I don’t know how many times you will read it, and it’ll take a few readings before the idea starts to stick in your mind, but your business relies on you, and you alone.

I’m not talking about the obvious things; it should be clear to anyone that the business needs you to start it, pay the bills, or whatever. No, what I am talking about is you as your business’s primary product; THE thing that needs to be sold to your customers and associates.

You see, people have a habit of dealing only with people they like, and if they find they like you, can trust you, and you continue to serve their needs, then they will come back to you with further business, again and again. Not only that, but they will tell other people about your great products, and how you are great to deal with.

This applies to business, and even life, in general. It is particularly important in the online business and network marketing arenas.

This is where so many home business owners go wrong; they focus on setting up their business/product web site, they focus on selling their product as hard as they can, they panic when these efforts don’t give the level of return expected/needed.

Focus on product and you immediately put yourself up against thousands of identical products, each with their own unique selling point (USP) and each, perhaps, with similar pricing. This sets you up for failure, negative experiences, and disillusionment right away – not a good thing in an industry where maintaining optimism is a key requirement!

With Online Business, and Online Marketing in particular, you will do well to build up a network of contacts first. It is tempting to jump straight in with promotional web sites, online advertising, and all those types of things, but if you build a strong network of contacts, you will be doing the long-term health of your business, and your long-term financial stability the world of good!

Think about it logically – if you take time to get to know people, take a genuine interest in people, and make genuine connections with people, they will start to like you, trust you, and take an interest in you. At this stage they discover you sell or market things they are interested in, so they happily deal with you, as someone they trust.

I must stress that I am NOT advocating fostering false friendships for commercial gain, and you would get found out very quickly. I am talking about putting down deep roots on the Internet, getting a strong network of online friends, colleagues and contacts, and allowing them to discover what it is you do, in their own time.

You do not need to be the salesman everyone hides from; you can be the trusted friend people turn to when they need something.

Gaz