If You Want to Make Money
Posted On: 2014-10-22
Even after so many years of making money online I still balk at the idea of spending any money on my business.
I still have this mindset that if it's something to do with the Internet side of my business then I shouldn't have to spend any money ... it shouldn't cost me a cent because everything on the Net is free isn't it?
Of course I should know better but I even seem to carry that attitude over to the tools I use too. Obviously I have to pay good money for a PC, laptop or tablet and I'm quite prepared to invest a lot of my hard-earned dollars into that equipment but why should I pay anything for some of the other stuff I use?
Just recently my partner reorganised our home office to make it a more comfortable and efficient place to work. That involved shifting my desk and shifting my PC just enough to make it difficult for my mouse cable to actually reach to where I need it to be.
It's only a matter of an inch or two but I've got so many screens printers and other powered stuff around me ... and the number of power outlets are limited ... so I just can't reorganise my desk to give me that extra inch or two that I need. I know ... I've tried.
So I've been persevering with a mouse that is not as easy to use as I would like. Of course I could have gone out and bought a wireless mouse but why buy a new mouse? How could I possibly justify the expense when I already have a perfectly good mouse?
Well that's how things have remained for a while but now I find that I need a new keyboard too. What should be a fairly simple task is complicated for me. You see ... I don't like just any keyboard. I like a keyboard that feels right.
In the past I would always buy one of those two-tone Microsoft keyboards but they don't seem to be around anymore so off I went to our version of Office Depot to check out the keyboards and they had one that I really liked.
It felt right and what made it even more attractive was the fact that it came bundeled with an ergonomic wireless mouse. And then I saw the price ... $149.00.
$149.00! How could I possibly justify spending that much money?
So I went home without it. There was just no way I was going to spend that much money on a keyboard and mouse! Of course I grumbled about it to my partner but he didn't have any sympathy ... instead he put it all in perspective.
He asked me a very simple question ... how much money do I make with my keyboard and mouse and how much time do I spend using those tools?
The answer was just as simple ... I make a lot of money with my keyboard and mouse and I spend a lot of time using those tools to make that money.
And I'm sure that you can see where that's going. If I make a lot of money with those tools and I spend a lot of my time using those tools then it's important that I use the best tools that I can possibly afford and $149.00 is peanuts.
Sure ... I could buy a $20.00 keyboard and a $5.00 mouse but would I be happy with them? Would they be as comfortable to use as the keyboard and mouse that I was looking at? And if I wasn't short of money then why be so miserly and buy tools that I wouldn't be happy using?
So are you still trying to make money without actually spending any money? Are you using inferior tools while trying to produce outstanding results?
If you are then I've got news for you ... what you're trying to do is similar to herding cats ... you're never going to achieve your goals if you aren't prepared to invest more than just time in your business.
Yes ... I have heard of a guy who started a very successful technology company despite the fact that he didn't own a computer when he started. And there are plenty of people in this business who started off using free content.
There are plenty of stories like that but you never hear of the next step those guys took because it doesn't fit the narrative. You never hear of how quickly they moved on to the next stage ... the stage where they began spending money to make money.
The guy who built the technology company did buy a computer ... and obviously went on investing money in his business because now his company now has an annual turnover measured in the high eight-figure range.
The people who make money in this industry no longer rely on free content or free listings. They buy traffic ... they buy listings ... they buy content ... and they employing people to do all the grunt work for them. Some of them are even spending money on looking at new ways to attract signups rather than stick with the old methods.
So if you want to make money in this industry ... or any other ... then the sad fact is that you have to be prepared to spend money. You have to invest in your business. You have to break that habit of always looking for the free stuff and free options.
When you start doing that you'll begin to see how easy it is to make money in this business.