Finance Articles

How to start a successful online business has until now been something that has evaded me, but not because of lack of effort. My past efforts to launch a successful business have failed (not counting the two eCommerce startups I worked on) primarily due to a lack of focus, plus the fact that I floated from system to system and from this hot internet marketing scheme to another.

The result of my lack of focus was that I ended up with a hodgepodge of approaches, spent thousands of dollars on the latest fad internet marketing gimmick and ended up with nothing but some piddling Google Adsense and Commission Junction money to show for it.

Quite frankly, I have been disappointed with my previous lack of results. But, Who’s to Blame? Me of course. I was the one without focus, without a plan, without a system.

So I decided to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements of the future. This meant starting all over again and throwing away all of my misguided past attempts. This time my I was going to have FOCUS and clear all the noise out of my life so that I could focus. I unsubscribed to all the zillions of “Make a Billion $ in 2 Hours” newsletters and offers that were flooding my email (and that I was wasting time reading).

This time I was going to find the right business model, settle on ONE system and concentrate on it. Period.

I started my planning and searching for a new way of doing business by combing through a hundred of different opportunities posed on the internet. When I started to look at the internet business opportunities available online, it quickly became overwhelming. I found thousands upon thousands of moneymaking opportunities and hundreds of millions of websites dedicated to the subject.

I found every thing from online gambling, paid to read email, paid to complete surveys, affiliate marketing programs, freelancing opportunities, multi-level marketing (MLM) programs – on and on and on. I also found thousands of websites promoting online business schemes that promised great riches, all you had to do is sign up, pay the sign up fee and then sit back and rake in millions in profits while bikini clad babes waited on you. Of course the majority of these are scams with ridiculous come-ons.

Whenever I saw a business promoter bragging about their ClickBank or Google earnings (with photocopies of their big checks) or they guaranteed a profit I quickly ruled them out. I believe that the more the hype, the less trustworthy the source. It was disappointing to find that the majority of business opportunities out there are from self professed gurus that are only willing to take your money but offer no benefit or real service in return.

Most seemed to offer a snatch, grab and run approach.

In conducting my due diligence and research one thing that amused me was the so called independent product/business reviews. I found so many postings claiming to be an independent review of a business it amazed me. Of course, they were really disguises meant to get you to sign up to a new Internet Marketing system, or some other program, using their affiliate links buried somewhere in their “independent review”.

All in all, I’d guess that 99% of the opportunities I reviewed were pure, adulterated crap!

I am pleased to say though, that there are real business systems out there, sponsored by people that really do want to help you succeed online. Of course they would gain by you signing up for their “system”, but that’s really a good thing if you think about it. The best business model is one where your sponsor has a vested interest in your success. There’s a lot to be said for someone that is vested in your success, because if you make money, he/she makes money. Now that’s a good thing – you succeed, they succeed.

During my search for a business opportunity I realized I had to set some guiding principles or rules to guide my decision making process. I wanted to end up with a winner. Picking a winner has to be a business decision with no guesswork involved.

You can come up with your own rules for picking a business. The important thing is that you have some, you stick to them and that they fit your personality, goals and your business plan. You do have a business plan, don’t you?

So here are the rules that I established to guide my decision in picking a home based internet business opportunity. These are just some guidelines – please add your own criteria to fit your situation.

It must be a business where I can help others succeed. The more people that I can help to succeed, the more I succeed. It must embrace a culture of “enthusiasm about the success of others”. It must be based on a System that offers a proven roadmap that has already been tried and proven to work. The roadmap should be something that anyone, regardless of expertise can follow and master. Anyone who wants to succeed can succeed as long as they put in the effort. It should be a business that can be done part time. The majority of people that want to start a home business need to do so on a part time basis. The sponsors of the system must already have a good record of success and be vested in my success. If you want to succeed, hang around with successful people. The really successful people in life have learned that helping others is a key to success. It must offer a person with a small budget the opportunity to join in, succeed and profit. By eliminating the cost of joining the business, more people can join in, become successful, and realize their dreams. Residual income is critical in order to building a recurring stream of income. Wealth is built on recurring income, not on one-shot sales. It must offer multiple streams or ways of generating income and not be reliant on just one approach or product. Staying power and lifespan are important in that a business being built today will still be a viable business model in the future. It cannot rely on the latest Internet fad or a single strategy as the primary way of making a profit. It needs to be something that any potential business owner can do regardless of technical or business expertise. The vast majority of potential business owners have limited technical expertise and/or they have never run a business of their own before. 10. Training and/or mentoring are critical components of the program. Business owners need to know they will have access to an outstanding training program, be supported and that there is always someone available to help them ANYTIME they need it. The business must be replicable – if I can do it, anyone can do it. And perhaps the most important to me is that the business needs to offer its owners/participants a sense of community and foster involvement, success and a giving attitude. Working with others is a far better way of ensuring success than working in solitude.

There you have it, my 12 guiding principles for selecting an Internet Business Opportunity that will be a winner. Perhaps 1 in a 1000 businesses – be they the brick and mortar type or a home based Internet business will be able to meet these requirements.

But, I am happy to say I have found one and you can check it out at GensPlan, which has merged with Rags2Riches.net.

It’s time to move ahead and take action.