Recently I posted an article that discussed some of the big challenges that prospective internet marketers face when they make the decision to work full time at their home based business. Now as promised, here are some solutions that can effectively overcome those issues. Information Overload- The answer is, in short, stop listening! I don’t mean to stop listening to everyone forever, but once you have recieved what you feel is good advice and made a plan to carry it out, stop listening to all the other gurus for just a little while so that you can evaluate where you stand. There will always be conflicting advice out there but a lot of it is bad, so you need to know when enough is enough and be able to stick to your plan without changing it every time another guru screams in your ear. It’s your business, you control it. It takes time to build a business and you will make mistakes, but you will never move forward without sticking to a single plan to see if it works. Getting Things Done- To overcome inertia, act! That is advice from one of the most famous positive thinkers ever, and it is so true. You cannot finish what you don’t start, and that is where the problem lies for most people. They plan and learn and theorize, but taking action somehow eludes them. Many people confuse planning (which is very important) with doing. Carrying out your plans is the only way to be successful. One of my mottos is “go to work, and do something-anything!” because I know sometimes I get bogged down in the learning or planning stages and I need to produce something. Most people have a need to be productive and will become demotivated if that need is not met. So when you are stuck, pick something to do that will yield actual results no matter how small they are, and focus on that until you feel better. Break your day into sections and always include some planning, some learning, and some production into each one. Not Knowing The Answers- This is a tough one. Nobody knows everything; there is always more to learn. On one hand the answers are available on the web to almost any question you might have, but on the other do you even know the questions to ask? The key here is not to get overwhelmed by focusing on what you do not know. Decide what the NEXT thing is that you need to know, and find the answer. Planning is important here too, because you need a logical progression from the known to the unknown to keep your business efforts flowing. What is the one thing that is stopping you from acting right now on the next thing in your plan? Do a web search for that one issue and learn about it until it is no longer an obstacle. Then you can move forward until you hit another hurdle, and repeat the process. DO NOT get overly concerned by the big picture when it comes to lack of knowledge because learning is a process; you will move from known to unknown, learn it, and move again. The end result will be what you need to keep building your business. Being Held Accountable- If you are not your own harshest critic, it will be difficult to hold yourself accountable for your production. It is very easy for days and weeks and months to go by while you unconsciously devote your time and effort to unproductive activities like the ones mentioned above. Planning is essential, but failing to execute your plan will be deadly to your business. You must have the mindset that producing results is what counts by far the most, because if you don’t, and you become satisfied with the other parts of the process you will fail. If you become results oriented you will develop a feel for plans that don’t work and when to change them; you will be able to identify flaws in your business model quickly and be able to fix them. Work on becoming accountable to yourself and expecting results. Technical Hurdles- As far as technical issues that hinder your business, there are no easy answers. You may think that having an old computer with a dial-up conncection is not acceptable, but I assure you that many of today’s well known marketers started that way. Ten to fifteen years ago high speed internet was not nearly as widely available nor was it as inexpensive as it is today. So, while I recommend that anyone get the best internet connection and the best equipment that they possibly can, you can start right where you are. Just keep in mind that upgrading your equipment should be part of your business plan. That brings us to the biggest hurdle that I hear about all the time- lack of money. Although it is true that you can start an internet based business with very little investment, too many people think that it should be free. They want free websites on free hosting, free advertising, free everything. Unfortunately for them, everyone that I know to be successful realizes that there is at least a small investment required to do the right things you need to do to be successful. The good news is that you can start with an investment that anyone who is motivated can handle. For just a few dollars a month you can have real professional hosting for your website, and for a few dollars a year you can have your own unique domain name. So you can start for less than ten dollars a month, and grow from there very easily. Don’t let money be a hurdle- if you can’t see spending $2.95 a month on hosting you may not be ready to start a business. Related articles by Zemanta
 |
