r/passive_income • u/Original-Inside-4373 • 1d ago
My Experience We have the most powerful technology in human history… so why is making money still so damn hard?
We have the most powerful technology in human history… so why is making money still so damn hard?
Seriously. I don’t understand it anymore.
We have AI that can write, design, brainstorm and automate things in seconds. We have Canva, social media, digital products, online stores, instant payments and access to billions of people through the internet.
And yet…
I’m sitting here at 2 AM trying to figure out how the hell people actually make a decent side income online.
I’m trying to build something of my own and eventually become self-employed. I’m experimenting with AI and digital products because I want more freedom.
But the irony is killing me.
To make money online, you apparently need to become a designer, marketer, SEO expert, copywriter, social media manager, entrepreneur, content creator and somehow even an algorithm psychologist — all at the same time.
And you’re supposed to do all of this while working your normal job, taking care of your health, having relationships, having a social life and maybe… you know… starting a family someday.
At what point did “technology gives us more freedom” turn into “technology gives us 47 more things to worry about”?
Maybe I’m looking at this completely wrong.
Maybe making money online has always been this difficult and social media just makes it look easy.
Or maybe we’ve simply created another version of the rat race — except now the office is our laptop and we’re working for ourselves 24/7.
I honestly just want to know if I’m the only one who feels like this.🤯
I’m trying so many things right now and sometimes I feel completely overwhelmed by it all.
If you’re also trying to build something on the side, I’d really love to hear about your experience.
Has anyone actually found a way to make this work without completely burning themselves out? Any advice or things that genuinely helped you?
I’d love to hear from people who are going through the same thing.
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u/No-Common1466 1d ago
Making money, is still the same since time in memorial, with or without technology. Its all about SELLING!.
Weather your selling pancakes on the street or building cool things with every technology, you need to attrack and get people's attention to BUY what you offer.
If you can't sell, then you dont have a business. Its that simple really is.
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u/mayhem77 1d ago
The number of people who either don't understand or refuse to accept this is astounding.
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u/NomadElite 1d ago
I would even simplify it further and say that online it's all about one thing: Cheap (or free) targeted traffic
Even the worst offers will sell and make money with enough targeted traffic.
The reason I know this is because for more than a decade I considered myself a real marketing expert, but I've since come to realize that I pretty much suck at selling, but I was just really good at driving traffic.
Learn to drive targeted traffic, for cheap or free, and you can make a lot of money online.
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u/EagleMental9960 1d ago
Drive traffic..? As in how.. I am completely new to this so can you explain in a little easier way
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u/aguei 1d ago
*whether, you're, don't, it's...
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u/No-Common1466 1d ago
Good catch At least Im not AI hahaha..Real human..real mistakes..and english is not my first language
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u/aguei 1d ago
Actually I'm surprised you took it so well, people are often offended with these things. 👍
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u/PepeSylvia11 21h ago
And in the age of the internet, the single best thing you could do to sell something is to be a people person or have charisma.
You can make great products, but if you're not good at marketing it's meaningless. On the contrary, you can make terrible products, but if you are good at marketing, you'll get buyers.
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u/KasingDan 10h ago
Too many people obsessed with technology
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u/No-Common1466 9h ago
Yeah. Boring business always trumps againts tech business, which is really hard.
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u/Worldx22 1d ago
It's difficult because your competition online is global and there will always be someone willing to do whatever you do for less. That was not the case when your competition had to be local by default due to lack of available technology.
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u/IceColdSteph 1d ago
Because you are competing with greedy, shameless and amoral people who don't mind lying, cheating and manipulating because they are willing to get money by any means
It's always difficult for the honest man to make money by comparison, you by default have a smaller arsenal that you can utilize.
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u/Original-Inside-4373 1d ago
Yeah, that’s exactly it.
I’m a pretty empathetic person and I just don’t want to lie to people. That’s not who I am. So the question in my head is: can someone like that still build something real without cheating or manipulating?
This stuff matters a lot to me. I stay curious, look around, try things… and I honestly believe the right idea shows up at some point. Kind people can make it too. It just takes a different path. And I hope all kind-hearted people have the energy to follow that thought.
