If there is one rule that stands head and shoulders above all others, it is the one that says, “Invest in Yourself!”

You have very likely heard this mantra repeated over and over and over again and yet you still don’t have the first clue about what it means. Let me explain.

An internet business is a virtual object. There are no bricks, no offices (in the traditional sense) and no transport costs, etc. In other words it exists only in the intangible ether that is the internet, and in the heart and mind of its owner.

Basically, your internet business is YOU. You are the heart of your business, giving it the identity that it has.

You could make cosmetic changes to the outside of a real world business and people would be drawn in after seeing that improvements had been made, and look inside to see how your decor had changed and whether your product lines had changed.

With an online business you can change the look of your website but to make any real impact on your internet business you need to make improvements to yourself. You need to invest in yourself. It’s not easy but you can’t improve your internet business unless you improve yourself first.

How do you invest in yourself? It’s simple. You educate yourself about new marketing methods, new technologies that could benefit your business, etc. In short, you need more knowledge. The more knowledge you gain, the more your business will grow in response.

Try spending just one hour a day reading articles or subscribe to an ezine that emails you information regularly about both your industry and also online marketing methods, and you will have invested a significant amount of time in yourself.

You can do many things like listen to teleseminars and webinars or enrol in courses. Investing in yourself is taking the time to involve yourself in the process of gaining knowledge. This is Rule No.1 in marketing online.

Following on from investing in yourself is the principle of “Abundance Thinking”.

Abundance Thinking? What the heck is that? This refers to one of two possible modes of thought. In order to clarify this I will explain the second mode first. ‘Limited Supply’ thinking is where you believe there is a finite amount of business out there. This is a bad model because it induces panic and the mindset that motivates you to grab what you can at the expense of others.

Limited Supply thinking may earn you a living, perhaps even a decent one, but it won’t allow you to make the most money you possibly can. It’s the complete opposite of Abundance Thinking.

Abundance thinking is the belief that there is enough business to go around and that we can all make a good living by giving away referrals, ideas and assistance to help others…including to our competitors.

Abundance thinking places the good of the team above the good of the individual in the belief that as the team prospers, so each individual prospers accordingly. This allows a team to be built with individuals bringing various specialist skills to the table whereby the customer has the best possible deal, the team wins the business and each individual earns more than they would have done had they tried to win over to customer on their own.

Limited Supply thinking is characterized by holding on firmly to what is yours, and refusing to share anything with anyone. A great deal of decisions are made according to what your competitors are doing. It is a very defensive method of thinking and very rarely are the customers welfare taken into account.

Abundance thinking is the exact opposite. It is proactive, customer focussed and thinks in terms of how things could be done better. This thinking builds relationships, makes more mature, healthy decisions and results in significantly less stress.

If you believe that there is plenty of business out there (Abundance Thinking) then you will have no problem in sharing.

The beautiful thing about abundance thinking is that it is contagious. The better you get at abundance thinking the more accepting of you your peers will become.

Joint ventures will develop more readily once you adopt an Abundance mentality, and you will see for yourself that there is more success in Abundance Thinking than in Limited Supply thinking.