Make Money Online- the baby steps part 10

In this part of our guide “Make Money Online- the baby steps part 10″ we will answer some of the most common questions that interpreneurs just starting out are asking. What does it really take to make money online? Is my idea viable? Why hasn´t anyone thought about this before? I have a great idea but I´m afraid to tell anybody about it. What is possible to build using a CMS like WordPress?

These are all questions and statements we have encountered a number of times  over the years. In many instances, the answers are not very uplifting. The ways to make money online are no different than the ways to make money offline. You find an area where you strongly feel that you can bring value to the table. You provide a service or product which helps solve a need within this particular segment of the market. Then you work at it hard for many years. Always looking to improve your business. Grinding it out day after day. Brush, rinse, repeat! “Wait a minute”, you are saying, “isn´t the internet supposed to represent a new kind of economy full of opportunity?”. Yes and no. Bringing a product to market happens faster and cheaper than ever before. Vast riches can be amassed in an incredible short time span. And yet the same rules still seem to apply. There are still a relatively small fraction of internet entrepreneurs striking gold. When some new technology revolutionizes the world as we know it, vast fortunes will be made (and lost) virtually over night. While we still feel the opportunities for online entrepreneurs are extraordinary , they are not as mind-boggling as they were 10 years ago. Even though the internet is ever changing, it has matured somewhat. There is plenty of competition around nowadays. First-mover advantage is a rare thing to find these days. Maybe in some niche markets, or in some new areas (apps for instance).

As far as your idea is concerned you should realize that the important thing with ideas are not what they are, but what they become. A great idea is excellent. An idea that you actually act upon is much better. Most ideas are never realized. They might be great. They might bring fortunes to those creative minds that constructed them. But they will never find out. Most great ideas die. They wither away in cocktail bars. They sink to the bottom of the sea on fishing trips. They are lost in between hangovers, dull meetings and grocery shopping. There is a saying in Silicon Valley that goes: “Ideas are cheap, action is priceless.” Many Venture Capitalists are reluctant to sign NDA:s. They know better. They know that it isn´t the idea that is important. It´s the implementation and the people behind the idea that matter. They know from experience that ideas are cheap, and action is priceless. If you have a great idea, we are happy for you. But make us a favour, start acting on your idea. Make sure to make it happen. Go for it. Start today. And try to hit it out of the ballpark. Just do it. No hesitation. No procrastination. Act on it. Now!

If your idea is viable or not? The best way to find out is to try. One of the great strengths with online marketing is that you can easily establish how good your idea is. Just try it out. See if anybody will pay for it. Examine what they would be willing to pay for it. Then start selling it. Rinse and repeat. Afraid you might fail? Best way to control fear is to leave it all on the table. Go for it. Take the jump. The potential downside is often far less troublesome than it initially looks. And by the way, you should discuss your idea. Most of us want to discuss it with friends and family, but that might not be the best line of action. Friends and family will not always tell it like it is. After all, they love you. But what you need is honesty. The best way to get honesty is in the market place. When you sell something you will quickly discover what people think about it. If people are paying for your product or service that is telling you something right there. But what are they saying apart from that? What do they feel can be improved? What´s the best and worst features? How much would they be willing to pay? We know from experience that in the business world, and in life in general, it is much more important to pay attention to what people do than what they say. What people say is often a lot less relevant. It is their actions that convey the truth. Spend less time discussing and more time doing. Spend less time listening and more time observing. Get the sale, and learn from it. Talk is cheap. Actions are not.

Chances are that people have indeed already thought about “your” idea before. Some of these people have decided not to act on it for various reasons. Others have acted upon it, you just haven´t discovered them yet. This is not a bad thing. Competition is not to be discarded as something negative. Provided you offer value and have your act together, competition isn´t that relevant. If anything you should consider it an asset. The market will always have room for several competing businesses, provided there are not too many. But if you truly have a unique, viable business idea and you are able and willing to act on it decisively the chances of success are that much higher.

Regarding what you might expect to be able to build on your own, our answer is uplifting. Using WordPress as your tool of choice (or another fine CMS) you are able to build a good-looking sophisticated website with lots of great features. It is easy to monetize your site by creating an online store. You can build a forum. You can build almost any type of business website or personal website. You can make almost any type of content-related website (providing you do not have very specific needs regarding the layout or structure). But you can´t make highly specific websites with complicated  features or a large level of interactivity and/or storage capabilities. WordPress plugins will only take you that far. It will be enough for most of you. If it isn´t you can always hire a professional web developer to tweak the theme your are using, upgrade the design or perhaps even build a completely customized solution from scratch. The latter choice can be quite expensive, and the cost will depend largely on the features you require, and the time it will take to implement your vision. Keep in mind that WordPress is constantly improving and that the plugin industry is growing in both size and quality.

There are some strategic choices for you to make. Let´s examine some of the choices you are likely to encounter (or perhaps have already been exposed to) and determine what line of action might be best for you. Should you disagree with our counsel you can always try to follow another path. In any instance we wish you the best of luck. Our advice is based on years and years of experience between us, and we have involved business partners, friends and fellow entrepreneurs and interpreneurs in making these guides. While all advice might not be best for all individuals, our intentions have been the very best. We want you to succeed. We are on your side. We are rooting for you.  So join us for the next part of our guide  ”Make Money Online- the baby steps part 10″ where we will cover some strategic choices that lie ahead.