How I learned to Succeed Online, FinallyWritten by Mike Cantwell
If you thought anything like I did several years ago, you probably thought you could just THROW up a website and make money. You know, like ones our "friends" at Dead yellow offered. FREE Website, FREE e-mail, FREE money, FREE...........well, I won't go there. After throwing site together, just submit it to URL submitter a couple times a day and visitors would just flock to my site. NOT! Boy did I feel stupid. Still do sometimes. But I have to admit making mistakes has helped in my approach to earning money online. Fortunately those early ventures only cost me about $400 and I did actually earn several checks so I put my loss at around $240. I think it was worth lessons I've learned. The way I see it, these are things you MUST have in order to prosper on Internet. 1) A Unique Product or become a dealer for a reputable company 2) You own opt-in mailing list with a listserver 3) A PROfessionally designed website 4) A Salemanager (software to follow up on your prospects) 5) Traffic Being in restaurant and lawn & tree care businesses a unique product was somewhat of a problem. I mean I really couldn't have you download a T-bone medium rare and a twice baked, now could I ? Mmmm...maybe a fungicide treatment for your lawn. Nope. Grub treatment.......Nope. Now off to Net to find something that people would NEED and purchase in quantity. First I cut some cookies. BIG mistake. Then I tried to sell overpriced vitamins. HUGE mistake. Not only did I sell about 2% of what I ordered, they weren't as good as ones costing about 20% as much. Boy did that guy FOOL me! Now my pea-sized brain was spinning..........where do I find products or sevices that people TRULY need. I needed to offer same quality that people received from my offline businesses. And it HAD to have same VALUE.
| | Good Morning: As a subscriber to your newsletter I Haven't Made My $100,000 Yet Part Time. When Am I Going To Make Money?Written by Ross Reyman
ABC News carried a story of a man who was selling his 3-year-old Internet business for 3.2 million with stock in company that was buying. He stated, " I want to do something else with my life. I just graduated from high school and want to have time for college activities and have a full social life. Besides I can invest and do my thing."We have all read these stories. College students in a small room started Yahoo. We read and at least hope that we can do something ourselves.. So many who read these things want a miracle? Ads for Internet opportunities tell of that at least 100 thousand, at least a better home with a new BMW in three car garage. After all Bill Gates, and person selling you opportunity made it. Here are some things that must be considered to live a real life on Internet. 1) MOST BUSINESSES ARE UNDER CAPITALIZED. Only about 2% of all SMALL businessmen are still in business 2 years after they start. Why should it be any different on Internet? The biggest reasons for failure is not enough money. After you buy your computer equipment, you need about $400 to start at least. Yes, there are those who started with less who made it. Ruth Townsend of Cortland, New York started with free ads (http://www.lifestylespub.com/). It is being done all time. But only a few make it. But Internet business cost considerable less to start than hundred thousand needed to start most businesses. 2) LACK OF TRAINING. Some men and women think that owning a computer is key to success. The computer age is still just starting. We are silent movie stage. We need to learn and learn more. Take one course at a time at your community college. The way computer science of going, we will always be in need for more training. Spend at least an hour per week learning computers, business skills. Admit that you don't know everything. When you find something that you don't know, go to people who will help you. One site has some courses about Internet at http://www.sonic.net/~rwreyman/ Use other people's energy.
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