Have you noticed how all those experts promising to show you the big 'money secret' all share the same story? How they've been living on the streets, no money, up to their eyeballs in debt, not knowing where their next meal is coming from let alone how they were going to pay their credit card bill, spending every penny they have on paying some other guru to teach them how to make money online. And how none of it worked .... then suddenly they somehow stumbled across the secret to earning millions online and now they want to share it with you.
Yeah right.
Watch out for that pig flying over your head too!
It's like the only ones who can be successful with Internet Marketing are those who are obsessed enough to get themselves into so much debt that the only way out of it is to finally crack some secret code?
I've personally never been so far down or so much in debt that my home was at risk, or I didn't know how I was going to manage to pay my bills. And neither have the majority of those experts either. They're just telling that little story to convince you to whip out your own credit card and not feel bad about it.
Now maybe you're looking to earn a little extra money by working online, or maybe you're looking to earn a full time income so you can quit your job. Or maybe you're looking for a way to become rich? It doesn't really matter what your end goal is, you need to know upfront how much it's going to cost you and whether you can actually afford that startup cost.
Luckily, you can start earning money online with actually no upfront costs. Yes, really. :)
However, you won't become an overnight millionaire. It will take time and effort. Lots of it. Despite what the fancy, hyped up sales pages tell you, you cannot buy a course or a piece of software today and be earning any significant income by next week, let alone be an Internet Millionaire.
Free Internet Marketing Startup
While most successful Internet Marketers have their own website, you can start out without one. You can use sites like Squidoo or Hubpages to build little, one page, minisites. The great thing about these type of sites is that they're already very popular so if you choose to create one on a popular subject, there's a good chance people will find it.
It doesn't cost you anything to sign up or create your Squidoo lens or your Hub. And you can earn money because they will pay you a percentage of the advertising revenue generated by your little site. Cool, huh?
There are literally hundreds of these types of sites on the Internet. Of course,there is a downside. Your minisite is at the mercy of the main site owners. So if Squidoo or Hubpages decide they don't like you and / or your content for some reason, they can shut you down and there's nothing you can do about it.
You also have to do more than just build free sites. You'll need to know how to find the right products to write about that will earn you the most money; how to choose the right keywords that people are using to look for those product; and most importantly, how to actually drive traffic (get visitors) to your site. In that respect, it isn't any different to building your own site, on your own domain, with your own hosting account.
But you can find all of this information online. It isn't that hard and there are some great free resources you can use to help you. Once you start earning money then you can afford to start paying for some of the more advanced software that will help you automate the 'work' so you can do more in less time.
If you can't afford it, don't buy it. If the sales pages try to tell you, 'heck it's only the cost of a night out at the movies', ask yourself would you be going to the movies anyway? If not, then it doesn't matter whether it's the same price or not.
If you were planning a trip to the movies, don't go. Save that money, put it in a separate account and then use it to buy whatever it is if you really think it will help you out.
Listen, there is no course or software that is worth going into debt for. There just isn't. Most of it you can find for free. Ok, it might not be as fancy as the paid version, but if you're just starting out, it'll be enough to get you going and once you have some of that 'extra' money coming in, then you can pay for the advanced version with your profits.
It's a mindset thing. You need to become a money master (or mistress) and until you get that right, the rest of it doesn't really count for much.
