Question:

How do you start an online business, did a mentor help you start you're business? I'm interested in starting an online business, but have no experience. Do you know any successful business mentors who can help me start and run a business, as well market my business to give it more exposure along with bringing in the revenues?

Answer:

A great resource to turn to for help in starting any business is the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). Since you are based in the US, this is a great resource. The organization is funded by the government so most of the services are free. I was a business counselor for a SBDC for more than 2 years and helped many entrepreneurs with their marketing and business development strategy. You can go to www.asbdc-us.org and then do a search for an SBDC near you.

As far as how I started my internet business, it first started 10 years ago as a consulting business called, Profit Strategies, Inc. So for me, I grew into having a business that is on the web. I wanted to have an international scope of services and the internet provides that ability.

So it is important as you develop your internet business to develop your vision, become clear about the big picture of what you would like to provide. I knew three things when I started my business 10 years ago: that I wanted to be a speaker, writer and trainer/consultant. That was it - that was all I knew - it was kind of like "connecting the dots" - remember doing that when you were a kid? So just create an outline of the dots - and that will get you started!

Posted by Suzanne Mulvehill, MBA