However, many online businesses fail when their founders hear only "the call of the wildly rich" and forget basic business principles. Taking some trouble to develop a solid plan will reap huge rewards as you fulfill your dream. Visualize, Plan, and Create a Statement

What is your dream for your online business? Clarify your vision first in your own mind and then write it down in one or two sentences. This is the first step towards your online reality.

The next step is coming up with a business plan. Ask yourself questions such as the following:

What will you sell?

Who will your clients or customers be?

Will you be B2B, B2C, C2C or a combination of these?

What are the legalities of your type of business, on- or offline?

Keep in mind while you're doing this what you think you realistically can achieve online. Figure out annual profit and growth goals, and then break them down into quarterly and monthly goals. Make goals SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, reviewable, timebound) and put them down on paper.

Next, create a mission statement that defines the core of your business. Write it and distill it down to one sentence. Think of your mission statement as describing the value you will bring to each of your potential clients. McDonald's mission statement offers a simple and effective example: "In every day and every way, we pledge to do our best to impress our guests." Strategize, Then Implement and Assess Your Plan

Develop a realistic strategy that will move your business forward quickly. Now that you've determined what your resources are, ask yourself how you can use them to produce the results you want. Make contacts within your industry, and study those companies that have had e-commerce success, especially if they are your competitors.

Next, create a time frame, which consists of breaking your strategy into steps. Outline when you will get to where you are going. This is not to say you won't take side trips, that is the excitement of having aonlineFF business, but an overall time frame has to develop from the strategies you've set forth. Create a sequence of actions and corresponding time goals.

Often business people have ideas but they do not know how to implement them. This is one of the most important, and most often missed, steps in the process of developing an online business. Break down your plan by the month, week, and day and add the specific action steps to your calendar. When planning the upcoming week, bring forward anything that didn't get done. Implementation is simply executing the steps outlined in your plan.

It's also important to know how to assess your overall business operations. This means:

Reviewing your operating information monthly.

Checking out industry and economic indicators at least quarterly.

At least annually, performing a total review of all steps mentioned here.

Summarizing and document results, commenting on what worked and what didn't.

After the rush to make millions and the resulting decline in Net stocks, we online business operators need to get back to basics. If you begin with these few simple steps, your online corporation will be just as successful as any brick-and-mortar enterprise. You will reap the rewards and recognition you deserve, and you'll also have fun.