Business 101 For ABCIncome Clients 

A not so small number of those who visit ABCIncome and ultimately decide to use our services are already successful professionals, entrepreneurs, and business people. However, a large percentage, if not the majority of people who land here do not currently own a business or have business ownership experience. In other words, they are more accustomed to working a job.

And though people quickly recognize the many benefits of owning their own business and desire to do so, they sometimes carry with them a set of habits and expectations that are more geared for a job, or even for shopping at a favorite store, than the realities of being a business owner.

This article differs from many of the other resources found on ABCIncome in that while many offer generic advice and information this one is specifically for people who either already are or are considering using the ABCIncome system.

Therefore, this isn't designed to be an A-Z, step-by-step guide to starting and owning a business. There are plenty of excellent guides and resources of that type readily available. Likewise, nothing here should be construed as professional legal or tax advice. Please consult your own legal or tax professional if you have questions in that regard. Rather, this is designed to help people considering using ABCIncome's system to have a better understanding of what business is and how it works, and to have realistic expectations in regard to your home business.

IMPORTANT NOTE !!!

Many people after reading the information below might well decide that owning a business isn't for them. And, if so, great, because that was exactly the purpose of this article!

No, we're not trying in any way to discourage anyone from starting and owning their own business. ABCIncome enthusiastically supports, encourages, and applauds anyone who is able to make business ownership work for them and enjoy the multitude of benefits of being your own boss, whether you decide to use our services or not. So, again, we are absolutely not trying to discourage you. However, what we are trying to do is provide this information as a reality check, reference point, and resource, for those who hadn't really given much thought to or were not aware of what being in business means (especially a traditional business, as opposed to using an automated turnkey system such as what we offer), BEFORE you decide to hire ABCIncome to do 98% of the hard work for you.

And so that you can have a better understanding of just how challenging building a business the traditional way can be, how much hard work it entails, and how the costs and risks of trying to go it on your own are substantially and comparatively greater than the automated, hands-off, and far easier alternative of hiring ABCIncome. Throughout ABCIncome a common theme is that we do not require but do prefer working with people who already have business or home business experience. Because the more experience you have of building (or trying to build) a traditional, Internet, or home business, the more we're convinced you will appreciate the advantages of ABCIncome!

It Takes Money To Make Money

There are a large number of unscrupulous companies both on and off the Internet promising to help people, “get rich quick,” often claiming that little or no money is required, or even that it is, “free.” Certainly we do not presume to judge every opportunity by what is said here, as there may be a few of those that are legitimate. However, in general, it is simply not realistic to expect to start and grow a successful business without having to spend money to do so. The old saying that, “it takes money to make money,” is for the most part correct, though it is possible with some kinds of businesses to trade your time for money, without much else being required. For example, if someone babysits for you she may literally need nothing more than to arrive at your home ready to work in order to be, “in business.” However, if she chose to grow that business, turning it into a professional day care service, for instance, even that endeavor would require startup and operating capital. Even a neighborhood kid mowing your lawn may need a lawnmower, rake, blower, and other tools of his trade if he desires to truly make a real go of it.

The tools, products, and/or services (including any necessary legal or tax advice) that will be required in order to start and perpetuate your business are very likely to cost money.

Unscrupulous companies aren't the only ones trying to promote the idea of getting rich quick, or getting something for nothing. There are many consumers who have that expectation also. However, as explained above, unless you plan to do something extremely basic, like babysit, it simply isn't realistic to expect to start and grow a business without spending money to do so.

Business Startup And Expenses

There are many aspects of business. However, two phases that almost any business will go through are the “startup phase,” during which you may have higher than normal expenses and very likely may not make a profit, and then there is the “ongoing phase,” during which you will have lessor ongoing operating expenses, and during which at some point you expect to be making a profit.

Occasionally it may be possible with certain types of businesses to start making a profit almost immediately right from the very beginning. In general, however, during the startup phase you will be spending money but not making any.

Let's use a restaurant as an example, because that is a type of business that everyone is familiar with (it is also a type of business that requires licensing in almost every city or state). Before anything can happen you have to first buy or lease the land and construct the building, acquiring any necessary permits or licenses beforehand. That cost money. Next you need to equip the kitchen, decorate, and furnish the dining area, etc. That cost money too. And you're also going to have to hire a fairly large staff to run the restaurant. And that, labor, is what is ultimately going to cost you the most money. So you've spent all this money, which for a decent restaurant can easily set you back hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars, and you haven't yet served a single customer or generated a dime of revenue.

