I want you to start an online business …

… heck, you can blog, write eBooks, create a course and sell it. Anything!

If you are interested in starting your own online biz, though, I want you to visit Erica’s site … she’s been there done that when it comes to online businesses. She sold just one of her online businesses for $1.1 million and now travels the lecture circuit talking about what she learned about life and business.

But, don’t believe the hype: you can’t “make millions” with the latest online hooey; Erica REALLY pumps her online ‘presence’ – by blogging, writing, speaking, and creating online products left, right and center – yet here are her income figures:

Ignoring one or two big sales; it’s not enough to change the world is it? Now, with Erica’s commitment and energy, she will keep building this ‘business’.

But, this is NOT how Erica made her first million, either.

Here’s what you should know: in the world of online biz, there’s a slow-path and a fast-path … a ‘real’ online business and an online ‘job’. Which one do I want you to try?

Perhaps surprisingly, I want you ALL to try the online ‘job’!

Why?

– It’s great experience: it will teach you about marketing, online businesses, writing … and, so on

– It’s also a great source of additional income that you can use to build your investment ‘war chest’ and/or your ‘real’ business startup capital

It will also help you decide if business is for you …

Then, if business is really for you, start a ‘real’ business either online or offline: one with a brand, with customers, with trailing income … one that somebody will want to buy!

Just like Erica:

By the end of 2003, my fledgling web hosting company, Simpli Hosting, was making more than my consulting gigs. The problem was, I was spending 40+ hours a week doing web development, and maybe 5-10 hours a week on hosting. I figured I had nothing to lose. I met with all my consulting clients and arranged transitions. I would be a full-time web hosting company owner in 6 months.

[lots of problems]

Things turned around. Just four months later, on September 7, 2007, I sold my company for $1.1 million to a competitor.

See the path that Erica took?

She started a business part-time … kept her full-time job (well contracts) … eventually took the plunge and went full-time into her business (this is the really hard step!) … battled all the usual BS that business owners have to put up with … and, eventually sold the business to somebody who didn’t want to go through all of that BS again to grow their own business.

That was (part of) my path to $7 million in 7 years, too. Maybe it should be yours?

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6 thoughts on “I want you to start an online business …

  1. @ Rusty – Excellent question: I think it’s worth answering in a future post … stay tuned!

  2. This is really great. She did quite well. There is another girl online(many of you may have already heard of her). She didn’t start an online business per say. What she did was still equally amazing.She posted just 1 simple video,never expecting it to even get viewed. When it did, and people requested more , she capitalized on its popularity and finally got a Free Trip to Japan as well as contracts with You Tube.A huge fan base(and equally, a hater base as well). The hater base might not realize this,but they actually help fuel her popularity.

    He screen name Magibon.I think she shows she is a little bit of an Internet Genius.

  3. [AJC: I normally delete this kind of stuff – certainly the last sentence or two – because it contains self-promoting links and is bordering on spam … but the presentation is kind of cute and the message is correct and worth watching … even though I had no sound]

    The best way to make your millions is to first find a niche market where you can make an impact with high quality content. Then you need to really understand how the web actually works so you can attract and retain visitors. You need to create effective conversations so the message spread and you gain back links which helps in your page ranking. You need to actively convert people from visitors to consumers (or loyal fans) but in a community context so you can learn from them what their preferences are. I have recently created a presentation that explains how the various elements on the web needs to be utilised in a single strategy. You can see the presentation here: http://www.grinlock.com/presentations/onlinebusiness_presentation.html

  4. Adrian, yes there is a fine line.Some even claim that very successful Individuals are a bit crazy or insane.My belief is they are just more intuned with their craft(nitch) than most others.

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