The truth is that building an online business is tough. It simply takes a lot of time, effort, and patience. You will most likely experience plenty moments of desperation, and you will need to learn so many new things; not only about e-commerce, but also about the Internet, websites, apps, search engines, and software. Almost every day will be a surprise, notably in the first couple of years.
I can tell you not to do this or that, or by contrast — to do this and that, but it’s like a child growing up: it needs to make its own mistakes and learn from those. Moreover, every situation, every business, every market, and every individual is different, and general rules and pointers certainly come handy, but often the devil is in the details.
In many ways the online world is just like the real, physical world, but then with its own very particular caveats and rules. On top of that, the virtual world changes more rapidly than the physical world; it’s in a continuous state of flux. And just like in the real world: forget about making a six figure income in six months’ time. Those types of creeds are really a big bunch of crap, a hoax, and click bait. You’ll need to work for it, it’s lonely, it’s very hard, most likely for many, many years.
I don’t say quick success can’t happen to you. It can happen. Just like the person who goes to Hollywood to become a famous movie star and by sheer chance is discovered by a big shot producer while eating a hamburger in the McDonald’s. It happens. To one in a million. In that sense it’s more like being very lucky and winning the lottery.
Nevertheless, I do think we can make a decent living out of an online business, but we will need to work as hard as when we would be building a physical business in the “real world.” Don’t count on getting rich, and certainly don’t count on getting rich easily.
But if your heart is into it and you persist — really persist — if you practice patience and accept the tumbles, but also get up quickly, adapt, and move on, I feel you might be able to make it happen. In some way or the other.
