Lynn slumped down into the cushiony chair. She had been holed up in today’s profit building business meeting for two hours already. She gazed down at her watch, took a deep breathe and pulled herself upright. This meeting was one of the many that Lynn spaced out and heard nothing that her supervisor said.

She often spaced out at work. She thought about all sorts of things. She thought of asking for a raise, but knew her company would counter with, “We are being conservative right now because of the economy. Perhaps you could work more hours if you need additional income?”

Lynn certainly did not want to work more hours., but she knew that she deserved more money and a better quality of life. She also knew that her present employer was not going to give out raises. In fact, they have been laying people off for months now.

Lynn did have a small hope though. She often dreamed of being her own boss. She craved owning a successful business, but had no idea where to start. She came close to starting a few small businesses before, but in the end she always decided the risk was too high. Lynn had taken small business courses, read marketing manuals, and networked like a pro, but she still did not have a business of her own.

Today was different. Lynn was spacing out because she was consumed and excited about a new business idea. She recently read an article about starting an online business. She had done some research and knew that she would need a domain name and a hosting company. She figured the domain name would cost about $10/ year and the hosting was about $100/year. The hosting company even offered a free website building tool. All in all, this was perfect for her. It was a low financial risk investment with an opportunity to succeed big time.

Lynn rushed home after her boring work meeting. She had decided it was time to turn her dream into her reality. Today was the day! She wanted to build an online business all about her passion- fitness. She had huge dreams and was positive that once she bought her domain name and hosted her web pages that droves of visitors would flock to her site. They would buy workout DVD’s and spend loads of money. She could not believe how easy this was going to be.

She bought her domain name and built a nice looking site in a few hours. Everything was going according to the plan. Domain? Check. Hosting? Check. Website? Check. Products to sell? Check.

Three months later…

Lynn curled up in her office chair. She gazed out of the window and let out a huge sigh of failure. She did everything she was supposed to do. What had gone wrong? Her only visitors were her family and friends. There were no other customers. There was no income. There were no more dreams of running a successful online business.

Lynn had tried everything to save her failing business. Within that last three months she hired a website designer, she paid an SEO firm to optimize her pages and she bid on top pay-per-click positions. She spent over $5,000 in less than three months and she had nothing to show for it.

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