Cheap Retirement Living

Internet Income Ideas

November 5th, 2009 |

Author: perry

Internet income ideas is a broad heading under which you could list thousands of different ways to ask people for their money. Not necessarily make money, just ask for it. For every idea of how to make money via the internet that works there would be hundreds that are nothing more than ‘GRQs’, or Get Rich Quick schemes. They all tend to lack one thing… value for the customer.

According to the entry in Wikipedia for ‘Passive Income’, “Edward de Bono in his book Handbook for the Positive Revolution states that “at some point value must be created in order to be distributed and enjoyed.” There is a lot of real value on the Internet, and a lot of it is free to any websurfer. There is value in free information, free education, free entertainment, free socialization, and social interaction platforms. Since the beginning of the commercialization of the Web, entrepreneurs have been trying to find viable business models of selling the web content and services. Some of the problems of selling the online content can be attributed to high cost of software, high cost of qualified labour, expensive equipment, office space etc. These can be minimized in one person operations which use free software and have very small business overheads. In such cases, even a relatively modest income, together with frugal lifestyle, might be sufficient enough to form a basis for a viable passive income model.”

That sounds like it is right up our cheap retirement living alley. However… always keep in mind two things. First of all, Caveat Emptor. Let the buyer beware. Secondly, if it seems too good to be true then it is. A lot of ‘passive income’ web sites come across as being run by genuine, transparent regular run of the mill folks who have discovered a secret that will make anyone who applies it very rich. Think this through. If it were that easy then surely the really rich people of the world would surely have this sewn up and monopolized!

Some people do make a good income from the internet but they are in the minority. Most people make NOTHING. It is worse than a hobby for them as it costs them money and doesn’t give back the enjoyment even stamp collecting or scrap booking would because of unmet expectations.

My advice is that you can make a modest income from the net, at least enough to supplement your other income streams, but it does take some knowledge and effort. It is all learnable, even for old dogs so don’t despair. Just be a little more cautious about slapping down your hard earned dollars to learn the latest ’secret’.