Finding a Place to Start
Many people wake up one day and they decide that they want to earn a living online. They don't quite know what they want to do or how they plan to go about doing it, but that's what they want. Well, in this article, I'm going to try to help you find a place to start. This is by no means a fool proof plan, but in most cases, it will get you off the ground flying in the least amount of time possible.
What I suggest people do is simply sit down and write out their hobbies, interests and skills. Sometimes these three things may be one and the same, but in other cases there will be some very diverse things going on here. For example, my skills are writing and computers. However, those aren't my only interests. I am interested in games, music, history, logic, math, sports and a number of other things. As for hobbies, I play guitar, piano, collect CDs, DVDs, watch TV and do quite a few things outside of work to keep me busy. I'd say that I'm a fairly well rounded individual. And while I like sports, I am not very athletic. However, I know enough about sports to write on the subject. So that's always a possibility.
Why do I suggest that people do this? It's very simple. I know the idea of making money, even lots of money, can appeal to many folks. But let me tell you something, making money is not the be all and end all. If you don't really enjoy what you're doing, you're going to end up hating it. When that happens, you will eventually stop doing it, nobody how much money you're making.
Once you've listed all your hobbies, interests and skills, the next step is to go through them all and see how you can best monetize one of them. I stress the word ONE because you don't want to get involved in too many things, at least not in the beginning. Building an online business when you're first starting out takes a lot of time and concentration. You can't be dividing your efforts between multiple things. Ultimately, you'll end up getting nothing done at all.
Now, the key here is to pick something to concentrate on that you're going to have a chance of making money with. As much of a shock as this may come to you, just because you're interested in something doesn't mean the rest of the world is, or for that matter, enough people to make that interest worth pursuing. So you have to do some research on the subject. Go to forums and other sites. Find out if people are talking about this interest of yours. See if they're having a problem that needs to be solved. If they do, find a way to solve that problem. That's really what it all comes down to in a nutshell. You find a problem that a group of people is having and you solve it, plain and simple.
Start off with a solid foundation and the rest is a lot easier.
To YOUR Success,
Steve Wagenheim