Having been involved in Learning and Development for more years than I care to think I am always encouraging people to reflect on their learning! So I thought I ought to do some myself and I wanted to share my thoughts with you through this article.

When I first started looking at how to make money through the internet I read what felt like thousands upon thousands of websites. I am sure that I have not been alone in doing that and to a great extent ending up feeling totally overwhelmed by the plethora of “opportunities” which appeared to exist. But how was I to distinguish the “bad” from the “good” when it was all so new to me. Like you I read those pages that promised me that I would be earning £'000's by the time I came back to my computer from the bathroom!

Here is probably the most important lesson I learnt very early on and that was to heed those wise words "if it looks too good to be true, then it is!” Like so many people I have read so much but instead of remaining overwhelmed by it I decided to rely on my gut instincts and those experiences I have had both in the real world and in running a very successful Genealogy membership website. I started to filter what I was reading into something that resonated with me and made sense in the light of my experiences in other areas.

I have made some mistakes and I am sure that we will continue to make them. I am sure that there are things that we are doing wrong but we are trying to learn and put them right as we go.

So far I would summarise what I have learnt as:

1. You are not going to get rich overnight or even in months - it is going to take time and dedication and hard work ( despite all those people who try and tell us you only have to work for 30 minutes a day!)

2. You need to want to succeed and you need to have a clear picture of what success will look like for you . Here I drew on the experiences I have had when working for hours with Senior Management Teams Vision Planning! You must be able to picture what success will look like for you. As someone once said if you cannot tell me the colour of the Front Door of the house you will own when you are successful then you have not yet truly refined your Vision!

3. You need to have a clear focus on your markets and know what you want to sell - hopping from one thing to the next in the hope that "it" will be the thing that works is not the way!

4. You need to be big enough to say "I got that wrong - help!" and wise enough to truly listen to the advise you get.

5. You need to be your own "Guru" and by that I mean that you need to do what you do because it is the right thing for you.

You can be successful online and make money. The power to do it lies in your hands and in your will to succeed!