Recently I had a couple of friends ask a few questions about making money on the Internet. These are people who would be considered absolute newbies to the world of online money making and the technical parts that go along with that. Technical parts such as “How do I make a web site?” I tell them it’s super easy but they look at me suspiciously with that “You’re just saying that to make me feel better” kind of look on their faces.

I don’t blame them for thinking it’s hard, I recall when I first wanted a website built. I just went to the phone book and rang someone up as I had no belief I could do it, no way! Only computer geeks could build websites! A quote in the thousands put me off and my husband enthusiastically volunteered to learn html. (Let’s just say we never got much further than the excitement of mastering the marquee tag. )

I did end up building my first website with a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) html editing program that came free with my first web hosting account. It took me weeks to work it out and the end result was not very glamorous!

Create a blog in 4 easy steps!

These days, thanks to WordPress, a complete newbie can be set up with a website in a day, however there are still a few steps to follow that could be challenging for a newbie. So to help them navigate their way through more easily I’ve pulled together a couple of reports, Create A Blog In 4 Easy Steps and Setting the Right Foundations for Your Blog which can be downloaded for free at Vred Voice, so now my friends, and other newbies, can whiz through the reports and they’re up and away.

The thing I’ve found myself asking these complete newbies though is what they actually want to do online, what are their goals? Some of them have a little idea in their head about what they can share with others or they have a unique Internet business idea they want to introduce. Many though ‘just’ want to know a way they can make money online – any way.

I wrote in a previous post about making money from home and how there are so many methods to try. My fear for my friends is that they’re going to end up on the same merry-go-round that so many end up on:

1. Buy a product that promises wonderful things
2. Start the project
3. Discover that the method just isn’t that appealing
4. Move on to the next thing
5. And the next thing
6. Leaving a trail of unfinished business behind them.

Unfinished business

We all have them. I have them. I have tens of projects and sites that are half baked and looking back at it all, I know the time and energy that went into those projects would have been better channeled into one or two main focal points.

What inevitably happens when we have all these loose ends is a need to do something with them, to tie them up. Questioning back and forth, will we finally outsource and get things completed or will we sell them off half done for someone else more enthusiastic to take them forward? Will we go back to all those methods that we know really do work that we ‘just’ need to stick to a little while to get things moving?

Spreading yourself too thin?

What that can all lead to is you trying to pick up where you left off from various projects and before you know it you’re trying to be across many things at once. If you end up spreading yourself too thin then nothing gets completed properly anyway and the cycle repeats itself.

Knowing when to let go

If you’ve got unfinished business that is hanging over your head, that you tinker with here and there or that just haunts you with guilt that you haven’t followed through, then perhaps it’s time to take stock.

Clearing your schedule for the projects that matter to you most, that deserve all your attention, will see you being a whole lot more productive than when you’re trying to juggle a variety of businesses. So could you do that? Could you let go of some of your loose ends to focus, and if you did, do you know what it is you would choose to focus on?

What do you really want?

Do you have a good idea of what you really want to do online? What are your medium to long term plans and does what you do each day support those goals?

If you really did take stock and put aside once and for all those minor half done projects, do you know what it is you want to be spending your time and energy on? What sort of online business you want to be involved in?

Asking yourself what you would like to ultimately be doing online, and giving yourself permission to do it, can bring an extremely refreshing change to your outlook on making money on the Internet. Suddenly you are the one determining the destination on the sign posts not the hundreds of destinations being sold to you every day.

Tread your own path

You can tread the same roads everyone else has, go down the road less traveled or be a trailblazer. Don’t be afraid to carve out some new ground and follow your own path. There are benefits to learning from those who’ve trodden a path before you but many times their path isn’t exactly one you’re going to enjoy.

Is it time for you to take stock, tie up loose ends or let them go altogether and decide what you’d really like to do online and blaze your own trail?

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