Let me preface this post with a note. I am completely impartial to how people choose to make a living. I am just reporting on a trend I have noticed recently (on this site and in general). I've been doing a lot of reading on the YE forums over the past few weeks, and I see a recurring theme in the types of businesses MANY (not all, maybe not even a majority, but a huge amount) people have been choosing to launch. Tons of people are starting proxy sites monetized by adsense links, and blogs monetized by text-link-ads. I do not believe that these ideas are innovative or sustainable. Sure, you may make $20 on a good day, but where's the growth? Where's the fun in such a business? And how is that in any way innovative? So many people are doing this, and I just see such fierce competition in the online advertising/domain squatting industry, that I don't understand why ANYONE would choose to start such a business now. Everyone wants the dream of 'passive' online income, but I wouldn't even call it an income when you're making $6 or even $60 a day. Where's the upside there anyway? I really think that everyone on these forums needs to understand that businesses need to be innovative, and have a sustainable competitive advantage to compete in the long-run. I would even argue that selling things on eBay is a trite business to have, as you're really at the mercy of a 6,000 pound gorilla when it comes to your account and fees (as we saw this week). Let me note that I do see eBay as a good starting point for beginners. Create an innovative product, deliver a superior and/or unique service, but, for your own good, don't just start a bunch of websites and hope that people click your ads. Sure, it may be easy, but it's so short-sighted, and is not really sustainable. I know that there are syntax, grammar, etc... errors on here, I'm not normally a verbose poster, but I thought that this would be valuable for the community. Take it with a grain on salt, but it's my honest opinion.
I have to agree with you on this one, but if you manage to put your own personal spin on an idea that has been done to death, you can still earn a good living... Even if there are thousands of pizza places in the world, if yours is the best and you know how to market it, you'll be on top... Innovation is good, but amelioration is good also...
I'm always looking for new ideas that I can use my own twist with. Unfortunately it's much easier to just get a scrip from a well used method than creating a new one by your self. Making money is not always easy.
I agree with this.. using a few success approach and adding your own flavor of innovation is the best.