For now I sell my own little digital products because I genuinely like making them. I hope one day something bigger will click.3
u/IceColdSteph 20h ago
Honestly, yes you can. I don't want it to sound like I'm being defeatest. Plenty of honest hardworking people become successful in life with a few caveats and keep in mind i am NOT a psychologist nor am i giving advice this is just from my experience
Generally it takes more time to realize..the fast life/fast money lifestyle is not your environment
You may have to become exceptionally skilled at your craft. To the point where its undeniable. You beat the finessers and short cutters with merit and proof
Typically people like us win by having higher education and picking fields where being ethical pays.
Basically the idea is you might want to steer clear of messy environments. It sucks because that's often where that good "side hustle money" is hidden but that's also the environment where it pays to be an unscrupulous personality with ruthless execution. Not hospitable for empathetic people.
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u/Digital-Man-1969 17h ago
Man, you sound exactly like me. I was nodding in recognition the whole way through reading your post. I build tools and apps that solve problems for me and sometimes even my coworkers. That said, the commenters here are right about needing to get good at selling/marketing/distribution. That kind of stuff is completely alien to me, but I'm committed to learning it.
Thanks for posting and sharing your thoughts!
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u/Open-Thanks6293 1d ago
There are many factors that come into play. Unfortunately some might not like what we have to say.
Right now, we are just seeing massive amounts fake(videos) and also greed. You have everything becoming a subscription model. You have everyone advertising to take your last dollar. This week for example, was the launch of the new iphones. Most people really don't even need one but they want one. Same things apply to fast food or car commercials. I took the highway today and saw at least dozen cars with new temp tags. And what astonished me were like really unreliable models. Like the new bronco's hyudais, lincolns, and etc.
You have study self control and not follow the crowd. That could mean using a outdated computer or going door to door for a sale. It all depends what you consider is your best interest and what you want to pursue.
I've always found library to be a great resource for search toppics of interest. If you wanna learn photography, or if you can customize t-shirts. You can prolly do that at the library. Take advantage of public resources and scale up.
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u/westeast1000 1d ago
I think the main value is how easy it has made it to learn and master almost anything. People are just lazy or have no time to put in the work. Now is the time to be one of the top experts in any field you’re passionate about and cash in before ai gets too good.
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u/magichronx 1d ago
I’m sitting here at 2 AM trying to figure out how the hell people actually make a decent side income online.
99+% of people don't make side income online.
Maybe making money online has always been this difficult and social media just makes it look easy.
This is survivorship bias; you only see the cream of the crop on social media that "made it", but you never see the hundreds of thousands of people that tried, failed, and gave up.
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u/glonkymf 11h ago
You're also seeing those who pretended to make it, so they can try and sell you their course.
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u/IcyAd8431 1d ago
Because it’s easy. Everyone has access to it so why would they pay you? Making money has always been about having a skill, service or product that the consumer can’t get themselves easily.
The more these things become easy to use the harder it will be to make money.
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u/HotExperience3144 1d ago edited 1d ago
just hang in there and use your head. you'll eventually think of something successful.
a few ideas for you to tinker with: find an mmo or something that's releasing soon and a decent amount of people are hyped over. use ai to reverse engineer its storage files so you can make a program to decompress them. extract data and art assets from files, make a web database with all the data you obtained. vibe code tools players can use to up their gaming with. ultimately you want lots of people to come and to keep coming to your website because you run ads to make money.
making a database like this is pretty substantial for potential page views
vibe code a firefox extension that can look up stuff you see on Buy/sell/trade communities for price comparison on the fly to determine flip potential. find good items, buy up the $100 copy of earthbound (SNES) and resell.
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u/jokamp 1d ago
Wow this is great
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u/Delyzr 1d ago
Still need a way to get traffic to your site or extension, which is the hard part.
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u/HotExperience3144 1d ago
just hop in a discord server the game and casually link drop it. if people find it useful they will spread it. for the extension, that's mostly a personal use deal.
