Starting up a business is not easy and once you have taken the plunge there is a tremendous pressure and need for it to succeed. You’ve convinced yourself that the idea is great enough to take this risk, and if only you could get some more exposure you know that people would buy it. The results are so low because you just don’t have that extra cash to push it as far as you can. This business idea is great and it will make it!

The truth is that if your business isn’t succeeding then your problems are far more internal than a simple need for more money or for a feature on Oprah. Your business plan itself needs re-evaulating and tweaking so that you hit the right formula and it becomes viable. Ignoring this fact is a sure recipe for failure and how I learned this lesson in the first place.

Based on this I’ve come up with a rule of thumb for evaluating the difference between a business that needs more time to become profitable and one that is dead in the water. It’s very simple:

A business that has the potential to succeed with time is working hard to make the improvements and changes required for market success. A dead business continues to operate on the same weakly performing ideas and methods.

As long as money doesn’t run out first the above should guarantee the success of any business, although in extreme cases the successful venture would have no resemblence to the original. It’s a very intuitive rule that operates on the idea that if you can measure results and continue to improve them then at some point you will reach your goal. You don’t need a whole lot to be able to do this except a measurable way of defining positive growth and enough of an open mind to be willing to accept that your original ideas are not the key to owning your own Trump Tower.

This blog is an example of a venture that is not earning a lot of money, but it’s doing extremely well due to the rapid growth rate of the earnings it’s generating. The growth has so been quick that in just several months it has gone from earning pennies a day to averaging $1-2. It’s hardly impressive cash, but try calculating the percentage on that. To accomplish this I have worked on many aspects of this site, from the topics and style of what I write about, to the layout and features I present, to the way I position my ads. I know I need to generate high amounts of traffic and be able to realize revenue from this free content model in order to make it work, so I actively put effort into these things and measure my results.

A position like this one is where many good and highly profitable businesses go bad. The excited entprereneur has poured a lot of time and effort into building the business, but the results are just so low. How can anyone justify operating something that is earning $2 a day? Logically you must look at a realistic growth forecast and be able to determine if contined improvements can generate enough changes to steadily bring abouta profitable business. Or perhaps there is an amazing market you need to break into or a big corporate customer that you need to acquire, after which the serious money will start coming in. If you have a realistic plan to make it happen and are showing real progress on achieving it, then don’t quit because the initial earnings aren’t impressive!

On the other hand if your earnings are $2 a day in your venture and you have no plan for improvement then don’t expect to earn more than that. Big or small, something has to change. In cases like this blog its a matter of incremental small improvements. In other case its something more drastic, like a coffee shop that needs a better location or a way to service more customers in its current size. Maybe the change is so drastic it means closing down the business and starting over with a different product or business model.

It can be extremely difficult to make these larger changes as it can be seen as admitting failure or that the fantastic idea just wasnt that great. That’s really a flawed and damaging perspective to take on though. To me it’s changing course until you find the right path for achieving the results you desire. Even deciding to exit entrepreneurship entirely is not a failure, if you have genuinely found that it’s not the right path for you. The only way to really go wrong in an unsucessful situation is continuing to do the same thing that you are now, hoping that your results will somehow change.

Figuring out where you want to end up isn’t something that you can do overnight. I first took it seriously about five years ago (has it been that long already?) when I realized that I didn’t want to be a programmer as a career and that there was life and purpose outside of the robotic 9 to 5 existance that school had worked so hard to prepare me for. I started to develop an awareness of what I actually wanted to do versuses what I was being pushed towards by well-meaning family, friends, and teachers. I made a turn and started heading in a direction that took me further and further from the original safe, stable plan that would get me a reasonably paying development job at a big corporation.

I’m now much happier and better off than I was before I took control of my life. Over the last five years I have developed a strong and detailed vision of what I want at many distances into the future. Prior to this conscious effort to shape my life my future outlook was vague and didn’t connect with the present. The sum total of my life plan was that I would be rich and own a Ferrari; a wonderful and ambitious plan no doubt, but seriously lacking some key details.

The most thrilling part of my life right now is seeing reality converge with this new detailed vision that I have built, to the point where I now feel like I have stepped aboard the beginning of my dream. My business has followed a similiar path, growing more and more successful as my vision of it becomes clear enough to turn into a reality. These are definitely the results of having learned over time to work back from where I want to be to where I am now and actually filling in the gaps that will get me there. Goals have sprouted naturally as a result, saving me the frustration that is normally experienced when you’re put on the spot and told to “come up with goals”. Even though I put in at least 12 hours of work every single day to realize my intended achievements I feel as if my brain is simply driving me where I want to go. That’s the benefit of being wholly committed to what I am doing on a conscious and subconscious level.

Developing this vision hasn’t been particularly hard, but it has required patience and a willingness to be flexible. One of the issues that I struggled with most is separating the concept of being committed to the vision and stubbornly clinging to it despite signs that I should be altering my course. I resisted making changes that would have been very beneficial in my belief that I already knew exactly what I wanted, and consequently slowed down getting to where I want to be. There’s no logical reason to believe that the first vision you come up with is the right one for you, or the one that will lead you to the greatest success. Your own vision should be constantly changing to adapt to the realities of your situation, so that it’s possible to fill in how you intend to get there. It’s those intermediate steps that actually result in actions that bring you towards where you want to be, and create the goals required along the way.

If where you are heading and where you want to be aren’t already one and the same then this is the time to change that. Whether talking about your life or your business (there are amazing parallels between the development of the two), begin to consciously develop that vision. Start somewhere off into the future (but with a known date) and build back. Be willing to change and adapt to consider your existing situation and don’t be afraid of exploring multiple paths in your mind. Once you have some direction then do some research into the unknown elements to help you accept or reject possibilities. Then keep building.

