If you've spent any time surfing the web under categories
like work from home," "business opportunities, " "make
$4,000 per week," or even, "make $4,000 per day, at your
kitchen table, sitting home in your underwear" (maybe my
favorite headline of all time!) you might be a little
confused. Or depressed. Frustrated, maybe.

All of these claims can't be true, can they? You know the
ones - the single mom who, in the old days, with 17 kids,
battling an addition to crack, living out of a box managed
to raise herself out of the gutter and now lives in a
$2,000,0000 home on the water, owns 11 Rolls Royces, etc.
etc. etc.?

Here's a dirty little secret you won't hear from the folks
behind these products and services - at least 95% of the
people who invest in them, fail.

Does that mean that the hapless users, who plunked down
their hard-earned money (or financed it on credit cards),
got ripped off?

Surprisingly, the answer is "not necessarily. " Here's what
I mean.

The biggest determinant as to whether someone will be
successful has less to do with the actual system than with
the person himself. Sure, there are legions of flawed
methods or business opportunities out there. But
understand two things:

1. No system is perfect. 2. It's better to implement a
flawed system than nothing at all.

Let's take a quick look at each point just made. First, I
hope I'm not disappointing you, but there is no such thing
as a perfect, 100% automated, risk-free business
opportunity. Some systems require less human intervention
than others, but if you believe the claims that something
works all by itself, you're being extremely unrealistic.

(In other breaking news the Tooth Fairy was recently proven
to be fictitious and serious doubt was cast on the
existence of the Easter Bunny. Sorry to let you down.)

So you get the point - you will need to be involved at
least somewhat, because the myth of a business that works
completely on autopilot is just that, a myth. Now, just
because the goal of complete automation is illusory does
not mean that you should strive for exactly that.

Why?

Because, just like in any business, most of the tasks
involved can be handled by low level, or 7 dollar an hour
employees or assistants. If you want to make real money,
like $4,000 plus per week working only two hours per day,
you've unconsciously made a decision about what your time
is worth. Check out what I mean.

Your goal is $4,000 per week, working two hours per day, or
12 hours per week, assuming you work six days. $4,000
divided by 12 hours is $333. You've decided that your time
is worth $333 per hour. So if you're involved with a
business that requires manual labor, like licking stamps,
data entry and other administrative activities that can be
handled by a $7.00 per hour high school part-timer, you're
actually losing $326 per hour.

The answer is to delegate as many of these low-level
activities as you can, either to technology or to other
humans who are paid less than what your time is worth.

You, on the other hand, should be spending as much of your
time as possible on high-yielding activities; i.e. those
that bring in the big bucks! Marketing, sales, strategic
alliances with other potential joint venture partners,
whatever. Anything designed to bring in bucks!

By the way, one important book that I'd whole-heartedly
recommend to you is the "E-Myth" by Michael Gerber. The
first book; I've never read any of his follow-up E-Myth
books. It's still in print and available at Amazon and
everywhere else.

OK, on to the second point - it's better to implement a
flawed system than do nothing.

I believe that procrastination is the biggest obstacle to
success. I suffer from it, you suffer from it; everyone
battles it to some extent. But I understand the main
reason why people delay taking action - usually it's out of
fear of the unknown. They're uncertain that the path they
are considering will work out the way they hope; thus,
they're not committed.

This is not a new problem - it's embedded in our genetic
code. A famous Greek myth describes a battle waged by a
small, outnumbered army against a larger, more powerful
force. The general of the small army led his fleet across
the sea, landed on enemy shores and, before going into
battle, set fire to all of his soldiers' ships. They
understood that there was no turning back - that's
commitment!

Shakespeare' s Hamlet also is a famous example of waffling,
indecisive figure. The reason Hamlet, like all of
Shakespeare' s works, endures is because of his accurate
portrayal of the human condition. So hesitation is nothing
new!

Understand this, however: there is no perfect time to
launch a new venture; no magical moment when the starts
align and all of your over-analyzed details are neatly
categorized and pointing to clear action. There is always
risk. In any entrepreneur' s life, there is always a moment
when he or she must take a leap of faith. Sometimes there
are several such moments.

Ironically, the bigger, more common risk is the risk of
doing nothing. If you don't act, even with a flawed plan,
you are almost certain to continue down a path that you're
trying to avoid, such as piling up bills, being unhappy at
work, whatever. If you don't commit to trying something
new, giving it your all, I can almost guarantee you that
you'll fail.

I guess that's not so much of a risk as it is a
near-certainty!

I hope you found this article provocative and consider it
next time you're faced with a business decision.

About the Author:

Andy Lockwood is a direct marketing business geek who likes
making money the "lazy man's" way - automatically, without
cold calling or chasing down prospects. Visit his newest
money-making site - it's not MLM and does not involve cold
calling or other distasteful activities, either:
http://www.TravelBusinessRiches.com