My Story of How to Build an Online Business

When I set out to learn how to build an online business during the winter and spring of 2006 I had no idea what I was in for with this new venture. I just knew that I needed to leave my former life behind and begin something new. I had worked for twenty years as a classroom teacher, teaching grades Kindergarten through high school at four different school. And as if that weren’t enough, I had simultaneously worked in my own business as a real estate broker and certified residential appraiser. At that point I was exhausted and ready for a change. What had started out as an enjoyable career as a teacher supplemented by my work in real estate became almost intolerable after I got older and went through a serious work injury and multiple bouts with cancer.

It was during the spring of 2005 that I began to think about doing something new and changing my life in a major way. But I had no idea where to turn or what was possible for me at this stage of my life. I was about to celebrate my fiftieth birthday and yearned for something new.

I began to read books on business and entrepreneurship in search of some answers. Everyone in my life at that time knew that I was on a quest for answers and solutions to my dilemma. I have to say that people were supportive overall, yet no one seemed to have the answers I was looking for and so wanted to find. Then one night at a friend’s birthday party I was introduced to a couple by mutual friends. They had left the corporate world behind about a year earlier and were enjoying a life I could only imagine. The wife, Alicia had chosen to learn about day trading in the stock market while Patrick, the husband had gone into real estate. I was fascinated by what they had been able to achieve in such a short time and we became fast friends.

Each Sunday they got up at the crack of dawn and went hiking in our local mountains and invited me to join them. It was during these early morning hikes that I first had a glimpse of another life that I could have if I was willing to take full responsibility and make things happen for myself. I was more than willing to humble myself during this process and time of change. We discussed everything, from relationships and religion to business and education and everything in between. I attended their new age church with them a few times and also went to seminars and workshops they recommended. By April of 2005 my thinking had shifted and I was taking in information in a much different way that I ever had in the past.

It was during this month that a friend invited me to a real estate expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It was a weekend event but I told him that I only had time to attend on Saturday. We made the forty mile drive downtown together, barely talking while sitting in heavy traffic. When we finally arrived we agreed to go separate ways until lunch, allowing us to each explore the sessions that were of interest to us individually. At lunch we would share our experiences and regroup for the afternoon.

It was fun to be away from my usual Saturday activities of real estate and classroom preparation. I had seldom taken a day for myself over the years so I welcomed this opportunity to explore new opportunities. There were sessions on buying foreclosed properties and those in probate, as well as ones on investing in multi-family buildings. Then I heard someone speaking about something I couldn’t quite understand and I went into that session and took a seat in the back row.

The man speaking was Raymond Aaron, the person who would become my very first mentor. He was explaining how much you could achieve when you led a “mentored life” and it all made perfect sense to me. An hour later I had signed up for his program and had a huge box of manuals and cassette tapes to show for it.

When my friend and I met for lunch I had a spring in my step and a twinkle in my eye, or so he later told me. I knew that most anything was possible and that I was going to start finding the answers I so longed for very quickly.

Within a couple of months of working with Raymond and following his program I had discovered the online world of business. And when I wanted to learn how to build an online business everything I needed unfolded with grace and ease. I was introduced to new business models and ways of thinking that were exciting yet challenging. I began to blog regularly and this was my first foray into the world of writing and authorship. I embraced this challenge wholeheartedly and my writing slowly began to improve.

So this is the story of how to build an online business if you are currently in a world that seems far away from any type of entrepreneurship. Once I allowed myself to live a mentored life the people I needed magically appeared. They say that when the student is ready the teacher appears and this was my experience.

Now I don’t want you to think this was easy. There were so many days when I told myself that anyone in their right mind would have given up long before that day. But I was determined to learn more each day and to not give up. I discovered that the online marketing world is filled with something motivation speaker and entrepreneur Brian Tracy refers to as “learnable skills”. And once I knew and believed that I did not have to come into this with God given talents and abilities I was then willing to learn whatever I needed to in order to achieve success.

Beginning with blogging and affiliate marketing I soon expanded to local business marketing and information product creation. This was followed by adding the business models of mentoring and consulting as well as authorship and publishing. Niche and membership sites came next and soon I had many plates spinning joyfully in the air. Learning how to build an online business was even more exciting and rewarding than I had imagined!

If you are longing to learn how to build an online business for yourself, be willing to take the time to explore just what is possible for you in your current situation. This is an amazing way to earn an excellent living and you can run your business as an online entrepreneur from anywhere in the world. I regularly work on my business from the beach in Santa Barbara or a coffee shop with wifi, and have also worked from a summer cottage at the lake in Finland, a hotel lobby in Bangkok, and an internet cafe in Amsterdam. None of this would be possible with any other job or career I can think of, and it’s so much fun. Know that you can achieve all of your entrepreneurial goals and take the steps to put the life you wish to live into motion.

I’m Connie Ragen Green and I work with new online entrepreneurs to help them get into profit as quickly as possible. Download your Online Entrepreneur Blueprint and get started right away.