Tom Harpointner, a founder of AIS Media, told us a story one day that struck me
as containing qualities that have been a huge part of Tom's success in Internet
business. Our story begins with 10 year old Tom's ant farm. He'd always had ant
farms in buckets and boxes and so forth. One day his neighbor tossed out an
aquarium in excellent shape, except for a cracked bottom. While clearly not
the appropriate receptacle for fish, Tom, even at that early age, had a vision.

Where others saw merely a flawed vessel, a used, discarded, aged box, Thomas
Harpointner saw past all that to the essence: this item would be perfect as
a state of the art ant condominium. Yes, his ants would live in comfort and
luxury for the rest of their antly lives. And not only did he provide a
wonderful community for ants, he spread the word and marketed those ants to
everyone who would hear him. Sure, the other kids laughed- what kind of doofus
geek keeps an ant farm? Tom invited the nay-sayers and non-believers to
witness the great wonder. It didn't take long for the word to spread that
Tom had something cool going on in a glass tank outside his house. Tom would
explain to his audience how the ants, once introduced to their new environment,
worked together to create their own communication and travel system.
By depositing foreign objects like orange peels and other bugs into the tank,
he demonstrated how his favorite insects worked together to achieve a goal.

Successful Internet entrepreneurs share these characteristics- the "I have a
dream" vision, the persistence to work through any obstacles blocking making
the dream a reality, and the passion to communicate this vision to everyone
in a manner that instills passion in those who hear about it.

If you are excited about the product or service you are providing on your website,
you are already sharing a quality of entrepreneurship. Your excitement will inspire
those working with you on your website, or those customers and prospective customers
you talk with. Business owners who are constantly thinking about their business,
and the next thing to do or to add or to accomplish are going to be
successful because they have a vision and are working to become successful
through everything having to do with their business. Just keeping an open
mind will open doors for you. You never know when you'll stumble across your
own cracked aquarium.

Keep working on your website. A bunch of ants in a glass box is not a big
attraction, but when you add the ants and make the whole thing an interactive
experience by throwing in a few orange peels and educating people on how things
work in the ant world, now that's big fun! A great idea alone will not allow
you to be successful, you must also persist in making your dream, your vision,
a reality.

You've got to be able to teach people about your product or service, and that
will take some trial and error and every effort will turn up more obstacles.
Keep your goal firmly in mind and keep moving forward.

Communication and passion are your knockout punches. Talking and sharing your
thoughts and goals for your business accomplishes two things. First, you will
continue to keep your business foremost in your thoughts, which helps you maintain
your vision for your business. Second, your enthusiasm is one of the best promotion
tools you have. According to "The World Wide Internet Opinion Survey," a joint
project of @d:tech and Talk City, respondents said that after using search engines,
word of mouth was the vehicle that most drives them to new web sites. If you talk
about your website to people you're in touch with, and include your website address
in your signature information at the end of your email messages, you are going to
generate traffic to your site. People are curious and will want to see what is
fueling your excitement. It's your passion that will inspire other people to come
see your cool new ant condo.

There are many skills and characteristics that will contribute to your success on
the Internet, but vision, persistence, and passion are indispensable to your success.

About the Author

Karen LaVoy, eCommerce Account Executive, has a vision of helping people establish
successful businesses on the internet.If your passion is your Internet Business,
contact her today to learn more ways to succeed with your business venture.
Call 1-800-784-0919, ext. 112, or email to karen@aismedia.com.
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