How to Succeed in Online Business
It is a sad fact that 95% of the people who venture into online business in Nigeria fail at their first few attempts at online business and subsequently give up within a short time. If you do not want to be among this group of failures, here are some things that you must do:
Improve your Background Knowledge
The platform for online business is the Internet so for you to become a success in the business, you must know and understand the platform very well. Even though you can start online business with little or no knowledge about computers and the internet, the truth is that your ability to succeed can be limited by too little knowledge about the technology. This may hamper the ease at which you grasp new concepts and can cause you not to achieve your full potential.
If you do not know much about computers or the Internet, do research and learn about them. Go to Google and search for things like how to use the internet or internet tutorials. Visit www.unicom.com/pw/web-intro and go through the 23 slides. To move to the next slide, click on NEXT and to go back click on PREV
You should also visit www.internet101.org and read through the website’s Learn More segment. Make sure you read everything and do even further research. You may also read this article on the concept of Web 2.0: www.m.ng44.com/whatisweb2
The more you know the more you will earn and the better you will become. Just like in any business where your knowledge and experience in that field determines your success, same also goes for online business. Online business may look a little bit technical but it is really very easy.
Read, Research and Learn Continuously
One of the main keys to online business success is learning. Keep learning, keep searching for information, keep digging, keep reading wide and keep experimenting. Make it a habit to search on Google. A lot of the questions that you have can be answered by searching on Google. There is a lot of free information available out there and all you need to do is just search the question on Google.
While on your journey you will come across a lot of new stuff. Make it a point of duty to learn at least 10 new things about the Internet and online business every week. If you come across a term which you are seeing or hearing for the first time, take note of it and search for it. Let your mind be alive to your environment.
We have succeeded today because we have never ceased to learn. We seek out information actively. We download every free e-book we find, register for every free course and just keep on searching and learning. When we visit websites, we study the links, study the designs and try to learn a thing or two.
When we encounter a new word or term, we search for it on Google. Most times we may learn just one new thing or get one new idea or even nothing at all, yet we still keep on learning because it broadens our understanding and makes us better.
Practice, Practice and Practice
Whenever we learn of a new strategy or tactic or idea, we do not just read it and let it go. We make it a point of duty to try it out to see if it works. We don’t just read but we act. In the process we have made several mistakes and blunders but we have gained priceless knowledge and insight which no e-book could have taught us and which will only come to you from experience.
The effect of this is that this year, we now know much more than we did last year and best of all, we now make twice more than we made last year just by trying out all the new ideas we learnt and putting the best ones into action.
Many people who have struggled for years to make money online continue to struggle because when they come across some new information, they don’t put it into practice. Practice is an important part of your online business journey. The more experience you have, the more money you will make. It’s that simple.
You may fail a couple of times; some of these failures will even lead to very painful losses of time or finances. You may fail after putting in a lot of time and scarce funds and it may hurt seriously when you do. But with each failure, you learn many new things and you also move closer to success more than ever before.
Some reasons why people don’t Practice are:
Information Overload: Every day you are bombarded by too much information from different sources and it is difficult to sort through them and decide which one is worth pursuing and which should you try first.
Laziness, Impatience and lack of perseverance: Even when they come across information that is guaranteed to work but requires hard work or does not promise overnight riches, some people try half heartedly for a short while and then they give up half way. This mainly has to do with people who learnt about this business for free. When things are not moving as fast as they wish, they easily give up because they have nothing to lose. They got the info for free, got a website for free, tried it for a couple of weeks, saw no results, got discouraged and gradually lost their commitment because they had nothing to lose by giving up.
But as one great online business guru once pointed out: if getting the website had cost them $10,000 dollars these people would have taken the business much more seriously and shown far more commitment. In fact this is the exact reason why we chose to sell this book and not give it out for free, even though we claim to be trying to help the youths of Nigeria.
Charging for this book is to ensure that anybody who buys it must view the business very seriously and show the needed level of commitment. Seriousness, commitment and dedication are some of the major ingredients that got us to where we are today so it is a must that anyone who is attempting this online business must view it with the utmost seriousness for them to succeed.
