People in Internet marketing are always barking “treat this like a business.” I think many do not understand what they are saying. What many are actually saying is treat this like a profession. Be serious about it. But what they mean is treat it like a professional job.
Here is what I think: A business is something you own. If it owns you then you have a job. If you are sitting around getting links and writing articles and building websites, etc. etc., then you have a job. You may be self employed, but it is still a job. This shit owns you.
If you outsource your article writing, have someone do directory submissions, have a team building websites, etc. etc., and you are doing other things like figuring out how to balance more article writing within the budget and what group is more effective with submitting your links to directories, then I would say you have a business. If you can sell your whole enterprise, you have a business.
I’m sure you can all think of examples of people who are running a business, whether it’s large or small. Maybe the boys at PLRPro are running a business. Paul Smithson at XSP is probably running a business. PortalFeeder is probably a business for those guys.
I would argue that many of us are attempting to be professional and business-like in our endevours to scrape up some online dollars, but unfortunately we aren’t running businesses. Let’s not fool ourselves here.
I want to run a business. I want to stop trying to figure out how to game Google. I want to pay someone to write for my niche websites. I want someone to build the sites. Find someone with SEO skills to promote the site. I want to figure out how to build a business and expand it. Building a damn website myself and populating it with articles and videos and other lame shit, well I’m just over it.
I think I see the value of this business. I believe that I can “oversee” websites being built that can make $50-100 daily. I can see making an investment of $1K-$5K per site a no brainer. Is this possible? Are people doing this? Are there just no good people to outsource this type of work to? Does it take more capital? Is the investment ultimately not worth it?
When I was in college I never felt like I could read a book for enjoyment. I felt like if I could be reading the latest best seller then I should probably be studying my courses. Well that’s how I feel about the web. If I’m on the web I should be working. There are a lot of cool things to explore on the web but I can’t get past “write one more article”. “Submit one more site.”
I think I need to start seeking counsel among people who run businesses. I think I know what needs to happen in this world now. Unique content and links. That’s about it. Bottom line. Yea there is a little more than that obviously. But I need to take all this experience and build a business. Stop wasting time with the minutiae.
9 responses so far ↓
Barry // May 30, 2008 at 9:53 am
If you want to run a business, then you need a business plan. But this assumes that you know where you want to be in some time period.
The best way to organize building the bueiness is to borrow from dynamic programming — work backwards.
Take a large sheet of paper and list on the right hand side all the attributes you would like in the finished business. This is the goal. These are the results of all the steps you will take along the way.
Now you have to fill in the space from the left side to the right side with steps that will allow you to get from where you are to where you want to be for each attribute of the finished product. As you do this you can determine any dependencies (which of two steps has to come first, do some depend on others) and work on how much time each will take. You can also use this to track costs for each part of the goal.
This is a proven method, but it requires a considerable amount of work to set up and track.
There are a lot of programs l;ike CPM and PERT that allow you to put numbers and times on the stages, but they usually force you into their framework and conventions. I’ve found that the above method or some variant of it works well for normal projects.
The benefit it has is that it will allow you to know at any time where you are in the process and to monitor your progress.
Barry
Russ H // May 30, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Just stopped by to take a look. Good info and great blog.. Thanks!
Splork // May 30, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Thanks for dropping by Russ. I’m guessing you stopped by to drop off your link but I’ll take the compliment anyway.
zania // May 31, 2008 at 12:47 am
Lol! I’m dropping off my link too, but I did actually come here to make a comment.
I’ve just been reading Barry’s suggestions along with your own insights as to where you want to be. They sound like the place to start.
Personally, I think you really do need to go this way if you can get it organised. Just watching you get more and more pissed off with all the minutae of this game tells me you need a rethink before it gets to you so bad you just say ‘what the hell!’ and give it all up.
And you are so right, at this side of things this definitely is not a business.
Dinheiro // May 31, 2008 at 10:08 am
Splork, it’s not difficult to treat this “game” like a business. But as in every other business if you don’t have money you need to start like you’re “starting” now with your sites. First build the sites, the links, bla bla bla, when you’re getting money, reinvest the money (order new sites, buy ppc, etc.). Money will produce more money, and that’s it, you’ve a business.
Dorian // May 31, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Good post Splork.
This is why I never liked the whole squidoo/hubpages strategy. You are not going to sell a lense or hub. However, if you are working on a niche site with decent domain name, good ORIGINAL content, solid backlinks, and a community presence… now you have something of real value.
Look at all these big-name media companies buying up content sites. For example, People Magazine just bought up celebrity-babies.com for an estimated 7-figure price.
IMO… “Churn & Burn Sites” was a good short-term game back in 2005. Creating PLR junk sites and RSS scraper sites is just not worth it now.
Vinny Lingo // May 31, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I try to have fun with it. And experiment. We’re working to get a program (algorithm), with no manual and no way to look at the code, to respond well to our efforts. It’s part science, part seduction. And while I am building this up to replace my offline job, I think if I took it too seriously, I would go insane.
Most entrepreneurs are really just creating employement for themselves. If they’re lucky, and they build their business right, they can sell it to someone else who is looking to buy a job. But most businesses won’t run for more than a day or two without the owner’s involvement. At least, that’s how most business owners set them up. So the idea that internet marketing is that type of business, the “I got sick of working for other people, so I work for myself” type, isn’t far off.
Time to play another inning.
DeanF // May 31, 2008 at 8:44 pm
To the poster that wrote: “You are not going to sell a lense or hub”
Actually that’s not strictly true. You can transfer a lens to someone else so there is nothing to stop you from selling it. Also you can sell a site and bundle it with a lens, so on this point you are factually incorrect.
Cheers,
Dean
Vinny Lingo // Jun 1, 2008 at 12:06 am
Apparently, people sell lenses and hubs all the time, and do so for $100 or more. So I guess there’s money to be made there. But really, who wants to be peddling peanuts when they could be swinging at home plate?
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