I’m through with being online
Just to waste my time
Spending all my money

Almost every dime
The nets not turned out
Quite the way I want it to be

(tell me what you want)

I want a big website
On top of the engines
And be considered a marketing ninja
And a spot in Entrepreneur mag
That’s just about me

(yeah, so what you need)

I’ll need a Twitter account and good laptop
And followers coming in like they’ll never stop
Gonna tweet on the beach
With my toes in the sand

(Been there done that)

I want to be more famous than MySpace Tom
Be ranked up high on Twitter Grader.com
Somewhere between CNN and
Shaq is fine by me

(So how you gonna do it?)

I’m gonna type and tweet till my fingers bleed
I’ll have all the followers that I’ll ever need

[CHORUS]
‘Cause we all just wanna be big Tweet Stars
Sportin’ nice profiles getting big PR
The tweets come easy from all my tweeps
We’ll all be tweetin’ cause we just can’t sleep
And we’ll all hang out on the coolest site
Tweet all day it’ll be alright
Every good tweet monger
Gonna wind up there
Come one come all
Cause we just don’t care
and well…

Hey hey I wanna be a Tweet Star
Hey hey I wanna be a Tweet Star

I thought I was done ranting about the people offering cheap design services but I guess I’m not. I think out of all the things online this is probably the worst thing, I will go as far as saying these people and companies are scammers.

I did another Google search and I came up with some great stuff, here are just a few:

Web Design at $10/hr
Web Design/Programming NO Freelance
Satisfaction Guaranteed, Staff 80+

This is great! 80+ staff all working for $10 an hour, wait, has to be less than $10 an hour because I’m sure for a staff that large they have some overhead, right? Maybe it’s just me but don’t McDonald’s pay almost as much per hour?

Web Designers - $199
xxxxxxxxxxxx.com 100% Full “Custom” Web Design. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed!

Really? $199 and it’s fully custom and 100% satisfaction? Oops, what about the 228 rip off and scam reports?

The bottom line is that cheap website designs that will do something for your business other than destroy it just don’t exist!

As a consumer please educate yourself and ask the following questions before you choose a designer:

• What research will you do?
• Will you research my competitors?
• Will you research my target market?
• Will it really be custom or are you using a pre-made template?
• Will you be able to assist me with updates and additions after the project is done?
• How will you help me market my website?

This list could go on for a while but the questions above will get you started.

I have done professional website design and owned Proimpulse for more than eight years but it seems we never stop getting calls and emails from unhappy people that went the cheap route to get started then had to get a professional to clean up the mess.

I will go on record saying that it takes a little money to get a professional website and it also takes money to market that website unless you are an internet marketing expert then you will still have your time involved.

Falling for the myth that you can go into business on the internet for a couple hundred dollars will get you nowhere fast. On the flip side if you work with a professional spend money for quality work and service I can promise you that your efforts will pay off seven fold.

A friend asked me about “work from home” jobs on the internet and inspired me to write this article. I am one of those people that started out online many years ago all excited about this new vehicle called the internet. I remember back in 1997 shortly after purchasing a computer, I was surfing around (trying) and it’s like a light came on. I remember thinking there had to be some way for me to make (earn) money online and work from home. Mind you, I had no idea what I was doing and I knew almost nothing about computers as a matter of fact I broke my computer 3 times in 2 months and had to take it back to the shop to have it repaired.

My passion has been graphic design and art work ever since I was a child, I loved to sketch and paint, etc. I had worked for several advertising companies locally and even opened my own brick and mortar business several years before doing some custom air brush work on cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc. but that business went nowhere.

The light came on and I thought maybe if I could create websites that would allow me to work from home and at least provide some type of income that would be in place of my day job. The problem I faced was I knew nothing about designing websites, I could hardly even turn my computer on.

I felt so strong about this that for over a year I read everything I could about website design, I spent many late nights doing this and lots of trial and error but I started coming to me. Back when I started learning website design they didn’t even offer it as a college class and no schools were teaching it so I had no choice but to learn it myself.

During this time I contacted another website design company and was their “broker” I would get the job, pay them a wholesale fee for doing it then I would mark it up and make a little profit when I sold it to my client. This also allowed me to build a portfolio and meet new clients.

We ate a lot of mac-n-cheese and those raman noodles (I hate those things now, both of them) but times were lean and it kept us from starving. Things got better and I was able to apply the things I learned about website design to something that would generate income.

Now it’s over 8 years later and here we are, even with the economy bad I really have to be thankful that I was able to do what I did. I’m glad I found my passion and followed it. I really feel that even more so right now it’s time people need to find their passion and grab hold of it and don’t let go. Not only will this make you focus on something else other than how bad the economy is but you might just surprise yourself and be able to start a new business online. Trust me, you can start an online business on a shoe string budget, you have to take each small step and keep stepping. Plan, think smart and most of all follow your passion.

If you love to do something people can tell and not only that you will be considered an “expert” in that field by a lot of people.

Have you found your passion?