A2 Network Business Blog

Well, not completely, but I’m going to give Internet Marketing another try.  My day’s have been really busy lately, but I’ve been short on money, and have a few good ideas I would like to expand on.   That said, I’m looking for a few PHP/MySQL coders to help me develop a few sites, so please contact me if you’re available for some light work.

I’m going to be working primarily on Text Me Free, another free text messaging website.  I decided to stick with what I know, and the online text messaging niche is something that I am somewhat familiar with.  I have a few great ideas on how to generate a little bit of buzz around the website, and possibly get it “dugg”.  I’m also going to be selling Fake Send to a co-worker of mine for around $200, which isn’t a bad deal at all considering that I invested around $100 in developing it and its got a PR (3, if I am not mistaken).

In other news, I purchased an iPhone recently and hacked it so that I could install 3rd party apps on it.  Its sick right now, its only downfall being that I’m not able to synchronize it with my Outlook calendar/contacts/tasks at work.  Anyways, please get at me if you can code, and wish me luck with my new endeavors.

- Andrew Rouhafzai

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Firstly, I’d like to thank Andrew for the guest post invite, and I’d recommend a look at my blog Biz-Blogger.net if you find this post of interest…

For my Guest Post here, I thought I’d look at something that applies across the board to basically everyone trying to make it online, and something which can definitely provide value to any online business owner - networking.  The importance of networking is often underestimated online, yet still it can provide the answer to a myriad solutions and open up numerous doors for the future of your business. 

Luckily, with the so-called Web2.0 and the growth of social networking sites it’s becoming more and more possible to communicate directly with those that share interests.  But in business, as I’ve learned from personal experience, it can be better to think beyond the traditional boundaries of your chums, and move towards those that can actually provide value for your business to help boost your bottom line.

In my recent post on building business through parallel thinking I spoke about the ways I have found to build a sustainable customer base without having to spend heavily on marketing, primarily through networking and offering yourself to a wider audience than your traditional end consumer.  Networking with anyone and everyone is a kind of extension to this, and by doing so you can build a strong safety underneath your organization to provide you with support when you need it.

One of the best ways to establish and market yourself would seem to be through webmaster forums, like digital point, particularly if you are operating online.  It’s a great way to make friends (and enemies…) with other online entrepreneur across various skill sets which can eventually provide you with someone to ask for advice and exchange ideas with throughout your online career.  On top of that, you might find cross-referrals between you and your new online network, which is obviously a great way to bolster your existing business and strengthen your sales.

All in all, it’s about a bit of creative thinking, which really goes a long way in business.  It’s a competitive dog-eat-dog arena, and you’ve got to work beyond your traditional comfort zone to ensure your business is left standing when the dust finally settles.

David Fraser is an online entrepreneur based in the UK.  His new blog, Biz-Blogger.net, looks at some of the issues surrounding internet entrepreneurs and internet business.

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There is no way to be completely immune to losing money when you are conducting business. Whether you’re running a restaurant or doing PPC arbitrage with Adsense and AdCenter, you can always expect to have a bad day and lose some money. That said, a valuable skill to have is to know when you should cut your losses and stop doing something. A good example of this is the stock market. There is a lot of money to be made playing around with stocks, but you are always going to pick a wrong stock and lose some money. The trick is simply to pick more money-making stocks than money-losing stocks.

Too many people have the problem that when they find a stock that isn’t making them money, they stick with it and lose even more money. They keep telling themselves that the stock has to go back up eventually, and 9 times out of ten they lose all their money. Its like a gambling addiction. People keep gambling more and more always trying to make back the money that they had initially lost. The smarter business decision would simply be to cut your losses and stop gambling/sell your stock.

I cut my losses recently by spending $175 to terminate my contract with Verizon Wireless. I was spending roughly $70+ a month on my cell phone line, and I really didn’t like spending that much. I talked with my dad, and he promised to pay my bill at Cingular if I joined under his plan, as long as I was able to cancel my plan with Verizon. I crunched some numbers, and, since my plan with them expired in December of 2008, I definitely decided that the smarter business decision would be to take the loss of $175 early termination fee (equivalent of 3 months service) than continue service with them.

Knowing when the right time to cut your losses and just accept the fact that you lost money is an extremely valuable skill to have. Make sure you crunch your numbers and do your math, and figure out for yourself which is the better business decision. In regards to my cell phone plan, I am now enjoying a nice Samsung Blackjack phone, and my dad is paying my phone bill. I may have had to spend a few hundred to get to this stage, but, in the long run, I saved myself over $1000 (15 months x $70/month). So, next time your stuck in a tough decision, make sure you take your decisions wisely, and think what will help you at more in the long run. Even though paying something like an ETF sounds like a bad business decision, it was actually for the best, in my case.

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