Reality Check For Prospective Online Business Owners
A Reality Check For Prospective Online, Home-Based Business OwnersThis article is definitely not about stuffing envelopes, paid surveys or other questionable online business models. It deal exclusively with establishing long-term, sustainable internet-based businesses. These are businesses which will provide you & your family, with a decent, consistent and ever-increasing (passive) online income. If this is what you’re looking for, here’s your reality check & the crucial self-analysis you must do before you start setting up anything:A. Do A “Mindset” AnalysisSo, you think you have an “entrepreneurial” mindset?
Be 100% realistic. Accept that you will probably have to put in a great deal of work initially. You will also need to set aside at least 1 hour a day, form this point forward, to work on your business (At least in the initial “start-up” phase!)
Look at your personal circumstances (For example, your available time & your personal relationships. Relationships which may be negatively affected by the demands of your new business)
Your ability to persevere, despite the many challenges & setbacks you are bound to face while you establish your new business.
Financial Considerations: Please, Do NOT believe people who tell you that you can do this without any money and, with almost no effort! That is complete and utter nonsense! The fact is that you will need to spend some money to get off the ground and, you will need to part with more money, to sustain and build your business for the first 6 to 12 months (Or at least until you start making enough profit to draw a salary from your business!)B. Doing A Personal Skills-AnalysisDo you know how to:
Choose a sustainable & profitable, online business model.
Do “nice” market research.
Do effective keyword research.
Find “hot” selling products to offer to your niche market.
Create a website (or at least a free blog to start with) And, can you do basic Search Engine Optimization?If not, you will have to learn how to do these things fast!My Recommendation: There are real Internet Marketing experts out there. People who have spent many years (and a great deal of money!) perfecting the basics (and more!) Some of theses experts are selling their personal experience and expertise in training courses & eBooks, for as little as $27! I strongly suggest that you start off by investing in a few of their training courses and/or products. Trust me, this will be money well spent in the long-term! – Do Not try to “re-invent the wheel!” here! And, honestly speaking, if you’re not willing to spend as little as $27 on essential, “basic” internet marketing training, you are most probably not meant to own your own business!C. Starting With A Limited BudgetIf you’re starting out with very little money, you will definitely need to become proficient at the effective use and application of various “free” promotional strategies. You will need to quickly learn how to:6.1 Write optimized (search engine friendly) blog-post.6.2. Create effective “back-links” on high ranking, nice-related blogs.6.3. Write & submit high quality, niche-related articles.6.4. Use Social Bookmarking (Primarily to brand yourself & build your subscribers-lists)6.5. Put together video marketing clips.6.6. Buy links.6.7. Use “free” advertising resources.6.8. Come up with more, unique & creative (free) ways to promote your business & products.Let’s say for instance, that you decide to choose the affiliate marketing business model, you must know how to write “Pre-Sales” Pages (And in due course also, “Sales Pages”) I suggest that you learn how to write good copy, even if you choose another online business model!D. Paid AdvertisingIf can afford it, you should use “paid” advertising methods such as pay-per-click (“PPC”) ad campaigns on the various search engines. This should be used in addition to the “free” promotion methods outlined above. When using paid advertising, you must know how to:1. Set up and monitor cost-effective PPC campaigns (Or you could end up losing a lot of money!)2. Write good classified ad copy.3. Outsource most (if not all!) of your marketing & promotion activities.D. Once you’ve “mastered” all of the above, you will have to continuously “rinse & repeat” the entire process in other profitable “niches” until, you have a multitude of (passive income-generating) online businesses!In Conclusion: As you can see from the above, an internet-based home business is NOT a “Get-Rich-Quick” solution, by any means! It is also NOT something that will give you a decent income if you’re not willing to make a few sacrifices and work hard at it initially. However, there is good news: Once you have learned how to master the basics, you will be able to automate most of the essential tasks and then you can make a lot of money!Final Thoughts: In the final analysis, if you have found the right business model and if you follow a proven, step-by-step business blueprint” the chances are really good that you will succeed! Remember, the only thing that determines your success (in any aspect of your life!) is your ability to persevere when others quit!
