When Will I Be Rich

I'm frequently asked by friends and associates" How long does it take to make a profit from my website?". This is a great question and a very sensible one for someone who is new to online marketing to ask.

I have two canned answers to the question. Both of them come from my cuddly curmudgeon personality. 1) Maybe never, and 2) It'll take as long as it takes. I then go silent, and stare at the person with a completely innocent expression, waiting to see their response. They usually nod in affirmation and walk away. Neither of us have wasted any precious time in a mundane conversation.

These people will probably never make a profit. However... If the questioner pursues the topic I'm happy to expand on my original response. However, most folks nowadays want instant satisfaction, answers, gratification and food. Any explanation or conversation that requires more time than it takes to warm a roll in the microwave exceeds their attention span. Which, also means that they will not probably make a profit, ever.

The problem is that it’s almost impossible to answer as there are so many factors that can influence the time to profitability. And, discussing these factors can actually take at least 3 to 5 minutes. If you have a few minutes, read on. I'll stifle my inner curmudgeon and get serious.

For example, if you’re working at your online business full-time as though it was a regular job, and putting in a good eight hours a day (or more) the time taken to go from a loss to decent profit can be substanially reduced. On the other side of the coin, if all you’re doing is tinkering around with an online business during the commercials while watching TV 12 hours a day, then it will take a long time and it may never happen.

Another factor is expertise. If you are bringing a lot of knowledge to your business the time it takes to succeed can be greatly reduced. That doesn’t mean that if you’re lacking in any necessary skills you’re going to fail, it just means it could take a little longer to succeed. Skills can be learned!

A primary factor that can have a major impact on the time it takes to make a profit is the ability to focus. If you keep jumping from one idea to the next and never focus for long enough to bring something to completion then the chances are you will never get off first base. It’s amazing how many people fall into this trap. I know from first-hand experience. I went from affiliate marketing, to PLR products, to niche sites and on and on. I wasted several months trying to find what I wanted.

One final factor, I think that is directly related to focus, is attitude. If you have a negative attitude that constantly blames everyone else for your lack of success then the chances are you’ll struggle to see any success. A lot of folks will blame anything and everything rather than taking responsibility themselves. They’ll blame the tools they’re using, their computer, their broadband connection (or lack of), the advice they’ve been given, the economy, the color of the walls, the clothes they have.

It's always easier to blame someone or something than take stock of oneself. Especially today when society constantly purports "It's not your fault." Anyone who falls into this trap needs to look around and realize that lots of people ARE succeeding with the same tools, with the same kind of computer, with the same broadband connection, in the same economy, and worse clothes. It’s critical to take all these factors into consideration when you ask "How long does it take before I make a profit?".

If you recognize yourself in any of these, and we all do to a greater or lesser degree, you need to concentrate on eliminating those factors. It will shorten the time to success.

Another situation that I've come across in conversations with new internet marketers is they often have completely unrealistic expectations as to how quick they will become millionaires. And, for an understandable reason. I receive 50 emails a day, on the average, from marketers promising the latest and greatest instant success programs. All GUARNATEED, by the way. The only redeeming side to this is I'll live forever because I'm on an email list.

Only recently I came across someone who had published his website two weeks before and hadn’t made any money. When I asked what he’d done to promote his website he said ‘nothing’. He honestly thought that all he had to do was put up the website according to the sales pitch and the money would follow. Hey, it's an automatic cash machine!!!

The only things he had done wrong was being gullible and having unrealistic expectations. To publish a web site, do nothing to promote it, and then expect the traffic to come rushing in and purchase your product or click on the adsense ads, is just phenominally naive. It just won't happen. Allow me explain just in case anyone who is reading this wonders why not. If you open a store on a busy urban street the chances are good that some of the passing traffic will stop in just out of curiosity. If you open the same store in the Artic, the chances are that nobody would visit for the simple reason that nobody would know it was there.

Let's take an example half-way between those two extremes: We have a store that’s opened on the outskirts of a town. Anyone opening such a store would realize that they couldn’t just open the doors and hope that someone would find them. They’d realize that if they were going to make it work they’d need to get the word out. They might buy some advertising in the local paper, do a leaflet drop around the houses and other businesses in the neighborhood, newspaper, maybe put some flyers on the windshield of cars at the local mall.

In other words, they’d make some effort to let people know that their store was open for business. Once they started to get some customers they’d provide a great level of service in the hope that this would help bring in more customers through word of mouth, and if they were sensible they’d continue with their other marketing activities at the same time. Luckily, on the Internet, the process of getting the word out is so much easier, which makes it all the more amazing why some people just publish a site, do absolutely nothing, and then expect people to rush over to the site and start buying and crash the server from so much traffic. Oh yea baby!

Well, here's the real math for success:

[W(I x S) x (P - C)] - E = P

Where … I = The quality of the idea, S = The size of the market, C = Cost of goods, M = The effort put into spreading the word, P = Price, E = Expenses, P = Profits . Only joking!

Let me explain that in plain English. The profits you generate are equal to the quality of the idea you have multiplied by the size of the market place, the selling price and the effort you put in, multiplied by the price minus the cost of goods and then deducting from all of that any non variable expenditure that has been incurred. This might include what you think your time is worth if working for someone else.

That wasn't really plain Engish you say. Okay, I'll try it again. The amount of sales you generate depends on the quality of your initial idea, and the amount of effort you put into letting the world know about it. If you have a great idea and you put in sufficient effort, you WILL succeed. Just don't try selling bags of ice to Eskimos. The time it takes to reach that success will depend on the same two factors; the quality of the idea and the amount of effort that goes in to spreading the word.

If you take away either of those factors the chances of success will be harder and the time will be much longer, or will disappear completely. For example, if you have a great idea, but put little or no effort into spreading the word your chances of success will be slim to none. The same will be true if the quality of the idea is bad. It doesn’t matter how much effort you put in, the chances of success will still be slim or non-existent.

If I have to make a choice and say which one is most important I'm tempted to go with the effort. You have far greater chance of succeeding with a mediocre idea with lots of effort put into spreading the word, than you do with a great idea, but little effort spreading the word. Given enough traffic there will always be buyers. If there is little or no traffic then there will be no sales.

I hope the above helps a little in answering the question "How Long Before My Website Makes A Profit?".

Happy and Prosperous New Year