Many people think they want to make a killing or at least a decent living by owning a profitable online business.
People want lots of things they will never actually work to acquire. That’s human nature.
A very small percentage of the people who build sites on the web make any kind of money at all. That’s also got a lot to do with human nature.
It is not because [tag-ice]internet marketing[/tag-ice] (web publishing) is a scam and people like me are only pretending to be successful. Granted, most people are pretenders to the throne, but not all of us.
Truth is, success (period) is hard won. Online or offline, the rules are exactly the same.
There are evident traits of successful web publishers. Bloggers, direct marketing experts, shopping site owners, affiliate marketers, and niche content providers are collectively making the equivalent of the gross national product of medium-sized countries.
What’s the difference between them, the relative few, and everyone else?
1. Passion: An unwavering dedication to “make it” without distraction and without slowing down until “it” has been achieved.
2. Work Ethic: Nothing can stop these people. They will work any number of hours per week, blast through learning curves and leap amazing technical hurdles until they have realized their goals for their online business.
3. No Free Lunch: Although entrepreneurs are, by definition, “dreamy” and undaunted by big thinking, they are not so stupid and unrealistic that they believe anything is going to fall into their lap. They ignore the emails and ads for “opportunities” most people get sucked into.
4. Caring: Professional web publishers give a damn about what they do and how it is perceived by the markets they serve. They cannot get into a business just for the money and sustain themselves emotionally and physically for the money alone. And they cannot screw good people out of money just to become rich for the sake of wealth.
5. Giving: The best and most successful business models online are the ones that give before asking for anything in return. Free information is proven to build trust and set apart the greedy from the honest. Online business owners who are trusted are, not coincidentally, successful beyond measure in their niche.
The Simple Truth is that…
…statistically you, dear reader, are destined to fail at your online business. I say statistically because I can’t know if you personally are one in a hundred that are going to work hard enough, give enough, care enough, be sensible enough, and be passionate enough to do what it takes to succeed.
The odds aren’t in your favor, but if you are realistic you knew that already.
The final truth about [tag-tec]online business[/tag-tec] is that the people who succeed find ways to cut the learning curve down as much as possible.
You can’t come online and simply buy a “make money” product, service, or scheme and start depositing large checks every month.
Does that mean the opportunities the web provides everyone are not real? Ask the guys who started Google, Myspace, Skype, Ebay, YouTube, Content Desk, Flickr, De.lic.ious, Napster, Yahoo and any number of other sites in your bookmark files right now.
None of the people who started the successful ventures above are overly remarkable human beings on average. They just worked hard, thought big, and saw their dreams through to the other side no matter what got in their way.
Can you do it too? Absolutely. If you have it in your genetic makeup to succeed no matter what. Yes.
Does everyone have the characteristics of successful people? Absolutely not.
Most people will enjoy a lifetime of working for others no matter how bad they “want” to be independent and successful online.
That’s just life. It’s human nature. It’s the Simple Truth about online business success.
Find out who you are and what you are made of before jumping into the game unprepared for what might come. If failure is not an option, yet you don’t have what it takes to work like a dog in the beginning, don’t jump in at all.
At the very least you could find someone to work for who owns a successful online business someday. Online jobs blow away offline jobs anyday.
If all this advice does nothing but inspire you to be one of the few who make it, then my job is done for the day.
Stick around, read, learn, and get on the path leading to your destiny as a successful online business owner!