Most, if not all, entrepreneurs have their own Cinderella stories: from living on welfare and waiting tables, to making their first million before they’re 30 and owning jets.

While all these stories arouse feelings hope and inspiration, the trek up the road to success is really a bit more nasty.

Consider the approach taken by Mike Michalowicz, and ask yourself, “Am I a ‘Toilet Paper Entrepreneur’?”

Mike compares true entrepreneurialism to a typical bathroom experience: “business” is done and you discover only 3 sheets of TP left on the roll! Necessity breeds invention if you want to leave the rest room smelling like a rose.

He adds that successful and serious entrepreneurs are not those who sit around and wait for someone to hand them a “roll of toilet paper”.

They take matters into their own hands and search within reach that they use. If you must, dig through the garbage, or use the roll of cardboard instead and move on.

Moreover, serious entrepreneurs make it a habit of not making excuses and are impatient to those people who do.

You’ll never hear them say

“I don’t have enough money right now.”

“I’m not smart enough for that.”

“I don’t have the time. I’m too busy.”

“Businesses take too long to build.”

“There’s too much risk involved. I’m too scared.”

“I’m too old for this.”

Serious entrepreneurs don’t just sit and dream about when their big break would come, but they get off their butts and make it happen.

They don’t sit on their money, waiting for it to grow on their own. They’ll go out and make their own moneymaking ventures, whether it’s selling lemonade by the street, or setting microchips in Silicone Valley.

And if you think that they’re off burning their millions, think again! Warren Buffett, who is, according to Forbes, the third richest person in the world, lives in the same $31,500 home that he brought four decades ago, in Omaha, Nebraska.

Successful Entrepreneurs do not multi-task. They’re like bulldogs: they’ll latch on to one thing until it’s good and done proper.

They aren’t perfectioniststhey say, “Good is good enough.”

And that’s because they have learned that money likes speed.

They know that if they sit around and do and erase and redo and re-erase, by the time they finish their product, their competition would have swooped in, cornered the market, and left them no room at all.

They don’t spend the bulk of their time thinking, planning, and revising they take action.

They are thrill seekers, but they have gone out of their way to calculate the risks involved.

The founder of Feedburner.com, Dick Costolo once said, “The secret is to simply ride on the bike, just get on the bike without much thought of the reasons you could fall off. Just get on and pedal. You can grab a map, a tire pump, and better shoes while you’re at it.”

Serious Entrepreneurs do not need toilet paper.

Why so? Because for sure they have a napkin to spare in one of their pockets with another million dollar project written on the other side.

A few franchise candidates wish to gain their mark by starting a franchise business from scratch. Others prefer to skip the startup and purchase an up-and-running franchise business.

If you believe you might be part of the latter group, here is some franchise information to examine before you get your heart set on this track:

1. Discovering an existing franchise that is part of an established franchise system, fulfills your needs, matches your skills, at a price you can afford, in an area where you want to live can take time. Going concerns that meet these criteria dont come along often.

2. You usually have to pay more for a successful existing franchise than you would pay to start the franchise yourself.

3. Whereas franchisors may give you an idea of what it costs to start a franchise in Item 7 of the Franchise Disclosure Document, you often must rely on your own resources to determine the value of an existing franchise. You need to know how to assess the business, or you need skillful advisors who are acquainted with the business category or even with that franchise system.

4. Taking over an existing business can be a little like climbing on a moving train. The train is already going down the tracks. Your job is to figure out how to drive the train before it derails.

If you come across a suitable franchise, there can be numerous nice advantages.

1. A growing existing business should already have a proven client base you can rely on after you take over.

2. A flourishing existing business should also have a happy group of employees that know how to lead the day-to-day operations of the business.

3. You should be able to assume the existing lease thereby eliminating the need to look for space and wait for the build-out to be achieved.

4. You may step right into a positive cash flow situation.

Over the years I have worked with numerous people. Most possess an opinion in reference to whether it is best to pay a premium for a successful existing business or start a business from scratch. I can tell you that both approaches have their pluses and minuses. Remember that there are no free rides. If the business is successful, stable and profitable, it is going to cost more to buy and you will have a smaller upside. In other words, you are buying cash flow at the expense of growth potential.

On the other hand, if you start your own franchised business it might cost less with a smoother learning curve but the ramp up to cash flow break even will take longer.

Which constitutes the correct answer? Well that is for you to determine. It you need advice, feel free to contact us at The Educated Franchise.

