photo credit: Amy Rachel Photography

“Beware of shifting interests!” the wizened old businessman told me as he waggled his gnarled finger at me. “Beware of making changes too quickly, of throwing in the towel before it’s time! But most of all, beware of the siren’s call of new and exciting opportunities that will cause you to neglect what’s just about to reward you!”

O.K., so it wasn’t a wizened old business man. It was a combination of learning from my mistakes and some good counsel from some successful people.

If you don’t focus and see existing opportunities through you’ll never succeed.

I have been hurt by my “shifting interests” many  times in the past. Sure, there are things I’ve started that were never worth the limited time or money I invested in them. Things that had no real market or significant chance of success. But often, I’ve pursued an opportunity until I hit my first real roadblocks – and then given up and moved on to what I considered greener pastures or what was more exciting at that moment in time.

As I’ve matured as a entreprenuer I’ve come to realize this tendency and have pushed through to success in various ventures. This is a huge key to success in business but you’ve got recognize a few key things:

• Any opportunity worth pursuing will become difficult and demoralizing at some point. This is one of the greatest indicators that you’re on the right track – if it was super easy everyone would be doing it.
• Understand the size of your plate. Most of us have an unrealistic idea of how much we can handle at one time. Instead of a large plate with our tasks spread out nicely we end up with a leaning Tower Of Pisa like stack of tasks.
• Learn how to distinguish good ideas from bad ones. In a nutshell: If there’s no market, room for profit, or distribution model you’re out of luck. i.e. Candy coated ten penny nails or DIY dentistry. (As silly as these examples are, there are thousands of businesses starting up this very instant that don’t have a hope of any real success because their missing a basic but critical components of good business.)
• If you’re going to throw a few ideas or ventures against the wall to see what sticks make sure you have a incremental benchmarks to gauge future success. i.e. We’re going to offer this widget/service/book to the public in this limited fashion and create at least five sales then revaluate.) Don’t give up until you have a success/fail moment with those benchmarks.

It’s obviously important to have ideas worth pursuing to begin with – and any entrepreneurial personal soon realizes that good ideas are readily available – but once you have some lined up don’t sabotage your future success by falling prey to shifting interests. Be successful through hard work and the practice of seeing things through to some sort of measured conclusion.

How do you handle the siren’s call of new and exciting opportunities? Or, are you a die-hard unitasker who sees every opportunity to completion?

photo credit: José Encarnação

I want to build businesses – not just make money.

What’s the difference? By my definition of business has intrinsic value. You can make money all sorts of ways but it doesn’t mean you’re building a business. My version of this is affiliate marketing.

I make 100% of my income from doing Internet marketing. I refer people to all sorts of online offers, products and services, and widgets online. Merchants will pay me a commission or part of the sale for moving eyeballs from one place to another. This is also known as affiliate marketing.

I’m also a hired gun. Companies will hire me to help position them on the Internet and drive traffic to their offers. I will build them websites and landing pages and help them set up their PPC campaigns.
This is different from traditional affiliate marketing in that these companies are often very niche and can’t be found in the affiliate networks.

Don’t get me wrong, this can be a great way to make a living. As a matter of fact, the potential is almost limitless. After all, there are over 300 million people in the United States many of whom are online on a daily basis. I have acquaintances who are making well over $1 million a year doing affiliate marketing. Big potential!

But I don’t just want to grow somebody else’s business.

Look at it this way, if I’m using my hard-earned cash to promote somebody else’s product I’m building equity in their business and they pay me a commission for doing so.

But at the end of the day if I’m not there to promote their service or product I don’t get paid a commission or residual. They’re not giving me a stake in the company or a big payoff when they sell their company.

I want to be able to offer my company up for sale one day and earn some multiple of its annual profits. For example, if I have a business that generates $2-$3 million a year in profits after expenses, I can usually sell that for 2 to 3 times that amount in a sale depending on the business vertical. And along the way, if I’ve managed the business correctly, I’ve also paid myself well via a nice salary. (Granted, that’s a very optimistic scenario but shoot for the moon and all that…)

Regardless of whether or not I sell the company one day, I own the company. I have equity in that venture. Maybe I pass it on to my children, maybe I sell it. It doesn’t really matter because I’m building value in something I own. Something that has its own intrinsic value aside from me being there to manage it on a daily basis. (Even though it will take a lot of my daily effort!)

So how do I go about transitioning from being an affiliate marketer who refers others to someone else’s product to owning my own business?

My plan is to create and brand my own products and sell them directly to consumers.

I’m getting ready to launch my first venture and I’d like to share my progress with you. I know I have some smart readers and welcome your insight and advice along with the accountability that comes from making my plans public.

I’ll continue to practice affiliate marketing because it’s a great business model and how I make 100% of my income right now. Bu, to challenging myself by launching myself by building my own business and perhaps bringing on my own affiliates to promote my products.

For the time being keep your eye on WellSlept.com