Yesterday, JC wrote a good post about "online success" and I made a comment about how I get a kick out of helping people to realise that they can "do it"…

I got to thinking about this a little more and decided that it's probably 80/20 for me. 80% of my success is defined from seeing people take an idea and making it work. 20% is all about the money I earn from my AIS stuff.

If I had to go site by site, this here osworld blog is probably the one site that makes the least cash. So, this site is a complete failure in terms of income earned - it stands at about $3.50 in direct earnings for me, EVER! And yet, I know that this blog has been the genesis of at least 25 to 30 people who have tried to go down the AIS route (whether they've been successful or not is another matter). In those terms, my blog is a complete success.

Take another example - I run a site that sells an intangible product. I just collect the money, the customer gets his product by email. Completely uninspiring, and yet it makes a fair percentage of my monthly income. Do I consider this site a success - the answer is patently "yes" - it creates a good income, and yet it's also a failure as it does not empower people to "make their own product".

So how do I define success?

For me, Success is being able to see others going down the route of earning online.

Success is also the ability to take a day/week/month/year off without having to worry about how to pay the next utility bill. That's where the money part comes in.