Earning money part-time – practical?
On the one hand it seems like the perfect situation, make extra money with the web whilst still keeping your day job. But just how practical is it to do? Well for a start it’s by no means realistic for all types of web businesses, for example with a full online store. So I’m talking about a proper ecommerce site where you’re taking orders and shipping out products to customers. Don’t get me wrong an ecommerce store requires much less man-power than a real one but you still have all the usual headaches like dealing with customers, returns and managing stock etc. This is before you get to all the other essential activities like marketing and site development, there’s no way your going to manage this when you get home from work. Actually something like selling on eBay could be quite a chore too, anything that involves a lot of communication with people is going to require plenty of time.
I hear a lot about passive income these days but I think many people have the concept wrong. It’s not an income without work but it does mean the business doesn’t need constant attention in order to earn money, you can often put the time in when you have it which is ideal for many people. So what is the system and how much does it cost? Well I’m not selling a system for a start but in short I make money by building sites that I then sell advertising on, the great thing about this concept is I’m not responsible to anyone. How much time you want/need to put in is really up to you, but ultimately only you will be responsible for your success.
There are some other great little businesses that earn money with the net but if you’re looking to start part-time then:
- You can’t be spending too much time dealing/negotiating with people.
- Shouldn’t need you to check in every day, you want to only spend time when you have it.
- Not much investment (I’m assuming if you’re willing to do 2 jobs you’re not rich!)
- You want to focus on learning one or two main skills, you don’t have the time to learn everything.
The great thing is that building sites really does tick all of the boxes above and its getting very accessible for non-technical people to get started. But since I’m not trying to sell some overpriced ebook or pyramid scheme there’s no need to promise a magic formula that will do the work for you. It’s still a complex and time consuming business to learn, but if it was easy wouldn’t everyone be doing it?
On a slightly un-related note check out the video by Jim Rohn above, only just discovered his stuff lately but he does have some genuinely good points (not just the Anthony Robbins hype). Until next time.