Article Surfing Archive

Many people enter the work at home market hoping to make money. Most are not even looking for a work at home business until the an email in their inbox, or a website, catches their attention.

The opportunity looks good, work at home, make money, and get paid to do relatively little. It doesn't matter what the opportunity, whether property investing, playing with stocks, or ecommerce, eventually, one of these business opportunities will catch your eye. When it does, you can choose to follow the legions who hoped, dreamed, and failed before you, or you can learn how to succeed.

Only certain people will ever succeed. These are people who never stop learning, and never quit, because success is a habit. It takes time to learn how to be a success. Business owners not only need to learn how to become a success, but they need to learn 'how to avoid failure.'

There are a few rules of success that can help the newest business owner to avoid the common pitfalls, and make money.

The Success Attitude

The biggest mistake most people make is creating a business because they always dreamed of owning that business. These people are dreamers, and failures. Not because they do not have a good idea, but because they are dreamers.

I've met dozens of people who dreamed for 20 years about owning a store. It may be a bridal shop, a candy store, ecommerce venture, or a fashion retail outlet. I listen patiently for a while as they excitedly ramble on about their dream. There does come a time when I stop them and ask 'how much time have you invested learning how to make this business a success?' The answer is 99/100 times, 'none.'

No business will run itself. No one will come to a store, whether a bridal shop, candy store, ecommerce venture, or fashion outlet just because it is there. The owner needs to add value to their outlet and offer a good product.

It is sad, because these people had 20 years to learn how to succeed and develop the 'success habit.' Instead, they twittered it away dreaming.

Needing Money Mindset

I have a cruel word here. If you need money, get a job. Any business that is started because the owner needed money is doomed to fail. Not because the owner cannot operate a business, but because a business is a living thing. All the money it makes in the first year or two need to be reinvested to nurture the business.

Everyone has heard the mantra 'It takes money to make money.' This doesn't mean that a business needs money to get started. It does mean that it needs a steady cash flow to grow.

Need for Power

Another group of people who start businesses want the prestige and power of owning their own business. This is a certain recipe for disaster. A business demands, and demands big. The first two our three years of a business will demand a constant influx of cash, time, and learning on the part of a business owner.

Successful business owners are givers and nurturers. They care about their customers. They care about their business. They live to feed the business 'not the other way around.

Success Mindset

So, what is the success mindset? Simply put, it is a mindset that reaches out beyond your needs and embraces the business, customer, product and marketing needs. Successful people are hungry to learn. They constantly seek out other successful people in forums, network groups, and business associations.

You can identify these people. When you meet them at a networking meeting, or in a forum, they are not always talking about their product, their success, or how great they are.

Instead, they discuss business aspects, markets, and supply vs. demand. In short, they are trying to learn if you know anything that will help them succeed.