YBlog

A Journal of Starting and Running My Own Intenet Business: A Business that Fulfills My Dream

July 12, 2008

Starting my own internet business. What a learning curve! Follow me on this journey, and learn what I learn. It's quite a road, but I am loving it. As Bilbo says, "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door. You step onto the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to."

What makes the difference is discovering how to fit the realities of Internet marketing into the fulfillment of my own dream.

Three Principles I Learned Right from the Start:
I looked at lots of ideas. You have to sell something, right? But everything I thought about rang hollow. I love maps. Should I develop a website selling every kind of map under the sun? There are website businesses that do just that. But when I think about what that would mean, it does not ring true because it does not take me to my dream. I am a teacher. I wrote an entire business plan on an online community and virtual world for teachers. I hate the thought of spending long hours for years monitering an online community.

And there are so many Internet startups that vanish quickly without a trace. You have to sell people what they want to buy. And most people on the Internet want to buy stuff I will not sell. The biggest money maker nearest to my interests is "How to Make Money on the Internet." Which seems to be a merry-go-round of "make money by teaching others to make money by teaching others to make money" ad infinitum.

And I have bought books and courses, and learned much from them. But how do you merge your passion with all the stuff you learn in a confusing sort of way with actually making money?

Lesson One - Follow Your Dream:
I got this from Mark Victor Hansen's article called "The Million Dollar Mindset" found in Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, edited by Mitch Meyerson. Hansen says two things that got my attention. First, "Your most important goals must be yours, Not your spouse's. Not your child's. Not your employer's. Yours. When you let other people determine your definition of success you're sabotaging your own future." Then Hansen says this: "You miss the target if you don't have a dream. If you don't have a dream, you can't accomplish the dream. It doesn't just fall from heaven, it falls on those of us who have great and inspired dreams and hopes and desires."

As I read these words, I sat back, closed my eyes, and thought, "How can Intenet marketing fit in and fulfill my dream? And I saw YGuide as you see it in development now.

I have a dream. I want to get back to a country property with the Healthy Home that I want. On that property, I want my version of The Wood Shop, the chickens, the garden and orchard, The Herbarium. I want my kind of school for my children, not the insipid stuff of factory education. I want to share all this with those people I know and love. And I want to make a decent living from what I do in the simple life.

Lesson Two - Help Others:
I got the next two principles from Michael Masterson's book, Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat. First is Masterson's take on the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Or Jesus' other words, "Give and it shall be given to you." Masterson bases his business philosophy on meeting other people's needs. If you want something, go out and find a person who has the same desire, and offer to meet their needs. Give, and by giving, increase comes.

Through my years of strength, from my 20's into my 40's, a question that mattered a lot was how do you make money while living a simple life. I have spent much time thinking about this question, talking about it with others, trying to do just that. I have been involved in some pretty spectacular failures. (Not my fault, but I learned just the same.)

So, since my desire is to make a decent living from a rural and simple life, including the use of the Internet, my business model is to help other people do just that.

Lesson Three - Start Selling Immediately, Even If It's Other People's Stuff at First:
Ready, Fire, Aim. Masterson's title of his book is my holding principle as I develop this site. Making money means selling. You know that you have what other people want when they buy it. Don't try to make your product or your business perfect (my sidetrack) before you start selling; you cannot know what people want until after they buy and then tell you what they think. Get your stuff out there first, then refine what you are doing.

And so I am not worried about all the details of keyword research, affiliate marketing principles, how to write internet copy that grabs people and makes them want to buy. All that will come in it's time. First, I get the site up and out there, get some traffic coming in, and watch what happens. That's the "ready, fire" part. After I have "fired," I begin to aim. With the Internet, the "firing" is constant, so the "aiming" can always be ongoing.

I am convinced that Masterson is right. It has taken me two weeks of thinking and studying and one week of solid work to get my site to where it is at the writing of this first blog. Now, I will add and refine. In two more weeks, the site will be ready for a much larger publicity campaign. Then, the real "aiming" will begin.

May you find blessing and increase,
Daniel Yordy

Or go to:

The Homestead --- The Farmstead --- The Garden --- The Herbarium --- The Wood Shop --- The Metal Shop --- The Healthy Home --- The Home School --- The Home Business