While I've never skinned a cat (I love animals) and haven't been to Las Vegas (don't want to go) I have hiked many different trails to reach summit of my favorite Oklahoma mountain. Each trail I took landed me on same spot, at top of my mountain, where I could enjoy a breathtaking vista and see a hundred miles or so into lush and verdant landscape of neighboring Arkansas.

So, how in world does all that relate to your own business success?

Simple - you need to create profit trails that lead back to you - and you need to create as many different profit trails as it will take to get you where you want to be.

But unlike mountain, where any single trail will eventually land you at top - chances are that no single profit trail will ever deliver what you want in terms of income and lasting business success.

A Case In Point From The Dirt World Recently I visited a small privately owned pharmacy to get a refill on a medication. While waiting I made note of numerous profit trails owner had working for him, all of which lead back to one spot - his cash register.

Besides usual pills, ointments and elixirs, he also offered unique gift items and a classy wrapping service, greeting cards, healthy candies and snacks, gourmet kitchen items, stuff for horse lovers, a full magazine rack and best selling novels, and more.

Now, if that pharmacist relied only on a single profit trail derived from selling pills, chances are he wouldn't be in business much longer.

Business Is Still Business - Even On The Internet It seems to me that many people are completely missing this point. Rather than view their Internet efforts in terms of a real and lasting business, I think many people equate Internet success with winning a Lotto. They unknowingly doom their own chances by jumping from one opportunity to another, hoping for a single huge payoff from a single profit trail.

I'm sorry, dear reader. It probably won't happen that way, no more than a small pharmacy can make good only by rolling pills.

Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Basket That seemingly silly old wisdom hits a home run in this context. When you have multiple profit trails leading back to you, your income will not only increase, it will stabilize. You won't suffer when one trail is suddenly blocked by a landslide.

Time to Spruce Up Your Public Relations?

Better check out public relations fundamental premise, then take action in your own best interest.

The premise reads this way: “People act on their own perception of facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving- to-desired-action those people whose behaviors affect organization, public relations mission is accomplished.”

Here’s how you can reap its benefits.

Do you REALLY know what your most important outside audiences think about your organization? Are you actually aware of which external audience has most serious impacts on your operations?

Better find out by interacting with members of those target audiences whose behaviors affect you most, then ask lots of questions. “Have you done business with us? Was it a satisfactory experience? What do you think of us and our products and services?” And watch carefully for any negatives, even undertones that may need corrective action.

The responses you receive allow you to set your public relations goal. For instance, correct that inaccuracy, straighten out misconception, or challenge that rumor.

Not surprisingly, reaching that goal requires that you set a strategy, and only three are available to you: create opinion where there is none; change existing opinion, or reinforce it. The goal you set will lead you to right strategy choice.