In case you were wondering, the answer is "yes", it is very possible to make money online. However, you have to separate the good from the bad. This is easier said than done. Unfortunately, the Internet is inundated with "get rich quick" schemes falsely promising online riches within a matter of months, if not days. These schemes strive by taking advantage of the naivety of people who are generally new to the make money at home sector.





by BrianLett





In case you were wondering, the answer is "yes", it is very possible to make money online. However, you have to separate the good from the bad. This is easier said than done. Unfortunately, the Internet is inundated with "get rich quick" schemes falsely promising online riches within a matter of months, if not days. These schemes strive by taking advantage of the naivety of people who are generally new to the make money at home sector.





The majority people getting started with a dream to make money online most likely do not understand what it takes. Most of the time they have a good grasp on the Internet, and they fact that the world lives in their computer. More likely than not, they deduce that since the Internet is so vast, they can simply receive a website from some get rich scheme, after paying a fee, and have others do the same after visiting the website they just received.





Sadly enough, thousands of people are taken by "get rich quick" schemes daily. They come across an advertisement which alleges that they can make twenty to thirty thousand dollars within their first month with the scheme, ask a few questions, get a few answers, and hand over their hard earned money. However, what they should be asking themselves is if it were this easy to make money at home, why are people trying so hard to show you how to do it, rather than just focusing on doing it themselves? It is because naive people on the Internet comprise their cash cow.





One of the best ways to understand why "get rich quick" schemes do not work is by comparing an online startup business to a traditional offline startup business. First and foremost, the goal of any business is to keep the startup costs to a minimum. The lower your startup costs, the more quickly the business becomes profitable. Hence, the offline business is likely to be started in a garage, a spare room, or a basement. This can be compared to an online business registering a domain name, and obtaining a website plus hosting plan.





Thereafter, you have to find something of value to sell with your offline business. Something of value can either be a product, or it can be a service. Similarly, online businesses need something of value which can be sold to the public in exchange for money. Thus, if the only way to make money online with a "get rich quick" scheme is to recruit other members to join and pay a fee, such payment is not in exchange for a product or service. Hence, such a scheme is not a business in any definition of the term "business".





Now that you have determined what is and is not a business, and have your product or service to offer, how do you get customers? In both businesses, online and offline, you will need to do some advertising so that people become aware of your business. With an online business, you will specifically need to promote your website so that others will know that your business is out there.





As an offline business begins to take off, there is a need to bring in other resources to assist with the additional business. One may also outgrow their garage or basement, or simply require space with better accessibility for more people. Similarly, an online business will also require more resources as it grows. More often than not, the needs of an online business are "digital" as opposed to the "physical" needs of an offline business. For example, as an online business grows, you may need to upgrade your website hosting plan to allow a greater bandwidth so that you can accommodate an increased volume of visitors to your website.





The main goal of this compare and contrast is to show you that a business, by virtue of simply being online, does not make it any more likely that you will be put in a position to make money at home in the $10,000 to $30,000 range per month within your first month, six months, or even year. Yes, there is the odd exception to the rule. However, these are very few and very far between. If anyone tells you something to the contrary, subject them to the aforementioned compare and contrast exercise. I am quite certain that they will fail to be recognized as a business.





While it is possible to make money online in the tens of thousands per month, it is highly improbable that this will happen without something of value being sold, and a business being built over time.





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