All around us people are losing their jobs and they're not the only ones that have taken a beating. Consider the incredible losses people have experienced in the retirement and pension savings. That money was in the market - in 401Ks and RRSP's and following the advice they've been given for years, people have investments that, in some cases over the last few months have been reduced by a third or sometimes half. So what do you do when you're either retired or about to retire and the money that you've taken 30 years to save has gone "poof" overnight?
That's a question that a lot of the early boomers are wrestling with right now and being what they are, a generation that has set the pace from the day they started walking around with unfashionably passive peace signs, they will as a group find the answer. Luckily, the means to save the retirement plans of a generation is close at hand. It's a communications tool that has opened up an option that didn't exist 10 years ago. I'm talking about the internet and I believe that we are about to see an unprecedented explosion in the number of home internet businesses.
Before you go crazy thinking that a generation who - let's face it- worked most of their lives without computers let alone the internet - are about to leap into a foreign medium and become millionaires. That's not what I mean. Actually, when you consider it, it's not necessary. We're talking about people who have most of the big purchases behind them. They bought the house years ago, the kids have probably already moved out (or at least they promise to soon). They're not looking to make a fortune, just supplement a living and an online business can do that.
Think of it this way-
1. You can sell pretty much anything on the internet. You can sell collectables, or information, or you can sell niche products that - in a perfect world - you know a lot about. You can sell one product or many. Spend sometime online and you'll soon discover, that if you can think of it, you can probably find it online and while you're looking you just might find a place that you can sell it too.
2. Because the internet (which by the way is still growing in leaps and bounds) is so big it means first of all that you aren't restricted to selling something that would necessarily be successful where you live. The limitations of geography - to some extent- won't matter. And because you can sell to an individual, regardless of who or where they are, the fact that maybe only one in a thousand people has even heard of what you want to sell, won't matter, because you have a marketplace that can still deliver thousands of potential buyers to you store - once you know how to be found.
3. Compared to other types of business start up- the barriers to entry that an online start up needs to deal with can be relatively minor. You can start a business without paying for rent, or fixtures or decorating. You don't need to hire any staff, you don't even need to carry any inventory or package and ship the products yourself. There is of course and investment, and a learning curve, but at least you don't need to ante up fifty grand to buy a franchise.
4. A lot of people I've talked to won't even consider the possibility of starting an online business because they have it in their head that only "techies" can manage. It might have been true once, but with the abundance of very, very easy to learn software to manage any type of business, you don't need to have the technical skills to start. But you have to be willing to learn - a lot. So before you give up, take inventory of what skills you do have, because when you're starting your own business - every skill counts for something.
Reading over what I've written, it might seem that I'm trying to push you into starting up an online business. I'm not. But I am predicting, without any hesitation, that in the next few years we're going to see an explosion of growth on the internet in terms of new one person businesses and I'm also suggesting that if anyone looks behind who is fueling that growth, they won't find a host of bright-eyed twenty somethings behind it. They're find their somewhat jaded parents, some of whom are going to get a second chance to be bright eyed kids again and that's kind of cool.
That's a question that a lot of the early boomers are wrestling with right now and being what they are, a generation that has set the pace from the day they started walking around with unfashionably passive peace signs, they will as a group find the answer. Luckily, the means to save the retirement plans of a generation is close at hand. It's a communications tool that has opened up an option that didn't exist 10 years ago. I'm talking about the internet and I believe that we are about to see an unprecedented explosion in the number of home internet businesses.
Before you go crazy thinking that a generation who - let's face it- worked most of their lives without computers let alone the internet - are about to leap into a foreign medium and become millionaires. That's not what I mean. Actually, when you consider it, it's not necessary. We're talking about people who have most of the big purchases behind them. They bought the house years ago, the kids have probably already moved out (or at least they promise to soon). They're not looking to make a fortune, just supplement a living and an online business can do that.
Think of it this way-
1. You can sell pretty much anything on the internet. You can sell collectables, or information, or you can sell niche products that - in a perfect world - you know a lot about. You can sell one product or many. Spend sometime online and you'll soon discover, that if you can think of it, you can probably find it online and while you're looking you just might find a place that you can sell it too.
2. Because the internet (which by the way is still growing in leaps and bounds) is so big it means first of all that you aren't restricted to selling something that would necessarily be successful where you live. The limitations of geography - to some extent- won't matter. And because you can sell to an individual, regardless of who or where they are, the fact that maybe only one in a thousand people has even heard of what you want to sell, won't matter, because you have a marketplace that can still deliver thousands of potential buyers to you store - once you know how to be found.
3. Compared to other types of business start up- the barriers to entry that an online start up needs to deal with can be relatively minor. You can start a business without paying for rent, or fixtures or decorating. You don't need to hire any staff, you don't even need to carry any inventory or package and ship the products yourself. There is of course and investment, and a learning curve, but at least you don't need to ante up fifty grand to buy a franchise.
4. A lot of people I've talked to won't even consider the possibility of starting an online business because they have it in their head that only "techies" can manage. It might have been true once, but with the abundance of very, very easy to learn software to manage any type of business, you don't need to have the technical skills to start. But you have to be willing to learn - a lot. So before you give up, take inventory of what skills you do have, because when you're starting your own business - every skill counts for something.
Reading over what I've written, it might seem that I'm trying to push you into starting up an online business. I'm not. But I am predicting, without any hesitation, that in the next few years we're going to see an explosion of growth on the internet in terms of new one person businesses and I'm also suggesting that if anyone looks behind who is fueling that growth, they won't find a host of bright-eyed twenty somethings behind it. They're find their somewhat jaded parents, some of whom are going to get a second chance to be bright eyed kids again and that's kind of cool.
About the Author:
By Louise Collins, author of Start Up Mistakes. Too many mistakes cause business failure. Learn about ones you can miss.
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