So many people try to make a go at making a living online. Making a living meaning at least a fairly significant part-time income if not full-time, gangbusters, all out profitable business.

So many people try to make a go at making a living online. Making a living meaning at least a fairly significant part-time income if not full-time, gangbusters, all out profitable business.

Except most people who will be among the list of failed attempts in 2005 are not actually “in business.” They are looking for the easy, quick buck. And since there is no such thing, they will walk away from the opportunity of a lifetime because they shied away from work.

What always confounds me about that is that people keep working for other people. For a set amount of income. At set amounts of time per week and according to the whims of an actual boss. They can’t be working any LESS at a regular job. Yet when they see the work it takes to actually do very well online, they back off and go back to real work with no possibility of generating wealth.

No big deal. No loss to you and me. What I really want to focus on is getting YOU out of that mentality which might still be engrained in you which is holding you back from your potential. Take one of your former employers as an example. Do you think they built the company in a month? Two? Heck no!

But with the internet, people have been misguided into thinking things happen overnight when, in fact, they do not. All those slimy salesletters we all read when we started out get subconciously embedded in us to the point that we actually think it is not only possible to become an overnight success, we believe we deserve it!

Neither is the case. You have to prove your mettle in online business just as much as offline. You have to sacrifice, work, sweat, and work some more. But this work is different. It is YOUR work and YOUR business you are working for. That, to me, is worth every moment of time I spend on it. But I have always had an extreme phobia of being an employee with a boss. Never did make a good employee at any job I held. I had no reason to care because I had no stake in the work I did.

Real businesses are built one step at a time. And most importantly, they are built over time, not all at once. Definitely not with the click of a button or by signing up with some company and getting a cookie cutter site.

So your assignment today is to think about the next best step in your business. Just that and nothing else. What do you need to do to further your business NEXT? I am sure you have thought a lot about the end goal, but to reach it you must take one step at a time, have patience and persistance, and realize that while you’d rather be out shopping, fishing, golfing, sailing or something else, right now you are working to further your business so you can do all the things you want just a bit later.

You are building something of value, I hope. And value takes time to build. But, like John Reese says, if you build a business based on real tangible assets you can always rely on to support the business, you are building security and a solid presence you can count on to bring you profits for a lifetime.

Stay away from the scams and schemes. Build your business based upon the needs of your visitors and always make decisions based on their best interests and everything just falls into place.

Ignore the tricks you think you have pull for the search engines and focus on your customers needs and you will get the best of both sales and rankings. Take the time to keep up on your industry and know your market. Use common sense. Build your empire one step at a time and as a real business rather than a money making scheme.

Jack Humphrey is managing partner at http://contentdesk.com and author of Power Linking. More info: http://power-linking-profits.com