All of the above are examples of startup expenses. And when the time comes that you actually open your doors and start serving customers, though now you will be making money, it is still very unlikely that you will be making a profit, because first you have to “make up for” all of your startup expenses. At the point at which you've earned enough money to pay for all of your startup expenses, and the money that you are taking in exceeds all of your ongoing operating costs, you'll finally be making a profit (the money that you get to keep). The time that it takes to go from startup to being profitable varies. However, for a restaurant it is common for that period of time to take between one to three years. That means that you're going to spend as much as one million dollars or more, and that you're also going to have to have enough money to continue to pay your operating expenses for one to three years until you start making a profit.

Fortunately there are many businesses that you can get started in that won't require you to spend a million dollars or more, including becoming an Internet Affiliate, as you can do here at ABCIncome.

Who Do Businesses Buy From?

Individual consumers typically refer to the places where they shop by the name of the type of provider of the product or service, or by its actual name. For example, if someone were shopping for a new CD or MP3 player they might say that they were going to the, “store,” to an, “electronics retailer,” to, “Best Buy,” “Sears,” etc.

In business, however, it is customary to refer to the people, companies, and places you buy from as, “vendors,” even if they are the same place you shop at as an individual consumer. An excellent example might be national membership warehouse stores like Sam's Club or Costco. Sam's Club, in particular, originally started primarily as a place for business owners to shop. Though many consumers now also shop at Sam's Club, millions of businesses (and business people) buy their business supplies from Sam's Club, in which case Sam's Club is a “vendor.”

So, when you're in business the companies that you buy from are referred to as, “vendors.”

ABCIncome is a vendor or provider of marketing, advertising, customer service, and other business building services for people wanting to build a home business.

How Do You Grow A Business?

Assuming that you're now in business, next you will need customers. Customers are the lifeblood of any business because without customers you have no revenue, and without revenue you will never even remotely have the opportunity to make a profit, which is the ultimate goal of being in business. Revenue (income) is created when customers buy your product or service. Your profit (how much you get to keep) is the difference between how much you have to spend on your business, versus how much you make.

And where do you go to get customers? Well, it depends on the kind of business you are in. If you are a babysitter, lawn care provider, beautician, barber, etc., it is possible that most if not all of your business may come from word-of-mouth and personal referrals. However, in order for most businesses to attract customers they have to advertise. Such is the importance of advertising that even some types of businesses, such as funeral homes and cemeteries, and organizations, such as churches, that historically almost never advertised in years past routinely do so now.

Advertising Your Business

Every day we see and hear examples of advertising on the Internet, TV, radio, in magazines and newspapers, and places such as in-flight magazines, gas stations, the grocery store checkout, and even elevators!

Advertising is an expansive topic. And in keeping with the theme of this article we won't try here to teach you everything about advertising. A multitude of resources exist both on and off the Internet if you want to learn more about advertising and try it on your own. Instead, here we'll just look at some of the most basic concepts so that you can better understand how all of this fits into the services offered by ABCIncome.

The ultimate goal of advertising is the same as the basic business concept already discussed above regarding expenses, income, and profit. In order to advertise, in whatever medium, you have to spend money. And anytime your advertising is costing you more money than it is making you that means that you will NOT be making a profit. Any time your advertising is producing more income (sales) than the money you are spending, you CAN make a profit.

Just like any other cost associated with business, advertising also has a “startup” phase, often called, “testing.” When you first develop advertising for your business and your product or service there is often no way to know whether or not it will work. And, in fact, very often initial advertising efforts do NOT work, even when developed by experts. However, if you have enough money to stay the course and over a period of time you develop enough successful advertising, then eventually your advertising can start to pay off, and you eventually can make more money (by way of sales revenue and income) than what it is costing you to advertise and pay the rest of your business expenses.

Risk

All entrepreneurs and business owners are risk takers, not at all to be associated with anything like gambling, which is NOT a good way to try to increase your wealth. The risk is in the simple fact that all of the above, and many, many more factors not mentioned above, have to be successfully navigated if you are to succeed in business. And for a wide variety of reasons, some of which are discussed in other articles featured throughout ABCIncome, that's also why it is a well known fact, according to statistics from sources such as the SBA (Small Business Administration), that most businesses fail.

Most businesses fail not because being in business isn't a great idea (remember that 70% of all millionaires are business owners), but simply because most people don't have the right kind of knowledge, resources, or enough money, to start and build a successful business. However, if you get the right knowledge, resources, etc., and you do find the right, “formula,” you CAN be successful. And that's what makes business worth it: the pay offs and rewards for those who get it right and are successful are far greater than what you could probably ever realize working a job or working for someone else! Even so, if you can't deal with risk, then maybe you are better suited for a job. Though many entrepreneurs consider a job to be the greatest risk of all, because those who work a job put their entire futures into someone else's hands, whereas business owners take responsibility for, and control, their own futures.

