Six figure income, wow, what is it about those three words that can whip people into such a frenzy?

Just hearing those words or seeing them on a sales letter seems to be enough to have people running for their wallets to buy that one product that will take them by the hand and lead them to the promised land. But is the promised land real or just a scam?

To a large degree that will depend on you. One thing that is prevalent on the internet are the huge claims of wealth. What is often missing is the disclaimer that says that you'll have to work hard to get to that point.

If you can keep that one point in mind, the fact that you'll have to work hard if you want to make it big online, than you'll be fine. Unfortunately many people throw common sense right out the window.

You can realistically make as much money online as you want… period. But, you won't do it quickly or easily. You're going to have disappointments and set backs and you're going to need to learn some new skills.

If you are willing to stick with it when things go wrong and continue to learn your craft and perfect your skills the sky really is the limit. I know how difficult it can be holding down a full time job, being mum or dad or just letting every day life take over. Sooner or late all the good intention evaporates and in the end you're still stuck in that rut you were in 5 years previously.

Unfortunately most people are 'wannabes'. They really want that huge income but they simply aren't willing to put in the time and the effort to get there. People ask me all the time if it's so easy to make money online why isn't everyone rich? And I tell them that it's not really hard, but I don't think I would call it 'easy' necessarily.

It's like anything else, you will get out of it what you put into it and for some odd reason people don't seem to think that they need to put a lot in to an online business in order to get a lot out of it. They seem to think they've just found the winning lottery ticket, I never could understand that mind set when it comes to the internet. Also you need to stay focused on what you want to achieve.

I remember when I first started, my mind was all over the place with information overload and I had no set plan or order in which to do things. Consequently I started losing focus and very quickly other things in my life started to take over and I almost gave up. Although I haven't made the six figures yet and I'm still learning, I have been able to use my knowledge in a profitable way. Be warned – THERE IS WORK INVOLVED!

Start a blog or 'To Do' journal and then every day, plan and write what you're plans are for that day and how long each thing will take. Leave out checking emails every 10 minutes or chatting with friends on Skype or updating your status on Facebook. These are just time wasters and if you have a full day already, then you'll just be adding more unnecessary clutter.

I'm not saying cut them out of your life completely, but keep in mind that if it don't help move your business forward, then leave it until you're finished the business side of things and you're on your own time.

So here are the main steps to that huge income online:

1. Set and keep realistic goals. Once you've made your first $100 online then, and only then, can you start fixating on your first $10,000 online.

2. Find a course to teach you where to start. Once you've mastered the basics find a course to teach you the intermediate skills. Keep expanding your knowledge and your business.

3. Be willing to spend the time to learn to crawl before you think you can start sprinting. You can't make big bucks if you don't know how to make big bucks. It's a process, learn the steps and you can't go wrong.

4. Research your target niche and then research a sub niche from that. Check out the blogs and forums associated with the subject and see what other people are saying or asking.

5. Look to see if you can make products from those questions i.e courses, interviews with experts. Remember people are always looking for answers to their problems and so if you can provide the scratch for the itch, then you're onto a winner.

6. Build a list for each product you're promoting BUT don't try and cross sell i.e if one niche you're involved with is about cats and another is about left handed golfers – then don't try and sell 'teaching your cat new tricks' to the golfers and vice versa.

A six figure income is well within your reach as long as you keep a realistic mindset and are willing to put in the time and effort. Don't get mired down in the hype of the internet, keep your head and do the work and then you can enjoy the fruits of your labors.

To your success

Doug