invest it in something that will yield results over a long period right? Now, to answer the question “How soon before I start making money?”
It Depends…
The first thing I would like to mention is that it depends on so many things. Let me list a few:
- How bad do you want it? How much does it hurt to stay in your current situation?
- How much time you can invest in your business
- How much capital you can invest
- If you can stay motivated not only when things are going well, but when they are going terrible
- How consistent you will be with the daily tasks that you have to accomplish
- Which strategies do you use to build your business (are they working currently?)
- How patient you are to get results
- How much you test with your advertising campaigns
- A little bit of luck, but not much
Here’s the thing… Every time someone asks me how much time it will take before they make money, I immediately see that the person won’t be patient enough to go through the process. There are already very high expectations of how fast and easy it will be to make money.
Even if you are going through a tough moment in your life, or if you have financial struggles, you have to be willing to not get results when you get started. Building a business has so many obstacles, difficulties, and unexpected situations, that giving a range of time to get results it’s really hard.
Not What You Expected?
Now, Is this the answer you were looking for? Probably not. But I couldn’t think of a more real answer than this one. Building a real business is tough and most people think it’s easy. So when they face an obstacle they get unmotivated. You want to have a drive that’s so powerful that even if you face technical obstacles, or you lose money, you will still be there fighting like a warrior.
Because to “make money online”, can take a couple of days if you get a bit of luck and get sales, but building a business takes years. I got my first sale 40 days after I started my business. Then it took me another 43 days to make my second sale. Yes… 83 days almost 3 months to earn less than $100.
Not impressive at all is it? Start thinking about the long-term gratification and how your life will look after you build a stable brand that generates income day in and day out because you built a strong foundation.
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