Let’s be clear that making money is different from getting rich.
Years ago, I talked to a friend who advertised himself as an online marketing guru.
I had relentlessly researched YouTube and read numerous books attempting to decode the combination for building a successful online business and needed his advice.
I went through a short list and told him I had discovered the following:
- Online marketers used landing pages to build email lists by giving away free digital products.
- Affiliate marketers promoted each other’s offerings through email lists and received a percentage of the proceeds.
- Effective copywriting was purported to be the ticket to great wealth. All that was needed was the ability to spark emotions to act.
- For high-ticket items, webinars were recommended to massage buyers.
- Creating sales videos with credible spokespeople was instrumental in getting people to visit a blog, landing page, or website with autoresponders used for developing a buying relationship through emails.
As I went through each point, my friend nodded in agreement. I imagined a nod since we were talking over the phone.
I confessed that none of these tactics worked for me. At least not at the level that marketing gurus professed they would.
He never revealed the secret sauce to me, and I left the conversation confused and mistrustful.
Indeed, our years of friendship solidified trust and honesty in ways that would reveal if there was some scamming among online marketers.
I hoped he would guide me in the right direction or provide best practices for moving forward.
None of these options were offered.
So I persisted for years in the online wilderness, attempting to unlock the secrets to online business success.
I discovered that there was no guaranteed formula. No secret sauce.
Every person’s journey is different; what works for one person doesn’t work for the next.
Making money through projects and ventures is a lifestyle that requires becoming immersed in the process.
And there are huge profits in selling people picks and shovels.
In other words, many marketers are skilled at selling concepts that sound practical but have yet to be proven effective.
But introverts can follow a few guidelines to make money without talking to people by creating opportunities alone and not wasting time waiting for marketing gurus to lead the way.
There are many activities introverts can do on their own.
- Discover an online community with unmet needs and meet those needs.
- Use research to determine what people have Googled to solve their problems.
- Create products (blogs, digital books, online courses, etc.) to supplement your information.
- Use social media to create a system for conveying relevant and beneficial information to a specialized online community.
- Listen to the needs of your online community on Facebook, LinkedIn, Quora, Twitter, and YouTube.
Although they are sound foundational principles, they don’t guarantee financial success.
So, what do you do?
Secure employment until you figure out a viable system for making money
Because building an effective business system takes a long time (sometimes decades), introverts must get a job that allows them to take care of their living expenses.
And contrary to advisors who suggest that jobs should be uncomfortable to motivate introverts to expedite the process, introverts should secure positions that do not take away their energy or focus but is comfortable to do.
Sometimes, timing and luck aren’t considered enough because wishful thinking suggests all things can be done through human will.
However, an innovative product or idea may be too early before people catch on.
Arthur Fry, the inventor of Post-it Notes, took 12 years for the technology to be perfected and go to market.
So, creating an independent enterprise may require self-funding through employment.
Create a body of work as a long-term financial investment
Stocks, bonds, and real estate are often discussed as viable means for building wealth.
However, more must be discussed in creating intellectual property as a viable long-term investment strategy.
Developing a blog, podcast, or video for a niche audience can be profitable long-term.
As people make traditional investments in the stock market, they should view intellectual property similarly.
Intellectual property can be sold to companies that see a symbiotic relationship between their brand and the market that intellectual property caters to.
Also, intellectual property can attract sponsors and advertisers who want to reach a targeted market.
Introverts prone to reading, writing, and reflection can become experts in areas that allow them to create unique and innovative information.
Intellectual property should be considered a long-term financial strategy with stocks, bonds, and real estate.
Seek opportunities where independence and autonomy are nurtured
Ultimately introverts who want to make money without talking to anyone seek self-reliance.
They want to interact with people on their terms to create fruitful alliances that benefit their intellectual curiosity.
There are very few people on earth who don’t want to interact with anyone at all.
A completely hermetic lifestyle could lead to boredom and mental illness.
Contrary to popular belief on the core desires of introverts, they prefer to socialize with people they know, like, and trust.
And earning money is just an extension of what brings them joy.
So aligning money-making opportunities with as much autonomy as possible is ideal for introverts.
They can’t be required to fit into a dominant, extroverted world but to develop ways of creating a world within it.
Introverts must create employment, projects, and ventures that match their strengths.
To do otherwise is to fall prey to the greed and selfishness of others.
—John Coale
Reference
Kolmar, C. (2022, Aug. 17). 23 gripping book industry statistics (2023): Facts about the book industry. Zippia. Retrieved from: https://bit.ly/3XOlodd.
