This may come as a surprise to you, but when it comes to generating business success there is no secrets.

Sure you will read articles and sales letters all claiming that they have the "secret" but success at business or anything you do for that matter starts with YOU. You are the one who has got to be willing to do whatever it takes to see your wishes and dreams through to fruition. You are the one who has to do the work.

Ok, so we know that you are the foundation for success, however, success does leave clues, or in this case we will refer to them as tips. Here are seven, which will help, build upon your foundation for success. It is important to know that these tips need a driving force...and that force is YOU!

Success Tip #1 - Find Your Passion

Starting any sort of business whether on or off line takes a lot of time and effort. With that said, stick with starting a business in an area that you know or love to do. The hours you spend in trying to get your business off the ground won't seem so daunting if you love what you are doing, whereas if you just get into something for the sake of it, eventually you may grow to resent it.

You may find that you have more than one idea for starting a business and in that case there is a process you can go through that will help narrow the choice down. When you start out, make a list of the ideas you find interesting and that you could see yourself doing. Then in a second column, write down the skills you have in relation to each of those items. This will help you narrow choices down based on interest and skill, which gets you started in the right direction for success.

Ok, you have a couple of ideas and you have listed your skill sets, now it comes time to see if there is a market for what you could potentially get into. There are several tools out there to help you with this part of the process, the two resources I highly recommend are from Ken Evoy and they are the:

Affiliates Masters Course http://aff-masters.sitesell.com/proven-web-tactics.html

Service Sellers Course http://services.sitesell.com/proven-web-tactics.html

Don't let the titles scare you, it doesn't matter if you are building a business around affiliate programs or if your idea is in the service/retail industries. It is the process for researching an idea to see if it is viable is what we are after here and these two resources are the tickets for that.

Success Tip #2 - Time, Time, Time

Two aspects to the concept of time that we have to consider here. The first we talked about in Tip #1 and the fact that it takes time to build a successful business. NOTHING happens overnight and if you believe the hype you read about having business success in a matter of days...well I have some real good marshy land in Florida I want to sell you :o(

Yup there are some who do see success within a very short period of time, but these tended to be fads and of course haven't stood the test of time...when was the last time you saw a pet rock for sale??

The second aspect is the fact that you need to take into consideration your current situation. If you work and/or have a family you need to ensure that they are not neglected in the process. Take that and of course any other things you may have on the go, because they all cut into the one commodity we never have enough of...TIME! Success Tip #3 - Fail to Plan...Plan to Fail

You need a business plan and I know, I know what you're thinking...

"but I am just a small one person operation, working from my makeshift spare bedroom/turned quasi office...I don't need a business plan. I am just looking at starting something to help make ends meet, I don't want to go through all this trouble. I am not looking for investors or financing from a bank."

I have heard this countless times from people so you aren't alone in your thinking. A business plan actually helps you put your thoughts on paper and it serves, when it is done, as a roadmap. I mean you already have a starting point and you already have an idea as to where you want to end up - business success, right? Well, the business plan helps by filling in the gaps and helps you plot your course of action to getting to that business success.

There are some aspects of the business plan that might not be applicable for the specific business you are involved with and it is ok to leave out. Also, some of the homework you did in researching your idea will be useful for the plan as well, so in some aspects you are not re-inventing the wheel here either.

The Business Plan will consist of:

market trends - you need to know if you have a market that will sustain you and your business for the long haul and where the trends are going. As an example right now a trend is that people as they get older become more health conscious, therefore health and nutrition is a trend. Will it be say 5, 7, or even 10 years down the road? Well that is something that this research will help you gain an insight to, and from there you can determine just how it will affect your business.

financial planning - depending upon the type of business you are forming, you may have little to provide in start up capital, however, you also need to determine your budget. It doesn't matter if you are a part of a little affiliate program, an mlm or a business you formed from your own ideas, you need to keep track of the finances and gauge expenditures etc accordingly.

competitive analysis - who is in competition with you and what are they offering? Can you perhaps better than offer? Knowing who your competitors are and what they are doing helps you in several ways. It helps determine where you stand in the market based on price and quality of your product/service. It helps you to determine how you can better your offer if you need to. It also provides you with a bit of insight as to their marketing tactics and objectives.

marketing and promotions - how do you plan on getting you word out, what options are available to you and of course the budget that you have set aside for the marketing of your business.

It doesn't matter that you are not trying to secure investors or some other form of financing. Drafting up a business plan keeps you focused on your goals and gives you the guidance you need along the way. There is a reason that 95% of business fails...it is because people just jumped into something without first plotting their roadmap.

Success Tip #4 - The Learning Curve

Ya know, no one knows all there is to know about business so it stands to reason that you do have quite a learning curve ahead of you. Now you can take this on with two different mindsets, you could:

1. Get totally pumped about the fact that you are learning some pretty amazing things and that by the end of the year you will be totally gobbed- smacked at just how much you have done..."You've come a long way baby!"

2. Fight the fact that you need to learn some stuff and tell yourself there is no possible way that you can do it. I will tell you right now, with this kind of attitude you won't get far.

Just keep this in mind, whether you can or can't you are absolutely right. Yup you are going to make mistakes and probably bad ones, but those mistakes are valuable lessons to be learned.

In addition to that you also need to keep up with what is happening within your industry. You need to be the "sponge" and stay up to date with the latest trends (there's that word again, huh?), advances as they apply to your industry and then of course through that reading you are becoming much more informed and of more value to your customers. There is NOTHING worse than losing a customer to your competitor because they found a new way to do something better for them and you haven't. Why? Because you didn't read and keep up.

We are in the "information" age, there is a ton of it out there on anything and everything that you can imagine.

Success Tip #5 - Be Persistent and Consistent

Two words that have much meaning especially when you are trying to start and maintain a viable business. There are going to be peaks and valleys throughout your quest for business success. During the highs and the lows you need to hang in there and don't give up. Stay your course, adjusting where you need to in order to get over the rough spots and above all else be consistent in what you are doing.

Success Tip #6 - Break Out of The Bubble

Sometimes we are working so hard "in" the business, we neglect working "on" it. We are the best Accountants, Graphic Designers, Independent Distributors that we forget that working "on" the business is needed as well. Without working "on" it then we will soon run out of the working "in" it...make sense?

Break out and find groups to belong to, your local Chamber, some sort of business association that will allow you the chance to meet with like-minded people like yourself.

Breaking out of your bubble can also mean taking in a course that relates to your business in general or perhaps a business related course. Again too you will tend to find like-minded people with which to talk to.

Success Tip #7 - Find a Coach or a Mentor

A coach or mentor can be quite helpful for you. They can help brainstorm ideas, share their experiences with the intention of helping you avoid some of the expensive pitfalls that they experienced. They are also valuable in that they are on the outside of your business looking in and as such can give you a different perspective than you can see on your own.

A Coach or Mentor is a valuable asset to your business.

Success does leave clues and to find them all you really need to do is to find those people who have or are achieving the same results that you want to achieve and talk with them. Find out from them what their struggles were and how they overcame them and what it took to get them at the point where they are now. On top of that ask them if they had to do it all over again what would they do differently and why. The greatest lessons and insights we can gain are from those who have experienced it and are willing to share those experiences with you.

There you go seven tips that will certainly help and guide you in your quest for success. There are certainly more clues out there, these seven along with your drive and energy will give you a very good solid foundation to start with. After that and as you go along your way, just remember to stay open to ideas and concepts, be a sponge and learn as much as you can about the industry you are in and of course learn from others.

Good luck with your quest!!