Reason #1:
”What about all of the e-commerce businesses
of the last decade that went bust?”
The e-commerce bust of the 90’s
The 1990’s was an interesting era in several ways. The
internet boom had a huge and dramatic impact on us all, everyone
wanting a piece of the action. Huge corporations and investors
alike invested insane amounts of money into promoting and advertising
these online ventures, a few of which turned out to be very
profitable and sustained companies, but many more of which were
not. The speed at which the whole movement occurred was entirely
unprecedented and the result was an over-inflated economy. The
bust that followed came even more quickly than the boom. Many
lost tremendous amounts of income and were greatly disappointed
with the results, and for many who witnessed it, the memory
of this event still frightens more of us than it really should.
So if the internet is such a great way to operate a successful
business, what caused all of this? The reason for this unfortunate
bust was that the entire movement happened just a little too
fast. Everyone became so excited about the potential of the
“world wide web” market testing was either inaccurate
due to the internet being such a new concept to all of us (the
market) that we didn’t have any idea what it could do
for us or what we wanted it to do for us, or it was just neglected
entirely. Honestly, it could be argued that the only real way
to learn what the market wanted was to take some mild risks
and just try some things out, but what seemed to happen instead
was one company leapt from the cliff to their death and most
of the others just blindly followed. Either way, most e-commerce
endeavors went bust, but this wasn’t altogether a bad
thing. If nothing else, we all learned a lot about what DOES
NOT work on the internet, and that is a very helpful starting
point from this point forward.
Actually, this is a huge start. I love using the word “start”
here because we are still only in the infancy of the internet
and what we will ultimately be able to do with it. To get
a slightly better idea of where we are and how far we have
come with the internet, let’s look at some history.
We can after all learn so much about our future by looking
at our past.
What we can learn from history: How the pattern
identified in the Industrial Revolution of yesterday can be
applied to the Information Revolution of today!
There is no better way to gain insight into the present and
see the possible direction of our future than by taking a
closer look at our past! We should always learn from the experiences
of those who did it before us instead of trying it “re-invent
the wheel”, so to speak. We can learn so much from both
their successes and failures and we would be extremely wise
to do so. Let’s take a brief moment to do that now.
Since so many today refer to the birth of the internet and
beyond the “Information Revolution”, let’s
look back at another revolution in the history of our world
and see what we it can show us. We actually don’t have
to go to far back in time to take a closer at an era that
impacted the world tremendously: the Industrial Revolution.
The industrial revolution created dramatic change in all of
society and also eventually affected the rest of the world.
It brought with advances in transportation, mass production,
communication, and even simple everyday household chores.
Just like the industrial revolution that occurred decades
ago, many poor ideas were attempted during this more contemporary
information revolution that we live in today. Many could have
viewed these early failed attempts as a sign that there was
little to nothing to be gained from machines, but as we know
today that view would have been extreme and would have quickly
proven false. In fact, we are still creating new machines
and improving upon old ones even today. But if our forefathers
had stopped trying after only a few initial failures and started
to believe that there really wasn’t all that much potential
for machines, we wouldn’t have any of these helpful
items ranging from the egg beater to the automobile. Similarly,
if we were to conclude that there weren’t really any
good opportunities on the internet, just think what our children
could miss out on!
Working from home … not a new concept!
Before the industrial revolution began, the vast majority
of both men and women alike worked from the home, but this
began to change since many of the household items that everyone
toiled daily to produce for their own families were now offered
for purchase in stores for convenience with the introduction
of assembly lines and mass production by Ford Motor Company.
Many companies formed and followed Ford’s lead, creating
a multitude of new jobs. Many breadwinners began to seek work
outside of the home with these companies to find the money
to pay for the items being produced by these companies. This
is how the shift from working at home to being employed by
someone else outside of your home began to really take off.
Interestingly enough, after several generations of “being
slave to the man” as we so fondly call it today, we
have come full circle and now the dream occupation seems to
be working for yourself again like it was a hundred years
ago. Ironic, isn’t it?
Come on it, the water is still fine!
During the industrial revolution it was a very exciting time.
