The Long Way Home

Anyone who has embarked on the long journey involved
in building any type of business can relate horror
stories concerning the difficulties and problems they
faced. Then they can tell you about all the money
they spent, the time it took and the small return they
experienced as the end result.

Let's face it, doing something like that is a real job
fraught with all sorts of pitfalls and hazards.

Does it have to be that way? No it does not. There
are some basic rules and procedures a person needs to
know about if they are to make a success of any type
business. Now here is a real problem. Where can a
person find these rules and procedures, gain a clear
understanding of them and how to apply them to best
effect?

There are hundreds of online business and marketing
gurus on the web. Just take their word for it they
are there. How do you know? Well, they tell you so
and try to get you to sign-up with some rinky-dink
program of their invention which will make you rich if
only you will follow their advice and use their
system. Don't be fooled my friend. The serious and
ethical business building services on the web do not
work that way. A serious business helper invites you
to describe your idea, product or service and then
offers a consultation on a way or ways to go in
building your business and market your products or
services. They do this for free and also assure you,
in writing if necessary, that the information you are
passing to them belongs to you and will advise you on
the steps to take to protect that information.

Before we go any further along this very long road,
let's stop a minute, take a deep breath and think
about some of the things you need to build or improve
your online business. First you had better come up
with some hard cash or other dependable source of
money to pay for those services you will need just to
get started. What are these things? Well the list
below identifies some of them, the ones we should call
essential online business tools.

1. A modern, fast computer with a large hard drive
capacity and sufficient memory to do the job.

2. A fast and reliable Internet connection and a
reliable ISP. For efficiency you should have a
dedicated telephone line for your Internet connection.

3. A printer and probably a FAX. A scanner would not
hurt.

4. Sufficient knowledge and skill to operate your
computer and on the Internet.

OK, you have these things. Now what? Well, the next
step is knowing what you may wish to accomplish.
Build your dream. Motivate yourself to move ahead.
We all want more money, all of us for whatever reason
we may have. A new house. A new Car. Travel and
vacations. The kid's education. Whatever your dream,
solidify it in your mind and visualize it to extreme
clarity. Know what you want. I cannot overstress the
importance of this.

Now you know what it is what you want. How do you get
it and make the dream come true? Well my friend you
plan, organize, work hard and consistently, that is
what you do. There are many ways for you to do this.
You can attempt to do it on your own. Develop your
own products or services, set up a plan and market it
to the world. Wait a minute how do I do that you ask?
First of all be sure you know what you are doing.
Online marketing is like everything else in life.
There are correct ways to do it and wrong ways to do
it. Doing it correctly gives you the best chance to
achieve a measure of success with your efforts.

You can spend the time and effort to teach yourself
all you need to know through the study of the millions
of free words on the Internet. That is a hard way to
go. How do you know the stuff you are reading is
actually helpful or not. You don't. What I suggest
is that you find someone to help you.

There exists on the web several companies dedicated to
online business start-ups or to the improving of
existing online businesses. The Company I am most
familiar with is the Internet Musketeers Incorporated
Online Business Center or IMIOBC. The IMIOBC is
dedicated to helping people start-up or improve their
own online businesses. The list of services provided
by these people are impressive and covers the entire
spectrum of requirements concerning the operations of
online businesses.

For example they provide a free consultation service
designed to explore your ideas, products or services,
determine your specific requirements, and then
recommend courses of action designed to meet your
specific requirements. No one else does that. Many
times this free consultation is all you need to get
started in the right direction. That's OK with them
because in talking with you they have the opportunity
to expose you to their unique business building
products and services for your future use if you are
so inclined. Below is a short list of the products
and services available to you through the IMIOBC.

1. Business, Marketing, Promotional and Advertising
Plans.

2. Web Design and Construction Bureau. A full service
agency and includes all the state of the art Website
design capabilities. They even help you find a proper
host for your website.

3. A Website Search Engine Submission Service. Gets
your Websites on the major search engines with all the
appropriate keywords and Meta Tags. They teach you how
to do it or do it for you.

4. A Marketing, Promotional and Advertising Service
wherein they devise and place the copy material for
you.

5. A Ghost Writing Service. Professional ghost
writers prepare and place articles covering topics of
your choice with your byline. Get yourself known on
the web through published articles.

When you hook-up with these guys they are with you all
the way on your long journey home to success. You owe
it to yourself to check them out and see what they can
do for you.