Why Starting A Online Security Business Is Harder Than You Think
SQI-Security Quantum Investing
SQI-Security Entrepreneur Series 7
Security Online Business Basics For Startups
Disclaimer
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Starting any online business takes far more work, dedication and patience than many people first think. There are numerous factors one must consider when opening an e-commerce website, and this essay will explore two of the
most important: the legal and financial considerations, and the need for a well-conceived product or service.
To begin with, there are a wide variety of legal and financial considerations that must be taken into account before starting an online business. This includes registering a business entity with the relevant governmental body,
in addition to registering for any necessary taxes or fees. One must be aware of any local laws pertaining to the type of business they are opening, and the associated regulations with which they must comply.
They must consider the implications of online data protection regulations and ensure that the payment setup is PCI DSS compliant. All of this is not to mention the banking and merchant accounts one must acquire, and the logistics of exchange rates and currencies. As such, it is fair to say that a thorough understanding of the legal and financial requirements is a major factor in determining the success or otherwise of an online business.
Furthermore, the need for a well-defined product or service is another key factor to consider when starting an online business. This includes ensuring the quality of the product or service is up to industry standards, and that the
pricing oéers customers good value for money.
An accurate and reliable product description is essential to encourage customer confidence, and a professional website design needs to be implemented. It is also necessary to think about marketing and promotional strategies, as well as consider the feasibility of venture capital or loans if required.
The idea must be defendable and have a plan for scalability if the business is to be successful. These aspects, alongside the need for an excellent customer service experience, highlight the complexity of launching an online business.
The Why & The Why Not You!
Everyday out there in the real brick and mortar world, millions and millions of people drag themselves from the warm, warm beds, take a shower, grab a cup of coffee, and head off to their jobs as they are thinking that there has got to be an easier way to make a living.
Every one of those millions and millions of people knows somebody who has quit the ‘get-up and-go-to-work’ grind and is making a very good living by working on their personal computers from the comfort of their own homes.
Working from home sounds like an ideal solution to them. Many of these dissatisfied souls will quit their jobs and
plunge head-first into internet marketing with no preparation, no knowledge of what they are doing, no education, and no hope of success.
Failure is their only option and they don’t even suspect. The fact is that according to many sources, more than 90% (Ninety percent) of all Internet business start-ups end in failure within the first 120 (one hundred twenty) days. Yes, you read that right. NINETY PERCENT!
This failure rate should be a warning to those who are considering trying their hand at making a go of working on the
Internet rather than at a job in the brick and mortar world. Of course, success is possible.
There IS that other 10% (ten percent) that do succeed. The thing is success doesn’t happen by accident. And success isn’t just a crap shoot. Success happens because of some very important factors.
Success happens because people have the right ideas about internet marketing and how it works.
They do not expect to get rich quick or be able to make a killing over night and retire to a tropical isle.
It is strange but somehow the same people who wouldn’t dream of starting a real world business, think they can make a go of an internet business even though they have no business background. People will go into an internet business
with the idea that they no longer have to get up and go to work. They think they can simply work when the feel like it and still make a good living. They simply do not expect to have to work hard or work long hours.
Internet Misconceptions
The 90% failure rate of new Internet businesses really isn’t all that surprising when you stop to think about the people
who are starting internet businesses. For some unknown reason most people think that running a successful internet
business is as easy as getting a website built and hanging out an ‘open for business’ sign. They couldn’t be more
wrong. Running a successful internet business of any kind requires self-discipline. People will start an internet business and think that they can party all night, sleep until noon and then make a living in 3 or 4 hours sitting in front of a computer.
They somehow think that the world is just going to line up on their website and hand over money. It isn’t going to happen. Internet businesses do not run on autopilot. It is true that well established internet marketing gurus do not have to put in long, tedious hours on their businesses but it is a privilege that that has been earned by putting in a lot of long and tedious hours. It didn’t happen overnight for them and it won’t happen overnight for anybody. Most
people are totally unprepared for the time investment that must be made in order for an internet business to become
successful.
No Business Background
All businesses have two things in common. They are BUSINESSES and they must be run like businesses! The people who are in charge of a business need to understand the accepted practices of business. They need to understand simple and basic ideas like acceptable over-head expenses in relation to projected income. Internet entrepreneurs need to understand profit and loss and what constitutes each.