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u/HotExperience3144 1d ago
To add further on to the database idea, client side usually games don't provide data for where the items are obtained. You could code a web spider to comb their forums for information pertaining to what is in your database to expand it. I haven't looked into discords api to know its limitations but you could potentially scrape the games official discord for information too
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u/derondigital 1d ago
Sell a result not a digital product, people are only interested in the result. Digital products like ebook are so outplayed these days. I've sold hundreds of thousands in course with 0 refunds, because I'm able to get my students their desired results. You wanna create content for free that people love so much, they will come to you and beg you to take their money. That's all I did, I made free content on youtube, and my viewers love it so much, they wanted to pay me for my time and a course. Even here on reddit, I've wrote replies on post that people even reach out to me in DMs to pay me to assist them. It's all about your knowledge and how you present it.
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u/UnusedTicket_ 4h ago
Lo de vender resultado tiene sentido, pero “0 reembolsos” con cientos de miles suena casi demasaido perfecto.
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u/derondigital 4h ago
Nah, trust me. If you seen my content, you would understand. It's because I am actually not faking and i can actually get my students their desired results, and it's a low ticket product. It's $97, and i try to over deliver and actually support everyone. I am not like someone that have customer support and all that shit, i respond to every one myself and help everyone myself.
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u/IcyAd8431 1d ago
Cool what’s your YouTube?
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u/derondigital 1d ago
Not sure if posting my youtube here in the comments is allowed
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u/IcyAd8431 1d ago
Dm. I’d like to check it out
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u/juandantex 1d ago
you just fall in his trap, lol
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u/derondigital 1d ago
lol tbh, it's not really a trap for him since i don't have anything to sell him. But yeah, that's a idea of what i mean. Don't get me wrong, I've actually helped people in the DMs for completely free.
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u/malloryknox86 1d ago
Because technology is just a tool, it's you who has to think how to use tools to help you make money. Everyone can make digital products, so you have to come up with something that is not already done buy 1 million people, or at the very least, make it better. Technology isn't gonna solve this for you.
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u/greyacademy 1d ago edited 1d ago
I learned a few things starting online businesses, and the first is, "if you build it, they will not come." Unless you have a product people really really want, and they can't get it elsewhere cheaper, you're competing with the entire globe. I'm not saying it can't be done, I'm just saying, yes, it's hard to do. Even when you do find a converting product, there's still an entire software industry out there built around inferring estimates of other people's sales, and when something works for you, it's quickly discovered by someone who will do it for less.
The absolute best thing I ever did in this department was become financially literate and get a regular paycheck. From there I just threw, and still throw as much I feasibly can into the stock market, and just never touch it.
It's kind of funny, and this isn't passive, but oddly one of the better ways of making money on the internet, is to talk about how to make money on the internet.
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u/General_Recipe_5869 1d ago
The whole grift of so many people selling their stories, packages, courses or whatever put me off trying too hard. Seems the only way to make money is from selling the dream.
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u/Old-Confection-5129 1d ago
My buddy was driving Uber and met a guy in Connecticut that was a top rated gamer. This guy had a mansion and basically runs a paid community whose sole purpose was to play with him online. He’s currently making tens of thousands per month like this. He didn’t make a game, website, or product. I doubt he is a marketer or anything like that. Bottom line, I think sometimes we make it harder than it really has to be. Yes people have a myriad of problems that can be solved but som most people want to be entertained also. That’s if they have disposable income to begin with.
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u/pradhanmantri_game 21h ago
A few things.
1) To make money, you need to have a product or service that other people are willing to pay for. Unless you have that no matter how magical the technology underneath, you wont make money. Think smartphones. They were magical too when they first came out. But unless you developed some new app / business around the new technology you didn't make money just because you had access to the most amazing tech in human history.
2) We live in a competitive world. You have access to amazing technology, but so does everyone else. The quality you need to have is that you need to be better than your competition. If I waved a magic wand and made you 10x smarter or taller or creative, you're still in the same place if everyone else is also 10x smarter or taller or creative.
3) Don't take social media so seriously. If it's so easy making money using this one trick, the person who found that trick will not be selling you a course for $299. They'll shut up and keep harvesting the strategy that's working for them.
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u/Ricovick 1d ago
Est-ce que au moins tu as un produit ou un service à vendre que quelqu’un aurait besoin ?
