Where Do You Get the Energy to Run an Online Business?

by Andrea Wilson

As a designer of XSitePro templates, it's disheartening for me when the templates I build for people never get used because people run out of steam as soon as they have to actually create any content.

I spent an hour talking to a client recently who was planning on putting together 50 AdSense sites for topics he knew absolutely nothing about. Whether he had found some magic, money-producing keywords or not, he was agonizing over the fact that he had to buy or write content for all these sites. He was running out of steam at the very first site.

I asked him what his passion was and he said boxing. I asked him if he could write about boxing. He said, heck yes, he'd never run out of content. I asked him if he thought he could find some affiliate programs for boxing products. He said he was sure he could. He felt he could even create some great products himself!

Finally, I asked him why he was making it so hard on himself by trying to build 50 AdSense sites he didn't have the slightest interest in. He said some Internet marketing guru had said that was the way to go; that making money should be your motivation, you didn't have to care about the market or the product.

But, as we were talking, my client had already proved to me and to himself that the guru's theory didn't apply to him. His total lack of interest and complete exhaustion at the thought of creating those 50 sites certainly showed that. No matter how profitable the keywords were supposed to be, he'd never make a single penny from them if he didn't have enough enthusiasm to get the sites up and running.

He had been asking me for a simple, cheap solution because he couldn't afford to have me build 50 beautiful custom XSitePro templates. But when he started thinking about making one site about boxing, he suddenly realized he could afford to have me create a great, custom template for him. You should have heard the happiness in his voice.

It was such a relief to him to see a different perspective. He felt energized and interested by the idea of creating a site he would love, a site that could also make him money, make him feel good... and even make him proud.

There's no one way or right way to build an online business; there's only the way that's right for you. But you have to have some interest in it or there won't be any energy to keep it going. Money alone might motivate you, but it's not enough for most of us.