Ever notice how you can't turn around these days without stumbling across another obnoxiously boisterous Internet ad trying to sell you a one of a kind, web based business opportunity?

Are these people for real? First and foremost, what's so one of a kind about it when they're just pawning off a business that someone else pawned off on them for a nominal entry fee? Back-of-house marketing my patoot. All this is, is another attempt to help you spread around the money you made at your 9 to 5 job by offering you something that's supposed to be so much better, but into which you will sink five times the amount of money and time you would have put into your J-O-B before throwing in the towel and going back to work so you can still make your mortgage payment.

It's a Myth

Here's the short story. All those people out there who want to convince you that you're going to be an overnight millionaire just because you decided to step up and start a business out on the web? They're lying through their teeth.

Okay, maybe lying's a little harsh. Fudging the truth? Dangling false hope in front of you by using the example of a select few as a springboard to lure in the many? Pick your preference, but what it all boils down to in the end is that they're using the fact that a few people have managed to make good money on the web to convince you that you're next in line to be the new overnight Internet billionaire.

The Truth

Starting a web business is just as difficult as starting any other business. It demands, hard work, discipline, determination, capital and sweat. You need to find your niche market, target your customers to find the place where your business and your customers come together in harmony. You will put in long hours every day of the week and never get it all done. You will be involved in tedious petty tasks that seem to get you nowhere, but there is no one else to do them and your business will fail if they aren't done well.

You know what they don't tell you? That at some point you're going to want to bang your head on the table, throw in the towel, and announce to any and all that are listening that you've had enough of this junk and you're going back to your J-O-B. You have no life. Your family's barely speaking to you. You haven't slept in a month.

Believe this. Anyone who has attempted to start a web business will agree. Setting up a web business is not the same as opening the only toy store on Main Street, Podunksville. When you start up your business on the web you are competing with thousands of businesses from every corner of the planet. You will be knocking yourself out to find ways to bring in customer traffic. There will be months when you don't make enough money to buy groceries. On the other hand, there will be times when you are so busy and working such long hours that you don't have time to eat anyway. Many tasks will simply not get done.

The bottom line? Internet businesses offer up a huge amount of opportunity for the savvy entrepreneur, but you're going to work for it. There's going to be some blood. There's going to be some sweat. I'll guarantee you're going to have more than a few tears. So at the end of the day, the question really is, are you up for it? Have you got what it takes to stick it out?

If your answer to that question is yes, by all means go for it. Leave that office cubicle and put your mind, money and mettle to the test.