But the life of an entrepreneur is definitely not for everyone. You have to commit to what you’re doing; you have to sacrifice commodities, food and sleep in order to get your business off the ground. For many, this sounds like the best adventure ever, but for most it sounds scary. Here are a few things that you must absolutely know about and be prepared for before venturing into the startup world:

Nothing is certain. The bad side of having the freedom of running everything how and when you like it is having to decide every single step, often without any advice (especially in the beginning). You’re in charge and responsible for everything – the good, the bad and the ugly. Depending on what decision you make today, your company may gain profit or may fail completely, and if you don’t like such extreme uncertainties, you should think twice before throwing yourself into them.

You’ll have to sacrifice… a lot. It’s like going out in the woods, alone or with just a few friends (who might turn out to be traitors). Until you learn how to survive and be strong in this environment, you’ll be constantly looking out for wolves or bears (competitors, regulators, unsatisfied clients, government regulators, you name it) which may not even be there. You’ll have to always think about what to do next, sacrifice sleep, food, social interaction and other important things because you just can’t afford to waste any time.

You’re a salesman. Even though you’re acting on your free will and on a bigger scale, you’re still a salesman who has to do everything he has to do to pitch and sell his product/persona/idea. This is unavoidable, because all our civilization is based on selling and buying, but if you don’t like salesmen who most of the times bend the truth and do anything to sell you something, it will be hard for you to work. As they say, we invent and sell people stuff they don’t even know they want .

You will fail. Everyone says it and every experienced entrepreneur knows it. You may fail at only one thing or at the whole deal at once, but there will always be an idea you thought is great which will turn out to be a big flop, wasting you money, time and brain cells. All you can do is learn not to do the same thing again or do it differently, and move on and try again.

The above might sound quite pessimistic, but there are some people who just read this article and laughed at it, because they either already know how it is or are not afraid of the challenges and say “Bring it on!”. One thing is for sure: they are a minority.

If you are not ready to commit to your business and sacrifice anything that needs to be sacrificed in order to succeed, perhaps it might be easier for you to get a managerial or commanding position at one of the many already established companies. The pay is stable (and definitely higher than what you would be making in the first months and years of your own startup) and you get most of the benefits of running a business without a lot of the risks. In the end it is up to you: who knows, maybe if you try starting a company you will get to like it in time or at the very least you’ll gain some experience, whether it fails or not.

Several words are considered “hot buttons” to get reactions for people. These simple everyday words are proven to get great results in any market with any client or customer. Use the hot button words to increase the earning potential of the business. Even if you are a web publisher running a website or blog to earn advertising revenue, you may find learning to use these words helpful for your site promotion campaigns.

The first word is “fast.” People do not like to wait for anything, especially services or products. Waiting is not time efficient in the day where many people have busy lives. Produce the services or products fast and the client or customer will be forever grateful. They will return in the future for more services and products.

“Efficient” means being effective without wasting time or energy and being conscience of the end results of the project. No wants to waste time so being efficient saves on having to do something again due to mistakes that might have been made in the past. Do it right the first time to avoid wasting time to correct problems.

“Trusted” is a word many people need to know is part of the service. No one wants to be taken advantage of. People need to know the product and service is legitimate and with proven results. To be able to trust a person, product, or service is critical for business to survive. Be trustworthy for everything done by the business and in the personal life.

Having a “proven” service or product earns the trust of customer. People need to know the product or service has a good history. No one wants to use something that will not produce they are seeking. Think of buying something, which ends up being a waste of money, not a good thing to experience.

“Guaranteeing” a product and service will produce more sales. Everyone needs to have some kind of guarantee they are making the right decision to use the product or service. Even if the guarantee has a limited time, people feel they can still change their minds about their purchase at some point. Guaranteeing products and services earns the trust of the consumer.

Using the mentioned words will boost the sales of the business. Consumers need to feel safe, secure, and respected. Showing appreciation for their needs will be extremely beneficial and profitable.

The #1 service of every business is customer service and satisfaction. Provide the customer with wonderful satisfaction will create a returning customer. Provide the customer with terrific customer service based upon respect, trust, guarantees, and great services that are proven will create a customer who will not only return in the future but will also recommend the business to others.

Among the most important factors that will contribute to the success of your online business is your dedication as a web entrepreneur. It will not enough for you to treat your online business as a hobby or as a means to earn extra income. If you want to quit your day job and make a living out of your online business, you need to be ready to dedicate yourself to it and focus all your time and effort on running it. You will also need to spend enough time learning everything you can to help you run your online business properly. Ideally, before you quit your day job, you would have already planned out your online business and have taken steps to learn everything about the niche you want to penetrate, the target market you want to focus on, and the most effective internet marketing strategies.

Another very important factor is your network. To really succeed in making money online, you need to have a network of like-minded entrepreneurs. You also need to establish your online reputation within the niche you want to penetrate. If this is something you haven’t done, you should keep your day job in the mean time but start being active in relevant online communities. Begin to establish your online reputation now so that there will already be people who will patronize you as soon as you launch your online business.

Also, a lucrative online business venture entails providing exceptional customer service. No matter what your online business involves, you need to understand that you must go out of your way to take care of and please your customers. Keep in mind that it is always more costly to acquire new customers than it is to keep them. One of your tasks in taking care of your customers would be to communicate with them as regularly as possible. You will also need to reply to their queries at the soonest possible time. If you aren’t available to address them when they need you, they can easily lose interest in your business. This is also among the most important reasons why people who truly want to be successful in making money online should not treat their online business as a sideline.

Before you quit your day job, you need to be sure that you have everything it takes to start and maintain a successful online business. Once you have the pre-requisites of a lucrative online business, your transition from a mere employee to a successful web entrepreneur won’t be so difficult.