Stephen's Blogs – Stephen Hon's Blogs (韓啟年)

The Lemonade Stand Mentality On The Net

by Harry Fassett

Remember the old days when you were a little kid? You wanted to make some extra money during the summer months and so you decided the best way to do it was to open a lemonade stand either in front of your parents house, or on a good street corner not to far from parental supervision.

Ok, so you set up your stand, making some makeshift table and sign from materials you had handy at home. Free of course.

Then you made the lemonade. Yes, your parents even sprung for the lemonade, pitcher, and cups for you. Now you were finally in business! You went out everyday excited about your new venture and visions of big profits!

Well, as the day wore on, you got so hot that you drank most of your inventory, gave some to a few friends, and maybe sold a couple of cups to sympathetic passerby’s.

Ok, so you didn’t make a major killing that summer, but you learned a valuable lesson hopefully.

Even though you had little overhead ( basically everything was provided to you by your parents ) you realized that very little traffic passed by your stand most days, and you had no other resources to generate it any other way.

Your desire to continue for the long haul was not there to begin with, and you were just out for a few quick extra bucks to pay for some fun that summer.

So at summer’s end you folded up shop, and started school again, and that was that.

Now you’re a little older, a little wiser you think. Now you’ve found your next venture that is going to be your meal ticket to financial freedom.

You jumped on the “NET” because everybody was making a *KILLING* as you were told, so you got your FREE Yahoo, or hotmail address, and signed up for a few FREE affiliate programs. Even set up a FREE website hosting account, and did some free classified advertising.

Yes! The days as a child selling lemonade are long gone, but you are sure this is it! Free email, free websites, no hassle! Now you can reach the WORLD with your products and services, and it’s costing you nothing but a little time– right?!

Well sadly after a few months on the Internet you realize that you’re not a marketing expert overnight, and you’re not making a killing. So those childhood days at the lemonade stand come creeping back into the back of your brain, and you realize it’s dé·jà vu.

Yet, you see many who are making good money online, and also noticed they’ve invested in their own domain name, maybe even into developing their own products, and services to “back end” sell.

You also notice that they are starting their own affiliate programs, and building credibility through “Joint Ventures” with others who are highly regarded on the net. Generating them even more sales, and handsome profits!

You scratch your head, and say, “Wow, they’ve tested, developed a plan, and invested major brain capital, hard earned money, plus executed with the proper knowledge and skills necessary to get the results that they were after. An excellent return on investment! So what is wrong with what I’m doing???”

Those days of that lemonade stand you set up many years ago start to haunt you once again. You’ve realized you fell for the something for nothing “get rich qick” lemonade stand mentality once more! Not much planning, or investment, and you’ve now come “FULL CIRCLE” again back to your lemonade stand, but this time it is called a FREE website, email, and free advertising.

Well it’s not all bad if you want to make lemonade stand profits, but I know that is not what your intention was when you started down this path.

ENGINEERING YOUR DREAMS BACK DOWN TO REALITY You’ve finally woke up and put your denial aside. You’re now ready to do some serious business on the Internet. You’ve invested hard earned money into your own domain name, and on learning from those who are where you want to be.

Planning carefully the “cash copy” you want to use on your website for maximum returns ( this includes visitors returning to your website ).

You’re much savvier now, and you are finally getting on the right track, but oh boy it would have been sweet if you could have just pulled off the lemonade stand trick this time around and made a killing! However you’ve finally put the childhood dreams to rest, and rolled up your sleeves and are putting your new found knowledge, money, and sweet equity to work for you everyday, making those all too slow improvements to your success in the future. To reward yourself, and as a reminder to never look back, you drink an ice cold glass of lemonade, and say, “How SWEET it is!”

To YOUR SUCCESS!

Harry Fassett – Founder of Amazines.com has been working in the webhosting, and Search Engine Marketing industry since 1995. Visit: harryfassett.com for more information on his specialized Search Marketing services for small business. Plus get more leads, and quality prospects inquiring about your business starting today at: Building Your Home Based Business on a Budget.