I'll admit it, I entered the online business world with blinders on.
I thought that all I needed to do was to turn on my computer and bam, I was a millionaire.
To my surprise it was nothing like that.
I found that an online business is just that-a business and a business requires you to devote time, often massive amounts just to get it going.
I also discovered that I needed to be consistent and persistent with my efforts.
Here are my thoughts.
I don't care what anyone says, it takes time to get your online business off the ground and be able to sustain itself.
You and I see and hear the ads everyday about how ordinary people are making massive amounts of money overnight with nothing more than a keystroke on their computer.
That may be true for the exceptional but not for the average person like me.
It took me some time to learn the ropes on how to run my online business.
I also learned that if you work your business during your spare time you really are treating it like a hobby and hobbies don't make you any money.
I decided I needed to go full time or as some say, "All The Time".
When you start your online business you need to be consistent in the attention and actions you take.
You cannot afford to put forth massive amounts of effort today only to slack off for the next three.
I discovered that if I wrote a to-do list the night before, I was more inclined to stay on track the next day.
This way I had a plan of action which helped me stay focused.
In the beginning stages of my business I would do a little pay per click one day, then maybe banner advertising the next, then an article latter in the week.
I found that this did not work.
I was getting inconsistent results from my efforts.
What I found that worked for me was to devote time each day to each of my marketing venues.
Only then did I start seeing consistent results.
Here is where I found my biggest challenge.
Being persistent.
If my advertising was going as well as I had hoped in a particular marketing vehicle I would drop it and go on to the next.
I did not give myself enough time to really learn how to correctly do something before I went on to the next thing.
In some cases I quit just before the point where I would have seen success.
If you write an ad and it is rejected by the search engine gods don't throw in the towel, rewrite it and submit it until it meets with approval.
Too many of us give up in this business because they did not see results as quickly as they had hoped.
Fact is very few of us see the results as fast as we want.
But if you stick with it you WILL see results.
There are three things I would like for you to take from my experience.
First, you must be prepared to devote quality time with your online business.
If you only give a little time here and a little time there you will not succeed.
Second, you must be consistent.
You need to advertise more than one time on a particular web site to get people to notice you and you need to write more than one article for people to become interested in what you have to say.
Third, don't give up.
Though things may look as if they aren't going your way with your online business don't loose heart.
Tomorrow is another day and tomorrow could be the turning point you have been working for.