Back in November I tackled the subject of making money in a post titled Are Your Views On Money Holding You Back. I pretty much made it clear that I tend to believe most people hold themselves back because they see rich people, or at least people they view as doing very well, as untrustworthy, and even though they want money themselves they don’t want to be seen in the same light by others.
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Lately there’s been a lot of bashing against people who write these “make money” blogs. Yes, a lot of it is warranted, but not because they’re writing about making money.
The bashing comes because most of the people writing about it aren’t making any money at all. Some of those people might be making some money, but they’re not making a sustainable living wage. If you’re making $20 a month by blogging, you’re certainly not an authority on it. If you’re even making $1,000 a month, that’s actually pretty good but it doesn’t make you an authority on it.
Some years back, one of the topics I used to write about all the time were the affiliate marketing programs I was testing; I tested a lot. With each program I tested, I wrote about it, what I saw, and if I’d made any money off it and how much. Late last summer I started a series on all the programs I’ve tried and talked about the kind of money, or lack thereof, that I made. You can see an example of my talking about these affiliate programs here. In my mind it was the most honest way to talk about these things. I mentioned Commission Junction in that post, saying I love how many things they have and how it offers lots of options for advertising, yet also admitting that I’ve not made a lot of money in, what is now, 4 years.
Making money is NOT evil; how you make it might be. Those that pursue income by lying or being sneaky are evil. Well, that might be a bit strong but go with me here. When I was first learning about selling items online I purchased a book from a site called Rich Jerk. The book was actually pretty good, and its follow up, which was a series of extra chapters, weren’t bad at all either. They have an interesting schtick that I didn’t mind of being rude to customers; I thought it was pretty funny.
Then one day they sent a special link to show us how we could make some easy money online. It took us to a video where this guy showed us a way to make money using Craigslist. What he did was find an image of a cute dog on Google, and used it in an ad on a squeeze page. Then he posted something on Craigslist about the need to give his dog away to someone because he was moving and couldn’t take his dog with him. Within hours he’d had around 25 people send him email asking about the dog. What he did was reply to every person, telling them he’d found someone for his dog, and then talked about the training he did on his dog and sent them a link to his sales site. And he actually ended up making 7 sales from it, since his squeeze page was for a dog training manual.
Some call that effective marketing; I call it smarmy. It’s that kind of thing that keeps the hairs on the back of my neck raised high, wondering if certain things are scams or not. And that’s a horrible way to go around the internet thinking, but it’s also the safest way.
Please, go out and make money. I want everyone to live the life they want to live, which I hope is a happy life. Just do it honestly; trust me, if you don’t, you will eventually get called out on it, and then where will you be?
Hi Mitch, Everybody want to make some money but its a way we choose to make that money..there can be some shortcuts but at the end its on your conscious to choose the correct path..
That’s how I see it Sanjeev. Stealing from others, getting money via sneaky means, stepping on others to get there… I couldn’t live with myself.
I don’t admit it, sometimes, making money could be really cruel and evil, there are some really aggressive players in the scene.
I think the idea of the struggling artist has really taken hold and people want to embody that. Which is fine…but it’s also nice to be able to enjoy a nice dinner and a bottle of wine! Writers can be so pretentious when it comes to stuff like this haha.
I believe making money is not evil- you can help those less fortunate when you make more money. It can be used for GOOD. If you have no money how can you help out those less fortunate?
If person spends this money on some good things or on his/her relatives, then it’s not evil. But what can we say about those ones who buy drugs, guns and so on?…probably in this case this is evil
Well Amanda, I’m not going to necessarily say those things are evil, even if they might not have the best of intentions in doing it. However, if they made their money legally without hurting anyone else, I guess they’re allowed to spend their money however they wish to. Of course, the ones buying drugs risk going to jail, and the ones buying guns illegally will risk the same, but that’s on them.
I agree it’s not evil, it’s how someone us their money that makes it bad for them.
I enjoy reading your post.
Making it most certainly is not, but spending it foolishly is.
Rummuser, I’m not sure that’s evil either, though it’s definitely foolish.
I just decided to check how many pages there are for “make money online”, well I sure that if at least there are 20% are unique results, I still don’t think that many people are able to make money online. You are right, most systems and people that are writing about this have never even make a cent from it.
Carl, that’s why I call them out sometimes. So many people out to take what’s rightfully yours saying they’re helping but they’re not. Heck, I just might have to think about lowering the price of my book so people can see if I really give them help or not… nah! lol
I think this exist since the beginning of everything and unfortunately many people that are even experienced fall into this trap. Well, there is no recipe that work 100%, but for sure if there is a good planning and discipline, I am quite sure that everybody can make money.
I’d hope so Carl, but I would never say any of it is easy. But it’s the progression towards the dream that’s sometimes just as fulfilling.
Hi Mitch, it is always a pleasure reading your posts! I think you are absolutely right, Making money is certainly not evil. If the money is hard earned and if one has really given his best to earn it!
Thanks Grant, and welcome to the blog. I want everyone to be rich, but I want them to do it honestly, which I’m trying to do as well.
This is an important distinction. Getting money is not evil; what makes it evil is how you get it and what you do with it. Don’t feel guilty about getting paid for what you do. Everyone with a 9-5 job gets paid for their hard work without feeling guilty; why can’t you enjoy the same?
Exactly Sara. This also means it’s okay to have big dreams, to want to be rich and be able to afford the good things in life. That’s what I’m shooting for.
An honest work is the only thing that will help you get rich without suffering any terminal consequences. You should also be clever enough to learn how to sue your resources to their best benefit. Thanks for the post it is really enlightening!
Thanks John; appreciate the words.
People that don’t make money do judge people that do pretty harshly. What I have found is that you are jerk with money or a jerk without money you are still a jerk.
Good stuff Elena Anne, and I totally agree with that statement.