A guarantee is very important when buying any product. Risk free purchases mean less stress for the consumer, and that’s probably the way it should be. Any customer wants to have a guarantee with the product when they make a purchase; because nobody ever knows what could go wrong. The best types of guarantees are unconditional ones and provide for free shipping both ways. Purchasing anything that doesn’t have a guarantee is a risk and here are a few good reasons why:

Why you need a guarantee…

* In case of a defect in product: Even if you are buying from a reliable company defective products can occur. Not everything works perfectly and sometimes goods are already defective from the manufacturer. That is why it is best to find a company that offers a replacement without charging you for the shipping.

* Shows credibility of the company: The company that thinks about their clients and offers an absolute guarantee with its product is one that is reliable. They work hard on their quality control and they make sure that their products meet the standard quality. That is why their company does not expect and most likely does not have many returns.

* Buy with confidence: sometimes it’s not what you want and the quality of the product is substandard. Delays in a product’s delivery will possibly have a domino effect and hold up other work. Business delays can cost you money as well as your valuable time.

The advantages of a guarantee for a business:

* Puts them ahead of the competition: Offering an absolute guarantee puts a company at the front of the competition. The better the refund policy the more additional sales a business can make.

* A branding feature: Some companies have such a good guarantee that it becomes part of their brand and customers associate it with their company. This is another way to increase sales.

* Build loyalty with customers: when a company has a good guarantee and honors it they will get more customers. Referrals and viral marketing is a powerful way to build a customer database. There is nothing like the power of word of mouth marketing. Your customers will become powerful marketing tools and will not cost any money.

Sometimes, the different types of guarantees offered to consumers can be very confusing. Sometimes a guarantee is nothing more than a guarantee of frustration. A good guarantee will offer no shipping charges (either way) and have a hassle-free unconditional guarantee. Read the fine print carefully on any guarantee to sniff out any problems before they occur.

As an entrepreneur in this day, do you have any hope?! Statistically speaking, not much. With only 35% of new businesses surviving their first year, and 29% making it through three years, what are we to do?

There are many reasons people take the risk of starting their own business. *No cap on what you can make *Set your own hours *Work to make yourself rich rather than someone else *Do something you truly enjoy *Control your time and finances

The dream of creating the life you want make are enough to make convince millions of people a year to ignore the stats and go for it. I have tried several businesses myself, and found marginal success and worked my tail off in the process. The question is always: How long do I dump money and time into this before I succeed or cut my losses?

So, what are your best options? If you are a creative mind you can think of a niche in the market that hasnt been tapped, and find a place and the finances to succeed. If you dont have any original ideas or great amounts of money, a home business might be an option for you. Lets look at the statistics for home businesses in this country.

* The number of home businesses lasting over a three year period is about 70% -much better than other business ventures. * The average income earned by home business owners is $63,000 a year. Not bad considering the average household income in America is $47,0000. * 20% of home businesses, according to Money magazine, had a yearly gross income of $100,000-$500,000 * 89% of people with household incomes over $80,000 have a home office.

If you are venturing into a home based business with a company that rewards you for bringing other people on board you will also be glad to know that it is estimated that more than 9 million people will earn some from of income from home. Someone starts a home business every 11 seconds. Also, with the internets ability to allow you to market to many countries, the economy of your own country is less of a deciding factor in success. And what about the recession? It has actually helped many home business owners because so many people are feeling no job security or are needing an extra income source.

One random fact you may not have considered is that by staying off the roads by working at home, workers will reduce CO2 emissions by at least an estimated 18 million kg this year.

There are many opportunities out there, and most are legitimate, but if you’ve spent any time searching online, the number of scams is daunting. Here are a few guidelines to get you pointed in the right direction:

* You must find a company whose products you believe in. * Although Im not against MLMs, direct selling of products with a decent commission appeals to me. * Find out if there are any third party endorsements of the company. Dont just take someones work for it. * Consider the start up costs as compared to how long it will take you to earn a significant income. Some companies offer very low start up costs but you have to work for months or even years before it starts to really generate income. * Investigate hidden costs (advertising, monthly dues, having to buy a certain amount of product yourself) * How much time are you REALLY going to have to put in to make your income goal? Ask some new people, not the seasoned 6 figure earners who are hiring their dirty work out. * Be leery of companies that want you to talk to your family and friends about your new business to generate potential customers. This almost never works. People today are bombarded with new opportunities, and its hard for most people to talk to others they know without coming across as a user.

