Editor's Note: You can read the full original interview each quote is drawn from by clicking on the link after the quote that interests you.

On Being Principled...

The enduring companies will offer a true value proposition to their customers - be it a product or service. Once there is a real value proposition established, these companies need to establish multiple revenue streams with a business model that supports attractive margins that lead to near term profitability. - Matt Ragas.

How do you explain your success? Outrageous Customer Service, Totally Awesome Products you truly can't get anywhere else, and the willingness to do anything that is Fun, Cheap and Legal to get the site known! - Leslie Eiser, E.D.Foods.

Creative use of our technology to originate unique products and providing superior services have been the keys to our success. - Jim Ackerman, Sloan Securities.

So a fundamental problem is that there is no sales process; customers simply aren't being sold. That is light years away from guiding the prospect through the buying experience, closing the sale, and leaving them delighted, as well. - Jeffrey Eisenberg, Future Now LLC.

On the Human Touch...

You can't be online what you aren't in real life - unless you have a split personality. - Dr.Mani, Heart Disease Online.

When communicating with customers, ... forget the buzzwords, lose the hype, the marketing babble and the "two-dollar" words, and write just as you would talk. Polite, congenial, and in plain English. - Richard Kies, Aginfonet.

When networking online be professional, but let your personality shine through. Never forget you are dealing with people. Relationships must be built online just like they are when you network in person. - Denise O'Berry, What's Possible.

I just planned on being myself. I think success comes faster to those who are true to who they are. - Dennis Gaskill, Boogie Jack's Web Depot.

Personal Favorites

Experience comes from wisdom; Wisdom comes from bad experience. - Dr.Mani, Heart Disease Online.

Well, The Web to me is sort of like a kid in a candy store. So many possibilities. So many flavors of media to try out! I love it! - Matt Ragas.

Look at your strengths and you may well find they are more substantial than you realize. - Richard Counsell, Somerset Organics.

Believe me, not everyone is getting rich off the Internet! - Ralph Slate, Internet Hockey Database.

Much of the problem lies in the fact that people want a quick fix. As with everything else in life, there usually isn't any. - Jill Whalen and Heather Lloyd, Rank Write Roundtable.

I would say that personal qualities are far more important than technical ability. With hindsight it may have been better for us to have been even more ambitious from the outset. - Stuart Pool, KAN Design and Publishing.

The key is determining exactly what your goal is and focusing your efforts around that goal. - Denise O'Berry, What's Possible.

The Web is a mirror of human folly. Interactive, too! - Paul Sullivan, Sullivan Media.

You don't just post a site and forget about it -- that's a recipe for disaster! - Mike Banks Valentine, Website 101.

Ultimately, the people who can deliver the results, not promises, are the ones who will shape the future of Internet marketing. - Wayne Porter, AffiliateHelp.

There isn't that much distance between good and excellent, but they are worlds apart. ...It only takes a little more effort to do something better. - Dennis Gaskill, Boogie Jack's Web Depot.

Summary

From this treasure trove of practical, worldly-wise and do-able sayings, it's obvious that certain characteristics and qualities are needed to develop a successful online business.

Being constantly creative and curious but thrifty and simple, flexible and fast with changes yet patient to reap their benefits, realizing that you deal with people and obsessing with satisfying them with your humanity and personal touch reaching out from behind the technology that imbues the Web - all of this and more makes a successful online business.

But most important - remember to have fun, enjoy the experience - and take time out to smell the roses!

I'll leave you with a thought and a smile - Boogie Jack's favorite quote:

"Every decision you've made in the past brought you to where you are today. Every decision you make today affects the choices you'll have later. You're never too old and it's never too late. Find your dreams, and then take steps to make them come true. Take it one step at a time, one day at a time, and never give up. Your day in the sun will come."

It's either that one, or ... "Eat a worm for breakfast and nothing worse will happen all day!"