Crank Up My Business

Membership Website

I think everyone reading "Crank" knows that I am a membership website owner. We also own several other websites too where we sell products, information and offer affiliate links, along with other ways of making a living.

If you read yesterdays post, you may have noticed I was a bit cranky.

I wasn't going to say this, but just have to get it off my chest!  What I didn't say yesterday has been bothering me and I'm just going to lay it out here.

The couple I was working with yesterday "get it".  They understand that owning your own business requires you learn to wear a lot of different hats and that you work your "buts" off to make it succeed.  I'm not talking about the thing you sit on! I am talking about the "buts" that people bring into the conversation when talking about starting their own business.

"But I didn't know I'd have to learn all this stuff"

"But that's a LOT of work!"

"But I don't have that software - that'll cost a lot of money."

"But I don't have the time."

When someone has asked me for help, then bring their "but" into the conversation, I smile and say "Yeah, it's a lot of work" and I stop wasting my time on showing them how to build their own business.  People with big "buts" won't do anything! That's okay because it's their choice how they live their life, just don't try to waste my time!

It's about the bottom line. Or three bottom lines, and here they are...

Personal Freedom.  We can come and go as we choose.  We move south for the winter and come back to Illinois when the snow is gone. Not many employers will let their employees do that.

Financial Freedom.  We don't have a boss deciding how much money we can have this year. And by extension, the person that decides that also decides what town a person can live in, what house they can buy, what car they can drive, etc.

Time Freedom. There is no time-clock in my office. I work a lot of hours, but I can also decide to take some time off and do nothing any day I want to.  Where I used to work, they took a dim view of that sort of thing.

I know personally many, many membership website owners that are making 6 figure incomes! I know several personally that are making 7 figure incomes! I also know there are millions that make almost nothing. 

If you split these website owners into two groups... those with big buts and those that work their but off... then look at their bottom lines, it's no surprise that the big bucks go to those with small buts.

Those that choose to work their buts off can build a membership website with a huge income. Don't let your buts get in the way of having the personal freedom that drew you to this business to start with.

An Above Average Income

I've been helping a couple that are very good friends with building their own web business for the last few days. They are great people and very successful already in their own business, but want to add a complimentary web business to their income streams.

Meanwhile, I am keeping up with the day-to-day demands of our own websites as well as preparing for an engagement in West Palm Beach where I will be speaking on developing an internet business.

Believe it or not, all 3 activities tie in with each other!  I have been struggling with "What do I need to tell the folks at the Florida conference" to be sure I don't leave anything out.  Working with our friends every morning for several days has been a great help because they keep asking questions that I didn't think of telling the folks in Florida about until they asked.  Then while working on our own sites I keep coming across other things I need to add to both the one-on-one time and to the workshop.

The only drawback is the days aren't long enough sometimes.  Or more accurately, I run out of steam before I've finished everything I need to do. Well I guess we all run into that problem when we are doing more than the average Joe.  But this brings up the point of this post...

I am often asked to help someone get a web business going, and when I give them an overview of what it takes they tell me "That's a lot of work. I don't have enough time to make something like that happen." 

I smile and say "Tell me about it" and let the subject drop...  Along with any attempt to help them move along farther. 

What amazes me about this comment is the misconception in people's minds that building your own business is an 8-hour a day undertaking.  It's not.  If you think it is, then please go back to whatever you do as an employee and decide to be happy with that. 

In The Beginning

So here's the first post in "Crank Up My Business"!

The one thing I probably DON'T need is another website to feed and care for... but I'm building this one for several reasons anyway.

While some of the readers of ArtisticThreadWorks and DigitizersWorld are interested in how to build websites, how to make a living from those sites and how to grow a home-based business, most of those readers are NOT interested and it's just not the right place to put this info. Our other websites just don't fit the content that I am putting on this one.  So that's reason number 1 for making this site instead.

On top of that, many people I meet or talk with ARE interested in just that sort of information, but they don't want to wade through the sewing talk to eek out the pieces about building an on-line business.

For both of these groups, there is "Crank Up My Business".

If you're reading this post, you're either with me here from day 1, or you've worked your way back to post numero uno. Thanks either way.  Let me give you a reward for your efforts... It's a small reward, but something nice just the same.  It's a shortcut back to this site.  You can get here by going to www.CrankMyBiz.com 

I was going to use that shorter title initially, but the one I settled on is a little easier to understand the purpose of, so I went with the longer domain name. But you can get here any time by using the short version.

So - how's your business growing?