It’s no secret that starting a business is one of the most likely ways to generate “massive wealth” but unfortunately too many people never get around to forming a business because they think it’s simply too difficult and risky. Fortunately, nothing could be further from the truth.
Starting an online business has been one of the easiest things I’ve ever done. It doesn’t cost much, is simple to set up and the potential rewards (i.e. money) are far too great to pass up.
Here are the top five reasons why starting an online business is something that you should seriously consider:
- There’s very little overhead. For most of us who run small websites – and even for some of us who run larger sites – a majority of our overhead costs come from buying our domain name and having the site hosted. And with the fact that you can get good, reliable hosting starting at $5 to $10 per month, that’s certainly a heck of a lot cheaper than the hundreds or thousands of dollars you’d have to pay to cover the overhead costs for a brick-and-mortar business.
- Creating a site is easier than ever. Not only is it easier than ever, but it’s also cheaper than ever, thanks to great open source software like WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. Even if you’re unable or unwilling to do the site development on your own, the cost of having someone else do it for you has decreased dramatically.
- You have easy access to an international market. By having your business online, you can easily reach people all over the world, not just the people that live within a reasonable driving distance to your store. Now your potential customer list has grown from a couple hundred thousand to the several billion people around the world with an internet connection.
- It’s easy to have multiple streams of income on one site. By having your business online, you can make money from Adsense or other contextual advertising, affiliate programs, direct advertising deals, selling your own products – the list goes on and on. Whereas your revenue streams tied directly to the products or services you sell from your brick-and-mortar business, the ways you can make money online is relatively endless and, most importantly, easy to change around.
- It’s easy to maintain contact with current and potential customers. All you really have to do to remind people to come back to your site is to send out a quick little email. That’s it. Just slap together a professional looking newsletter, talk about your site, what you’ve updated, what deals you’ve got going on, etc., and then fire it off and wait for people to come back to your site.
Obviously, the list could go on and on – I haven’t even talked about how much fun (yes, despite all of the hard work, this is pretty fun) running your own business is, how you can easily turn a hobby into an income, etc., etc. – but I’ll go ahead and stop here.
Long story short, there really is no reason why you can’t start your own online business, so get moving!
I’m trying to start my own business online. I wanted to know if anyone had a recommendation for this software before I spent the money for it. I have read that it’s a “necessary” investment, but I want to hear from “real” people before I put the actual money down.
Does anyone have any comments on this software? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HBVVG4?tag=supplysherpa-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B000HBVVG4&adid=0RXXBFZAGMJRRDMD7N5K&
A software from James D. Brausch is something that will gave a big effect on your web page ranking and traffic. Combined this effective and useful softwares and will indeed gave you an edge on your internet business.
I am kinda newbie when it comes to internet business and this blog of yours is really helpful. I am often in search of sites to gather information and tips in running an online business and I also found the site http://blog.michellemacphearson.com where tips and informations are also shared. Thanks you guys for sharing it.
James Brausch has created a new program that will help gather more business for your website. The program, Glyphius, takes the google headline you create for your website and scores it against similar websites based on successfulness. After the initial scoring, you can then change your headline to make it as successful as possible. Glyphius will then score your headline again against your competitors. This is truly and amazing product.
I used Business Plan Pro recommended by Small Business Administration to write my business plan. I also consulted with SCORE counselors via online. Good Luck!
I have to agree with you about the barrier to entry to start a business. It used to be a scary and possibly difficult endeavor to start a business. With the invention of the web, and more recently the advent of community created tools like WordPress its never been easier. I still remember the day in the early 90’s when I made my first instant message with someone in Japan (I’m in the US). It was in utter awe about talking with someone in Japan realtime. Anyways, going back to the original point. Starting a business on the web is so easy. Yes, you might not become a gazillionaire doing, but look at the bright side. You will connect with people, you will enjoy it, and you might even make some extra money to buy that 50 inch plasma you’ve been wanting. Best of luck!
http://buddhalabs.com/
I just wanted to pass my story along to you and hope it interests and entertains others. Thanks! Tony
Make Green By Going Green.
I had to write this article to let other entrepreneurs know what exciting possibilities there are out there in this new Green world. If you havent been paying attention there is a world wide phenomenon going on that is called Green or Eco-friendly. If you are not steering your business that way or if you are not looking to get into this green business juggernaut you are missing out on a huge pay day and/or a long time rewarding business experience.
Not only will you help reduce your own carbon foot print but you will attract more customers because people are looking for eco friendly businesses. By going green, my business in just over one year, went from $7,000 per month to $75,000 per month. I went from 30 customers to well over 300 customers with more climbing on the green wagon every day.
I have even been approached to franchise my concept all over the world. Going green apparently rewards you with more green.
It is truly amazing how my life has changed this past year. I got involved with starting an eco-friendly cleaning company and as a result of going green I have watched in awe as my revenue grows month after month. It has not only changed my life financially but it has positively impacted the health and lives of thousands of people as well. I went into this business, not having a lot of money to invest, but wanting to do something that was good for the environment as well as good for the planet and other people. I know that cleaning homes and businesses with non hazardous chemicals will help add years to the lives of our customers, their children and pets, our workers and help heal the environment too.
The Green Mop (my business) afforded me the opportunity to move from a cramped apartment, where I also ran the business, to a beautiful new 4700 square foot home that last year was priced at $1.1 million (got it for $800,000 in this current market environment). I also bought a brand new SUV Hybrid with cash and I see no end in sight for the growth and expansion of my eco-friendly green enterprise.
What I did you can do too by steering your existing or new business in a green direction.
I have seen the proof that if you do right for people, the environment, and yourself by focusing on being good stewards of the earth, the floodgates of green prosperity will open up to you.
So, lesson your foot print, enrich the lives of others, steer your business green and watch your prosperity grow.
The Green Mop, Inc
Tony Gallina, President
http://www.thegreenmop.com
(703) 508-8082
Tony, congratulations on your success; what a great story!
Great post, I especially found it useful where you stated “Its easy to have multiple streams of income on one site.” Even though, other aspects of starting your online business are as much important. However, relying on one stream of income is definitely not much profitable now a day.
Nice post.Run business online is not a easy task.Here you can explain how expand business online.Thanks
Thanks! We just hit $100,000 a month this month in July 2009! My profit margin is nearly $40,000-50,000 per month – not bad!!