An online business – is it for you?

The internet and digital technologies such as smart phones, tablets and laptops have created a business environment where time and distance are virtually irrelevant.

These technologies have transformed the way people access information and education, the way they shop, entertain themselves and communicate with each other.

The terms ‘digital revolution’, ‘digital disruption’ and ‘disruption technologies’ and ‘disruption businesses’ are increasingly being used to describe what is happening around the world.

What does this mean for you and me?

So what does this all mean for people like you and me?

It really depends on your outlook.

On the one hand we are witnessing the disappearance of traditional jobs and career paths because they have been automated and replaced by digital technologies. This can clearly be a problem if you are in a job or career where this is happening. How do you replace the income needed to support yourself and your family if your job doesn’t exist anymore?

An alternative view is that with the global use of the internet and digital technologies comes incredible opportunity. If you already have a business it is, of course, possible to use this technology to market your products and services much more widely, globally if you wish.

And if you have an entrepreneurial spirit there has never been a better time to learn digital marketing techniques and start your own online business.

What are the advantages doing business online?

There are many advantages. Here is a list of just a few of them:

• You can operate from your own home, or anywhere – if you have a computer (desktop, laptop, tablet etc) and an internet connection
• You can conduct your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and don’t have to be there minding the store
• Low start up costs
• Very little in the way of overhead costs i.,e. no shopfront required, no need to have expensive stock lying around on shelves etc
• Costs of access to technology for consumers (your customers) are getting lower all the time
• Consumers are increasingly comfortable in making purchases online
• It’s faster, easier and cheaper to communicate with customers and suppliers
• Extremely easy to develop and maintain data bases of your customers so that you can be continually remarketing to your list
• You can easily market products, services or both products and services

How to get started

These are just some of the essentials:

• Access to information and tools to help you assess the benefits and risks of having an online business
• A business plan
• Access to relevant training:
  • how to build your website
  • digital marketing techniques
  • advertising techniques
  • cash flow management
  • developing leads for business/sales
  • ongoing training
• website hosting
• technical support

And ideally access to a mentor – someone who has a successful online business.

How I got started

I have dabbled with having my own business at various stages in my career. More recently in the early 2000s it occurred to me that because of the internet I could have the freedom to conduct a business from anywhere in the world.

What really started me thinking about this was that around this time my wife and I had our first experiences with international travel and holidaying, and we loved it.

So, I began to explore how a person could in fact have lifestyle freedom – the so called lap top lifestyle where you could work when you wanted and where you wanted.

This would obviously involve setting up my own business – after all, I could hardly expect an employer to subsidise that type of lifestyle.

Eventually I found and became a member of an organisation, and a community, called the Six Figure Mentors (SFM).

The reason I decided to do that was because they provided me with all the information, education, and business tools to quickly establish an online business.

When I joined SFM I had very little knowledge of how to do business on the internet, how to build an effective website, and virtually nothing about things like affiliate marketing and digital marketing.

An introduction to SFM

If you are at all entrepreneurial, and are considering starting an online business give me your best email address in the space provided on this page. In return I’ll send you a complimentary series of videos.

From the videos you will learn:

• more about the types of opportunities that the digital revolution provides us with
• how SFM and their Digital Experts Academy can get you started and support you at every stage of your business
• about the workings of the leading edge digital marketing system developed by the founders of SFM
• the types of tools and back office support available to run your business

The co-founders of this business, Stuart Ross and Jay Kubassek had built multiple 7 and 8 figure online businesses prior to setting up Six Figure Mentors in 2010.  They are truly leaders in the field of online affiliate marketing.

Both of these guys are still active internet marketers, but their passion today is helping others to do what they have achieved. The opportunity of being coached by the best in the business was a major factor for me in deciding to join SFM.

In summary, check it out and decide for yourself. Send me your email address and I’ll send you a series of emails which contain links to the training videos.  What this means is, you can start learning about setting up your own online business.

No previous experience?

A common reason why people don’t get started with an online business is because they think previous experience is required.

Not so. In the video below, one of my mentors, Stuart Ross, explains –