Hi Linda
What an interesting question
The strange thing is that I have just completed a full review of my online activities and realised that I need to go back to basics and start over again especially if I want to achieve my dream of creating an ongoing lifelong independent income that will enable me to achieve other dreams and goals (e.g. spend 2 years travelling the globe)
Here are a few pointers that I have drawn from my own online experiences over the last 5 years:
(1) Write down your goals and dreams BEFORE you start
It's critical that you are very clear about where you're heading and what you want to achieve. As Stephen Covey says 'start with the end in mind'. I have met too many people who jumped into Internet Marketing chasing the quick money, who quit the day job way too soon, only to end up broke with shattered dreams a couple of years later.
(2) Be prepared to work hard BEFORE you become a success
It really infuriates me that there is a growing psychie that the Internet somehow represents the ultimate 'Get Rich Quick' opportunity and it somehow produces Millionaires on a conveyor belt. Of course the Internet represents an incredible tool to help you achieve incredible LEVERAGE which has the potential (once you have become a master of the skills that are critical to your success) to provide you with a substantial ongoing income and free up your time to pursue other goals and interests. BUT...it is crucial that you are prepared to WORK VERY HARD in the early days until you've created sufficient revenue streams that provide you with the income you need for the lifestyle you choose.
(3) Build your business on a REAL cost model
Everyone is looking for 'something for nothing' and the reality is that there is no such thing. The recent buzz about blogging, PLR articles, adsense incomes, virtual real estate sites, data entry (adwords), schemes to achieve high natural search rankings, instant sites, resell rights, etc, etc is creating a culture where newbies are drawn into the 'trap' that they can become wealthy online for FREE. Simply NOT TRUE.
I have now developed a cost model for my business which is based on accounting for real overheads such as hosting fees, domain names, pay-per-click campaigns, professional web-site designs, software to automate more of my businesses, paid for membership sites, attending free and paid for seminars, hiring programmers when needed, etc, etc. I now have a much clearer picture of my business, the turnover I need to achieve and a process that evaluates where best to make further investments in my business for effective growth.
(4) Set more financial goals and targets
I remember when I first had that 'moment' when I realised the potential power of the Internet and the sheer excitement I felt when I could see that I could develop a large independent income that would completely transform my life. I also remember how I got sucked into the 'sensationalisation and hype' surround Internet Marketing and I felt hypnotised by the prospect of earning a 'significant six figure income' within months (at the time I was making $250k as an IT contractor) which would replace my income and I would then have the time to do other things...
What I didn't do is set measurable financial goals and targets to help me focus on developing my business and seeing it develop gradually over time. Recently I was discussing a new perspective with friends here in the UK and realised that the vast majority of people in the UK are working to bring home less that £2000 ($3500) per month. In other words they are blowing their brains out working a job that most don't truly enjoy 40-50 hours per week to earn a measly £500 ($850) per week! CRAZY! And yet if these same people could work on creating a part-time, low risk, low investment, Internet based income of JUST £100 ($180) per day it would revolutionise their lives.
Make sure you don't get drawn in by the hype and the promise of big bucks. Set stepping stone goals that as you reach them (and maintain them) create more opportunities and chioces in your life.
(5) Build your business on PROVEN foundations
This is related to the previous point. If you truly want to change your life forever and use the power and leverage of the Internet to provide you with a lifelong ongoing independent income then you need to build your business on proven foundations that will ensure your business will continue to thrive for years to come.
Too many people get drawn into the 'make a fast buck now' and spend enormous amounts of time creating temporary income streams (e.g. Junk sites built with Traffic Equalizer, Adsense content sites [since Google enabled advertisers to set a totally different bid price for their ads on the content network to their bids on the search network!!], etc) that they have simply created a different job for themselves.
Be very careful where you source your information and advice from. For my money the best of the best are the following people:
- Corey Rudl (R.I.P.)
- Jim Edwards
- Jimmy D Brown
- Yanik Silver
- Mike Filsaime
- Stephen Pierce
- Perry Marshall
- David Cavenaugh
- Jeff Johnson
I have deliberately left out some of the other well known people because I have found that their approach is more about getting your $$$s rather than being completely open with you. In my opinion an example of what I mean is John Reese. Yes I bought the original Traffic Secrets (and I made a few thousand $$$s as an affiliate) and I also signed up for 'The Reese Report' where John was 'going to explain and show us exactly' how he developed his VRE empire that did $500k in its first year from a standing start...Not! Personally I found it extremely frustrating as he always seemed to be holding something back - yes the information he gave was OK but it was not something new, just a different perspective...hmmm (Sorry about that I needed to get it off my chest
)
(6) Focus on ONE THING at a time
It's very easy to get distracted and sidelined when building your business, especially when you are constantly bombarded by promotion after promotion, and especially when things are going as well as you hoped and you're starting to doubt things.
It's critical that you have a plan of action with lots of stepping stone goals and you stick to the plan - see it through to the end...BEFORE you start the next project. There are thousands of people who started off with the best of intentions only to end up 6 months, 12 months, 2 years later with a big bag of nothing and nothing to show for all their TIME, EFFORT & MONEY! Don't let this be you.
As a final comment, don't worry about all the little tricks, etc. If you find yourself seeking out the next trick, the next black hat method, the next underground secret, then you have a business that will probably fail.
Build your business on solid, sound business fundamentals, using a real cost model (so you can afford to use PPC, etc
), offering great products and services to a responsive market (and email list) and you will have a business that will produce a wonderful lifelong income for you and your family.
Cheers
TonyMB