Saturday, June 03, 2006
The Missing Elements in Most Failing Businesses
If you're like most people, you started your online business because of the promise of easy money, short work hours and unlimited potential for being able to do what you want, when you want, how you want and still make more than you did as an employee. So how come that promise doesn't hold true for the vast majority of new business owners online?
A look through Napoleon Hill's classic, "Think and Grow Rich," shines the spotlight on the key elements missing in most online business attempts. Hill lays out six steps for turning your desire for the kind of life you want into reality. These steps have been confirmed by countless millionaires as essential steps to success. I'll list them along with my comments on how these turn up lacking in most new business owners' efforts.
1. Write down the exact amount of money you would like to earn
Here are two things right off the bat that most new business owners, flush with excitement over becoming their own boss, fail to do;
Would you go to the airport without a destination in mind and then hop on whatever plane was nearest. Would you figure that wherever that plane takes you will be where you really wanted to go in the first place? That would be a ridiculous way to get anywhere with air travel and it's equally ridiculous for planning a business.
The second thing that most business owners fail to do with this first step is to fail to put goals in writing. There's something about physically writing things out on paper and having it in front of you that makes it feel more real.
Again with the travel analogies, if you were going to drive to a distant place you've never been before, would you try to keep directions in your head? Or would you want to have them on paper to refer to so you can keep your memory fresh on where you were going and how to get there?
2. Write down what you are prepared to give in order to obtain your goal
This, too, is missing from most failing businesses' efforts. Too often, new business owners online are lured by the myth that they can simply slap a little affiliate code on their website or pick out a few products from some dropship company and then sit back and watch the money roll in. Nope.
You can't start a profitable business without investing a lot of yourself in it. What will you give of your time? What will you give of your background? What will you give of what makes you unique? You'll have to give your visitors something more than just a few affiliate banners or product descriptions to make it worth it for them to pull out their credit card on your site and not on someone else's.
3. Write down a specific date by which you plan to have obtained the specific amount of money you determined in step 1
Setting a date helps you avoid procrastination. If you don't have a timeline in mind for achieving your goal, you can keep putting off the work needed to get there. You can simply keep telling yourself that you'll get there someday. But "someday" just stays out there in the future.
4. Write down your specific plan you have for obtaining that specific amount of money by that specific date
Whoa! Now here's a big void in most new businesses' efforts. Most new business owners on the Web jump in with a "plan" that goes something like this: "Well, I'll put a few products out there and see what happens."
That's not a plan for a business! It's like saying, "I think I'll throw a rock into a tree and see if it knocks a solid gold apple out of it."
I won't go into the other two steps that Hill lays out. They're more about what to do with these first four steps. But the fact remains: starting a business online requires you to do more than just buy a dream from one of the many scammers who sell "wishful thinking" businesses.
It takes goals and planning to create a profitable business.
Jeff
If you're like most people, you started your online business because of the promise of easy money, short work hours and unlimited potential for being able to do what you want, when you want, how you want and still make more than you did as an employee. So how come that promise doesn't hold true for the vast majority of new business owners online?
A look through Napoleon Hill's classic, "Think and Grow Rich," shines the spotlight on the key elements missing in most online business attempts. Hill lays out six steps for turning your desire for the kind of life you want into reality. These steps have been confirmed by countless millionaires as essential steps to success. I'll list them along with my comments on how these turn up lacking in most new business owners' efforts.
1. Write down the exact amount of money you would like to earn
Here are two things right off the bat that most new business owners, flush with excitement over becoming their own boss, fail to do;
- Set a specific income goal
- Put goals in writing
Would you go to the airport without a destination in mind and then hop on whatever plane was nearest. Would you figure that wherever that plane takes you will be where you really wanted to go in the first place? That would be a ridiculous way to get anywhere with air travel and it's equally ridiculous for planning a business.
The second thing that most business owners fail to do with this first step is to fail to put goals in writing. There's something about physically writing things out on paper and having it in front of you that makes it feel more real.
Again with the travel analogies, if you were going to drive to a distant place you've never been before, would you try to keep directions in your head? Or would you want to have them on paper to refer to so you can keep your memory fresh on where you were going and how to get there?
2. Write down what you are prepared to give in order to obtain your goal
This, too, is missing from most failing businesses' efforts. Too often, new business owners online are lured by the myth that they can simply slap a little affiliate code on their website or pick out a few products from some dropship company and then sit back and watch the money roll in. Nope.
You can't start a profitable business without investing a lot of yourself in it. What will you give of your time? What will you give of your background? What will you give of what makes you unique? You'll have to give your visitors something more than just a few affiliate banners or product descriptions to make it worth it for them to pull out their credit card on your site and not on someone else's.
3. Write down a specific date by which you plan to have obtained the specific amount of money you determined in step 1
Setting a date helps you avoid procrastination. If you don't have a timeline in mind for achieving your goal, you can keep putting off the work needed to get there. You can simply keep telling yourself that you'll get there someday. But "someday" just stays out there in the future.
4. Write down your specific plan you have for obtaining that specific amount of money by that specific date
Whoa! Now here's a big void in most new businesses' efforts. Most new business owners on the Web jump in with a "plan" that goes something like this: "Well, I'll put a few products out there and see what happens."
That's not a plan for a business! It's like saying, "I think I'll throw a rock into a tree and see if it knocks a solid gold apple out of it."
I won't go into the other two steps that Hill lays out. They're more about what to do with these first four steps. But the fact remains: starting a business online requires you to do more than just buy a dream from one of the many scammers who sell "wishful thinking" businesses.
It takes goals and planning to create a profitable business.
Jeff
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