Splattered across the media channels in the UK lately has been a surge of Internet failure related news.

After millions of pounds/dollars have been spent in the development of an exciting new venture, a couple of years down the line the company has realised that the gold mine they thought they were sitting on wasn't really a gold mine... it was a flop. Millions wasted.

They had hundreds of employees... millions in the bank, plus enough venture capital to enable them to last a lifetime. But even with all of this support and monetary backing, they go bust and wind up in financial ruins.

So what went wrong? Is the Internet to blame?

Not likely. The good news is there's a flip side to that coin. Individuals who are starting with less than a couple of hundred bucks are grossing PERSONAL incomes of $50,000 per month or MORE. How can this be possible?

It's all about using money wisely. The smart individuals learn the required development skills themselves and save HUGELY on third-party working costs. Here's how...

The big businesses feel the need to spend lots of money on every area of the business, just to feel more secure. Example costs of a typical "big Internet startup" might be:

Office space: $200,000
Website development: $50,000
Employee wages: $500,000
Business/Legal expenses: $10,000
Marketing expenses: $500,000
Product related costs: $100,000

In the first year it's likely that they'd have spent $1.5M or more. Each product they sell might produce a 200% mark-up at best. Now compare that to an entrepreneur running an automated web service that he sells for $20 per month:

Office space: NO cost (they work from home) Website development: $35 p/m for web hosting Employee wages: NO cost. It's fully automated. Business/Legal Expenses: Maybe $500 a year Marketing Expenses: $200 a month Product related costs: NONE

After a year, a little over $1000 is spent whilst the product brings in a mark-up of over 10,000% or more.

The money that is earned belongs to the entrepreneur. He/She has NO employees, NO additional overhead expenses, NO product costs and their marketing is sorted through affiliate/joint ventures. If handling email gets hectic, they could pay someone a couple of hundred dollars per week to outsource support to someone else... NO need to work from an office, since they can handle it from home.

With the huge corporate website, their funds are quickly depleted due to massive overhead expenses and lack of money coming it. It can take a big company 3-5 years before they ever see a profit.. whilst a home-based entrepreneur can make a return on his/her investment in their first month.

That's what makes the Internet such an attractive business model. A smart entrepreneur could earn $10,000 or more per week in PERSONAL income. Compare this to $400 p/w working for a corporation... paying travelling expenses, having to dress smartly for work, following specific jobs, etc. It makes much more sense to "go it alone" online.

The 3 Key Ingredients To Personal Online Success Are:

1) A solid plan and the skills to be able to achieve that plan. A good businessman is a good decision maker, and you need to make the right decisions regarding your Internet presence development to ensure your success.

2) MOTIVATION... 100% dedication at all times. It's never a smooth ride embarking on a new career path or business venture, so keep your chin up, your head high, and approach all of your work with the burning desire for 100% SUCCESS.

3) The right skills... learn as much about Internet development as possible. Learn how to make your website automated and interactive. Get your computer to do as much work as possible, giving you more time to concentrate on the fun aspects such as marketing and promotion.

All too often I see people put up a basic website with no obvious sales strategy, yet they hope to achieve the same success of a full functional automated site with a definite marketing strategy. Wake up and realize!

The smart entrepreneurs don't just join affiliate programs and hope to become rich. They have their own products and services, and include other affiliated products as apart of their sales strategy. It makes sense to play it smart.

Remember, you needn't spend thousands of dollars in development costs to produce a website that sells. With the right basic skills and a little effort, you can produce an income that rivals that of a top corporate boss with only a 1/10th of the working pressure required.

Play it smart and prosper ;-)

Copyright 2000 all rights reserved
John Nemes
Financial Adviser