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7 Steps to Set Financial Goals for Your Online Business
Copyright ? 2006 Peter Dobler
Every internet marketer wants to make as money as possible. But how much money do you really need? What are the financial goals you want to achieve with your online business? These are the fundamental questions you have to answer when you start an online business.
Like many others you probably stumbled into the demanding task of managing an online business by accident. You bought some ebooks, signed up for multiple affiliate programs, set up your own website, subscribed to several membership sites and at the end of the day you realized that this all costs a lot of money.
You are in desperate need of more income from your business. Common sense tells you that you need to advertise for your business. So you go out there and buy any kind of advertising. This leaves you with even more expenses and like many others not much to show for.
Now you are at the turning point. You have substantial expenses, but not enough earnings to support these expenses. The foolish continue what they are doing and hope for the best.
There's a better way to get your business finances under control. The following 7 steps should give you an idea how to straighten out your business finances and how you can prevent a financial Waterloo for your business.
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1. Create a business plan.
This sounds like a broken record, but without a clear business plan you are setting yourself up for disaster. A business plan can be as simple as a few pages describing what you want to do, how you want to do it, how much profit you plan to make, how much money you have to begin with and how long you can survive before you run out of money or you break even with income and expenses.
The idea of a business plan is not to predict the future, but to create a roadmap for yourself, in case you get lost on your journey and need directions to save your business.
2. Separate your finances
It doesn't matter if you operate your online business as a real incorporated business or if you just want to test the waters. Mixing your business finances with your personal finances is a bad idea period. Create a separate checking account. Use it to deposit the checks you will receive and as the linked account for your business PayPal account. Yes, a separate PayPal account is necessary to track your business finances and to provide a more polished, professional image for your business.
If you don't have a separate credit card for your business, use one of your personal credit cards and use it for your business expenses only. This way you can easily track your expenses.
Knowing the exact financial situation of your business is vital for your survival. If you're loosing money you need to know right away to make necessary adjustments and if you're making money you don't want to wait until tax time to get a rude awakening.
3. Reinvest
A rule of thumb is to reinvest 75% of your earnings back into advertising for your business. In the beginning it can be as high as 100%, because you need to get the word out. Without customers you are not making any money. You do know that an online business is by definition a sales business? You are selling either a product or a service. If you don't, you don't have an online business.
Of course a startup online business has no income to be reinvested. However the same rules apply to the startup capital that every new business needs to get started. A new computer and a fancy new car won't get you any new customers, but good advertising will.
4. Keep track
You need to know where you spend your money at all times. In order to do this, a simple spreadsheet will get you started. Later you need a little bit more help from a professional finance program. Either way this will keep you on track with your spending and you will know how well you're doing at all times.
Keep track of your advertising. You need to know if your advertising is working or not. Like a real store you need to know why a visitor entered your store and if they don't buy get at least their contact information. Hardly anybody sells to first time visitors. Repeat business from visitors and customers are the bread and butter for any online business.
5. Organize
This is not only for tax purposes, but you need to organize everything you're doing with your business. Nothing kills your business faster than not knowing what pays your bills and to whom you owe money. Imagine you forget to renew your domain name registration. A few bucks could cost you a million dollar business. So do yourself a big favor and get organized with your business.
6. Repeat
Readjust non working advertising immediately. If it is not working, dump it. On the other hand repeat a profitable advertising campaign. Rule of thumb, if it brings in more money than it costs to run, keep doing it. This seems to be a simple rule, but many online business owners simply ignore this rule. Instead they are chasing the white elephant and end up with nothing to show for.
If you have a successful advertising campaign, keep it running and build a new campaign next to it. Never drop a profitable campaign, always expand. This is your safety net. In case the new campaign fails. In marketing there's never a guarantee. Be creative, track and repeat. That's the only way to get something going.
7. Expand
If your business is not growing your business is dying. Unfortunately this is reality in today's business world. This means that you need to adjust your financial goals for your business to allow for expansion. Consult your business plan to determine what went well and what went wrong. Whatever you do, always aim higher.
There you have it, 7 steps to set the financial goals of your online business. I know that it takes more than filling out a membership application to run a successful online business, but you can do it if you keep these steps in mind.

RETIREMENT PLANNING

With access to one of the nation's largest networks of financial planners,PlannerConnect is committedto helping you find the right financial planner with our free matching service. The financial planners in our network are all licensed to create an objective, comprehensive financial plan and are not salespeople looking to make commissions by selling you products. Wematch you up with one qualified financial planner at a time based on an analysis of your financial and retirement planning needs and goals.If he or she is not the right fit for you, we are committed to connecting you with other financial planners until you feel comfortable. The planners in our network have agreed to provide qualified* PlannerConnect users with a complimentary initial consultation to best understand your situation. As professionals, they act in your best interests and are held to the highest ethical and compliance standards.
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In today's economic environment, few Americans believe they will achieve their goal of financial independence in their retirement years. You can improve your chances for a successful retirement through ongoing coordination and planning. This should include:
Needs assessmentYou should first determine the amount of income you need in retirement and how education funding and other accumulation goals may impact your ability to save enough money. Work with your financial planner to regularly measure your progress to determine whether you'll meet your desired time frame with the assets you require.
Retirement income modelingFinancial modeling tools can help you predict what you may need to prevent outliving your resources in retirement. They can also determine whether you have adequate resources to provide gifts or inheritances to your family without jeopardizing your financial independence.
Benefits analysisFringe benefit choices (such as non-qualified benefits, top hat plans, etc.) should be coordinated with your retirement objectives and your overall retirement plan.
Distribution optionsAn examination of the impact income and estate taxes may have on your selected distribution alternatives is critical to complete the picture of your retirement resources.
Long-term careWith the potentially catastrophic costs of long-term care, which covers nursing home or other personal care for chronic conditions, you should consider how to avoid the devastating impact a long-term care situation could have on your retirement and estate plan.
There are risks and guidelines associated with each of these strategies, so it is important to work with a financial planner to help you plan for your retirement.
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