I have had three different businesses in my lifetime, several different jobs, and two careers. My favorite of all was my brick and mortar storefront. It probably never paid me much more than minimum wage and sometimes not even that much, but it was the perfect business for me. It was a used bookstore started with a shoestring budget of about $200.00 for paperbacks and comic books from yard sales plus the first month's rent as a loan from my mother.
I sat there six days a week from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM buying, selling, trading, reading and writing books. I loved almost every minute of it for nearly five years. Then I found out I was expecting my first child. It was a one woman operation and, for the life of me, I could not figure out how to keep my store open and be mother to a newborn at the same time.* So...I sold it and reluctantly walked away. If there had been an Internet and an Ebay at that time, I would have shifted things around a bit and I would still have my beloved little bookstore.
Since those days, I have watched it happen time and time again. Someone, man or woman, chooses to start their own business, and decides they are "going to do it right." Unfortunately, in their mind, doing it right usually means going out and renting a brick and mortar storefront. This, of course, leads to business furniture, business utilities, business stock, business advertising, business employees, business wardrobe, business lunches, babysitters...and so on and so forth. It also generally means, longer hours, more stress, and greater visibility which leads to more aggressive competition, and last but not least, being battle tested under harsher conditions.
There are some businesses that require a brick and mortar storefront, there is no question whatsoever of that. However, there are others whose brick and mortar storefront simply is not necessary. In a modern world fueled by the power of the Internet, there are literally thousands of viable businesses which you can start on a shoestring, that do not require a brick and mortar storefront.
So....
My advice is simple. Always, always start as small as possible. If you can start out from the comfort of your own home working Online--then do so. You can always expand the scope and
boundaries of your home business once you have built a solid foundation.
Meanwhile an online business has the following advantages.
*Offline: Expensive brick and mortar storefront, plus utilities and upkeep that go on all day, everyday whether you are physically open for business or not.
*Online: You can literally run dozens of websites, large and small 24/7 for less than $10.00 a month.
*Offline: Short of vending machines and rental property, one or more people must be present to operate your business every minute it is open.
*Online: You can easily operate the business yourself via email, an automated shopping cart and an automated help desk.
*Offline: It is hard to be in two places at the same time, so you cannot usually work a full time job and run your own brick and mortar business...or even attend college full-time.
*Online: Once everything is up and running, you can usually work at an online business at night or on weekends and keep your day job, which provides a stress-relieving financial cushion. Plus you have the added advantage of working in the comfort of your own home, on your own schedule.
*Offline: You must have some sort of pre-purchased inventory or a service to sell.
*Online: You can actually have something to sell without investing a penny in sales inventory.
*Offline: It is hard to changes businesses in mid-stream if a powerhouse competitor moves in next door, or when Murphy's Law kicks in and any one of a million-and-one things go wrong.
*Online: Having several, usually complementing, businesses is pretty much Standard Operating Procedure online...it is called multiple streams of income.
*Offline: If the customers are not coming in the door you are pretty much helpless to change that without expensive advertising...or marching around out front wearing a funny costume and waving.
*Online: Promoting your business online is free and fairly easy, you literally just have to be able to network, make banners, write articles or reviews or leave comments on other high traffic sites.
*Offline: Real world advertising costs can eat you alive before you ever get started, and in many cases your expensive ad ends up lining the bottom of someone's birdcage.
*Online: A simple website with email that you build once, serves the same purpose as an unexhaustible supply of business cards, brochures, live action commercials and stationary.
*Offline: Repeat customers are more difficult to obtain and keep unless your business specifically lends itself to built-in customer loyalty.
*Online: Residual income is the key to success online and it is fairly easy to achieve with a membership site, good quality products and responsive customer service.
Dreams are great things to have, but when it comes to being a business owner you need to base them on reality...especially in these difficult times. Owning an online business is a safe alternative
to leaping into the high-risk high-cost world of starting your own brick and mortar business. Is it always the perfect solution? No, but it sure comes very close.
On the other hand if you already have a brick and mortar business, or you have the luxury of existing financial security will allow you to open one, then a strong Internet presence is "not" a luxury your business can live without.
I first said it over twelve years ago and it is even more true today, the Internet is a small business owner's dream come true, because it literally levels the playing field at the smallest of costs.
* I have often wondered if everything I was feeling at the time transferred itself to my unborn son.
At age twelve he started teaching himself Capoeira after seeing it in a movie and researching it on our brand new Internet. At his request, Capoeira how-to books and video tapes were under the Christmas tree that year. At age 14 he started teaching the little kids for free outside the school library. At age 18 he opened (on a shoestring budget that he earned himself) his own Brazilian Martial Arts Academy in the large back room of a brand new Internet Cafe, that wanted to develop extra foot traffic. At age 23 he started fighting mixed martial arts as a cheap way to advertise his Academy. At age 25 he also added some modern dance classes, and of course, he uses MySpace and Facebook and YouTube for advertising and promotion. At age 26 he is still going strong, six or more days a week, in his beloved business. During all of this he has haphazardly worked on a degree in teaching. He probably does not make much more than minimum wage, but he's happy.
Online Business versus Offline And The Winner Is - To learn more about this author, visit Teresa Bohannon's Website.
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(Visit Teresa's Website)
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