The Truth About Online Entrepreneurs
Who does not want to run a business from the comfort of their own home and slip on a bathrobe to virtual business conferences? Since the dot com boomed, the idea of putting up an online business has drawn a lot of people to try their luck in the challenges of online commerce. Actually, the statistics are attractive: Fifty-five percent of American households are connected to the Internet, and almost a third, or 32% have made a purchase online, according to the US Census Bureau. There are buckets of money that are earned online, but who’s making it and who’s not?
When one speaks of “earning money online,” one gets the idea that it is earned or made by simply turning on a computer and getting money out of it as if it were an ATM. In fact, the Internet, and all the commercial features of it, are just tools in the entrepreneur’s toolbox that should be used next to other, more conventional tools. When you’re constructing a house, every now and then that high-tech, laser pointing device is impressive, but sometimes you just need a hammer. And so it is with online business, and supplementing all that high-tech with old-fashioned business, or in many cases, supplementing old-fashioned business with some high-tech, is what it takes to be successful. online success comes not in substituting the old with the new, but mixing them together.
With a few high-profile exceptions, many businesses that “make money online” successfully are not exclusive virtual sales companies, but rather, they make use of the Internet as just one of various sales channels. While people are buying stuff online, they are pleased in having the Internet as an option-but don’t want it to be their only alternative. Usually, the Internet is used as a vehicle for researching products that will actually be purchased in an actual brick-and-mortar store.
Creating a virtual business doesn’t mean that it will have to be entirely virtual.
The most successful online businesses are those that have marketed themselves offline as well as on, through usual media like tv and newspaper as well as via clickthroughs and email advertising. Yahoo! is a great example of an astounding successful online company-but what do we remember most when we talk about Yahoo!? The silly yodel from their television commercials.
Perhaps one of the most important things to remember when putting up an online business, is not to get lost in the online mystique. The Internet revolution has, and continues to bring us a lot of valuable tools and techniques for commerce, but if you want to get customers to check in on your new online shop, you have to change out of your bathrobe, get out of your den, and actually talk to some people face-to-face.
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