The question was a simple one: If all obstacles were removed, would you like to own your own business?

In other words, if what ever was stopping you from starting a business didn't exist, would you at least attempt it? Basically, would you prefer to be an entrepreneur, or an employee?

Eighty five percent said "Yes, they'd prefer to work for themselves". Which means 15% misunderstood question on survey. After all, if what ever concerned you enough to not attempt a business venture didn't exist, then you'd have no fear of doing so.

I mean, who wouldn't want to be in control of their own life? To have freedom to make their own decisions, work their own hours, and write their own pay check?

Even using conservative 85% figure, that would mean about 200 million Americans want to start their own business, but have never even attempted it! There must be some pretty compelling reasons, we thought, so we set out to find out what they were. To no one's surprise, it was never about preferring to work for someone else's business, but rather incapacitating fear of starting their own.

And it was same four fears, every single time. It takes too much money. They didn't have tens-of-thousands, or hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to invest in a business (and they didn't know anyone else who did).

It takes too much time. They didn't want to work 80 hours a week for first year or two to get their business going. There's too much risk. Over 56% of all businesses fail in first two years, and they'd have to quit their job, so there was no safety net.

They didn't know how. They'd never taken any business courses. They had no business experience. They don't know anything about taxes, accounting, marketing, and they myriad other skills a good entrepreneur must possess.

Not all responded with all four objections, although most responded with more than one. Surprisingly, "I don't know how" was most common response. A lot of folks said they wished they had taken plunge earlier in their lives, but they just weren't Mavericks they once were. They had a mortgage to pay and a family to feed. They felt is was - too late.

Now comes fun part.

Would you ever consider going into business for yourself if; total start up costs were under $500, total time investment could be as little as 5-15 hours a week, you could continue to work in your present job until income from your business was sufficient to earn you at least an equal income, so there is little risk, and best of all, there were numerous consultants available to you who are experts at running this business, who would train and advise you personally, for an unlimited number of hours, for entire life of your business, absolutely free!

Not only that, but there is another company that will take care of all your research and development, labeling, inventory, shipping, payroll, payroll and sales taxes, most legal questions, and so on. And, this company will do this for you every month, for life of your business, for around, oh, $25.00 a year?

Right now, your probably remembering old adage "If it sounds too good to be true..." Fine. But, hypothetically, would you consider it if all this were true? "Well, sure..." you're probably thinking, "...but there's got to be a catch." Not only is there no catch, I didn't even hype pitch by one iota. These are exactly conditions in which thousands of successful network marketing ventures have begun.

Sure, some overly zealous networkers may tell you how rich you're going to get, how easy it is, and how fast it will happen. Please note, I didn't say that!

Network marketing is a serious business, no less than any other you might consider earning your living at for rest of your life. The reality is, network marketing is hard work, it takes time, and you'll probably lose some money in beginning.

The difference is, most of hardest work is done by someone else, your work is done when you choose to do it, it typically takes a few months to turn a profit (some accomplish this in first month) rather than a few years, and what amount you might lose at first has one, two, maybe even three fewer digits compared to start up losses of most conventional businesses. Yet, you can still reap tax benefits of operating your own business, and you have just as much, if not more income potential as most conventional businesses!

All of this is achievable. Except last. There is nothing immediate about results you will achieve when you first start an online business.

It's estimated that well over 98% of internet businesses bite dust after only a few months. How can you make sure you're one of 2% who last through long haul? It's quite simple, really. Just hang on.

That's assuming, of course, that your online business is worth hanging on TO. If all you're doing is reselling someone else's products and not contributing anything to Internet community yourself, get ready to join 98%. But if you've identified your niche, if you're making an original contribution to that niche and have quality products or services to offer that market, you can make it.

But you have to be prepared to stick it out because no matter how great your site, your product, your service, your ideas, your abilities, it will not happen overnight.

THAT'S why 98% of online businesses fail. It's not because they were also-rans, it's not because they did nothing but sign up for half a dozen affiliate programs and thought they were in business, it's not because they were dumb, or slow, or technically challenged or faced too much competition.

It's because they gave up too soon.

You have to allow for lag factor. You have to be prepared to not only sow your seeds, but to give seeds time to germinate, sprout and, finally, grow. Only then can you harvest. In other words, not only must you sow before you can reap, you must wait after sowing before you can reap.

It's what you do with that waiting time that's critical to your success.

Think of yourself as a farmer. You wouldn't just plant a quarter acre of corn and then sit back for next three months (or however long it takes corn to grow) twiddling your thumbs, obsessively checking for signs of life every five minutes, getting more and more frustrated with every day that passes without being able to harvest.

No. In meantime, you'd be busy planting strawberries, potatoes, carrots and broadbeans. And you'd be busy *harvesting* broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts and asparagus that you planted four months before strawberries, potatoes, carrots and broadbeans. While you weren't obsessing about how cauliflower, silverbeet, tomatoes and squash you'd planted three months before THAT were doing. And keeping an eye on your herb garden while you were at it.

Like working a farm, working an online business is a constant exercise in planning, sowing, tending, measuring and reaping. And patience. Lots and lots of patience.