Make Money Online- the baby steps part 38

We have reached the end of the road. This will be the final part in our guide; “Make Money Online”. We hope that you have enjoyed the guide and that it has been helpful. We will be expanding on this work down the road. We already have plans for a new guide about starting an online business, but that will happen down the road. As for now, we feel you should know just about enough in order to start a content-rich website and make it a success. We wrote this guide with the intention of giving you the best possible tools to succeed. We have based most of our advice on experience, our own and that of others. The links we have provided are in no way making us any money. There are no affiliate relationships, kick-backs or hidden agendas at work. All our recommendations are based on the fact that we have tried it ourselves and liked it. Everything has been written for your benefit. We hope you´ve enjoyed it. We know we did.

In this final post we´ll just go over what needs to be in place in order for you online business to thrive. The recommendations below are , again, based on our own observations and experiences. We know exceptions to the “rules” outlined below, but they are far fewer than you might expect. We just wanted to leave you with a list of important things to keep in mind. If you check most or all of these boxes you have a much better statistical chance of ultimately making it.

Be obsessed. Obsession is very often looked upon as something negative. We don´t feel it is. In fact we welcome some kind of obsession in our partners behaviour. It can be annoying at times, but it will put money in the bank. Always. Almost all the greatest interpreneurs or entrepreneurs that we know of are obsessed to some degree. In fact, most of the successful people we know  has some kind of obesssion in place regardless of endeavor. Some people will say the are very passionated. Some will claim they have singleness of purpose or a keen attention to details. Others will confess to you that they are thinking about their business first and foremost during the better parts of the day. You can call it whatever you like. We sometimes refer to it as obsessions, simply because we feel it is an accurate description. Be obsessive about your business, and success will follow.

Do it first or do it better. In general there are two ways to go about it. Either you think of something entirely new or you add to an existing product or service by doing it better in some way. The benefit of doing something new is of course the first-mover advantage which will very often bring in some nice money before copy-competitors start popping up. But the other way is more often than not the way to go about it. Find something were you think you could add value, simply by doing it better. You don´t have to reinvent the wheel to be a successsful entrepreneur or interpreneur. Just find a way of doing something useful in a better way and build your business around the value that you are providing by doing that. Great ides are in general not as great as they appear. Execution is what matters. Everything else is secondary.

Forget the money. It is important that you think about money, when you start out. But not just any money. You should be obsessive about your cash flow in the beginning. Always look to do things cheaper. Ask a friend for some help. Barter services with others. Be cheap and always look to keep costs low and try to get some kind of positive cash flow going. Or at the very least try to avoid having an overly negative cash flow- as that will put you out of business sooner than you think. Other than the cash flow- forget about the money. Don´t try to strike gold straight away. Try to do the best possible website out there. Try to provide value. Try making your visitors´ lives easier. Look to make a loyal following of frequent visitors. Look out for their best interest and never go for the quick and easy buck. Ironically, the less you think about money initially the more you eventually make in the long run.

Don´t go solo. You could build a website by yourself. You could start any business by yourself. But what you will find is business is that very often the most successful entrepreneurs and interpreneurs were working in pairs. Two or three people are in general what it takes to make something great. There are a number of reasons for this. There will be major setbacks along the way and two people will give eachother enough energy to get past these bumps. If you are by yourself chances are you will give up. Another important reason is that there is power in numbers. If there are two of you, you are bound to have different personalities, with different strengths and weknesses. If you only are able to find a nice working relationship between the tow of you, you will soon find that the strangths of each partner will come to the forefront of the company just when they are needed the most. Thus, 1 plus 1 may very well turn out to be 3. In time you will start to read eachothers minds. You will not need to speak to eachother before you accept or decline a deal. You will knowwhat the other is thinking. It is a deep intense feeling of brotherhood, and it may not be a coincidence that many successful businesses are run by brothers or childhood friends. They “fill in” eachothers gaps.

