One of the things most people don't understand when starting an online business is that they don't truly know how to effectively start a business.  They consistently fall prey to unscrupulous marketers, they often lack focus and many lose large sums of money simply because they don't know how to market online.

An internet business, just as with any business, requires a realistic approach, trusted training, networking and understanding what actually works and what might lead to failure.

That's the topic of my guest article written by a colleague of mine, Megan Vaillancourt of Myinternetbusiness.com. 

Megan has created a successful internet mentoring site built on a few solid strategies that everyone should take a long hard look at.  They are what have brought Megan and her business from failure to success.    

Discover How I Built "My Internet Business" -  From Failure To Success
By Megan Megan Vaillancourt

The Internet is revolving and allowing people to create wealth using the power of our big .dot com world. When I started "My Internet Business" I didn't understand how to properly build an online business, and I failed. I remember the moment of defeat when I understood that I wasn't going obtain success with this online business.

What did I do wrong? Why were other people making money online and I was unable to?

I am not suggesting that a revolution came to me and I restarted an Internet Business. Rather it was a nagging question that I couldn't get rid of. Through months of education, testing, and research I discovered the truth that distinguished the successful entrepreneurs from the ones who failed.

Are you ready to start an Internet Business from home? Or maybe you already have a home business that you are trying to grow, either way entrepreneurs need to understand how to build their Internet Business in order for it to be successful. The hype on ads and emails suggest that all you need to do is plug into the system and you will make money online. I am here to tell you that is not the truth. It's time that you understood that you can earn money online, but it comes with work and consistency. My Internet Business grew after I understood how online marketing played a direct role in my success. Bottom line is if you don't know how to market you will not be successful.

So if you are serious about building an Internet Business There are some things that you must do the first time in order to achieve the level of income that you desire

1.) Be realistic – When people set out to earn money with an Internet Business they don't understand the fundamentals to making that work. Yet they will say they want to earn five figures in the first month. Remember this is a business and while there are entrepreneurs who achieve that level, don't set yourself up to be disappointed when you don't meet that level.

2.) Get Rid of Automation – Automated Business, 100% turnkey systems dominate the searches on home based business opportunities. Enticing someone to believe it's a vacation day every day and the money continues to roll in. In every business, no matter the level of automation there is work. While home based business offer a solution to allow people to work from home in reality there is always work involved. If you can't devote at least 2 hours per day to your Internet Business, then this industry is not for you. No need to spend your hard earned money; if you can't devote this time then you won't be able to build your business. It's not fair for you to put your dreams on automation because reality is there is no opportunity that offers this solution.

3.) Mentoring – Starting your business off right at the beginning is going to give you the foundation to build a long term business in the long run. Growing My Internet Business stemmed from Mentoring and education. If you miss this at the beginning you will miss and spend a lot of time trying to learn the techniques to build your business. Partnering with a Mentor or Mentoring team that offers training and online marketing solutions is going to save you a lot of time and money. Interview the mentors or Mentoring team to insure you are partnering with the right type of people for your business. They should be showing you how to build a business, how to market, and how to utilize free online marketing techniques. If they are not continue your investigation, as a lot of solid educational Mentoring teams are available to be interviewed.

4.) Online Marketing – Understand when you build your business you will have marketing that needs to be done in order to achieve success. Creating that long term revenue is all about how much you know about marketing and how to implement that into your business

5.) Continue your education – Learning to market, and building a business is not simply about learning, implementing and forgetting. If you have a quality Mentoring team then you should be learning new techniques to implement weekly. Expanded your knowledge to search engine optimization, Pay per Click Advertising, media advertising, and free online marketing techniques. The wider your knowledge and the more quality marketing you have will have you on a road to success

6.) Don't fall prey to leads – Whatever you do, do not become victims, from buying leads. I have experienced how the effects of leads have been the down fall of My Internet Business as well as others. To increase sales with My Internet Business took the idea of creating my own leads through marketing.