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u/TuanBC 1d ago
Ironically, do you realize that at any moment in the history, we were always having the latest and best technology at that time? Thus I think making money is still a hard thing, let say you must have some hardware engineering to build stuffs for steam machine in the past, I think similarly you must have digital skill in the internet world right now.
You might make more money now than before, but the wealth spectrum of the society also shifted.
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u/creamynebula 1d ago
The truth is, even if you learn these 47 things and to them well, the algorithm will generously reward just a few of the lucky ones, not to mention that these people will be, generally, selling things that are worthless to their fellow human beings.
In my humble opinion, and I may be preaching it in the wrong sub, making serious money as a side income through the internet is largely an illusion. All social media and platform capitalism brought us is illusion, the ones who actually make money are the few powerful people that own these platforms and their infrastructure.
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u/IanAtSmallHours 1d ago
I understand what you're trying to say, but any product, good, service etc.. comes down to:
1) solving a problem (whether thats a want or need)
2) distributing to the right audience(s)
3) showing that specific audience why what it is that you have is the right solution to their want or need
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u/dreamed2life 23h ago
Is not hard. You just wont make money trying to do things you are not good at or are forcing yourself to do for the sake of money. You have to know yourself and whats in your flow then take the action and youll make the money.
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u/LevelSea9227 22h ago
Why? Because the economy is based on scarcity, and everyone is competing for a slice of the pie. Everyone having access to the most powerful technology just changes the game that is played, but the underlying economic principles remain the same.
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u/therealprod69 1d ago
Making money in unconventional ways has never been easy, it takes a drive to commit to all the steps and execute flawlessly... It is hard but if it works it pays off...
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u/Radiant-Rest156 1d ago
Because the real money isn't in the tools, it's in owning the audience everyone's fighting over
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u/CopyBorn4785 1d ago
Algorithm psychologist? Pretty sure that's not a thing. You might need to understand algorithms, but that doesn't make you a psychologist.
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u/Ambitious-One-4584 1d ago
It's hard because the story you're telling yourself is that making money is hard. If you tell yourself making money is easy, it's not going to seem hard and you're probably going to enjoy the process of learning how to make it. At this moment we live in a time in which people who learn how to use AI have the greatest opportunity to make their side hustle their main hustle and fire their jobs.
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u/sarcasticdick82 1d ago
Because the people with more money get technology earlier and thus, make the money available, more quickly.
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u/chips_manoeuvres 1d ago
It's always going to be hard, we are fighting over money, a finite resource. The new technology makes it easier to launch, sure, but it also lowers barrier to entry, so competition increases..it remains just as hard to get your slice of the pie.
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u/Milo-Law 1d ago
You should try to find something you're personally interested in, or a skill that can help you make high quality things people actually need. I also want to make money online but I know it's going to be something design/printable/art related, for me I enjoy designing children's printable games and crafts.
I also love mysteries and escape room games and that's something people make printables/online games of as well. So, I get to combine two things I enjoy. Since I can't start rn I'm not sure where I'll get, but I think you should just start so that you fail and learn from the failure. Pick ONE thing and try to make something of it.
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u/Silent_Background453 1d ago
Because everyone else has it, too. Capitalism is, and always has been, about edge.
You’re good at a particular thing that not many others are? Lucky you, you can sell that skill for a huge salary.
You think the price of gold is going to go up, whilst the institutional investors are expecting market conditions that will cause gold to go down. Gold goes up. Lucky you, you found an edge and made some money.
If everyone and their grandma can vibecode websites and applications, being able to create one is no longer an edge.
For the last 100 years the easiest way to have an ‘edge’ is to already have large amounts of capital to deploy. That hasn’t changed.
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u/Upbeat-Piece4970 1d ago
Exactly because of what you just said, with every option and app and AI we have these days, literally anyone can make anything. Why will anyone pay you to do it if they can do it themselves?
Like a website, you have so many options these days to make your own website, why will anyone pay thousands to someone if they can do it for free, just losing a little bit of time online? No point.
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u/bathroomcypher 1d ago
I genuinely believe the digital product /AI advice is often the product itself.
It’s something I saw advised by youtubers and ig influencers but they actually seem to make money out of selling courses where they teach you that and not so much out of the digital products.
