Take out a piece of paper and pen, fire up your favorite word processor, get a slate and some chalk, it doesn’t matter. The tools are not the important thing here, the process is what is important, that and the final outcome of course. The process we are going to do is build a business from the ground up.

It doesn’t matter if you are building a business to sell widgets (not sure why that is such a popular example), promote a rock band, or build a website it all starts the same. With an idea. Spend some time writing down all the great ideas you have for a site. All the things you would love to do if you could do anything in the world. All the plans you would make. All the networking you would do. Take a few minutes and write down everything. Then when you are done come back here.

Done? Great. Now take that long list of everything and put it away. Yep put away all those great ideas, all that wonderful planning. You can look at it later but right now we have something much more important to do than work on all those plans you have for taking the world of commerce over. What could be more important? Simple. Preplanning.

Before you can build a better anything you have some serious questions to ask yourself. The building is often the fun part, but if you don’t know why you are doing it or what you really want to accomplish then you are wasting your time. Time is money and we don’t want to waste either so we are going to preplan. Since everyone here is mainly interested in building a better website, this will be geared towards that end.

Write down the following questions on two separate sheets of paper. Once you have two copies, put one away and fill the other one in.

The questions:

1. What do you hope to accomplish? Tough one right from the start but very important. Don’t just write “Make Money” unless that is really your only goal.
2. Who will use it? If you are making a site for your own enjoyment than you can skip this one, but for the rest of us we want to have an audience. Question is who will that be?
3. Who will do the marketing? Are you going to do your own marketing or will you hire a professional firm? My suggestion is do it yourself!
4. Will you monetize your site? Monetizing is not all bad and it is not all good. If making money is your goal or one of them than you need to have a way to make money even if it is just through donations.
5. Where will the graphics come from? Are you going to do your own graphics, buy them, use free graphics some combination? Regardless of the method you need to think of it now, it might impact your overall cost and you need to give credit where credit is due.
6. Where will the copy come from? Are you going to write all your own articles or posts or will you hire someone to do it
   Joint Ventures - How Much to Charge
   How much should you make from a Joint Venture? 10%? 20%? 50%? Should it be of the net or gross profit or off the top? How do you decide? This is an important consideration, especially for people who are used to paying peanuts and those who are used to accepting a few crumbs. Entrepreneurs who understand business and profit are more likely to pay and demand reasonable commissions.For example, when people attend a DollarMakers Joint Venture Broker Bootcamp, I pay the referring Members up to 50% in commissions! My cost of putting an extra chair into a Bootcamp and a few extra cups of coffee and donuts, plus a workbook, is negligible. I can afford to be generous. My DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum Members earn thousands in commissions every month. But if I was selling computer hardware, with a profit of around 6%, I could afford to pay su
   matter if you are building a business to sell widgets (not sure why that is such a popular example), promote a rock band, or build a website it all starts the same. With an idea. Spend some time writing down all the great ideas you have for a site. All the things you would love to do if you could do anything in the world. All the plans you would make. All the networking you would do. Take a few minutes and write down everything. Then when you are done come back here.

   Done? Great. Now take that long list of everything and put it away. Yep put away all those great ideas, all that wonderful planning. You can look at it later but right now we have something much more important to do than work on all those plans you have for taking the world of commerce over. What could be more important? Simple. Preplanning.

   Before you can build a better anything you have some serious questions to ask yourself. The building is often the fun part, but if you don’t know why you are doing it or what you really want to accomplish then you are wasting your time. Time is money and we don’t want to waste either so we are going to preplan. Since everyone here is mainly interested in building a better website, this will be geared towards that end.

   Write down the following questions on two separate sheets of paper. Once you have two copies, put one away and fill the other one in.

   The questions:

   1. What do you hope to accomplish? Tough one right from the start but very important. Don’t just write “Make Money” unless that is really your only goal.
   2. Who will use it? If you are making a site for your own enjoyment than you can skip this one, but for the rest of us we want to have an audience. Question is who will that be?
   3. Who will do the marketing? Are you going to do your own marketing or will you hire a professional firm? My suggestion is do it yourself!
   4. Will you monetize your site? Monetizing is not all bad and it is not all good. If making money is your goal or one of them than you need to have a way to make money even if it is just through donations.
   5. Where will the graphics come from? Are you going to do your own graphics, buy them, use free graphics some combination? Regardless of the method you need to think of it now, it might impact your overall cost and you need to give credit where credit is due.
   6. Where will the copy come from? Are you going to write all your own articles or posts or will you hire someone to do it
      Business Consultants - Why Don't People Listen?
      So many business consultants often say that they are tired of being right all the time and wish that their clients or business associates would listen. They get upset and admit that millions of dollars were wasted because they just did not listen. One top-notched consultant from PA mentioned this to me not long ago. Indeed, as a semi-retired consultant, I must agree with her.I also caution myself and others not to always blame the client, even though it is their fault for not listening. I remind myself that I am the mentor or consultant here, my duty was to convince the client or boss of the need for a coach, plan or adding of a team member or even arrange the meeting with a suitable one, if the boss would not take the trouble to do it.It is my opinion that you have to take credit for the crash and burn too. It is a team effort,
      ater but right now we have something much more important to do than work on all those plans you have for taking the world of commerce over. What could be more important? Simple. Preplanning.

      Before you can build a better anything you have some serious questions to ask yourself. The building is often the fun part, but if you don’t know why you are doing it or what you really want to accomplish then you are wasting your time. Time is money and we don’t want to waste either so we are going to preplan. Since everyone here is mainly interested in building a better website, this will be geared towards that end.

