Getting Started

There are many ways to earn money online, but most fall into just two categories.  First, you can actually do some kind of work and second you can sell products.  Other ways include investing, gambling, strategy games, ponzi schemes, etc.  I got my start in 2005 by self-publishing books and buying and selling items through auctions. Doing work and selling products are the least risky and are the ones we will stick with right now.  Now, you may or may not make a lot of money online.  So, my philosophy has always been to have multiple income streams.  In other words, try different strategies and keep doing what works for you.  Then eliminate the rest.  Hopefully, this blog will help in that regard.

Before doing anything, you are going to have to set up a way to process your transactions.  Many websites will accept credit cards and make payments to bank accounts, but that could possibility result in having your account numbers all over the Internet.  So, the best way to avoid the problem is to set up accounts with one or two payment processing websites.  The most reliable and trustworthy are PayPal and Payza. There are probably hundreds of other payment processors out there, but many have turned out to be scams in the past, so my advice is to stick with the two best.  There is another reason to go with the ones I mention which I will discuss in my next post on how to tell if a website is legit or not.

Once you create your accounts, take the time to go through the verification process.  This involves providing a name, address, phone number, bank routing number and a credit card number.  This shows PayPal or Payza that you are a real person. Additionally, most websites that you get income from will not pay unless you are verified with your payment processor.

As a final note:  I actually had PayPal call me once a half hour after I bought something off the Internet.  It was a large purchase and out of character from my normal transactions.  They just wanted to make sure it was me that made the purchase.  How many credit card companies would do that?