If you were to ask most marketers or online business owners what is the first step they’d recommend in starting on online business, most would likely say that you need to determine your market  and decide on a niche.

That is an important element in starting your online business, but there are two elements that are critical to your online business success.

1.  MINDSET: Starting an online business can be done on a shoestring budget and you do need at the very least a simple plan.  However, it’s important to keep in mind that:

• An online business is no less a business than starting one offline.
• You must know your “Why” for starting your business and determine what your goals will be
• Do research online in your area of expertise to see what is already being offered and what is missing.  This will help you to decide how you can fill any gaps so that you can set yourself apart.  That will be your Unique Selling Proposition or Point (USP).
• If you are new to entrepreneurship you will need to make a mental shift to develop the mind of a business owner who will be responsible for decision-making and goal-setting, as well as all the expenses of the business.

2.  FOCUS: Many of us who have had an online business for some time still struggle to avoid the “Shiny Objects Syndrome,” which can come from distractions such as e-mails and their attachments.  There’s much to be learned from experienced marketers, but you have to make the decision on the times that you will give laser-focus to your business to the exclusion of all else.

Keep in mind that in the beginning you may need to spend 30-40 hours each week working in and on your business, but the payoff comes faster when you apply this focused energy to your online business.

In his book, Take Action! Revise Later: A Simple Guide to Success in Business” , Bob “the Teacher” Jenkins discusses how to successfully battle the Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS) in Chapter 8.  He wrote that chapter just for me! In Chapter 20 he makes recommendations on how to “Get Control Over E-mail” which I found very helpful.

I strongly recommend that you get your personal copy of Take Action! Revise Later: A Simple Guide to Success in Business” as this is a valuable resource to keep handy as you enjoy online business success.

Mindset has to do with the way you think, and the way you think has a direct bearing on the type of results you will realize from starting your online business.

When you made the decision to start a business online, you did so based on research that what you had to offer could be marketed online.  You will be marketing something you already know something about, or recently took the time to learn about; and it may be something that you are passionate about.

If you’d decided to for a corporation and purchase a franchise offline, you would have to give yourself a specific designation on the Articles of Corporation.  Your title would probably be CEO or President.  You have instead started an online business!  You do not need to set up a corporation to start an online business, but it it very important to keep in mind that because you’ve started a business, your mindset must be the same.  You are the CEO/President/Owner of your own company, and as such, you are responsible for the planning, goal-setting, and other activities associated with running a business.

Your mindset or the way you think will affect the way you approach your business.  Many people will do a lot more when they work for someone else who pays them based on hours worked rather than what they are really worth.  You must develop the mindset that as your own boss, you will have to be prepared to work twice as hard for yourself so that you can see a measure of success in a short time.

You may like diverse tasks, and you will have no shortage of that as the President/CEO/Public Relations Coordinator/Accountant/Secretary of your company.  However, what I’ve found, and what you will find as you get to know successful online marketers, it’s the doing of the same tasks over and over that’s going to allow you to see desired results.  Here is a critical area where you may need to change your mindset!  You must continue to do the same things over and over until you see the desired results as long as these steps are the ones that will lead to success in your business.  Only after you have mastered these steps and seen the results should you move on to a new set of steps.

Yesterday we talked about the importance of knowing your “Why.”  On the surface it may seem that your Why and your Purpose are the same, but they are really two separate and distinct things.

The simplest way to look at it is to understand that your Why is the conscious effort you make to determine the reasons, the real motivation for what you do; for starting your online business.  Your purpose is your objective, your goal; what you would like to achieve in your online business – the end result.

Without a clear purpose (objective or goal) you will have no direction and your efforts may at best be hit or miss. You may find that although you are working hard, you’re not achieving proportionate results resulting in frustration.  One of the reasons why so many who start an online business give up after a few months.

My experience convinced me that this is a very essential step that many entrepreneurs ignore, as I did.  When I started my online business in late 2008, I knew I wanted to do ’something’ on line, but it never occurred to me that I needed to identify my purpose.  As a consequence I tried to incorporate all my offline businesses into one.  The result was that there was no focus, hence no growth for some time and I actually thought of quitting.

If you are new to the internet and just getting started, stop and take this step now!  It will save you months of frustration.  If you have been online for a while and find that you are not where you hoped to be, take some time to get out a writing pad and pen or pencil and start writing down your purpose.  What is your objective for having an online business?  What are your short-, medium-, and long-term goals for your online business?

Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.  We learn from each other!

Are you already in business for yourself? Do you currently have a home-based business? Are you working a full-time job while launching your internet business? Why do you want to start an internet business?

Identifying your “Why” will be one of the most fundamental steps you will take on the road to building a successful internet business. The importance of this cannot be over-emphasized because it is knowing your “Why” that will help you to deal with the challenges that will come your way as you embark on creating an online presence.

Your initial response may be, “my why is to make money,” and that’s generally the response from the majority of people. However, I’d like to encourage you to dig deeper and find the real reason why you are willing to do what it takes to succeed. Money does provide you with options, money allows for choices, money allows you to do more for others, but identifying specifically what you’d like to achieve by making money will give you a greater reason to stay focused. Just ‘making money’ will not be enough of a motivator. You need to have such a deep-seated reason that will cause you to go over, under or around any obstacles that come your way. Tied in with that is what you short-, medium, and long-term goals will be.

Do you believe it’s important to determine ‘Your Why’? If so, why? If not, why do you say so? If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me and I will reply to you directly.