This being said, there are many great opportunities available if you do your due diligence. Home businesses are the wave of the future, and can help solve many of our problems. Just study before you leap. From one big thinker to another, I truly wish you success!

If life is a tight rope walk for all, for serious entrepreneurs, life is a tight rope walk with spinning plates in hand sans a safety net below. Sure, they are making it to the top of the ladder in their business, but are also perforce perpetually running survival marathons.

Most of the time, it is pure survival acrobatics.

The life of an internet marketer consists of endless rounds of promotional and motivational pep talk, chasing of prospects, struggling to keep the head above the avalanche of instant messages and emails, keeping ahead of the marketing game, in short doing so many things including, perhaps, counting the chickens before they hatch.

Life for him might look like a circular jogging track from which he cannot find a way outside.

Serious entrepreneur John Alston had this to say about serious entrepreneurs in the January issue of the Professional Speaker magazine: “For some of us, work is our first love, and for those of us struggling to make our businesses work, there are patient and enduring lovers, spouses and children hanging in there with us. For others there are ex-lovers, ex-spouses and alienated children who can and will testify to what you really value.”

Every job comes with a certain amount of stress, but having your own business — and whether or not you market on the internet full-time, you must look at it as a business and NOT a hobby — is a whole different ball game. And most likely no one taught you how to handle the pressure. It was sink or swim, and you worked out the inevitable challenges on your own.

All serious entrepreneurs in the world of internet marketing are there because they see their work almost as a vocation, a calling. It is a call of the soul that they cannot resist. Every new challenge is seen by them as an opportunity to rise higher. They simply get drunk on the pleasure of picking up the gauntlet, surmounting the problem, and thereby going another step higher in the success ladder.

But they know when to shut the computer off.

Serious entrepreneurs are only too conscious about the fact that though their jobs define life itself for them, life is much more than that as well.

They could be equally passionate about adventure sports, passive hobbies, philanthropic activities, or whatever that could define another facet of their life. Serious entrepreneurs may play the roles of a father or a husband with equal relish.

Incorporating entertainments, altruisms, or gym workouts into one’s schedule is not in fact a time management problem. Each of these facets of life is as important in a man’s life as the other. Together they maintain the equilibrium of life and make the passion for making money itself worthwhile.

If you think you have no time, remember the Parkinson’s Law “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”

Stop! You’ll never get it all done. The things on your to-do list never get completely crossed off. So, take stock and decide what means most to you, what you love to do. And the rest can either be forgotten or outsourced when it comes to your business.

Albert Schweitzer said, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

The best kept secret to make money online is none other than promoting offers for various advertisers through the CPA networks. There are many who are making $10,000, $30,000, $50,000, $100,000 up to millions per month consistently promoting offers through various CPA networks to make money online.

You will want to get set up as an affiliate with the CPA networks. Click booth, Hydra Network, Commission Junction are a few examples. Once you are approved log in and look at their products and then do a quick search on Google as to the number of searches for the type of product you want to promote. You will now will make money online as you have a product and a hungry market looking for you to give them the solution.

All of the CPA networks provide promotional material for you to help you get started immediately promoting the products you have chosen. You will notice there is html creative for email as well as banners and text email. Everything you need to make money online is ready, set, go. However you need to pay attention to the ways the campaign is to be promoted as well as other guidelines. Ignore these rules and all you work will be for naught because you will not get paid.

If you want to make money online promoting advertisers products then you would be wise to not use the creative the CPA networks have provided. You see the consumer gets bored with seeing the same banner over and over. They already know what it is about so they ignore it. Imagine if you and hundreds of other affiliates are promoting the same product with the same creative? You will have to have original creative and the easiest way is to go to elance.com and post a job for a graphic designer to make you a new design.

Now that you have your original creative you can begin your advertising for your product to the hungry market that is looking for your solution to their problem. There is hundreds of products and more being added to the CPA networks everyday so you will never run out of products to promote. Even if one goes away you just link another product to your creative and keep right on promoting and make as much money online as you want.

Setting up the foundation for this business will make the difference between you making a good online income and a million dollar income that is possible with this opportunity. Don’t dismiss this as too good to be true. Large corporations are spending millions per month to acquire new customers and you have the opportunity to work with them and make more money online than you ever could in the offline world if you worked for them as an employee. Open up to the possibilities that are before you and make your dreams a reality. Learn the secret tactics of the super affiliates and use the internet to make it happen.