Archive for online business
Building A Successful Online Business
Posted by: | CommentsBuilding a successful online business takes time and experience. Anyone who tells you any different is probably being economical with the truth.
Let me share an experience with you.
In 2002 I joined a very well known billion dollar nutrition network marketing company and, along with my business partner, our business flew out of the starting blocks. We were new to online marketing, but we did have two years of network marketing experience behind us. OK, so we hadn’t been hot network marketers in our two previous companies, but we had learned enough about the ‘how to’ of doing network marketing and knew all about lead generation, going through the numbers, cold calling, rejection, personal development and working on yourself more than your business etc. The new skills that we needed to learn related to the online marketing side of things, but fortunately for us we had a sponsor who knew how to market online, so we quickly had this covered and spent the next few years honing our skills.
As I said, our business flew and for the first time in years the company we represented suddenly had some new ‘stars’ on the block. Everyone wanted to know what we were doing. The answer was of course, nothing special, it’s just that we weren’t the newbies everyone assumed we were.
I’ve since moved on from this business and business model. I am no longer involved in MLM, but much of what I learned is still very relevant to what I do today.
The thing is, the majority of newbies have so many skills they need to learn before they can even get going. And this is where a lot of sponsors don’t do themselves any favours. They’ve often ‘sold’ the dream that you can be earning thousands within weeks just because they did it themselves. They’ll have a great income testimonial, which may be 100% true, but were they complete newbies? Probably not. Did they bring their downline with them? Maybe. The truth is if you are totally new to networking or internet marketing or anything really, you are not going to be successful until you have learned ‘how to’. You have to learn the skills first! Fail to learn the nuts and bolts of building your business and it just won’t happen.
I remember learning that success is 15% ‘how to’, while the other 85% is down to what’s happening between your ears. In other words, your attitude and personal development is largely responsible for your success. While to a huge extent this is true – have the ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’ attitude and your business won’t go far, I have known of people who are hot with the personal development, but just couldn’t get their businesses going because they didn’t know the basics of ‘how to’.
It’s very fashionable for sponsors to say to the people they have sponsored into a business, if your business isn’t working you’ve only to look in the mirror for the cause of its failure. True, in some cases, but for the majority all they want is to be shown what to do and they’ll do it, but unfortunately the sponsor doesn’t even know what to do and all they are doing is regurgitating the stock standard response they’ve heard from their own sponsor (well at least something is duplicating even if it isn’t success!) Practical help and advice can be lacking. If it’s a successful online business you want then you have to become a student of online marketing first.
Your personal development will see you through the frustration of learning how to market!
It is entirely possible for you to do this all by yourself. There are many courses available that will teach you various aspects of internet marketing. You may find yourself investing a lot of money to learn. Furthermore, are the authors of these courses available to give you one-on-one tuition if there’s a part of it you don’t understand? Maybe, for a huge fee, but in the majority of cases you’ll be left to work it out for yourself.
You could also find a ‘guru’ who will teach you. Again, this can be a costly investment for one-on-one mentoring.
Alternatively, you could find an opportunity where you get the mentoring as part of the package. So if you do want to build a successful online business having a coach who can teach you because they have a successful online business themselves makes sense.
What’s Stopping You From Starting An Online Business?
Posted by: | CommentsWhat’s stopping you from taking the plunge and starting an online business? How many excuses have you made whenever the opportunity to start an online business has arisen, only for you to watch the opportunity pass you by and you’re still where you always were?
Over the past 8 years I have introduced hundreds of budding entrepreneurs to a number of businesses, both online and offline. Some got started and have done really well. Others haven’t got out of the starting blocks, and I’ve heard all kinds of reasons and excuses for them getting nowhere with some potentially lucrative opportunities. Opportunities that other people were making work, including me, so it wasn’t the opportunity at fault. I remember hearing on more than one occasion that “all excuses are equal”, just as “all distractions are equal” too.
Here are some of the most common reasons (excuses) I have come across for would-be entrepreneurs failing in starting an online business:
- Fear of failure. Who wants to get started with something if they think they are going to fail? Usually this one is about losing face in front of loved ones and friends. They’re going to resent the amount of time you will devote to your new venture. They’ll also resent the money you’ve invested (if you’ve told them) and if it doesn’t work out you know you’ll hear “I told you so”, so it’s just easier not to get started at all, isn’t it? Then you don’t have to face the music later. But failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs on the planet today have failed their way to success. Failure is just another challenge built into life to help you grow. Embrace failure. It’s a positive experience.
- Fear of success. I’ve never quite understood this one, but some people fear being successful. Maybe it’s the fear of not being able to cope with the unknown, not being able to handle the new responsibilities, the expectations or the attention that being successful entails. Maybe it’s the fear that if they are successful they will lose their friends as they leave them behind. Maybe it’s none of these, but for whatever the reason they fear success and it paralyses them into doing nothing, and although they consistently look for the perfect legitimate online business, they’re never going to get started anyway.
- Procrastination. Entrepreneurs don’t procrastinate. They are doers. They take risks. That’s not to say they are irresponsible or don’t research a project thoroughly before executing it, but if a project is feasible they get on with it. They don’t spend all their time doing “busywork” kidding themselves they are achieving something. They don’t not join a legitimate online business because they are ‘not sure’ if it’s a scam, even when their research shows it’s perfectly above board. They spend too much time being ‘not sure’ and never commit to anything… and stay exactly where they’ve always been, because it’s safer.
- Money/Investment Required. This is quite common, and an excuse used by those who just need an excuse for not starting an online business. It comes down to “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” and if you’re really committed to getting started in business you will find the money, irrespective of your credit status. If you have the belief in yourself to do the business, then money won’t be an issue, but if you’re looking for an excuse, then this it.
- Don’t have the time. Same reasons as excuse 4 above.
I know there are many, many more reasons for not starting an online business, and these are just the tip of the iceberg. If, however, you’ve read these and none apply to you, and you’re looking for a legitimate online business, follow the links on this page to learn more.