Running an online business has its difficulties. From time to time it can get you down and you can wonder whether you are barking up the wrong tree. If you’re struggling with your online business, don’t give up. Remind yourself why you are doing it in the first place and re-calibrate your activities in line with your goals. Start with where you want to be with your online business and reverse engineer the results backwards to a list of basic forward steps which will take you closer to your goals. You need a vision in order to keep going. Remind yourself of this often and you will have more positive intention and belief when the going gets tough.
So here are my top 10 reasons to persevere with your online business when you’re becoming tempted to quit:
- Remind yourself what you have got to go back to. Usually it is a job which you don’t really want to do. What is it about your internet business which keeps you motivated? For me the number 1 reason is FINANCIAL FREEDOM. This kind of freedom allows you to live more fully and in the way you choose.
- This leads nicely onto my second best reason to own an internet business – TIME. Having financial freedom allows you to enjoy your time more. Your time isn’t caught up with financial obligations, job commitments and ‘have to do’s’.
- CHOICE. Having your own business does mean working on it and on yourself. It does allow much more freedom of choice however that a typical job. You can choose when to holiday, how to work and when to work. You can work anywhere with a laptop and internet connection. You are not obliged to anyone to work a certain amount of hours or to be anywhere for a certain time. It takes time and effort to make an internet business work in the first place, however once it is working, you have so much more flexibility in your choices, that you might in a normal ‘job’.
- Often the biggest motivation for many people to have their own internet businesses is what they don’t have to do. I Don’t have to: Queue in rush hour traffic, work traditional hours, accept work I don’t really want just for the money, work only for the money, feel trapped by a job, do a job I don’t like, obey my boss, have a boss, relocate because of a job, commute, stress out over bills, stress out over work commitments, take low paid work, accept unjust circumstances or unfair work obligations, tow the line, work for someone I don’t like. The list goes on and on!
- Creating your own niche business is (should be) a joy rather than a pain. There is a challenge to running an internet business and this is a good thing. Without challenges we can’t learn and grow. If it was easy we would soon get bored and look for something else more stimulating. The joy of building an internet business, learning new skills and overcoming difficulties is a rewarding process. Setting yourself free from financial burden, the stress of a job and giving yourself greater choice in the process is what helps keep you moving forwards and overcoming obstacles.
- Helping others attain the same freedom you are striving for. Helping others to achieve is a rewarding process which can’t be matched by only achieving for yourself. Knowing that there are many others struggling with the same difficulties which you have overcome or are overcoming, can be a vital lifeline to your success. Make it about yourself, and you can easily become unstuck. Make it about others and you have a greater reason to achieve.
- Spending time with family, friends and those you love. This is a reason for many to work for themselves from their laptops. It means they can work around their more important activities like seeing family and friends.
- Working around other obligations. A internet business can be worked around other commitments, jobs, careers and family ties to create a second income which can eventually take over as a primary income. This is the reason I began looking for an income from the internet several years ago. My film and TV work was very sporadic and I needed a second job. However when the work came it was at short notice and could take me away for several weeks at a time. This pattern of work wasn’t compatible with a second job. The internet offered a solution to this problem.
- Lack of choice. If you don’t have a degree or specific training, your career options can be fairly limited and you can find yourself ‘stuck’Â in the lower pay scales. An internet business offers the opportunity for anyone to carve their own career path by learning new skills and leveraging the internet to increase their income and quality of life.
- Job security. Or rather the lack of job security means that many people are now having to work two or more jobs to keep the wolf from the door. Employers are favoring self-employed and short term contracts more and more because they don’t have to offer holiday pay, pensions, health benefits and sick pay. Technology is taking many low paid jobs which can now be automated. Just look at the self service tills at supermarkets which used to be all manned by operators only a short time ago. Now they are almost all automated. An internet business makes use of not only the growing trend in technology, but also the growing trend in online shopping, which is also putting smaller shops and ‘brick and mortar’ businesses out of business.
So before you throw in the towel, think of the path you are creating for others who will look to you for advice in the years to come. To learn more about staring your own internet business, or for help with your existing online business check out this free video series.