To continue where I left off in Part 1 of this post, the incredible possibility of the web had Rick and I truly dazzled, and we tried it all:

• Domain name trading;
• Developed traffic sites;
• Developed cell phone accessory sites;
• Sold a major courier companies’ lost freight from a national warehouse on EBay;
• Dabbled in MLM sites.

…. but all these albeit wonderfully different opportunities had real downfalls as far as we were concerned:

• For the most part, they were less than 100% automated;
• Most involved shipping some tangible item, or some other form of logistical burden;
• They were cost prohibitive, and difficult to break into and establish leadership positions quickly and reliably (look at some of the Ebay Powersellers sales volumes to see what I mean here);
• Last, the markets were either regional, or limited in where we could compete.

Most importantly, they were NOT 100% AUTMOMATED.

So, Rick and I plunked away at all of them about half heartedly, all the while enjoying our comfortable National Defence payroll cheques coming in, and this other stuff was the “gravy”.

Seems a hundred years ago now. Let me tell you, with 3 kids and a wife depending on you, and a whole future to pay for, one of the toughest things I ever did was cut away from that government cheque! More on that later.

Rick and I knew we were going in the right direction, and when we learned about affiliate marketing at a seminar we knew we were on to something, but we needed some sort of guideline to keep us on track, a conceptual “compass” of sorts to make sure that the bit of time we had to spend on this Internet business fledgling was well spent.

In answer to that need, we decided that any business model we would involve ourselves in insofar as the Internet was concerned would have to pass our “litmus” test:

1. The business would reside entirely online;
2. It would have to be based on 100% intangible properties, e.g. software, ebooks, services, etc.;
3. It should require no more than 10 hours per person per week (Rick and I);
4. Once set up, it should approach 99% automation (we are huge fans of the E-Myth book);
5. The product could be marketed, sold, and delivered 24 hours/day, 7 days/week without any interaction from us.;
6. It would need to be easy to replicate so we could teach others to do as we have;
7. It would need to be international, and as much without borders or geographical limitations as possible;
8. The first revenue goal would be $300/month.

Yep, $300/month. That was our realistic expectation for the first 3 months of business. It sounds funny, but it wasn’t all that many years ago, and now anything under a $30,000 month means we went off the rails, and even then our realistic expectation of income rises quarterly ( we incorporated to help shelter taxes, etc.)

Needless to say, we were a fair way beyond $300/month when I left the Air Force in 2006, but Rick retired from the Air Force 4 years before I did, and things were a little more touch and go then.  The truth is that things can go “south” on you in any business, but being in business for yourself literally removes the limitations you put on yourself by being employed by someone else.

It’s 2:30 a.m. here now, ’nuff said for tonight.

To be continued…

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