One thing you do not want to do is doom your business to failure before you ever start. After all, we start our business with the goal of making money and becoming successful, right? However did you know that the vast majority of the people (I would say over 99%) who embark on their journey to start an Internet Business have doomed themselves to failure LONG before they ever started?



While many experts could cite many reasons for why most Internet Businesses will fail, today I will discuss with you one that I consider near the top of the list.

Is it laziness? Lazy people will most likely never succeed with their business, but there are just as many people who worked incredibly hard and did not make any money either. Working hard, or a lack thereof does not guarantee success of failure. If you want proof of this, all you have to do is look at someone you know has worked insanely hard for most of their life, yet they are still stuck in the same rut year after year. We all know someone who lives like this, and in my case, it was me!

Is it a lack of knowledge? I started my Internet business with nothing but a handful of E-books I bought for $5, and started selling on eBay with no knowledge whatsoever. However I was able to learn what was necessary to develop my own Internet Business within a year. I knew nothing when I started except how to write HTML, and have had more success than I could have ever imagined. So even if you have no money and know NOTHING about how to make money on the Internet, you can surpass your wildest expectations.

I could literally go on about any reason, and give you an example of how people can be successful despite being lazy, unknowledgeable, poor, too busy, and anything else. Yet despite these missing pieces, I have seen people do very well with their Internet business ventures.

So what will doom your business to failure long before you start? It is very easy to do. Yet most people never do it, because things that are easy to do, are also very easy not to do. You must make a plan for your success!

Planning your business will be an important factor in your success. While it certainly will not guarantee that you will do well, I CAN promise you that if you do not have a plan, you have already lost.

Now when people think of planning, they get scared and think that they need to write a detailed, professional business plan. While I HIGHLY recommend that you create a serious business plan, I want you to know that I started with just a piece of paper, a pen, and ideas of what I wanted to do.

As an example, I will BRIEFLY tell you how I started. The first E-books (Downloadble products) I saw were selling on eBay, and they were selling like crazy. I knew right then that it was an industry I wanted to be a part of. The only problem is that I had no money, no products, and no idea how to sell E-books.

But what I did have right away was a rough idea of how I would grow my business. I knew that eBay would provide me with a fast source of income, so I decided that I would focus on gathering these funds in order to start a legitimate business. I saw other sellers getting as many as 500 transactions completed per month, and I know that I could translate those customers into a customer base to send to a website.

Knowing this, as soon as I made enough money to open up my website, I did. My website barely looked professional, and was nowhere near the level that most Internet marketers have, but it provided me with a start, which is all I needed. In fact, some of you reading this may have seen my website prior to our recent update, so you know how terrible it looked! I knew that even with my little experience, I was at least making money, and I could help others do the same.

I then made sure to advertise my website to every customer I had, and encourage them to visit my website, which would help create long term relationships with my previous customers. And with these basic pieces in place, I was able to turn my small eBay business into a still growing website with people subscribing everyday!

As you can see, the plan that I started with on day one was not very professional, and it involved only two steps, sell on eBay and start a website. But I envisioned exactly what I wanted to do, and how I would do it. Thanks to my unorthodox little plan, it helped me anticipate what services I would need, how much it would cost, the work involved, and everything inbetween. But most importantly, my plans helped me focus on my goals so that I could REALISTICALLY achieve my success one step at a time.

To this day I still plan my every move, and if you are serious about your business, you should seriously consider planning as well, no matter how much or how little you know.

To help you get started, here is a small list of questions you should ask yourself for EACH of your goals and projects:

What do you want to do?

Can you do this yourself, or do you need help?

How much time will it take you?

What services/software/products do you need?

How much money will it cost you?

What is the minimum you think you will make from your efforts?

What is the maximum you think you will make from your efforts?

Is your investment of your time, effort, and money worth the money you MIGHT make?

Can I use this to make even more profits later, or is it a one time deal?

Do not wait any longer, if you have a business idea in mind, it is time to get started!