Although I am not a fan of the government trying to regulate anything to do with the Net, there should be a required disclaimer on every marketing tool and strategy sold that simply says... "This purchase is just the beginning. You are required to spend thousands of more dollars and work much harder then you ever would at your full time job if you really want to succeed online"

I would never support the government trying to pass such a law, but to get the point across that is how important I think it is that people understand just how much time and money they need to plan on devoting to an online business. I know that is not what you read on those millions of sites trying to sell you the best thing sense e-mail, but the truth needs to be told.

Most people start out by trying to build an online business on the cheap, after all that is what they have been told they can do, and that's why they are online to begin with. The truth is no matter if it's Network Marketing, Affiliate Marketing or selling your own product, it's going to take time and money to be successful. You won't see that wrote in bold letters on any website promoting a program or a marketing tool. Yet every successful online business person knows in there own heart how much time effort and money they have put into building their own online business. They don't talk or write about it because it's a negative, and negatives don't sell. People are looking for an easier and better way when they are looking for their business making money online opportunity, so the gurus highlight that part of the business and forget about telling you how much work it was to get where they are at today.

You can't blame them for that, after all they are in business to make money. Funny thing is every sales letter I ever read, every piece of marketing software I ever bought, I always wondered one thing. If this is really so easy and will really make me so much money, why wouldn't the owner keep this a secret? I just don't think I would be as willing to share a secret that was making me a ton of money. Especially knowing that on the Internet anything that even works a little bit soon becomes exploited to the point where it becomes less effective. I guess I just don't have as big of heart as those millions of website owners selling their secrets strategies.

Truth is I do purchase many software packages and continue to purchase training materials to the tune of thousands of dollars. I don't spend this money because I'm a shopaholic (I leave that job for my wife) I spend it because it is necessary to keep up with the ever changing Net.

I would best compare online marketing tools to the stars in outer space... You have new stars being created everyday. They are all in different stages of their life cycle, some are new and some are old and ready to burn out. Others get devoured by a black whole. The new starts could be compared to the fresh new marketing ideas and they hold the greatest promise for success but who knows how long they will last. The older starts could be compared to all those programs and software packages that seem to hang around because there is always someone new looking for answers and willing to purchase anything that has a good sales pitch. Then you have those tools that get sucked into a black whole... will call this black whole Google's revenge (that's another article.)

I don't know who first said this, but it is something I live by... "The only thing that's constant is change" that statement was first made about the off-line world and you can multiply that by a million for the online world. That continues change is the very reason you must be prepared to continue to spend thousands of dollars to build a successful online business. Only you can decide if you have the upfront money and the time to devote to building a successful business. If you at least now understand and accept the fact that it does take both, than you can make an intelligent decision on what to do next.