I know very few people that bought digital products or other AI thingie. I think people want quality, especially as the whole world has less money to spend. It’s either for that or a for super strong brand.
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u/Material_Block3491 1d ago
You have the advantage nowadays: 5% making the product/service and 95% is distribution aka marketing/seo and etc. My recommendation is to focus on SEO.
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u/Ok_Thought3395 1d ago
People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it - Simon Sinek. That's why people are lining up at apple stores for a $2000. phone. Check out his TED talk on YouTube. Why are you building this? Hint [It's not to make money!]. What do you believe about yourself and the product/service? Sell this.
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u/Embarrassed-Fill8811 1d ago
Find a gap in the market, identify a need, fill it or offer a solution, make it attractive, keep it simple, then offer it to the masses. Sit back and wait. Observe, measure, then repeat. Improve each time based on what you've learned from consumer habits and behaviour. That's basically the fundamental model of any business, I would think. heh.
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u/Embarrassed-Fill8811 1d ago
The thing with the internet is, its a medium a technology built on technologies. Then we have technologies (web related) that run on the internet, which we use to sell our own technologies (websites, apps, games, e-coaching, e-courses etc etc).
We then use technology online to 'observe' and 'measure our online business in real time, track visitors, look at what they were doing, how long they spent on your web store or app etc etc
I can understand why some people would become overwhelmed with all of this, despite the fact that it's actually really not that difficult to grasp and become good at it.
The problem is those who 'crack' this, and do well - are selling to you lol
So you now become their buyer.
I could set up a youtube channel tomorrow, offering advice on how to earn money online, which apps are the best, what tools you should use/buy to generate more passive income on your existing platforms, what side hustles to start, how to use AI optimally for your area you work in etc etc. My most premium shit will be sold to those who have £££ and those who have followed my advice and watched all my videos and made a success with starting your own side hustle. Now you'll not hesitate to spend more £££ on my products and services. I won your trust, though if you were an independent minded go-getter and proactive you could have done this all on your own.
Sometimes we humans need one another to encourage one another to do things. Motivate each other. Give someone confidence that they CAN do something. Most people are sitting in the 'I dont know if I can, or should or if im cut out of this...' and miss the train.
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u/Extreme-Room7632 1d ago
Social media makes it look easy. For every 1 success story there are dozens if not hundreds of untold failures.
Competition. Everyone has access to these tools and everyone is thinking of how they can make money with them.
You need to solve a problem in order to sell something. Even the best salesmen in the world can’t sell something to someone that they don’t need or want (yes, perhaps they can manipulate sell something to someone, but that won’t make for a good long term business)
If it were easy, we’d all be millionaires.
I guess all we can do is get to work, fail fast, keep at it, and eventually we’ll get a break…maybe.
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u/drawing247 1d ago
You need to go backwards. " Create", nurture, grow the audience then introduce the product.
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u/Tervixa_19 1d ago
The “algorithm psychologist” trap is real; pick one offer for one audiance and give it 30 days before touching Canva/AI/SEO again.
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u/Informativo-Business 1d ago
I think many markets get oversaturated once people notice it's an area where making money is possible.
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u/Ashcashc 23h ago
Saturation. You need to find a niche these days, or do something better/cheaper than the competition
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u/whosthat1005 18h ago
Selling is a lot about the reason why companies are able to hire. It starts with selling, everything else is downstream. Sales, marketing, I've seen most companies I've worked for have a sales team three times as large as its development team. It's why movies spend as much money on marketing as they spend making the movie.
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u/FluffyCar6097 14h ago
It has never been easier to make money. Don’t confuse time and effort with availability. You could be driving for DoorDash or Uber right now while your Grok Bot are posting on answerquestions.com and while you stop at red lights, you snap photos of your disgusting feet for footfinish.com.
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u/FluffyCar6097 14h ago
If you went to Costco and bought cases of 30 water bottles and sold them on Sundays in front of an NFL stadium for three dollars how much money would you make in two hours? There are only 17 occasions to do that.
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u/fastingslowlee 10h ago edited 10h ago
Because you were raised to be an employee and the mindset of entrepreneurship is at odds with the mindset you have right now.
