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Starting Your Own Online Business Is Actually Too Darned Easy

Starting Your Own Online Business Is Actually Too Darned Easy

The title of this article is:

Starting Your Own Online Business Is Actually Too Darned Easy.

Life is difficult enough for a great many people, so why in the world would anyone say that anything with the potential to make life better is “too” easy?

Well because it is. Starting an online business is literally so easy that anyone who is not living in abject poverty in some third world country can quickly, easily and cost-effectively start one.

Still sounds like a good thing, Right?

Not exactly. Unfortunately, that means that the entrepreneurial door has been flung wide open to everyone and their brother—including the good, the bad, the lazy and the ill-prepared.

We will address the bad aside first and hurriedly get them out of the way. Everyone with an email account is already well acquainted with the fact that the Internet makes it easy for liars, con-artists, spammers and thieves to thrive.

Despite attempts at regulation, the Internet is still largely unregulated, and speaking as a proud citizen of a country founded on free speech, I think that is a good thing...for the most part. The Internet has already revolutionized the world and I'm sure that the benefits will only increase with time and innovation. Unfortunately, with the good must come the bad and that is probably going to remain a fact of life for many years to come.

So let us move onto the good. A smart, ethical, honest and reliable person, with either good business sense or lots of business experience, or natural talent and a dream puts up a website. Wouldn't you want to patronize that business? Of course you would, and so would I and everyone else.

The problem is--as the sayings go--either sorting the wheat from the chaff or finding the needle in the haystack. Because setting up an online business is so darned easy that pretty much anyone, anywhere can do it, that also means that the competition is even greater than it would be in your home town.

The good news is that with time and a little innovation, being able to compete online by effectively promoting your online business can be reasonably free and easy to accomplish. It is also fairly easy to do offline as well—although promoting your online business offline it is not quite as free and easy to manage as is promoting your offline business online.

For practical step by step advice on how to accomplish the reasonably free and easy part, see my articles on:

Free Website Promotion for the Beginning Entrepreneur
Your Own Community Service Websites - The Golden Key To Success!

Promoting a business online takes one of two things—time or money. If you spend the time you can—for the most part—forgo spending the money. If you spend the money—you can for the most part—forgo the time—but you absolutely cannot forgo both. That is good news for our good entrepreneur, it means that their competition will either be worthy opponents who are either spending time or money, and not harming any one's reputation in the bargain. Or...the competition—or lack thereof—will be the ill-prepared and the lazy ones who will soon-enough either run out of money or be unwilling to put in the time and will thereby fall by the wayside from sheer laziness.

So that leaves only one problem with the ease of it all—because it is so easy, it is also easy to get in over your head. Domain names are cheap and hosting is down-right inexpensive compared to brick and mortar rentals. Perfectly good turnkey and other Biz in a Box websites abound by the thousands, you just have to find the one you want and customize it for your needs. Thus, when all is said and done it is also very easy—even with hard-work, a healthy influx of money, or the world's best intentions—to be overwhelmed by it all.

To make sure this doesn't happen to you and ruin your dreams of an online business of your own. Follow these simple rules:

DO...

* Make a list of Basic Realities comprised of things:
You think you would enjoy doing
You think you are capable of doing
You know you can do
You know you will do
The amount of time you realistically have to spend on a weekly basis
The amount of money you have to begin and can afford to risk each month for at least one year
* Use your list of Basic Realities as a guide to create a list of Viable Ideas
* Use your list of Viable Ideas as a starting point for several weeks or months of research:
Use Google, MSN & Yahoo to find out who will be your competition
Use free online SEO tools to analyze how they are marketing their website
Decide what you can offer that is a good or better than they offer
Determine what free, or low-cost online tools are available to help you
* Plan your strategy for implementing, maintaining and promoting your website
* Find a mentor you can trust--then thoroughly research them to make sure you can, before you spend
any money with them.

DO NOT...

* Fall for any guru promises of automatic overnight miracles—It will take time or money or both.
* Buy or acquire your domain name from the same place where you purchase your hosting
* Ever send spam--The best way to avoid this is to use a double opt-in maillist provider.
* Believe that anything, anyone is offering to sell with a deadline attached is the last, best or only chance you will have to succeed online—They don't call them squeeze pages for nothing!
* Compromise your integrity to make a quick buck—There's more than enough of that already.
* Let the plethora of free giveaways and free advice available on the Internet put you into an information overload brain freeze
* Go off in 15 different directions at once—Start small and grow naturally because it is really is too darned easy to start an online business!

****
It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one’s dignity, to work unhampered, to
be generous, frank and independent.
– W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965) Of Human Bondage, 1915





Starting Your Own Online Business Is Actually Too Darned Easy - To learn more about this author, visit Teresa Bohannon's Website.

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Cheryl Matthynssens

Cheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur.  Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well.  A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles.  She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide-  to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being.  Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com

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John Alexander
John has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center.
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For an online Car Loan Calculator and finance for a cheap car loan. Get approved on car loans or car finance in Australia with cheap bank car loans and finding a car finance broker. Commercial car loans including business car finance and car lease. Car Loan Calculator has information on finance companies and getting the right cheap car loan from banks at best car loan rates and a online car loan calculator for all finance in Australia. Get the best car finance with our help at Car Loan Calculator and Finance Ezi. - Visit Richard Jefferies's Website

Stephanie Robey
Stephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals.

She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com   Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences.  Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

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Jeff Foster
WebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas.  We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing
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David Barr
David Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website

Anne Barr
Anne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website

Jay Kubassek
(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek)  In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.

 

As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)

 

Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. 

 

Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper.  Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website


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Teresa Bohannon
(Visit Teresa's Website) Teresa Thomas Bohannon is a web designer, hosting & domain provider & internet marketing consultant. Teresa founded Spun Silk Web Design in December of 1995 as one of the first free standing female owned web design firms in the country. Teresa is also the founder the LadyWeb Family of Informational & Educational Websites, created to help women and men who dreamed of starting their own businesses find their way inexpensively through the available maze of website options, domain and hosting providers, and software solutions. Teresa's latest ventures are the MyLadyWeb Self-Installing AdSense & Affiliate Websites, a simplified turnkey option for beginning AdSense entrepreneurs, & LadyWeb's Things To Sell Resale Shop & MyLadyWebsGiftGivea way a free marketing cooperative. Teresa is a published author of short stories and holds an MA in history. In addition, she is the Human Resource Administrator for a non-profit agency. Teresa's personal cause is revitalizing literacy by reading "with" children.

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