How Long Did It Take You To Make Your First $10k?

Note: I mean not just the time it took for the actual money, but also the entire learning period and failure that went with it.

This thread is more about what it really takes to get to that level where money just seems to pile up. Many successful people brag about making money with little to no effort but I honestly don't believe that. I bet most if not all the people who now make more than 4 figures a day took a long time to get there. I'm almost half a year into IM now for the 3rd time and I barely made anything.

I read threads by people like @kinlee, @mancar487, @t0mmy, @meathead1234, @netmoney1 and many others who spent months or even years getting to where they are today, but not a single person was making 10k per month from the get go. On average, it takes people around half a year to start making money with IM.



Some of the old threads by those who are now successful and well known on BHW are actually quite cringy and filled with rage fueled ranting, lol. Which kinda makes me think that I'm not worse off than they were back then. In fact, my personal situation right now is a lot more stable, because at least I co-own an average 2 story house that I can't get kicked out off if I fail to pay the bills (Eastern European laws) on time...or ever (hue hue).

I did make $220 dollars on my first month of trying to make money online, but that is rare from what I gather. I have also heard people making several hundred/thousand dollars in a few days, but that is not consistent money.

I'm more interested in YOUR story and how you got to where you are. I'll take notes of things so be careful what you say...or else!



No, but seriously, at least please make an effort to write things that are true or don't bother replying.

Everyone is different.. some people just aren't cut out for this business and they'll keep failing no matter what. Other people just sort of "get it" quickly.. they learn and they put what they've learned into practice, eventually with persistence it pays off.

I think it took me around a year or a little more to get to the $10k per month mark. I'm thankful and lucky enough (due to hard work) to have kept growing since then.. now $10k+ Days are a common thing.

I am from China, I began to learn the Internet in China in my college the 2nd-3rd year, and 2 years later I first introduced to BHW and nailed here lol, from first glance of BHW in 2012 and now 2017 coming, I earn less than 3K dollar total LOL (and this 3K is all earn from China web things not English related lol ), its a shame right?

I always looking for good method and keep reading here and there but seldom do it, while I have to say, short of startup cash made me very hard to begin, though I am still trying my best to overcome this....till now!

Now I finally realized take action is far more important if you want to make serious cash online!

BTW, I love your avatar very much, the anime is goddamn funny cute! So I try to reply every post of cutey u. haha

terry

t0mmy said:

Everyone is different.. some people just aren't cut out for this business and they'll keep failing no matter what. Other people just sort of "get it" quickly.. they learn and they put what they've learned into practice, eventually with persistence it pays off.

I think it took me around a year or a little more to get to the $10k per month mark. I'm thankful and lucky enough (due to hard work) to have kept growing since then.. now $10k+ Days are a common thing.

Click to expand...

You know t0mmy... I don't envy you for some reason. I enjoyed reading your threads and they really put me "in my place". I do feel like I'm one of those people who will keep failing no matter what, but that's because of who I am.

Much of this IM business is not fitting with my nature and I'm trying to achieve even the most basic things. When I first started in 2013 - I was putting in 105+ hours every single week, 7 days a week for months and didn't make squat. I couldn't understand what was wrong. All that happened was that I lost hundreds of my dad's money (felt like an ass) and quit afterwards because I changed my religion (won't say what).

Was I focusing on too many methods? Was it because I didn't study things thoroughly? Who knows. All I know is that I was spending so much time on IM that I didn't even have a social life and started missing so many daily activities because of work.

Other people look at a method that is not working, find a twist and go from there. I take a method and keep trying it only to fail again and again, but am not creative enough to make it my own. It's all voodoo to me. I can grasp mathematics and music, but this shit doesn't inspire me at all.

I refuse to give up. Why? Because I'd rather be dead than work for someone else. I've had it with the way the world works with their, "you either work for someone or live on the streets." Those slowlaners don't get it. I'll become a fastlaner even if it kills me.

Elin Dotsya said:

You know t0mmy... I don't envy you for some reason. I enjoyed reading your threads and they really put me "in my place". I do feel like I'm one of those people who will keep failing no matter what, but that's because of who I am.

Much of this IM business is not fitting with my nature and I'm trying to achieve even the most basic things. When I first started in 2013 - I was putting in 105+ hours every single week, 7 days a week for months and didn't make squat. I couldn't understand what was wrong. All that happened was that I lost hundreds of my dad's money (felt like an ass) and quit afterwards because I changed my religion (won't say what).

