Many people like to write articles like, “How to Make $1,000 Per Month Online.” Or, “This One Trick Will Make You a Digital Millionaire!”

However, they're missing an important point: Rather than focusing on making a thousand or a million dollars, you should simply be focused on making a start.

As Chris Guillebeau writes in his book, The Art of Non-Conformity,

“If you can find a way to make $1,000 a month on your own, you can usually find a way to make $5,000.”

Indeed, more important than making $1,000, is making your first dollar. It’s about creating a runway and getting a start from which you can build.

Once you get your ideas off the ground, then the rest becomes so much easier. With that, the remainder of this article will explore how you do it.

Here we go.

Focus on Creating a Product For Just One Person

“It’s impossible to create work that both matters and pleases everyone.” -Seth Godin

Of course, Facebook started out as just a platform designed to connect Harvard students with one another.

Indeed, it was not Zuckerberg’s original plan to create a product that would attract more than 2 billion active users, but rather, to simply get all his classmates to sign up.

Mailchimp was born as CEO and Co-Founder, Ben Chestnut couldn’t be bothered to individually design email newsletters for a stream of clients who wanted them.

Thus, he created a tool that would take care of the process for him. Fast-forward to today, and Mailchimp is now an email newsletter service worth over 4 billion dollars.

The lesson?

Focus on creating a product that scratches the itch for a small group of people, and if it’s truly worth caring about, then more people will come.

For example, I write my articles to the person I was 2 years ago. The one who was addicted to video games, had no real direction in life, and simply needed some encouragement.

I’m not trying to force out any topics that I don’t agree with myself, and thus, it often resonates.

Hence, if you’re not seeing the results you want, perhaps it’s time to look for a different and smaller audience. However, don’t also forget to have a long term vision. Which takes us to the next point:

Know Where You’re Going Long Before You Get there

“Before you ever reach a goal, already have the next mountain or two in mind.” -Benjamin P. Hardy

In his book, Zero to One, Peter Thiel explains that when Yahoo! offered to buy Facebook for $1 billion in July 2006, Zuckerberg didn't even consider it. Instead, saying that it was merely a formality.

Hence, Peter Thiel further wrote:

“Mark saw where he could take the company, and Yahoo! didn’t. A business with a good definite plan will always be underrated in a world where people see the future as random.”

Indeed, no matter where you currently are. No matter how good or bad your business is currently doing, you must have a vision of something more.

You must see where you want to go in your mind and heart and then work towards it in the here and now.

Hence, my frequent recommendation is to “Think Big, Go Small.” Start with a crazy vision of who you are and where you want to be, and then bring your actions back to reality.

It is small, consecutive steps that lead to big success.

In Conclusion

“Most people would rather make a million dollars in their head every night than $100 dollars in cash every day.” -George Horace Lorimer

Most people will continue to read about how to make a thousand or a million dollars online and then continue to wonder why they aren't getting anywhere.

However, the solution is simple: Make the steps smaller! Of course, Brian Tracy has said,

“Any goal can be achieved if you break it down into enough small parts.”

Indeed, it shouldn’t be about making $1,000 but your first dollar, and the one after that and the one after that — each success leads to the next.

They say simply getting a rocket off the ground is the hardest part, and making money online is the same.

Once your ideas start taking off, then nothing becomes impossible.

Like this article? Join my email list to stay in touch.