Start with a small-budget business

Many Successful Internet entrepreneurs have spent thousands of dollars for investment in their business before they can reap the profit they gain now.

If you are about to jump from an established 9 to 5 job to become an independent Internet-based business owner, plan your steps and calculate your budget before totally leaving your current job.

Do not forget that it takes time to succeed in an Internet-based business, so it is better for you to assume 1 to 2 years of struggling years before you can totally leave your current job. It is quite advisable to start an Internet-based business as a side job as many people have done so.

In the process of learning, it is highly recommended that you start with a business which does not need you to spend too much out of your hard-earned money. There are many reliable Internet-based business which can be run with less than $50 monthly. Consider that you need to maintain the business for years to come and your survival and success depend very much on your ability to keep funding your business.

Find a mentor

Find a mentor who has credibility. As a newcomer to the Internet-based business you may need someone to guide you on your way to success. In the beginning you may feel alone and unsecure about what you are doing.

Someone who is experienced and has succeeded in the business is what you need to guide you on your way to success. An experienced mentor will show you the way how to achieve your goal without passing the pitfalls the mentor himself did in the past.

The mentor will show you the kind of business that can be relied upon based on his/her experiences. When you have a reliable mentor, you will be able to avoid unnecessary steps which will otherwise cost you unnecessary waste of time, money, and energy. Your mentor will help you by telling you what you really need to do and what you have to avoid. Under his/her guidance you will do your business in a more efficient and effective manner.

Study the types of the Internet-based business you intend to join thoroughly

There are so many types of business offered on the Net. It is advisable that you conduct a research on the types of business that you intend to join. Do not join a business just because of the sweet promises of instant success.

Find out what it takes to succeed in the business. Most of the businesses on the Net promise instant success, so it is better to find out what it takes to succeed and how long can the success be logically achieved? If it takes one to two years to succeed, then consider your budget.

Can you survive financially before that time comes. The calculation of the struggling years and the survival of your financial ability will help you determine the most suitable Internet-based business for you. Many people stop in the middle of the road to success due to the shrinking budget and lacking of persistence.

Start with a positive mind-set and maintain a positive attitude.

Assure yourself that a story about people being millionaires out of the Internet-based business is not a fish story. It is true that you can become wealthy if you succeed in your Internet-based business.

There have been many living proofs of this story. So, when you start your Internet-based business, one of your goals is to lengthen the list of the successful Internet entrepreneurs.

Just like in the offline business, succeeding in the Internet business is not as easy as the promises of thousands of money-making website floating on the Internet. They make it look easy to succeed just to entice or trap you into joining their business. It takes a long period of persistent and hard work to succeed in the Internet-based business.

Some successful Internet entrepreneurs have passed one to two struggling years before they could see handsome profit they gain now. If you think that you can succeed in your business instantly just because the Internet does things fast, you need to think it again before plunging yourself into the Internet-based business.

Dealing with the outside world as a Business

From the start you should have an idea in your mind on what level of customer service and your supplier relationships you want to achieve and how you will ensure you have long-lasting relationships with these people. Set yourself parameters to work in by deciding on response times, how you will deal with any disputes, what your own criteria for accepting work will be and how you will ensure that you always provide a quality service or product.

By deciding these things before you begin you will have a checklist to work to – these customers will be your bread and butter, they will key to your reputation and quite possibly their feedback will generate more work for you in the future.

On your website for example, you may wish to subscribe to an email auto response service that provides automatic acknowledges that customer’s emails have been received and when they will be dealt with. You may want to think about sending out newsletters and organizing a database for your clients, so that you can advise them of any new services or products.

Another option on your website is to use a blog feature to keep your clients informed of up to date information, products and services. You can either write these yourself or hire a writer to keep this updated on a regular basis.

By having a long-term view at the beginning of your business set-up you will tend to ensure that you establish best practice in most of what you do, there are always going to be issues, learning curves and problems that you hadn’t thought of – by deciding at the beginning what standards you want to meet, you can save yourself headaches down the road. This will also give you a guideline on which to train any new employees that you may take on as your business grows.

Keep a track of what works and what doesn’t to ensure that you keep on improving what you offer and how you offer it, this helps ensure the long-term success of your business!