Some Business Tips For An Online
Entrepreneur
1. A Brilliant Idea Worth Nothing
I can have 100 brilliant ideas per minute. And I’m not joking.
I know a guy who can have his brilliant ideas in his sleep.
Guess what: he’s not an entrepreneur. An idea without
action worth nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Focus on your
immediate resources to make something plausible
working as fast as you can rather than waiting for
something allegedly brilliant to grow by itself. It never
happened and it will never happen.
2. You Sell Processes, Not Products
In the online business, what you are selling is not a product,
nor even a service. It’s a process. You sell an entire experience,
regardless of your niche. From a personal blog up to a link
directory, what you are offering is not atomically identified
as one single product or service but as a unique process.
Is this unique combination which creates the value behind
the business, not the parts. Look at the whole experience,
not only at the most visible pieces of the puzzle.
3. If They Copy You, You’re Good
One of the most accurate proofs that you’re doing a great job,
is your clone trend. If your site / product gets cloned, you
are in for something. If you’re not cloned at all,
something must be wrong. Many young entrepreneur have
this fear of not being copied. In fact, being copied is the
only surefire sign that you’re good. Of course, you WILL
have to deal with all the legal hassles of content theft or
copyright infringement, that’s for sure, and I’m not advising
in any way to ignore that. I’m just telling you this is a sign
of success and should be treated like this.
4. Don’t Look For Traffic, Look For Trends
One of the most present obsession among online entrepreneurs
is related to traffic. How much traffic I could generate with
this project? In my opinion, traffic is overrated. At the speed
of the Internet, traffic is becoming really volatile, users are
bombed with loads of information each hour, so rough numbers
are not a reliable way to judge your product impact. Instead of
numbers of visitors, look for trends: how fast is the site
growing / slowing down? Think in percentages, not in
thousands of users.
5. The Network Effect
If you want to launch an online business, think twice.
It may be worth to launch 5 online businesses at the same
time and link them in a network. Maybe your flagship idea
will consume most of your focus and resources, but having
2-3 satellite websites / projects orbiting the main product
will have a bigger impact. Not to mention the learning
advantage: you will incorporate much more knowledge
from a network, than from a single product.
6. If You Don’t Like It, It Usually
Won’t Work
If you don’t like your idea, but you ”feel“ it will generate
lots of money, usually it will won’t work. It might generate
lots of money, if it exploits some market uncovered niche,
but without your enthusiasm fuel, it won’t be there for long.
It will be extinct faster than a passion fueled idea.
A good project must give you the thrills, not the
only the money as empty numbers.
7. Fall In Love With Your Project
If you experience familiar sensations, like chills and
butterflies in the stomach, whenever you’re thinking at your
project, that’s a sign you’re falling in love with it. No,
it’s not awkward. No, you don’t have to block those feelings.
Let them express and treat your project like you would treat
your beloved half. I’m not joking.
8. Measure, Measure, Measure
Always use all the available metrics to see where you are
with your project. Don’t be fooled by your imagination nor
let those wishful thinking episodes get in your way. Measure
your impact. Watch your money, trends, team, partners and
see what’s happening. Keep your eyes opened and be ready to
cut if things are not looking as you would expect.
Better sooner than later.
9. Manage The Break Up
Sometimes, your projects won’t work. Accept it. Even more,
manage them carefully. Closing a project is a skill in itself,
a skill that you’ll have to master. Each closed project may
(and it should) give you resources for the next one.
Just leaving debris floating around in the web universe
will not make you popular, on the contrary.
Not to mention the hidden costs of keeping
those projects around.
10. Build A Community First
Your product (or process) will be useless without a backing
community. It might be the next best thing since sliced
bread, but if you don’t have a reasonable pack of people
vouching for it by using it and promoting it every day,
that product is as good as dead. Building a community
first is one of the awkwardness of the online field,
when you have to build a positive reaction around
your product even before launching it for real.
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