Business Empire Magazine provides how to's and articles for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs

Being able to adapt to change is critical if you want to be successful in business. At 3:44 a.m. we received an email saying that we had been banned from our second advertising network in less than three months.

The situation is very much similar to the situation we had with Google Adsense the only difference is that we made them aware beforehand of the issues that caused Google to make the same decision. Using the same network as one of our target markets to keep content updated (we attend NC State and their entrepreneurship program uses our site), rapid traffic growth for the site, and providing as many opportunities and resources (including ad space) that will benefit inspiring and current entrepreneurs. We have found nothing like BEM out there and we are only about 30% complete with the features that we planned to add to the site in phase 2. While the entrepreneurial community has begun to embrace us, not everyone responds to change in the same way. It all comes down to the fact that our numbers make us look like a spam site even though we are not.

While this latest setback or accomplishment (depending on how you look at it) was a bit easier to swallow than it was the first time it happened to BEM, I really want to stress the importance in diversifying your company’s revenue streams. Fortunately for BEM, Matt and I had already thought of 6 different revenue generators that would make us money and still benefit other business owners at the same time (all 6 so far are 100% tax deductible for most business owners and will be up by June 09’). After my experience with my trucking company I was well aware of the importance of having more than one revenue stream within a business, so we addressed the issue of revenue streams early and often now.

For us it is the principle of what we were told rather than how are we going to get by financially. As a business owner you have to find as many ways as possible for your business to produce revenue. If you have no revenue you can make no profit and without profit you have no business. No matter how long you have been in business your top two priorities should be how you are going to market your company to get and retain customers and then how you will generate revenue from those customers. The more the merrier in both aspects.

Be open to change. Understand that as a business owner you must be able to adapt to change if you want to be successful. Sure it is frustrating when things don’t go how you planned for them to but there is no point in crying over spilled milk.