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The Internet Waits For “NO ONE”

I recently became ill and it took me out of the office for almost 3 weeks. During this time, my work piled up as it does in any job, but coming back to the office got me thinking about how the internet has changed the schedules of those of us working in the internet.

Before I got addicted to the internet, I worked a relatively normal schedule. That included your basic 8-6 job, some nights and an occasional weekend. Now I find myself working 24/7.  My day time is filled with talking to clients, drumming up business, managing small fires here and there etc…. I know that this sounds like the trials and tribulations of any small business, but what I find interesting is that  when I had my first business, even with all the work, there were some built in “down time”.  These downtimes were built around cultural norms. For Example, the Christmas holiday season, summer holidays, national holidays and even at night between 9pm and 9am.

The internet knows no cultural boundaries. If I am celebrating a holiday, someone somewhere else is working. If I am working late, someone is just starting to work somewhere else.  In the internet economy, your business is open all day and every day of the year. More importantly, it is open whether you are working or not working. Now this all seems quite wonderful for those who want to create their own business and their own hours, but the reality is that the marketplace is no longer just your city / town/ state or country, but the whole world. In addition, the workforce available to meet those needs are not just people located in your town, but people all over the world.

What does this all mean? Well, what it means is that to succeed on the internet, you have to specialize and focus. Someone once said that the internet “created a distribution channel to allow niche marketers to create viable businesses.” What I now believe is that the only way for small business to succeed on the internet is to focus on a niche market.

Competition on the internet is very competitive and yet I believe that it will continue to grow at 20%-40% per year for the next 10 years. For those looking to get involved in the internet, now more than ever is the time to establish your presence on the internet.  Whereas the cost to succeed on the internet was relatively inexpensive 5 years ago, it is now 10 times more expensive to achieve the same results and will be 10 times more expensive to those who wait another 5 years.

So my advice is act now, make mistakes, try new things and know that any efforts you put in now will benefit you 5 to 10 years in the future. Good Luck.

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