tips to success in online business

I really dont see any reason whatsoever you shouldnt be proud of what you did. If youre successful, let the world know. Being shy will not help you here. You may not be the next CEO of the largest start up like Charles Phillips of Infor, but you still deserve to brag a little bit. Youre acting on a field so crowded with information that even your own identity is difficult to persist, if you dont actively work at it. Just because your clients know your name that doesnt necessarily mean youre perceived as an expert in your niche.

But dont ignore it either. This business field is so crowded that youre surely having a lot of competition. Focusing on it will most likely drain all your resources. Instead, focus on your resources, on your projects and on your clients. Pure ranking doesnt really work in the online, but identity does. Work to establish an identity rather than engaging in competition wars.

In the online field, more than in any other I know, personal branding is compulsory. And by that I mean absolutely unavoidable. Your online presence will work while youre asleep, while youre on holiday, while youre working hard on a new secret feature. Maintaining a solid, persistent online presence is the key ingredient to a successful personal branding. Dont assume people knows everything about you, constantly reinforce what YOU want them to know about you.

But dont consider it a success in itself. Thats what a business have to do in the first place: pays the money invested in it. A common strategy mistake is to slow down after the break even, considering that the simple fact of reaching it will further endorse the business. On the contrary, its only after the break even that youll see how much your project really worths in terms of profit.

Go out and meet new people. Clearly state your expertise and and ask the same from your peers. Let them know why youre doing business and how. Join professional organizations and attend to informal meetings. There is no such thing as an upper limit to your connections in the online field.

Dont expect your employees to know everything that has to be done, especially in the early days of a new business. Theres a lot of unknown floating around and they dont always know exactly what you expect from them. Make a habit from asking for feed back. Ask questions. Pay attention to the answers. Theyre the people who are building your business, make sure they know how to do it.

An investor will most likely buy your clients, contracts and market share. You will provide support for a limited time and then youll be out. In exchange, youll get money. It may take 1 to 3 years, and the youre out. An angel will most likely buy your brains and work power for several years. In exchange he will provide money and possibly know how. Those 2 categories may have very different denominations, but never mistake their role in your business. Different insertion points, different roles.

If you want to monetize your project go for services, not ads. Ads are deprecated. While they will still bring some cash in for a long time, they performance versus cost metric is rapidly decreasing. Ads takes too much space, their content is out of your control and the generated revenue is lower and lower.

Some projects will work, some not. You will lose money at some point. Be prepared, its part of the game. If its not working, its not working. Dont get stuck in patterns like: I have to recover my loss, or lets find whos responsible about that, I want my money back. Youre responsible. And money is just a resource. Dont get stuck, because, as I already said it, the speed of the medium will simply let you behind if you dont move.

When building a partnership, look for something you dont really have. People often forget this simple rule and start searching for like minded people. They are good to mastermind, to brainstorm, but a partnership must cover a part of your business or process you dont handle directly. If you go for similar skills, youll basically create internal competition, not a partnership.