Simple Steps To Make Money OFF The Internet

Maybe I'm a bit jaded with all the "make money online" crap that gets passed around the Internet. It seems like everybody and their cousin is trying to get rich quick. With the current economic environment, it seems as though more and more "biz opps" pop up and try to sucker people in every day. When people lose their jobs and see so many claims of other folks making easy money, they want to make easy money, too.

Whatever happened to good ol' hard work, eh?

I'm not going to sit here and say that technology isn't great, because it is. As a matter of fact, I'm one of those "digital nomads" that makes his entire living due to the wonders of modern technology, particularly the Internet.

I'm not here to bash making legitimate income from working online, obviously, since I do it myself. But what I want to do on this blog is basically play devil's advocate, and write about stuff I never get to write about. And a lot of that stuff has to do with making an honest living without getting sucked into all the Internet marketing hype, because that's what 99.9% of it is: Hype and scams being pushed by people trying to make money online by selling you something about how to make money online.

So let's say you just lost your job, and you'd been living paycheck to paycheck prior to. It's happened to many of us, especially lately. What do you do?

First, make sure that all your friends, family, and former co-workers know that you're looking for work. There used to be a time in our culture where people looked down their noses at us when we lost our job, but I think those days are long gone, for pragmatic reasons. Headhunters tell us that something like 2/3 of all jobs are actually found via word of mouth, not through online job searches, classifieds, or the unemployment office.

Second, file for that unemployment check. I'll be the first person to rant and rave about why no such government program should exist, but the fact is that it does, so use it.

Third, think critically about your situation. In other words, how desperate are you? Is the mortgage due in two weeks, and you don't have three nickels to your name? Then it's time to take drastic action. Can you borrow money from family? Can you do some odd jobs around town, or hit up a day labor outfit? What about doing some consulting work for your old employer?

These first three things are all things you should do on day one. You don't sit around for a week enjoying the time off, and then get busy looking. No, you hit the ground running the same day as your layoff.

After you get the ball rolling on making sure people know you are looking for work, you've unemployment set up, and you've analyzed the situation, it's time to start thinking about a plan. Here are some things to consider:

• Do I have a skill set to start a business with?
• Do I have enough personal connections to start doing some freelance work?
• Can I convert a hobby into an income-generating activity somehow?
• What other resources do I have, such as connections, assets, knowledge, etc.?
• Are there old skill sets I could tap back into to increase my odds of finding work?
• Are there new skill sets that are an extension of what I already know that I could pick up quickly?
• What programs does my community or state offer to help recently unemployed folks?

...and that's just the tip of the iceberg, but hopefully it's enough to get your creative/critical thinking juices going.

You'll notice that the big trend so far has to do with your skill set(s). What can you do for other people?

Sales training guru Zig Ziglar famously said, "Help enough other people get what they want, and you'll get what you want." In reality, this is the entire basis for free market capitalism.

Let's say you know how to paint fences, and somebody else doesn't have a clue how to paint fences, but they want their fence painted. The two of you come to an agreement that results in both of you getting what you want. They get their fence painted, you get some money towards that mortgage payment. Capitalism at it's finest.

I should quickly mention Craigslist. Be sure to scour the part-time and gigs section of your local Craigslist, as there are generally a plethora of short-term work assignments requiring a wide variety of skill sets in those sections.

If I decide to continue writing on this subject in this blog, I'll get into some other ways to (legally) make some extra money OFFLINE. I'll probably also cover some basic self-employment and startup stuff, since that's where I come from.