Web⋅mas⋅ter
n. A person whose occupation is designing, developing, marketing, or maintaining websites.

(From: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/webmaster)

En⋅tre⋅pre⋅neur
n. A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture.

(From: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/entrepreneur)

Usually when I meet someone new and they ask me what I do, I say I am an Internet Entrepreneur. I do not say I am a Webmaster.

Looking at the definitions above, the things I do can be described in both, so I am a Webmaster too.

So why do I say I am an Internet Entrepreneur? Is it because I think it just sounds cooler? Is it because I like words of French origin, or words that are hard to spell?

No.

It is because you must be an Entrepreneur if you want to succeed online today.

If you are inspired to run one or more websites with the desire that it will earn you enough money to be the equivalent of a part time or full time job, or better yet, well-off or wealthy, than just being a webmaster isn’t going to cut it.

You must understand that you are running an online business and it is just like any other business.

You need funding and a budget. That’s real boring and not as exciting as big boobs, I know, but it’s true.

You don’t think you need funding because you are a great web designer and webmaster?

You may be able to get something started without much money. However, try growing into a substantial business that supports its growth and affords you nearly everything you want without funding.

I don’t mean that everyone has to get investors, venture capitalists, or a bank loan. What I mean is that in the least, you better be prepared to invest you own money in the business.

I’d advise to try spending as little as possible to avoid the syndrome of throwing large sums of money at something thinking that will do the trick. Having a tight budget can actually make you quite creative.

It is important to realize that you can start out as a 1-person endeavor, but as you do things right, and get a little lucky, the business will start to grow. Even if you are a workaholic, you will eventually find out that you can no longer grow by doing everything yourself.

You will need to pay people to help you.

If you are not a great web designer, than by all means, please, please hire a professional. I can’t believe that people still post total pieces of crap websites in the forums and want to know how good they are.

If you want to learn web design, by all means do so, but don’t do it on a site that you want to make money with. Buy a book or take a course and practice on a hobby site.

If you wanted to open your own restaurant, don’t you think it would be a good idea to have experience working in one first? The same goes for the Internet.

Other general business aspects that apply to a for-profit website are:

- Marketing – the old fashioned 4 P’s still apply – product, price, place and promotion.

- Differentiation – why should we come to your site instead of one of the other 1 billion sites out there?

- Finance & Accounting – what is coming in and what is going out? Are you in the black or the red? Do you owe anyone money? Does anyone owe you money?

I could go on and on, but we can’t do an entire business course in a blog post.

I’ll have more in the next post, but for now, let me ask you a question.

Are You a Webmaster or an Entrepreneur?

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