“Is the Internet profitable for business?”, That is the question I often get asked when I was earning money from the internet through my Adsense blogs.
Ang sagot ko? “Oo naman, may pera sa internet”.
May mga ilang kamang anak at kaibigan ako na nagtatanong at nagpaturo sa akin kung papano sila magsisimula. Pero mas marami sa kanila na may doubts at hindi kumbinsido na ang internet business (blogging, affiliate marketing, freelancing) ay isang profitable business.
The truth is, there are many individuals that are already earning good amounts of money online.
Marami sa kanila nagsimula lang sa pag ba-blog at pag share lang ng mga personal na kwento before pa nila nalaman na pwede ka pala kumita sa blogging at gamit ang internet in general.
So why internet businesses is one of the most profitable business in the world? Let’s view my article on some of the characteristics of a perfect business.
Based on these points, an internet business is a profitable business because of:
Low Cost, Low Capital, Low Overhead
Starting any traditional business requires a huge amount of capital. We recently put up a Sari Sari store / Grocery Store in our area and it costs us more than Php200,000 ($4,000 approx) for inventory alone.
That store also has an equivalent website (online store) that cost us maybe around Php2000 ($50) for the domain, hosting and logos (or maybe a little more than that if I include the data encoding from a VA).
But the point is, having an internet business is way cheaper that putting up a traditional offline business.
Starting an internet business does not require a huge capital. You can start as cheap as $50 per year by getting your own domain and server.
Also, you don’t have to employ a lot of employees. You can do the whole business by yourself and scale by hiring virtual assistance when you are able to afford.
If you require help for task that you do not know how to do, you can start you business with a little help from freelancers. Like what I did on the data encoding for KlickMo.com
Maintenance and overhead cost are also minimal. You do not have much of utility bills, office equipment or employee salaries. Probably the only expense when you start out are additional electric and the internet bills which will be paid on a monthly basis.
Portability – Work Anywhere
Since we already mentioned that there’s not much of an overhead cost in having an internet business because there’s no permanent and traditional office. Your office is practically anywhere!
It is possible for an online business to be mobile. It is a portable business you can take anywhere. Heck, you can stay at a coffee shop (with good wi-fi) the whole day and you are still able to run your business.
An internet business can be operated almost anywhere in the world, any location with an internet connection.
Unlike most business where you have a physical store, an internet business is virtual.
Inventory Management
The most common issue with the traditional business is inventory management. Let’s face it, all businesses has something to do with selling. Selling goods or selling services.
In selling physical items, you will eventually have problems with managing your inventory. Like I mention, with out offline grocer store, we do have to track all items. We should be able to know which items are fast moving and which ones are gathering dust, literally.
My parents have their hardware business and they too are having a hard time and eating up many of their time keeping up with the inventories of their products. This is true in any business that has huge number of inventories.
If you are unable to track your stocks of good, there is a possibility that you will have missing products and your numbers will not tally. And also, let’s be real, your employees can easily ‘take home’ your inventories in small amounts.
In an internet business, you don’t have physical inventories but virtual inventories which are very easy to manage such as articles, host server, domain, links, etc.
Payment Accessibility
Payment in an internet business should be all electronic and hassle free! Unlike a physical business where you get paid or your customer and clients pays you on location, that is, where your establishment is located, in an internet business, all payments are online.
Since you will be selling online and preferable all process are automated, the main way to get paid in an online business is through Paypal, Payoneer, Paymaya and other similar gateway. Once payment is received, you can easily withdraw funds from your local bank.
You can also request your customer for a more traditional and manual way of payment. This is by direct bank deposit, bank transfer. Alternatively, you can also collect your income thru Western Union which has over 320,000 agent locations worldwide.
No Time Constraints
As I am writing this post, I am in a food court in SM Marilao. (Disclaimer: I do not do this fulltime). The point is, if you do this full time and if you do have an internet business, you are able to do it anytime, anywhere!
In most businesses, you manage many things. You have to concentrate most of your time in managing the business from hiring the right employees, marketing it, talking to clients, inventory management, etc. In an online business, you manage yourself.. and probably a number of freelancers.
One thing is certain, traditional business is way much more time consuming. In an internet business, you can just devote two to three hours of your time daily by writing quality articles and marketing it.
Of course, like in any other business, success in an internet business cannot be achieved overnight. You have to work hard from the start and as your internet business grows, it can be a source of passive income that can generate income for you while you are sleeping and definitely, you can retire early.
Take this post as an advise only. This is not a get rich quick king of thing. You have to put in the work and time. Consistency is key here.
Thoughts?
I hope that the points discussed and presented above made sense. If you have the skill and talent, or if you are able and willing to learn, starting an internet business is a good thing!
If you have any questions, let me know. I am reachable in social media. See you!