The Failure
The beginning of the journey
My quest to free myself from the nine-to-five grind and create my own income stream dates back to around 2002.
I was still living in Mauritius, my country of birth, and wanted to use my computer for something more productive than surfing the internet, sending emails and using a word processor.
One of my first ideas was to create greeting cards and sell them locally. I soon abandoned the idea. Mauritius has a relatively small population, and I thought the market would be too limited and competitive. I would need to come up with something different.
In 2004, I left Mauritius and moved to Ireland, settling in Dublin.
At the time, I knew practically nothing about digital marketing. Even the term was unfamiliar to me.
That same year, I was talking to my then-housemate about buying a computer when he suggested that I buy one online through eBay because I might get it cheaper.
eBay?
I had never heard of it.
That conversation opened a completely new door for me. I discovered that people weren't just buying things online—they were selling them too.
I didn't have a computer yet, so I visited internet cafés and started researching eBay and the growing world of making money online. Eventually, I bought myself a computer.
Around 2006, I signed up for eBay and decided to try selling something myself.
My first sale was a book.
Through trial and error, I succeeded. My mother always told me that in anything I did or said, I always had to be honest to avoid trouble. Although I put aside many of her instructions, I kept this one in mind-maybe because I was the one who would get into trouble if I was dishonest. So I made sure I mentioned everything I needed to about the book in the listing.
It sold.
The customer was happy, and I received 100% positive feedback
I thought I had found the doorway to my online business.
So I listed a few more things.
It didn't go particularly well this time.
Some experienced sellers discouraged me, and I didn't have enough knowledge or confidence to keep pushing. On top of that, I had only recently moved to Ireland and was still adjusting to a new country while dealing with the challenges of everyday life.
I had enough challenges to deal with on a daily basis and did not have the strength to fight extra ones.
But I didn't give up on the idea of making money online.
I simply started looking for an easier way that wouldn't require selling physical products, with the hassle of packing and posting that comes with it.
That's when I stumbled upon an article titled “Make Money With Affiliate Marketing.”
I was immediately hooked.
I started reading everything I could find on the subject. YouTube was still relatively new, so most of what I learned came from articles and blogs.
I remember discovering a couple who were heavily involved in affiliate marketing and offered a course on the subject. I signed up for information and received an application form through the post.
The complete course cost £160.
I wasn't paying that.
At the time, £160 was a substantial amount of money to me, and I had already made up my mind that I wasn't going to spend my hard-earned money on something that might not work. Why pay for something that was available for free online?
So I kept searching for an easier way.
Eventually, I landed on Blogger—the very platform I am using today. Google had acquired Blogger in 2003, and by then blogs created on the platform seemed to be everywhere.
I wanted in.
I started blogging with no real plan, no structure and no particular subject. I simply wrote about whatever came to mind.
Around the same time, I began coming across the so-called internet gurus.
They fascinated me.
They were telling me exactly what I wanted to hear:
Money could be made online—and it could be made quickly.
I enjoyed listening to them because their message gave me hope. Gradually, I began believing that making money online required far less effort than earning it through an ordinary job.
I signed up for Google AdSense and affiliate programmes such as Amazon's. Once approved, I could place advertising banners and affiliate links on my blogs and potentially earn money when visitors clicked ads or bought products.
It sounded incredibly simple to me.
Get visitors.
They click or buy.
I make money.
I was over the moon.
I thought I had hit the jackpot and would soon be making plenty of money, perhaps practically overnight.
I had convinced myself that working online was somehow different from ordinary work—that it would be easier.
Little did I know that I was about to hit my head against a stubborn wall.
No comments:
Post a Comment