Losing Focus with Making Money Online

Clickbank just sent me a gift in the mail in the form of a book I have been reading through called, “Get Rich Click” by Marc Ostrofsky.  It is full is full of great information about the MANY various ways of making money online and I recommend it for anyone who is looking into getting started with making money online or who just wants to ramp things up a little.

But there was one though in the book that really rang true for me and I knew it would make an excellent post for those who are struggling with keeping their focus with their online business.  It was actually a quote from Tony Hsieh, who was the founder of Zappos.com.  In a list of 10 lessons for building a successful business online number 7 said this,

“Start small.  Stay Focused.”

Those are 2 key ingredients for any online entrepreneur.

Why start small when you can just go as big as possible?  By starting small you are able to keep your focus on quality and not your hugeness.  By starting small you can hone in on what your market is looking for and making sure you are providing quality products, services, or content that your particular audience is wanting.

You know how some people will say that certain stores or restaurants just make you feel at home while others just feel like a “big” store that does not make you feel special at all?  We feel that way because we all want the feel of a small store.  We want to be treated like the business has not grown so big that people don’t matter anymore.

Whatever your online business model is, remember to start small and do all of the little things right.  I can list hundreds of humongous businesses that started out small in a garage, coffee shop, or college dorm.

The problem with trying to start big is that too many will burn out.  The cost will be high and there will be so much stress on bringing in sufficient income to pay for the size of the business that the whole thing will fold in.  Starting small will hedge the risk of your new business while allowing you to expand a little at a time as you learn more about your market and what it takes to succeed.

Stay Focused.

This is the other key ingredient, and I am guilty as anyone out there for losing my focus.  My business model is to build content on new websites, get them ranking in the search engines and generate revenue through advertising and affiliate marketing.  But after watching countless webinars and reading hundreds of PDF reports it was easy for me to go after an entirely new business model that does not fit what I am are already doing.  I have wasted a lot of time going after the newest thing.  Those new ways of marketing CAN make me money, but they also take my focus off of what I am doing and also what I am actually good at.

There are a lot of people making thousands of dollars a month designing websites and selling them.  I am not a designer.

There are a lot of people making thousands of dollars a month  flipping websites left and right.  But I am not a website flipper either.

There are a lot of people making tens of thousands a month doing media buying.  But I am not a media buying expert, and have lost a lot of money doing it.

What I am saying is that you should do what you love and so what you are good at.  I know I could make good money doing media buying, and I hope to get into that someday.  But right now it is simply a distraction that will detract from my current business model which I enjoy and do well in.

Keeping your focus means know what you are good at and what you love to do and making that a priority.  The newest webinar may say there is a better methods of making money, but don’t buy into every new method unless it fits your current business model.  And if you don’t have a business model, make one.