I’ve been writing on this blog for just a little over a year now. This is my 174th post and it will be different than anything else I’ve written to this point. In fact, this week will be a “reality check week”. I hope that you don’t take offense to what I have to say, but I’m just going to lay it on you and hope that by doing so, you are motivated to doing something different than you might be doing now.

Please note: This MIGHT not apply to you (at least not fully), but if it does, please take my words to heart. This is going to be a long one, so be prepared to READ! If you can’t make it to the end of this article, you might want to ask yourself whether building an online business is for you.

The Honest Truth

Many of us Internet Marketers are in the business of selling dreams. The fact is, the more we can sell to you, the more money we will make. As a result of that, we invest a lot of time, energy and money to understand how to sell to you better. We test out various strategies, to see what works best and constantly work on optimizing what we are doing so that we can sell to you more and more. I know that some people are thinking (while reading this) that I shouldn’t say what I’m saying, but it’s the truth, and there’s a point that’s coming. So keep reading.

As a part of that process, many Internet Marketers resort to painting a picture of internet marketing that can be quite misleading (unfortunately). You hear how EASY it is to make money online and you think to yourself that you would LOVE to be doing what they are doing and make a bunch of money while sitting at home in your pajamas, traveling all over the world, spending a lot of time with your family or playing golf. Sounds Great, doesn’t it?

Then you purchase their training program, get started, make no money (or maybe a little bit of money) after putting in some effort, get discouraged and move on to the next dream seller. I’ve met a number of people in this type of situation and let me tell you . . . it can be really sucky. You can end up spending a lot of money on a bunch of crap, and not getting anything out of it.

The truth is this – Most people who try to make money online never end up making enough to be even a little satisfied. The reason for this is quite simple. It takes a LOT of work. I know, I know, it’s not what you want to hear, but it’s true.

I’ve been doing this for almost two years and let me tell you – I’ve had to work my butt off. I can remember some days in the past when I spent so much time on my laptop that I didn’t even feel as if I had enough time to leave and get something to eat. There was soo much to do, and not enough hours in the day. Since I work at a Private Boarding Academy, my “real job” is quite demanding. It’s not the typical 9 to 5. Sometimes I start as early as 7:15 am and on some days I finish as late as 9 or 10 pm, while trying to squeeze in some work related to my online business.

At some points in the past, I’ve thought about giving it all up. Even now, when things are better than they were in the past, I find myself with doubts as to whether all that I’m doing is worth it.

If you ever find yourself discouraged like I have, I would encourage you to read my post entitled How to keep going when you get discouraged.

So the take home message is that it takes a lot of work to build a successful online business. Is that disappointing to you? Do you still want to do it? If so, then continue reading.

What makes it so difficult to understand

You can't Microwave Success

Ok, so we’ve established that it takes a lot of work to make money online. However, I want to talk a little more about why it’s so hard. We live in a time unlike any other. If there’s something you want to know, you jump online and google it and within seconds, you can answer just about any question you might have. If you want something quick to eat, you can run down to the local fast food place and get something within minutes, or pop a tv dinner in the microwave and have a full meal in 2 minutes.

If you are driving your car and the person in front of you is driving 55 mph in a 60 mph zone, the tendency is to try to get from behind that turtle and try to get behind someone that is going at least 65, because you are in a rush to get nowhere (or maybe it’s just me).

The fact is, we are conditioned to wanting things to happen in a super fast way, and when it comes to making money online, we expect the same thing. When I first started trying to make money online, that’s exactly what I expected. I wanted to find a quick way to get rich and trust me, that got me nowhere.

The good news

Ok, ok, I can only be that harsh for a portion of this post. Otherwise, there would be absolutely no point to it. So here’s the good news. It takes a LOT of work, but it’s SOOOOooo worth it. Really, it is. The reason I say that is because if you follow the right steps, it gets easier with time. It’s very possible to set up an online business and have it eventually running on autopilot. All of the work you do in the beginning sets a foundation for what can be a business that can exceed your wildest expectations.

The reason for this post is that I wanted to tell you to WAKE UP. If you want to build an online business, realize that it will take hard work and determination to get to where you want to reach. If you are willing to put in the work, you will reap the rewards. That doesn’t mean that EVERYTHING you do will be a success, but even when things don’t pan out in the way you thought it would, there are some valuable lessons that you will learn that will help you build an even better business later on.

Take Action

There is one important thing that is essential to your success and that is that you have to Take Action. People say that “Knowledge is Power”. I disagree with that statement. My statement goes more like this: “The Application of Knowledge is power”. Knowing how to make money online is only as good as the action you take. Understanding Freebie Trading, Affiliate Marketing and Professional Blogging (as examples) is great. However, unless you Take Action on what you know, you will be no more successful than the person who doesn’t understand how the systems.

Where you start is up to you, but if you don’t start somewhere, you will never accomplish your goals. So, if you are tired of your current financial situation, I would encourage you to GET OFF YOUR LAZY BUTT AND DO SOMETHING (sorry again for the harsh language, lol). REALLY THOUGH, TAKE ACTION! A great place to start would be Freebie Trading. However, wherever you decide to start, JUST START!!

Over the next few days, I will be writing about the realities of building an online business and giving you practical steps that I believe everyone wanting to build one should take. So check back with me so that I can help you along your journey.

Comments

You knew it was coming, because I LOVE hearing from you. So here are some ideas to get the comments rolling. You can leave them below:

• Did this post resonate with anything you’ve been thinking or experiencing?
• Are there some things you didn’t expect to encounter when starting your online business? What are they and what are you doing to deal with those situations?
• What are the toughest challenges you are facing with your online business?
• Anything else that’s relevant.

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4. Making Money Online SUCKS!!
5. Talent is Overrated – What it REALLY takes to be an online Success!