In today’s world, with the innovations we’ve had in technology and the large amounts of free and low cost Internet software, almost anyone can create an Internet-based business, and, sometimes it seems, almost everyone is. There is an endless stream of new web sites on a daily, if not hourly basis, revealed to us through our many social networking feeds, emails, friend recommendations, roadside billboards, even TV and magazine ads.

But with all those sites being created, we may not realize how few are ever successful, nor how much work goes into making a web venture successful. I plan to define this success in a future article, but for now I’ll leave that to personal interpretation. But any way you define it, it is the unusual venture that actually sees real success, real growth, real usage, and thus persists, beyond the initial launch and buzz phase.

Many people with a web site idea, but no past experience creating one, fail to realize going into it, just how much work is involved. While the startup costs are lower for a web based business than for a brick and mortar one, I would say the time and effort, the “sweat equity”, needed for success is the same, and this is something most web venture founders aren’t aware of. Often they aren’t willing or even able to invest the proper effort, and as time goes on they lose their passion, come up with a better idea, or move on to other things.

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
~ Albert Einstein

This is why it’s important, when you are preparing to step into such a large undertaking, to ensure that the idea you are pursuing, that is, the web venture you hope to build, is one that you can stick with, even as the chasm between you and success lengthens and deepens.

For that reason, I have below 10 questions to ask yourself before starting a new web venture. Answer these honestly to yourself; give them significant thought, and ensure before setting out on the quest, that you are truly ready emotionally and physically for what lies ahead.

• If a competitor comes along and beats me to my idea, or does it better than I have done at that time, will I feel overwhelmed by the pressure and competition, or will my secondary drive kick in propelling me to work even harder, investing even more time, improving the quality of the product and my customer service, even entertaining the possibility that I may have to rethink the entire site, in order to give consumers something that makes them come to me instead of my competition?
• While on vacation, and my mind is far away from work, but I receive a call or an email about a web site related problem from a team mate or customer, will I gladly take care of it, even canceling the days plans, or will I it as only a nuisance and interruption?
• When I get another great idea for a web venture, but have no time to work on it as well, will I regret having to work on my existing web site, or will I be able to shelve the new idea, even if I know its better, because I also recognize that its not the idea that leads to success, but perseverance and hard work?
• When, after having invested months of my time, energy and passion on this venture, and not one single person visits on opening day, no one blogs about it, no one Twitters about it, and the site gets no traction at all in the beginning, will I feel committed to press on or begin to question the original concept of the site, even question myself and in the end give up?
• After months of nightly sacrificing personal and/or family time to maintain the site, will the pressure to balance family and personal time with business time become too overwhelming to continue?
• When the partner that originally promised to help with the venture loses interest or takes on other commitments and I’m left alone, will I want to continue investing myself in this site even when there is little support or even little belief by anyone that it will succeed?
• If this is the only site I ever get to do, because of the time it takes to commit to it, would I still want to do it?
• When money is needed to quickly improve the servers or hire a specialist with a particular skill that is needed quickly, would I be willing to go into debt to get the job done? Sell my car and take the bus? Mortgage the house? Never eat out? Take no vacations?
• Is this idea the most important one I could dedicate all my time to? Is it the one I believe will help me reach my goals or is this simply a neat idea, that seems simpler for now? If so, what if this one takes so much time I can never make it on to the more important project?
• If I found out, that right now someone else had this exact same idea, would I lose my passion for it? Is it the idea of the site that gets me excited, or, is it the prospect of the journey to bring it about, and make it the best possible implementation of that idea that gets me excited?

If you can truly answer yes to all these questions, and if just reading them fills you with passion and determination, its time to take the next step in bringing your idea to life. Watch my site for further articles to help you on your path to successful web venture.

I first published this web site five years ago. It’s gone through a few changes but for the most part it has kept the first look I designed in 2005. The old design served me well, and I’ve enjoyed writing for the blog, but it was time give the site a redesign. I hired my new friend and partner at PeepNote.com, Josh Hemsley from the Visual Click to redesign it. He was patient with my ever changing and often difficult to please creative direction, and the result is one I’m extremely pleased with. Everything Josh designs comes out looking beautiful and he did a great job helping me meet my objectives.

I plan to write a lot more in the coming year and I would be very grateful for your feedback, opinions and encouragement when I do so. Thanks to all my readers, both the silent ones and the ones who have left comments in the past.

Last year I wrote about my 13 Technologies to be thankful for, but this year, I’m opening it up and listing everything that I am so thankful for (in no particular order).

I hope you have a fabulous Thanksgiving and kick of the holiday trilogy in a big way. Now, what are YOU thankful for?

Surprisingly, the if you build it, they will come mentality still seems to be the practice of too many web site startups. Even those that say they know better, still practice the myth anyway, perhaps for lack of anything else to do. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, since I also see this practiced regularly in brick and mortar businesses. Family restaurants open, life savings are spent, homes are double mortgaged, and in three months, the restaurant closes. I often wonder why anyone would start a restaurant if they couldn’t afford to run if for at least 6 months without any expectations of income during that time. Yet so many close before there should even have been expectations to grow.

