Starting an Internet Business

I was visiting with a friend the other day when the conversation turned to her job and finances. A typical middle class family with kids, husband working full-time and she working part-time. She told me how she was tired of working hard for pennies while making the boss big bucks. She wanted something of her own. She wanted a piece of the American Dream, to own her own business and gain financial independence.

I asked her a very important question. What are you doing to make a change in your life? She responded by saying "nothing". A bit more conversation and it became apparent that she simply didn't know how to get started. She was sure she wanted to start an Internet business, possibly selling products, but had no real idea of what to sell or how to do it.

Knowing that I have my own Internet home business, she began to quiz me on just what it is I do. I briefly explained what it is I do and the basics of how it is done, she had heard of the concept. Like most she had a ton of questions from there. I decided that since she is a friend I would help her get started.

I told her that the information I was about to give her for free, others pay me for. That is when it struck me. There are many that want to start an Internet business but don't know how to get started. I decided that I would share with everyone else things I would learn as it fit very well with the goals I have for my own business. It is a simple process really. I asked her to stick with me and go through a process answering some questions.

I began asking her about things she likes to do. She immediately went into telling how she was considering selling security products online or joining a drop shipper program. I had to back her up to get her focused. Again I asked her to forget about business for a minute and tell me about things she enjoys.

She started telling me about her hobby doing photography and photo editing. Now we have an idea I told her. We talked about her hobby. In that conversation we revealed many interesting photo editing and slide show projects she had completed and was working on. I found out about the software she uses and also learned about the cameras she uses.

We went on for some time with me asking questions while she wrote down ideas on that piece of paper that I asked her to begin by labeling two columns "photography" and "photo editing". Under each heading we had come up with quite an impressive list of ideas in a short time.

I explained that this brainstorming session is how I get started when developing a new website. We discussed how instead of offering her skills as a photographer and photo editing as a service, she may do better in teaching others what she has learned. I explained how offer a service doing photography and editing is a competitive and largely local market that could prove difficult and costly to sell. By teaching others for free and using affiliate programs and advertising on her website to monetize her site, she would better be able to afford the costs of promoting her business.

She was excited by this idea and told me just how much fun it was brainstorming ideas. So I assigned her the task of writing an article about a very specific point from one of our ideas on the list we had made. She felt that she could do this and would start working on it right away.

Our conversation ended with her promising me an article that I could review and a promise from me that we would take it to the next step from there. I will keep everyone updated as I progress with her the process.