After being a stooge (not posting here for a while). I was reminded of a recent guest post that I wrote for publishing at The University Kid’s blog (http://www.theuniversitykid.com). Here is that post, entitled “Back to Business Basics”:

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This is my first guest blog post since starting www.serialmonetizer.com. As such, I wanted to make sure that I contributed something very worthwhile to Jason’s fast-growing group of readers. The one thing I think I bring to the “make money online” game that is unique compared to some is what I consider to be very good experience in brick and mortar business. So, my post is about my theories relative to fundamental rules of business that hold true whether you have a storefront or a webfront.

Whether we realize it or not, each of us that is in the game of making money online operates as a small business. It may not be our sole income, and we might not have fancy letterhead or incorporation…but it is a business nonetheless. We have to market, sell, service, promote, etc. all the same as if we were running a Subway franchise. To me, the following are rules are ones to live by in business—whether big or small, web or traditional. Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves, and don’t stop to reground ourselves in these points:

  • Stick To What You Know:

It sounds so darned simple. As an example, you won’t find me penning articles or blog entries on contemporary literature, on Impressionist Art, or on Mesothelioma (just thought I’d throw that one in for the adsense crowd). My current blog is really this in its most raw form. I’m not proclaiming to be a make money online superstar—I’m being right upfront about my novice status—but since I am learning the ropes, I will blog about what I have learned and now know about. When you start to operate in areas that you really don’t have an adequate depth of knowledge, you will be quickly ferreted out. This is especially true online—what with the advent of copyscape protecting original content, and all other information readily accessible—if you are BS’ing, misleading, or just wrong, you WILL be found out. Once this happens, you will lose credibility, and especially in the online world, when this happens you are just about sunk.

  • Stick To What You Do Well:

Again—I’ve not proclaimed that these pointers would be rocket science. However, we lose sight of these points all too often. If the first point could be considered the “what”, then this topic is the “how”. Too often, we get sucked in to doing jobs or tasks because it is what is necessary, or “right”, or what pays the bills. However, if we aren’t focusing our efforts on the types of tasks that maximize our individual skills, then we are leaving results on the table. A few examples:

n Shoemoney has written about this previously…but the responsibility mix between he and Dillsmack is a perfect example. Schoe knows that his strength is in marketing, while Dillsmack is a great technologist. Together, they apply their top strength to create some world-class results.

n An example from me. I too feel that my top strengths are in the softer skills like sales and marketing. Because of that, I look to external sources for things like graphic design, script writing, etc. Some call it outsourcing, which is an apt description. Many of us should really look to pass off some of those things that we just aren’t that good at, and focus our time and effort on the activities that will give us the greatest ROI.

  • Continue To Innovate:

This point is extremely important. If you have followed the first two pointers (this doesn’t work as well if you violate either of the first two), then innovation is your path to achieved or sustained greatness. The word innovation might be too strong—but could be summed up as learning, growing and trying new things.

An example from the make money online world: With the glut (myself now included) of people who are calling this genre home, we have to continually be delivering results of some variety to survive. Those results might be traffic, sales, conversions, posts, etc. If we all went about our business in the exact same way, we would have no leaders, and very few people would be satisfied with the content or those results. You can see this differentiation amongst some of the best known bloggers. Shoemoney is well-informed, with a good (sometimes dry) sense of humor, and he loves MMA. John Chow is credentialed, and borderline arrogant. John Cow is informative and can be very funny. Each of these online personalities has innovated and developed their own niche—enabling their big success.

So what exactly have I given you here? A blueprint for success? No. What I have given you is the opportunity to take these common sense items and reflect on your endeavors. Are you getting the results you would like from your job, or from your online money making efforts? The potential culprit could be a mis-alignment of these above traits. With 2008 still very young, I think we could all take a few minutes and, while cleaning mental house, evaluate how we are doing in these areas. It is really never too late to correct course.

Best of luck to you all! Follow my money making goals on my blog, www.serialmonetizer.com

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A gold star to those of you that made it to the end! :)