Was I focusing on too many methods? Was it because I didn't study things thoroughly? Who knows. All I know is that I was spending so much time on IM that I didn't even have a social life and started missing so many daily activities because of work.

Other people look at a method that is not working, find a twist and go from there. I take a method and keep trying it only to fail again and again, but am not creative enough to make it my own. It's all voodoo to me. I can grasp mathematics and music, but this shit doesn't inspire me at all.

I refuse to give up. Why? Because I'd rather be dead than work for someone else. I've had it with the way the world works with their, "you either work for someone or live on the streets." Those slowlaners don't get it. I'll become a fastlaner even if it kills me.

Click to expand...

Actually i dont see why working for other people such a big deal, if you can't figure things out yourself, spend 3-5 months working for some big corporates, it will change the way you work or probably change the way you think.

Quite a few billionaires started wokring for other people, and then built a solid world changing company from there, i really don't see why BHWers always bash people who works for others, nothing wrong with it.

Some people figure it out after a few trials, you obviously do not after working 105hrs per week for months (as you stated), there is nothing wrong with it, just that this game is not for everyone.

Peter Ngo said:

Actually i dont see why working for other people such a big deal, if you can't figure things out yourself, spend 3-5 months working for some big corporates, it will change the way you work or probably change the way you think.

Quite a few billionaires started wokring for other people, and then built a solid world changing company from there, i really don't see why BHWers always bash people who works for others, nothing wrong with it.

Some people figure it out after a few trials, you obviously do not after working 105hrs per week for months (as you stated), there is nothing wrong with it, just that this game is not for everyone.

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Exactly right. I started my journey building links by fucking hand for an SEO company for peanuts in the beginning. It was a start though which got me a foot in the door as I seen it.. allowed me to see how a large scale SEO company worked, allowed me to educate myself while also earning a steady reliable wage. The company grew and I ended up managing a small team then for them.. this taught me a lot which would serve me well when I eventually went it alone.

I also learned a lot from watching their mistakes, when I had learned enough I began branching out on my own. Eventually the owner of that company from back then ended up working for me.. we're still good friends to this day.

Within the first year re-selling social media followers.

Hmm in about 1 month. I got to the first page for the keyword "cheat featurepoints". That was a few years ago.

I can make $10,000 in 1 day, the trouble is it took me a lifetime to learn how to do that!

Within 6-7 months. my site was ranked #1 for some blackhat kws. i love those days.

Like some guy before said, i can make this in a couple of months but it took quite some time to get to this point. It basically took around 9 years of "playing" and doing all sort of online stuff until i hit the right one

t0mmy said:

Everyone is different.. some people just aren't cut out for this business and they'll keep failing no matter what. Other people just sort of "get it" quickly.. they learn and they put what they've learned into practice, eventually with persistence it pays off.

I think it took me around a year or a little more to get to the $10k per month mark. I'm thankful and lucky enough (due to hard work) to have kept growing since then.. now $10k+ Days are a common thing.

Click to expand...

10k a day holy shit. Is it all / majority of it from SEO?

Real world: Almost a year. Worked at a Subway making minimum wage in high school. Pay was shit, hours were shit, but it taught me a lot about customer service, discipline, how to treat others, how others treat those with less power, and that I never wanted to do that again. I firmly believe that everyone should have to spend at least a year working a customer service job. It's extremely easy to tell who has done this and who hasn't.

IM: The first ORM client I had I required a $10k start-up fee. So day one.

Elin Dotsya said:

Note: I mean not just the time it took for the actual money, but also the entire learning period and failure that went with it.

This thread is more about what it really takes to get to that level where money just seems to pile up. Many successful people brag about making money with little to no effort but I honestly don't believe that. I bet most if not all the people who now make more than 4 figures a day took a long time to get there. I'm almost half a year into IM now for the 3rd time and I barely made anything.

I read threads by people like @kinlee, @mancar487, @t0mmy, @meathead1234, @netmoney1 and many others who spent months or even years getting to where they are today, but not a single person was making 10k per month from the get go. On average, it takes people around half a year to start making money with IM.

Some of the old threads by those who are now successful and well known on BHW are actually quite cringy and filled with rage fueled ranting, lol. Which kinda makes me think that I'm not worse off than they were back then. In fact, my personal situation right now is a lot more stable, because at least I co-own an average 2 story house that I can't get kicked out off if I fail to pay the bills (Eastern European laws) on time...or ever (hue hue).

