So you want to start an internet business? With all they
hype and downright nonsense on the web these days it is easy
to get totally confused. The end result is wasted days,
weeks, months, and even years stuck in an analysis
paralysis: you are so busy reading the thousands of free
ebooks, each of which is telling you that you can be rich
overnight, that you end up making nothing at all - or worse
still, making a loss.
So, to distill it right down, what DO you need for a
successful internet business?
I believe that it can be boiled down to three fundamental
factors:
FACTOR ONE: the most important of them all, yet (for the
newbie) the most neglected. Yet it is this one factor, over
all the rest, that will determine whether you are successful
or not.
What is it? Napoleon Hill calls it a "Definite Chief Aim".
Unless you have a very clear goal of where you are headed
and, with it, enough belief in yourself that you can make
it, you will fail. It's as simple as that.
Everything you do, every success, and every failure, starts
in the attitude of your mind. So, if you really want
success, you had better start by getting your mind in shape.
Fortunately, that is easy to achieve - if you would just
dedicate yourself to the task of self-improvement. Is it
any surprise, then, that the more successful people are, the
more they spend on self-improvement books, tapes, seminars,
and coaching?
Professionals get personal coaching, amateurs try to teach
themselves.
If you want to be rich, then do as the rich do: invest in
your eduction and personal development.
FACTOR TWO: A clear and coherent business plan. "Yes, yes",
everyone nods, yet how many people actually get around to
drawing up a detailed, written plan? Why do you need one?
Because a business plan is the road map that shows you the
route to take so as to arrive as quickly and efficiently as
possible at your "definite chief aim".
Don't know how to go about drawing one up? For detailed
help, why not go down to your local library and read some
books on it? Or go to your bank's business advisor. In
many countries the government has set up agencies with the
specific remit of helping aspiring entrepreneurs to get
started. Go speak to them.
But, just to give you a flavor, here are some crucial
questions you need to be able to answer if your business is
to succeed:
a) Who and where is your hungry crowd? It is no use trying
to sell burgers to people who are just leaving a restaurant.
They are not hungry. If you want to sell something, your
very first task, even before you decide what to sell, is to
ask "what do people want"? If people are desperately
hungry, they want to be filled, if they are dying of thirst,
they want to be quenched, if caught in the rain, they want
to be dry, and if feeling lonely, they want to be loved.
Get the general idea?
B) When you know what they want so much they would sell
their own mother to get, your next question is "what
product or service can you provide them that would meet
their need or want?"
Be careful to distinguish between SOLUTIONS and PRODUCTS.
People caught in the rain don't want an umbrella, they want
to be dry. People who are insecure don't want a fancy,
expensive car, they want to be noticed, admired and envied.
The mother with a newborn does not want diapers - she wants
her baby to be dry and comfortable.
The products are only the means to an end. Don't sell
products, sell solutions. What solutions can you provide
for your crowd with their desperate "wants"?
C) If you have identified your hungry crowd, and come up
with some valuable solutions for them, how will you tell
them what you can do for them? How will they find out that
you have an answer for their problem? In other words, what
will be your marketing strategy?
D) Finally, (and this really is at the END of the list, not
the beginning) how will you deliver those solutions? Will
you sell them a product, or a service? How will it be
delivered? How will you collect the money? What
infrastructure will you need to put in place before you can
even start?
If you sell burgers it is no use having hundreds of them
sitting in your freezer at home when hordes of hungry fans
come flooding through the football stadium gates at the end
of the match. You need to be there, in place, ready and
waiting, with your Burger Van fully equipped with grill,
paper plates, and cans of Coke - and, of course, a permit!
FACTOR THREE: The right tools for the job. Don't try to
cook gourmet meals for a five-star hotel on a single-ring
camping stove, it is not up to the job.
Everyone on the internet seems to want to run their business
for free. The want free traffic, free email, free websites,
free autoresponders, and free subscribers. Well, yes, you
can make a bit of money online using free stuff. And maybe
that is what you should do, while you are first finding your
feet.
But if you are serious about your business, then at some
point you going to have to get serious about your tools.
Professionals invest in quality tools because they make the
job easier, quicker, and better. Amateurs try to make do
with whatever they can find in the back of the shed. As a
customer, which would you rather go to if you wanted your
roof fixed, or your ears pierced?
The details vary, but take a look at every successful
business and you will find all three factors solidly in
place. Making money is not hard. Millions of ordinary
people do it quite successfully. You just have to go about
it the right way. Concentrate on these three factors, and
you will be off to a flying start.
|