      Write down the following questions on two separate sheets of paper. Once you have two copies, put one away and fill the other one in.

      The questions:

      1. What do you hope to accomplish? Tough one right from the start but very important. Don’t just write “Make Money” unless that is really your only goal.
      2. Who will use it? If you are making a site for your own enjoyment than you can skip this one, but for the rest of us we want to have an audience. Question is who will that be?
      3. Who will do the marketing? Are you going to do your own marketing or will you hire a professional firm? My suggestion is do it yourself!
      4. Will you monetize your site? Monetizing is not all bad and it is not all good. If making money is your goal or one of them than you need to have a way to make money even if it is just through donations.
      5. Where will the graphics come from? Are you going to do your own graphics, buy them, use free graphics some combination? Regardless of the method you need to think of it now, it might impact your overall cost and you need to give credit where credit is due.
      6. Where will the copy come from? Are you going to write all your own articles or posts or will you hire someone to do it
         Business Records Destruction
         Effective June 1, 2005, the FTC’s Disposal Rule requires any business or individual that utilizes credit report information to properly dispose of that information to protect against unauthorized access to or use of the information. The Rule can be found at www.ftc.gov/os/2004/11/041118disposalfrn.pdf.Examples of consumer reports include credit reports, credit scores, reports businesses or individuals receive with information relating to employment background, check writing history, insurance claims, residential or tenant history, or medical history.Affected business include mortgage brokers, lenders, insurers, employers, debt collectors, and car dealers.Financial institutions, including mortgage brokers, are subject to both the Disposal Rule and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Safeguards Rule. The Safeguards Rule requires
         own the following questions on two separate sheets of paper. Once you have two copies, put one away and fill the other one in.

         The questions:

         1. What do you hope to accomplish? Tough one right from the start but very important. Don’t just write “Make Money” unless that is really your only goal.
         2. Who will use it? If you are making a site for your own enjoyment than you can skip this one, but for the rest of us we want to have an audience. Question is who will that be?
         3. Who will do the marketing? Are you going to do your own marketing or will you hire a professional firm? My suggestion is do it yourself!
         4. Will you monetize your site? Monetizing is not all bad and it is not all good. If making money is your goal or one of them than you need to have a way to make money even if it is just through donations.
         5. Where will the graphics come from? Are you going to do your own graphics, buy them, use free graphics some combination? Regardless of the method you need to think of it now, it might impact your overall cost and you need to give credit where credit is due.
         6. Where will the copy come from? Are you going to write all your own articles or posts or will you hire someone to do it
            What Could Be More Safe Than Anonymous Browsing?
            Many people nowadays have become more and more concerned about the trails that they live behind while surfing the net. Your IP address, your country, region are just some of the traces that you leave behind. Why should this be reason for concern you might ask. Well, because these are valuable information through which your address, name and even social security number can be found, except if you use anonymous browsing.There are a lot of people that were victims of hackers, which stole their identity and these cases are increasing in number as we speak. Furthermore, at your workplace or in schools or Universities if you go online people can monitor your each step and see what sites you have been visiting. Your privacy is not respected at all. Moreover, there are places where people are just not allowed to visit certain sites. In all t
            do it yourself!
         7. Will you monetize your site? Monetizing is not all bad and it is not all good. If making money is your goal or one of them than you need to have a way to make money even if it is just through donations.
         8. Where will the graphics come from? Are you going to do your own graphics, buy them, use free graphics some combination? Regardless of the method you need to think of it now, it might impact your overall cost and you need to give credit where credit is due.
         9. Where will the copy come from? Are you going to write all your own articles or posts or will you hire someone to do it for you? Even if you use Guest Bloggers you are still “paying” then something whether it is in links or exposure. Think about it. Write it down.
         10. How often will the site get updated? Once a day, once a month? You need to decide on a frequency that works for you and your readers. Once a day might be enough, a hundred times a day might be too much. Balance.
         11. Who will update the site? Things change. Who will do the updates on your blogging software? Who will update the graphics when you get tired of seeing them? Who will add new stuff to your site? If you don’t own your own host and domain you might have to pay someone to do it for you. This is a cost. Write it down.
         12. Who will design the site? Are you going to use a readymade template or make something from scratch? Designing a site takes time, you will need to plan for this and adjust your startup time. If someone else is going to do it that will cost and you have to adjust for their schedule.
         13. What form will your site take? Will it be a single page site? A blog? A total CMS?
         14. What is the cost to host your site? Even if you own your own server there are costs associated with hosting your site. The cost of the server for one and the cost of the Internet connection. If you are buying space on a hosted server that costs too. This is a business. You need to know these costs. Write them down.
         15. What other costs are associated with your site? Everything has a cost (I think I have said that before). The better you are at understanding those costs right now the better you will understand where your money is going later on. If you think there might be a charge for something write it down.
         16. How much will you need to make to break even each month? All the warm and fuzzy stuff aside a business is about making money. In order to make money you have to bring in more than you put out. What is that magic number for you? It doesn’t have to be exact now but you need to get an idea. If it is going to cost you $1000 a month you might want to think about scaling back a bit initially, unless you are independently wealthy in which case I know someone who would love to design your site for you. For a charge of course.
         17. How soon do you want to reach your goals? Another really tough one. Think about this before you write your answer. Do you want to be self sufficient in 30 days? It is possible but not probable. Can you wait six months? Better, much better. Think about it an