I've made my living online since the year 2000. My goal was to do more than just make money from home. I wanted to create a life worth living.
Since the year 2000, I have seen a lot of companies come and go. Almost daily, I still get approached by someone who claims to have the latest and greatest shiny new marketing thing that is going to make me an overnight success. I can't help but chuckle at some of this stuff because my own overnight success story took several years to work out. I often think of how these folks are distracted by what I call the SOS Syndrome . In this case, SOS stands for Shiny Object Syndrome .
A lot of folks get caught up in the idea of coming up with something new or sexy or shiny or exciting and they get distracted the spinning logos, flaming headlines, and a lot of stuff but they seem to forget the basic core principle of creating online success. What I want to do with this article is share my own experience with what I do to make money from home online. The reality is that it isn't all that sexy . It really isn't all that exciting . Sometimes, I get bored with what I'm actually doing but then I remember that consistently taking these boring little steps are EXACTLY what allows me to live a lifestyle that I am blessed to enjoy.
Building an online business gives me the freedom to take the time to enjoy life along the way. For as long as I can remember, I have asked, What is the point of making a living if you don't actually have a life? . I think we can all agree that there is more to life than just paying bills and waiting to die.
My motivation started years ago when my kids were very young. Remember: I had FIVE kids and they all liked to eat every single day! My wife and I liked to eat, too. We enjoyed having cars to drive, a roof over our head, and the occasional date night when we could find a baby sitter. Of course, all that stuff costs money, right?
The traditional job was certainly one way to make money and I had a few of those working. The problem for me was that I would work these jobs all day. Like many others, I was working a lot of hours, getting my check, using that money to pay the bills, and then wondering how I was going to make it through the rest of the month. And to make matters worse, I wasn't able to spend any time with my family. I was always out working so I was missing the moments that never come back. I missed some of those first steps, first words, first dance, first sporting event. It was, frankly, depressing. I needed a way to make money from home and enjoy my life instead of just making a living .
So I started my journey.
Like most of us, I made a lot of mistakes along the way. I lost money on a few projects. I made money on a few projects. Along the way, I was able to learn more and I got better and better at this online marketing thing.
I have been spending some time thinking about how to best explain what it is that I do and I've basically broken it down to a few steps that I believe any of us can do if we are ready to learn a few things and then take consistent steps.
The first step is to actually have something for your business to sell.
There are literally countless things you could do. You might create your own products or services. You might sell someone else's products or services. You might get involved with a network marketing company. It doesn't have to be complicated. You simply need something that others are looking for and willing to purchase.
If you are offering your own products or service, you will need a way to take orders and deliver the products, of course. That's pretty simple, these days. Companies like Paypal make it very easy to accept online payments. A lot of companies offer ways you can take credit cards using your smart phone or tablet.
If you've already got a product or service, congratulations. If you are looking for something you want to offer, take a look at some of these opportunities listed by Industry to see if you find something that appeals to you.
The next step is to get a system that lets you generate prospects online.
This may be the biggest weapon any successful internet marketer uses effectively. They are called AutoResponders and I believe no business should be without one. I use my own AutoResponder service to generate online leads and then follow up with those leads to convert them in to customers.
My AutoResponder service includes what we call a Capture Page . This is simply a single web page that I am able to promote. When people visit my Capture Page, they are able to join my list (if they are interested) by giving me their name and email address. When they do, that information goes in to my marketing list and I can follow up with them over and over again.
Any time I want to sell more, I send my offer to my prospect lists. Quite often, I'm seeing sales come in within minutes of starting my email marketing broadcast.
The last step is to promote the offer online.
Now that I have my AutoResponder Campaign and Capture Page set up, I focus on promoting my capture page. I advertise right here at TheOnlineAdNetwork. com. of course. Who wouldn't want to advertise their business online while generating an additional income stream in the process? I run banner ads and text ads on various advertising resources. I run ads on traffic exchange sites, classified ad sites, Google, Facebook, etc… and I do this a LOT. Not every campaign I run is successful. Some of my campaigns actually fail miserably. So I make some adjustments to my ad copy, banner design, etc… and I run the ads again.
And this is where things can get boring. There isn't anything sexy or particularly fun about running ad copy, testing results, and running more ad copy. Sometimes, it's just boring. Some days, it's just frustrating when the results aren't coming in like I would prefer. Those days can be tough.
My big challenge is remembering to the those boring little steps every single day.
But when I get it right, the results are pretty exciting. Who doesn't enjoy getting notifications that they just made another sale? And so that gets me excited and I run some more ads! Frankly, it sure beats working for someone else on a schedule they determine for what they are willing to pay.
That's really all this internet marketing stuff comes down to.
Have an offer. Have a way to present your offer. Promote your offer.
I know you will find all sort of folks telling you it's more complicated. And they will be happy to sell you their solution.
Yes, there will be things to learn along the way. You will make mistakes. We all do. The key, in my own experience, is to keep it simple. Have something people want or need. Find a way to get it to them. Promote your solution. And, of course, deliver what you are offering.
If you are looking for some powerful tools to use in building your lists and promoting your capture page, check out our Tools section for more information.
About The Author:
Brian Rooney is a home based business professional since the year 2000. He enjoys playing bass in the Houston area and teaching people around the world how to make money from home.
