As you develop yourself online, it’s really important you keep track of the trainings you attend.  I explain in this video:

Here’s the Log I created for you.  Click to download:

Here’s some advice for entrepreneurs, both new and seasoned: business inventory isn’t always physical items. Do you realize how much “stuff” you have accumulated on the internet for your business? Will your executor know how to find it and what to do with it if you get hit by a bus?

“This summer challenge your preconceptions and experience a Cadillac for yourself.”

I heard that line on the tv last night.

Now I don’t have much interest in Cadillacs, so I don’t really have “preconceptions”. (Well, I don’t have much interest in Caddys unless you want to buy me that pink Cadillac from Pink Cadillac!!)

The advertisement did get me thinking, however, about all the preconceptions around having an online business.

The comments I get most center around money. When we don’t understand a medium we often assume it is going to be expensive. Take setting up a website for example: the average person believes it to be a complicated process that can be done only by a highly trained technician. Highly trained technicians = mega-dollars.

Not any more!

I was surprised to get asked if the businesses were legal! This is my business, and yours would be your business. I make a point of staying on the right side of the law; what you do with your business is entirely up to you but each and every one of my colleagues have reputations they care about and they do due diligence with every new venture.

Another preconception many people have is that online businesses are all multi-level marketing companies (MLMs). Most of the MLMs I am acquainted with are completely legal with high-quality products. A number of my colleagues have built online businesses around their MLM products. But there are many other businesses you can create online without finding an MLM.

Here’s another one: Do you believe that you will create a business and then have to harass your family and friends to be your first customers? If you are going to do that, why go online at all? Once online, you learn some basic marketing skills, and you have the entire world-wide web to advertise to! You don’t even need to mention your business to your family or friends until you are hugely successful!

Those are the 4 most prevalent preconceptions I bump into in my world.

Do you have any preconceptions about online businesses? Let me know and I’ll try to cover them in future posts!

I’ve started a large marketing campaign for a product I love. The ad platform I’m using targets the urls I specify.

Needless to say, this means I’m doing a lot of research. The “litmus test” I’m using to qualify a url for targeting is their Alexa rating*.

Because I’m digging quite deeply into content, links and endorsements, etc. I’m discovering some interesting new leaders in this online community. By “new” I mean, new to me – they’ve been online, training successfully, for years. They have a massive number of dedicated followers!

This got me to thinking how we can get into a bit of a rut with our own training.

Now, don’t get me wrong! I love my mentor, and can’t imagine ditching her for another. But, in discovering all these new mentors I’m getting some interesting, and useful, new views on subjects I thought I was knowledgeable about, and learning new ideas pertaining to those subjects.

I realize now I had fallen into the “comfortableness” of an old marriage!

The point I am trying to make here is that once you find a mentor, don’t think you can’t keep dating!! This is NOT a traditional marriage! The more viewpoints you have about the subjects pertinent to your business, the better-rounded you will be in both your advancement and your own offerings.

I will add a rider here that I don’t think you should be hopping from one mentor to another! Pick a horse and ride it, so to speak. If you hop from mentor to mentor, you are regularly starting over with your processes and that’s a waste of time. and often money.

If you’ve been online for a while, I’m curious how many mentors you have followed, and are following.

Am I jumping the gun here talking about mentors?  Not sure what you want to do on line, let alone who will mentor you?  Learn more about your entrepreneurial style by clicking the button!

 

* Alexa rating: http://www.avangate.com/avangate-resources/article/alexa-ranking.htm

Have you ever had a home-based business before? If no, have you ever known someone who has?

I speak from experience, and many colleagues seem to agree with me, that it’s really easy to blur the lines between personal and business when it comes to finances.

Whether making a purchase or deciding which bank account to use, many entrepreneurs lump their business in with their personal.

This choice does, often, go hand-in-hand with the shoe box method of bookkeeping.

Don’t for a second, think this is a judgement! That was me absolutely in my first business endeavour… no matter how frustrated my tax accountant got, or how many times she tried to explain double entry bookkeeping to me!

Then income tax time comes around and you get frustrated with yourself, your tax accountant barely keeps the expletives under her breath, and you swear you’re going to clean up your act… but it’s already April and who has the time to backtrack to January 1^st?

A couple of years ago I took some tax training, and begged my trainer to show me around business taxation in our quiet moments.

This was really handy as it now allowed me to write a category on my receipts before I threw them into the shoe-box… which did save a bit of time when I finally sat down to sort and record my business finances in April!

Quite by accident this year, I happened on a solution that I’m really excited about!

Can you imagine an accounting program that figures out double entry without you ever having to learn what it means. A program that will scan your receipt, and when you verify it, allow you to designate part of the total to your business, and part of it to personal.

A program that can interact with your bank account and keep track of the comings and goings at Paypal!

A program that allows you to create custom invoices and for a very small fee let your client pay immediately with a credit card!

And when you bring staff on board, it will help you organize your payroll for another small fee!

If you’re mobile, it will work for you too!

The very best part… except for those two fees I mentioned, the whole thing is free!!! I mean, if you want some sophisticated assistance, then there is stuff you can purchase… but all the basics, if you’re willing to learn them, are free!

And there’s a bunch of tutorials so you don’t need to struggle to figure it all out.

OK, OK… I won’t keep you in suspense any longer!

It’s called Wave and you can check it out here:

https://www.waveapps.com/

In case you remember I am into affiliate programs big-time, this is not an affiliate link – the product is free, remember?

If you’re just starting out, or considering growing a small business, get this organized now! You’ll thank yourself next tax season.

If you’re unhappy with your shoebox methods, really get this organized now… before the year is even further gone!

And next tax season, mumble a little “Thanks, Agnes!”

J

I read an interesting quote recently:

It reminded me of my first year or so online: when I dreamed of travel but wandered through training after training, all of which promised me the income potential to travel!

Does that sound familiar? Are your best travels to date those in your imagination? Are you starting to feel like you are wandering around losing site of your travel aspirations?

I have a clear direction for my business now, but I certainly remember those early days… and I still don’t feel like I have many skills in the tech department.

My last two posts have talked about the new “digital lifestyle” training platform I am checking out. I’m growing to like that term, although I still often say “online entrepreneur”.

At any rate, for anyone looking to find the means to trade in their job for the travel experience, I highly recommend this platform, and the business model. No wandering here!

The training is laid out in a methodical, logical fashion, and they have developed incredibly sophisticated processes to make website building and online marketing as simple as a few clicks of your mouse! I try really hard not to use that weary old phrase “if I can do it, anyone can”… but in this case… it’s true!

Click the ad below! (which I created with two clicks of my mouse!)

Last post I mentioned the new “digital lifestyle” training program I was checking out.

One of my reasons for being enthusiastic was because one of the co-founders was a young Canadian fellow I had come across when I first came online a few years ago. He was likeable then and even more likeable now!

In this endeavour he has teamed up with a young Brit, and their combined brain-power and enthusiasm is absolutely amazing. Equally amazing (and very cool) is the sincerity with which they present their “stuff”. Add to that, the quality of the modules/tutorials that I am going through… well, Wow! comes to mind – it is so thorough, but at the same so digestible! and I am doing things quite easily that I have struggled with for a couple of years!!  😎

One of the stories I just came across is a story I remembered from a few years ago and I wanted to share it with you here: read about Jane Ball here now. The article references Jay Kubassek – he’s the young Canadian I mention above – and ProU – that’s the program he was developing when I came online several years ago.

If the article (or I) have piqued your curiosity, check out this website I built with a few clicks of my mouse – it has way more info than I can relate here!!