Online Business Opportunities: One Size Does Not Fit All

Contrary to what the makers of cheap pantyhose and gloves would have you believe, one size does not fit all.

If you’re a woman, you may have learned this hard fact of life when you hobbled yourself with a pair of pantyhose that wouldn’t pull up beyond your knees.

If you’re a man, perhaps your revelation came one icy morning when you thrust four fingers into that spanking new pair of gloves and found that you couldn’t get your thumb in for love nor money.

One size does not fit all. In fact, there is not much in life that does fit everyone. I think that is why God created such variety.

Incidentally, I use that word “God” advisedly because I know that not even one theology fits all. There are many different theologies and a-theologies (the opposite of theologies; if it’s not already a word, it should be).

The creative force in the universe has many different names, many different manifestations. For my fellow monotheists, that does not necessarily mean that there are many different gods but I’m not going to try to untangle that string from the ball of yarn right now.

I was talking about variety. Go to the grocery store and walk down the cereal aisle. You’ll find hundreds of different kinds of cereal.

Or, since you are on your computer (or mobile device) reading this, go to Google and search the phrase “work at home”. You will find (as of 9:30 a.m CDT, May 6, 2011) 35,100,000 entries that have something to do with working at home! That’s 35 MILLION. That’s variety.

If you are interested in working at home or in starting your own business online, such variety can be bewildering or downright overwhelming. You might be tempted to emulate the honey bee: buzzing from one to the other of the hundreds of flowers in the meadow, gathering a little pollen here and a little pollen there, never settling down to one flower.

That tactic might be good for a honey bee intent on making honey but, remember, one size does not fit all and one tactic does not fit all. You will find the cyber equivalent of the bright colors and enticing aromas that keep the bee busy – all kinds of f.ree offers, ebooks, CDs and MP3s – to lure you to one program or another. But you won’t find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

There is a phenomenon which I call (from hard experience) “the tyranny of opportunity”. What it means is that you have so much variety, so many choices, that you find yourself afraid to settle on any one thing. You might miss something.

If you settle on this means of making money on line, something bigger, brighter, flashier and more promising is sure to come along. The tyranny of opportunity kicks in and you forget about the time and money you’ve invested in thisand throw yourself heart and soul and pocketbook into the latest opportunity.

There lies the road to ruin. Or, as the old maps used to say, there be dragons.

So, how to you choose an opportunity that is a fit for you? How do you make the most of your investment of time, money and dreams? As a start, ask yourself some pointed questions:

Just what is it that you are looking for? A part-time job, a little extra cash, a full-time opportunity to quit the daily grind and work for yourself, or a means of supplementing your retirement income?

What are you willing to give up in exchange for getting whatever it is that you a re looking for? There are no real “get rich quick” schemes. At least none that work for anyone but the internet marketer who hooked you with that claim.

What are your particular interests, hobbies, talents? Since you’re going to be putting in some long hours of hard work, it had better be doing something you really love or, at the least, are honestly interested in.

What will you need to learn in order to work smart? Don’t despair if you think that you know nothing about computers, business, or marketing. Given the time, you can learn. There are some excellent membership sites that will help you. Chris Farrell Membership, for instance, helped me get started.

Do you have the grit, the determination, and the financial resources to stick with it until it becomes profitable? If not, what can you do to put starch in your backbone and hope in your heart?

Ask yourself these questions and we’ll talk later.