Let's face it. Getting your new internet business off the ground isn't something that attracts the TV news crews. Nope, CNN won't be covering your new project. In fact, for many, the experience may range from pure drudgery to a roller coaster ride of hope, excitement and expectation followed by plunges into deep depression and forebodings of failure. Getting your internet business is going to be work! They promised you that you could "work from home", and you WILL work if you hope to achieve success. At the end of this article will be the most poorly kept yet most valuable secret of success whether you work at home for yourself or have a job and work for someone else. Even though you now work from home, you are still a part of a business enterprise. You still have a job, and this job requires you to be the manager, sales team, market manager, business planner, accountant and janitor. The business will not survive unless you show up for work bright-eyed and bushy tailed every day. One reality of starting your own home based internet business is that most will not produce significant income for some time. The expectation is probably the biggest motivational factor that keeps most entrepreneurs, and job holders, motivated. However, if the expected income doesn't arrive, that motivation begins to fade. Not only is the fading of motivation a cause of failure, but it may be intensified by other factors as well. The Small Business Administration ties the failure of most new businesses to such factors as lack of experience, lack of knowledge, lack of training, lack of preparation, and unrealistic expectations. Can you imagine showing up every day to do a job you don't enjoy, where you are faced with having to try to do things you don't understand...and then being told you won't get paid for several months? What's going to happen to your motivation? How long will you be willing to put blood, sweat, and tears into such an unrewarding proposition? That's why basing your next internet business, or ANY new home business, brick-and-mortar business, or even a job on a passion. If you already know about the niche market you have chosen, you will avoid the trap of failure due to lack of knowledge. If you are even somewhat familiar with the industry, market or community, you will be better able to form realistic views and expectations. If you build your internet business on something you truly enjoy, something you are passionate about, you will be glad to show up for work every day, even without the expectation of immediate financial rewards. You will voluntarily expand your knowledge and your circle of contacts with others of like interests, and this will expand your ability to market your products enthusiastically and with assurance through this broad network of like-minded individuals. THE SECRET OF SUCCESS I PROMISED From reading the above, you might have come to believe that the secret of success is to do something you are passionate about. While this is true, and that passion does provide you with skills, tools, and motivation, it is that motivation which will help you create and grow a successful home based internet business. Initial motivations such as expectations of profit or success will fade, but the motivation to take part in something about which you are passionate will not. The secret of success is effort + perseverance. If you can keep yourself motivated so that you show up for work every day, even when there is no immediate expectation of income, and if you can spend day after day working to improve and expand your business, your work will eventually pay off. You will also find rewards that have nothing to do with money as well. If you are working with a subject that you enjoy and would be involved in even if it did not pay, you will reap benefits far beyond those provided by a paycheck. Do what you truly enjoy, and you will find yourself succeeding in ways you never imagined. |