A college degree in business in not essential for an internet business entrepreneur to be successful but it sure
wouldn’t hurt. Just some basic business knowledge is absolutely vital. If you have a hard time balancing your
personal check book, you probably should keep your day job and forget about starting an internet business.
It is true that you can hire accounting firms that will tell you WHEN you must make tax deposits, for example, but these firms will not be able to tell you IF you need to make them.
Accounting firms can tell you whether or not you made a profit but not how to make it. If you have no business background you need to, at the very minimum, get some good business advice before you even consider opening an online business. The fact is that all successful businesses operate on sound business principles. Successful businesses aren’t accidents. The proof is in the numbers….only 10% of new internet businesses are successful or
are even still in existence after the first 120 days of operation.
Poor Mindset
You have most likely heard the phrase, ‘He has an attitude!” This is usually a derogatory remark made about a person
with a disagreeable attitude. But the word ‘attitude’ is an important one when discussing internet marketing start-ups.
A good attitude…a good mind set can’t insure success but a bad attitude and a bad mind set can certainly guarantee
failure. Here are some wrong attitudes that will absolutely guarantee failure: I can work when I want to. Wrong, wrong, wrong! You can’t just work when you feel like it. You have to expect to put in many long and very tedious hours of very hard work to make a new internet enterprise succeed.
I can get rich quick! You couldn’t be more wrong and you are not only wrong but you are putting yourself in danger as well. There are bazillions of crooks out there on the internet who are waiting for their next easy mark and if you are looking for a quick way to get rich, you ARE the next mark. It is possible to make a very comfortable living with internet marketing enterprises but if anybody ever tells you it is quick or easy, they are lying to you. I don’t need a
business plan. There you are…wrong yet again. Internet business is still business. All of the same business principles apply to online business as apply to brick and mortar business. It is imperative that you have a plan for success that is based upon these sound business principles.
When you have an internet business of your own, you don’t have a boss. Wrong again! You are your boss. If you aren’t a good boss who sees to it that work is accomplished on time and in full, you will doom yourself to certain failure. Unless you are a boss who sets up a working schedule and establishes goals that must be met, you will and yourself working at a job under a boss who does do those things and maybe for minimum wage.
The Pillars To A Successful Security Biz Having The Right Mindset
Running a successful internet business can look so simple when you are on the outside looking in. You look at a
successful internet entrepreneur and he doesn’t look like he is doing anything special but he is living the good life. It
really doesn’t look like he is working all that hard. He seems to be enjoying life immensely. Really…all he is doing is sitting comfortably in front of his own computer in his own very comfortable home a few hours a day. He talks on the telephone and seems to be enjoying every conversation.
Apparently, running a successful internet business is the proverbial ‘piece of cake’! Right? WRONG!!! Wrong, wrong, wrong! You are looking at the results of a very, very long and tedious process that consisted of many very long, late-night hours and a lot of blood, sweat and tears over a period of several years. This successful internet entrepreneur worked very, very hard for the success that you are looking at. It is more than a little bit likely that he first placed four corner stones first as he began the long process of building his successful Internet business. Those four corner stones upon which he built his success are:
The right mind set.
Recognizing and using leverage.
Building a set of useful contacts.
And he/ she probably had a mentor.
I will discuss these four corner stones that must be laid down first so that a successful internet business can be
constructed. All of them are important, even crucial to the success of any business but especially to the success of an internet based business. Constructing a successful business in cyber space has many things in common with the building of a successful brick and mortar business but there are significant differences as well.
The success of any business both of the online variety as well as the online variety require the right mindset from
the get-go.
A right and healthy mind set will not guarantee success but a wrong and unhealthy or unrealistic
mindset will most assuredly guarantee failure. So the right mind set is the first corner stone that must be laid upon which a successful business can be constructed. What is a right and healthy mindset? There are things that it is as well
as things that it isn’t. A right and healthy mindset IS the willingness to work as hard and as long as is necessary to
achieve the goals that has been set. A right and healthy mindset ISN’T the belief that success will be easy, quick or painless.
Those who believe that they can make an internet business enterprise thrive without having to actually put in any time or effort are simply doomed to failure from the beginning. A right and healthy mindset IS the willingness to take the
time to make a good, solid business plan that is based upon sound business principles. A right and healthy mindset ISN’T just jumping in feet first and hoping for the best. The best that can happen under those circumstances is that you get out with anymore than two cents to your name.
