I initially gave in to the temptation that making money online is all that matters.

Yes, making money… only.

There was no higher purpose and soon I realized it became too mechanical and profits started to slow very quickly. There was the initial burst of traffic and sales but it trickled just as quickly as well. Any euphoria died pretty quickly.

I was a mindless website generator that got by by quick short-term gains. Eeek. A fly-by-night internet business!

Not that it is wrong - small money was still money - but it quickly sucked the energy out of me.

Essentially I needed to start thinking as an ENTREPRENEUR. It is a big word for a small girl like me. But hey I used to work with big machines :P

I needed to discover the unique selling point of my products / services and TEST whether will people actually purchase it or not.

It might be a great idea but if no one is willing to put money in, it is as good as worthless.

As an Internet entrepreneur, I realized that I needed to maintain a systematic business that continually generated regular cash flow.

It didn’t matter that the commissions were pretty low. Affiliate programs usually pay well - 40% and above - but I picked a competitive product that had only 10% commission. But there was a segment in the target market that has not reached its full potential yet.

Most of all what mattered that I made at least 1 sale per day. $1 dollar per day consistently for a month. Adjusted 1 or 2 more keywords - it doubled to $2 per day.

Pretty soon, that website generated $10 per day. Consistently.

$300 per month may not be much. But that learning experience of creating a passive source of income created an amazing source of energy that pushed me to look out for more sources of opportunities that could generate that next monthly pay cheque.

Five Ways To Get Your Online Business Started

1. Be passionate.
To elicit that initial encouragement, become focused on solving a problem that you are passionate about. For me it was about creating an efficient workplace for chemical engineers by providing them quality software.

“If you love what you do, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”

I know how passionate chemical process engineers are about optimizing processes. So I added simple Excel add-ons bundled free with useful quality graphing software coupled with an extraordinary price. My conversion rate doubled in just 1 week.

2. Niche your way to success.
I got very specific. I went directly and targeted process engineers. I was lucky the target market was a buying market. But if it didn’t I was ready how to add a new twist to the product and re-market it again.

3. Do not mistake simple strategies as easy.
Online businesses are run on a simple revenue generation concept. Get traffic, convert sales and make sure your product delivers as promised. Simple but definitely not easy. Get ready to roll up your sleeves when necessary. Do not become the obstinate and poor internet entreprenuer.

4. Make as many mistakes as possible and in the shortest time.
This required me to take action NOW and not to over-analyze my strategies. Testing became my MAIN strategy. Don’t fall into the “analyze till paralyzed” trap. Improvise along the way.

5. Add value to the target market.
Whatever market that you plan to go in, make sure that you are solving a problem or adds value to your buyers. Make yourself feel good about whatever you are promoting because you are making their lives easier and happier.
Don’t fill up the Internet with garbage. Why? GIGO. Garbage In means Garbage Out.

And most important of all, make a decision to become a success. The methodology will show up later.