All excited, you blast away another promotion following week. But this time you only receive a single sale. Uh oh! What's going on? So in a panic you only wait 3 or 4 days and try to re- promote. But, over next few days, not only do you see no sales, over half of your subscribers cancel their subscription.

*Question: What happened?

Your subscribers don't know you. In all likely hood sales you made were nothing more than pure luck. Within your list you will undoubtedly have a few people who are really serious, perhaps a bit frivolous with their money, and will buy immediately. But you have absolutely no relationship with your subscribers. They simply looked at your second promotion and said "I don't know who this is, but they keep sending me emails", and cancelled.

What has happened here is marketing analogue of biochemical "quick fix" you get when eating a candy bar to curve your hunger. It works great initially, but you crash hard shortly after.

*Solution?* Take your time building your list!

One thing that I cannot stress enough is time between sign up and first contact. When you buy lists, although sellers usually advertise only a few days old, you get addresses of people who don't even remember what they initially signed up for. I don't know about you but if I receive emails from people that I don't remember, it gets canned immediately. Being that over 150 million people are on internet today, and are constantly hit with advertisement after advertisement, can you really be surprised that after a few days they really can't remember what they signed up for. The information age has catapulted us from one extreme to next: information no load to information overload. So, you absolutely must make contact immediately after sign up.

There is another very important reason for quick follow up after sign up - building credentials. People will be much more likely to stick with you if they think "hey, I signed up and immediately received a response. This person cares." And you should care. If your serious about developing an online business you should care about your contacts and you should supply them with valuable information. To succeed first take time to promote and build a quality list. Profits will come in due time.

You should always remember reasons why you started your own business and stay focused. Success usually comes after continued effort but be smart in your efforts. Planning is a very big part of anyone’s success so think out what it is you want to accomplish o­n a regular basis (Time Management). Do a calendar to plan you time out so that you see what has to be done daily, weekly, and so o­n. You need to make a plan and stick to it even through times that when you ask yourself “Why did I Start This?” Now that I got that of my chest I guess I need to do an article o­n time management. That will come out later in year.

When setting goals keep this in mind they should be o­nes that are realistic, attainable and measurable. o­ne of best way to do this is to always write down your goals. Yes write them down then map a plan of action using these guidelines in setting goals. Trust me I used it for many years in business and with others to help them understand how to accomplish a certain goal. The better you get to know hows and whys in reaching your goals easier it is to reach them. Remember goals you set are what you want to accomplish whether they are business related or personal. I have said this to many people and will say it again here Always Keep You Goals Real.

Hopefully this shorten version of my lesson will help you either in getting started or just in setting goals.

___________________________________________________________________

Anthony Russell is editor of Self Employment Internet Style. Anthony has over twenty-five years of experience in management field. For more o­n Home Business related articles and information. Visited his web site at: Self Employment Internet Style at: http:// www.2interbiz.com

Note: Anthony Russell