People are different and so are the businesses they start. I’ll talk about the top three traits of successful small business opportunities and the top 3 traits of the small business entrepreneurs pursuing them.
Lets start with the businesses.
Probably numbering in the Millions, home based business ideas and small business opportunities, offer “turnkey” ways to be in business quickly and with some sort of a business plan. I’m not talking about the other millions of great business ideas people have of their own, I’m talking about business opportunities operated much like a franchise, but without the fees.
Home Based Business Ideas.
Most home based business ideas are of an affiliate nature. Drop shipping and the EBay boom helped, greatly, to facilitate the home based business boom on the Internet. People learned they could sell products via EBay and have them dropped shipped from a third party and never even see the product or the customer. Many work at home business ventures operate in much the same way. Ultimately you play the role of marketing in the business models and doing so can earn a pretty healthy income over time.
Not only are these businesses set up for operating from a home office, many can really be run from anywhere, thanks to technology. Once a marketing platform is built the need to sit at a computer, in many cases, is gone. Being able to work from anywhere is very appealing, especially to a younger group of entrepreneurs than we’ve seen entering the small business field.
Small Business Ideas.
There are also many small business entrepreneurs operating exclusively online. Operating a small business online is much like a traditional business and commonly these businesses fall in the service category. Online small business provide things like web design, search engine optimization, hosting, marketing systems, and other various teaching and consulting. In my experience these “tech-traditional” small businesses have more contact with the customer and are not merely product based.
Both business examples are viable ways to make money using the Interenet and a home office. So what should you look for in evaluating a home based business or small business concept?
Top three traits of solid online commerce:
- Must be scalable.
- Must have potential for innovation.
- Must serve a relevant need that expands.
Of all the business start up models I’ve seen online and of all the successful small business entrepreneurs that I’ve studied, these three themes come up constantly.
What does it mean for a business to be scalable?
Simply put the idea you use to start a business needs to work with five customers just like it works with 5 thousand customers. When I say works that means the business model needs to be profitable as it grows or contracts… Because it will.
Why is innovation so important?
The information age is quick. People may want something today that they won’t even look at tomorrow. Staying in close contact with customers will allow you to stay up to speed with the problems they face. Innovation aimed at the solving of your customers products will prove to be a big factor in small business success.
An finally serving a relevant need that expands is the last component that successful home based businesses and small online businesses should have. This ties into the need for innovation and the idea that the customer should steer that innovation. Many times your initial offering can create a “back end” product that makes sense and sells… This is the point in choosing a small business model that allows one product to facilitate a need for another.
To finish here, I’d like to talk about the entrepreneurs themselves, what common threads exist in success, and what you might consider before starting your own small business.
Successful Entrepreneurs.
- Are persistent.
- Are patient.
- Listen to the market and the customer.
- Are radically open to innovation.
- Avoid completely reinventing the wheel.
These are five traits of successful entrepreneurs online. I might add that a very important activity they engage in is collaboration. The online community is quite open and they work together and share information that benefits everyone. Networking is crucial to building a successful home business or a small business using the Internet today.
