I Wasted 6 Months Trying to Get Rich Online — Here’s How I Finally Made My First $1,000 (The Ugly Truth)

1. The Lie That Cost Me $600

*"Make $10,000/month while you sleep!"*

The YouTube ad glowed on my screen at 2 AM. I clicked. The guru—tan, grinning, leaning on a Lamborghini—promised his "secret system" would work for anyone.

I was desperate.

My part-time job barely covered rent.

My family kept asking "When will you get a real career?"

I’d already failed at dropshipping, affiliate marketing, and three doomed YouTube channels.

So I did it. I sold my PlayStation, bought his $600 course, and followed every step.

Result after 3 months?

$0.37 in affiliate commissions.

17 angry comments calling me a scammer.

A crippling fear I was just… stupid.

2. The Breaking Point (Where Most People Quit)

The night I almost gave up:

I was sitting on my floor, surrounded by half-finished "business plans," when my mom called.

"Your cousin just got a promotion," she said. "When will you stop wasting time on this internet nonsense?"

I wanted to scream. Instead, I opened a blank doc and typed:

"WHAT DO I ACTUALLY KNOW?"

Not generic "make money online" crap. Not guru fluff.

Just me. My weird skills. My useless hours spent on… what?

Reddit arguments about video games?

Explaining tech to my grandparents?

Making memes that made my friends laugh?

That’s when it hit me.

3. The ‘Duh’ Moment That Changed Everything

I wasn’t an entrepreneur. I was just a guy who’d spent 3 years failing to learn coding—but had gotten weirdly good at explaining it to total beginners.

So I did something absurdly simple:

Wrote a 10-page PDF called "Python for Absolute Dummies (Like Me)."

Priced it at $7 (because who would pay more?).

Posted it on Twitter: "Wasted 3 years learning coding the wrong way. Here’s what actually worked."

48 hours later:

$300 in sales.

One email: "This is the only coding guide that didn’t make me feel stupid. Thank you."

I cried. Not because of the money—but because I’d finally been useful.

4. The Naked Numbers (Proof It’s Not BS)

Here’s my first 4 months of earnings (screenshots included in the Vocal post):

Month Income Notes

1 $327 Sold 47 PDFs, mostly to Reddit beginners

2 $611 Added a $15 "cheat sheet" bundle

3 $892 Got featured in a coding newsletter

4 $1,237 Launched a Discord for Q&A ($5/month)

Key Lessons:

Charge less, sell more. My $7 PDF outsold my $50 "masterclass."

"Ugly" works. My design was literally Google Docs + screenshots.

Talk like a human. My sales pitch: "I sucked at this. Here’s how I suck less now."

5. The Truth No Guru Will Tell You

The internet doesn’t pay you for:

X Fancy websites.

X Perfect skills.

X 12-hour hustle grind.

It pays you for:

Solving a tiny problem (e.g., "Why does Python keep erroring on my Mac?").

Saving time (e.g., "Here’s a pre-made list of freelance pitch templates").

Making someone feel seen (e.g., "Finally, a guide for people like me!").

My "empire" today is just:

3 cheap PDFs ($7-$20).

A Discord with 200 members ($5/month).

A weekly rant thread (that brings in coaching clients).

Total time spent? Maybe 10 hours a week.

6. How to Steal My Strategy (Step-by-Step)

1. Ask yourself: "What do I rant about to friends?" (That’s your niche.)

2. Create the simplest useful thing (Checklist, template, 10-page guide).

3. Price it under $20 (Lower risk = more buyers).

4. Sell where your people already are (Reddit, Twitter, Facebook Groups).

5. Ignore perfection. Ship it ugly, then improve.

Example Niches That Work:

. "Resume templates for career-changers."

. "Spotify playlists for ADHD focus."

. "How to fix common [game name] bugs."

7. Final Confession (The Viral Hook)

I still don’t own a Lamborghini.

But last month, I paid rent with money I earned while sick with the flu.

That’s the real "passive income" dream. Not being rich—being free.

So if you’re reading this, sweating over another "get rich quick" course:

Stop.

Make the dumb little thing. Sell it to the right few people. Repeat.

The internet will reward you.

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Author Note

I wrote this story for every exhausted dreamer who’s been scammed, mocked, or just quietly struggling in front of a laptop. You’re not alone — and you’re not failing. You're just one real solution away.