It is probably fair to say that the vast majority of adults (aged between 18 and 60) in the world today spend a lot of their time trying to earn or make money. We don’t go to work because we like it. We certainly wouldn’t go if we didn’t feel obliged to. No the reason we work is to earn enough money to pay for the vital things in our lives, such as our food and shelter, the necessary things like our kids’ education, vehicles and clothing, and finally the luxury items, such as well-deserved holidays, toys, and televisions and other home comforts. With more work being out-sourced to countries with cheap labour or done on automated production lines completed by machines, people are looking for alternative forms of income. Also, trades that were learnt in previous decades are becoming superfluous. And finally, people are either choosing to work from home as a second job or out of necessity for the ever-increasing family costs. Because of these situations and wider access to the internet, millions of people the world over are trying to make money online.

How does one go about making money online? Who knows? Mark Zuckerburg is either a genius or incredibly fortunate. Probably a fair bit of both. EBay became massive in recent years and is still growing into new markets in scores of countries, but Facebook is stealing a lot of eBay’s customer base with people opening online shops and advertising there. In addition, when a good money-making idea is created and becomes successful, not only is a neighbour or friend likely to copy it and steal some market share, but also some complete stranger online who has access to cheaper running costs or is prepared to work within smaller profit margins. One’s own success is a threat to the future of almost any money making idea. We use the internet to research ideas and find customers, then the internet is responsible for a loss of market share. Pyramid selling, or multi-level marketing as they like to call it, has made hundreds of millionaires worldwide and the internet can surely be a benefit to those who want to buy and sell in this kind of environment. However, unless you are at, or very near, the top of one of these pyramids, there will always be others getting a majority of the profits of your hard work.

So what’s the solution? Well, a fresh idea is helpful, unless you can offer a vastly superior product, service or price than a close competitor whose idea you copy. The markets and customers are so fickle nowadays and customer loyalty has almost become a thing of the past. Anyone who wants to make enough money online to make it worth their while has to be prepared for fierce and immediate competition, and prepared to constantly adapt their services in order to stay in business.