What does it take to start and SUCCEED in an online business from home ?
You may have heard the statistic that 80% of new businesses fail within 5 years. I suspect the percentage is even higher for starting an online business from home. Yet some businesses succeed, both on and off-line.
So, what do you need to know to succeed in an online website business? Here's a few truths, from your own personal online business mentor (cest moi!)
1. Work first, play later.
The first thing to realize is that, even working in an online business from home, you need regular work habits. Successful business builders have the discipline to set goals and do the work to get there.
I have set goals for the monthly income I want, the number of subscribers to my newsletters, the number of new pages I add to my site each month, and for my marketing activities e.g. writing articles for publication on other sites. I know if I do those things, I have a good chance of making my online business from home successful.
2. Work first, PAY later, too.
If you are not in your online business for the long haul, don't start. You need the commitment to invest your time, money and motivation for an indefinite period of time before you can expect to make money.
Read this part twice: there are NO legitimate get-rich-quick Internet marketing opportunities! Don't get scammed, if it sounds too good to be true, guess what? It is!
3. Understand what working on your online business from home really means.
Really working on your online business means only two things: 1 – finding or creating products, and 2 – marketing those products. All other activities are 'overhead'. The majority of the time spent on your online business must be spent in those two activities. Creating valuable, keyword-focused content that will attract visitors to your website counts as “real work”.
4. You are responsible for your own on-line business education.
Don't expect to start and succeed without a commitment to learning about doing business online. I was a complete novice at doing business online when I started, and my results accurately reflected that. I made no money, and had no clue why.
But, I chose not to remain ignorant. I spent quite a bit of both time and money buying books and products and training about making money on the 'net. I learned a few things, applied what I learned, and made some progress (and a few bucks.)
This was enough to encourage me to continue the process. Here's the reality: the more you learn, the more you will earn - provided you have the discipline to apply what you learn.
5. Your business can only grow as fast as you do.
Your biggest investment in your online business should be the investment in yourself. If you can't find a way to scrape up a few dollars to buy a book about Internet marketing, or take a course, you are unlikely to have what it takes to succeed.
Hopefully you will eventually get to the point that your continuing education is self-financing; that is, your online business will generate enough revenue to pay for your training. (I spend a LOT of the money from sales of my books on books by other people.) But you have to be willing to 'prime the pump' and make the investment to learn enough to get the ball rolling.
Final point: it's a cold reality, but absolutely worth it!
All the preceding would not be worth pursuing if the prize were not worth the effort. Here's the good news: I consider my decision to seriously pursue an online business from home one of the best moves I've made. I don't know of a better opportunity for 'regular people' to have a real business and create some security for themselves.
What's the bottom line, here?
It works out like this: after just over a year of serious, focused effort, I have created a passive income that covers my farm mortgage payment (low 4 figures.)
Let's do some analysis on that number: (I'm still a performance measurement expert, can't resist the odd calculation). If you had to save enough money to generate $1,000 a month income (I rounded down), how much would you need? Assume a 4% return, and you would need to save $300,000 to generate $1000 a month in interest! How long would it take to save $300,000?
Now, obviously this does not guarantee you can do the same thing; as they say in the car commercials, "your results may vary". Like any business, you get out of it in proportion to what you put in. It ain't get-rich-quick, remember?
By the way, my goal for the next 12 months is to double that income. My 5 year goal is to win the lottery. By that I mean I plan to create an online business income of at least $1,000 a week, just like those 'cash for life' lotteries .
The difference is, if I stick to my plan, my odds of getting there are a lot better
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