2.Current product: You create and sell quilts. New product ideas: §Goods: develop a new product (baby quilts?) and sell it via web, to local boutiques, or on eBay §Goods: purchase sewing notions on closeout and develop sewing kits to sell §Services: sew items to order for others §Information: develop a book of quilt patterns or gift ideas to sew §Information: document tips you've learned through years of sewing which a newcomer can use to do professional work more quickly

3.Current product: You are an attorney and do legal work for small business owners. New product ideas: §Goods: doesn't apply in this case §Services: develop a fixed-price package for specific services you are often asked to do - for example, a "new business startup package". §Information: write book of legal tips for business owners

Got it? Then, get out a piece of paper and get started!

(c) 2002 Carol Woods

In meantime, you have to drive traffic to your site via other means. You'll need to submit it to directories, negotiate reciprocal links with other complementary web sites, start publishing a weekly ezine (electronic newsletter) and start promoting that to start developing your own opt-in list, start writing articles and submitting them wherever you can (including a link to your site in resource box at end is good free advertising) and, shudder, advertising. And not in FFAs and free classifieds either. In other people's ezines. On other people's websites. In classifieds section of newspapers (yes, kind that leaves black stuff on your fingers when you read it). All of this costs money. Plenty of it. If you're running a network marketing business, you're also going to need to pay for leads during this period as well.

MYTH#5 - I Don't Have To Spend Money To Market My Business

FACT - Yes, you do.

You wouldn't expect to be able to market an offline business without financial outlay. Well, guess what? It's just same in your online business. See Myth #4.

Oh, and by way, when you're re-reading Myth #4, keep this in mind. You haven't made a dime yet.

MYTH#6 - I Can Put Whole Thing On Autopilot And Make Money While I Sleep (Or Vacation)

FACT - True. To a point.

By automating as many of your tasks as possible you necessarily free up time to do other things. You COULD use that time to sleep or vacation and you MAY make money while you're sleeping or vacationing. THIS time. But you must sow before you can reap and if you're not continually planting and growing your business, time will come in not too distant future when you have nothing left to harvest. You'll wake up one morning and find that, far from filling your inbox with overnight orders, your business has bitten dust.

So, instead of taking that freed up time and spending it sleeping or vacationing, spend it working your business.

In other words, you'll get out of your business precisely what you put into it. Just like anything else in this world. Funny about that.

MYTH#7 - I Don't Have To Deal With People, I Can Do Everything Via Email

FACT - Email is what you use to handle routine administrative issues and a tool to get prospective customers or networking partners to contact you. Once that happens, you take relationship OFFLINE. You get on phone and actually TALK to these people. The Internet is not an iron curtain that protects you from having to have real life conversations and relationships with people. It's just a tool that brings you together so that real work of establishing relationships can begin. Offline.

MYTH#8 - I Will Be Able to Fire My Boss And Work Where I Want, When I Want ... In Six Months Or Less

FACT - Don't give up your day job just yet.

MYTH#9 - When I'm Working For Myself From Home In My Online Business I Will Be Able To Spend As Much Time With My Children As I Want

FACT - When you're running a business you're running a business. It's not a pleasant little hobby that you fit in between stuff of your REAL life. If you're not going to run your business as a business, forggeddabouddit.

MYTH#10 - The Internet Is A Magic Wand

FACT - See Myths#1 through #9.

------

** Reprinting of this article is welcome! ** This article may be freely reproduced provided that: (1) you include following resource box; and (2) you only mail to a 100% opt-in list. Here's resource box to use if reprinting this article:

------

Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ... practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for work-from-home entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.com

Hello, and welcome to A Home-Based Business Online. I'm Elena Fawkner. An attorney in my real life, I relocated to Los Angeles from my native Melbourne, Australia, in July 2000.

Before the move, I worked full-time as a corporate lawyer in Australia and had been running AHBBO, dedicated to work-from-home entrepreneurs, part-time since July 1999.