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The 10 Most Popular Myths
About Running A Home-Based Business Online
2002 Elena Fawkner
Several weeks ago I finally took the plunge into the world
of network marketing. I had been running an online business
for almost three years by then but knew that I would have to
make the leap to network marketing at some point since it
was such an obvious fit with Internet marketing. And I
haven't been disappointed.
One thing did surprise me though -- the number of people who
approached me about my network marketing business,
interested in running their businesses exclusively online,
but with the mistaken belief that it would be somehow easier
and less expensive than establishing and running a home-
based business offline.
Well, let me tell you, there's nothing easy or inexpensive
about running a home-based business - online or off. The
Internet is just a different way of going about it. And
that's all.
Here's my top 10 myths about running an online business and
in answer to the missing Myth#11, NO, you CANNOT run a
serious online business with WebTV - get a REAL computer
already).
MYTH#1 - It's Easy, Anyone Can Do It
FACT - It's not easy, by any stretch of the imagination, and
no, you may not be able to do it.
Reality is, establishing an Internet business is a long,
slow, frustrating process. Your first attempt at creating
your own web site will be an abomination. You'll look back
at it in 12 months and shudder. I know I did.
You'll feel utterly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of
information you need to absorb. And the fact that six
different "experts" each tell you six different things
doesn't help. (There are no "experts", by the way, just a
lot of people with a lot of opinions. Bottom line? Do what
works. For you.)
The only way to learn is by trial and error. Some days
you'll feel like you're on a roll, the next you'll
feel like you're backsliding and FAST. No sooner do you
manage a respectable ranking on Altavista, than your Yahoo
listing
disappears altogether, and where the hell did that number 5
listing with Google go?
After spending an ENTIRE DAY trying to work out what's going
on with your search engine listings, giving up, going
searching for yet another "expert" to tell you what you're
doing wrong, finally realizing there is no such expert and
you're going to have to learn how to do it all yourself
after all you suddenly realize that you've done absolutely
nothing all day to promote your business and you still have
to write the article for this week's ezine which has to go
out tomorrow but you can't work your business tomorrow
because you have to go work at your J.O.B. ....AAAARGHHHH!!!!!
Many, many people, give it to you. Most, probably. It's hard
work and it's frustrating. At the end of the day, most
arejust not prepared to do what it takes.
MYTH#2 - I Can Get Wealthy Overnight
FACT - The only way to get wealthy overnight in this world
is to win the Lotto. Period. It will NOT happen on the
Internet. Not these days, anyway.
MYTH#3 - Once I Build My Website I Can Relax And Let It
Do the Work For Me
FACT - Hah. See Myth #4.
MYTH#4 - Once I Build My Website The World Will Beat A
Path To My Door
FACT - No. It won't.
Merely creating a web site and uploading it to your host's
server means that your web site is available for viewing by
*those who know it exists*. Only problem is, you and your
web host are the only ones who know. And even your web host
doesn't care (at least as long as you pay your monthly
hosting fees).
You now need to submit your site to the search engines (no,
they will not just find it automatically and no, your web
site is not just automatically added to some great universal
Index once it's uploaded). Then you have to wait several
weeks or months to find out whether it's been indexed. And
if by some miracle it has, where and for what keywords. And
then fix it.
In the meantime, you have to drive traffic to your site via
other means. You'll need to submit it to directories,
negotiate reciprocal links with other complementary web
sites, start publishing a weekly ezine (electronic
newsletter) and start promoting that to start developing
your own opt-in list, start writing articles and submitting
them wherever you can (including a link to your site in the
resource box at the end is good free advertising) and,
shudder, advertising. And not in the FFAs and free
classifieds either. In other people's ezines. On other
people's websites. In the classifieds section of newspapers
(yes, the kind that leaves black stuff on your fingers when
you read it). All of this costs money. Plenty of it. If
you're running a network
marketing business, you're also going to need to pay for
leads during this period as well.
MYTH#5 - I Don't Have To Spend Money To
Market My Business
FACT - Yes, you do.
You wouldn't expect to be able to market an offline business
without financial outlay. Well, guess what? It's just the
same in your online business. See Myth #4.
Oh, and by the way, when you're re-reading
Myth #4, keep this in mind. You haven't made a dime yet.
MYTH#6 - I Can Put the Whole Thing On Autopilot And Make
Money While I Sleep (Or Vacation)
FACT - True. To a point.
By automating as many of your tasks as possible you
necessarily free up time to do other things. You COULD use
that time to sleep or vacation and you MAY make money while
you're sleeping or vacationing. THIS time. But you must sow
before you can reap and if you're not continually planting
and growing your business, the time will come in the not too
distant future when you have nothing left to harvest. You'll
wake up one morning and find that, far from filling your
inbox with overnight orders, your business has
bitten the dust.
So, instead of taking that freed up time and spending it
sleeping or vacationing, spend it working your business. In
other words, you'll get out of your business precisely what
you put into it. Just like anything else in this world.
Funny about that.
MYTH#7 - I Don't Have To Deal With People, I Can Do
Everything Via Email
FACT - Email is what you use to handle routine
administrative issues and a tool to get prospective
customers or networking partners to contact you. Once that
happens, you take the relationship OFFLINE. You get on the
phone and actually TALK to these people. The Internet is not
an iron curtain
that protects you from having to have real life
conversations and relationships with people. It's just a
tool that brings you together so that the real work of
establishing relationships can begin. Offline.
MYTH#8 - I Will Be Able to Fire My Boss And Work Where I
Want, When I Want ... In Six Months Or Less
FACT - Don't give up your day job just yet.
MYTH#9 - When I'm Working For Myself From Home In My
Online Business I Will Be Able To Spend As Much Time With My
Children As I Want
FACT - When you're running a business you're running a
business. It's not a pleasant little hobby that you fit in
between the stuff of your REAL life. If you're not going to
run your business as a business, forggeddabouddit.
MYTH#10 - The Internet Is A Magic Wand
FACT - See Myths#1 through #9.
** Reprinting of this article is
welcome! **
This article may be freely reproduced provided that: (1) you
include the following resource box; and (2) you only mail to
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Here's the resource box to use if reprinting this article:
Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for
the
work-from-home entrepreneur.
http://www.ahbbo.com
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