Can You Build An Online Business In Five Weeks?

Before you read any of the blog posts below, this is not about undermining members, it's about trying to reach out and help and encourage them.

Just over five weeks ago, someone reached out to me here at Wealthy Affiliate and asked if I had any advice for someone getting started. I replied and said that the best thing to do was to go through the training step by step, take action along the way and try to be consistent. I also mentioned that there aren't really any shortcuts when it comes to building an online business.

We continued messaging backwards and forwards, and it turned out that this person had actually tried building an online business before. They had spent quite a bit of time on it but eventually became fed up with the amount of time they were putting in without seeing the results they wanted. However, they still wanted to make a living online, so they had decided to give it another go.

Do Not Doubt!

One thing I noticed quite early in our conversation was that they already seemed doubtful about whether it would work. I can understand this, especially when someone has tried something before and hasn't had the results they hoped for. However, I also think we have to be very careful that we don't go into something expecting it not to work, especially when we haven't really given it enough time.

They had chosen a new niche which was based around one of their hobbies, which I thought was a much better starting point. I've always believed that it's much easier to create content around something that you have a genuine interest in and some knowledge about. I know there is a lot of talk about using AI to create content now, but personally, I still believe that having genuine knowledge and experience of a subject makes a huge difference.

Over the next few weeks, they continued going through the training and adding content to their website. There were still doubts along the way, but at least they were taking action and moving forward.

Don't Give Up

Then, just over five weeks after that first message, I received another message saying that they felt like giving up.

However, there was something else in the message that immediately stood out to me. They had made their first commission! That is definitely a step in the right direction. As often, once you have your first commission, other commissions follow.

Now, admittedly, it wasn't a huge commission, but that really isn't the point. They had started a new website, they are going through the training, created some content and managed to generate their first commission in just over five weeks. Personally, I would see that as something positive and something to build on rather than a reason to give up.

Successful People Don't Give Up!

I replied by asking how many successful business people they knew who had managed to build a successful business in five weeks. I certainly don't know any!

Over the years, I've had four offline businesses that I have had to start and build up, and none of those businesses became established overnight. It takes time for people to know that you're there, it takes time to build a customer base and it takes time to get everything working properly. An online business really isn't that different, although I think sometimes we expect it to be.

One of the biggest differences I have found between an offline business and an online business is when you actually get paid for your efforts. With my offline business, I could go out and carry out a job for a customer and normally get paid straightaway. There was an immediate reward for the work that I had carried out.

Expect To Work Hours Before Being Paid!

With an online business, we can spend several hours writing a blog post, creating a video or working on our website and potentially earn absolutely nothing that day. In fact, we may not see any return from that particular piece of work for several weeks or even several months. I appreciate that can be difficult, especially when we know how much time and effort we are putting into something.

I've been working online for over 20 years now, although for much of that time it has been alongside my offline businesses. I've seen a huge amount of change during that period, and I'm still learning today. I don't think any of us ever reach the point where we know everything, particularly with the speed at which Internet marketing is changing.

What I do know is that giving up generally guarantees one thing: nothing is going to happen!

If someone has made their first commission after just over five weeks, however small that commission may be, something has worked. Someone has found their content, clicked on a link and purchased something. Surely the next step is to look at what happened, continue creating content and see if you can make it happen again.

Once again, I'm not writing this post to criticise the person who contacted me. Quite the opposite, I genuinely want to see them succeed, which is why I encouraged them to keep going. I have seen far too many people give up on something before they have really given it a proper chance.

Of course, there are no guarantees with any business, whether it's online or offline. We have to put the work in, learn from our mistakes, make changes when necessary and keep moving forward. There will also be days when we don't feel like doing anything, which is perfectly normal.

However, five weeks is an incredibly short amount of time to judge whether a business is going to succeed or fail. If you've already made your first commission during that time, I would say that's a reason to be encouraged.

Sometimes we just need to stop looking at how far we still have to go and recognise that we have actually started moving in the right direction.

Keep moving forward and give your business a proper chance.
It would be interesting to hear other members' thoughts about making money online and how long it took, etc.

Thank you for reading.

Roy