A lot of people who begin their journey of earning an income online often wonder whether it’s going to be easy or difficult.
From my experience, making money online is relatively easy, provided you dont fall into a few common pitfalls and stick to one method until it’s working well.
So here is a list of the common problems people face when trying to make money online.
By avoiding these 6 problems and excuses, you should find making money online is easier than you first thought.
1. You’ve given up too soon
How to prevent it:
Try to keep motivated throughout your journey, but also realise that discipline is the key to success.
I’ve written an article about how to stay motivated as a beginner blogger, and most of those points can be applied to any online side hustle not just blogging.
Find what works for you and understand that almost any way you make money online is a long game.
One of the main reasons people think it’s difficult to make money online is simply because they give up too soon.
I can’t begin to describe the length of time I’ve spent blogging whilst having absolutely no feedback about how well (or not well) I was doing.
It took me AGES until I earned my first dollar from the site. But my word was it worth it!
I’ve tried and succeeded at making money in other side hustles like stock photography and print on demand shops and they’ve also taken many hours to see any result.
One of my favourite YouTubers, Ali Abdaal (Who also has an awesome study Spotify playlist!) once said that to see any form of traction on YouTube, you need to post twice a week for two years.
Whilst this might not be exactly the same for other online side hustles, the way of thinking is identical.
You have to commit yourself for the long haul before you even think about giving up. That means many months of work, before you see your first visitor or sale.
2. You dont know what’s out there
How to prevent it:
Dedicate yourself a set amount of time to dip your toes into each (or at least a few) of the side hustles you come across.
I took an entire year before landing on my side hustle, blogging, but you might find your skills fit something different instead.
The beauty of making money online is there are so many different ways to go about it.
This means no matter your skillset or personal circumstances, they’ll be something out there you can sink your proverbial teeth into! (Unless you’re making Mukbang content, and then you really can sink your teeth in!)
Before I settled on building a blog, I wrote a book and tried to sell it on amazon.
The book was called: Survive Online: Unusual ways to make a living online.
Don’t buy it, it was a terrible book and only got a two star rating. HA!
The point i’m trying to make is that there are so many random ways to make money online. So you’re bound to come across something that interests you, your good at, and that makes you money!
I won’t list all the online side hustles here because that needs an entire post in itself.
What I will do however, is tell you a couple of strange online side hustles you almost certainly won’t ever have heard of.
Virtual Gold Mining
Several online games feature in game currencies that have real world value.
Of course, this is absolutely against the rules and your account will likely be band. There SO much to learn about virtual gold mining but I know a of a few people that make very good money doing it. (more than a full time income)
Account Training
Similar to the option above, account training works on the premise of finding people who want to level up their in game character but dont want to do it themselves.
I have a very good friend who knows pretty much all there is to know about one of these games, and he was able to offer his services out for £2-3 ($2.66-$3.99) an hour.
Yes, I know that doesn’t sound like a lot of money but let’s think about it for a second.
We all need time to recharge and sometimes playing games is a great way to do that.
So if you LOVE the game you’re playing (and you’d play it anyway) then you’re technically earning money whilst you’re relaxing.
It’s like working without working… Fun!
Of course you have to know the game extremely well, but as more and more games are released these opportunities are only going to become more available.
Plus its a very low bar of entry to a lot of people.
Buying and selling virtual real-estate
The meta-verse is coming!
We can either hide behind a rock, or seize the opportunity to (possibly) make bank!
Rather than try and inevitably fail at explaining what the meta-verse is, have a look at Andrei Jikh’s YouTube channel.
That video I’ve linked to should give you a pretty good example of how to make money in the meta-verse before a lot of people get around to it.
It’s a little confusing and definitely won’t be for everyone, but it is a viable option for some.
Sure, it’s speculative, but it’s a lot cheaper than physical brick and mortar housing!
3. You’re spreading yourself too thin
How to prevent it:
Find something YOU ENJOY (By taking a good amount of time to research your options before hand), and stick to it for at least a year before you consider switching.
This is something I and a lot of other people who’ve tried to make money online are most certainly guilty of.
And to be fair it’s quite a toxic trap to fall into, especially for beginners.
