A web business that works..are you serious?

Before I began my own web business, I had to ask myself the following question.

Paul, are you 100% serious about building your own web business...that works?

If you are not 100% serious and committed, don't go one step further. Quit Now! You'll save yourself a lot of pain.

What do I mean by 100% serious?

I know thousands of people who are 50% serious.

They have a niche or area of expertise that they are passionate about, they purchase a domain name, throw up a site, it last about 5 months and fizzles out.

I know hundreds of people who are 75% serious.

They have the expertise and passion, they commit 20-30 hours per week but when their web business only returns $25 per month of income they quit and say it doesn't work.

That's a shame because they are just a few steps away from making it work.

Only about 3 out of 100 are 100% serious.

100% commitment and 100% serious means having the expertise and passion, a willingness to work hard, a commitment to at least 1 year on line using the best tools available on the web and building a web business that works.

To simplify what 100% commitment means, it means:

1. knowing your outcome
2. taking massive action
3. measuring your results
4. and readjusting your action until you get your outcome
   

Make sense?

I was always serious about building my own web business. I started on eBay in 1998 and earned about $1,500 per month. But, that's not what I really wanted to do. Why? I spent 50-60 hours a week answering emails, ordering product, running to the post office to ship product, and handling customer complaints.

But there are many successful eBay sellers who earn thousands per month and don't mind those kinds of activities. I like to be able to leave my home or office and get away every once in a while.

I wanted to build web businesses that once I invested my time and money, I could actually put it on auto pilot and allow it to become an additional stream of income without a lot of additional effort.

Ok. That's doable... but there's a price to pay or maybe I should say a price to invest to get that kind of web business.

Just like any other business you must invest one of two things to make your business a success.

You must invest Time or Money. (you get there a lot quicker if you have both)

If you don't have the money, you must be willing to invest the time.

Forget those people who say just 3-5 hours per week. That's ridiculous! I'm talking a minimum of 10 hours per week.

If you don't have the time, you need to be willing to invest the money. How much?

No...not just $100 bucks. I'm talking about $500-$2,500 just to start your business.

Well, I don't have that kind of money right now, so I decided to go with SBI (site build it). I do have the time to invest and I've decided to go for it!

In my next posting and all of the future postings, you'll get to come with me on my journey and see the building process in real time, step by step, and evaluate for yourself if you can build a web business that works.

Next Week... launched site Oct 15th ... listed by Google in less than 7 days.

Stay Tuned!

A Walmart in the desert... end of a dream!

Can you imagine purchasing a walmart store with thousands of products, and a half a million dollar inventory, for $300?

How many of us would jump on that?

Imagine the CEO of Walmart walking up to you and telling you that you can have the most modern and brand new walmart store with all it's inventory, utilities, and employees for a $300 per year lease.

Would you take it?

You bet.

You would be excited. Your significant other would be excited. Your mom and dad would be excited. Your kids would be excited and I know your dog would be.

So you sign the lease with the Walmart head cheese, shake hands, and he hands you the keys to the Walmart doors and you walk out of the CEO's office with a big smile on your face, shaking your head in disbelief that he would be so stupid as to give you a Walmart store for $300 a year. What a dummy!

Then it dawns on you.

You run back into the CEO's office and say "by the way, where is my new Walmart store?"

The CEO says "in the middle of the Arizona desert".

Grand opening is only 2 weeks away and you jump into your SUV and head to Arizona. Twenty five miles west of Tucson, out in the middle of a cactus infested field of sand, you see your store in the distance as you approach with great care. You arrive and greet gramps at the front door, run in and introduce yourself to all your smiling employees, admire the half a million dollars of stock, stare at the shinny new cash registers, credit card processors, and sit back and wait for the money to roll in. After all millions of people love Walmart, don't they.

Twenty-four hours later, after drying your eyes, you look down at your cash registers and find it empty and as dry as the Arizona desert.

"Why me Lord"?..you cry.

I have this beautiful store, with great employees, a free inventory, and I didn't make one red cent on grand opening day?

Why did I get blessed with the only Walmart in the world that sucks?

I guess Walmart success is just one big lie and I bought into it like the sucker I am.

Here's my question...

Don't you want to scream at this poor guy and say "hey stupid, you don't have any traffic. You don't have a bill board sign 15 miles back by the highway ggiving directions to your store. You don't have a yellow page ad, a newspaper ad. Nothing.

In fact, you don't even have any paved roads leading to your store, even if you had the billboard and ads. You're an idiot.

Duh?

I did the exact same thing with my first web site. I had a great store, great products, outstanding tools, and I didn't make one red cent.

How many of us do this with our web sites?

We have great graphics, beautiful colors, outstanding look and feel, great inventory of products and the best credit card processing equipment available. We have auto responders that would sell a freezer to an Eskimo...

But we're missing the third piece of the puzzle.

TRAFFIC.

Our website is like the Walmart in the desert.

It has the potential to make us rich with it's great products and services, but no one knows where we are or how to get to our site.

That's a shame.

You know customers will drive the extra 15 miles to get a great deal and you failed to let them know where you are and how to get to you?

So what do you do now?

Do you throw up your hands and say "Walmart sucks"?

Blame the employees?

Maybe you listen to all the Gurus and try to get free traffic.

No.

You go to work and let people know your address. You give them direction.

After all you didn't have to spend millions to get your Walmart, so open up that tight little fist and pull out some money for advertising. If you don't have the money, then be prepared to invest the time.

I don't care if it's PPC search engines, newspapers, bumper stickers. It doesn't matter. You have to get traffic! You have to let people know you're out there with great products and services at great prices.

In my opinion, the internet is the last great frontier for small business people with passion and time to build the life of their dreams.

But you have to have all three pieces of the puzzle in order to succeed on the web.

Qualified traffic is just one piece of the puzzle and you need to invest money or time to make it work for you.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is the real world of building a web business.

A "get rich quick" free zone.

The Journey Begins Here

American Indians describe life as a path we walk from the time we take our first breath to the time we take our last.

My grandfather, who was half Cherokee, told me that we all have to walk this path alone.

That's a scary thought, isn't it?

Most of us don't like to be alone.

It doesn't sound fair but in truth we all arrive here alone and when we leave...we leave alone, and since when has life been fair?

We don't need to be afraid, because what's important is what we do with the time between our arrival and departure.

Along the way we meet many people who join us on our path. Family, friends, teachers, and mentors cross paths with us everyday. They join us for awhile and give us advise, discuss issues, and even share their experiences. We can learn much and we can teach much.

Many of us lead and follow at different times on our paths.

We learn about choices. We can choose the path we follow.

We can choose to learn or not... to love or hate. We can choose peace or war... happiness or sadness.

After much frustration in trying to develop an Internet business and failing many times, I decide to purchase my third SBI site in October of 2006 and learn to do it the right way. I make a choice.

I choose to listen, watch, learn from others, and then act. Just do it!

I can not promise you that I will succeed. I can promise you this. I will not hide the truth. I will not hide from success or failure. I will not exaggerate or make false claims.

If you decide to join me on this path you will get to see a building process; a step by step process with lots of growth spurts and plenty of mistakes. In the end, if you learn from me than it will be my great honor to have you share the experience and pass it on to the next one you meet on your path.

Come...

Walk with me for awhile.