???? THE ONLINE BUSINESS ????

Most people start an online business out of curiosity. They have seen many wild claims about how they can make a fortune with just a few clicks of their mouse so they get themselves a domain name and some hosting and play around.

They follow the methods outlined in some training program that promises them the world. Claims of instant traffic and all this kind of BS. When the reality sets in that there is no such thing as making a fortune in their underwear by clicking their mouse, and using “miracle software” they lose interest rapidly and quit.

The thing is that it costs very little to get started with an online business. A domain name is around $10 a year and web hosting $10 a month. If you install the WordPress blogging platform then you can set up a website for free. So with so little invested it is no wonder that so many people give up when they realize that it is not as easy as they think.

If you don’t treat your online business as a proper business then you are much more likely to fail. You do not have to invest a lot of money but you do need to make an emotional investment in your online business.

Setting up an online business is relatively easy – making it a success is not. It doesn’t matter what others tell you there is work involved to create a robust and sustainable online business. You will need to invest in tools like an autoresponder service to make it work properly.

You need to believe that you are creating an asset. The website that you build is your asset. As an exit strategy you can sell your website to an interested party for a considerable sum. When your online business is successful and making regular income there will be a lot of people interested in buying it if that is what you want to do.

To create a successful online business you need to work on it every day. Forget all the nonsense about miracle software. You need to learn to do the right things and get the word out about your online business all of the time.

If your online business is just a hobby or a fad to you then your chances of success go way down. Imagine that you invested your life savings into a brick and mortar shop in the local mall. Would you treat that as a hobby or a fad? No you wouldn’t – so imagine that you have invested your life savings in your online business.

There are going to be days when things go wrong with your online business. Something will stop working or the campaigns that you are running are not delivering the results that you want. You need the resilience and commitment to overcome these problems and carry on. Treating your online business as a real business will help you to do that.

How many people that start an online business do you think create a plan for their business? The answer is very few. Nobody knows how many online businesses fail every year but it will be a lot. Most new online business owners do not set goals or create any kind of plan. They are then surprised when it all fails.

If you are going to start a n online business then set a goal for it. The easiest goal to set is a financial goal. Think about how much you want your online business to generate in the first 12 months and then turn that into your financial goal.

You are probably starting an online business because you believe that it can provide you with the freedom that you crave. This is fine and a successful online business can provide you with freedom. No more working a dead end job and commuting for hours.?

Your online business has the potential to make you a lot of money. The only thing standing in the way is you. So use the SMART goal setting process to set your goals.?

If you are not familiar with this process here is what it means:

? Specific – your goal must be specific e.g. my online business will generate $100,000 in the next year.

? Measurable – you must be able to measure how you are progressing with your goal. Fortunately there are a lot of tools available to measure the success of your online business..

? Achievable – forget the hype here. It is extremely unlikely that you will make a million dollars in your first year. Not impossible though.

? Realistic – think about the time that you have available and other resources such as money.

? Timed – you must add a time to your goal such as 1 year. Open ended goals are useless

After you have set your goal you need to create a plan to achieve it. What you want to end up with is a daily set of tasks that you can work on to move you closer to your goal. So think about the macro tasks of your plan and then break these down into daily micro tasks.

A simple plan would be:

?????Decide on the niche and online business model

?????Setup website

?????Add content

?????Find offers to promote

?????Promote

Of course these are high level activities and there would be sub tasks involved to achieve them. You can start today by deciding on the niche that you want to enter for example. Write your goals and plans down and carry them with you wherever you go.