Every day new Internet entrepreneurs are faced with sales letters that promise to show them how to make millions of dollars. That sure sounds nice, but how can you expect to strike it rich if youre not even sure of how to make your first buck online?

Following is a realistic and achievable outline for reaching a profit with your web business.

Determine Your Initial Expenses -

Obviously, one of the first things you need to do is structure your monthly spending. It is important that you know exactly how much money is going out, so you can determine how much return you need to reach a profit.

I recommend only investing in the necessities until you start generating some type of an income. Web hosting, mailing list management, a good tracking utility, and a basic advertising budget are examples of essential expenses.

Once you account for all your monthly expenses, you will know exactly how much income you need to realize a profit. But as the saying goes, you must learn to crawl before you learn to walk.

Become Self-Funding -

I encourage you to think large in terms of what you wish to achieve with your Internet marketing ventures. There is absolutely no reason why you cant make a nice full time living from this business if you plan diligently and work hard.

But lets take this one step at a time. The first thing you need to do is generate enough money each month to cover your operating costs.

This way, you arent spending money out of your own pocket to keep your venture afloat. Naturally, youll have to go out-of-pocket in the beginning, but you should set a goal of making your business self-funding (meaning it pays for itself) as quickly as possible.

With a well structured game plan, and a strong work ethic, there is no reason you cant become fully self-funded within 3 to 6 months. Individual results will vary, but this is certainly a realistic time frame if you stay focused.

The Rest is Gravy. Sort of -

Once you achieve a recurring income that exceeds your operational expenses, you are officially in profit. But lets not schedule the victory parade just yet.

There is one more thing to consider when evaluating your earnings. How much of your time is required to generate whatever amount of money you take in each month?

Your time is precious, and should not be undersold. If youre spending 10 hours each day to pull in an extra $50 per month, Id say there is room for improvement.

The last thing I want to do is squash the life out of you here. A small profit is still better than what 99% of the people in this industry ever achieve, so once you reach the point where you are getting back more than you are putting in, please pat yourself squarely on the back.

At the same time, you should not be prepared to settle for what I like to call prison wages. Demand an amount of compensation that reflects the value of your time, and work hard to make this demand a reality.