You've asked a great question and have gotten some great advice so far. Even though youre asking about building a business, though, the question could really be applied to anything you're trying to change in your life. In my limited experience (36 years old), I've found four keys that are essential to reaching your goals; taking action, persistence, patience, and a plan.

The most essential element in the success of any business is taking action. Your best intentions and plans don't mean anything if you never take action on them. While I don't believe everything Tony Robbins teaches, one thing we do agree about is that massive action results in massive return. Those returns aren't always financial, of course, but in some cases they can be.

For example, in internet marketing, the first thing you need to decide is which niche you want to market in. This decision is very time consuming because you see all the ads preaching instant success and allowing you to learn at the feet of the "masters." Let me tell you, though, if you choose to enter the "how to make money online" market, you've chosen one of the most ultra-competitive and difficult areas to enter into. What I would recommend is studying people's sales pages, picking up a course here or there (it's hard to know who to trust) on internet marketing fundamentals and then doing lots of research to see how you can apply those fundamentals and market to a niche you are already familiar with. For example, if you're a vet, go after pet owners or other vets. If you're a sports nut, go after sports fans or atheletes. I;m sure you get the idea...you want to be where everyon else isn't. Most of the methods the "gurus" teach work really well, but not on a small budget in an ultra-competitive market when you're just starting out.

Success is difficult! Don't let anyone tell you it isn't. Taking action is hard...especially in the beginning when you're not seeing the results we all want. You must persist. Successful people (whether in information marketing or anything else) are above all else persistent.

How do you persist in tough times?

The best way is to make sure you're around like-minded people that support your goals. Hopefully this will include your family. If you check out one of my links, you'll see that I counsel with homeowners going through foreclosure. I find this very rewarding because talking to people and hearing the relief in their voice helps me to go on. I've never really enjoyed talking on the phone. But now that I do it all the time, I'm getting better at it and I have to work less at getting myself to pick up the receiver. And it's all because I decided to take the action of starting the business and running some Adwords campaigns and then persisted in making myself pick it up.

If you purchase courses you will often become part of a mentor or mastermind group as well. Be careful with these because they're only as good as the people running them and who you're matched up with. You can also learn a lot simply by reading all the free content that information marketers put out on the web. If you check out the Outsource Compendium link above, you'll see what I mean...tons of valuable material.

When we start out on a new journey, it's usually fun...for the first couple hours or days. But then we get bored and our minds start to wander. Remember how you feel when you're getting ready for a road trip? If you're like me, you look forward to the trip. You plan for it for weeks. You know the roads you're going to take and exactly when you should be at each hotel along the way. You know it's going to take you 3 days of driving 12 hours to get from Georgia to Montana, but you choose to ignore that in the excitement of just getting out the door. Then the day finally arrives. The car is packed with the luggage, the family, and the dog. You get in and you're on the way. It's all going well for the first couple hours...and then it hits you. You've got 34 more hours behind the wheel...how are you ever gonna make it?

Starting a business is much like that. It's exciting at the start...espcially if you have some initial success. But then the hard work of advertising, doing the bills, marketing, dealing with clients, writing ad copy or materials you're going to sell, and everything else you have to do as a small business owner.

How do you keep going?

First, you take a deep breath and remember why you're doing this in the first place. You do have goals don't you? You need them before you start. You have to know where you're going and why you're going there r you'll lose steam. Then you call up one of your mentors or go on a walk with your wife or talk to your pastor or business partner about your issues. Not so they can solve them for you...just to get them off your chest. Then you remind yourself that internet marketing (like anything else in life) is not a story of overnight riches. You can re-read this article and know that your action and persistence MUST bring you closer to your goal. And then remind yourself to be patient. Patient with yourself. And patient with the process.

Second, you don't have to do everything yourself. I know one of my biggest challenges is finding enough time to do everything I need to do. You can outsource anything now adays. Check out the Outsource Compendium link above for more info. Whether it's web sites, follow-up, testimonials, video production, bookeeping, WHATEVER...you can outsource it so you have time to focus on what truly makes you money rather than all the minutae.

The final step to insure you will have success is a plan. I mentioned it earlier, but you have to have goals. These goals will drive your business plan. It's easy to get so excited about being in business and get so overwhelmed with the details of getting a business up and running that you fail to stop and really plan it out. Make yourself stop and put a plan together. It doesn't have to be a pretty business and marketing plan like you would need if you were trying to get a small business loan. But you do need a plan.

What's in the plan?

What do you need to plan? A few things are essential:

1. What business entity are you going to operate in? (hint: if you don't know what this means, you need to before you start your business)
2. What niche are you going to attack and how?
3. What makes your product and offer better than all the other offers out there in your niche?
4. Is the niche big enough that it can provide the level of income you desire?
5. What marketing methods are you going to use? Just online or offline too? Where online?
6. What is your budget for marketing and operations?
7. How are you going to pay for everything?
8. Are you going to do everything yourself, or outsource some things?
9. Who can you partner with to get you off the ground faster?
10. How are you going to get products to sell? Will you develop them yourself or be an affiliate?

That is just the beginnig of the questions you should ask yourself. You can stumble through without answering these questions. You may even become successful. But you won't do it as quickly or as surely as you will if you do.

Take the time to make a detailed plan. We all know that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. However, having a plan when things go wrong makes it a lot simpler to simply adjust things rather than having to withdraw to safety.

So that's it! Take action, persever, have patience with yourself and the process, and make a plan. Simple...but never easy.

Two last pieces of advice I would give you:

1. Learn from others' mistakes. This means you have ti study them.
2. Outsource your weaknesses. Focus 80% of your time on the 20% of your activities that truly make you money and outsource everything else you can. As one of my bosses told me...only do what only you can do.