Advice for Running a Successful Online Business

Sep 13, 2010 by admin

By Jimmy Krug –

I’ve always believed in learning from the mistakes, experiences and examples of others, rather than “going it alone” and learning everything the hard way. In other words, use what’s at your disposal or available to you at the very least. Feel free to improve on it if you can, but avoid getting caught in the trap of reinventing the wheel. I got online for the first time in 1996. By 1998 I was ready to jump in and start making money. The initial mistake I made back then is still the most common mistake people make today. They don’t treat their online “activities” as a business.

Instead, they go online with the intent of seeing if they can make a few “dollars” here and there. With that mindset, all you will ultimately wind up making is a “few dollars” – here and there. I firmly believe that any moneymaking pursuit has to organized and run as a business if your goal is to have ongoing, long-term, income  benefits. Anything less leads to ultimate failure.

Here are a few lessons I’ve learned and in some cases – relearned, since doing business online in the late 90’s.

1.    Focus On Marketing – Not Production. Today, there are so many products available on the market; you don’t really have to manufacture or produce your own unless you really want to. It’s much easier to focus your energy on marketing a product someone else made as opposed to creating your own.  Time is a factor… and time is needed to produce and market a product.

There were a few online businesses I started in the late 90’s and early 2000’s where I did the reverse of this. I spent six months developing the site ideas (production). Then after a month, I became frustrated at my inability to reach the market and moved on to something else! Had I done the reverse and spent the initial time researching the market, I would have known better from the start.

Unless you’re willing to pay someone else to do it for you, you must be prepared to step into the role of being a marketer when you’re in business online. It’s no different than the offline world. Today, more and more people are finally starting to realize the laws of business apply to the online world no differently than they do the offline world. You need to think like a business person, not someone looked to make a few extra bucks with little to no effort.

2.    Know Your Market. Is your market big enough to sustain your income needs? What market are you trying to reach? What problems is this market trying to solve? Have you done enough research to substantiate this belief, or is it more of a “hunch?” Can the market afford the solution you’re intending to provide it? Why would your solution be more appealing to them than the other solutions already available to this market? Will this market be looking for ongoing solutions or problem solving products and services? Will you be able to provide them?

I’ll never forget my very first effort. I found the creator of an “As Seen On TV” car polish product. I just figured that everyone who owned a car would want it, so I made an offer to become a reseller of the product. Then, I had an ad piece designed and printed. Then I purchased boxes for the product to ship it via mail order. Like I said, I just “figured” everyone who owned a car would want it. Especially when it was seen on TV. Guess what happened? I figured wrong. I was 19 years old. Lesson learned! “Build it and they will come” is only applicable in about 1% of the situations you’ll encounter – 1% of the time.

3.    You Don’t Know The Competition or How To Out-Position Them. Who are your real competitors? Do you know for certain? I’m sort of a “part-time” war and history buff. I love reading the accounts of how certain strategies and tactics enabled smaller armies to overcome larger, better equipped armies throughout history. I’ve applied these tactics to my offline activities and the results were forthcoming.

Have you identified your competition? Do you understand what they’re offering their market? Knowing these things will enable you to formulate a plan to out-position them. With my offline business, I spent the entire Spring of 2010 identifying who my local competition was, what they were offering… and formulating a plan to out-position them.

Like anything else, until you try something, you only know and understand it in “theory.” Theories are fine. But a theory doesn’t have any substance to it. Until you put your theories to the test… you’ll never know for sure whether you’re on the money or not. There are so many variables from one business to the next, you have to test everything before you’ll know for sure.

In my own market, I noticed my competition was focusing upon offering a multitude of services to our market. It took awhile, but I was finally able to find a different type of “hook” based upon my individual strengths and experience. My ability to out-position them was a result of six months worth of testing and revising.

In Conclusion

The same principles that apply to the offline business world don’t “evaporate” into thin air when you plug the internet into the equation. Sound business principles and strategies apply to both.