If someone knows that he has put in money to obtain this information then he will always consider the cost of failure and be motivated to put in his/her very best. Only when you are damn serious about it can you succeed in this business of ours.
Study what others are doing
These could be your competition i.e websites and people targeting the same market as you. These could also be people who have been in the game and have become successes. They could either be people in your country or those outside of it. If you are into any similar business with them, study their tactics. Learn from them, scrutinize their websites, sign up to their newsletters and study their language and the tools that they use.
Find Your Motivator: The Importance of Faith and Belief
We have come to understand that a vital aspect of man’s success and prosperity lies greatly in how much he/she believes in and is motivated by a noble cause or a higher intelligence. Having a motivating force is vital for online business success. Because we are Christians, we attribute the entirety of our success to the Christian God, the Almighty Yahweh the Merciful and Supreme God. He is our motivator. We believe in Him and try our best to do the things He asks of us.
We do not mean to say that you must be a Christian to succeed in online business. What we mean is that you must believe in a higher power other than yourself. This power you must look up to for help, motivation and inspiration. Psychologists have confirmed that a strong belief in something, usually a higher intelligence or entity, can bring about strong changes and trigger the process that cause a person’s strongest desires to happen.
You must also learn to give to others in cash and kind according to your beliefs. Also give a percentage of your profits in support of your religion and its custodians and give to the needy. Give give give. It is in giving that we receive. The more you give the more you will get. This is one of the fundamental laws of the universe and it is a principle that we have tested and proven to work over and over again so you better believe it!
If you are a member of any religion, whether muslim, christian or otherwise, you must go the extra mile to do the things required of you by the teachings of your religion to ensure the success of your activities in life and business. For a christian, accepting, believing and confessing the Lord Jesus as your Saviour is paramount. Repentance from sins, tithing, offering, first fruits, praise, worship, and thanksgiving are also very important.
All these things we try to do and we can testify that this is the REAL secret of our success. No matter what religion you are, learn to pray to your God with faith and believe that your answer will be granted.
Believe in yourself
Did you know that you are constantly having a conversation with yourself in your head all the time, either consciously or unconsciously, especially when faced with conflicts or life challenges or even simple day-to-day concerns. This aspect of yourself has a running commentary about everything you do. It never lets anything go by without some comment, remark or evaluation.
Think about it. When you are faced with a difficult situation or a challenge, or when you are faced with hard times or failure, what happens inside your head? You get busy thinking about your situation and saying different things to yourself. Think back over to any time that your own ideas or thoughts about what you could or could not accomplish got in the way of something you really wanted. This internal conversation is known as self talk.
Self talk is a continuous process and our world is coloured by the things we say to ourselves. This dialogue is also responsible for the way we view ourselves. It is what we think that determines our mood and drives us to action. If we tell ourselves through self talk that we cannot do something or succeed at something, then our mind will begin to believe that maybe we truly cannot do it which further reinforces the general feeling over and over in our head.
Patterns of negative or positive self-talk often start in childhood. Usually, the self-talk habit is one that influences our thinking for the greater part of our life, and can affect us in many ways, negatively or positively influencing the experience of stress and challenges in our lives and how we handle them.
The good news is that we can take control of our self talk and turn it into a very powerful tool for influencing our destiny and leading us to success in our endeavours. Following are some ways that you can stop yourself from using negative self-talk and use your mind to boost your productivity and self-esteem leading you to online business riches.
Control Your Mind
Notice your patterns: Becoming aware of your self talk is the first step to taking charge of this part of your life which can create a lot of unnecessary stress and limit your potential. The automatic reactions you have to this constant bombardment of negative thoughts, judgments and evaluations can keep you feeling stressed and less able to meet life’s challenges. You probably don’t realize how often you say negative things in your head, or how much it affects your experience.
