subject: Ways To Make Money - Think Unconventionally [print this page] I can tell you that one of the best ways to make money is by creating an unconventional product or service which satisfies a hungry market. Unfortunately, the lack of creativity is what I notice most frequently in online business. Most websites which market a product or service have a generic look and feel.
At the peak of the dot com boom, innovation came first, and business fundamentals came second. New ideas meant new money, and an amazing idea, long before execution could make you millions, if not billions. If you do not believe me, ask Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Cuban knew how the Internet worked. This, along with his idea for Internet radio, turned him into a billionaire.
Ten to twelve years ago, it is not simply okay to have any old site. Rather, you had to stand out. Of course, this often leads to more flash than substance, which I believe contributed to the dot com fall.
Now I have an exercise for you to take on. I want you to turn off your computer monitor, and problem-solve. Think of new and innovative ways to make money. You have the facts on your side. Unlike entrepreneurs in the past, you know that success is highly possible on the Internet. New creations keep on coming via the Internet. Just look at the most recent stars, Twitter and Facebook. Can you believe that both of these websites were actually criticized for breaking tradition. Who do you think has the last laugh.
What you have to realize is that the Internet is still just a kid. However, that kid is growing quickly into an adult, and will soon be a monster. Last I checked, there were over 40 billion websites online. Of course, this number is nothing compared to what we will see in another 15 years. Therefore, if you want to make money on the Internet, you need to somehow stand out from the billions of websites which currently reside on the Internet. It is important that you target your market, identify a need within this market, and give them the solution to their need. Twitter did just this. They saw that there was a need to push information to a huge group of individuals almost instantly. As a result, Twitter identified a targeted market in online communication, and provided a solution for the market's needs.
Going back some decades, Walt Disney was a very non-traditional thinker. Similar to Facebook and Twitter, he was ridiculed in his early years. In fact, many business geniuses are ridiculed prior to demonstrated success. For instance, the press doubted that Disneyland had a chance of survival, and referred to it as "Disney's Folly". Funny huh? I wonder who got the last laugh.
If you have an out of the box idea which you plan to share with others, expect to be chastised. Imagine that it is the year 1996. You approach your friends and family and tell them that you are going to create an Internet business where you give everything away for free. They would look at your as if you had three heads.
Do you know what is funny? A company actually developed a business with the plan to give everything away for free, and went through with that plan. The company is Hotmail. Hotmail gave their e-mail platform aways for free in an era where in order to have an email account you either needed to be a student, been employed by a cutting edge employer, or paid out of pocket. Hotmail was the very first company to give away free email accounts. This is often forgotten.
What Hotmail was doing, was identifying a target market which would generate a fortune for them in the future. They took what was know and accepted as a paid service, made it better, and gave it away for free. Because of Hotmail, it became easy to check your email from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. This was not the norm back them. Shortly after, Hotmail was able to generate income by selling ads, and eventually got the big payday when they were purchased by Microsoft.
It is still very much possible to identify a paid service, give it away for free, or practically free, and make money. Just look at VoIP through Skype. You can talk to anyone in the world over Skype for free. Skype makes its money by charging for long-distance, unlimited calling subscriptions, and business services. Thus, if you want to experience the same type of success as others in the past, you have to either take create something completely new, or improve on something by making it more accessible and less expensive. Whichever individuals can determine how to do this, will be the individuals who discover ways to make money in the multi-million, or even multi-billion dollar range.
by: Brian Lett
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