In my experience, if your IM business is not properly funded the pressure to start making money becomes intense - very quickly. And when that happens you usually start making bad decisions.
So minimise the pressure on yourself by making sure your IM venture is properly funded. That can mean doing it part-time along side your day job until you start to build up revenue, or using a redundancy pay off to fund your new business, or using your lottery winnings.
Whatever you do, make sure you're properly funded.
2) Set short term goals - daily or weekly - and make sure you have full control over achieving them.
A goal that you have full control over is something like 'Learn CSS this week'.
'Earn $100 this week' is not something you have control over (not total control, anyway) - so don't set that as a goal.
To set yourself a goal over which you don't have full control is crazy. You're setting yourself up to fail. Setting goals over which you do have total control, and achieving them on a regular basis, gets you into a successful mindset. And that's the foundation for success.
Make sure that your short term goals all lead you towards your vision, or 'why'
3) Set out your 'why' and stick it up where you can see it each day.
Your 'why' is the reason why you want a successful online business. It could be to spend more time with your family, to become financially independent, to escape the rat race - whatever.
Times will get tough. You will get frustrated. You will feel like giving up.
Having your 'why' stuck above your computer screen will help you get past these roadblocks.
4) Be sure to track what you're doing so you can measure your progress.
Do this by ensuring your short term goals are constantly moving you forwards. If you've learnt CSS make sure you're doing new and more things with it each month, or learn something else - as long as it moves you forward in your business.
5) Trust your gut feel.
If something doesn't feel right it's probably not.
6) Don't do stuff in your business that you wouldn't want to talk to your family about.
People are increasingly suspicious of scams, particularly online, so your online reputation is even more important than your real life one.
So create an impeccable online reputation, and keep it.
7) Don't listen to people who are not encouraging - the nay-sayers.
Let me say that again: don't listen to the nay-sayers. There will be plenty of them.
Some people (probably including some of your family members) will try to discourage you from doing anything new. They don't want you to succeed. They will destroy your self belief and when the going gets tough you'll quit.
Don't listen to them and don't talk to them about your business. (That's the exception to the previous point!).
8) Don't get taken in by stories of mega success.
Whatever stories you read almost certainly didn't happen. Very, very, very few people achieve success overnight, and those that do don't talk about it - at least not publicly online.
9) Play to your strengths and strengthen your weaknesses.
Look at yourself and evaluate your weaknesses. Do so honestly and then find ways to mitigate them. This could include finding a business partner who has complementary strengths, taking a training course, or whatever.
10) Stay focused.
Whether it's on the niche you've picked for your site, or your tasks for the day, staying focused will get you to where you want to go. Losing focus will not.
