1 dumb myth preventing you from huge money writing online

Jan 13, 2024

I should already be an independent, fairly wealthy entrepreneur.

But I’m not, and it’s my fault for falling for a small, simple myth that causes long detours for some people, and prevents countless others from ever achieving their dreams.

Although I built a multiple five-figure business within a year of launching my current content empire, I’m still nowhere near where I want to be.

And had I known what I know now back when I was in my 20s and 30s, I wouldn’t still be toiling away at a day job while building a business on the side.

I’d be free.

Trust me, the sooner you figure this out, the sooner you’ll be on your way to your own online creator riches, or whatever else you dream of achieving.

Allow me to explain, and then I’ll tell you how to avoid falling into the trap.

A life of luxury could be yours, but only if you avoid falling for one persistent myth. (Licensed by the author under the Unsplash+ License)

Avoid the trick, get the treats

I lost a good chunk of change trying to get rich during the COVID stock market boom.

But back then, what I called “investing” was just a fancy word for gambling.

I saw all these people getting massive returns trading stocks at the time, and I still naively believed that get-rich-quick schemes could actually make you rich.

Stupid.

I came to realize that the people who made big bucks weren’t geniuses — they were just in the right place at the right time.

And when governments stopped pumping the markets with easy money, many uber-rich finance influencers lost millions — and some went to jail for scamming their followers.

I lost money trying to swing trade stocks and options because I fell for the myth that there was such a thing as easy money.

But I fell for a bigger myth too — the one that I reference at the top of this post.

I believed that a year was a long time.

Sidetracked

I was reminiscing about this as I checked my portfolio returns today.

Over the past year, my investments are up around $2,000, which doesn’t seem like much.

But when you consider my portfolio is only worth $9,000 at the moment, it’s not bad at all.

All told, I’ve made 27% on my stock investments in a year, not including dividends.

This is really good, but it required a careful process … and time.

Back when I was making dumb bets on the market, I thought I should be making $2,000 per day within a month or two.

So stupid.

This kind of silly time-warping is something a lot of entrepreneurs — myself included — fall for too, and it’s a dream-killer.

Starts and stops

When I was younger, I was a serial website starter.

I had great ideas. I really did.

And had I stuck with a single one of them, I’d probably be laughing all the way to the bank right now.

But I believed that if I wasn’t making enough money to quit my job within two weeks, I was a failure.

Most content entrepreneurs will tell you it takes 2–5 years to get any traction in this game.

YEARS!

And here I was having a pity party because I wasn’t making hundreds of dollars a day immediately.

I have a lot of regret about that.

I’ve wasted a lot of my life because the myth that a year is a long time caused me to quit things way before I should have.

Believing that myth gave me unrealistic expectations and caused me to fail over and over again.

I think I know why, too.

Change your brain, change your life

A big part of the problem is that time seems to pass so slowly when you’re young.

Time didn’t really speed up all that much for me until I had kids (at which point it hit the afterburners).

But when you’re young, a year really does feel like a long time.

If I could go back, I would tell my 25-year-old self not to fall into that trap.

I’d tell myself it takes time for your vision to become reality and not to quit.

A year is the blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things, and it takes several of them to accomplish anything.

So if you want to make big money writing online, making YouTube videos, starting a business in the trades, whatever … don’t waste any time.

But also don’t let your misperception of time get in the way.

Instead of focusing on dollars and stats and expectations, focus on your process instead.

If you get that right, the dollars and stats will take care of themselves.

Publish Every Day project update: Day 61

I’m trying to see if I can make enough money to leave commuter life within a year by publishing every day on different platforms and investing my earnings into passive income vehicles.

How much I need to retire: $250 CAD per day

What I earned on Day 61: $42.01 (writing) + $1.88 (YouTube) = $43.89 total

Publish Every Day update on Day 61: Chart 1

Publish Every Day update on Day 61: Chart 2

What I’ve published the past two days:

My top 5 trending stories:

James Julian's Publish Every Day

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