When it comes to comparing successful Internet business owners with those who struggle to make a dime online… we can draw a lot of distinctions.

But there’s one particular distinction that gets surprisingly little attention. Perhaps it’s so obvious… that it’s not obvious. And yet it arguably trumps everything else you can say that separates those who thrive from those who barely survive.

Is it joint venture partners? Is it loads of money to invest in marketing? Is it having technical or marketing skills? Is it just good luck?

It’s actually none of those things.

Is it something deeper, like positive thinking… or the law of attraction?

No.

It’s actually what Rich Schefren (founder of Internet marketing firm, Strategic Profits) calls the difference between ‘having or wanting resources’ and ‘being resourceful’.

You see, the arguments about having JV partners, money, skills, etc just don’t stack up. There are too many successful entrepreneurs - whether Internet based or otherwise - who had NONE of those things, yet went on to success, for those arguments to be true.

And although it may have been positive thinking (or focusing on what they wanted) that drove such people to success…

…don’t we all know of people who ‘think positive’ or visualize what they want… yet still struggle to GET what they want?

What’s missing?

Don’t get me wrong. I believe in the power of positive thinking and focusing on what you want. I honestly think, however, that unless you channel positive thinking and focus into the right kind of ACTION… then all that thinking and focus is for nothing.

And central to taking the right kind of action is looking for ways to accomplish things when the ‘how’ is not so obvious. It’s about using our BRAINS to come up with creative solutions… without automatically asking others to give us the answers.

It’s about asking ourselves ‘how can I?’ rather than complaining that we ‘don’t know how’ and giving up.

It’s about being resourceful… rather than necessarily having the resources.

Without exception, what ALL rags-to-riches entrepreneurs have in common is RESOURCEFULNESS. It’s NOT starting with the resources - people, money, skills. It’s working out how to get those resources… and going out there and getting them.

In fact, next time you hear someone say that so-and-so Internet marketing guru is only successful because they have a lot of JV partners… gently ssk them:

‘How do you suppose they get those JV partners in the first place?’

I bet they were resourceful, right?

Nowadays, there are more how-to Internet marketing books, programs, courses, etc available than ever. Unfortunately, a lot of them are cluttering up bookshelves and hard-drives.

Meanwhile, we continue to hear of people who had access to NONE of those resources… and yet were able to build impressive businesses.

Why?

Because it’s not resources that separates the winners from the losers. It’s resourcefulness. When you’re resourceful you will always find a way.

As mentioned last week, I have a lot of thoughts about what an economic recession or downturn may mean for Internet marketers. A lot of others do as well, and I’ll be occasionally sharing - and commenting on - their thoughts as we start to see the fall-out from the global financial crisis.

One of my ‘hit predictions’ is that customer service will become much more important. Depending on your niche, you may not be able to rely on as many new customers buying from you every day, every week, every month, etc. If so, you’d probably be wise to focus less on generating and converting new customers… and more on satisfying your existing customers and getting them to buy more, and more often, from you.

What’s the best way to do this? It’s with top quality products and services, and great customer service, right? I talked about ‘good’ customer service yesterday, but ‘great’ customer service is what brings the kind of customer loyalty and repeat business on which great companies are built. Customers expect good customer service, but great customer service goes beyond their expectations, and ideally turns them into loyal, raving fans.

Ironically, few Internet marketing speakers seem to talk about customer service. They’re full of ideas about generating traffic, building a list, developing products, putting up blogs, converting traffic into customers, selling affiliate products, finding joint venture partners, and so on… but seem to have very little, or nothing, to say about how to deliver exceptional customer service. It makes me wonder whether some of these people are actually running real businesses for the long term.

But maybe when times are good, and there is a continual stream of buyers entering the market, many businesses don’t need to take so much care of their customers. Not if they know there’s plenty more ‘fish in the sea’. But if the economic recession truly causes people to spend less, across all markets, that may mean you and I have fewer potential customers too. And that means we need to take better care of the ones we have, if we’re to survive and thrive.

Here is one of the biggest lies being either purposely or accidentally perpetuated within the Internet marketing community: you can and SHOULD be able to make a fortune without spending much or any money to do so.

It’s a lie.

Don’t get me wrong. An Internet based business is certainly one of the cheapest businesses to set up. And, compared with traditional, “bricks and mortar” businesses, Internet businesses can achieve returns on investment (ROIs) that are nothing short of spectacular. Both in terms of the increase in value of the business and in terms of ongoing profits.

But the idea that you don’t have to spend much or anything on your business - and in particular, on marketing - is just not true.

The truth is that the “big boys” in Internet marketing invest in marketing. They don’t rely on approaches that are likely to attract web visitors and subscribers in the handfuls… they invest in approaches that generate visitors and subscribers by the hundreds and thousands.

This includes investing in pay-per-click advertising… newsletter advertising… off-line advertising… paid press release distribution… paying people to write and distribute articles and engage in various back-linking strategies… sharing generous commissions with joint venture partners, and so on.

Again, that doesn’t mean you need to spend a fortune. Or even to spend a lot when you’re starting out. But to really grow your business, be prepared to invest a few hundred to a few thousand dollars on marketing per month AT LEAST.

And here’s the good news. If you’ve been beating yourself up over why everyone else seems to be able to generate such amazing volumes of website traffic, build such enormous lists, and make so much money… while you’ve continued to struggle… now you know why: No, everyone else is NOT smarter than you… they’ve probably just spent more money on acquiring visitors, subscribers and ultimately, customers.

Sure, there ARE cases of Internet marketers who have not spent much and have achieved huge success with cheap viral marketing, or have fortuitously hooked up with a joint venture partner who has, or has access to, a huge list.But most of us have to buy our ways in.

And, let’s be honest here, no business that has been around for any length of time gets to survive, let alone thrive, without investing in marketing.

So stop thinking you should be a miracle worker and start working out how much you can invest and what you should invest it on.