I did make $220 dollars on my first month of trying to make money online, but that is rare from what I gather. I have also heard people making several hundred/thousand dollars in a few days, but that is not consistent money.

I'm more interested in YOUR story and how you got to where you are. I'll take notes of things so be careful what you say...or else!

No, but seriously, at least please make an effort to write things that are true or don't bother replying.

Click to expand...

In your opinion which are the most interesting journey threads to read? Tommy doesn't have one I think

spectrejoe said:

10k a day holy shit. Is it all / majority of it from SEO?

Click to expand...

Yes all from SEO.. We've actually had a few $50k+ days in the past 2 months. We're the white label providers for some of the biggest SEO companies in the world, they spend like crazy.. but they don't hang out on forums, the past year was spent expanding our reach to attract them.

You'll notice I don't really advertise here or on any other forums now, to attract those big fish we needed to branch out.. content marketing and smart Facebook ad targeting was the answer!

t0mmy said:

Yes all from SEO.. We've actually had a few $50k+ days in the past 2 months. We're the white label providers for some of the biggest SEO companies in the world, they spend like crazy.. but they don't hang out on forums, the past year was spent expanding our reach to attract them.

You'll notice I don't really advertise here or on any other forums now, to attract those big fish we needed to branch out.. content marketing and smart Facebook ad targeting was the answer!

Click to expand...

Amazing and very motivational! May i ask how long it took you from the start of your journey to now?

t0mmy said:

Yes all from SEO.. We've actually had a few $50k+ days in the past 2 months. We're the white label providers for some of the biggest SEO companies in the world, they spend like crazy.. but they don't hang out on forums, the past year was spent expanding our reach to attract them.

You'll notice I don't really advertise here or on any other forums now, to attract those big fish we needed to branch out.. content marketing and smart Facebook ad targeting was the answer!

Click to expand...

That's awesome! Do you perhaps have any journey thread of yours? Really interested to see your progress and such.

First 10k in real life was a combination of two jobs. I was a gas jockey for 10 months, then quit. Then worked in a deli for 22 months or something. Quit there to go to college. Started taking IM serious in 2015. It took me around a year and 4 months to make $10k. Now I know what I'm good at having done and attempted a lot of different things.

It hasn't been easy at all. I've learned a lot about myself, knocked down a lot of mental barriers, had a lot of really shitty days and had some good days. Fortunately I am still young so I feel I am making good progress in life. If IM crashes for me I'll just hop on a job listing site, go to a couple interviews and blab on about my IM experience and how it can help the company. Everything works out in the end.

t0mmy said:

Yes all from SEO.. We've actually had a few $50k+ days in the past 2 months. We're the white label providers for some of the biggest SEO companies in the world, they spend like crazy.. but they don't hang out on forums, the past year was spent expanding our reach to attract them.

You'll notice I don't really advertise here or on any other forums now, to attract those big fish we needed to branch out.. content marketing and smart Facebook ad targeting was the answer!

Click to expand...

Also if you don't mind me asking, what would be the most influencial type of links for rankings? I'm currently building 3 amazon websites but as you'd expect they aren't keywords that you can easily find guest posts for or keywords that you can easily get infographics for and such so I'm honestly not sure what procedure I should take to rank these keywords, they also have low competition.

I'm currently aiming to get to a constant ~1-1.5k month so that I can quit my day job and focus on SEO 100% wanted to try and get to 10k/monthly through Amazon websites only and then maybe venture into creating a SEO company for my country or something similar, since I'm so far from it I haven't actually planned any of it yet.

Heiko said:

Amazing and very motivational! May i ask how long it took you from the start of your journey to now?

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I'm in this business over half a decade now.. so yeah it wasn't an overnight thing.

spectrejoe said:

That's awesome! Do you perhaps have any journey thread of yours? Really interested to see your progress and such.

Click to expand...

Not a journey thread but I do write often about my experiences and I share a lot of what's worked for me in countless threads here on bhw and on our blog. I guess you could http://www.serplogic.com/all-things-marketing/million-dollar-seo-company this post we did around 2 weeks ago to mark our latest companies 1st birthday and how we went about doing our first million in revenue in that short time frame.

Regarding your second question - legit outreach and content marketing are the only ways to fly these days, anything else is short lived and simply time wasted IMO