One thing I have learned in internet marketing is you better have more than 1 income stream or you can kiss you butt goodbye.

I learned this in a big way about 5 years ago. In 1997 I started learning the ropes of internet marketing and made a few dollars here and there. Wrote a newsletter, wrote a training course. In the old days of SFI I helped develop their flagship product Full Circle Success. I had my ducks in a row. 3 streams of income coming in. My bank account was golden.

I few years later I started working with a partner in the lead generation arena. I plunged all my energy into that company and started to let my other stream of income dwindle until they were not even generating enough money to buy a "Big Mac" at McDonalds. I was still flying high until the worse case scenario happened.

In one swoop a group of brilliant but hugely mis guided individuals struck our web server hosting facility. They destroyed our database of close to 2 million leads. Our customer database of over 1000 customers and our programming. In the process they also took out the web site and databases of 9 other poor schmucks. Plus these guys were so smart that they started corrupting the backups before they took the whole system down.

I could have died. I just purchased our new farm, our family income was depending largely on my income and whamo I had no business left. My husband was standing outside my office door when the news came over the telephone. He didn't quite grasp the concept of the server being hacked. The tears started to roll down my face knowing that a hacked server was similar to a office building getting burned to the ground.

I said the business is gone and I would not be able to make the mortgage payments. He said, "You don't have a choice." Seems sort of harsh. Isn't a husband supposed to console you when your down. Not in our case. He knew what I had done to start my internet marketing success. He knew that if I gave up at that moment I would never find success again. He knew how to push my buttons to piss me off just enough to get me started again.

Within the hour I had a partial customer list. The phone was hot from the conference calls with programmers, lead suppliers and bankers. Within 1 month the company was operating at break even. With in 3 - 6 months we were turning a profit.

You've come this far so I better tell you what you should learn from the tale of woe.

1. Keep more than one stream of income going at all times. The Internet is a fickle place. It changes fast and moves quickly. What is hot today could be gone tomorrow.

2. Backups and Security are crucial to your web based business. If you get wiped out by a virus or a hosting provider it is your own darn fault. Back up once, twice, thee times if you feel better. Your web host is your life.

3. Keep your head above water. You will ride many, many waves in the internet marketing game. I think that's what attracts me to it in some sick way. I can go from making nothing one week to cutting a deal for $10,000 the next week. You are going to get kicked in the teeth my more than one venture. The key is to keep moving forward as long as you do that you will continuously run into new opportunities.