Same core values, different strengths. Pick partners that have the same core values. Partners that speak the truth, are honest, are on time and want to make it. Pick partners that have integrity and try to align your goals and incentives as much as possible. If your incentives are too far apart your relationship will break. Sooner rather than later. As much as you want to have the same core values, goals and incentives as your partner, you want your strengths to be quite the opposite of your partner´s strengths. If he is a people´s person who can sell anything, but instead you have excellent analytical skills that´s great. If he is a creative genius but you are a much better programmer, that´s excellent. If he´s great at writing, but you are great at negotiating, thet´s perfect. Only one of you has to have a particular skill, although it´s good if you both know the basics of everything. You want to complement eachother. And you want to spend the majority of each day doing what you are really good at.

Have goals in place. You need goals to succeed. Break down longer-term goals to shorter-term to-do-lists. Each day, you should have a list of things that need to be done. make sure to go through that list. Push yourself every day and be methodical. Make sure to keep that dream alive by knowing that on that particular day you did everything in your powers to take a small step towards your longer-term goals. Always look to be as effective as possible and always try to improve. Success is more a function of a series of small improvements done over a long period of time, rather than one big “home-run-event”. Goals help you keep those small improvements aligned in a straight line. Work ethics and discipline will allow you to get things done. Having specific goals will allow you to get the right things done.

Courage to commit. You need courage to be successful. By this we don´t mean that you should quit your job. We realize that most of you are going to start your website as a part-time project and keep your daily employment. We find that sensible. Your website is not going to take off like a rocket- we can promise you that. It´s going to be a slow, tedious process in the beginning. And you are going to need a regular job to pay for the initial investments and to pay your monthly bills. If your long-term goal si to be able to make a living of your website you are eventually going to want to make the move to self-employment. In general though, that will take some time of dedicated, hard work. Nevertheless, it is important to commit to your online business. Treat it as a business from the start. Tell your close friends and family about your plans. It´s more difficult to abandon plans that you have shared with others. Never cut yourself some slack. Work hard. meet those deadlines and go for your goals.

Be a rebel. In the words of the late Steve Jobs “It´s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy”. While its often more comfortable to be a part of the crowd that´s not where the real action is. If you are a part of the crowd, your results will be the same as those of the crowd. Don´t be afraid to be a rebel. It´s always important to listen to your customers. But most important is that you listen to your gut. If you listen to your instincts and your instincts are sound, chances are you are going to achieve some great things. Mac, Ipod, Iphone, Ipad- they are all a result of one man´s conviction. Had Jobs listened to customers, none of these products would have seen the light of day. Trust your instincts. And dare to be a rebel at times.

Keep costs low. We´re not talking about cutting costs here. We are talking about avoiding costs in the first place. It doesn´t cost much to setup shop online. Start out as cheap as possibly and only pay for stuff that definitely adds value to your long-term business. We know from experience that most of the things that a new entrepreneur or interpreneur want to spend money on in the beginning are plain stupid. You don´t need a flashy office, fancy furniture or glossy business cards- at least not on your first business day. You can get all that stuff later- when money is starting to trickle in. In the beginning phases of any business you should keep costs at a minimum and spend most of your time working harder than you ever thought possible. If you do, you might just stand a chance.

Be good and do good. Ok, we have to tell you the truth. We got this one from real life experience rather than our internet ventures. As entrepreneurs we have found that it is often best to be good and do good. First of all it feels a hell of a lot better than the alternative. And second, it´s just good business. People are usually a lot smarter than many sleazeballs make of them. People will see youir true colour sooner or later. It has to do that on a subconscious level people will not listen to what you say as much as they pay attention to what you do. If you are honest your words and your actions will be in harmony. If you are dishonest you will talk a great game, but your actions will awaken the doubts. And once people start to doubt you, they will start searching for others to do business with. It´s really not that difficult. Always speak the truth. Be fair. Don´t have a hidden agenda. Work hard. And always try to negotiate deals where there are two winners. By doing this you are building a long-term medium profitable, great business- as opposed to a short-term high-profit, lousy business. Be good and do good. It´s good business.

