Internet Entrepreneur Checklist

I got up early in the morning to buy some breakfast for my visiting parents - my wife was ill and she couldn't get up to serve breakfast for us. I noticed that my brother, Ad, was missing, but I knew exactly where to find him.

And so I drove over to Al-Sameer Maju, the Mamak restaurant I frequent, and as I had expected, Ad was there having a morning bowl of Maggi.

You see, Ad is a novelist. His books, Fantasia Romantika (Alaf21) and Kau Ilhamku (Prima Publishings) sold quite well on the market. But, like many of us, he is also an adamant believer of creating multiple side-incomes for emergency purposes. Emergencies such as our current global economic crisis.

Like myself, Ad prefers the Internet as his side-income battlegrounds. In fact, Ad started his online business even before I seriously considered it at his www.adrs.com.my.

He told me this morning, "Not bad. I spent RM96 on Google Adwords, and got back RM500+ within a week".

Certainly not bad. I think many of us spend about RM100 a week on petrol to earn RM500 a week's worth of salary.

And so we went on sharing experiences with each other, almost forgetting our parents were waiting for their breakfast.

And one of the things we talked about was about a checklist on how to become an Internet Entrepreneur:

• Type at least 35 words per minute
• Have a computer with Internet access
• Use a search engine such as Google or Yahoo
• Set up several e-mail accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, Hot Mail)
• Sign up and learn to use social networking sites (Facebook, My Space, You Tube, Twitter)
• Use office suite software such as Microsoft Word, Power Point, and Excel, or the Open Office equivalents
• Learn to use an HTML editor, such as, Dreamweaver
• Learn some basic HTML Set up accounts with PayPal, Click Bank, and Netbuilder's NBePay
• Have at least one domain name
• Have a Web host account
• Use an FTP program (I like CuteFTP) and start putting content on the Internet under your domain name
• Get good images and turn them into a banner for advertising purposes (you can get them at XBanners.my);
• Promote your website in high trafficked sites such Harakah Daily and Mudah2u; and
• Remind yourself everyday that you need to spend money to make money.

We went back home, with me carrying a purchase of Roti Canai, Capati and Nasi Lemak for my parents. We're going for a kenduri in Kota Damansara after this - a cousin of mine, whom I have not met for almost 20 years, is getting married today.

Hmm, I wonder who else I'll meet there? Just my cousins? Or, future business partners?