There’s a fabulous story mentioned in the book Think and Grow Rich, which I’d like to quote for you.

A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on the battlefield. He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own. He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemy’s country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them. Addressing his men before the first battle, he said, “You see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice-we win, or we perish!

In this article, I’ll tell you how I burned my own ships when getting into internet business. I’ll also share what is, in my opinion, the number one secret to internet business success.

Burn your ships to make money online

I feel a lot of connection to the story in Think and Grow Rich. I have burned my own ships essentially. I quit my job months ago to pursue my own business doing real estate and Internet business. When the real estate market flopped and we lost our first home / investment property, internet business was all I had left.

One thing that holds the majority of people back from trying to build their own home-based business is the risk involved. It’s hard for them to “burn their ships” so-to-speak, by giving up their “secure” 9 to 5 job. This was actually one of the easiest parts for me. Once I realized that Internet business was what I wanted to do, I was ready to get started. If you want to make money online as a career, but are afraid of the risk involved, here are a couple of tips to deal with the fear.

• Have an emergency fund. It’s a good idea to have 3-6 months of expenses set aside in a savings account even if you’re not starting your own business. If you are hoping to make the jump to a home-based business, you shouldn’t start it without an emergency fund.
• Start your home-based business part-time. Most people aren’t crazy enough (like me) to quit their job before they have started making money online. It’s inexpensive and easy enough to get started part-time. It will just take longer to really get going.

Here’s the final thing to consider before creating your own home-based internet business. It is, in my opinion, the secret to developing a successful internet business.

The secret of internet business success

Providing value is should be the #1 goal of all internet businesses. If you’re new to internet business and marketing , make this your number one rule when deciding to pursue a website idea. Find a group of people that are looking for something, provide it, and add enormous amounts of value.

Your number one focus should be creating valuable content, not how much money you can make. You should think of ways to improve your visitors lives in some way. Creating value might include any or all of the following;

• Giving your opinion about a product or service
• Teaching visitors how to make a time-consuming task easier
• Building a new tool that will help your visitors in some way

Remember, provide your visitors with value and the money will follow.

How hard was it for you to “burn your ships” and start full time on the internet?

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