‘Flying by the seat of your pants’ is NOT a plan…it is just plain suicide in the world of internet marketing. If you
don’t have a formal education in business, you need to and people who do have that kind of education and seek
then follow their advice.
Networking
That is an old saying. “It is not What you know, but Who you know that counts”. Setting a corner stone of good solid relationships is an important aspect of building a successful enterprise. Working hard at building good solid business
relationships is worth every minute of time that you invest in it. Business relationship building should be one of your top priorities.
That is precisely the same way that business relationships are established. You insert yourself into business
situations where you will meet others who have businesses that are similar to or complimentary to your own business.
You develop relationships over a period of time. There are several ways in which to accomplish this task. One way is to participate in teleseminars or webinars that are related to your business. You will learn a lot, of course, but equally
important, you will come in contact with those who are already succeeding in the niche market that you are working in.
Of course, attending real brick and mortar world seminars is an even better way to begin to build friendly business
relationships with not only your peers but also with those who are in a position to help you….which brings me to the final corner stone that you need to lay.
Find a Capable Mentor
It isn’t likely that there is a more valuable asset that a new e-entrepreneur can have than a good and capable mentor.
Someone who has already made all of the mistakes can help you to avoid making all of the mistakes yourself.
They have the wisdom that comes from experience to point out pitfalls and to help direct you toward the better of choices. Why, you ask, would anyone who has it made want to take their time to help a newbie succeed?
Successful internet marketers want that ‘immortality’ as well. The ones who are the very most successful are the ones,
amazingly enough, who are the most likely to mentor an up and coming entrepreneur. Of course, these successful internet marketers are not going to be interested in wasting their time on a person who has not already worked hard to lay those first three corner stones themselves. These potential mentors are looking for new comers who show that they have a right and healthy mindset, who are working hard at leveraging and who are well aware of how important it is to know all the players and the RIGHT people.
It short, the new comer most likely to get a mentor is one who is already working hard and helping himself and not looking for someone who can just smooth the way for him.
Be Open To Growth
Grow or die! This is one of the laws of nature that applies to all living things. All business lives by this law as well. A business cannot begin, grow to a certain point and then simply remain at that point and continue to thrive. Growth and expansion are necessary for the business to survive and if that growth and expansion do not happen then the business will fade and die or crash and burn.
Growth and expansion of business must be controlled by the business owners or managers. If growth is too slow, the
business lags behind the competition. If growth is too fast, the business can easily become over extended.
A steady controlled growth is the ideal. Of course, the ideal and the reality are sometimes two very different things.
Sometimes the terms ‘growth and expansion’ are a bit misunderstood. The most obvious meaning of both terms
is to get bigger and broader but those meanings are not the only ones that apply.
Growth, for example, can mean gaining knowledge and becoming wiser and expansion can mean broadening the
knowledge base from which a company operates. A small internet based company does not have to grow and expand until it becomes a giant multi-national company in order to survive but the owners and managers of these internet businesses do have to grow by getting smarter and expand by welcoming change with open arms.
Nothing ever just stays the same. Change is the only certainty in the world. What was hot or what worked yesterday is
old news today and it will be ancient history tomorrow. Companies and company owners and managers must
grow with and adapt to changes as they happen and on the internet changes happen a lot faster than they do out in the
brick and mortar world.
We all agree that growing, adapting and expanding is vital to the survival of any business and maybe especially to Internet business. So the question is: What is the key to growth and expansion of internet based businesses? When brick and mortar businesses grow and expand, they build bigger buildings and hire more employees but that isn’t exactly an option for an internet based business. The key to growth and expansion of an internet based business is for the business owner or manager to always and continuously invest in them.
They must be willing to stay on the cutting edge of technology and they must be willing to accept and adapt to changes as they occur. Internet businesses are not buildings. Internet businesses are people.
An internet business cannot grow by investing in a larger building. It only grows when the person who is driving that
business invests in his or her own knowledge and ability. An internet business cannot expand by investing in hiring more people.
An internet business expands when the person who is driving it invests in himself
or herself. The bottom line is this: The key to continuous growth and expansion of an internet based business is continuous investments being made in the owner or manager of the business. The short answer: Invest in yourself.
