So, you're an independent professional and you either have or
are working toward a successful practice. What would you say if
I told you that you could build a business, not just a practice?
That you could develop multiple streams of income - some of them
passive?

Well, you can!

I've created a 5-step system that will teach you how to go from
square one all the way to more profits and more spare time.

Step 1: Design Your Business

Step one is the most important part of the system - and the one
where many people get stuck. Or worse yet, skip over. You need
to take some time to design your business.

You need to get very clear about what it is that you have to
offer that others value and understand your target market. Many
of my clients and prospective clients think they know this until
we hone it even sharper. Take some time with this so you're
very, very clear. Everything else will be much harder, if not
impossible, if you're not crystal clear on what value you offer
and to whom.

You need to select initial products and services to create and
put together packages and pricing. A little research will help
you pick affiliate programs and partners to fill out your
portfolio.

By laying out your business plan in detail and with great
clarity, you will have taken a huge leap forward and have a
wonderful advantage in creating a successful business.

Step 2: Develop Your Website

Your next step is to create a website for your business. It will
be all about your business theme that you clarified in step one.
You will lay out the navigation of pages, fashion a signature
look and feel for your site, and write the text, or copy, that
will attract the target market you identified in step one. Of
course, you will have your products and services available for
sale on your site!

Whether you build your site yourself or hire someone to do it
for you, make sure that you focus on all the following areas:

- The overall look and feel of the site. Make sure it reflects
your business. - Ease of navigation. You want your visitors to
be able to find what they're looking for. Also, you want to lead
them through your site. Tell them what page to look at next! -
Marketing orientation. Remember that your visitors first arrive
wanting to know what's in it for them to even read more than you
home page! Make sure you're laying out the benefits of working
with you or buying your product on every page. Too many site
start talking about the business itself or the process it
provides and not enough about the benefits to the customer. -
Maintainability. Make sure yoursite is designed so that changes
are as easy as possible and so that you can make simple changes
yourself.

Step 3: Publish Your Ezine

Now that you have things to sell and a place for people to buy,
you need to draw people to your site after building a
relationship with them so they understand and trust the value
you offer. So step three is to start publishing your own ezine,
or email newsletter. By giving your subscribers valuable content
in each issue, they will get to know you and what your business
can do for them.

An ezine is one of the most effective ways to build
relationships with people interested in what you offer. The
people on your list have given you permission to get in front of
them periodically to share a bit of your knowledge in your
articles and to promote your services and products to them. They
asked for the information! What better audience to present your
portfolio to?

Step 4: Build Your List

So far, so good. But step four is the truly powerful one. Here's
where we build your list. As those who know me have heard me say
many times, the one with the biggest list wins. If you have many
people on your list, you will make more sales with the same
conversion ratio. Put in English, if you send out a mailing
about a new product and 2% of the people who receive it buy the
product, you will sell more product and make more money the
larger your list is.

There are dozens of ways to build your list - many of them
absolutely free. Some include getting listed on ezine
directories and announcement lists, putting a link to sign up
for your ezine in the signature block of your email software,
and putting a signup form on every page of your website.

These are some of the simplest steps and there are many more.
One that's very effective that I recommend to all my clients is
to submit articles you've written to article banks on the web
and other ezine publishers. Get your articles onto as many
websites and into as many ezines as possible - all with your
website link in them, of course! - and you'll see more website
traffic and more ezine signups.

Step 5: Profit From Your List

The last step is where it starts getting good - really good! You
learn how to profit from your list. Having put all this effort
into your business, it's time to start making that extra money!

Before you have a large list - and after - joint ventures can be
very useful. They allow you to get in front of someone else's
list to promote your products and services. When you don't have
a list of your own, this can be a powerful way to start making
money.

Even when you do have a list, sharing your list with your
partner while you get access to his list is a terrific way to
get more exposure. And you'll usually get affiliate fees from
anything people on your list buy from your joint venture partner!

Just be sure to pick joint venture partners who have the same
target market as you, but don't compete with you.

There are two other ways to make money from your list. First, of
couse, market your portfolio to your list, in your ezine and
occasionally in a solo mailing.

Second, you may choose to sell advertising space in your ezine.
This is most effective when you have a fairly good list.

This is an overview of a process you can use to start building
an online business. The irony is that through implementing this
process, not only will you develop additional product-based
streams of income. You will also attract more clients for your
existing services!