So you’ve decided to start your first online venture… Do you want to good news or the bad news? Okay, here we go: The bad news is that you have an immense amount to learn. The good news is that there is a lot of reliable information on the Internet that you can find for free or for relatively little money. The bad news is that many of the sites that you will come across are scams (at worst) or not credible. The best news is that you’ll be able to distinguish the valuable from the worthless sooner than you now think you will be able.
One sensible way to start your e-business education is to find a free course with the essentials of starting online. If you actually follow the lessons and apply what you learn, that will get you well on your way toward distinguishing between the scams and the legitimate offers, between the metaphorical wheat and the chaff.
You will discover that the reality of starting your business will fall somewhere between the extremes of the unscrupulous types who tell you that you can work half an hour per week in your pajamas and retire in a year and the other extreme of thinking it is an impossible task, as you may be thinking now. Yes, you’ll need to get organized. You must manage your available time efficiently, and don’t forget about life’s priorities along the way (like family, your ethical standards and enjoying what you do).
Browse related topics (those you learned about in your short, hopefully free, course) on article directories, like A1Articles.com or EzineArticles.com. Consult blogs that you deem to be trustworthy. Locate sources for information concerning topics such as your business niche selection, search engine optimization, design of business websites and other such related topics.
It’s not yet time to go on a buying spree. Put the brakes on any shopping urges. Your next step is to sit down with pen, paper and a copy of your budget. From the list of things that you don’t yet know how to do, decide what you find interesting and what you might prefer to hire done. I promise you that you can learn to do anything on your list; none of it is all that difficult. Simply decide whether you want to invest your available funds in learning resources or in labor to actually perform each task.
Now, at last, the time for shopping has arrived. If you find yourself tempted to buy an instructional product that you find, say a course on affiliate marketing or a set of videos about search engine optimization, hit your pause button. At this point, you should do two things: 1) Bookmark the web page so that you can find it again. 2) Put on a pair of “critic’s glasses.” Analyze the structure of the sales page that you found so convincing. At some point in the not too distant future, you want to become a copywriter as skilled as the one that had you reaching for your wallet. Then, find a lot more products in the same category, so that you can later compare the alternatives.
In most cases, I impose a mandatory three day waiting period before I buy something I’ve just found. That gives me time to consider it rationally, removing myself from the emotional responses elicited by the well presented offer. If I still think that I have found the best solution for my needs after that three day period, I use the bookmark to find the right page, buy the product and get to work absorbing the material.
Beware! Buying can make you feel good, but your new purchase does you no good unless you use it, and using it means implementing the strategies that you learn about or the procedures for which the software was designed. In other words, you must act!