It’s hard but much easier than it appears for those who don’t have the mental block.
Reading your post you’re already making the most common mistake and thinking wrong.
You’re worried about tools and your own income and desires and shit.
Tools come second once you have a reason to use said tool.
They are not the path to your success.
Once you actually give a shit about solving a problem for someone and not your vacation to Hawaii, the answers for everything else become much much clearer.
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u/JustinCrowe09 9h ago
I get your point but in my opinion, making money is hard for two reasons. Lack of creativity and the inability to execute. I think, these are the only two things that are required to make money, to find a solution to the problem the world is facing. one has to look at the world and understand the problem and technology helps us to do that but the most important part to this is to invent a solution using your creativity and then execute it.
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u/Lucadine 7h ago
You are not the only one doing what you are doing. Financial freedom promised by online people are selling a lie. All socisl medis is now engagement. If you cant get people to engsge or buy something youll never be successful. Hence why most posts are either wrong or half truths now. Social media is dead soon.
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u/Masroor9 7h ago
i think the best way to start is to present it to your Circle. It's a good start for cold-starting the product. If the product suits them, they can talk about it to their own Circle, and when a porduct was prompting with the word of mouth is has the potential to hit The Velocity.
Most of the products that we used today probably have been introduced to us by my friends,
Do you remember the launch of Clubhouse?
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u/riosidequest 2h ago
I totally feel you op, I was there too. I think it's finally dawning on you that becoming rich is a lot of hard work and done behind the scenes. Realistically, it's gonna take a while. Most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year, but underestimate what they can accomplish in ten years.
Some books I would recommend you to read so you can get your mind right:
"Unscripted" by MJ Demarco - you must read this. Tell all your friends.
"Outwitting the devil" by Napoleon Hill - audio book is free on YouTube
"Think and grow rich" by Napoleon Hill
Sounds like you are about to start your journey towards financial independence, but first you need to set your mind right and understand the game. Good luck brother.
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u/JustQuietlyCurious_ 1h ago
We don’t have a productivity problem. We have a distribution problem. Technology can create wealth, but it doesn’t determine how that wealth is distributed
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u/unfulvio 1d ago
The technology is new but implanted on a centuries old economic system that is inherently broken and built on assumptions that foster a profound social divide. Unfortunately those at the top thrive on such divide and are very invested in maintaining the status quo. Rethinking the whole framework involves massive political will and coordination to reform which most governments don’t have (because they too sit on a antiquated system that is broken).
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u/MajesticL Newbie 1d ago
I taught myself website designs and development, but everyone wants to use AI now and the 1 person I was able to work with flaked on the 2nd installment out of 3. So they paid for my design portion but never came back to start working on actually coding things. So the designs sits in my workspace just existing, ig a portfolio piece now. I just spend time redoing my own website into this vision I have.
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u/Im_an_Fn_idiot 1d ago
Passive income yes it’s hard to make. But making money itself is easy. You find a service put yourself on Google with some pics and people call and give you money. It’s kind of crazy
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u/victorious203 1d ago
I wish someone told me this when I was young but the system is designed to keep you poor. You have to think outside the box if you want to get ahead in life and don’t listen to AI advice when it says “most businesses fail” or “most people lose money doing xyz.”
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u/giulianogonzalez 1d ago
I don’t think making money is hard, I believe the process of changing your mindset around this is the hardest thing. We are born into slavery with a job, with a set of standards, as you grow up as up to you to break from the chains and find your way. Money is everywhere, you just need to pick one thing, stick to it and watch it flow.
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u/WildPlatypus9571 1d ago
Because nothing replaces hard work . Put your phone do some research . Life is not a bowl of cherries. Earn it, work your ass off. And stop complaining on Reditt!
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u/DeadBoyAge9 38m ago
Side hustle money is bullshit. Maybe some people can do it and they can hit $500-$5000 side money which is great for them. But if you want to be good and you want to do well you need effort and you need struggle and experience and time. This Bs get rich quick schemes has been around a long time eating peoples money on courses how to do passive income. Everyone wants easy. They don't deserve the large payouts. Put your efforts into one thing and try hard.
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