A diamond is never a diamond until it's refined. When first mined
it's an ugly piece of rock. When patient, skilled effort is put
to work on it, removing the dross and shaping it, the diamond's
value is revealed.

It's so much like an online business. The time and effort we put
into it determines its value whether by us or its visitors. Thus,
we must always place a high premium on refining our business.

In a previous blog, I wrote about taking a breather when
marketing frustration seeps in (look for the title, "When
Marketing Frustration Threatens to Overwhelm You," at my site).
Let me add this as a sixth point: Take time to refine your
business.

There are three areas you can refine:

1. Your organization.
I'm not talking about your downline or your staff, if you have
any, but how you organize yourself. Frustration is built by going
around in circles.

You must have an organized work time, whether you put in 2 or 10
hours in it. This means having a plan of action and an outcome of
that action. For example, if your first hour is answering e-mail,
you must know how that activity can help in your business. If a
certain activity has nothing to do with your business,
reorganize. It's always good practice to expend fresh energy on
your business, especially the important aspects of it.

2. Your marketing strategies.
It would be pointless to continue on a strategy with little or no
results. Or, for that matter, use a system that is fruitless. The
Internet is full of marketing systems and programs that promise
results. No doubt a good number of them work. Some are just full
of it, if you get my drift. Yet many take some time and effort
before you see any fruit.

The point is, you need to test different strategies and, if
possible, find one that is compatible to what you can do or enjoy
doing. Working on something that you have an aversion to can only
lead to stress and frustration if it turns out to be fruitless.
Thus, a refinement of strategies can only bring you a step closer
to success.

3. Your resources.
Determine what you have. Do you have more time, less money; or do
you have more money but less time? Perhaps you have an equal dose
of both. Learn how to use both to your advantage. Contrary to
what marketing trends want to dictate, there are still
inexpensive and free resources one can use to effectively market.
Go to my site and take a look what these are.

In contrast, there are expensive systems out there that give you
nothing but hype. Worse, they're outright scams. You can try to
find out what these are by going to Alexa.com and typing in a
site you're doubting or you can visit the marketing forums, where
you can get a ton of excellent information.

In conclusion, online marketing has to be valuable to you if you
wish to succeed in this business. It will return to you what you
make of it. If you treat it as cheap dirt, that's what you'll
reap. If you treat it as a business worth maintaining and
refining, you'll soon enough discover the gem that it is.

Copyright 2003 Dean F. Mapa

About the Author
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