International Business

I recently heard a statement by Paul Birdsall in which he was frustrated by all the people who were online hobbyists. They didn't really take seriously the opportunity to make money on the internet. When I first heard that description, I pictured other people in my mind. But, the more I thought about it, I began to think that maybe I was just a hobbyist - at least in my perspective of making money online. So, I decided to examine a little better what is the difference between and online hobby and an online international business.

Knowledge

You might think a hobbyist has knowledge about their hobby. Generally this is true, but the online hobbyist is one who tries a little bit of everything. They have a limited knowledge of a lot of things - kind of a jack of all trades, master of none. The international businessman has narrowed his focus and has become knowledgeable about what it takes to make money online. He learns marketing like he were trying to achieve a masters degree. He learns from other people and his own experience what steps are necessary to accomplish his goals and he is committed to only that.

Vision/Scope

The hobbyist is content to surf traffic exchanges for exposure and get a few signups for another program that he joined. He is happy when, through his hard efforts his is able to earn a couple hundred dollars of monthly income from his referrals. The international businessman is using his knowledge to build his list - not just to hundreds, but to tens of thousands. He never stops trying to enlarge his list and he is always finding ways to sell to his list, thus developing many streams of income. This businessman is usually talking in terms of multiple thousands of dollars of income per month.

Spending Money

The hobbyist will try to make money without spending anything. He will join every free program, and in his mind he has a limit of how much he will spend to join any program (usually $10 - $20). He has probably been burned before and tries to limit his risk as much as possible. The international businessman knows what works and what doesn't. He knows that if he spends a hundred dollars on some form of advertising, he should get X amount of return. He is not afraid to spend large amounts of money if he can see a larger return on that sum. He may have been burned before also, but he learns from that and continues with his plan.

These three keys almost work in sequence. You need the knowledge to broaden your vision, and you need the vision to justify spending large amounts of money. But they can also grow at the same time. The point is that it is important that we grow beyond our online hobby mentality into a true online international business perspective.