10 Rules to Live By If You Want to Make a Full-Time Income Online
How to prepare yourself for a career in online business
There are two types of online entrepreneurs: the ones who turn their muse projects into side hustles and the ones who build permanent careers.
The former enjoy their craft and charge some money for it, but they don’t see it as a full-time job.
They want their online ventures to remain passion projects, without the entrepreneurial risk and financial dependency of a full-time career.
The latter, on the other hand, focus their efforts on building a thriving business venture. As such, they accept the inherent risks and responsibilities, but they also reap the rewards.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs, however, are stuck in the middle.
They believe in their projects and spot potential career paths, but they don’t know whether they’re ready to go all in.
In simple terms, they don’t know how to prepare themselves for a full-time career in online business.
I’ve been there. A few years ago, I was making decent money with my now-obsolete travel blog, and my photography business was slowly taking shape. My first startup investments were also starting to generate revenue.
I was, nonetheless, deeply unsure whether I should take the leap and turn my online ventures into a full-time career.
Three years later, I believe that the difference between a side hustle and a full-time career resides mostly in how you think.
In this context, you need to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset with certain principles if you want to become a full-time online entrepreneur.
On this basis, here are 10 rules to live by if you want to make a full-time income online.
1. Always start with a vision
To make a full-time income online, you need a long-term vision.
You need to know why you started, what kind of ladder you’re climbing, and where you want to go. Those three elements are vital components of any entrepreneurial journey. Here’s why.
First, the difference between a small side project and a full-time job is that you’re not pursuing a hobby — you’re pursuing a professional activity.
Side hustles can provide additional income, but they are mostly the result of passion projects, not business ideas.
To create an online business that can replace your day job, you need a long-term vision with a proper business plan, growth modelizations, and financial planning.
Secondly, you need to know what kind of ladder you’re climbing.
You’ll have to recognize the fact that you are on a journey. The journey will have bumps along the way, and it won’t be plain sailing.
Because you’re financially dependent on your online venture, knowing how the different stages of your ladder will affect you — both financially and emotionally — is crucial.
Finally, your vision needs to contain certain stops and destinations.
I don’t believe that an entrepreneurial route can have one specific destination. I do, however, believe in milestones.
In this context, entrepreneurial journeys shouldn’t have ultimate goals, but specific benchmarks to build on.
As such, 100,000$ in revenue shouldn’t be your final objective, but it could be your foundation to become financially independent.
2. Worship the god of progress
Especially at the outset of your entrepreneurial route, you’ll often struggle with doubts and setbacks.
That’s why you should measure your success in progress, not bare numbers.
The media loves to portray online business success as a “rags to riches” story. The idea of becoming successful after a “big break” is omnipresent in society’s view of content creation.
Comparing online entrepreneurs to athletes, actors, and musicians, the media wants us to believe that one big development can elevate your career to unprecedented heights.
These stories are inspiring, but they represent the exception, not the norm.
The vast majority of successful online entrepreneurs got there by taking one step at a time, and by becoming a little bit better every day.
Consequently, focus on consistent improvement instead of trying to land one big break that will change your life.
3. Productivity and efficiency are important, but they will never replace hard work
To become a full-time online entrepreneur, you’ll need to be productive and efficient.
Whether you’re a writer, Youtuber, or consultant, you’ll have to sustain a decent level of output over long stretches.
In this regard, productivity hacks and efficiency techniques can maximize your output.
Nevertheless, even the most productive, Pareto-loving content creators will have to put the required hours in.
Productivity hacks like morning routines and one-task sprints can help you get more out of fewer hours, but they won’t replace your hard work.
4. Your state of mind will vary, your actions shouldn’t
If your online venture represents your full-time job, mood sways are inevitable.
There will be days when you feel on top of the world. Your content is performing well, and your revenue is going up. You finally taste the fruits of your hard labor.
On days like these, you feel invincible, and you believe that everything you touch will turn to gold.
In contrast, there will also be days when you feel stuck, despondent, and discouraged.
Your business isn’t growing quickly enough, and you haven’t come as far as you imagined.
Remember the following: both states of mind reflect facts.
On your positive day, you look at your growth and feel great. Your negative day, on the other hand, shows a lack of quick progress.
The numbers are the same, but your general mood creates a different outlook.
Whether the glass is half full or half empty is your subjective view.
