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A Return to an Entrepreneurial Economy

Guest post by: Michael Farrell

Article Overview: How does an entrepreneur and small business owner on Main Street adapt to a new world economy brought together by the wireless web, with intelligent cell phones, and billions of customers from the developing countries as well as those just around the corner, asks Mike Farrell with aspenIbiz? Read this short article that will reveal a blueprint that shows entrepreneurs and small business owners on Main Street how to use Internet techniques and tools to market and sell anything, to anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world.

A Return to an Entrepreneurial Economy

How does an entrepreneur and small business owner on Main Street adapt to a new world economy brought together by the wireless web, with intelligent cell phones, and billions of customers from the developing countries as well as those just around the corner? This article will reveal a blueprint that shows entrepreneurs and small business owners on Main Street how to use Internet techniques and tools to market and sell anything, to anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world. A little over a decade ago, I was a Partner with Deloitte, a Big 4 Accounting and Consulting firm, and was based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I consulted with companies that were building and using the Internet; these included network equipment manufacturers, developers of application software for networks, and bandwidth and service providers. We developed web-mail, VOIP, web-based video conferencing, and many more innovative consumer and business products. At the turn of the century in 2000, I was recruited from Deloitte for a VP role with a B2B eCommerce software startup company in Silicon Valley. At Tradeum, later acquired by VerticalNet, we focused on developing and operating B2B eCommerce sites for businesses in over 50 different vertical market sectors and sub-sectors; what eBay was doing for the retail and consumer sector, we at Tradeum, later a part of VerticalNet, did for the industrial sector. We were transforming corporate purchasing by creating killer applications in the Business-to-Business Internet revolution. We felt like pioneers, trail blazing across the commercial landscape as Internet Marketing, and making money online, was in its infancy. Now, a few years, a few burst bubbles (such as the tech industry, the housing industry, and the investment banking industry), and a Global Financial Crisis later, our economy is beginning an upward climb and redefining the world of business. Major obstacles for entrepreneurs and small business still exist. Taxes are out of control; credit still remains tight; healthcare is expensive; and things seem downright gloomy. Yet, our entrepreneurial and small business economy has its roots in just this type of post-recession reality. A movement is slowly building in the business world and we are seeing the beginning of a new entrepreneurial economy built on nimble, low-overhead, small businesses with fluid workforces that have upheld the economy for decades. However, something bigger is at hand. By choice, or necessity, more people are pursuing self-employment as an alternative to an uncertain corporate existence. And, across the country, enrollment in entrepreneurship programs at universities is booming. As technology continues with advances like cloud computing, a recent book from Michael Malone titled The Future Arrived Yesterday, Malone heralded the arrival of a truly entrepreneurial society. You no longer have to have a large physical plant to start a company. The cost of entry is getting close to zeo. Now the little guys can build a business without the overhead. Inventory, customer management, accounting, shipping, corporate communications, and even human resources can be outsourced to the digital ether as a cluster of web based services and applications sweep away the need for large office spaces and a large pool of employees. The best strategy is to get small and adaptable, strip things to a solid core, and hire from the cloud of talent that is out there. When you encounter a potential market, pursue it relentlessly, and as you get traction, expand like a puffer fish. It may take a while however learn to use various Internet marketing and promotion methods and tools. Setup and follow a traffic formula to build relationships with leads and customers. Build websites that create trust. Collect name and email addresses using an Optin form on a Landing Page. Use email systems with both auto-responders and broadcast capabilities in order to send messages to your leads and customers. In these email messages, send information, provide knowledge, and occasionally promote an offering. Understand that leads and customers do not like to be sold to however they will browse and shop. By using the Internet to market your products and drive sales, you will be using the key tactics you need to succeed in the new economy. It is clear the next Industrial Revolution is upon us and it is indeed happening online. The Internet is the new global stage for the modern symphony of commerce. Those that learn how to leverage this most powerful of platforms will be its conductors; and they will make music, and money, at the same time. I hope you enjoyed the article and about how entrepreneurs and small business owners on Main Street can make money online with Internet Marketing. Happy Reading and Here's to Your Success!

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Article Tags: B2C B2B eCommerce, Deloitte Big 4, Internet Marketing, Make Money Online, Mike Farrell aspenIbiz, Small Business, Tradeum VerticalNet



Related Forum Posts
Re: I.M Fellow Here! - Thanks! Evan, I hv heard much about your ingenuity in Entrepreneurial sphere. Great work you're doing!
Re: Cash Comes from Creativity - Hi Yinka, Good post and a very Entrepreneurial approach if you like. It is true that with the every day gadgets, services and products that we use, it is easy to look at them just for what they are and not what they could be. We should always be on the look out for ideas that we can explore or existing products that we can maybe improve or re-design and that is also true with Internet Marketing. regards, Mal.
Re: When do you process online orders? - [quote="OmnivoreInk":21q56s98] If I may speak as a customer, I expect anything I order to be sent out the next day! Of course, all I ever order are books from used books dealers on Amazon.com.... I've also ordered a few things from Ebay and again, as soon as I pay - and I pay immediately, I expect that item to be winging its way toward me... I hate to speak ill of my sex, but the only problems online retailers have are, *I* think, with women who buy clothes and then send them back! I think 90% of women who buy stuff from catalogs do that! (I used to work at a catalog phone center and half my calls were from women wanting to get a Return Authorization Number so they could send stuff back...).[/quote:21q56s98] Hi OmnivoreInk, While I agree with you, I don't think that woman are the problem, the big problem is buy clothes out of a catalog without trying them first. Women just buy more.
Re: When do you process online orders? - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":2aypnt64]I'd like to ask when do you process an online order? The reason I ask is because I'm sure there are many customers who change their minds and request refunds, exchanges, address/payment changes or wish to make additions/subtractions to their invoices. So if you're an online retailer of any sort, what is the best amount of time to wait before processing an order and shipping it out (to avoid future hassles/customer adjustments)?[/quote:2aypnt64] If I may speak as a customer, I expect anything I order to be sent out the next day! Of course, all I ever order are books from used books dealers on Amazon.com.... I've also ordered a few things from Ebay and again, as soon as I pay - and I pay immediately, I expect that item to be winging its way toward me... I hate to speak ill of my sex, but the only problems online retailers have are, *I* think, with women who buy clothes and then send them back! I think 90% of women who buy stuff from catalogs do that! (I used to work at a catalog phone center and half my calls were from women wanting to get a Return Authorization Number so they could send stuff back...).
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