You start your side hustle (Let’s pretend you decide to start an Etsy store) and after a couple of months worth of work, you’ve got either none or very few sales (probably none).
So you decide it’s obviously not going to make you that much money and maybe your skills are better placed elsewhere.
You then decide blogging is probably the way to go and end up hanging onto your Etsy store just incase.
Let’s not forget you’ve created social media profiles for both these online hustles which again has taken a lot of time and effort.
After another few months, the cycle repeats itself.
The big problem with bouncing around like this is you’re never giving yourself engouh time and focus on one specific way to make money online.
It takes a LONG time in this game, remember that next time you’re considering giving up.
4. You don’t fully commit
How to prevent it:
Taking action is often the hardest part about starting any new endeavour.
Take a moment to think about your journey so far. Is there something holding you back from taking the leap into the world of online work.
Is it financial? Situational? Or are you the only one making it difficult for yourself?
Figure that out, and start.
Remember that a small action is far better than no action!
Im going to take a wild guess and imagine that this isn’t the first website or blog post you’ve read about making money online.
There’s a chance you’re making it more difficult than it needs to be to make money online.
If you’re anything like me, you’ll bounce around from website to website hoping to find that magic sentence or paragraph that will spur you on to finally do something about your dreams.
That spark of motivation or inspiration doesn’t always come. Especially during the beginning of your journey.
Realise that working online is hard, and then jump in head first.
I experimented with blogging for at least a year and a half before finally committing and being true to myself.
After that, it only took about 3 months or so before I started making money every single week.
5. You’re bored of your side hustle
How to prevent it:
Make sure you’ve dipped your feet in to everything that’s available to you before you fully commit.
I set myself a deadline of one year to decide what I would enjoy most out of all the possible online side hustles.
One year might sound like a long time but it was at a moment in my life where I was cash poor but extremely time rich.
Choose your time window accordingly.
Once you’ve figured out where your skills and interests fit, then you can make a proper go of it.
Just remember, you aren’t going to want to work day and day out on a project that doesn’t interest you. So think about what you enjoy before you think about making thousands of pounds every month.
There is quite a big distinction between being un-motivated to start a hustle and being so bored you don’t want to do it anymore.
I love what I do, but there are days when I feel a little mentally worn out and need a break.
This doesn’t mean i’m in any way bored of it because I can still happily imagine myself blogging 10 years in the future.
Your timeline doesn’t need to be so far forward but if you think you’d be happy to pursue your hustle for the next two years with a massive smile on your face then you’ve probably picked the right one!
6. You’ve made everything too complicated
How to prevent it:
Quite obviously, keep everything as simple as possible.
This will differ depending on your hustle, but do your best to focus on the bare bones.
For example, if you’re blogging then learn how to write, learn the content types needed for a new blog, and just write!
Forget about everything else like social media networks and promotion until a later date.
If you’re doing a P.O.D service, creating stock photography, or selling something on Etsy then spend your time perfecting your craft and creating the absolute best content or items you can.
As a general rule of thumb, you should have around 50 of any given media before you start to question what is and is not working. (Slightly different for stock photography)
So 50 YouTube videos, 50 articles, 50 item posts, that’s the general rule of thumb for most online pursuits that require you to create content.
I always found (and still do find) that my first thought when starting anything new online is how I’m going to turn it into a multi million dollar company and then procrastinate because I dont know where to start.
If you’re finding yourself becoming overwhelmed by the process of creating something online, try to take each step as it comes.
That’s a lot easier to do rather than say, but it will certainly help you prioritise tasks and realise that your to do list isn’t all that complicated after all.
And if all else fails, go back to that simple ideology that I talk about on this site time after time.
If your hustle involves taking photos, take photos.
If it involves making videos, make videos.
More often than not, too little content is the reason we find ourselves failing.
Over 7 million blog posts, and 720,000 hours of YouTube videos are published each and every day.
Maybe it’s time to create a little more and procrastinate a little less!
Conclusion
So to summarise: Yes it can be easy to make money online, but a lot of that has to do with the attitude you show.
It’s difficult to make money online because it requires such a big commitment with often little repayment especially at the beginning.
But should you decide to smash past these excuses and problems, it’s very possible that it could change your life forever.
