I’m posting this one on Christmas day since it will talked about giving – this will be a short post though.

Few years back, I have a friend who asked me to buy an ebook for her since she does not have a credit card. The ebook “promised” to teach her how to earn money from the internet. I told her not to buy the product since I don’t know well the author of the ebook and haven’t heard that author delivered real meat yet. My “inner man” also tells me not to trust the author.

Eventually, it turned out that my feelings were true. The author did not deliver as he had promised. What he did in his ebook was he just introduced his higher-priced products. Then, he promised again that you will make more money if you’ll buy his higher-priced product. Why should I buy from him more if he has not delivered his promise on the ebook? It was just a waste of money.

Be CAREFUL.

Ponder this: Is he the one giving or taking away from you? Evaluate carefully. Make sure you are listening to an expert. Experts give away some of their knowledge for free to prove their expertise in the field.

I hope you learn something from this story and would inspire you to give *big smile*

Again, Merry Christmas!

Cheers and God bless you.

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First off, I usually don’t answer these kinds of emails unless they’re my coaching client or they hired me for an hour/s of consulting. However, this time its different because I realized I have not talked about this topic on this blog yet – specifically on how to choose a market.

On the other hand, I have mentioned in my previous articles that I’m writing a book on internet marketing. [My process is too slow but I'm catching up]. One of the chapters in the book discusses about how I started my online business. So, this post includes an excerpt from the book and I hope this will inspire YOU, our valued readers, and may you succeed with your online businesses. This will take away the dark areas of internet marketing. 

So, let’s get started.

Let me start by saying that internet marketing is a legit job – many are successful in their online businesses and  you can get a piece of the pie too if you’ll just learn a proven system. Internet marketing is possible in the Philippines and this will explode in the near future.

 I started doing business online in the early 2004. My parents and relatives especially my mother and sister was VERY skeptical on this new venture. During that time, there were very few to ZERO known individual in our city who is successful in a home-based online business. Consequently, they wanted me to pursue the corporate world instead since it is more “secure” as they say. I was the System Administrator of the biggest internet cafe in Davao City that time and receives a decent salary. Undeniably though, there were many stories of successful online businesses in the US, Canada and Europe. So, I did a LOT of research and was both persuaded and convinced that online business is possible in the Philippines and it will work for me.

So, I was able to setup a system of payment, a project workflow and pursued an online business – web design services. I didn’t left my job though but work on my online business AFTER office hours.

NOTE: I’m a risk taker since I was trained to be an entrepreneur in my childhood years.(more of this story in my book)

Finally, I got my first project. Even after receiving my first hard-earned $500 in just one month my mother was still skeptical and wanted me to pursue the corporate world. Not later than 5 months, I resigned from my work as a System Administrator and my mother was already convinced on the opportunities of internet marketing after I consecutively earned at least $500 monthly. (Cost of living in Davao, Philippines is low so $500 monthly is more than enough even for a married man with kids).

You’ll see TWO things at work in this early years of my business: an entrepreneurial heart and an effective system.

Entrepreneurial Heart
When I get to speak with high school and college students I always ask this question: would you like to work for someone else or would you like to work for yourself? Working for someone else, that is being an employee, is a great career to pursue and many people loved it and are very successful. For me, though, it just doesn’t work. I have an entrepreneurial heart. I’m a good employee but I feel I’m not successful if I’m working for somebody. I need to have my OWN business. Besides, an employee’s salary is fixed and grows very slow. Business provides bigger income but takes time to grow. It is risky but I’m willing to take the risk. If you have the motivation to setup your own business you’ll also have all the “instincts” of an entrepreneur built-in yourself. Don’t worry if you don’t seem to see yourself as an entrepreneur. I didn’t understand it at first but later I realized that it starts with the heart and all those instincts just follow.

So, you need to ask the same question on yourself. If the idea of working for someone does NOT fit with you then I suggest you pursue a business – in this case, an online business. If something inside you telling you to pursue a business then follow what the “inner man” is telling you.

Effective System
Equally important with an entrepreneurial heart is an effective system. Most young entrepreneurs fail because they do not have a system. I did a LOT of research and then build a system that will work for me – there were only few resources that time so it took time before I got everything going. I first chose a market/work that aligns with my passion then setup business systems, e.g., payment system(Paypal was not available in the Philippines yet during that time so I used a different method), mode of payments, work hours, email communications, etc. There were a LOT going that time but that “instincts” helped me. Once you have a system that work for you, be consistent with it and your clients will learn how to work with you – it will then be easy for BOTH you and your clients.

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