How to Fail at Your Online Business

When my sister Jessica finally decided to take the leap and start selling her book online, it was great. She was full of new ideas and woke up every morning, mug in hand, ready to start the day. Worked for days at a time promoting her book, never wasting a moment to keep working on her little venture. She was doing pretty damn good. Then the inevitable started happening. She started waking up late, skipping coffee in the morning. She stopped doing her usual forum scavenging, passing on opportune moments to ethically and profitably promote her book. She stopped doing her routine. By the end of the month she gave up and went back to her old job at Blockbuster.

So why do so many online businesses fail to lift off? Why is it that so many start their little home offices, buying stationary, getting pens with their new proprietorship's name on it, tacking up motivational posters like "Carpe Diem" and "Only the Strong Survive", only to later put it all in the shredder and go back to Monster.Com in search of the tried and tested get-rich-quick scheme of J.O.B.?

Business is no joke. It is not a hobby. People fail because they fail to recognize that fact, or just straight up ignore it. Online businesses are no different. They fail because of four main causes: procrastination, lack of motivation and persistence, and failing to innovate.

When you think to yourself, "Wow, that seems like a good idea. I can make a lot of money that way," don't just write it off as a nice thought. Do it. Get up off that comfy love seat and start. If you don't, someone else will. Don't get me wrong, waiting for the right moment is good sometimes, like waiting for the right time to open up a deli in a market that's about to boom. Or waiting until November to advertise Christmas specials rather than starting the campaign in September. Things like that are cautious and prudent business practices. But many times, people just don't carry out their plans out of plain laziness or lack of initiative. When that becomes the reason, then it's time to hit the Folgers and get to work. Remove your habit of procrastination.