Setting Goals

Starting The Right Small Internet Business For You – Part 1

Creating the right small internet business for you is a huge determining factor in your chances of success. The wrong person could run a great business into the ground. The right person could turn a mediocre business into a superstar. It’s not any different just because your business only exists on the internet. Since we started, I’ve seen four things come up again and again with us and they’re all related to finding the right fit.

Business Goals

You’ll make thousands of tiny decisions and several large decisions when you’re calling the shots. Your business goals govern which path you follow. For us, the main goal, at the root of everything else, is freedom. We want a portable business to help feed our travel bug and to have more control over our time. How does that factor into decision making?

We know we can’t be tied to a computer all the time. So taking on a project that requires constant interaction through email, forums, etc just won’t work. The same goes for projects that requires multiple updates per day. It might not sound like a big deal but that plays a role in our decisions on a fairly regular basis.

Avoid The Wrong Small Business Opportunity

For example, a few months ago I considered buying an article directory. It had an express option where an author paid a fee so their article was approved or rejected within 6 hours. This sounds like a great idea to me and it was a nice site. It’s just completely wrong for us. Can you imagine how backed up the article queue would get as we’re flying from the U.S. to say Indonesia? Or how long it would take to run that site when you’re just working from internet cafes in Phuket?

I think we’d have to turn off that feature (or outsource the express approval). Then the site would lose one of its unique selling points and become just another general article directory. We would also lose (or reduce) a great revenue stream. I had to pass for those reasons.

I’ll write some about the other three things a little later. I’d love for you to share examples from your internet business like this too.

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Fighting the urge to ignore our goals for a buck.