Building an online business can be overwhelming.

It takes a lot of work, skill and knowledge to create a profitable online business.

If you manage to successfully build an online business, it can drastically change your life in terms of time and money.

But, to get there, it’s important to think small.

I don’t care if your ultimate goal is to make a million dollars in 1 year or a billion dollars in 10 years, you still need to think small.

Your goals can be as big as you want, but when it comes down to it, your business will succeed or fail based on the small actions you take every day.

How to Think Smaller

Let’s say you want to sell software to millions of people around the globe and build a multi-billion dollar corporation.  Great goal, but what’s your process to turn that goal into a reality?  The only way to turn that goal into a reality is to take small steps every single day.  Not just any steps, the right steps.

You need software to sell, right?  That means you’ll have to sit down at your computer and write the code for your software.  If you’re not writing the code, then you need to hire someone to write the code, which means you’ll have to contact people, place advertisements, conduct interviews, view their previous work.  All small steps.

You finish the software and now it’s time to make your millions, right?  Hmmm, not so fast.  How are you gonna sell the software?  Online?  Maybe you need to build a website.  Maybe you need to hire a sales person.  Maybe you need to park your butt in a chair and start cold-calling companies to see if they’re interested.  Small steps.

Your goals can be as big as you want, but when it comes down to it, your business will succeed or fail based on the small actions you take every day.

A Small Company Called Microsoft

Ever hear of a company called Microsoft?  It’s a little company that was created by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.  They started by taking small steps.

Bill Gates learned how to code in High School.  He worked on several different projects to improve his coding skills before he left to attend Harvard.

Then, Gates and Allen read an article about a new “personal computer” that needed software but the software didn’t exist.  And, most people thought it would be impossible to create the software.

Bill Gates called the person who created the new “personal computer” and told him that they could create a BASIC software program to run the computer.  Small step.

Since there was only one prototype of the “personal computer” in existence in 1974, Gates and Allen then bought a manual for the 8080 chip found in the new personal computer so they could understand how it worked.  Small step.

Then, they sat down in front of the computer and worked on creating the code.  Small step.

The next day, they sat down in front of the computer and worked on creating the code.  And the next day.  And the next day.

For about 8 weeks straight, they simply took the necessary steps to create the software that they said they could create.  Small steps.

Finally, Allen scheduled a meeting with the creator of the personal computer to test the software.  Small step.

He got on an airplane and flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Small step.

The next day, Allen tested the software for the first time on the personal computer and it worked.  Small step.

I could go on and on about the small steps that led to Microsoft’s massive success, but you get the idea.

Why Think Smaller?

If you want to achieve big goals, you need to focus on the process that will get you there.  You need goals, but you also need a system in place to achieve those goals.  The system or process is what will make the difference.

We only have 24 hours in a day and when you subtract time for sleeping, eating, showering, traveling, etc, it doesn’t leave much time for getting real work done.

You are where you are right now because of the choices you made in the past.  If you were focused on taking action, increasing your skills, your value and the value of your own business, then the results will show that.

If you made excuses, procrastinated, watched TV every night, read zero books and complained about your lack of money instead of taking action, then your current results will be a reflection of that.

So, instead of putting so much emphasis on goals, put more emphasis on creating a daily, weekly or monthly process that will give you the results you want.

If you want to increase your traffic from search engines by 50%, then you need to create a process that will bring those results.  Make it as specific as possible and focus on what you will COMPLETE not a vague statement of what you need to work on.

For example, your Monday Process might look like this:

MONDAY

• 9am – 1pm: Complete 1 article on how to increase website traffic.
• 1pm – 1:30pm: Format and Post website traffic article on abc website.
• 2:30 – 2:45pm: Share article on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
• 2:45pm – 3:45pm: Read 10 articles from websites “A through J” and Post useful comment on each article.
• 3:45pm – 6pm: Complete research for 1 article on how to learn SEO and prepare outline for article.

This is an example of a very generic process but when you have the specifics of what you need to accomplish, you can write a better one.

Avoid general processes, like “write article” or “get backlinks.”  Focus on exactly what needs to be completed to accomplish your goal, then break it down into simple, actionable steps.  Take it to the next level by taking those steps and creating a daily, weekly, or monthly process.

When you create a process, you know what needs to be done and you don’t have to think about it.  You know what the process requires and you execute it day after day.  That’s how you get the results you want.

The results you have today are based on the actions you took in the past.  The results you get tomorrow, will be based on the actions you take today.

Focus on the small things today and you will see big results in the future.