Whether or not you can fully grasp the capacity and importance of the internet in the business world today, if you are reading this article, you are certainly aware of its presence. To use Thomas Friedman’s words, the world is becoming increasingly “flattened”, largely due to the advent and incredible growth that the internet has seen within the last decade. Currently, it is estimated that in the world right now, there are somewhere around 1.5 billion internet users. All of those people (you and myself included) are using the same medium to communicate with others around the globe. The rate at which information can be searched for, located, retrieved, and sequentially conveyed is truly astounding. With a computer at your disposal, you can find virtually any kind of information almost instantaneously.
The internet has made possible things that were only dreamed of several centuries ago. For not only can we access information, but communication avenues are wide open around the world via our computers. On the competitive front, this has made marketing research and the race to find the best, most reliable information more fast paced than it ever has been before.
So what does that mean for business? Well, for one, it means that if you are thinking about starting a home based internet business, it’s certainly an idea you should pursue further. Especially with the current economy (yes, coming out of a recession is one of the most opportune times for entrepreneurs- ), there literally could not be a better time to start a home business. Think about it this way. If you were to open up a small lemonade stand in your neighborhood, your potential customers would be anyone who drove by, neighbors who heard about your stand, or, perhaps if you were really good, you would draw customers who were willing to drive for several miles on a special trip to come buy some fresh squeezed juice from you. Now- take a different scenario. Say you were to start a business selling lemonade recipes on the internet. Immediately, just due to the medium in which your products are accessed and sold, your potential customer base multiplies incredibly. Now, the number of people that you have access to as potential consumers spans- well- you set the limit. You could reach out to just your neighborhood. You could, if you wanted to be conservative, target towns within a 50 mile radius of you. But even if you utilized a tiny fraction of how much power the internet has to connect you with people, you would be able to market your site to the entire country. That is not bad for a small shift in your business approach and philosophy!
