1. Thinking they can achieve high income with little or no investment in a short time- Somehow this myth is still believed even today. It is propagated by scam artist that tell you they got X amount of dollars just by doing a simple thing in a couple of weeks. AND for a price they will show you how to also. What many of these actually do is sale the information, give you an affiliate site, an E-book, a software program, or something of that sort and advise you to do the same. Let's face it, those that do this are not serious. They are chasing a desire with no foundation. ANY business requires investment of money and time, and as your presence on the web is your website, then this should be as professional as you can afford or have the ability to create and/or edit. If you want to do it yourself, OK, but expect to spend quite some time in the 'learning curve' mode of trial and error.

2. Failure to have their very own domain- Many think a website is a website is a website. They have one given to them by their ISP and consider this as the platform to use for their business. These are called 'home pages' and they do not know or refuse to think that the fact that search engines will not accept them applies to them. Homepages are used by internet surfers to find and give information about other members of the ISP family they have in common. They think that their homepage will be given more attention by their ISP than those that pay for the advertisements at the ISP landing site, or those from 'General' searches on the internet. As far as the internet considers them, they do not exist anywhere except at the ISP server, which is the truth.

3. Using their home PC location as their business site- This is what the 'hackers', ad-ware and spammers are looking for in order to do what they do. You should keep your home PC as far away from this sort of problem as you can. The way to do this is by getting your site 'hosted' and using your associated 'web-mail' as your 'firewall'. Only use your personal e-mail address for friends and relatives. Even still, there are 'Trojans' that will ping your home PC's IP and attack you from the web. You will need to put up a firewall, install a good anti-virus program and anti-ad ware ( or spy ware ) program that will screen any attempts to attack you to load upon your starting your PC and monitoring as long as you are connected to the web. The average time it takes to be attacked on the web is about thirty seconds from the time you access it using any browser.

Once they have corrected the above, many still fail due to their lack of the investment of time. The internet has spoiled people with it's speed, the promise of instant returns, and it's volume of growth. It has also made people think they are invisible from others by the use of 'nicknames' ,etc. People hide behind this curtain and think they will be taken serious. IF you can not use your 'real' name than who will take you or your business serious? When was the last time you purchased something from (not a real e-mail address) 'beerbelly123@yahoo.com'?

On the average, it will take at least two years to show a profit, if you really work at it and follow a business plan. Can it happen earlier? Yes, but on very rare occasions ( the odds are better winning the lottery ). Just getting your site listed on the major engines takes weeks, months or longer, if they will list it at all. People get discouraged and either give up or blame the product or services they are offering INSTEAD of themselves. They do not want to admit that an internet business is NOT for them. They instead cry and moan and blame everyone else for the lack of achievement. The sign of being an adult is that you can admit to yourself and others that you fail, take measures to correct the problem and move on. You have to know what your abilities are or are not, don't try to achieve your internet goal by doing more than you really understand. You can get into BIG trouble very easily by being over zealous and letting your desire outweigh your common sense. This is why we have plumbers, electricians, programmers and other various occupations in life. You can not do it all yourself or think you can do the same quality of work as someone with expertise in the field. If you don't know how to do something, ask for and get sound advice from an expert in the field before you attempt it yourself, or even if you should.

More money is being made on the internet today by selling items on E-bay or other on-line 'stores' than by associate websites. Is there still a 'niche' for associate sites. YES, but these type of programs take an even longer period of time to establish 'downlines', and the pay-outs normally come from the paid associates you sign up or refer after a certain dollar amount has been reached. The secret to associate programs is getting sign ups and training them to do the same. Don't worry about the 'time wasters' that always have an excuse for not doing things themselves. There are no free rides and everyone must do their part for all the achieve their goals with an associate program. However, when done correctly, an associate program will produce income with many making a good living doing so today. Find one you like and stick with it and it will pay off for you. You will still want your own website with a link to you associate programs, never advertise your associate program directly. If you do change programs, all the time and effort you have spent is lost and you will have to start all over. Get your site established and the content will take care of your programs.

Set up a budget and time-table. Stick to it and don't put things off. Once you get a schedule, then the couple hours in the am and/or in the pm doing your promotions is all you need to do. Spend other time doing research, getting training or advice on what you want to achieve next. THE INTERNET IS ADDICTIVE. Knowing when to get off is just as important as anything else.

Always remember: Never invest more than you can afford to do without. Any business is a gamble and most that make it on the internet have done so by many failures, overcoming them and moving on, trying not to make the same mistakes over and over. Example: I would love to have a Rolls Royce but can not afford it. Instead I own a Chevorlet. I own three vehicles, with each being paid off before I purchased another. It is better to own than to rent ( the modern buzz word for renting is leasing ). However there is a catch. The more of a down payment you make the less your monthly payments are, so make as large a down as you can afford but don't borrow to do so.

Invest wisely, you don't have to spend a lot of money on programs or tools for your website and it's promotions. What you should look for are 'packages' of tools of various types, each that will do certain things for you. Example: Use a good e-mail program for your 'newsletter' such as 'Infacta' and not rely on auto-responders to do all the work for you. Use 'networked' submitter programs instead of going from site to site submitting your domain's url. There are so many ways you can do things on the internet and you have to determine which avenue you want to use. As your income increases, roll over your profits into ' up-grading' existing programs instead of getting new ones, until you can afford more.

If people purchase a package of internet tools from me, I will give them on-line, live training on them, if they so desire. Not only did I spend the time to learn the programs myself, their proper application and what to expect in return, by using them and checking the results over a period of time ( as we often expect more from something than it is designed to deliver ), I also have taken a course called 'train the trainer' so I could learn how to train others correctly. This course cost me money and time to complete. It taught me methods and presentations. The subject can change, just like your website and it's content.

I am amazed at how many enter this training that do not know how to 're-size' a window on their PC, how to copy and paste, etc. Every set of windows comes with a tutorial on how to do the basic functions, or you can take classes. They just don't want to take the time to learn or practice enough to become able to do what they need to do in order to do things correctly. They are in way over their heads and are not really serious, instead they are 'time wasters' for the other's in the class.

In other words, do your homework, be prepared and the test will be a snap. Don't expect to get a one hundred on every test. Maybe in your studies you put more emphasis on the wrong things and the test asks for answers to questions you thought did not pertain at the time. Learn from your mistake, re-study and re-take the test. This works both ways however as a test result also shows the teacher how well they have presented the information how well the students understood the subject. A lot of poor results means the wrong approach was used and the students just aren't getting the message correctly and will have to be re-done.

DEFINITIONS:

WORK and PLAY. These are the two most important words on most of our lives. The first makes the second possible but you should devote time to both. Other than your family, they are what is really important in life. Keep them both in proper prospective at all times.

LIFESTYLE: This is how you live with what you have left over after all the bills are paid. This is what you want to increase by your work or you internet business.

Robert Nixon