They say that inspiration, and 'ah-ha' moments, strike in the strangest circumstances sometimes.
I never would have guessed that it would be whilst watching Australian Idol, however.
Nonetheless, I found some very good examples in the contestants that represented what it takes to get over the line in a home business.
And in some contestants - what still needs to be overcome if you want to set up a successful business online, or take it to the next level.
Australian Idol this year moved away from just plucking contestants out of their suburban living rooms with nothing but a dream.
Sure, they were still after contestants with dreams.
But they wanted people to have some musical experience, and preferably, some industry experience.
Whilst the internet is not so structured, with a panel of judges deciding whether you will make it to the next round, in many ways this still reflects the fact that the competition has gotten stronger online.
There are millions and millions of websites, all competing for similar keywords.
The level of search engine optimization has changed, becoming more sophisticated.
Generally, results from organic search take longer to trickle through - and in some cases, unless significant link building work is done, all that remains is a trickle.
In short, it's not as easy as it was to build a successful work from home business online.
Does that mean it's impossible? Absolutely not! In fact, I would go so far as to say it still represents a relatively easy mountain to hike.
That may seem like a contradiction, but it's actually not.
What brings the equation from 'impossible' to 'relatively easy' is knowledge and commitment.
And expectations.
When you're looking at the mountain, and you've never been hiking before - or even driving through that neck of the woods - it's going to seem harder than it is.
Not only do you have no idea of the way to proceed, you don't even know what you're really going to expect on the trail.
That can lead to projecting all sorts of your own limitations and fears onto the journey before you've even begun.
And that's a sure fire way to shoot yourself in the foot.
So, the first thing you really need to do is find out what you need for the journey.
For an online home business, the foundation is a website, irrespective of whether you are going to create your own information products, sell hard goods, other people's products, or make money from advertising.
With your own website, you have a way to build credibility with your visitors through great content.
You can collect email addresses to market to later.
You can offer courses, and use it as a platform to sell products (and of course, host advertising).
The website is the means through which you can garner traffic, and pre-sell that traffic.
It means that even if you sell other people's products, you still have a business - you're not just a 'salesperson'.
And that capacity to build a relationship with your visitors through content make content driven websites a lot easier to start with than mini-sites, which require a more specialized marketing knowledge to make successful.
A website is not the only thing you need however.
But it is an essential beginning.
Once you've got your website, commitment and expectations become more important to manage.
The internet still offers a way to become profitable more quickly than a regular, offline business - especially for the inexperienced person starting from home.
Yet, because of all the advertising, and our own natural impatience, we tend to want results fast.
We even forget that we are actually still learning, and this is a business environment like any other.
The same rules apply.
And if we don't know those rules, then how can we realistically expect the same results that the online equivalent of a Fortune 500 company has.
By managing our expectations, identifying what needs to be learnt to take the next step (and not the next 8th step, which at this stage would be irrelevant), and by making a commitment to follow through on what needs to be done, we can turn that 'impossible' into 'easy' in no time.
I never would have guessed that it would be whilst watching Australian Idol, however.
Nonetheless, I found some very good examples in the contestants that represented what it takes to get over the line in a home business.
And in some contestants - what still needs to be overcome if you want to set up a successful business online, or take it to the next level.
Australian Idol this year moved away from just plucking contestants out of their suburban living rooms with nothing but a dream.
Sure, they were still after contestants with dreams.
But they wanted people to have some musical experience, and preferably, some industry experience.
Whilst the internet is not so structured, with a panel of judges deciding whether you will make it to the next round, in many ways this still reflects the fact that the competition has gotten stronger online.
There are millions and millions of websites, all competing for similar keywords.
The level of search engine optimization has changed, becoming more sophisticated.
Generally, results from organic search take longer to trickle through - and in some cases, unless significant link building work is done, all that remains is a trickle.
In short, it's not as easy as it was to build a successful work from home business online.
Does that mean it's impossible? Absolutely not! In fact, I would go so far as to say it still represents a relatively easy mountain to hike.
That may seem like a contradiction, but it's actually not.
What brings the equation from 'impossible' to 'relatively easy' is knowledge and commitment.
And expectations.
When you're looking at the mountain, and you've never been hiking before - or even driving through that neck of the woods - it's going to seem harder than it is.
Not only do you have no idea of the way to proceed, you don't even know what you're really going to expect on the trail.
That can lead to projecting all sorts of your own limitations and fears onto the journey before you've even begun.
And that's a sure fire way to shoot yourself in the foot.
So, the first thing you really need to do is find out what you need for the journey.
For an online home business, the foundation is a website, irrespective of whether you are going to create your own information products, sell hard goods, other people's products, or make money from advertising.
With your own website, you have a way to build credibility with your visitors through great content.
You can collect email addresses to market to later.
You can offer courses, and use it as a platform to sell products (and of course, host advertising).
The website is the means through which you can garner traffic, and pre-sell that traffic.
It means that even if you sell other people's products, you still have a business - you're not just a 'salesperson'.
And that capacity to build a relationship with your visitors through content make content driven websites a lot easier to start with than mini-sites, which require a more specialized marketing knowledge to make successful.
A website is not the only thing you need however.
But it is an essential beginning.
Once you've got your website, commitment and expectations become more important to manage.
The internet still offers a way to become profitable more quickly than a regular, offline business - especially for the inexperienced person starting from home.
Yet, because of all the advertising, and our own natural impatience, we tend to want results fast.
We even forget that we are actually still learning, and this is a business environment like any other.
The same rules apply.
And if we don't know those rules, then how can we realistically expect the same results that the online equivalent of a Fortune 500 company has.
By managing our expectations, identifying what needs to be learnt to take the next step (and not the next 8th step, which at this stage would be irrelevant), and by making a commitment to follow through on what needs to be done, we can turn that 'impossible' into 'easy' in no time.
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