Businesses Are Not Refundable

Though ABCIncome has never been in the MLM business, we have in the past offered services for people building that type of business, as well as various articles about MLM and the MLM industry. Not to repeat all of that here, but in a nutshell MLM is no different than any other type of business, it just uses a different marketing and distribution method. MLM has a higher perceived failure rate not because its industry is any different than any other kind of business, but simply because there is a lower barrier to entry (it's more accessible to and more affordable by a larger number of people, and therefore more people try it, and therefore more people fail).

You don't often see a failed McDonald's restaurant, or other major chain store, because the parent company makes sure that before they sell a store to someone that person is well qualified to manage the ownership of such a business successfully. And, of course, a person wanting to own such a business also has to be able to afford the initial price tag, which can easily range from tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands, to over one million dollars.

In contrast, some home business opportunities are available for as little as $39 or less, and in some cases even claim to be free, require no experience or training, etc. The person entering into such a “business” in essence determines his or her own suitability and qualifications as to chances for success. Especially for someone with no prior experience, that is quite literally a recipe for disaster, and is one of the biggest reasons why many people who attempt home business opportunities fail.

Some advise people, and it is our opinion that such a concept is highly flawed, that in order for a home business opportunity to be, “good,” “credible,” “legitimate,” etc., that it should be refundable. That if it, “doesn't work,” (or maybe even the person just doesn't like it or changes his or her mind) the person entering into such an opportunity should be able to get their money back and even return any unsold products. The reason that we think such a view is highly flawed is simply because that's not the way the real World, or the real World of business works. Very, very few businesses get to return what they don't sell or obtain a refund for services, such as advertising, that they have purchased in order to run their business.

Rather, we feel the unrealistic expectations come from those who enter into the idea of owning their own business without really understanding how business works, and especially how business is different than a job.

Think of any business, from a small business that you run out of your home, to a business that you operate out of an office. Let's say you decide to place an ad in your local phone company's Yellow Pages. You may spend hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars on a Yellow Pages ad. Here's the question: If the ad doesn't work, if it doesn't bring you new customers, can you call the phone company and get your money back? The answer is, no.

If you're building a MLM or other type of business out of your home and you decide to advertise in your local newspaper and it, “doesn't work,” can you call the newspaper and get your money back? And the answer is, no.

Why? Because in order for the vendor, a newspaper in this example, to provide the service to you that company has already had to order the paper that your advertising was printed on, as well as the ink to print with. They've already had to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, in the purchase, setup, and maintenance of the printing presses that your advertising is printed on. They've already had to pay for the space their building and facilities occupy, and they've already had to pay the utilities companies not only to have heat and/or air conditioning so that people can work there, but for the telephone lines and systems, and/or the Internet access and websites, that you used to place your order. They've also had to pay the salaries and wages of the people who took your order and created, printed, and distributed your advertising. These are just SOME of the many, many, expenses that the vendor in this example has to pay in order to be able to provide services to you. Not to mention the fact that the vendor very likely ran advertising of its own in order to attract you as a customer. This example involves a “traditional” brick and mortar business, but the same would apply if you ran advertising online, such as via Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.

The vendors in the above examples, the phone company's Yellow Pages and your local newspaper, or an online vendor if you're advertising on the Internet, did their part. They provided the advertising services that you paid for. But the rest would be up to you, or the people you pay to do your advertising. Vendors are typically not responsible for the success or failure of a business, but only for their role or part in delivering whatever products or services you purchase from them. A vendor's role is to make sure the particular product or service they provide is delivered. True, a vendor can play a key role in the success or failure of a business, sometimes even a very key role. However, the success or failure of a business is ultimately up to the business owner.

Do You Have What It Takes?

Thomas Edison, credited by most as being the inventor of the light bulb, is one of history's most famous inventors and business people and serves as a great example and role model in that regard. Two of Edison's favorite quotes were:

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

Owning a traditional business and being a traditional business owner can have huge rewards, both financial and otherwise. At the same time, there is a reason why most people work for others, as opposed to being the business owner, and that's because being a successful business owner requires more, a LOT more. As we've discussed above, for one thing owning a business obviously requires more money than a typical job, where often all that is required is that you show up ready for work.

Even more so than money, though, building a successful business THE TRADITIONAL WAY requires A LOT of HARD WORK and SACRIFICE!

When you are the owner of a traditional business there often is no such thing as, “working hours.” You simply work until the work is done, which, especially in the startup phase of a new business, and even after it is well established, can mean that you will still be toiling away long after your friends who work a job have already left their jobs for the day and gone home. In creating ABCIncome over the years, for example, numerous Team Members and especially its Founder have often worked late into the evening, into the wee hours of the morning, and even on some occasions all the way through to the next day in order to deliver all that you see that is ABCIncome.

Remember, when Thomas Edison worked to invent the light bulb he didn't make it happen by working 9 to 5, but by pouring everything he had into it, sometimes around the clock, until he accomplished the goal. Not always, but sometimes and maybe even often, that's what business ownership requires.

