Understanding The ‘Reflection’ Phase In The Online Business Automation Process
Hopefully, by the time you reach the end of this article, you will understand why the “reflection” stage is probably one of the most important components of your online business automation process.
The “reflection” stage is where you ask the “BIG” questions … the most important questions you will ever ask about your business and about your life, like “why” is it that you want to build an automated online business, “what” having a fully automated online business means to you, “how” much time, effort and money you will commit to achieving your goals, “where” you will conduct your business and “who” you will do business with, and so on.
Let’s use an example, so you can understand how important this stage really is …
Let’s start with the end result in mind. Imagine that you now own a fully automated online business … a completely orchestrated “vending machine” that can run 24 hours a day and 7 days a week without you … automatically prospecting for new leads, finding you new customers, guiding them through the sales process, addressing their concerns and objections, delivering their purchases securely and on time, collecting and depositing money from the sales it makes directly into your bank account, and providing not only excellent after sales services, but also making “backend sales” to your existing customers.
Maybe you can’t, or don’t want to see yourself developing a fully automated online business. Maybe you would be happy if you just reached the stage where you have a profitable online business with efficient systems that DOES require you to be actively running it. If that idea feels more comfortable to you, then that’s ok. Most people cannot imagine themselves making money without being actively involved in the creation of their own income.
In fact, many people I’ve come across who entertain the idea of creating a passive, or residual income stream, only have a partial idea of what passive income really means. They may have picked up the concept from a network marketing presentation or a real estate investment seminar that passive income is “doing the work once, and getting paid over and over again for their one-time effort.”
While this is a compelling and seductive way to present the concept of passive income - and getting people to sign up to a network marketing company or real estate investing course — it doesn’t get people thinking about what the “whole” concept really means, or the challenges that lay ahead for anyone who decides to actually go ahead and create a passive income stream.
Let me present to you the concept of residual income in a more challenging way.
Residual income, or passive income, is the process of making yourself redundant to the creation of your own income.
So, the first question you should ask yourself if you are attracted to the idea of owning an automated online business that can create an ongoing stream of passive income for you is … “why” do you want to do this?
Why do you want to own an automated online business? Why not work in a job where you can get paid well and not have to take home the pressures or responsibilities of ownership? Or, if being your own boss is important, why not just own a traditional business that doesn’t require automation? Like being a doctor, or a plumber, or a professional of some kind?
My guess is that “freedom” is what motivates you the most. In fact, if you are as obsessed as I am about the idea of owning automated online businesses that can produce an ongoing stream of passive income for you, then your motivation may be a combination of wanting to have both “time freedom” AND “money freedom” in your life.
To have these freedoms be manifested in your life, requires first that you spend a serious amount of time engaged in deep, active, reflection …
To read the rest of this article, go here: How To Automate Your Online Business