Work At Home: Top 5 Keys to Success in Making Money Online

1. Educate Yourself~
   Educating yourself should always be the first priority when starting any new venture. And a [work at home] business is certainly no exception. In fact when it comes to an online business, educating yourself becomes even more of a key factor in your success than in traditional brick and mortar businesses. Why? Because there are simply fewer resources for you to rely on, this reduces the opportunity to learn as you go. Work at home marketers that make good money and find success are the ones that realize that whether online or not, a business is a business and if you don’t have a lot of experience you’ve got to have a good mentor who doesn’t just leave you hanging. Those are the people that find financial freedom and who discover the convenience of a flexible schedule by setting their own hours. And most of them really can work from any where in the world with an internet connection.
   
   
2. Recognize the Difference between a Scam and a Legitimate Online Business~
   This of course goes along with educating yourself. But, with the staggering number of [online opportunities] and downright scams, it definitely deserves to be in its own category. Scams are designed around psychological factors that feed into our basic human nature. We naturally want to avoid pain and increase pleasure. Scammers try to use that knowledge against us in two basic ways. First, they want you to believe it’s extremely easy which basically means you would be avoiding the pain of putting forth effort. Second is the pleasure part, they want you to believe you’ll get rich in an unreasonably short period of time. The key here is to be objective and use common sense. Stop for a minute and try to think of a single successful business or person you know that didn’t have to work to get where they are now. Why would online business or working from home be any different? Remember the internet is a great tool. But that’s all it is. Businesses must still involve interactions with real people. In fact it’s all about people. If there’s not a real person for you to contact or you can’t easily get your questions answered then forget it, you can safely assume it’s a [scam].
   
   
3. Choose a Good Mentor~
   Mentoring is absolutely crucial in any home based business whether it involves direct marketing or network marketing. It’s dangerous to assume you can learn everything you need to know on your own as you go. If that’s your plan you are likely to end up in the 98% that don’t make it category. Learning as you go and doing some self-teaching is great but if you don’t already have significant experience you’ll end up regretting trying to go it alone. A good mentor is a leader who knows that helping others achieve success is one of the best ways for them to further their own level of success. Unselfishly sharing valuable knowledge creates the opportunity for strategic business relationships of mutual benefit. Also, aligning yourself with a mentor who is viewed as a leader increases your status by association. You may not have all the answers for someone newer than you coming into the business. But, being associated with an established leader gives your new prospects a higher level of confidence to move forward.
   
   
4. Network with Other Leaders~
   One of the most valuable ways to spend your time is networking with other leaders as you begin to establish yourself as a leader. When you develop relationships with leaders who are more experienced or who are seen as more of a leader than yourself your natural inclination is to gravitate to their level. On the flip side, when you network with other leaders who are at or below your level of leadership or experience you have opportunities to teach, learn, share information, and develop valuable relationships that will lead to further economic opportunities.
   
   
5. Take Action and Be Patient~
   Two of the biggest reasons new home based business owners fail is that they either don’t take action or they don’t give it enough time. A lot of people starting out get discouraged if they don’t start making a large income right away. I call this the employee mentality. Most of us before getting into a home based business have become accustomed to receiving a regular paycheck from an employer. And if we got paid by the hour, more time equaled more money. But, a home based business needs to be put into perspective. You’re not an employee; you’re the owner of a new business. It’s up to you to get your new business rolling. Hopefully you’ve chosen a good mentor that has a vested interest in your success. That should take the guess work out of the equation. Still it can take a week or several weeks depending on your company, your goals, and your level of experience. Whatever amount of diligent effort you put into your business is how much you’ll get out of it. 

by Aaron Kennel