Seven Reasons You Should Start an Online Business

I have to admit, the notion of starting a business, online or otherwise, was both exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time. There were so many questions and doubts in my mind. Did I have what it takes to start a business? What if I chose the wrong field or business model? What if it doesn’t work out? What if it does? Will I be able to find the time? Do I have the necessary skills? What do I know about developing a website anyway? Could I start and run a business while keeping my 9-5 job? Should I quit my day job now or should I wait a while? So many questions! So many uncertainties!

Stop your doubts in their track straight away! To ease your mind. Here are seven reasons you should start an online business today.

1. Experience the Joy of Doing Something For Yourself

Unless you have one of those exciting jobs that drive you and fills you with joy, you’re probably like a large percentage of the population who are dissatisfied with their 9-5 jobs. In a job satisfaction survey carried out by the Conference Board, it was revealed that more than half (52%) of American workers are unhappy with their jobs. A similar study carried out by the London School of Business and Finance showed that nearly half (47%) of British residents were unhappy in the workplace. The study also showed that as people get older they become more and more dissatisfied with their jobs. As much as 81% of workers in their 50s wish they could change jobs.  If you are among those unhappy workers and you are looking for joy in your life, then having your own business could be a viable solution.

In many jobs, you merely carry out one task after another dictated by your manager/supervisor. Often, you cannot see how your efforts contribute to the overall success of the organization. Sometimes, you may feel that there could be better ways of doing what you do but you are not allowed the freedom to do it your way. When you have your own business, you get to choose from an infinite list of possibilities. The chances of you getting involved in a business that you are passionate about are much higher. And doing a business online gives you endless possibilities. Do you like sports? Maybe your passion is helping others? Perhaps you like teaching and coaching others. Or possibly you like painting or crafting hand-made jewelry out of beads or stone. Whatever your passion, there are endless opportunities online to satisfy your desires that can be channeled into a business.

2. You can Never Get Rich by Being an Employee

Let’s face the facts. You can never get rich by being an employee. The institutionalized concept we call a job is designed so that you work your butt off for someone else to get rich. In the meantime, they offer you a pittance in the form of a salary, just to keep you around. Salary is the new form of slavery. A 2017 research done by Market Watch shows that 50% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. They have little or no money put aside for a rainy day. So, their jobs are not really providing the financial freedom and joy that it should. But at the same time, people still hold on to their jobs because they believe they are unable to do better or are afraid that by changing jobs they might end up in a worse situation. So, they stick around. A separate survey conducted by MetLife found that 49% of employees are “concerned, anxious or fearful about their current financial well-being.”  Yet another study by Bloomberg found that “Close to half of those who earn from $100,000 to $149,999 a year have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts. Some 18% of them have socked away absolutely nothing.”

What’s the moral of the story? A salary has a ceiling. However, the potential to earn is limitless when you have you an online business. Consider that in 2016, over $1 trillion was made in online sales, according to eCorner.  My friend Kevin once told me that he’d rather have his own business that pays next to nothing today with the knowledge that he could earn infinite future income. A job will always be a dead end. Full stop!

3. An Online Business is Less Risky than a Job

You may be saying that this statement is incorrect. How could a job be less risky than running a business? Most people have the notion that running a business is riskier than a job. Ask the millions who lost their jobs during the global recession how they feel about the risk of a job versus a business. I bet many of them will tell you that having a job is just as risky, if not more so, than a business.  Consider that most people have just one job. They depend on the salary from this single option. In other words, they’ve put all their financial eggs in one basket. In addition, by having a job you’re literally putting your future in the hands of someone else. They could wake up one day and decide that you’re “not a proper fit for the organization” or that you’ve become “redundant” or any number of countless ‘excuses’ they may come up with to get rid of you.

I’m not saying that you should get rid of your 9-5 job. I’m simply asking you to consider investing in one or two online businesses on the side as additional streams of income. If one stream is lost you have others to fall back on.

