How to Develop a Business Model
You Must Decide why you are doing Your Business.What is involved in creating a business model? Making a decision to work online is exciting and we all start with expectations of being very successful. Why else would we do it? No one plans to fail, but many of us fail to plan. I know that is an old cliche, but it was so true for me when I came online.I had these big ideas that with a few clicks of the mouse I could have a very lucrative business in a very short time. Well, here I am coming up on 2 full years of working online, and my business is anything but lucrative, that is if your only method of judgement is the amount of money I have earned.I have found that anything worthwhile in life must be nurtured and grown. If you are interested to know more, take a look at How to Develop a Business Model. This applies to friendships, business ventures, romantic relationships, and family relationships. The list is never ending. This is why you must discover your reason for starting your business. If you don't know why you are in business how can you nurture it and have it grow?Discover Your pain.I had no problem with this step when I started my business. I had a work accident in June 2009 where I fell off of a ladder. I tore my rotator cuff on my left arm, which had to be repaired surgically, tore my left hamstring, and damaged my right knee which I had two previous surgeries on. Yes I had physical pain, but that was easy to deal with in comparison to the pain I was about to realize in starting a new career. I truly loved my job as a Brick and Stone Mason!Now when I decided to work online, I made the huge mistake of thinking this would be easy. Definitely not the case, as you may know since you are reading this article. How do I learn all of this internet stuff quickly, so I can earn an income? This became painful to me, and to my family also.I found that until I created a plan for my business the pain would increase and manifest itself in many different ways. Anger, frustration, lack of confidence, feeling worthless because I had spent money on programs that were suppose to make me wealthy. That's a pain I needed to let go of real fast or it was going to drive me crazy!Those feelings were my obstacles! Lack of money wasn't the issue at all, it was lack of confidence and the biggest realization of all was that I was losing HOPE. Losing hope is the ultimate pain anyone can feel.I decided to create a business plan.Creating a business plan is the foundation of your hopes. This is something I have never realized in my life as a Mason. In the past, I just did my job and got paid a fair wage, and moved to the next job and did the same. I was a Brick Mason, not a business man. I loved my work, and people loved what I created, and that is what kept me going for 39 years.Now that I am involved in a new occupation as an Online Marketer, I have found that my old approach to business will not work. Learning this lesson hasn't been easy, but I promise you, it has been one of the most valuable lessons of my life. For that I will always be grateful.I am now attending College to get a degree in Small Business Management, and I love the challenge. I am finding so many places where I could have used these skills as a Masonry Contractor. Just the fact that I am attending school to improve my life is something I am truly proud of.Start with a business model.Finding a business model is the first step in creating your plan. Evaluate what you are currently doing in your business. Are you hoping for the next best start-up company to make you a success? If so, you need to eliminate that thinking real soon.You must decide that you want to be a strategic entrepreneur. This means make a list of your skills. We all have them, and this is the best place to create real hope for yourself. Put your current skills into action, and then allow yourself the gift of learning other new skills for your business. Learning new skills keeps your mind active and productive!Focusing on Your Business Model.The best way to build a solid business model is to eliminate negative distractions from your life. How much time do you spend watching television? I believe this can be the biggest waste of time on the planet today. What benefit is television to your mindset and your business? This is a place where I encourage you to be really honest with yourself.I disabled the Cable about ten months ago. This was one of the best decisions I could have ever made. I don't miss all of the negativity, and if I need to know anything immediately I'm quite confident my friends and family will inform me of such things.Distractions will drain you if you let them. Television isn't the only time bandit. The computer is loaded with options to waste away your time. This is where the old habits of procrastination have a way of creeping into my life. I am learning new methods of production everyday. I love to read and learn, but I also need to implement my ideas. That is when I know I'm making progress. Learn and share, Share and learn. I love it!Creating a Website business Model.I have found that one of my new skills is the ability to create websites for others. I am quite pleased with how I have been able to learn these skills in a relatively short time. I have built between 15-20 blogs for myself and for other people in the past year. Not bad for an old bricklayer!I have even been paid to build sites for other people, and that has gone a long way in helping create the much needed self confidence that has kept me going. I can do this, and I am quite good at it too!Find a Mentor or a Coach.I am so proud and excited to have this be the closing segment of this article. I hope that you can be good enough to yourself to make this a priority in your life. I was a person that thought I could do this Internet stuff alone. I am so grateful to have discovered early that this was not a wise thing to do.I was blessed early on to have met a young man by the name of Bob Yeager, and I consider him to be my Coach, Mentor, and best of all my friend! He has taught me all of the skills that I previously mentioned in this article, and so much more. He has encouraged me to apply my personal skills as a human being to my marketing before anything else, and I will always thank him for that.You see, I'm a Brick and Stone Mason, which I have always been proud of. My association with Bob Yeager and the WEST program has taught me that I am not a Bricklayer, I am a human being that chose the Masonry Trade as a way to make a living. One of the best gifts of all has been the association with other members of the WEST program too. We really are a community.It might sound a bit strange to you, but I always identified my self as a Brick and Stone mason. When that changed I was able to discover that I am not a bricklayer, I am a person that cares deeply about life and other human beings. Now, approaching life from that perspective has given me more HOPE than I have had in many years. I am so thankful for my Happy Accident that gave me new hope! For more info, visit How to Develop a Business Model.