Looking Ahead Towards Profit in 2002

Each year at this time, a lot of ink is spread talking about
New Year's Resolutions. In most cases, this ink goes wasted as
resolutions are soon forgotten or dismissed.

The reasons for this yearly collapse of personal discipline are
many-fold.

One, people draw up their resolutions based on old habits they
wish to break. Old habits are hard to break simply because they
require a constant daily effort to overcome what is ingrained
into the lifestyle of the person. It is easy to say to yourself,
"Well, I can skip a day." Once a single day has been skipped,
it becomes much easier to skip another. Before long, the days
have been skipped so many times that there seems no point in
trying to pretend anymore.

Two, people may know the reasons why to change the habit, but
they don't have one reason that is powerful enough to drive
them to change.

Three, people make resolutions to change what they do not
possess a true desire to change. Sure, you tell yourself that
it is important, but do you feel it important with every fiber
of your being?

Now, I will bet you are asking yourself what this has to do
with the profitability of your ezine and website.

Well, let us take a look at the passing year. How much did
your ezine and website earn in sales this past year? How much
in profits?

If the answer to either of these questions is zero, then I
implore you to make only one resolution this year --- to start
earning money and profits from your online endeavor.

Without reading your ezine or visiting your website, I know
that you are offering real value to the world. I also know
that in order to maintain this level of value, there must be
some sort of incentive to drive you forward. Without the
incentive of sales and profits, there are few things that can
qualify as an incentive that you can feel important with every
fiber of your being!

This is the most important ingredient to your success online
or offline.

You must possess a reason strong enough to propel you forward.
You must feel its importance with every fiber of your being.
And you must reaffirm your dedication to your goal each and
every day without miss.

Thousands of people online already possess these three distinct
traits which will work towards their success. Yet, many of them
may be trying to reach through their monitor right now in a
frivolous effort to slap me in my head. I can hear them now,
"I know this. I need to find out how to make money!"

Folks, there are thousands of affiliate programs available on
the web that you can participate in. The unfortunate truth is
that most of these affiliate programs will never earn you more
than a few dollars!

Unless the affiliate program restricts who can distribute their
wares, affiliate programs only serve their masters! Amazon.com
is often thought to be the largest affiliate program online
with "over 500,000 Associates of all sizes and virtually every
area of interest."

With an estimated 141 million users online around the world and
120 million in the United States alone (Jupiter Media Matrix -
http://www.jmm.com), you are looking at an availability of only
282 customers per Amazon.com affiliate!

As you can see, Amazon is deeply concerned about your personal
success. Tsk, tsk. Your odds of earning a decent income from
being an Associate in the Amazon program is nearly zilch. Most
affiliate programs on the web have nearly the same concern for
your well-being as does Amazon.

The secret to making money online is simple. You must have your
own products or service, or the program you choose to affiliate
with should not have thousands of other affiliates that you
must compete with also. For the products and services that you
distribute, there must be an opportunity to develop high demand
with very limited competition.

You could create your own ebook to sell, but the truth is that
you would just be another of tens of thousands of ebooks
competing for the same dollars. Besides that, an ebook is a
one-shot deal in most cases. As Amazon is struggling with, the
online success stories always offer something that people will
come back and buy more of, again and again.

Subscriptions and contractual services continue to deliver
payday to many thousands of successful online entrepreneurs.

So the question you need to be asking yourself right now is
this. What product or service can I develop that can be
marketed as a subscription or contractual service? And how
can I do so at a profit?

Let me give you a couple of tips. Make certain that there are
not others offering this product or service right now for free.
And more importantly, start small and grow as your business
grows.

At all times, you should stay focused on the bottom line. What
good is a million dollar business that does not earn profits?
About as good as a DrKoop.com, Themestream.com or other Internet
domain that currently resides in the waste bin of what could
have been.

This New Year, do not simply make a New Year's Resolution. Find
a reason strong enough to propel you forward. Believe and feel
the importance of your purpose with every fiber of your being.
Reaffirm your dedication daily. And make this years resolution
more a matter of resolve. Resolve to make your web property
profitable in 2002.