4. Little Costs Involved in Starting and Running an Online Business

Setting up and running an online business requires considerably less outlay and capital investment than a brick and mortar business. You don’t have to worry about rent, loads of employees, major utilities, and in some cases, you don’t even have to worry about inventory. Take the businesses I run, for example, one is affiliate based and the other provides a service. I have no employees to pay, no rent, no overheads. The only cost I carry are the small fees to host my website ($13 per year) and $49 per month for my Wealthy Affiliate subscription, which is an ideal online space to find training, tools, techniques, and support from like-minded entrepreneurs, plus they offer a viable affiliate program that is earning me stable income on the side.

From an operational perspective, costs are almost non-existent. Plus, the Internet is very forgiving. Imagine running an email marketing campaign. You collect opt-in emails and send out a bulk mail shot to your subscribers expecting sales to be overflowing from then on. But nothing happens. Not one sale. Of course, you’d be disappointed. But imagine if you had spent thousands on a TV advertising campaign that turned out to be disappointing. You’d be a few thousand dollars out of pocket. With an online campaign, you don’t have to spend a lot. And that’s a great advantage of running an online business.

Click here to get information on how to set up Facebook boosts and Google pay per click advertising campaigns.

5. An Online Business Allows You To Reach A Wider and Varied Market

Imagine selling cell phone accessories from the garage of your house. You print a few flyers and distribute to your local community about 4 blocks in every direction. You cover a potential market of about 1000 persons. Now imagine carrying out the same business but on the Internet. You set up a website / online store. Plus you run some Facebook and Google pay per click ads. Suddenly you’re getting sales from not only within your own city but from other cities, states and even from other countries. Your potential market has now become the nearly 3.7 Billion Internet users worldwide (Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm). Now, isn’t that awesome?

6. You can Make Money While You Sleep (Literally)

Now, there’s a thought. Making money while you sleep is what being an entrepreneur is all about. The idea is that you develop a mechanism that becomes your employee, so to speak. Just as you work your butt off to make someone else rich, you want to develop the tools, techniques, and tactics that would result in a machine (an online business) that would literally make you money while you sleep. Imagine waking up and checking your online bank account, only to realize that you earned $500 during the 7 hours you were in Lala land. Imagine doing that every night and twice on Sundays. That’s what an online business can do for you. Some businesses only make you money if you are working. For example, if you are a doctor or lawyer, you only get paid if you are working. But as an online entrepreneur, you can earn money any time of day or night. But you must put in the work up front. It’s not magic. There aren’t little elves working on your website bringing in customers there are systems, steps, and strategies that you must adopt in order for your money-making mechanism to start churning out cash. Click here to find out how you can turn your website into a money maker while you sleep.

7. You can Work When, Where and How You Want

One of the greatest satisfactions of developing an online business is that you can work anywhere, anytime, any day and anyhow. Right now I’m in my boxers, sitting on my bed while watching a movie and developing this article. Isn’t that sweet? I’d probably put in about 2 to 3 hours to get everything written up and edited. Maybe an hour more to polish it up and add some interesting images and so on. Then a few more minutes to share on my social sites and launch a few ads, send out a couple email shots twice for the week. All in all, this article would not take me more than a half day’s work and it will be making me money for many months and years to come. But the really fun part is that I get to do it on my terms and at my own pace. The very choice of article subject and content is totally mine to make. No one is checking in to see how far I’ve reached. No one is going to say that it’s not good enough or that I need to redo it. It’s all on my terms and in my own way. And it’s pure bliss working like that.

I sometimes work at the cafe at the mall. I travel a lot, so sometimes I’m working 35,000 feet in the air or while I’m waiting at the airport. Twice I took my office to the beach. And a few time I put in a couple hours at the pool side while on vacation. Now, tell me which job could afford you that kind of joy. Click here to find out how you too could be earning on your own terms.