The following two strategies can help you take control of your internal dialogue and modify its content to push you towards success in life and business:
Change Negative to Neutral or Positive: As you find yourself mentally complaining about something, rethink your assumptions. Are you assuming something is a negative even when it is not? The next time you find yourself stressing about something or deciding you’re not up to a challenge, stop and rethink, and see if you can come up with a neutral or positive replacement.
Change Self-Limiting Statements to Questions: Self-limiting statements like “I can’t learn this!”, “I’m not smart enough to do this!” or “This is impossible!” are particularly damaging because they increase your stress in a given situation and they stop you from searching for solutions.
The next time you find yourself thinking about something that limits the possibilities of a given situation, try turning it into a question like “How can I learn this?”, “How can I do this?” or “How is this possible?” . You can see that these questions sound more hopeful and open up your imagination to new possibilities compared to the self-limiting statements.
Exercises in Self Talk and Self Concept
Here is a short exercise that you must make a habit of doing regularly:
Before starting the routine, ask yourself the following questions and write down the answers:
· How rich do I really want to be?
· How much money do I want to be worth in life?
· How much money will I have in my bank accounts before I will consider myself rich enough not to bother about money anymore?
· How much will I be getting from my businesses every month before I will consider myself truly wealthy and satisfied?
· If there was a magic stone that can generate any amount of money that I want just by thinking it, how much money would I ask for?
Next, imagine that you have now attained all the money that you want and achieved all that you want to be in life, then picture:
· How much will you have in the bank?
· How many companies will you own?
· How many houses will you have?
· How many cars will you have?
· What kind of clothes will you be wearing?
· What kind of shoes and wristwatches will you be wearing?
· What countries will you travel to?
· What kind of people will you be talking to?
· What kind of parties and events will you be attending?
· How will you be talking?
· How will you be walking?
Now do this every day:
Stand in front of a mirror and imagine that you now have all these houses and cars and money. You are now rich and you no longer have to bother about money. Picture yourself in these clothes and these shoes and imagine that you know all these people and go to all these places, then for 2 minutes, stand in front of a mirror and act as if you are there. Don’t just picture it in your mind, act it out (make sure you are alone).
Walk and talk as if you are rich. Imagine that you were asked to act the part in a home video, how would you act it? Talk to imaginary people the way you would talk. Don’t be ashamed. Do this for 2 to 5 minutes. Let yourself be carried away. It may feel embarrassing the first few times but don’t worry, nobody will see you. The purpose of this exercise is to give your mind a clear vision of where you want to be.
Next, look your image in the eye and repeat the following words to your image over and over again 10 to 20 times. Say it with vigour and energy as if it is already true and you are excited about it:
“I am rich, I am wealthy, I understand online business and it is bringing in lots of profits for me every day. More money find me now. More money locate me now. More money come to me now”.
As you say the first line, picture yourself in those clothes living in your dream house and having all the money that you desire. Close your eyes and picture yourself sitting in front of the computer and money flowing from your computer to your bank account or into your pocket just as if you were watching it in a cartoon. As you say the second part, picture money flowing to you from all around and from all corners of the Earth.
There’s no need to be ashamed of doing this simple yet powerful exercise since you are alone. And don’t be afraid because it’s not magic or spiritual. It’s just a simple way to harness the power of the mind over the universe and tap into the ability to recreate our world through positive self talk and visualization.
Doing this exercise every day has enough power on its own to make you rich and to make your online business successful. When you get used to it, it will only take about ten minutes or less of your time.
This is another one of our biggest secrets of success. We’ve been doing it every day for the past two years. Try it for one year and you’ll be baffled by the results. You’ve got nothing to lose. It will also work for anything else that you desire in life, not only money.
Online Business Resources
- To get a mentor to guide you as you learn and make things easier and faster for you, we recommend that you register for the MOB Course (there is a bonanza going on now). Visit the following link for details: www.ng44.com/mobs
- To learn Online Business the free way, you can start at the following link: http://www.2createawebsite.com/
- To read our story and get inspired, read www.richnigerian.com/mystory