The Cost Triangle of MMO

Have you ever seen the videos on TT and other social media platforms that tell you “this is for the broke and lazy” or “side hustles you can do in your sleep” – if you have, then this post is for you.

MMO (Making Money Online) IS for the ‘broke and lazy’ – IF by ‘broke and lazy’ they mean industrious and hard-working? Doing MMO is like having a full-time job, especially for beginners.

If you have absolutely no experience with digital platforms (i.e. social media creation, website building, email marketing template creation, copywriting / content creation, etc.) then MMO will be a journey for you! And I promise you – it will be one of the hardest things you’ve ever done in your life….but it can also be the most fulfilling.

There is a way to retire from your 9-5 job, but it won’t be in a month, or 2 months, or even 3. Realistically, if you treat MMO like a full-time job (or close to), you will get there within 1-2 years!

The Real Cost to MMO?

This is simple yet complex. The REAL cost is TIME, MONEY, and KNOWLEDGE – and that’s it! But within those 3 areas, there is a lot of room for error and mistake and listening to the wrong gurus or influencers out there. I’ll break each down for you.

Time

MMO will cost you in TIME. This is unavoidable. You will need to make time for this journey or endeavor. There are no get-rich-quick strategies for MMO. And ANYONE who tells you that there is – they are lying to you! Or trying to get you to sign up for something.

How much time will you spend? Well, let’s look at all the things that require time.

  1. Building an audience on social media
  2. Building a website for your content
    1. Ideating, creating, and producing that content
  3. Using Email Marketing platforms like MailChimp or AWeber to capture emails.
  4. Creating an online store with a Content Management System by uploading all the products and services and creating content around them (product listings pages, product details pages, images of products, etc.)
  5. Trying to find good products to sell to your audience from companies or brands that compliment your product or service (but this IS Affiliate Marketing – you can still do it ethically)
  6. Managing all the aspects of your content (products and services) including customer issues, reviews & online reputation, taxes, changing regulations, etc. – the list goes on and on.
A TRUE DIGITAL BUSINESS IS NEVER PASSIVE!

Money

MMO will also cost you money (not much to start). ANYONE that tells you you don’t need to spend a dime to make money online – again, they are LYING to you! BUT – ANYONE who tells you YOU need to spend THOUSANDS – is, without a doubt, unequivocally, LYING TO YOU !

How much money will you need to spend? Well, it really depends on what you are looking to do. Let’s look at things that cost money:

  1. Websites:
    1. There are open source (free to use and contribute to) website platforms like WordPress and Drupal. but in order to put them online and have them seen by internet users, you’ll have to buy hosting services and domain names.
    2. There are paid (proprietary) website builders that make it easier to create websites but they cost money (usually a monthly subscription) like: Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, GoDaddy, etc.
  2. Email Marketing platforms:
    1. Some of these are free to use like Mailchimp. BUT, if you use the free versions they are limited in how many lists you can create and what functionality you can use. So, you’ll start thinking about buying these things without knowing what they can really do for your business.
  3. Funnel Builders:
    1. You CAN make money online WITHOUT a website – BUT this assumes that you have an audience built on social media and are directing them to a product or service with an affiliate link. Getting an affiliate link is NOT easy, especially from a brand or company that is established and reputable.
  4. LLC’s:
    1. Creating an LLC in your state or another state like Wyoming (hard to pierce the corporate veil) then this will ABSOLUTELY cost you money. Where this will help you is in your tax filing proceedings to start but also in liability considerations. DISCLAIMER: I’m not a lawyer nor business advisor!

Knowledge

MMO will cost you knowledge. Now, knowledge can be seen as just another form of time/experience/expertise. But the cool thing about knowledge is that most of us already have some! If you have any life experience that you think is worth sharing – that’s where you should start your journey into MMO.

What knowledge do you possess that is worth sharing with the world? And the great thing about this is that YOUR KNOWLEDGE does NOT have to cater (and should NOT) cater to EVERYONE.

There are 5 billion people on the internet today (June 17, 2023) and we only need our knowledge (which will be turned to some form of content) to reach a very small percentage of that huge user base.

Think about this:

1% of 5 Billion is: 50 Million (there are only maybe 100 celebrities that have 50 million followers of more).

0.01% of 5 Billion is: 500,000

0.001% of 5 Billion is: 50,000

0.0001% of 5 Billion is: 5,000

0.00001% of 5 Billion is: 500 – you can even start making money online if this is the following you have, but you WILL NOT become rich off of it.

What Will Require Your Knowledge?

The answer could be anything and everything (almost like a catch-all):

  • What job have you worked for a while and what do people need to know about it? What secrets can you share?
  • What interests or hobbies do you have that others also want to know or learn?
  • What topics make you jazzed to think about or talk about?
  • What is uniquely you? What is authentically you?
  • How did you acquire certain things like products, material goods, knowledge, processes, thoughts, ideas, etc. that you believe others would benefit from?

Getting Started?

How should you get started if you don’t know what to do first? You should get started by doing 2 things first: Figuring out your KNOWLEDGE to know what’s worth sharing, giving away, and selling. USE YOUR KNOWLEDGE to learn FREE digital management, design, creation, and marketing tools. We can learn about payment gateways and hosting services a bit later. But start there – free digital tools can be found here (all they cost is your email):

Free Tools for MMO