There are three elements that one must possess to succeed with an online business. They are Discipline, Determination and Doing.
Discipline: to force yourself to stick to your plan and make a firm commitment to yourself to be actively engaged in your business at all times. It is all too easy when you are your own boss to procrastinate and even just bypass opportunities to learn new techniques or try some new strategy. You must keep making consistent effort to advertise and market your website aggressively as much as is humanly possible.
Turn off the TV if that distracts you – turn on your answering machine if you keep getting interrupted every time you start to work. Close your door and let it be known to your family and friends that you may be at home but you are working at certain hours and you would appreciate it if they would not disturb you.
You have to create your own structure for your home business, such as hours and tasks that need to be done. Be sure to factor in time for breaks just as you would with a j-o-b. If your problem is working too much, be sure you take time to rest your eyes, body and brain because you will be much more efficient if you are ‘fresh’ or collapse from exhaustion.
Determination: to proceed no matter what obstacles, real or imagined that you may perceive. Figure out a way to go around it if you can’t resolve the problem right now. Make a note and go back to it – don’t use it as an excuse to ‘wait’. “There is no can’t” – Whether you feel you have done so much and nothing seems to have worked for you, don’t give up. You must be determined to succeed so that you don’t get discouraged and stop trying. Marketing has always been about building and sustaining momentum over time. This means keeping the volume of your advertising at high volume at all times.
The majority of people who see your ads will not be interested or at least will not take action at this time. This is normal and happens to every business. You have to weed through these people to find the few that will respond. It is a bit like ‘finding a needle in a haystack’, but they are really there and they are interested and ready to take action. Proof of this is that you are one of them! (and actually thousands of people are making money right now and for a long time with Internet marketing businesses).
Doing: You will be barraged by information from all sides – offers, opportunities, technical requirements, strange terminology, etc. You can never have too much information, and in order to succeed you must keep abreast of the latest strategies and techniques in your industry. However don’t get ‘paralysis by analysis’ – that is get hung up on the information. If there is something you don’t understand, then look it up on a search engine, make some notes to refer to later and move on. Receive it, process it, file it, immediately take action, and keep moving forward; (“wash, rinse, and repeat”).
Don’t use the excuse that you don’t know enough to actually do anything yet – start using what you learn as soon as you can. You don’t have to be perfect or an expert – you just need to have the basic information and then to use it. You only need average computer skills – if you can send an email or post to a blog, then you can do a lot to promote your business right now. You will improve as time goes on just like with anything else – the more you learn, and the more you do, the more proficient you will become.
So, “Just Do It”.
