Hard work is NOT the secret to making money
One of the pleasures I have been able to enjoy on my current holiday (vacation) here in Spain is to catch up on the blogs, emails etc from other marketers that I follow both here on WA and in other places too.
I read a very interesting one today so I thought I’d just write a quick blog post myself to summarise what he said and to share it with you guys here.
As the title of the post says - hard work is not the secret of becoming rich and making money. If it was then loads of people would be rich. Indeed many of us here would say we have worked hard for years but when you trade time for money in a job then you will always earn just enough to get by. It’s just how “the system” works.
So if hard work is not the secret to making money then what is it?
Skills!
To make real money you need to learn skills that enable you to do a piece of work once and then get paid over and over again. This is the basis of learning the affiliate marketing skills here at wealthy affiliate. Yes there is work involved in creating a quality blog post which is optimised to rank for a keyword but when it’s published it’s there to be found and clicked on for years to come.
There was another member who wrote a post here recently about income he is making from posts on a site that he hasn’t updated for months (sorry I forget who wrote the post). In other words he is still being paid for a piece of work he did about nine months ago.
Another great example of this is building an email list by using an opt in form on your website. I won’t go into detail about building a list, but for a list in a profitable niche it would be realistic to earn $1 per month per subscriber on that list. Just for sending out emails!
Let’s say you get 1000 subscribers on your list - that means you should earn $1k per month from your list. Not bad!
Let’s say you continue to grow your list to 10000 subscribers. Now you are earning $10k per month from sending out the same volume of emails. Now we’re talking serious coin😀
Trading time for money is not a good way to make a living. That’s why it’s so important to learn new skills.
The skills we learn here at wealthy affiliate are one of the best ways to do it.
Recent Comments
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Hi Dave, thank you for sharing with us that master peace.
Congratulation on a job well done keep up the good work. Let say I learn five new skills each earned $10 k Monthly. May you continue to have great success .All the best to you have a wonderful day. Fitzgerald
New skills help us to move forward David. We should be looking at working smart and not working hard.
Derek
Dave,
I hope that you get time to unwind during your vacation in your villa in Spain.
I have followed some of your recent posts here, including the airport one and the price of a bottle of water, etc.
But I digress.
I truly love seeing and reading what you have added in this post because I think that the excerpt I pasted below is VERY critical for all of us here:
"Trading time for money is not a good way to make a living. That’s why it’s so important to learn new skills."
Since we cannot somehow magically stretch time, nor can we be Michael Keaton in the movie "Multiplicity" we need to be able to discern where and how to allocate our limited time resources (aside from all other time constraints we have due to work, family obligations, commute, rest, etc.).
So, while we can read or write all of the best blog posts on "not to give up" we are still subject to reality and gravitational forces and that requires us to have the ability to outsource certain aspects of our marketing efforts as well as to, as you've said learn and utilize new skills, here and elsewhere, to make the most of what we have planned to achieve.
You may have seen a few posts in which members have expressed disappointment, frustration and the feeling of having reached burnout because of that non stop hard work.
At some point because of so many constraints, not only dictated by very limited time, but also the ability to create a large number quality content, etc. it all becomes a mathematical impossibility.
There are systems and methods and platforms out there which can be used in a more efficient manner, some purely free, some may require a small investment, often affordable for most.
We need to be reminded that WA is a diverse, worldwide community and that not all have the blessings of reading and writing in native English nor is their income on par with some other nations.
So therefore, we need to offer support, beyond inspirational posts (nothing wrong with them, we all need and we all write them) and to point to those most efficient skills, programs and platforms.
Trading time for money is what we do inside the matrix, it is what we need to sever ourselves from.
But only if we want to change and break the pattern that enslaves us all.
Blessings!
Wow, I didn’t expect such an in-depth reply so thanks very much for that.
I agree that there is a place for inspirational posts but I don’t find them to be the best use of my time so I try to focus on offering practical ideas on growing our businesses. And that is to in no way disrespect those who write regular motivational posts.
You are quite right that the key point in my post is that trading time for money is not how we should be trying to earn a living.
Dave,
I give you credit for your post and its content, in fact it is an actionable and refreshing one.
The lingering issue, for a myriad of reasons, is why, if any members do feel overwhelmed (not by tech stuff or such which they can easily ask in chat or search for on WA), disappointed or almost at the point of burnout do not reach out, be in in an open post or via PM and ask (hopefully their mentor if they have one), whomever they see as being easy to open up to and ask for help before throwing in the towel.
I know that it can be hard to do so, but is quitting or being frustrated the best path to take when there are so many other solutions out there?
While we run our own individual businesses, collectively we have acquired so much knowledge, many to the point of creating trainings and sharing it all for FREE.
The pay it forward system is alive and thriving here at WA.
We cannot and should not allow our fellow WA members feel alone in their plight, instead, just as you did remind them of the essential and actionable elements, and, should they want to know more then provide further details to them.
I will NOT get religious here, but I offer as a moral guideline the excerpt below:
"1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love."
1 Corinthians 13:1-7
We have a massive storm brewing with the US tech media giants as the DOJ will be doing an in depth review of possible anti trust violations and them being de facto monopolies. I posted about it a week ago.
Facebook just paid a record setting fine of 5 billions to the FTC.
I do not see too many caring to position themselves when the storm hits and be prepared to know which platforms to migrate to and where to build their audiences and tribes.
It is all public news, but it is not news that an online marketing world seems to be concerned about. Ignoring storms is not a zero sum game. It can virtually wipe out entire online marketers and all they have built.
Until and unless...but I digress again.
We all choose what we focus on.
Enjoy your vacation, I will send you some transatlantic smoke signals if I notice anything worth lighting up the stack of sticks.
Blessings!
The pay it forward mantra is one of my favourite aspects here. I have had great help and advice from others here and I hope by sharing things I learn that I can help others too.
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Thanks for sharing. Very good instruction!
You’re very welcome Linda 🙂