The internet has changed the way people do business.
I’ve known friends who have started online businesses which includes selling items online to selling their services online (like providing their writing, web design or marketing services).
It seems to me that, thanks to the internet, starting a business has never been easier as it has been compared to, say, 5 to 10 years ago.
Now while it appears that the internet has made starting a business easier, it seems to me that people have also somehow forgotten that just like other “offline” businesses they also need to consider the importance of the following:
Creativity and originality. People who start online businesses can sometimes do it just because it’s the trend. A couple of their friends are selling stuff online and seeing that they profit from it they also decide to start their own. They fail to consider that creativity and originality matters. What sets your business apart from the others? What need is it meeting? These are questions that need to be asked.
Knowledge of the market. To go into business is to know your market. Who is buying the goods? What is the demographics of the clients or customers? What makes them choose your products? These are but just a few of the questions that one who runs an online business needs to think about.
Quality of products or services. My stand is if one can not provide quality services or products, one should not be in business in the first place. Okay. I can be gracious and say that they can be in business, but they should work on improving their products and services. If this is no longer possible for them then they should really consider closing shop.
Manage the business and its resources well. One can have the best products but when management is not done well, I think the business will eventually fail. The business resources would include the data that a business or a company has. As the business grows and expands, one must learn how to manage available data and use it for the best of the business or company. Check out this page to know more about data management.
Passion and profit must go together. I think that passion is key in growing a business, but one needs to be able to gain good profit from it to sustain it. And if it’s only profit that is operative word for the business then I think it will not last.
By all means, let’s be entrepreneurial and use the internet to do so but let’s not forget to do it well. No, not just well but let’s do our best.
