Making money online niche is like walking on hot coal – it might look cool and you might make it to the other side with some luck, but you’re definitely going to burn yourself in the process.

Most people have at some point believed that they were meant for something more. Being stuck in a dead-end job, losing sight of where to go next, paying off a debt, losing a source of income, living paycheck to paycheck, going about the same old routine year after year… What does one do about it in the 21st century? They Google an answer.

Google Trends shows that interest for starting a business was at its all-time peak in August 2020, presumably due to the surge in layoffs globally in 2020. In pursuit of income, combined with some curiousity, many people finally gave ‘being your own boss’ a more serious thought.

A quick Google search for ‘how to start an online business’ or ‘how to earn money online’, will present millions of search results, all seemingly providing a perfect, step-by-step, surefire way of earning some extra cash by doing the things you love. It almost sounds too good to be true – you’re being offered business advice for free, all very elegantly packaged up in step-by-step guides with appropriate headers and bolded letters to emphasize important points.

Surely, if all of the people offering advice on how to earn money (online or otherwise) were implementing their own tips, and they actually worked, the market would become oversaturated? Think about it for a second. If the methods or advice being taught actually worked, and they were shared publicly, that would only work against the interest of the one teaching. The market becomes overcrowded with people trying to attempt that same method. By the time a money making method is public, you can assume that the opportunity is gone, regardless of the industry.

Any legitimate professional, who is actually making money from their work, be it an investor, entrepreneur, gambler, etc., will do everything to protect their advantage. Making decent money in any market requires expert knowledge and minimum competition. Teaching hundreds or thousands of people online how to create money is doing the exact opposite. Which can mean one of two things:

• The person teaching is aware that the methods are not going to work, and they are only sharing them because they know the post is going to get clicks (‘make money online’ is one of the most profitable niches to market to);
• They’re simply giving out theoretical ideas that they’re not using themselves, at which point you should wonder what is the exact value in the information provided.

One may attempt to argue that some professionals share their money making tips because they’re trying to diversify their income sources. However, anyone making a significant amount of money will understand the cost in time (and therefore, money). They would have to spend a significant amount of time learning tools and building a brand in order to make money from their blogging endeavor. Their time is much better spent actually doing the thing that’s making them money. You won’t see hedge fund managers creating ‘6 REAL Ways of Making Money Online In 2021’ blogs, that serve to funnel their readers into spending money with them.

People who are the loudest about earning extraordinary income are either popular influencers/celebrities, or con artists. Real ways of making a lot of money are rarely as sexy as these individuals tend to talk them up to be. It takes a lot of fails and patience to make a livable income, be it working a 9-5 job, or doing careful analyses of investment opportunities. Everything else is either luck or privilege.

However, most people looking money making advice online don’t want to hear this reality. They don’t want to face the fact that their dream life is not so dreamy after all. If you’re trying to escape long work hours and spend your days lazying around on a beach, you’re better off staying at your regular 9-5. Entrepreneurs oftentimes have to put in 10-15h days. Elon Musk, a billionaire, admitted to still putting in 80-90h work weeks. Investing in stocks requires spending hours upon hours crunching numbers and trying to manage risk-reward outcomes. You’re likely to lose money due to a variety of factors (underestimating fees, emotional buying-selling…).

The main problem of ‘money making secrets’ seekers is their ignorance. Some go into it enchanted by the flashy lifestyles influencers and celebrities promote. Others are driven by need – a loss of a job, debt, insufficient income, craving for independence. Although these two tend to be the most common, the reasons why people are joining money making online circles are not as important. The real question is what they get out of them. And that’s the catch-22: it’s usually overconfidence.

Making money online content tend to be very formulaic and vague, enough so that someone who’s new to the topic would feel like they’re learning something useful, while there are no real actionable tips. The lack of knowledge of the online money making content consumers makes them prone to being overconfident. Cornell University psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger discovered that those who are the least skilled tend to overestimate their skills the most – something known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. The lack of depth of knowledge and understanding on a subject tends to mess with our metacognition, or the ability to judge ourselves objectively. After delving into a topic slightly, we don’t understand how extensive it is, and it makes us feel like we’re experts. Only after dedicating years to study a material can we assess our abilities in it. Internet’s role in this is a topic of its own.

None of what has been explained so far is implying that the methods outlined in some of the blogs or posts are impossible. It is obviously possible to make any of them work with the right conditions, correct skillset, natural talent, drive and luck.

The good way to go is to figure out your limitations and work around them. If you want to try your hand at any methods outlined above, don’t quit your main job before your side-hustle starts earning you more money consistently. Play it smart. Instead of glossing over blog headlines, read some books on the topics that interest you – it’s better to acquire in-depth knowledge in a few areas than to go broad and shallow (remember, we’re trying to avoid confidence based on ignorance and lack of understanding). If you’re looking up specific step-by-step advice on what business to start, you shouldn’t be starting it. If you want to start a (small) business, look around you and spot problems in your daily life you could solve. It doesn’t have to be a problem you personally experience – you could get an idea through careful observation of everyone else.

TLDR; Make money online gurus tend to skew the percieved success rate of the money making methods they offer because they have vested interest. They benefit from you buying their products, or giving them adsense money at the very least. Most of the content on this topic relies on the lack of knowledge of its consumers, where shallow and vague information satisfies them just enough so they continue looking up more advice to clear up the vagueness. It’s easy to get sucked into the online money making rabbit hole, but it’s important to stay grounded in reality – I call it the ‘mom test’. If you brought up the idea to your mom, would she laugh at you?