Be Smart, Make a Ton of Money Doing Stupid Stuff

Several weeks ago, someone pointed me to an article on a blog I’d never read before. It was very profound it its simplicity. It was called Smart People should do Stupid Stuff. The basic concept of this blog post was that there are millions of dollars to be made doing things on the internet that anyone is capable of doing. I mean quite literally, anyone can do these things, regardless of how smart or how dumb you are. Here’s a very short excerpt, because I know you’re not going to go actually read the entire article.

I once met a man that made over $1,000,000/year selling bowling balls on the Internet.  I asked him how he had built such a fantastic business. I was looking for this guy’s secret sauce. Was he a marketing guru, a tenacious entrepreneur that didn’t give up, saw an opportunity earlier than most? None of the above. He was an average guy, with below average technical skills. He hired 2 kids to work out of his garage to build his website.

When I hear about ideas like the Million Dollar Homepage, Santa Mail or Antenna Balls that easily rake in more than a million dollars, I almost want to puke. Or at least I used to. Let’s face it. These are stupid ideas that border on absurd. But they work. And do you know why?

Because the people behind them found a niche market that nobody else was looking at. Each of these people did something that any of us would have the skill or lack thereof to do. Making money online isn’t always about technical ability. Nor is it about being in the right place at the right time.

The key to success for these people finding a niche market that nobody else was in and dominating that market. Once you’ve dominated a niche market, you’ve done something that makes you virtually untouchable because you’ve done two things. First, you’ve identified a niche that nobody else had the time or energy to go into. Second, you have created a barrier to entry which virtually assures you of owning that market for years to come.

The next time someone tells you that they have an idea for an online business, think twice before spouting off about how dumb the idea is. I’d bet money that if you told someone more than a few years ago that you were going to make a 9 figure business out of sending 140 character messages to a website, a lot of people would have laughed at you. Guess who’s laughing today?