But before you reach for your credit card yet again just take a moment and ask yourself this: Do you realistically think that you could set up any ‘normal’ business and make it successful just by buying a $99 ebook and then sitting back while the money floods in?

No, I thought not. You will very soon be on the road to financial ruin if you follow such a path in the ‘real’ world of commerce.

So why do you think it’s possible to do it online? I’ll tell you why:

Because it’s the INTERNET!

We all know that millionaires are made overnight on the INTERNET, right? It’s different on the INTERNET.

Well I’m sorry to pee on your fireworks, but it’s NOT. It’s just as hard to make a living online as it is offline, or anywhere else. In fact it can be even harder because the interweb waters are full of sharks, imposters and wannabees. And they all want only one thing: YOUR MONEY!

Basically you have to look at your online business in exactly the same way as any offline business. For either to succeed you need to concentrate on the fundamentals.

The 6 Steps To Success

1. DETERMINATION – You have to WANT it, and want it enough to see it through, come what may. There will be many pitfalls and disappointments along the way, so you need to be able to overcome them and carry on regardless.
2. KNOWLEDGE – You have to be a SPONGE for knowledge, to soak up everything you can about your chosen niche. You have to be the expert in your field, the go-to guy who solves the problem.
3. APPLICATION – Knowledge is power, but only if you APPLY that knowledge. Make it work for you and use it to further your business and make more money. Use your knowledge also to empower your target market, give them something they can’t get anywhere else, then you’ll have a happy customer who’ll keep coming back.
4. STAYING POWER – No matter how many ‘Gurus’ tell you otherwise, it is NOT going to happen overnight. You have to stick with it and stay focussed. Whatever you do, don’t start thinking, “This is too hard, I’ll try something else”. You have to KEEP GOING on your chosen track. By just doing this one thing you will have out-lasted 95% of all the other ‘online entrepreneurs’ out there.
5. DISCIPLINE – Folks, someone has to tell you this: You have to get out of bed in the morning, start up your computer and GO TO WORK! You need discipline to do this EVERY DAY. Do NOT believe anyone who tells you otherwise. Okay, you don’t have to give up your day job in the beginning, but if you want to make the big bucks you have to put in the time and effort. And once you’re making good bucks you CAN give up your J-O-B! How good will that make you feel?
6. RUTHLESSNESS – Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting you go out there and ’shaft’ everyone while you’re clawing your way to the top. But you need to be ruthless in weeding out those daily non-important tasks and concentrate on the things that make you MONEY! You have to be ruthless and unsubscribe from the hundreds of time-wasting emails you’re going to get from other ‘Gurus’ recommending their ‘buddy’s’ latest system/course/ebook for making money while sitting on your butt with your feet up.

Never forget that business is business wherever you conduct it and the rules are the same. You will find that all the self-made millionaires out there, online and offline, have bucket-loads of every one of the above attributes. If you’re very lucky, you might find one of these successful businessmen/women to share his/her knowledge with you and set you on the right road from the start.

But beware, check out their credentials thoroughly first, and look for the proof to back up the hype. Be very careful who you listen to, and be even more careful who you give your money to, on the big w3.

If you do find someone who’s walking the walk and not just talking the talk, grab the opportunity with both hands and GO WITH IT! You will have just left most of your competition choking in your dust!

You’ll find one guy who definitely walks the walk at www.W3MoneyMakers.com Go there and see what he has to offer, then make your own mind up.

Other resources:

Let me ask you a very simple question: Can you tear yourself away from your computer and go out there in the big wide world and TALK TO PEOPLE? You remember that, don’t you? Social interaction with real human beings!

Here’s an extremely simple method of earning real money for anyone with a modicum of website/online marketing knowledge: Get your shoes on and visit your local small to medium businesses and start talking to them about their websites and their online marketing strategy.

Chances are you will discover that most of them won’t have one! Or if they do have a website it won’t be working anywhere near as effectively as it should. Guess what? A good percentage of them will happily pay you to redesign, or market, or optimise their site for them!

This is not fantasy, my friends, this is fact. I know because I do it and have been doing it for quite a while. And it pays very well!

Now I’m not the world’s leading web designer or SEO guru, but I know enough about these things to be able to make a big difference to the average website. One thing is absolutely certain and that is that I know a damn-sight more than most small business owners.

They are so tied up in running their business that they just don’t have the time, or inclination, to worry about a website. They probably paid some agency a fortune to design a pretty site for them that now just sits there, lost in the mists of Google, and is not working for them.

