Based both on my experience as a Texas Internet lawyer and an online marketer who has built a separate six-figure Internet business from scratch, here are 3 ways you can grow your business during the coming year while others are struggling to survive.
1. Stick To Profitable Niches That You Know and Like.
Jack’s* the typical Internet marketer you meet at Internet seminars. Jack spends his time marketing dating and “get rich” biz opp products…but Jack’s not that successful at dating and he’s broke.
However, Jack is a Dallas sports fanatic who spent more than 15 years playing football as a kid and in college. Instead of focusing on what he knows and likes, he’s “faking it until he makes it” in niches where he’s not an expert.
Jack really doesn’t need a Texas Internet Lawyer to tell him that if he switched to niche products and services related to football, Jack would do better because it is (a) a profitable niche that (b) he knows and (c) likes. His Texas Internet Lawyer could help him put the right legal documents in place to protect Jack as he grows his new niche business.
2. Core Competencies Are Key
Mary spends at least six hours a day in her Austin apartment dabbling with web design work even though it has nothing to do with her products and services because Mary is not a web designer. Mary admits that she doesn’t have the skills to do the work quickly and easily and that it would take a web designer a fraction of the time to do what Mary spends hours on.
Mary is not saving money. She’s focusing on improving her weaknesses instead of her strengths. And it is costing her big time.
In Mary’s case, she’s great at product creation and relationship marketing. If she spent the six hours she wastes each day on web design on her two core competencies, her business would excel.
Mary should outsource other essential parts of her business to free up time so she can focus on what she does best. Mary’s Texas Internet Lawyer could prepare outsourcing agreements that would let Mary free up her time quickly and easily.
3. Consistency in the Vital Few and Dump the Trivial Many
Although Mary’s being unproductive, at least the web design work is a necessary part of an online business. Brian, on the other hand, reads 20 blogs daily on his laptop at Houston coffee shops and waste hours on Facebook and tweeting. None of this generates income for Brian.
Instead, Brian’s confused by the conflicting advice he receives on the 20 different blogs so pretends that being active in social media is going to get him somewhere. Brian is also an info product junkie. From $7 eBooks to $1997 “get rich” products, Brian buys and buys, reads and reads, and does nothing with what he’s learned.
At the end of the year, Brian hasn’t sold anything and his head is filled with thousands of different ways to build an online business based upon what he’s read. He’s overwhelmed and paralyzed into inaction because of this overdose on data.
Like Jack, Brian should pick a single profitable niche that he knows (not make money online niche because he doesn’t know it) and likes. He should research it, identify 1-3 success stories in that niche, and emulate those successes in building his business.
Brian needs to dump at least 80% of the blogs he’s reading, reduce his Facebook/Twitter time to 15 minutes or less, and don’t do any of these trivial activities until he’s completed the important tasks daily that actually build his business in the niche that he’s selected.
Brian should limit himself to using the info products he’s already bought and perhaps attending one seminar (or none) in the coming year. If he goes to a seminar, it should be one held a guru whose success story he’s modeling in the niche he’s selected.
Consistent daily actions tied directly to building a business in his selected niche is the only way Brian’s going to turn around his business. If Brian has legal questions about his new business model, he should consult with his Texas Internet Lawyer.
…
I’m convinced that more than half of the Internet business failures I see are because the marketers make the same mistakes as Jack, Mary, and Brian.
And it’s okay to make those mistakes when you’re starting out. But the key is to learn from those mistakes and move on to what works instead of repeating the mistakes and expecting a different outcome.
To your online success!
-Mike the Texas Internet Lawyer

* Jack, Mary, and Brian are pseudonyms used to protect real people from being embarrassed.