We all know about the hype surrounding making a living online… many recommend you to jump into the web trying to make money online; many say it wasn’t as difficult as it seems; you also read that the so-called Internet Marketing experts say that it was easy to make $1000/day online (need some ideas?)
Then you are so motivated to test the water – you jump into online money making and proudly call yourself an online entrepreneur or a webpreneur. I know, because I’ve been there.
You see, I’ve made the mistakes most webpreneurs make during their early journey in online entrepreneurship. You and I are eager to try everything out; you and I buy domain names after domain names and even start a dozen websites at once – only to eventually find out that it was challenging to nurture them all.
Then you will start to feel burnout. You are overwhelmed by the vast opportunities the Internet presents in front of you. You don’t realize that you are now working full time in your online money making efforts.
The #1 mistake in webpreneurship: You create yourself a job, not a business
I called myself a webpreneur… the fact was that I am just creating yet another job for myself. I was an Internet worker, not an Internet entrepreneur. The reality was discouraging – therefore, I advise you to really strategize your webpreneurial journey so you don’t have to be trapped in yet-another-job.
How to know that you created a job-slash-business, instead of a real online business? Simple – just stay away from your websites for a month or so, and see whether they are tumbling upside down without you. If so, then you are chaining yourself to your business and have created yourself a job.
Don’t get me wrong – you can get rich making money online by working closely with your business; however, you need to understand that for a webpreneur, time is the most valuable asset, not money.
In webpreneurship, opportunities are often your enemies
Indeed – the problem with online entrepreneurship is simply because there are unlimited opportunities you can grab and many – if not most – of them can be started with no money.
Want to jump into the affiliate marketing bandwagon? Just open an account with free site hosting platforms, such as WordPress.com, and start promoting affiliate programs you joined. It’s free!
Eager to open an e-commerce store? It’s easy! Just join Zazzle.com and start selling your creations in an online shop. It’s free!
Want to take things further? Buy domain names and hosting spaces, and start as many websites as you like – blogs, web directories, e-commerce sites, etc.
Then the reality hits you: You end up having 100s of websites and none of them is making you real money online. Ouch.
The thing is, it’s easy to start making money online. To REALLY making money online, it’s a whole different story.
Yes – people tend to forget that in webpreneurship, the ability to start something is just part of the whole game. Not just establishing websites, a webpreneur needs to be able to promote theirs… and here’s the cold hard truth:
In online marketing, you often need money to make money
Free methods are indeed aplenty. However, if you really want to be a webpreneur, not a worker in a job you create yourself, you need to outsource/hire someone else to help you build your online business empire… and to do so, you need to invest something back into your business.
You also need to get the words out – you need to attract traffic to your websites – not any traffic, though… you need targeted ones. To do so, again, you often need money – unless you want to work everything yourself in your so-called webpreneurship career… many apologizes for the harsh words… I just want you to know that if you really want to be a webpreneur, you need to be able to delegate and invest your money in your business. Period.
So, how to avoid the mistake?
I have one suggestion for you: Focus on creating a system that enables your sites to run smoothly with or without you.
By “system” I mean both people and software.
- People: You need to outsource your website management and development to someone who will take good care of your websites.
- Software: You also need software or scripts that can help you automate things. Autoposting to Twitter and Facebook can help you promote your web businesses on social media, and so on.
So, there you go – I have told you a big secret in webpreneurship. Now, your next step would be to analyze what you are working on and focus on outsourcing and/or automation.