I read a great post today at Zenhabits.net (read it here). It’s about living life to the fullest by being “mindful.” Essentially, Leo writes that you can achieve more happiness and satisfaction–and even get closer to achieving your professional goals–by slowing down (just a little bit) and appreciating the world around you just a little bit more.

The process of becoming more mindful, he writes, will help you become more effective, as you will do each thing in your life with more heart and attention to detail.

In many ways, I think the ideas Leo writes about can be used in creating your online business.

If you are on the internet only for an hour a day, then you already know how much “stuff” there is out there. By “stuff” I mean “crap.” Often, you have to wade through a bunch of junk just to get to any information of value.

You also may know that everything on the internet these days is about speed. How fast can I tell my friends about this new article or video? How many twitter users can I simultaneously blast my message to? What’s the new social media tool I can use to sell my product? What’s my status???!!!! This page better hurry up and load or I’m out of here!

These are just two elements that I notice every single day in the cluttered online business space. I think that the thing that will win going forward is first, quality of content, and second, actually caring about your audience, fans, or friends. This is where I think being “mindful” comes into play.

If you focus completely on creating quality, worthwhile content or services, and at the same time actually care about your audience or market, then you will absolutely succeed. You will win in terms of being self-satisfied, and you will win professionally. Instead of worrying about where you want to end up, concentrate on the steps that will get you there.

Quality matters. Caring matters. These are the elements that will help you pull ahead of the competition. Take your time to create your online business by focusing on quality and your audience’s needs and you will reap the rewards.

Nothing.

In terms of dollars, it costs nothing to start an online business.  It takes time and effort, but you can do it for free.  There are many ways to get your message out there or display your product online for free.

Start a blog and pump out some content related to what you do.  If you’re an accountant, write helpful tax tips.  If you can reach out to your audience online by delivering good content, then you will be able to increase potential sales of your product or service.

But don’t be too “salesy” about it. Create some trust first by giving away information or specialized knowledge and you will be well on your way to a new customer.  The internet is becoming more and more social everyday, making it very hard for people with shady business practices to prosper.  They still do, but it’s getting harder to do so.

Furthermore, people are becoming more savvy about buying online and are actively looking for people to give real advice and help.  It’s all about trust and good content.