It doesn’t matter if you are new to this industry, a seasoned campaigner, or somewhere in between, the fact is you will need a number of basic things to help you build an online business.

These basics are independent of the type of business you are building, they are applicable across all sectors and interests, and will be invaluable whether you’re promoting affiliate products, membership systems, MLM opportunities or simply promoting your own products or services.

All business, in a nutshell, is composed of 3 main elements; production, marketing and sales. Profits are generated by these activities, and any other component is simply a support service to these 3 central players.

So how do these translate to the online world? Firstly, your product can be pretty much anything, from digital downloads, through subscriptions, all the way to an offline product or service.

Sales of course are like any other business – they represent the income for your business, preferably from a large number of customers, and on an ongoing basis.

Marketing is the important piece in the middle. It is marketing that puts your product(s) in front of people, it is marketing that provides people with an opportunity to become your customer, and it is marketing that reassures them that you and your product are worthy of their investment.

I don’t know about you, but when I think about those points, I start to realise a couple of interesting things; the product is irrelevant and sales are simply a by-product of marketing. This really does drive home a key message – that online business pretty much boils down to marketing.

Stop and think about that for a while – what does it mean? Well it probably means that you, just as I have done in the past, are focusing on the wrong things. It means that putting 90% of your effort into the product, and 10% into marketing is fundamentally flawed. It means that those who hope to avoid getting involved in that “marketing” stuff are going to be disappointed one way or the other.

So what’s all this got to do with an “Essential Toolkit”? Well, now we have identified the task ahead of us, we are able to assess the tools we need, and perhaps toss aside some that have the wrong focus.

At an absolute minimum, the bare toolkit consists of YOU and a computer. As I have said many times before, YOU are your business, YOU are the key product that’s being sold, and YOU are the one who needs to put in the effort to build your business.

A computer is also essential for online business – I guess you could operate entirely from an Internet cafe, but that’s probably not ideal.

Now, beyond these core essentials there really is just one more ingredient that will provide the foundation on which to build your future. Education.

Whether it is getting started, learning how to build a prospect list, refining existing techniques, or seeking inspiration, education is the key.

No matter who you are, there will be times when you hit a wall, need inspiration or encounter something of which you have no prior experience. This is where ongoing investment in yourself and self-education is vital. Reading books, watching videos, learning techniques – all these things will help over time.

This aspect is a particular issue for people with no prior experience of online business, networking or marketing. Unfortunately this group of people are easily targetted for a quick buck, resulting in them receiving little or no training, being given bad (or at best, useless) advice, or being sold systems that claim to do it all for them.

This is why I have no hesitation in recommending Gail Metcalf’s Network Marketing Machine

Gail has developed a collection of incredibly useful tools, resources and materials that can underpin any marketing effort. On top of this though, not only are you provided the tools, but easy-to-follow guides will walk you through everything step by step.

Yes, you do still need to do the work yourself, including an hour or two per day on marketing activities, but The Network Marketing Machine provides ways of building any business, using generic marketing tools, and NOT requiring you to cold sell, hassle your relatives, or any of the other things that lead to us being labelled “scammers”.

The system even builds in some very simple methods of revenue generation, but the main benefit, I believe, is how the education you will gain by following the steps.

Do yourself and your business a favour; take a look at The Network Marketing Machine today!

Gaz