Ship Something Yourself, Even if You Earn Only a Dollar (Part 1)

There’s no time to lose.  Valuable, profitable seconds of your life are ticking by, and you’re missing out.  Surely you’re aware of the concept of compound interest?  In case you’re not, suffice it to say that long-term investment depends a lot more on when you invest than how much.  The same is true with you using the Internet to earn yourself some money.

Okay, at this point I probably sound a bit like a huckster.  I get that.  The sense of urgency might have been just a wee bit for dramatic effect, but I think the underlying message is nevertheless valid.  You really ought to acquire for yourself the experience of making money via the Internet.  I’m not trying to convince you to earn quit your job and earn your living this way, and I’m not even trying to convince you to attempt to make serious money.  All I’m trying to do is encouraging you to make something.

 

What should you make?  You could go any number of routes.  You could start a blog and put advertising on it or use affiliate links.  Writing a book or making videos for youtube would count.  You could hook up with a content creation outfit, like Pluralsight and do it that way.  Building apps and selling them either standalone or through an app store is probably an option that appeals uniquely to software developers.  Or you could always build a web-based product or start a company, if you really want to go all in.

 

If I’m not peddling a get rich quick scheme and I’m not even suggesting that you try to get rich, it’s certainly fair to wonder what my angle is.  Why am I so eager to offer this advice?  My reasoning is multi-faceted.

Opens Up New Possibilities

The most likely outcome to you starting a blog and advertising or building a little mobile app and selling it is that you’ll put in a lot of time and effort and get a little bit of profit back out.  Hey, if you thought I was a huckster at first, hopefully I’m bringing it back from the ledge a little here by telling you that you're pretty unlikely to get rich quick.  The reality is that you’re almost certainly not going to retire from your first foray into entrepreneurship.

 

This type of bootstrapping is modest in aim and scope, for the most part.  But it is an opportunity.  And, it’s one with virtually no barriers to entry and not much limit to the possibilities if it takes off.  Look at Life Hacker.

 

You probably won’t be Life Hacker, but maybe your blog/site/app/channel will become a fun hobby for you – a hobby that brings in a few hundred or maybe even a thousand dollars per month.  And, over the long haul, it will also help you get your name and information out there to pry open the door to some networking and consulting opportunities as well.  You'd be surprised at how many things come up when you just put yourself out there: job offers, consulting opportunities, speaking invitations, and more.

Introduces a New Earning Model

Most white collar workers spend an entire career working 40 (okay, who are we kidding, 45+) hours per week in exchanged for a fixed number of dollars.  Wage labor is clearly the dominant model for income in our society, since traditional entrepreneurship tends to be a high risk venture.  It's all well and good for hungry kids just starting out on their career path, but a harder sell for folks with families and mortgages.

 

Building something small in your spare time with the aim of earning a little money, however, is not high risk.  It's the kind of thing you can do instead of watching a few TV shows.  And, while the stakes may be small, the lessons learned aren't.  You'll develop a sense of what it's like to earn in a model where income is decoupled from time, which can be a valuable skill that you may use in your day job or, at some point, to start your own venture.

 

And There's More

So far, I've talked about how you can grow yourself, your brand, and your earnings outside of the office.  Stay tuned for my next post where I'll show how building your own thing can help your career by improving your performance at your current job.