In almost every case we see when members first join Information Marketer’s Zone , personal coaching sessions and subscribers who we are fortunate enough to assist building their own information publishing businesses – we find one common error in judgement that can unfortunately lead to years of struggle.

Put simply, they are looking at creating a temporary line of income rather than a business. 

Here’s an example...

I get an email from a subscriber who has a wealth of knowledge in a particular subject area X, they have a basic website which brings them in about $150/month in Adsense income as well as a report that brings them in another $100-$200/month. 

It took them a year or so to build this level of income and now they are swamped with work, can’t yet live off their online revenue and have finally GOT IT – where the hell do they take this next. 

Believe me, this is NOT a good feeling.

On the other hand, the level of knowledge this person had about their marketplace and area of focus should have been making them Millions…instead they were settling for a few hundred dollars each month!

IT’S EASY TO FALL INTO THE TRAP

For the first few months, a couple hundred dollars a month means a great deal…it’s proof you can make money on your own, that your topic is in-demand, that people value your knowledge and information – suddenly you are on top of the world!

But then…little by little it strikes you, things are getting busier and busier, the choices in front of you become larger – but which way do you go?  Your income should be doubling or tripling each month – but it’s not is it?

Then, sooner or later you realize — "I’m caught in the trap of building a temporary line of income, but not a business." 
Let’s face it…nobody likes to backtrack, but in this case, you have no choice but to go back to the beginning and plan your business instead of just a single line of revenue. 

Think of it like this – you can shoot a gun in the dark and hit one bad guy, but if there is a roomful, until you turn on the lights your chance of hitting another one is extremely low. 

Building a business is like turning the lights on – suddenly all of your marketing and product development effort is focused around central business objectives making priorities and objectives EXTREMELY CLEAR. 

For the person I mention above, their major issue was they had no clarity on what they should do next leading to procrastination, lack of focus, low productivity and eventually, a frustration level that boils over. 

SO, HOW DOES ONE BUILD AN ONLINE
BUSINESS INSTEAD OF JUST A TEMPORARY INCOME?

First, you step back from your current stream of income and examine the business models open to you for this market. 

You may be earning $100/month with Adsense revenue, but that’s not a business, that is a single line of income.  The business model is Content-based Advertising – and certainly you could put together a plan to develop a large network of content-rich sites to maximize different advertising income streams as an online business model.

Alternatively, you could decide that you want to build a speaking or training business around your market and use content, infoproducts, teleseminars, publicity to feed that back-end business? 

Another option, you want to build a range of information products (low-end to higher-end) around your marketplace and that Publishing wii be your primary business model. 

Deciding on your business model should take into account…

  • Your strengths and passions
  • Gaps and opportunities in the marketplace
  • What will be perceived as higher value by your customers
  • Your ability to execute

A major part of the instruction we provide over at InfoMarketer’sZone has to do with discovering your strengths, understanding desire within markets and knowing how to create value  – putting it altogether into a kick-butt business model that is best suited for YOU. 
Second, what are your business objectives (both financially and non-financial?) What are your revenue and profit objectives 1, 3 and 5 years from now?  How do you see your business evolving (micro, small, big) and how do you see your role evolving as you reach each level of success?  I’m not talking about a 40-page business plan, but basic revenue and profit targets as well as your role are mandatory to build a business. 

Having financial goals is essential to building a successful business – too many new entrepreneurs either lack goals altogether or have an entirely unrealistic set of goals with absolutely zero link to an action plan for achieving these goals – I know where they will end up 1-year from now without ever talking to them again. 

Third, put together a quick and dirty action plan that operationalizes the model to reach your goal. I like to start from the back-end product and then design a service or product plan that feeds the back-end (sort of a reverse funnel) – then work each stage into a month-by-month operational plan for my business

By taking this step you make it simple to…

  • Prioritize your marketing and product development
  • See if your plan is feasible and make adjustments
  • Realize points where you can outsource work
  • Make your business much more valuable from an equity point of view (clear path to your objectives)
  • Improve your productivity as you have focus, direction and clarity on which tasks are MOST important
  • Have a measuring stick against which to measure how effective each step is against your objective

Too many people look at this business building step as too onerous, a waste of time or holding them back – in reality by building a business instead of a single income stream you are making your months of effort simpler, far more rewarding, reduce the stress of not knowing what activity to spend time on, improving your ability to get what you want through outsourcing and making sure you always know where you are against your plan. 

If you are just starting your online business – make sure you have given some thought to the 3 steps outlined above.

If you are already operating what you thought was a business, but is really a line of revenue – congratulations, you have achieved something great and with the information you now have from reading this you have the system that will turn your temporary line of income into a high-growth, high-profit and high-value business. 

Jeff