What would you do business-wise if Internet marketing went away tomorrow? Could you still run a successful business?

In my last couple of posts I mentioned how I feel with the growing popularity of social media and blogging as a means to grow your business has in many ways made some entrepreneurs lazy.

True it is possible to grow your business by only networking online and never off, but limiting yourself in such a way could be a huge mistake.

One of the main reasons for starting a business is to generate wealth. Yes, freedom to do what you want and be your own boss are other reasons, but without the wealth, you won’t be able to do any of those for long.

If you own a business and want to generate substantial wealth, don’t let your knowledge of the Internet (which is a strength) become your Achilles heal in business. What billionaire or even millionaire do you know sits at home, blogs, toys around with social media and comments back and forth on blogs every day all day long?

Craig Newmark, owner of Craiglist.org A social media entrepreneur that does more than sit at home all day at the computer in his PJs Image by AP/Stephen Chernin source Wired

So much has already been written on how powerful of a marketing tool social media can be that I don’t want to spell it all out again here. Visit Problogger, Copyblogger, Dosh Dosh, and sites like those to learn more.

The major downside I see with social media is how much time and effort it can take to create a profit.

For example, I’ve been seeing a lot lately on how to grow your blog. One of the more popular ways is to comment on other people’s blog in order to get those bloggers to in turn visit your blog and read and comment, in other words, return the favor. This is probably one of the best ways to quickly build your comment section and community.

We all know the economy sucks. We hear it in the news, we read about it in print media, and we read about it online.

I see shows on MSNBC and CNBC with people arguing with one another about how to better our market and we see experienced entrepreneurs shelling out helpful advice to help your business grow.

Then I get online and read articles and blogs which teach us about the effectiveness of social media marketing and how many people use this as their only means of marketing and building their business.

For example, they leverage social media sites like Digg, Stumble Upon, and del.icio.us to help drive “targeted” traffic to their site. Another idea is to comment on other people’s blogs in order to get other bloggers to comment on your blog as a strategy to get your website noticed and talked about.

If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

How many times has this rung true for you? Whoever first spoke those words was a wise person.

About a week ago a close friend went on Craiglist.org, Las Vegas looking for a rental home. They quickly became excited when they ran across a home advertised for rent in an excellent part of town for a monthly rent price $300 - $400 less a month than similar homes.

They quickly replied to the post and soon after they received a reply from the supposed owner of the house in a message that looked like this:

Good hearing from you am Dr Eric Neville,the Leaders of (WHO) world health organisation appointed by the World Health Assembly on 9 November 2006..

What is your perception of the world you live in? Image by borzikako

Do you do great things or do great things happen to you?

What is the foundation of successful thinking?

For me it’s the way in which we perceive and think of ourselves. I’m not talking about simply thinking happy thoughts and good things will happen, I’m talking about the level in which you perceive yourself and the world around you and your place in it.

Your mind-set and belief system will greatly influence your creativity, potential, and most likely determine your success in business.

Life sort of molds us into the person we are today. Determining factors can be such things as where you’ve been and where you live, who your friends and family are, your income level, environment, etc. The elements around us condition the way we think. And the way we think determines how well we do in business.

As the owner of a web hosting company, I spend a lot of time networking online and answering a lot of questions. Because we are not as big a name as say, Yahoo Web Hosting, I try my best to make sure we provide a little more personal service and help to our customers when it comes to setting up their website and promoting it.

Anyone who has followed my blog for awhile now knows I’m always telling entrepreneurs that you have to read between the lines of what people are telling you.

People often times either don’t really know what it is they really want or they don’t say what they really mean.

As an example, I find people online asking about web hosting. One person asked which web host is a good one that will also help her with her website. She doesn’t know much about setting up blogs and forums but she really wants a site that has a blog, forum, and image gallery on it.

1. Be positive and believe in yourself, it’ll rub off and others will in turn believe in you - don’t make excuses.
2. Sometimes you can speed up the success of your business by joining forces with other companies.
3. If you own a business, set up a business structure.