It can be done. Probably the most interesting story I know of is that of a friend of mine that now makes ~$200k/mo from viral content websites in specific verticals. Back in 2007, before I knew him, he was desperate for money and became a minor cog in what turned out to be a large real estate straw buyer conspiracy. He claims to not have not known it was illegal. Regardless, in 2013, as the statute of limitations on the case began running out and most of the people that actually ran and profited from the scheme were serving federal prison sentences, his name came up, and one of the states involved decided to press charges. He was arrested and posted bail.
He was eventually offered a plea agreement for a prison sentence of three years and more than $600,000 in restitution that he had no way of paying. Facing financial and personal ruin, he ran while on bail, hoping to buy some time to make enough money to offer restitution in leiu of prison time. This article [1] about the success of viral content websites inspired him to give the concept a shot himself, figuring he had nothing to lose. He launched a series of websites with viral content for highly specific verticals.
He now has a handful of virtual assistants in low-wage countries that rewrite/locate content and post it, but was making more than $100k/mo before he brought in a single other person. The business has generated a Facebook fan page network with more than 10 million likes, monthly income exceeding $200k, and he has turned down multi-million dollar offers to buy his company. He was also able to able to resolve his criminal case by simply handing the court a $700k cashier's check for restitution/fines and a accepting few years of informal probation without spending a day in jail - even though he ran while on bail, which courts frown upon. As Eric Schmidt likes to say, "revenue solves all known problems" [2].
So yes, it is certainly possible to run a highly successful online business by yourself, and you don't even have to be all that technically proficient. I can program circles around my friend, but he makes more than most of the brightest engineers at world class companies do - where he could never get an interview, much less a job. He did all of this starting with nothing more than PHP for Dummies, the inspration from the ViperChill article, and a serious disincentive for failure (prison, in this case).
He was eventually offered a plea agreement for a prison sentence of three years and more than $600,000 in restitution that he had no way of paying. Facing financial and personal ruin, he ran while on bail, hoping to buy some time to make enough money to offer restitution in leiu of prison time. This article [1] about the success of viral content websites inspired him to give the concept a shot himself, figuring he had nothing to lose. He launched a series of websites with viral content for highly specific verticals.
He now has a handful of virtual assistants in low-wage countries that rewrite/locate content and post it, but was making more than $100k/mo before he brought in a single other person. The business has generated a Facebook fan page network with more than 10 million likes, monthly income exceeding $200k, and he has turned down multi-million dollar offers to buy his company. He was also able to able to resolve his criminal case by simply handing the court a $700k cashier's check for restitution/fines and a accepting few years of informal probation without spending a day in jail - even though he ran while on bail, which courts frown upon. As Eric Schmidt likes to say, "revenue solves all known problems" [2].
So yes, it is certainly possible to run a highly successful online business by yourself, and you don't even have to be all that technically proficient. I can program circles around my friend, but he makes more than most of the brightest engineers at world class companies do - where he could never get an interview, much less a job. He did all of this starting with nothing more than PHP for Dummies, the inspration from the ViperChill article, and a serious disincentive for failure (prison, in this case).
[1] http://www.viperchill.com/100k-one-week/
[2] https://mobile.twitter.com/ericschmidt/status/50721935824690...