Thinking About Trying To Make Cash Online? Read This First!

Thousands of people go online each day in search of their first Internet business opportunity. The so-called "Internet gold rush" that began at the turn of the century is showing no signs of slowing down.

In fact, most web analytics companies would agree that even more people are trying to make a fortune in cyberspace today than in 2001. For both the optimistic and the skeptical, it is now common knowledge that people from all walks of life are trying their hand at some form of Internet marketing.

You've heard the wild success stories - like the 17 year old girl named Ashley Qualls of Detroit, Michigan who liked MySpace so much she built a website sharing free MySpace templates (and is now a millionaire several times over thanks to her $70,000 a month ad income).

Go ahead, Google her name and see for yourself.

Maybe you've even read a few convincing testimonials from people named Bob and Helen on a business opportunity sales page, talking about how they started working "the plan" for just 8 minutes a month and now they make millions an hour while kicking back on the new beach they bought last year.

But is any of this stuff real? More importantly, can you get in on any of this action?

The short answer to both of these questions is yes, people really do make big money online and you can be one of them! But the real question you should be asking yourself is:

"Do I really want to be a professional Internet marketer?" (Internet marketer is a fancy term for "online businessperson")

There's a lot more to making a living with an Internet business than the hyped up ads tell you. And the truth is, some people find out too late that it's not as glamorous as they were led to believe.

You're about to discover whether or not working from home full-time is really right for you. This will either get you pumped up and ready to take your first steps, or it will save you a lot of heartache and stress by helping you dodge the proverbial bullet and pick a career that's better suited to your wants and needs.

Maybe working from home isn't right for you! There's no shame in saying, "I don't have what it takes." One thing I want to clear up right now - I love working from home. I wouldn't change it for the WORLD.

Do I get stressed out? Sure! But I much prefer the stress of launching my own product to that of having to go beg my boss for a raise or tell him I can't come to work because my kid has a cold and I know he's about to scold me.

With my online business, I feel like a kid who turned 18 and got the freedoms adulthood has to offer. Nobody can tell me what to do anymore, and in the famous words of McDonalds, I'm loving it!

The first thing you need to understand is the word business. Please don't confuse this with the word lottery. Many new online marketers make this mistake - they expect to log on, stick a website up and ka-ching! Instant cash machine.

There is no "get rich quick"...

Internet marketing is definitely not a get rich quick industry. If you treat it like one, you'll end up frustrated, broke, and possibly even embarrassed. Building a profitable, sustainable business online takes time.

It's really hard to accept this mindset when so many sales pages have marketing memos telling you how much money they make and how easy it is, using words like "guaranteed."

Every successful Internet marketer I've ever worked for or spoken to admitted they had a learning curve and some got going, went back to zilch, and had to start over. Others started out slow, saw money trickling in, and built upon it (like me).

An Internet business requires considerably less time and money to start and manage than even a small offline venture, and you'll probably see results a lot faster online. But getting into profit with your digital enterprise is probably not going to be an overnight event.

Don't get caught unprepared!

Because of the fact that there are no guarantees, you'll want a safety net to fall back on. I highly recommend you either keep your day job until you begin seeing profits, or have some funds set up to sustain you while you learn to eke out a living on the World Wide Web.

There's no reason to find this discouraging. If it was really just a matter of plugging in and getting instantly rich, everyone would be doing it and there would be nobody left to bag your groceries or punch your ticket at the movie theatre.

You simply need to understand that you might not see any returns on your efforts right away. So you either need to have plenty of money saved before firing your boss, or you need to accept the fact that you'll be working TWO jobs in the beginning - your regular j-o-b and your start-up business.

Think of it more as a "second income" that will replace your first income down the road :)

Many successful online entrepreneurs worked their business part-time when they were starting out because they still had their day job. And most people recommend having at least three full months of income saved up before making the leap from employee to full-time home business owner.

One of my readers reminded me that you also have to consider that when you give up a corporate salary, you may also be giving up benefits like health, dental, etc - so make sure you keep those in mind before quitting your 9 to 5!

If you're married to a spouse who has insurance coverage, this may be a non-issue - but if not, work out your benefit plan ahead of time.

I want you to think ahead and set it up right from the beginning. What's that saying? If you fail to plan, you plan to fail! That fits in well with the Internet marketing industry.

For many people, they hear "make money online" and get all fired up and dive in without having a foundation.

They build a "business" - no, a "site" - based on some scheme they found and got sold into, but it fails miserably because there's no foundation to build it on...

Hear me when I say this: You NEED to start with the basics of Online Business before you will be able to quit your day job and do Internet Marketing full time!

Don't just jump into the latest "trick" willy nilly and then complain when it doesn't work. Take some time to learn what you need to know to make those tips & tricks profitable.

How do you do that, you ask?

You join a site like Pure Profit University.

Pure Profit University is devoted to teaching you how to grow your online business from the ground up. And, best of all, the first thing they teach you is how to start making money with $0 out of pocket! (aside from their TINY tuition)

So, if you're ready to start making money online, don't make the mistake that everyone else who fails online does... Learn the basics from Pure Profit University, and take ACTION on them!