The Internet Gold Mine Story

I’m suddenly in the mood to write a story and all stories should end with a moral of the story. Stories make words come alive, so this post should logically draw more interest than the rest of my posts. However, humans are seldom logical beings, which is why we are particularly interested in stories, which triggers emotions. While this story will not trigger much emotion, it serves to sum up my opinions of the internet, few years ago and now. Let’s move on to the Internet story.

In the year ADxxxx (only Mensa members know when Internet came into our lives), computers were networked together and hooked up to form the Internet. Little was known about this new land, except that it promised widespread communication. It was an age where technogeeks rule this land; they spoke a language that few understood and tackled problems that would cause heart attacks for the faint-hearted. We call them geeks, but deep inside, they were highly respected beings and charged high prices teaching people how to double-click.

A few years later, residents of developed and developing countries were taught how to mess around with these computers. Of course, the most common reason for kids like myself to learn how to use a computer was the promise of endless gaming once you mastered the use of a keyboard and mouse. This wasn’t just another empty promise as the Internet gradually got filled with millions of kids looking for Games to play. I only saw the birth of the Internet as a kid and all I knew was how to find the best entertainment, but things soon changed…

Advertisements promising riches flooded into in-game communications and it seems like the internet has changed its purpose. I thought it was to provide entertainment for kids like myself, but apparently, the adults treated this whole land as a Gold Mine. Magazines and Newspapers started publicizing this fairly new land as ‘The Internet Gold Mine’. Even kids like myself got attracted to the idea of having some gold, so I followed up on those offers. Guess what? I didn’t make enough money to cover my internet bills, definitely not enough to buy much gold. Looking back, it wasn’t at all surprising, since all I did was join Get Paid To Surf programs.

I have nothing to lose, since I’m surfing the Internet anyway and made some petty cash to cover part of my bills. Nice for me, but not for Corporations that entered the scene. These corporations burned millions of dollars paying for visitors, when their websites didn’t even make a single cent. Reality check came into the picture and the dotcom bubble came about, destroying billions of shareholder value, not that there was any value in the first place. Many people got disheartened with the internet and thought that the Internet is no longer a gold mine.

However, a brave few survived this stage and a couple of years after the crash, they have made millions from this gold mine. Affiliate Marketers, Gurus, Internet Marketers, Search Engine Experts, List Builders or whatever you call them… these people emerged victorious and collected bags after bags of gold. A new business model was born… the Internet Business.

That’s the end of my story and I hope you enjoyed it. Here’s the moral of my story: The Internet has always been a gold mine. This statement might be foolish, considering the dotcom crash that happened, but I’ll explain my way through. Before the dotcom crash, corporations were putting websites up and expecting to make money naturally. If we equate the internet to a gold mine, it’s like hiring staff to just walk around and pick up gold. Is it possible to pick up any gold in this way?

After the dotcom crash, people were smarter and realized that just walking around won’t get them gold, so most players left the scenes, thinking that there is no gold. The few that remained found the key to finding gold… building effective systems that help them close sales. Just like a gold mine that requires techniques such as gold panning to separate gold from impurities, an Internet Business requires the proper systems in place to turn prospects into buyers. The better techniques you use, the more gold you get. It’s that simple.

Of course, there are those who knows of the most perfect systems but never put them into use. These people are termed as procrastinators and I admit I’m one, just I don’t think I will be one for long. The magical thing is that procrastinators can awaken suddenly and start implementing the systems to draw bags of gold once the desire gets strong enough. Likewise, those who are unaware of effective systems can educate themselves. It’s amazing how we can pay tens of thousands of dollars on education, but not be willing to spend 0.1% of that on books that might help us skyrocket our income.

Finally, to sum everything up… there is only one reason why anyone can’t make money online and that’s procrastination. Either you’re procrastinating in seeking knowledge or procrastinating in putting knowledge into actions. The final group will protest and say “I’ve read and implemented, but I still lose money”. Then… think about it, are you procrastinating in implementing corrective actions? What do you think?