The Power of the Internet: Home Business Of The 21st Century – Part 1
Hold onto your pants ladies and gentlemen as we kick off this 6 part series picking apart “The Home Business of the 21st Century.” So, lets get started.
The Internet is a giant invisible magnet that is gradually attracting every man, woman and child to it. So what does this mean for you? Well as a business person, business owner or entrepreneur, the Internet represents a marketplace like no other that has ever existed. We are no longer limited to our “territories,” our communities, or the cities in which we reside. This is just the tip of the iceberg in what I call “The Power of the Internet.”
Here are a few numbers that will help you wrap your head around what’s really going on with the online world.
There are roughly 6.7 billion people living on the planet today according to The Internet World Stats: Usage and Population Statistics as of June 30, 2009 and of those 6.7 billion people, almost 25% of them are on the Internet. Just in case your conversion abilities aren’t as good as they used to be back in high school, no worries…that comes out to about 1.69 billion people that are on the Internet everyday.
Question: What if you could tap into a tiny piece of those 1.6 billion people on the net…say 10, 20, or maybe 50 thousand of them. Would that power your business? Without a doubt it will. That’s enough for you and your family to live very comfortably for years to come.
That’s great and all, but what does the Internet give you that the traditional marketplace doesn’t?
Actually, there are several things that you want to pay attention to with the World Wide Web and how it can act as the most powerful platform available for your home business…
First, you will have unlimited reach to anywhere in the world. You don’t have to physically be in a particular country to do business there unlike a traditional brick-and-mortar business. What a drag that would be, right? Instead of having to set up several storefronts all around the city, country, or world, why not just set up one storefront that has the ability to cater to every country that has a demand for your product or service?
“But Brian, I don’t know how to share my business to the many non-english speaking countries around the world?” No problem…that can be fixed with the push of a button that will translate your website with one simple widget. Problem solved.
“But i don’t want to stay up all day and night fielding calls and taking orders from all over the world!” Not a problem. You can set up your own fully automated sales funnel where you don’t even need to be present to take an order. The system handles that part of the process for you. You just sit back, get your sleep and then check your inbox or your paypal account in the morning to see if you made any sales. Its that simple.
“Well how do i know i have the right system?”
Easy Turbo…Lets not get ahead of ourselves here. We’re going to get to that question later in the series. Right now lets just focus on why the Internet is THE place to do business.
So with the Internet, you can work from home, in your jammies or whatever your most favorite outfit is. For me, it’s basketball shorts and maybe a t-shirt, but i also live in phoenix where its 9,000 degrees here even during the winter! No, im just kidding. But its pretty freakin hot so i want to be comfortable.
So picture yourself in the most comfortable outfit you own and earning money at the same time. Do away with that shirt and tie or high heels that you have to wear at your present workplace and slip into something more comfortable. Ooooh…that sounds kinky.
Anyways…where were we? Oh yeah, your work clothes. My suggestion…”Bonfire,” but be safe.
The point is that on the Internet you can be as comfortable as you want to be and you can work from anywhere. You can maintain a professional identity no matter where you are or what you are doing because all your business is done online. What a cool concept, wouldn’t you say?
Now that we’re all wearing our work-at-home get-ups, lets talk a little about advertising…
Just like with traditional marketing for your brick-and-mortar businesses and franchises where you may put a billboard on a popular street or you may take up a newspaper or magazine ad for $400 a month…on the internet you can do the same thing, but you can do it in a much more cost effective way. There’s tons of free advertising all over the net with YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, articles, press releases and more and there is paid advertising that is unbelievably effective as well with things like pay per click and banner ads. If you master a couple of these strategies, you are golden. There are countless number of people and businesses driving 50 to a 100 free leads to them on a daily basis. This is not uncommon and you can drive even more directed traffic to your site with paid advertising. Either way, as an Internet Entrepreneur you have the freedom to market to whomever you want, however you want. The possibilities are limitless and the data trends available allow you to know exactly where to put your ads to drive the most amount of traffic to your business. Its just about learning skills. Again, there’s no other marketplace like the Internet.
Another point to consider is that the Internet is digital. What digital means is that your business just got a whole lot easier to manage. No more stocking shelves and keeping inventory. Think about the music mogul iTunes…probably the largest mp3 store on the Internet and they never have had to put a single CD on any shelf in their entire existence. Its all digital.
And the last point was a biggy for Krysti and I: no overhead, no rent, no insurance, no employees and no major office supplies except a computer, a blackberry or iphone, a printer and internet service of course. How great would it be if you could throw much of your monthly overhead out the window. Awesome right? Well you can do just that with an Internet home business and you can even right off space in your house that your home office is located in. Bonus!!
With all this being said, it almost seems like an unfair battle between “old school” traditional business vs. having an “Internet based business.” Whether this information comes as a surprise to you or just a confirmation about the direction the world is headed, be sure to remember this: There is no qualification, no resume that has to be submitted, and no “gate-keeper” that decides who gets to run a business on the Internet. The only person who gets to decide that is YOU.
Be sure to leave any comments, questions or thoughts about how powerful you think the Internet really is…
And keep your eyes open for the second part of “The Home Business of the 21st Century” tomorrow as we will cover the concept of Internet Marketing…