Don´t be content. Very often there is plenty of opportunity to be found in small-business areas. This often has to do with the fact that small business owners are often content with staying small. If you own one successful bed & breakfast why would you want the hassle of starting another, or a third? It may sound strange but our experience is that many small entrepreneurs continue to be small because they keep thinking small. They see their small business as a job, not a business. The flip side of that is naturally that they don´t really want to expand. A business is scalable, whereas a job is not. Thus, many small business owners aren´t even thinking in terms of scaling up, because they don´t consider their shop a business. You will find that not only in real life but on the internet as well, at least if you are active in certain niche markets. One of the key reasons some online entrepreneurs are more successful thanothers is simply that they always look to be opportunistic. They are always looking for improvements, always looking to expand their business. They are never satisfied. Treat your website like a business, not just another job. And never get complacent. Always go for bigger and better.

Look for action, not ideas. Ideas are great, but not many ideas are as great as you make them out to be. Chances are your perfect idea has been around the block a couple of times before you even thought of it. While it is almost certain that your perfect idea is not as unique as you might initially believe, that doesn´t make it any less interesting to pursue. If it gets your juices flowing and your adrenalin pumping you should go for it. The important thing is that you act. Dreamers and idea generators are a dime a dozen. Winners know the need to act. Act decisively. Act strongly. Act fast. Act with determination. But by all means be a doer, not a dreamer. When you´re in the process of reaching for your goals and accomplishing your vision, onlyt hen can you allow yourself to dream. Oh, and when you do that- make sure you dream big!

Follow your dreams and passions. Life is short. Why not spend it doing something you love? Something that will make you jump out of bed in the morning with a silly smile on your face? If you love what you are doing there is a better chance you will have the staying power necessary to reach your final goal. Make no mistake- running a business is hard work with lots of obstacles coming your way. If that´s is not the way you would describe it you either don´t have experience as an entrepreneur, or you are not treating your shop as a real business. Most of us have had to deal with several major obstacles in our entrepreneurial life to reach our goals. And we´re not even going to talk about the minor obstacles. They are always present. I think, to some degree you learn to look past them.  Experienced entrepreneurs are tough. They´ve been around, and they are not easily intimidated. They have learned that there is no point in worrying today, for things that probably won´t make a differende tomorrow anyway. When they see an obstacle, they put their game face on and start a methodical process of dealing with it. They have their eyes on the goal. They are following their dreams and passions. Why should they let themselves be floored, when they are doing what they love. Passion is a powerful ally. Keep it close to your heart.

Be the change you wish to see. When you make it, give (at least) some of it back. The process of succeeding in business is really not as complicated as many people make it out to be. It is hard, and there´s lots of work involved. But it´s not complicated. We know. We´ve been there and done that. It involves some common sense and a major dose of determination. In fact, we know that share determination will probably get you there all by itself. We know successful entrepreneurs with little going for them other than perseverance. But as we said, a bit of common sense on top of that goes a long way. What we are saying is not readily accpted by all people. We are claiming that anybody can become a successful entrepreneur and anybody can become rich. You too. You don´t believe us do you? Well, that´s ok. Most people don´t. They think you need some special talent or a certain flair for something in order to make it. Well, you do need a flair for not giving up. That´s really more than 80 % of the battle. If you have that, it is mostly a matter of time.

Once you get there we hope you will use some of that extra money and time to do some good. Help your fellow man reach success as well. Inspire and motivate others to reach out for their dreams. Help those of lesser fortune than yourself. While it may put a minor dent in you pocketbook it will make the equiry of your soul skyrocket. Make the world a better place. We hope you reach all your goals. We know you will if you put your mind to it. And once you do we sincerely hope that you try to live life to the fullest. Be the change you wish to see in the world.

This is the final part of our guide, “Make Money Online- the baby steps part 38″. We hope you enjoyed it. If you did , you might want to check out some of our other guides regarding how to make money and how to get rich. We wish you a wonderful life, full of achievement and success. We wish you a life full of joy and hapiness. And we look forward to seeing you take those first baby steps and propel yourself to some serious wealth.

Nothing would make us happier.

 

The team at Richopedia.com