Planting a seed: From clueless beginner to who knows...

Research, collect information, don't jump into anything you don't understand. You will need patients, if you can keep this in perspective you will succeed in the IM world. It will take time. Just some points to start you off, I am sure other people can get more in depth with it. Good luck on your journey.

Your immediate goals sound great. You definitely want to decide what your business model will be, then stay focused on it.

As mentioned above do lots of research (the search feature on this forum will help). As you do your research beware of the shiny object syndrome as it is easy to get pulled in may directions.

Working on reducing procrastination is obviously a good idea. It makes sense that a person always should work on improving themselves, increasing positive qualities and reducing negative aspects.

Seems like #3 should be #1 in your list. The vast majority of people who fail at anything in life do so because of #3. Eliminate self-doubt, excuses and never let up. If there is a barrier, figure out a way around it, over it, under it or crash right through it. Set goals for what you WILL accomplish every day and don't let your day end without accomplishing them.

Good for you, really.

Now...

None of these things will help you.

You need to improve the questions you're asking.

I'm not saying this to upset you. The questions you're asking right now will lead you into an endless walkabout, filling your bucket with stuff you "might need someday."

That is the position most of the people on this forum are on. It leaves them open to Shiny Object Syndrome, because all it takes is a spokesperson with confidence to sell them on an idea. They have no filtering system to discern what is genuine and what is snake oil.

You need to learn the basics of business. These are independent of any system, product, service, customer base, niche, or anything else: every business needs these same systems.

After a point in your education, if you continue, you'll come to the realization that IT DOESN'T MATTER what the product or service is.

Everything has a cost of customer acquisition and a lifetime customer value.

That's business. Right there. Again, most of the people on this forum never learn this.

Businesses buy other businesses because they understand the other business' COCA and LTV. That's the main reason. Not because of some fancy or secret thing.

The next point is that It Doesn't Matter What You Pick.

Anything will work. What matters is your level of Persistence.

So choose a topic you like, people you like to work with, and stick with it.

You need to bring in customers at a certain cost, and sell them something at a certain price so you can make a profit. Set this up as a set of systems so you can do it over and over again, hopefully without needing you in the systems, and you have a real business.

There are zillions of ways of making money online. Give yourself a time period to learn about as many as you can, maybe a week or two...and then STOP. Pick one. Commit. Proceed.

You'll learn more, faster, by doing than by any amount of researching. In fact, "researching" can be a killer: it's called "Analysis Paralysis." There is no One Right Way to do things. You have to figure it out for yourself, and that's why people have such trouble with the mythical Business In A Box. The map is not the territory.

What are you passionate about? You can start a business pretty much around any market so once you pick an area you love find a product or service to offer.

Don't get stuck into this research mode for long, you will learn much more when you dive in and start doing.

You need to pick what you want to do from the outset. It's a lot easier to build an online business than an offline one.

With offline, you could have additional expenses like office rental, salaries, office equipment, depreciation, etc to consider. You'll have some of that if you work online (PC costs, tool and service fees) but if you work from home you'll save on rental fees.

If you build a digital business, you won't have to worry about storing or shipping stock and any fees that might incur.

Building a business based on physical goods often requires more investment of time, energy and money.

Selling digital goods is far easier. The easiest form of this is affiliate marketing - selling other people's products for a commission.

You effectively become a salesman. There are skills you need to learn and some of that can be shortcut with the help of others.

You say you've zero business experience and knowledge so I wouldn't recommend you setting up a physical business or even a business selling your own product or service (if you have one). At least not yet.

You can learn marketing skills doing affiliate marketing while not having to commit much money up front (apart from buying courses from top-quality mentors).

I'd recommend building a passive income through affiliate marketing (where you earn regular income each month) rather than relying on making one-off sales of products where what you can make can vary a lot month from month.

Only if you become successful as an affiliate marketer should you look into creating and selling your own products.

So how to start...

1. Decide what you want to do as an online business

2. Find a quality course that teaches that business model and how to promote it (you'll be able to get recommendations here in WF)

3. Really study the course. This means going through it more than once. It means following the directions it gives you to the letter. One common failure I see, and I'm guilty of it myself, is applying my own biases to what's taught in a course. So I've done things differently because I thought I knew better or because I couldn't see how what was being taught could work. You have to trust your teacher/mentor (that's why you need a good one).

4. Focus on the course exclusively. Learn it inside out. When things get tough - and they will - you need to stick with the course and not be tempted by the next shiny object because you're not seeing results. This is where most affiliate marketers fall down. You need to have the persistence and stubbornness to work through the dark times.

5. You need to spend 80% of your time doing the work and 20% of your time studying. Don't wait until everything is perfect. Just start building, promoting, networking, etc. You can tweak things later if needed.

6. Don't be a perfectionist. This is hard to do if you are a perfectionist. But remember that most people aren't and they won't notice if the grammar in your content isn't correct or the images you use aren't a perfect match for your content. Or whatever. Perfectionism is an excuse for procrastination.

7. Don't expect immediate results. Anything that promises you can make hundreds of dollars by tomorrow is likely to be crap and you're being mis-sold. It takes time to build a business, online or off but building an online business is quicker. 3-6 months is what you should be looking at before you start to see real results. This obviously depends on the business model you end up following.

8. Look at building a sustainable, passive income. If you have a regular monthly income, the pressure to always be selling drops off and you can start looking at other aspects of your business or expanding it.

9. Once you've learned marketing skills, then you can think about creating your own products. You'll now have the expertise to market them properly yourself.

Hope that helps.

I have learned many things since I started, from both experience and from other developers -- and I'm still learning. Here are some things I've learned that I think will be helpful to you:

• Don't work alone. Always work with others if you can.
• Don't wait for inspiration. Inspiration isn't something you can control, and if you depend on it, you won't be able to work all the time. Build discipline by forcing yourself to work. Discipline is reliable.
• Real work usually isn't fun. It is tough and exhausting, Don't run from that!
• Practice, practice, and practice. Practice makes perfect.

Here's a mind trick to help you get past this first wall. Since it may be hard to get a concept the first time you read about it, you can do something that will make it better for you and help you get it quickly.


Always try to understand a new concept using different resources. This will help you see it from different perspectives, which will improve your comprehension.


The second wall is when you have finished the materials and you think it's time to build things up.

-After a while, you discover that you have no idea how to create what you want to create.

Frustration, boredom, fatigue, exhaustion - these are all normal. They do not indicate that you are not the right person for a particular profession.

By your own admission you are the worst procrastinator alive.

If you want to run your own business, first thing you need to do is learn to take action instead of procrastinating.

See: Eat That Frog.

Here's what you should know. In the future, in your quest for success, you will fail a lot of times. That's okay, there had never been a success without failure. Be consistent, be hungry, do not look at the process, set your eyes on the goal.

Persistence is what sets those who are truly successful to those who have failed.