What shouldn’t be subjective, however, are your actions.
No matter if you’re having a good or bad day, you need to work toward your goals.
If you’re a blogger, you need to write consistently, not just when you’re having a great day.
If you’re a podcaster, your spoken opinions are your greatest asset, both on happy and unhappy days.
And if you’re a startup manager, you can’t change your routine because you’re having a rough day.
In short, you need to look at your work objectively, ignoring the subjective feeling you have toward your day and general situation.
5. Be prepared to forgo the perks of a corporate job
If you want to become a full-time online entrepreneur, you’ll have to give up the advantages that come with most corporate jobs.
Paid leave? Nonexistent.
Instant gratification? Try working in a restaurant. You’ll get tips.
Or a bit of social prestige? Not in today’s society.
Because you’re forgoing common corporate perks, you need to know why you started.
Your reasons for becoming an online entrepreneur have to be clear. That way, they’ll undermine the mental dissatisfaction of not receiving paid vacation days and a fancy company business card.
6. Be prepared to have no one else to blame
Another rule to live by as an online entrepreneur is the following: I can’t blame anyone but myself for my failures, and I need to hold myself accountable.
When you’re working a regular job, you’ll always find a scapegoat for work-related woes.
My boss hates me, that’s why I’m not getting a pay-rise. My coworker’s cat is annoying, that’s why I am not productive. And the reason for my lack of commitment is my company. They’re an evil corporation.
These excuses will not work if you’re making a full-time income online.
You can be lucky or unfortunate with certain decisions, but your online income will depend on yourself, no one else.
7. Taking time off is hard but necessary
I remember my first two months as a digital nomad in Asia. My business was in its growth phase, and most of my work was freelance.
As a result, I rarely took days off. Those two months felt like a sea of lost travel opportunities, as I didn’t explore the cities I was staying in.
Worse still, it felt like a lose-lose situation.
If I took too many days off, the entrepreneur in me would feel guilty for not working harder.
If I, on the other hand, didn’t take any days off, the traveler in me would feel guilty for not experiencing enough of the local culture.
The magic word is balance.
As a full-time online entrepreneur, you need to establish your best system of taking time off.
No matter if you’re a six-figure business manager or a small freelancer, holidays are necessary.
There are many ways to ensure free-time if you’re an entrepreneur, but my best practices include the following: find the right clients, prepare your time off in advance, and build passive income streams.
8. Rejection is inevitable
If you want to make a living online, get ready for rejection.
No matter the field you’re in, you’ll be rejected by clients, potential business partners, and your social circle.
In my first year as a freelance writer, I got rejected around 100 times before scoring a few low-paying jobs. The positive aspect of all those rejections was that their frequency made them less painful.
Better still, all those rejections made wins even more pleasing.
Of course, some people fail fewer times than others, but no one succeeds all the time.
The main challenge resides in identifying the lessons from your rejections and utilizing those takeaways in the future.
On this basis, live by the following rule: rejections don’t matter, but your reactions do.
9. Your ego is your greatest enemy
Akin to mood sways, your ego cannot influence your work routine.
When you’re having a great day, don’t pump up your ego. Don’t start thinking that you’re the next Bill Gates because you made a few thousand dollars online.
And when you’re having a horrid day, don’t destroy your ego. We all go through rough patches, but that doesn’t mean our online careers are doomed.
Try to stay focused and humble during great periods and confident during tough stretches. Never let your ego get the better of you, no matter if you’re currently winning or losing.
10. The more problems you solve, the more money you’ll make
Finally, the most important rule to live by concerns your approach toward making money online.
All successful online entrepreneurs solve some kind of problem.
If you’re a writer, for instance, your audience wants a solution to a specific problem. The quality of your work, your personality, your authority, and your voice will determine the price.
So, instead of thinking about making millions in content creation, think about what kind of problems you can solve.
In this context, the criteria for making a decent income online are the following:
- How big is the problem you’re solving?
- How frequently can you solve the problem, and how permanent is the problem?
- How many people need the solution and are willing to pay for it?
- How high is your authority for solving that problem?
The higher you rank in these four criteria, the more money you’ll make. It’s not wizardry. It’s a simple offer-and-demand equation.
That’s why you shouldn’t waste your time with get-rich-quick schemes. Direct your energy toward solving problems, and you’ll be on the right track.