Entrepreneurs online are falling prey to the over hyped ads and empty promises of wealth. Creating wealth with My Internet Business required work, education and marketing skills. Going into a business with your eyes wide opening and understanding your expectations will assist you in earning money online.

Although online marketing is not difficult to decode, the main thing you must do is find mentors that will assist you on your road to wealth. Finding the right resources and tools at the beginning will create you the long term income you maybe desiring.

When I began my online business I thought I'd never see the light of day again.  I was busy 12 hours a day and overwhelmed many days. 

I won't tell you that starting an online business isn't easy, because it is, what's hard is developing a good plan and creating a system that helps you get things done quickly. 

Below  is a great free article by Jimmy D. Brown that points out some excellent tips for how you can create a high profit internet business if you just put the right action steps in motion…        

The Real Secret To Building A High-Profit Internet Business
By Jimmy D. Brown

My wife laughs every time she sees me doing it.

At least once or twice every week, I'll be at my desk (or at the dining room table) with my Franklin Covey planner open and a stack of laminated checklists in hand.

"What are you doing, honey?" she calls, already knowing the answer.

"I'm planning", I reply with a smile.

She laughs and I get back to work.

She laughs because she swears I spend half of my time "planning". But, if you ask me how I'm able to get as much work done as I do in only 3 hours a day, I'll point to a black Franklin Covey planner with about a dozen laminated checklists inside.

Building an Internet business is easy. Seriously. I'm not saying that it's not complicated, because it is. I'm just saying that it's easy to accomplish if you just have a system in place.

There's very little in this world that can't be accomplished with the right set of action steps in front of you.

Today, I'm going to give you such a system for building your Internet business. There are only 4 steps…

1. Decide What You Want To Do. Do you want to run an eBay(R) business? Be an affiliate marketer? Buy and sell reprint rights? Get involved in niche marketing? While all of those things will likely find their way into your plan in time, you gotta begin with one thing at a time.

My recommendation: Choose a "broad" topic you are interested in and begin building a list of folks interested in that topic.

2. Determine A Weekly Action Plan. After you decide what you want to do, it's time to determine how to get it done. What I do is this: I create a weekly set of action steps. That is, I have a set of things I do on Monday, on Tuesday, and so forth. Decide how many hours (as little as ONE) you want to work each day and schedule yourself a reasonable amount of things to get done in that time frame. Repeat this process week after week.

My recommendation: Begin writing ezine articles to promote your list … and affiliate programs. It's the easiest way to get free traffic and build your list at the same time.

3. Devote Yourself To Staying On Schedule. The important thing here is to stick to it. The easiest way that I know of to make certain you develop discipline in your schedule is to NOT set unrealistic expectations. Give yourself ample time to do each day's action step – don't overschedule. Look for progress along the way to celebrate. Reward yourself when you've reached a milestone. And, remember, you're GROWING a business. Just like physical growth, it takes time … it WILL happen if you remain committed.

My recommendation: Weave in simple activities related to the following categories – List building (ezine articles), product creation(conduct interviews or hire ghostwriters), site development (making your site convert more visitors into buyers),and education (continuing to learn new ways to grow your business).

And for more ideas on how to work more effectively and deliver your planned projects, read through the resources mentioned at http://www.topreports.com/effectiveness/

4. Develop Additional Shortcuts. As you get better and better at working with your lists, creating products and tweaking your site, you'll want to continue to improve your business with new ideas, strategies, tools, and resources. The key is simple: never stop learning!

My recommendation: Visit forums. Read articles. Download reports. Identify sites and resources that CONTRIBUTE to your success in educating you. You want faster results, bigger increases, automated processes, and other ways to get more accomplished and more profit, with less work involved.

Everything depends on your developing a plan and sticking to it.

And that is the REAL secret to building a high-profit Internet business!

Believe it or not, there is a tremendous "operations manual" that you can download right here at SR Zone to help you create a plan that works for YOU. Check out "Homepreneur Habits: How To Run A Successful Home Business " by clicking here. You'll learn all the tools you need, how to setup your work space and how to create a day-by-day schedule of recommended activities to start and grow your business.