You’ve just got to go right in there and talk to them. Find out what they need and give it to them. Offer your expertise to get their site noticed and working and they will be more than happy to pay you for the privilege – and pay you handsomely!

Believe me, once you have proved that you can do what you say, you’ll have a client for life. A client you can charge a monthly hosting/webmastering fee. A client who will be open and willing to listen to your next ideas for improvement and optimisation, and who will pay you again for them. A client who will be happy to recommend you to his friends – and to anyone else who’ll listen!

Think you can’t do this? If you’re doing it for yourself at the moment to earn a pitiful few dollars with Adsense or affiliate programs, why can’t you do it for someone else? And in the process earn yourself a real income?

I’m not joking, you can easily make £500, or £1500, or £5000 per site if you just approach this in the right way. What’s the right way? Get off your arse and go and talk to these people! It really is as simple as that.

If you want to learn more about this little goldmine there is a FREE report written by Andrew Cavanagh called Offline Gold for Online Marketers which you can download simply by clicking the link. It’s in the form of a forum thread and it will open your eyes to the real possibilities out there. There’s no opt-in or email required, just a straightforward download.

Other resources:

Well, the reason I went that way back in 2002 was because I was semi-retired and didn’t want to go back to ‘work’ but I wasn’t ready to sit and vegetate just yet. I wanted something I could do from home and work at when I wanted to.

The trouble was I didn’t know the first thing about html, websites and hosting so I had a pretty steep learning curve. Of couse now I know everything – NOT!

The thing is I wanted to learn all these things because that’s just the way I am. I do now build websites for other clients as well as myself.

But what if you want to get into this website stuff and you have no interest in the technical nerdy bits. Where do you go for that? Well there is a place you can go and I have no hesitation in recommending it. It’s called SiteBuildIt.com

I make no apology for this blatant plug because I truly believe that there is no better set of tools out there that makes it possible for the ‘average Joe or Jane’ to get started with an online business.

Ken Evoy’s SBI! is, without doubt, the easiest, friendliest and most comprehensive set of tools you will ever find to create, run and host your own website – all in one package.

The beauty of Site Build It! is that right from the start it assumes that you know what you want to do but you haven’t got a clue how to do it.

This is where I started.

When I took the plunge into my first website I bought the Site Build It! package. There was simply nothing anywhere as good which fulfilled my needs as an ‘internet virgin’.

And do you know what? There still isn’t! It’s evolved through the years to encompass all that’s happened on the web since then. And that’s an awful lot!

SBI! provides everything you need.

It’s a process that works. Powerful, proven methods outlined step by step in an easy to understand Action Guide. Regardless of how ‘new’ you are to the internet, you will understand it.

It’s a complete set of integrated tools. Everything you need to do the process perfectly and on your own. No software to download. No HTML and graphic design skills required. You just write about your favourite topic (which doesn’t feel like work because you love the subject so much) while SBI! takes care of everything else.

Round-the-clock Customer Support and Helpdesk. Plus you’ll make new friends in the SBI! Forums. It’s the friendliest “help-and-be-helped” place in the world. There is no cost to join this enthusiastic, caring community.

Have a good look at their site – you won’t regret it. It’s what got me started, and for that I’ll be forever grateful.

The best and simplest way to see what I’m talking about is to watch the man himself explain it to you.

He does it so much better than I ever could – so I’ll just shut up and leave him to it!

Click the image to watch a 3-minute video.

And now…

Here’s something you won’t see very often: I joined the affiliate program for SBI! so if you go there and buy their excellent package I get paid! It makes no difference to you as a customer, you pay the same price no matter where you arrive on their site from.

It’s called affiliate marketing and it’s one of the ways you can earn money on the web.

Now that’s not the reason I’m recommending SBI! If I didn’t think it was the best thing out there I wouldn’t be putting my name to it. You will find an awful lot of ‘internet marketers’ who will try to sell you any old dross to make a buck or two. I am not one of them.

Just have a look and see if I’m right or wrong, all it’s going to cost you is 5 minutes of your time. No email address, no pop-ups, no underhand tricks, no bullsh*t!

It might just be the most important 5 minutes you’ve ever spent.

(If you would like to find out more about Affiliate Marketing you can download the widely recognised Affiliate Masters course right now absolutely free. Again no email address or opt-in required, just click the link to my sprin2success.com website and you’ll go straight to the download page.)