Successful Business… Without All the Sacrifice!

I am on a quest.

I want to find a method, a system if you will, to raise my children with the least amount of effort possible. I want to raise children in such a way that it doesn’t cost me any money, doesn’t cut into my free time and doesn’t require a large amount of work. And I want good results too.

I want godly children who are obedient, polite and who love God with all their strength. But I don’t want spend a lot of time or effort on this. And I certainly don’t want to be out a lot of cash. I just want it to happen naturally.

In fact, if someone had a program that would guarantee this or maybe even some children already like this, that I could just assume responsibility for…then I would be really interested! Then I could have all of the results (and all of the rewards) without all the sacrifice. I could have godly children and I wouldn’t be out any time, money or effort. How cool would that be!

Hopefully, you are as horrified with the ideas above as I am. And if you are not disgusted with the idea of raising godly children without all the muss and fuss of sacrifice, you might as well hit the delete button right now!

Now, why the rant about raising children in an article about starting your own online business? Well, just as a person would be a fool to try to raise children without any sacrifice at all, a person would also be a fool to try to start a business without any sacrifice at all! And just as you will not be pleased with the results of raising children without sacrifice, you will not be pleased with the results of growing your online business without sacrifice either.

Now, don’t misunderstand me…Children are much more important than your business. In fact, if your business is taking you away from your children, you need to re-evaluate your priorities. That is why I advocate including your children in your online business. You can begin taking steps toward freedom and teach them entrepreneurial skills at the same time as you look for small businesses kids can start.

So, even though raising your children is vastly more important than starting and growing an online business, there are some similarities. And there are some principles we can learn from raising children that we can apply to “raising” an online business. And I will cover the first similarity below.

Just as it takes money to raise a child, it also takes money to start and grow an online business. Not a lot, but it does cost some money. I can not tell you how many emails I get from people who want to start an online business but do not want to spend any money. They want an online business that will:

- help them quit their day job

- give them financial freedom

- get them out of debt

- help Dad to come home and work from the house

- teach their children business skills

…and yet, won’t cost them any money! How absurd!

Those same people fall prey to business “opportunities” on the Internet or in the back of magazines that promise a complete business in a box. The business “opportunity” will provide the web site, the products and even the customer list…all you have to do is contact them. It is so easy!

Yeah right! Face it. If you want start an online business, it will cost some money. Again, not a lot, but it will cost some money. Here are some of the costs listed below:

You will have to have a computer with an Internet connection. It doesn’t have to be a super fast connection, but you will be hard pressed to run an online business from the Internet at your local public library. Although I do know of Internet business owners who run their entire business from Internet coffee shops!

Next, you will have to buy a domain name. Do not try to run an Internet business off of a “free” domain service; it will not work in the long run. I pay between $8 – $15 per year for my domain name. Finally, you will have to pay for hosting service. Hosting service is the company that puts your web page on the Internet for all to see. You can get very reliable hosting service for $50 per year.

After that, the choice is yours. You can download the rest of the tools for free. The web site creator, graphics program, shopping cart, ftp program, etc. So, you can actually start an online business for about $65 per year if you already have an Internet connection.

Back to your children. Find small businesses kids can start online and purse this adventure with your own children. Give them the competitive advantage.

———————————–
© Stephen Beck, 2008
You have permission to reprint this article, as long as you don’t make any changes and include the bio below.
———————————–

Stephen Beck teaches you how to write an ebook and Create a “cash on demand” online business by watching his free video about information marketing products.