Picture this: you, lounging on a beach chair with a fruity cocktail in one hand and your phone in the other, seeing notifications roll in: “$5,000 made in passive income today!” The sun beams down approvingly as you lean back, squinting at the horizon where success is as limitless as the sea. Sounds familiar? It should—it’s the fantasy sold to millions of people chasing online (BS) riches.
But before you max out your credit card on courses that promise to make you a seven-figure entrepreneur, let’s have a real talk about why you’re more likely to spot Bigfoot dancing the Macarena than to become an online millionaire. Strap in. This is going to be equal parts funny, frustrating, and face-palmingly honest.
(NOTE: Do yourself a favor and read this until the end…especially before you start thinking you know more than me on this subject. Because it’s likely you don’t. I’ve done this for over 20 years. Save yourself some heartache and delusion. And before you ask…there IS GOOD NEWS…which is why I asked you to read this until the end in the first place!)
1. The 0.01% Rule: Where Dreams Go to Get Eaten Alive
Here’s a secret no marketer wants you to know: the people who make millions online are often the people telling you how to make millions online. These course creators, influencers, and “gurus” form the 0.01% who profit from a digital gold rush that’s more pyramid scheme than paradise.
Think about it. If there was a reliable, replicable method to become a millionaire online, we’d all be sipping cocktails at that same beach. But we’re not. Most of us are scrolling through someone else’s vacation photos, wondering where we went wrong. The truth? The people who make it big are often the first to market, highly skilled, or have an audience that already trusts them. For the rest, it’s like trying to sell lemonade in the Sahara—during a rainstorm.
2. The Mirage of Passive Income
Ah, passive income—the mythical beast that promises money while you sleep, eat, or binge-watch the latest true crime docuseries. Unfortunately, achieving true passive income is about as easy as training a cat to do your taxes. Spoiler alert: both end in disappointment and possibly tears. The reason? In most industries passive income does not exist.
Sure, there are stories of YouTubers who earn a fortune from videos made five years ago or dropshipping magnates who earn six figures a month. But behind those success stories are thousands of people who realized that maintaining their online business is as “passive” as herding wild geese. You’ll need to tweak ads, deal with unhappy customers, fight algorithm changes, and hustle harder (much harder!) than you did at your last nine-to-five job.
3. The Land of Infinite Competition
The internet is a magical place where dreams come true, and for every dreamer like you, there are a million others with the same idea. If you think your skills in writing, graphic design, or coding will instantly translate to overnight riches, welcome to the party where everyone’s wearing the same hat.
Competition online isn’t just fierce—it’s carnivorous. That content series you’ve spent weeks crafting? It’s up against thousands of other posts, blogs, and videos published daily, all vying for the same eyeballs and wallets. Your side hustle will compete with brands that have entire teams dedicated to SEO, marketing, and optimization. It’s like trying to win a karaoke contest when the entire room is professional singers.
4. Algorithms: The Gatekeepers of Your Dreams
You’d think that once you create something brilliant, it would naturally find its audience. Nope. Algorithms, those mysterious overlords that govern our online fates, are more unpredictable than the final season of your favorite TV show. These digital gods decide who gets to be seen and who fades into the endless scroll of obscurity.
If your post or product doesn’t align with the algorithm’s current tastes, it doesn’t matter how great it is. This isn’t just a game; it’s a game where the rules change mid-play, and no one tells you why.
5. The Truth About “Overnight Success”
What’s often touted as overnight success is usually the result of years of hard work, unseen failures, and lucky timing. That influencer with the glossy lifestyle photos? They probably spent years in the trenches, producing content nobody saw before they went viral. (or, they just lied) And even then, they’re at the mercy of trends and public attention that can shift faster than a TikTok dance craze.
Becoming a millionaire isn’t impossible—it’s improbable. Most success stories online aren’t as simple as “start a blog, do a Youtube channel, rake in the cash.” They’re tales of relentless dedication, emotional rollercoasters, and a sprinkle of luck. It’s a lottery where the tickets are bought with blood, sweat, and social media-savvy.
6. The Hidden Cost: Your Time and Sanity
Finally, let’s not sugarcoat this: attempting to strike it rich online can cost you more than just time and money. It can erode your mental health, strain relationships, and replace joy with anxiety. When you’re chasing metrics and engagement, every quiet day feels like failure.
And here’s the kicker: even if you make it to millionaire status, you’ll quickly discover that money can’t buy back the peace you traded away to get there. Take it from me: My first online triumph cost me my first marriage.
"Now What...Since You've Crushed All My Dreams"
If becoming an online millionaire is unlikely, should you just give up? Not necessarily. The key is to adjust your expectations.
Aim for sustainable, realistic goals—enough to improve your life and perhaps give you more freedom, not an illusory, jet-setting fantasy.
Set your goal for that first $1,000.
Stop wasting your time on social media, build an email list and start selling people on that list.
What? You can’t write? Learn! If you can’t put in the effort to start writing you are DONE before you even start…trust me.
Sell to people with money. Don’t sell to broke people.
Learn, grow, and find joy in the process, not just the payout. Because the biggest online success is one that doesn’t just leave your bank account flush but your life enriched. Sounds woo-woo, doesn’t it? It’s the truth, and if you don’t find a way to embrace this fact of the human condition, then you get the same result as the paragraph above this.