To a great many of you reading this, the following statement is either going to sound self-evident or downright stupid: to be a success in business, you must first clearly define what business you are in.

Over the years it has continued to amaze me the number of people who seem to think there is a fundemental difference between running a traditional "bricks and mortar" business vs running one online.  This myopic viewpoint seems to be particularily prevalent among a class of people loosely know as "internet marketers", although it is not limited to this group.

I have attended several Internet Marketing seminars, as well as spoken with dozens of people who consider themselves part of that business sector.  The dirty little secret of Internet Marketing is that the success rate for those who choose to pursue that line of business is abysmal.  Try as I might to explain the fundemental, albeit boring, principles of basic business management (business plan, business model, etc.), these discussions all too often fall on deaf ears.

When I ask, "what is your business goal?", all too often the response is "to make money".  Really?   Don't we all want to make money?  Making money is a desire; a very good one.  But that desire is  not a viable substitute for a  sound business plan or a basic understanding of the realities of how to run a successful business.  Making money RESULTS from sound business practices and a clearly defined path to achieving that objective.  Making money is the result of the process, not the process itself.

I know people who say they own 10, 15, 20 or more "online marketing businesses".  They belong to several affiliate programs, engage in such goofy ventures as "Pay to Read",  market some ebooks via master reseller rights, belong to "Pay to Promote" sites and other such dubious endeavours.   How is that working out for you?  This is the basic shotgun approach: fire a shotgun into the air and see if you hit something.  On occasion they may actually score a hit, but the odds aren't very good.  And then, after a few months, they wonder why they aren't "making money".  Yogi Berra said it best: "if you don't know where you're going, you might not get there".

These folks are sincere, but they aren't running businesses.  I tend to bristle when they use that term.  All too often they are simply pawns for the people who are running these schemes.  The sad fact is that the vast majority of those who engage in "Internet Marketing" have no true understanding of running a business.  They lack a clear focus that would get them to their goal of making money.  It's all hit or miss, and mostly, miss.  The attrition rate for those who delve into Internet Marketing is 90% or higher.  Is that any wonder?

Of course, the lack of focus isn't limited to just those in Internet Marketing, not by a long shot.

I like cigars. There is nothing like a good cigar and your favorite beverage when it comes time to just relax and unwind. A number or years ago, a new tobacco shop opened in the small town where I used to live in Virginia. Naturally, I became a rather frequent visitor to that shop. When the owner of that business found out that I was a professional web developer he asked me if I would help him sell cigars via the Internet.

Being the glutton for punishment that I am, I of course said yes. One of my first questions to him was whether he wanted to concentrate on online sales or just use the web site as a marketing vehicle for his bricks and mortar store. His response was “both”. Strike one.

I informed him that there were several large companies (e.g., JR Tobacco) that offered cigars at highly discounted prices already on the web. Like most cigar stores, my “new friend” sold his cigars at “suggested retail” prices. Cigars that he sold for $7-$8 apiece in his store were available through companies like JR Tobacco for considerably less. So I explained that if he had any chance of competing he had to consider lowering his prices. He said he was willing to lower his prices on the web site a little bit, but would still sell them for full retail in his store. At this point I started to get that uncomfortable feeling of “what have I gotten myself into?”

I then proceeded to explain if he offered his cigars on the web for less than he offered in his store, he would most likely either lose his local clientele, or they would demand they pay the same price in the store as he offered on the web site.
He pondered this conundrum and finally decided he was going to sell the cigars for full price in both places. Strike two.

He then came up with the notion that he could sell cigars at quantity discounts to other retailers at the same time he sold them for full price to his customers. I dutifully asked him “well, then do you want the focus for the web site to be B2C or B2B?” To my chagrin, I had to then explain what those terms meant. Not surprisingly, his response was “I want to do both”.

I decided to take one more stab at it and explained that trying to be a bricks and mortar, B2B and B2C business all at once, especially considering his physical shop was still trying to turn a profit, was not a terribly focused approach to running a fledgling business. He looked at me in genuine frustration and said, “Ray, why are you making this so complicated? I just want to sell cigars any way I can”. Strike three, next batter.

He just wanted to sell cigars any way he could. Nice goal; terrible business model. He had no clear focus whatsoever. Over the years, his bricks and mortar business made a respectful profit. His web site sales, not surprisingly, failed miserably. I consider that failure to be his, not mine.

I have seen this same type of approach over and over again. You probably have as well. It doesn’t work. Trying to "boil the ocean" by doing it all is a recipe for failure.  Taking an "ala carte" approach as a means to make money is no substitute for sound business practices .