I’ve been tinkering around online for many years — probably since around 2013. During that time, I’ve had one website actually bring in dollars. This was a website associated with my law practice. Otherwise, I’ve not made a single dollar from my online activities. I’ve done a business podcast, a law podcast, written a food blog, self-published a book, and a few other things less seriously. Pretty much zero financial success in all of this. I guess you could even include this very blog as an online project that has made zero dollars.
I recently read a Facebook post by Spencer Haws of Niche Pursuits (posted on Feb 15, 2024 to the Niche Pursuits Facebook Group) that pretty accurately pins down 7 issues that have plagued me.
7 Issues from Spencer Haws
To summarize his introduction to the post, Spencer commented about how he will post a video on a topic and then people will ask him questions that are answered in the video. They just don’t take the time to review the video. He says:
This led me down the thought process of why have I found so much success with building online businesses, when other[s] struggle for years without much success?
In my opinion, here’s 7 reasons why so many people fail at online business.
1. Don’t pay attention to details. Education is free all around on YouTube, Twitter, blogs…if you pay attention, you can usually learn everything you need for free. Stop asking dumb questions, just Google it. And if you still can’t find your answer, there’s lots of free communities that are willing to help.
2. Not being resourceful. I get asked all the time…how do I hire a programmer or how do I find someone to edit my videos? These are not hard problems. Yet for some reason, lots of people lack the ability to be resourceful and just figure things out. For example, years ago I decided I wanted to try creating a pillow product and selling it on Amazon. Most people hear this and immediately stop and think, “That’s too hard!”. But as I took it one step at a time, it was honestly pretty easy. Go to Alibaba. Find a manufacturer that makes pillows. Ask for a sample. Order a bunch. Ship to Amazon. Create a listing. Etc. Sure’s there’s lots of steps, but none of them were hard. You’ve just got to figure it out! (By the way, I ended up selling about $1 million worth of pillows in a single year at the peak of my “pillow empire”…which I sold in 2018).
3. Not taking action and lack of effort. I didn’t know anything about the Amazon Influencer program a year ago, but it seemed interesting. Instead of thinking about it for months or years…I just started! (And I made over $6,000 in December). Jump in, do some work, and figure things out. Too many people sit on the sidelines for WAY too long just thinking about things.
4. Worrying too much about competitors. Yes, you should be aware of your competition. However, if you can figure out how to be better or different then your competitors in some way, that’s really what you should be thinking about. Having competition is a good thing, it means there’s lots of money to be made potentially. When I was researching whether or not to create Link Whisper, my internal link building plugin, I looked at what other SEO plugins were out there. I found that Yoast SEO is active on over 5 million websites…5 MILLION! Yes, Yoast offered some small internal link building feature and they are huge. But this told me the market size is MASSIVE for an SEO plugin. I decided that there must be a segment of that market that wants a faster and easier way to build internal links, so I built Link Whisper…and its been a great business for the past 5 years. Don’t stress too much about your competition. Figure out who they are and how you can be better.
5. Quit too early. Too many people try something for a few weeks and then give up. The perfect example is my 6 month AI content challenge I gave my audience. About 174 people joined the challenge to build a new site using AI content, with the goal of working on it for 6 months. After just 2 months, over 100 people had already quit! Too many people get excited about something and then just quit. Pick an idea and stick with it. The real rewards tend to come after 1, 2, or 3 years of effort.
6. Trying to be just like everyone else. People want to copy another successful person or business. For example, YouTubers see the success of Mr. Beast and start copying his editing style, video ideas, and even thumbnail ideas. And most of these people are not seeing much success. You can’t copy your way to success. You need to find your “angle” or your unique business offering and find what truly resonates with your audience.
7. Think they need some special technical skills. You usually don’t need technical skills to start an online business. For example, I’ve created several software products (Long Tail Pro, Link Whisper, Rank Logic, and others). I have zero programming skills. I couldn’t code myself out of a paper bag. I’d never hired a programmer when I built my first software product. But upwork is super simple to connect with people with skills. I’ve been able to hire the help I need to make up any gap that I have in technical skills.
I get it. Starting an online business isn’t easy.
But honestly, the reason why most people fail isn’t because of some crazy big obstacle. It tends to be more related to internal factors that cause doubt, inaction, or just never trying.
I don’t want you to fail. Be resourceful, take action, and you can figure this stuff out!
End of Spencer’s Post.
My Reason #8 for Online Failure
Spencer pretty much just described my problems perfectly. Maybe the only ones where I’m not thinking, “Yeah, that’s totally me” are numbers 4, 6, and 7. If you read #5, I was one of those people who quit within two months.
But an 8th reason for me is that in some ways I don’t want success because success brings with it a lot of work and responsibility. I know I can do all of those 7 things Spencer mentioned, but there’s a part of me that self-sabotages because I don’t want the success.
Sure, I’d like the money that would (hopefully) come with it. But there’s a saying about that: “More money, more problems.”
I know from my own experience running a service business (law practice), that being in charge of a business brings lots of responsibility and an endless array of problems that have to be solved. The hardest problem to solve, for me, was my own mental fortitude. I just got tired of it and burned out. I didn’t enjoy running a business.
That’s why for now, I’m just happy living within my means from my day job.
I’m also happy to create a little space online that consists of things that I want to create and share regardless of the income.
In my mind, that’s the difference between a hobby and a side hustle. With a hobby, you can just do things because you want to do them, even if it doesn’t make you any money. It’s creation for the sake of creation. With a side hustle, you have to worry about your return on investment. It’s a pressure that I don’t want for myself right now.
Maybe that’s just a copout because I haven’t had online success yet. And if it is, oh well. I can always give a side hustle a shot in the future.
