What is going on? Can you imagine writing to Bill Gates, asking for a free PC, promising to pay as soon as it starts turning profits?

Or how about a free college tuition? "Let me go to school for a year, if I learn something new, I will pay".

Now, some of these claims may be true and sincere. Many people do not have money to start their online venture. What should they do if that's case?

The answer is easy: self-education. That is how I started, and that's how most successful but low-budget ventures begin.

Subscribe to 10-15 different web marketing e-zines published by reputable authors, and read each issue thoroughly, with a marker in your hand.

Visit popular Internet Marketing forums, participate in free teleclasses offered by gurus, download and read free e-books on subject.

Spend a few hours a week browsing Internet for web sites of companies in your target area - learn what competition is doing.

Always keep in mind - it's either TIME or MONEY. If you don't have one, invest other.

Are you prepared to spend many months, maybe into a year or more promoting your product or newsletter?

Change is constant, especially on Internet. Products have to change to keep up with market demands. Keeping pace requires;

- research - analysis - retooling - re marketing - looking for new markets - staying abreast of what your competitors are doing

So underlying theme here is not "quick". For a select few maybe, but for rest of us, we have to work hard.

I'm not suggesting you spend every waking minute working on your business. Everyone has lives, families, hobbies or main jobs. You have to decide what's best for you and how best to spend your time between your responsibilities. No problem there.

If you want to succeed with an online business, you have to work at it, be dedicated, commit yourself, and persist. Here is a quote that I think applies to my point.

"Nothing in this world can take place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve problems of human race."

- Calvin Coolidge(1872-1933) 30th President of U.S.A.

Do you have tools to help you? Do you have knowledge to help you or a mentor to lean on? Do you have persistence or as Mr. Coolidge says ability to "press on"?

So ask yourself, how serious are you about your online business?

There are many very successful online businesses. There are also many more that fail every day. Which group do you want to be in?

So point is to set realistic goals for yourself and your business. Acknowledge your own limitations due to your other responsibilities and understand that you will have to spend time working on various aspects of business.

Get rich quick is probably not realistic for 99% of us. But generating a steady monthly income is very doable, with aspiration to increase that income over time.

I'm not sure who said this originally, but Kasey Kasem of radio fame uses this phrase constantly. "keep your feet on ground, and keep reaching for stars".

You absolutely can achieve your personal goals with an online business, but you have to treat it like a business. Develop your plan, set priorities, focus on your goals, work towards them, and get help when necessary.