There were all kinds of dazzling new machines and devices
everywhere, but while many of these new, amazingly helpful
and creative devices were being introduced, there were far
more that turned out to be not so great. Just like the excitement
that the potential of the internet has created during our
time, a very similar excitement over the new machines and
their potential got the better of many as they produced less
than useful creations that were gone almost as quickly as
they arrived. But just as both the industry and the market
alike began to get a better feel for which mechanical innovations
truly met a need in society and had a lasting place in our
homes or businesses, the industry and market today are once
again beginning to develop a certain discernment for which
digital and electronic information tools, products and services
will provide them with real value and marketability.
I am here to tell you that there is so much potential for
making money on the internet. In fact, just to prove my point,
do you know what many of those individuals who attempted these
“failed” online ventures of the 1990’s are
doing today? You guessed it! They are running other online
business. What does that tell you? Nearly all of the individuals
that I have spoken to that are running an online business
are at least treading water (most of these are fairly new
businesses) if not completely flourishing on the web.
We have only scratched the surface of what kind of opportunities
lay ahead for us on the “world wide web”. But
are there good ways to determine ahead of time which ideas
have good potential and which ones don’t? Absolutely
yes! Today there are much more solid and methodical ways to
pre-determine the potential success of a product or business
before too much is invested, and I will go more in depth on
this later.
Reason #2:
“My idea isn’t totally original!”
This is another reason I frequently hear from individuals
when I discuss with them the potential of starting an online
business and encourage them to consider ideas that that they
could use themselves. They frequently respond with “Well
I really enjoy ____, but that idea is already taken. In fact,
now that I think about it, almost EVERY idea has already been
taken!” I have good news and bad news regarding the
originality of your idea. Bad news first: you are probably
right, your idea for an online business or product is probably
not original. The good news: Your idea doesn’t need
to be original at all to work well … it just needs to
be offered and presented uniquely! For some reason many individuals
think that they have to come up with an idea that is completely
original. Expecting your idea to be completely original is
actually really unrealistic. I’m not even convinced
that we have even seen an original idea for a long time or
if there even is such a thing for that matter. Not to get
too philosophical on you, but couldn’t it be argued
that every great idea is only an improvement or adaptation
of a previous idea or concept? I like to think so anyway.
Why search for a completely original idea when all you need
is a pretty darn good one that has been around for a while?
It is important to realize that when you are developing your
idea for your business that, just as there are no completely
new business concepts or ideas, there are no new or unique
human needs or desires. They always have been and always will
the same: God, money, sex, self-esteem, health, happiness,
and good relationships. If the needs we are trying to meet
are not new, then why does your idea have to be so completely
original? After all, the most we will be able to do is meet
an old need or desire in a creative and unique way.
Your idea could possibly even be outrageous or even ridiculous
if you wanted! It just has to meet a need in a unique way.
The number one problem on the internet right now is not how
much information there is on the web, but rather the shortage
of quality information that is packaged properly. Is information
that people are looking for easy to find or easy to use? Does
it look nice and professional (or whatever the appropriate
appearance would be)? Your job in the future will be to convert
your information (that is probably already on the internet
somewhere in some fashion) into a slick presentation that
the consumer can find easily and quickly, and then assimilate
and utilize again and again more easily, quickly, and enjoyably
than the others do. We will be discussing in more depth how
you will be doing this later on in the book.
Reason #3:
“My idea really isn’t that
great!”
If you are thinking this to yourself at all, I want you to
keep something in mind for me. The beautiful thing about the
guidelines in presented in this book is that they are so solid
that they can take a mediocre idea and make it do wonders
for you. Of course the better the idea the better your chances
for success, but at the same time implementing a powerfully
and brilliantly marketed idea that is only mediocre will do
far more for you than doing absolutely nothing while you are
waiting for that perfect idea develop. Don’t put so
much pressure on yourself to come up with the perfect business
idea. This matters far less than you might think. Its not
what you sell, it’s how you sell it!
Another wonderful thing to consider is this: Let’s
say the idea you have now isn’t the best, but you make
something of it with these principles I am going to share
with you. Then down the road you think of your REALLY brilliant
idea. Well, now it will take you almost no time at all to
implement your new brilliant idea because you have worked
out the kinks implementing this plan on your less stellar
idea! You are already a pro at these concepts because you
have worked through them once already!
Don’t wait for the perfect idea. This is one of the
most tragic reasons to not start an online business. That
perfect idea may never come, but the wonderful thing about
this approach is that you don’t NEED the perfect idea
to make it fly!
Now that there are no more excuses for not getting started
on your e-business right away, what do you say we get to it?
It sure sounds good to me too!
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