Speaking from experience

By Sohaib Thiab
Posted Wednesday, December 15, 2004

We all know there is lots of hype, false claims, and misleading associated with running a profitable business on the Internet. I personally have come across dozens of announcements and invitations to join such programs and make an easy buck for almost doing nothing. The promise has always been that the Internet will work for you and generate a steady income while you enjoy other things in life. I wish things have been easy, but then the whole thing will not work for anyone anymore if everyone jumps onboard.

In this series of Buyer-Heavens Articles, I will try to speak openly and frankly on these issues from my own personal experience. Honesty and professionalism will be the overall guidance for my elaborations on the issues and challenges in having a truly profitable home business. Doing so, I look forward to open a venue for sharing thoughts, ideas and suggestions among us and extend a helping hand to each other whenever and wherever possible.

Enjoy ….

Sohaib Thiab
ok then do it

Buyer Heavens

where business deals are win-win for all !

Lesson-1: There is no Free Lunch!

This is common sense rule. No one is going to offer you something for free. There is always a price to be paid in one way or the other, so be prepared for that. Claims contrary to this simple business rule are pure hype and cheap talk.

The point I want to make here is that you must be aware of the price that you have to pay, either directly or indirectly, visible or hidden, so be careful. For starter, your domain name registration and hosting would not come free, would it?

Having a PC and an Internet connection is not free either, is it ?

Lesson-2 The effort/payback balance

This is another common sense rule. There should always be a balance between the effort you put into something, and the payback you may expect. Having a profitable business from home would certainly require some effort and some investment to see rewarding results.

Lesson-3 Work Smarter, not harder

The Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) open new possibilities for facilitating and automating otherwise tedious, expensive and time consuming events. This does not come free, even if it looks to be free.

Just think of the hours and hours you spend on the Internet to do the long list of assignments to make yourself and your business known to the Internet community. Would a subscription service that takes care of such activities be worth paying for them? You may have to do a small mathematical exercise to decide.

Lesson-4: There should be a product

Or better a number of ‘real’ products of tangible benefit to the buyer. Don’t get into hype of selling nothing only because someone managed to sell you that, and your only way to make money is to pass the thing on to other innocent victims, who in turn would do everything to sell this ‘nothing’ to others.

From a professional and honest standpoint, I have to be personally convinced that my direct customers can directly benefit from what they buy, even without passing the buck to others. If they opt to do so, it is because they believe in the product and its value to their own customers as well.

Lesson-5: Diversify and Grow

To sustain your success in this cyberspace business, you cannot stand still, things around us are moving all the time, and so should we. You need to diversify your offerings and grow them on ongoing basis.

You need to think always in this manner. What can I do today to get more customers and more business? Is the limitation in my offerings or in my market reach? What can I do to diversify my offerings and grow my market reach?

We will elaborate on these lessons and others in the next issues of this newsletter. It would be great to hear your views on what is said, and your comments would always be taken in consideration.

About the Auhtor
Owner and Founder of buyer-heavens an online marketing website and a free service provider in a number of aspects.