The list of overnight successes must statistically be near zero in comparison to those businesses that built what they have over a period of time, in a dedicated and determined fashion. So let me for a minute, properly reword the if you build it they will come mantra, as this:

If you build it, and
get people to try it, and
listen to their impressions of the site, and
make adjustments accordingly, and
get them to try again, and
listen again, and
adjust again…

Continue that process, while inviting more people to try it, slowly extending your reach, building a firm foundation of dedicated users who have clearly experienced your commitment to listening to them, and responding accordingly. Your product will be what they want, they will feel like part of it, and in turn, being the humans they are, they will tell others. Ask them to tell others; reward them for telling others. After that? Start at the top again…and repeat.

One more tip, don’t waste your time judging your success by your Google Analytics report. Web stats show views and nothing more. You’ll need to talk to users to really get a feel for the impression you are making on them. Stats can certainly help you see what recent marketing campaign worked, and some other helpful info, but at first, watching your site stats simply reinforces the false myth that you should expect overnight growth. If you are engaging your customers, and really paying attention, you’ll know if you are headed in the right direction, even if your site stats don’t see it yet.

I recently read Derek Sivers’ post, What do you hate not doing?, and it happened to be posted right before my birthday, when I traditionally take time out to review my year’s goals and progress, and set new goals for the coming year. A lot of changes in direction have occurred at this annual meeting with myself. I review last year’s personal journal entry, and compare it to the progress I made, then grade myself, record lessons learned, and write my goals for the coming year.

So Sivers’ post was timely and I liked his idea of focusing on what you hate NOT doing, as a way to highlight your passions, so I decided to write my version of, What do you hate not doing? to help me focus on Beginning with the End in Mind for the year ahead.

What do I hate NOT doing?

I hate NOT reading
I agree with Dave Ramsey, when he said: “You’ll be the same person in 10 years except for the people you meet and the books you read“. I don’t think learning ends with reading, but it’s a great place to start. You still have to try and experience things, but, you can save a whole lot of time in your trials, by learning from others, and reading is a great way to do that. You can expand your knowledge and your imagination, and I also find it stirs my creative juices and gets them flowing. Often times, I can’t even finish a chapter in a book without stopping to brainstorm.

I read a lot online all day long, but there is something about reading a book that is much more fulfilling. A book can develop ideas in much more depth than a blog post on the Internet. I pledge to devote more time in my schedule to tackle more books.

I hate NOT working to improve and implement a web site idea
Creating web sites is my biggest passion. I love the Internet and all the possibilities this technology opens up to make our lives easier and more productive, and like reading, it can expand our minds and our knowledge, and, unlike reading, allow us to meet new people and learn from them interactively.

I love the entire process of building an interactive web site, from concept to design and implementation, delivering the product and launching it for the entertainment, educational, or productivity value it provides to the target audience. I plan in the year ahead to continue launching new sites and expanding and improving the sites I’m involved with.

I hate NOT spending time with my family
Of all the things that bring me joy, little can compare to spending time with my kids. I love to watch them have fun, to watch them learn and grow, and experience new things. It’s a joy to mentor them, by sharing my experiences, allowing them to try and fail, and being there to cheer them on regardless of the result of their efforts. Books will come and go, web sites will be launched and taken offline, but continuing the family line and passing on family values to the next generation is truly the best way to leave a legacy.

I hate NOT keeping in good physical shape
This is the area I’ve been weakest in lately, due to both lack of time and past knee injuries. But when a schedule is as packed as mine is, besides passion, the next best source of energy is being in shape. For 11 years, I worked out regularly training in the martial arts, and simply have not found a replacement that motivates me to keep in shape as much as that did. I plan to do a better job with this in my 39th year ahead.

I hate NOT traveling
The contiguous United States alone is over 3 million square miles. Add in Alaska and it grows to almost 4 million square miles. North America is 9.5 million square miles. That’s a lot to see without even having to fly very far. In fact all of that can be seen via road travel. Certainly there is far more to see outside of the U.S. and North America, and this is why I love to travel. Every state and city in the U.S. I go to presents me with a new way of life. It’s amazing how different societies can be from city to city, even within the same country. I love to see the architecture, sample the foods, see the topography, and experience the culture of each new place. It’s also a great way to learn history, and teach it to your kids at the same time. My long term goal is to have an RV and spend a good portion of each year living out of it, particularly during the hot and humid summer months of Florida.

My perfect day
In summary, my perfect day would involve waking up in some new part of the country, preferably somewhere stunningly beautiful, exercising in the morning, enjoying a breakfast with a view of the beauty, while reading one of those books I really want to get to. Then sitting down to work on one of the web sites that really excite me, with a team of equally passionate and skilled individuals, producing useable, helpful, and aesthetically pleasing sites for its users. Then after a 6 hour or so day of that, stopping to enjoy our current location with the family. Teaching the kids about the history of the area we are currently in, and meeting the locals and finding out how they live. Retiring for the evening to watch some good television or a movie, read more, smoke a cigar, and enjoy a great meal with family and friends, both new and old.

So that’s what I hate NOT doing. How about you?