Afraid Your Online Business Will Fail?

If you’re not afraid of failure, you should be! I’ve seen estimates indicating as many as 98% of all online businesses fail. Yet, thousands of people are succeeding online every day and you can be one of them.

Let’s look at a few reasons why so many fail and what you can do to overcome the odds in order to build your own successful online business.

Fear of Failure:

Everyone has their own personal confort zone. The thought of trying something new or different scares the hell out of some people. It’s easier to just keep following the same old daily routine, eat at the same restaurants, watch the same TV shows, and continue doing what you’ve always done.

Well, in reality, those are just habits that you’ve developed over a long period of time. But, anyone that’s tried to lose weight or quit smoking knows just how difficult a habit is to break. And like trying to break habits, building an online business isn’t going happen in a day or a week or even a month.

If you don’t start, you can’t fail! So, it’s time to get out of your comfort zone, change your habits, and get your business started. Set aside a specific period of time each day, or every other day, where you can concentrate on just your business. It won’t be long before you’ve developed a new habit and start seeing results from your efforts.

If you think it’s too difficult or will take too long consider this. What if it took you 6 months to start seeing results from your online business? What if it took a year, two years, or five years and you were finally earning enough to quit your job to run your own business? How old will you be five years from now? How old are you going to be in five years if you do nothing and stick to that same old daily routine? I thought so.

Fear of Success:

What? That’s silly. How can anyone be afraid of success?

Well, think about that for a minute. What would happen in your life if your were to become extremely successful online within a short period of time? How would your family treat you? How would your friends treat you when one day you realize you’re no longer “one of them”.

Some people brush off success by saying that’s not who they are or that they would just end up spending all their money and wouldn’t have any left. So, why bother when you’ll probably end up right back where you are now anyway?

Here’s a secret. You don’t have as many friends as you think you do. You have acquaintences and probably know a lot of people but consider yourself lucky if you really have just one or two real close friends. The neighbors, the people at your place of employment, and nearly everyone else you know are not true friends.

As with the fear of failure, you need to get out of your comfort zone and understand that as you become more successful you will meet a new group of “friends” that share your new interests and successes.

Distractions:

Family, friends, co-workers!  Those people are the main sources contrubuting to your failure. How? Have you ever mentioned to any of them that you’re considering starting your own business online? I’m sure the response you got was something on the order of “good luck with that”, “oh, so you’re gonna scam people?” or “you can’t do that!”.

So, you think to yourself that they’re probably right. What was I thinking to even come up with an idea like that? The reality is that what they’re really saying is that THEY can’t do it. And, since they aren’t succeeding, you shouldn’t either.

I know one online business owner that spent almost 5 years not earning a dime. His father-in-law called him a bum and even suggested that his daughter not stayed married to him. In 2007 this “bum” earned a little over $150,000 with his online business. He’s on pace to earn over $200,000 in 2008. Still, his father-in-law thinks he’s just playing on the computer all day and should get a “real” job!

You too will experience the attitude that you don’t have a “real” job and that you’re just playing on the computer all day. This is usually accompanied by requests to run errands, watch the kids, or chat on the phone for hours.

From the very first day you decide to start building an online business it is extremely important that everyone around you understands that this is your job and that you have work to do. Set aside a work area and set a schedule of regular hours where you work and are not to be disturbed. Then, next time you’re interrupted, ask if you can call them at their job to take some time off to run errands for you!

Sacrifice:

It’s often said that if you want something bad enough you have to make sacrifices. Really? A lot of people thinking that the Internet is the path to fast and easy riches will quit the second they see there’s actually work involved. Add in the fact that you might have to skip your favorite TV show or turn down a night on the town with friends and even more prople give up their dream.

If you’re doing something you love are you really making a “sacrifice”? Everything you do is a choice. You choose to watch TV, chat on the phone, go to the ballgame or movies, etc.  You can also choose to be successful.

Take control of your schedule. Make time to work on your business but don’t forget to take time for yourself and your family. But, if you don’t treat this like a business or do the work that’s necessary you most certainly will fail.

Overcoming the Odds:

There is so much information available on this topic that I haven’t even scratched the surface. However, here’s a few tips to maybe help you overcome whatever might be keeping you from succeeding in your online business.

• Treat this like the business that it is! This isn’t a hobby. You’re not “playing” on the computer and you’re not wasting time. Set regular work hours and actually work at it. Nothing happens until you actually do something.
• Surround yourself with positive people and drop the losers. I don’t care how long you’ve known them. They aren’t really true friends anyway if they don’t encourage and appaud your efforts.
• Just get started! Stop spending all your time reading web sites and forums. Stop buying every new product the marketers are selling. Choose one method and stick to it until it either fails or succeeds before trying something new.
• Get your family involved. There’s no way you can ever be successful if you don’t have the support of your family. Show them what you do all day on the computer. They may not understand how this business works but you’re sure to get their attention, if only for a few minutes, when you get that first check or make your first dollar online.

So, stop dreaming and take the time to write down your goals. Make a plan and stick to it. Success won’t happen overnight. But, little by little you can succeed in your own online business. With a little work and dedication, you will one day see how your efforts have paid off and you’ll look back and say, “That was easy”!  Now get to work!