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by Carrie Lauth

Recently I had the opportunity to pick the brains of 15 women with successful online businesses. Each of them are earning a very good full time income, many on a part time basis, working from home.

So many women struggle when they launch an online business. It's not that difficult to earn a few dollars with a website, but getting to the full time money seems out of reach for so many. Why do so few meet their income goals? What's missing?

What I wanted to know was what made these women who are earning real money online different. Was it getting the right information? Working harder? Talent? Or something else? You might be interested to see what I found out.

In reading through their stories, I found that these moms mostly said very similar things, only in slightly different ways. Here were some of the major themes:

Coaching and Mentoring
Most of the women I interviewed said that finding a coach or mentor made a dramatic difference in their business. Having a coach or mentor can shorten the learning curve by months or even years.

If you have been marketing online for some time, hiring a coach can help you see what you're doing right and what you may be doing wrong, where you may be wasting time and effort, and where you can be more productive.

Joint Ventures and Networking
There is a lot of networking going on online, to be sure. But is it really profitable? Or is it a case of the blind (or in this case, broke) leading the blind? Several of the women I interviewed said that forming joint venture partners really rocketed their business forward. The key was networking and forming joint venture partnerships with people who were where they wanted to be, who were 3 steps (or more) ahead.

Focus and Target Market
Another common lesson throughout the stories was: pick a target market and focus. Several of the moms said that they had made the mistake of trying to be all things to all people, or having their hands in too many pots. It's one thing to maximize your marketing efforts by going wide in your business and serving your main target market with several websites and products. It's another thing entirely to try to be successful in several unrelated markets.

Investing in Continuing Education
Another component to success online that many of my interviewees mentioned is the importance they placed on their personal marketing and business education. These successful women continually invested in their learning. And what's more, they applied what they were learning to their business for continued growth and progress. Don't let ebooks and membership communities gather virtual dust on your desktop. Use the learning products you've purchased to propel you forward.

Discuss this in our Forum

About the Author:

To learn how 15 women earn a full time living on the internet on a part time basis, visit www.carrielauth.com/full-time-money.html