Are you prepared for the effect that working those kinds of hours can have on your family, your children, your friends and social life (or lack thereof), and even on you and your health and well being? If you plan to build a successful business the traditional way you may find that you will have to be very tough and resilient indeed.

And then you have to deal with what your non-business-owner friends and family think. Remember that success is an attitude, and most people don't have it. So if, when you announce your intentions to own a business of your own, your family and friends support you, consider yourself among the lucky few because many, if not most, will not. Most people work a job and are not business or success oriented, and therefore they are very likely to believe that whatever kind of business it is you are trying to start won't work. They are more likely to encourage you to just get a job, like them, or keep the one that you already have. Granted, if you become a business success then most, but even then still not all, of your friends and family will think even more highly of you than they did before. After all, everyone loves a success story. But remember that you have to get there first, and getting there is the hardest part. And, until you do, being a business owner can be lonely, tiring, grueling, exhausting work.

Oh, and if you happen to have children, or dependents whom you are responsible for, then you know what it is like to feel the pressures of taking care of or being responsible for other people. While many small business owners operate solo as individuals, if you desire to build a larger business, with employees, consider that (at least if you are nice, which we would hope that you are :) your employees are just like an extension of your family. So now, as an employer, not only are you responsible for your own life, well being, and financial sustenance, as well as that of any family that you might have, but also that of your employees. Remember, their ability to put food on their tables, pay their car payment or mortgage, put their children through school, or just keep their lights on may be riding on your shoulders. Are you ready for that responsibility?

Earlier we talked about the fact that to be in business you need money. Did you know that the average millionaire has filed bankruptcy twice before arriving at his or her current level of success? While ABCIncome has been blessed and fortunate in its goal to remain a debt-free company (and we encourage you to work toward being debt free if you are not already) many people finance their business ventures to the hilt, sometimes literally mortgaging their homes and almost everything else they own. Due to all of the above many relationships have been ruined, houses lost through foreclosure, and marriages ended in divorce, because of the enormous demands – financial, emotional, and physical – that can be required of a person building a business the “traditional” way.

That's why many of the people who are attracted to ABCIncome are ALREADY the owners of traditional, and often very successful, traditional businesses. Because they are looking for a way to enjoy the advantages of being a business owner, but without all of the potential grief and hassle that often come along with it. Modern technology, the Internet in particular, and especially the unique system offered by ABCIncome offer powerful tools that allow you to utilize technology and a system as well as hiring the services of others, to accomplish 98% of the work of building a home business for you.

How ABCIncome Fits Into The Picture

ABCIncome is a vendor, a provider of marketing, advertising, customer service, and business building services. We are not, “the business,” but we can certainly provide you with the bits and pieces and tools and resources that you need to create and grow a successful business.

We decided to create this article because, despite the considerable amount of material already available on ABCIncome, still too many people sometimes approached what we do with unrealistic expectations.

More than a decade went into creating the ABCIncome concept and system and so, yes, we have already blazed the trail before you and done almost all of the hard work. We've taken care of almost all of the hard parts of starting, owning, and growing a successful business so that it doesn't have to be so hard for you. Huge amounts of time, resources, and money have been spent creating a system that can produce predictably reliable results for you. We have tried very, very hard to make building a business using our system as easy as A-B-C as it is possible to make it.

When you pay for ABCIncome to help you build your business, you are doing just that. You're hiring someone to do it for you, as opposed to trying to do so on your own.

We charge a fee for our services because, as explained above, we, like all businesses, have operating expenses that we must incur in order to be in business.

Our fees are non-refundable, with the exception of our guarantee, because we have already incurred the cost of providing those services at the time that you pay us. We cannot go back to our vendors and request a refund, because that's not how business works. And yet, ABCIncome goes above and beyond by not only providing what we believe to be the ultimate business building system, but we provide the Up-Front portion of that service, the advertising, to you AT OR BELOW our cost, AND offer you a 60-day money-back guarantee if we don't do what we say we'll do. Try to get that good of an offer building a business on your own. You probably won't be able to find such a thing anywhere else but at ABCIncome.

ABCIncome also can't change the fact that you will have startup costs, and that in the beginning, even using our system, you will have to spend more money than you are making in order to get your business started. However, what we have done is to, by blazing the trail before you, and having spent more than a decade creating, testing, and perfecting the ABCIncome system, is to give you a VERY good chance at success, a VERY high level of predictably, and a guarantee to back it all up that, as we've already said, you probably won't be able to find anywhere else.

If you feel that you can do better on your own, or with some other opportunity or system, we truly encourage you to do so. However, if you recognize the many advantages of building a home business using ABCIncome's automated, hands-off, online system, that does 98% of the work for you and offers a better guarantee and more predictable path to success than we think you'll find anywhere else, we welcome the opportunity to help you achieve your home business income goals!