I work on shaping my vision every single day, generally when taking a walk or otherwise not in a state that requires much mental attention. I’m a daydreamer at heart so this is a highly enjoyable process for me that has become second nature. Figure out what situation allows you to best drift into that mental state where you can visually consider where you wish to end up and then work on it regularly. Don’t be frustrated if everything doesn’t become clear in one day, as it will take time for vision and reality to begin to converge.

This is the final article in the Secrets of Creating and Growing an Online Business series. There is now a week’s worth of material dedicated to demystifying what’s involved and what the secrets are to success, all free for you to read and act on.

Yesterday I laid down the ground work of putting together a successful selling website by explaining the shift in your mindset that needs to occur when writing any marketing copy. I will now build on this by providing five specific ways that you can increase the sales that your online business receives through a more effective e-commerce website.

1) Show off Your Testimonials

You have a product with satisfied users so show this fact off! People naturally want assurance that what you’re selling actually delivers the expected results and they will only believe a sales pitch so far. Prominently listing testimonials provides the 3rd party opinions of satisfied users to your potential customer directly on your site. It helps if the testimonials provide specific benefits that your customers received and problems that you solved, rather than a generic “This is an excellent product!”.

If you don’t have testimonials handy then start collecting them. Whenever you receive a positive bit of feedback ask if you may publish it in your marketing material. You can also simply request testimonials from customers that have let you know are highly satisfied.

2) Provide a Money Back Guaranatee

It takes a leap of faith the first time, but if you have an excellent product then it’s difficult to go wrong with this technique. Money back guarantees are everywhere because they are highly effective at transfering the risk of the transaction from the customer to you. It allows the sale to be completed and the customer to use the product even if there are still lingering doubts about this being the correct solution. If your product delivers on its promises you can rest assured that virtually all your customers will keep it, and that the new sales gained will far outweigh having to give the occasional refund.

Be sure to make your guarantee highly visible, particularly in areas on your site where the customer is deciding to buy or not to buy. You will completely defeat the purpose of this selling tool if you choose to hide it as fine print at the bottom - the unsatisfied customers will still find it and take you up on it, but you won’t be receiving any new sales from your generous invisible policy.

3) Setup Referal Programs

Rewarding people for bringing in customers and setting up formal programs for reselling a product could gain you a whole new sales force. There are a number of ways to do this such as providing incentives to existing customers to refer new business, setting up formal reseller programs, or having an affiliates referal system such as Amazon’s. Incentives are usually monetary but sometimes it is much more appropriate to provide extra service or simply some formal recognition (like a special ranking within your product’s community forums). Money is not the sole motivator!

There’s no doubt that you should leverage the power of referals, but the trick is choosing the system that fits well with what you are selling. You don’t want to implement a system that makes your customers feel as if you are bribing them, and you don’t want your product sold through questionable channels. Give it some thought and perhaps experiment with a couple systems. It may even make sense to have separate programs for referals from customers and for people who wish to be resellers of your product.

4) Addons, Tie-ins, Recommendations, Upselling, etc

You’ve sold the customer on your product and they are ready to pay for it. At this point you have a tremendous untapped opportunity to increase the size of your sale and the satisfaction of your customer by a number of techniques for offering additional or better products. If a customer is about to purchase some coffee maybe they would like a new french press to make it in, or try a delicious new flavor for half price as a check-out special? Does the customer know that you offer installation of the new fridge? Or how about a special 15% off on the deluxe model?

Two well-known online companies that aggressively utilize these concepts are Amazon and GoDaddy. Play around on their sites and pay attention to how many times you have the option of increasing the size of your purchase.

5) Start an Opt-in Newsletter

Newsletters are a great way to reach those customers who wish to keep your product in their mind and learn when you have something new. Thanks to e-mail the costs of sending one out are now minimal, but you do wish to make sure that you use a reputable newsletter mailing service and that you employ a double opt-in subscription service (people have to sign-up for the newsletter and then confirm through a link in a confirmation e-mail). You don’t want to turn a fantastic opportunity into a horror story of being accused of spamming.

People need a reason to sign-up for your newsletter. Special subscriber-only discounts and early-bird offers are one way of doing this. You can also include valuable industry information in each newsletter, along with information about your latest product or deal. When choosing the content of your newsletter, ask yourself if you are providing genuine value to the receiver or if you are just trying to make a quick buck. The latter will usually fail and you’ll lose the respect of subscribers.

Don’t Forget to Test

The above are methods that countless successful online sellers use. Simply shop around on the net for a bit and you will find multiple examples of each point. However not every technique will provide the same results for everyone. Be sure to always have a way of testing your new additions to make sure that they are providing the results you desire.

If you require any assistance in implementing these features or if you would like to have a brand new website that makes use of these principles let me know. I am an experienced website developer who can help you achieve your online goals. I offer reasonable rates and will provide a small discount for reaching me through my blog.

Final Words for Successfully Starting an Online Business

Thanks for tuning into this series. In seven days we have covered a lot of ground and I had a lot of fun sharing this information with you. Although seven days of writing long posts is a lot, it barely scratches the surface of what is out there to learn. If you aren’t currently running an online business and would like to do so, don’t put it off irrationally. Start it up, put everything you’ve learned to use, make some mistakes, and learn a whole lot more. Most importantly put your whole heart into it.

Be sure to check out the rest of the articles in Secrets of Creating and Growing an Online Business and keep reading this blog for new information all the time!