I came across an interesting post the other day called “This is a Business, Not a Hobby.”

The piece was written by Jim Kukral, who works with small businesses on web marketing. It cites a post on Copyblogger called “The Three Fatal Diseases that Kill Good Blogs.” Kukral’s article focuses on social media,  email marketing, affiliate marketing and online public relations, but his point applies perfectly to network marketers who are trying to build their business using the Internet.

“We’re doing this to make money, or leads, or get publicity. Not for fun. Not for ‘friends.’ Until you flip that switch in your head where you understand this, you’re going to continue to find it very hard to find success on the Internet.”

Kukral talks about how some bloggers are still not making money even though some have shown that “blogging is in fact a great way to do business.” Despite this, some still treat it as a hobby, he said.

“Here’s why. Because ‘regular people’ are the people who start blogs. They’re not marketers. They’re not entrepreneurs. They are people who have a passion about something and they want to share that passion with the rest of the world without having a gatekeeper tell them they can’t.”

Similarly, most network marketers are “regular people” with little or no marketing experience. They have a passion to share their products or services and opportunity with other people.

Many network marketers promote their businesses with blogs. Kukral points out how things are changing for bloggers.

“We’re no longer bloggers anymore, we’re ‘publishers.’ The majority of people don’t start blogs anymore just to waste time. They want something out of it. It may not be money they want. It may be fame. Whatever it is, they want something for their effort, and that makes them a publisher.”

Think about that the next time you’re writing a post. Make it something worth publishing. Make it worthy of your business.

And in case you’re using other online methods to promote your business, Kukral has these thoughts about how people spoke ill of him when he started using his blog to make money.

“What happened to me in 2004 is the same thing that is happening now to social media. We’re all being told we shouldn’t try to make money with social media. It’s pure, they say. Leave it alone, you’ll ruin it.

“This is ALL a business, not a hobby.”