When you are dreaming, think big. When you are building, think small. For people who are trying to build an online business, this is a great motto. Let me explain.
1. Think Big
Think Big is the motto by which successful people live. They start a business with the dream of becoming a millionaire, not earning peanuts. Wherever you look on the internet you will see promises of making six figure incomes and invitations to join a millionaire club of one kind or another.
When you subscribe to one of these successful online businesses you are questioned about your dreams. What sort of money do you want to earn? How will you spend your six figure income when you get it? Of course the operators of these businesses are, quite rightly, checking out your motivation.
2. Dream Your Dreams
Martin Luther King had a dream - that all men would be equal. He was thinking BIG, and his dream has not yet been fully realised. Having a goal is a kind of dreaming. You visualize something that at present does not exist, and set your sights on a seemingly unattainable target.
Don't be afraid to dream. After all, dreaming is the foundation of good planning, and what is the point of thinking small when you are dreaming? You can achieve anything in a dream, so think as big as you like. You have nothing to lose. Things don't have to be as they are. You can change anything - if you really want to!
OK, so we have come up with our dream to make a million or to save the world in some way; what do we do next?
3. Think Small
That's right. Think small. Many people go no further than their dreams. They start to think about it and it all seems to big. But it is at this point that the successful person starts to think SMALL! It is as if you have a dream of untangling a huge tangled ball of wool. You have to start with one thread at a time. As Confucius put it, 'The journey of a thousand li begins with a single step.' When you build your dream house, it has to be built one brick at a time.
The same principle applies to the resolution of problems. When a good therapist is faced with a person with huge personal problems, they usually suggest tackling one small aspect of it and dealing with that, and then tackling another aspect until they start to see small, positive results. They may be small steps, but they add up. And it is often only when you look back that you see how far you have travelled.
4. Build Your Business A Dollar At A Time
Many successful entrepreneurs start with small profits while they build up their confidence and skills. At the end of this article I put you in touch with a couple of these programs that don't bring in thousands of dollars, but every twenty dollars that comes in is like a single step on that thousand li journey. Some people make huge sums of money very quickly, but they are few and far between. And even for some of them their 'instant' success has actually come from years of hard work and many failed starts. My best wishes to all of you as you think big - think small - and build a successful business.
Remember: Think big when you dream. Think small when you build.