About To
Start An Online Business? Read This First.
Copyright 2004 Steve Shaw
I
recently received an interesting question from a visitor
to one of my web sites: "If there is any advice that you
wish you would have gotten before you started a business
online, what would it be?". Rather than write an extensive
email on this subject, I figured my answer would be of use
to many people out there about to embark on what for many
could be a life-changing experience.
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It takes a lot more work than much of the hype suggests.
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If you think you can put in a couple hours when you feel
like it and achieve any level of success, you have been
seriously misled. You need to be prepared to put in some
very long hours, and to go through a steep learning curve
as you find your way.
Establishing an online business is the same as setting up
any other sort of business - it takes a lot of hard work
and a lot of commitment over a long period of time, with
many trials and tribulations along the way. Don't expect
instant results, nor to sit on the beach after a couple of
weeks while the money flows in - it doesn't happen.
The current success stories on the Internet have got there
through months, more likely years, of hard work. You should
be prepared to do the same, and to make whatever sacrifices
you may need to make in your current life to do so.
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Don't fear failure - just get started now.
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Many people do not start something because they are afraid
of failure. They are afraid of looking a fool, afraid of
their nearest and dearest saying 'I told you so', afraid of
wasting time, effort and expense on something that may not
work out.
In fact, the very nature of the question in my opening
paragraph above is based on a fear of failure. It is a vain
search for that gold nugget of information that will
prevent them screwing up.
The truth is that failure should be celebrated, it is a
simple milestone on the way to success. It is only through
failure that you can truly find the path to any sort of
success, right from when you first learned to walk as a
small child. Failure teaches you important lessons that
make you wiser and will make your business stronger and far
more likely to succeed.
Instead of just giving up when something has failed or not
worked out like you expected, there is a really simple
question you can ask instead that can lead to great success
- "What can I learn from this experience?".
Everyone who has ever achieved success has gone through
failure first. The difference is that the success stories
picked themselves up, learned from the experience, and
persisted anyway.
For many people, just getting started is often the hardest
part. They will think about it, think some more, and then
think again. Often rather than thinking in a focused way,
they will end up procrastinating, and never get off the
starting line.
The important part is just to get started. Yes, you may be
initially doing completely the wrong thing, such as selling
the wrong product in the wrong market, but failure is the
only way you will learn, and the only way you will reach
success. If you don't fail, you can't succeed.
And simply by starting, you have succeeded already,
succeeded in getting way beyond the point that most people
reach, which is usually just saying, 'One day I will'. Make
today that 'one day' - why wait until tomorrow, when
tomorrow never comes?
It is important to maintain your focus on what you actually
want to achieve. Are you aiming for an additional income to
supplement an existing wage; or are you looking to make an
Internet business a full-time occupation?
Whatever your focus is, it is important that you
continually work towards it until you achieve it, whatever
knockbacks or challenges you receive along the way.
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Be careful what you read - beware of information overload.
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There is so much information out there about how to do
business online, much of it contradictory, that it is often
difficult to separate fact from fiction.
Rather than read everything and anything you can get your
hands on, it is best to find just a few people who you
trust, who have a good reputation, and who are actually
qualified to give the advice they give, and listen to them.
A little high-quality information can be worth a great deal.
It is also useful to watch what they actually do, and
compare that to what they say - sometimes the two are very
different, and following what they do is far more useful.
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Don't aim for perfection before you 'launch'.
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No web site is ever perfect, and if you try to reach a high
level of perfection before you launch or make your site
live, you will lose more than you can achieve. Plus your
version of 'perfection' may differ a great deal to what
actually works with your market.
Once your site is functional and of a reasonable quality,
start promoting it immediately. Start to build up your
mailing list by requesting the email addresses of your
visitors. Test what works with your visitors and what does
not, and alter your site accordingly.
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Listen to your visitors and customers.
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When you have started and got a web site up and running, it
is important to listen to your visitors and customers, and
to treat them with great respect. Not only will you learn a
great deal from them about what the market is actually
looking for, you can also earn lifelong customers and
friends.
Positive comments from customers can be used with their
permission as testimonials on your web site, which will
strengthen your online credibility and profit potential.
Be prepared to continually adjust your web site to meet the
market demands. A web site is never 'finished', a
successful web site must evolve over time on a continual
path of improvement.
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But most importantly...
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Decide to succeed - right now.
About the Author:
Steve Shaw of takanomi.com develops software and systems
for effective e-marketing. His PopUpMaster Pro software at
http://popupmaster.com creates
popups that beat the popup
blockers and which you can use with Google Adwords.
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