How to Decide if Making Money Online is for You

Running a business that makes money online for the last few years, I’ve gotten many different  questions from people that really could simply be boiled down to one question:

“Paul, should I try making money online?”

First of all, regardless how well you craft this question so that it doesn’t sound like that is what you’re asking me, it still doesn’t change the fact that you’re asking me that question.

Realize that I am not you, so there is no way I could ever make that decision for you.  In fact, there is nobody out there who will ever make that decision for you.  Only you can decide the answer to that question.

What I can do, however, is to give you some help in how you could go about making that decision based on what I’ve gone through.

Traditionally, what most people do when they are trying to make a potentially life-changing decision like this, is that they try to “weigh their options”.  So, they either do it mentally or they get a piece of paper out and they start writing out all the benefits and drawbacks of going down a certain path.

For making money online, their list may look something like this:

Benefits:

• Can work from home
• Unlimited income potential
• No boss
• More time with the family
• Flexible schedule
• Full control over what you do day-to-day
• Interesting, ever-changing work
• Get to express creativity, make own decisions

Drawbacks:

• Lack of stable “salary” compared to a job
• No guarantee of income
• Many “proven” systems, but not sure which one to follow
• Constant changes in the marketplace, must stay current
• May require some access to capital
• Higher risk than working for someone else

At first glance, making a list like this may seem like a productive and reasonable thing to do when trying to make a decision.  However, for those of you who have actually done this, you may have found – as I have – that making lists like this is pretty much useless.  It doesn’t help you make a decision at all.  It just complicates things even more.

What ends up happening is that anytime you focus on the benefits of making money online, you begin to attract ideas, circumstances, resources and people who seem to make it more obvious that this is the right path for you.

For example, you may come to my Blog and read about a new course that I’m reviewing and it may sound like exactly something you’d like to do, or maybe you read a success story I post on my Blog and you get inspired.  For a short while, perhaps even a few weeks you really start to think that you’d like to take a chance and to really start to learn how to make money online.

However, what will very often happen is that you’ll start to think about potential risks or drawbacks of going down that path, and all of a sudden you start seeing all of those showing up in your life.  Maybe your spouse gets laid off from work so your money situation all of a sudden goes from bad to worse, or maybe the course you were about to purchase sells out.  Some circumstance, event or person inevitably gives you some kind of indication that perhaps making money online isn’t for you, or at least not at this point in time in your life.

You find yourself back at square one.  Still undecided, and growing more frustrated.

Why does this happen?

After going through this kind of thing countless times, over and over again in my life, I’ve come to realize that the reason most of us find it difficult to make “reasonable” decisions such as whether or not we should pursue trying to make money online is because the very process of looking at the two sides of the coin affects what we see.

What I mean is that if you try to look for the benefits of making money online, all you’re going to attract and “see” out there are reasons why you should be getting in on the action.  All of a sudden the limit on your credit card goes up, a course on making money online comes out that you get excited about, your place of employment is talking about potential layoffs, etc.  All indicators that it’s time to make your move into the online world.

However, if you start looking at the drawbacks, you’ll see “indicators” that making money online is not the right move for you right now.

So what usually happens is that we flip-flop, back and forth, undecided and frustrated because we keep getting mixed signals from the world out there.

Want to know the secret to making the decision?

The “secret” if you can even call it that, is to use your intuition and gut to make the decision.  Take a drive out to a nearby park, or the beach, or find a quiet place where you can be left alone without being disrupted.  Turn off your phone for an hour and just sit quietly for a while.

Then, just ask yourself if you are now ready to pursue a new venture to do what it takes to learn how to make money online, be your own boss, be an entrepreneur, etc.  Don’t try to be “reasonable”, just go with your gut.  Trust your intuitive feelings.  Does the possibility of making money online excite you?  Is it something you’d love to learn how to do, despite any obstacles or challenges that may come up?  Is there something you could learn from pursuing this path?

Trust your gut.  Trust your intuition.  If it feels right, then just DECIDE right there and then that you’re going to do whatever it takes to learn how to make  money online.

You have to have a “take no prisoners” type of attitude towards it.  It can’t be something wishy-washy that you’re going to “try out”.   Decide to do it, or not, but don’t flip-flop back and forth.

Once you decide that this is the right thing for you, you will miraculously see things starting to line up to help you.  Chance meetings, resources, etc. will show up in your life all related to helping you make money online.  Just remember that once you decide, you need to stick with it.  This isn’t going to be a sprint, it’s going to be a marathon and you need to outlast all the other wishy-washy people out there.

I made my decision and I’m sticking to it.  Everything hasn’t gone right in my business, and I’ve run into my share of obstacles, but the decision I made to learn how to make money online is where I derive a lot of my energy from.

Once I decided, the question I kept asking myself became “HOW do I make money online?” instead of “CAN I make money online?”  Those are totally different questions with totally different answers.

I was recently talking to someone I know who’s been looking for a job without much success lately.  I basically told him that the reason he hasn’t found a job, even though he’s been “trying” is because he hasn’t yet decided to get a job.  He decided to look for a job and he was doing really well finding jobs to apply for, but there is a big difference in looking vs getting a job.

By helping him get clear on finally making the decision to get a job, instead of wasting his efforts looking for one when he hadn’t yet decided he really wanted one, I was able to shift his entire energy.  Before getting off the phone with him, one of the last things I said was “Now go manifest a job in the next 24 hours.”

He called me 2 days later and he already had a job.

Don’t underestimate the power of making a decision.  You’ll be surprised how quickly things change and line up in your life once you actually stop flip-flopping and decide what you want to do based on what your intuition is telling you is right for you at this time in your life.

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