The Pros and Cons of An Online Business

The greatest perk of starting up your own online business is the ability to finally do something you love…Find out the pros and cons of leaving your day job in the dust.

So, you spend every Sunday night in bed near tears-and the sniffles have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Grey’s Anatomy is about of the Thursday night lineup now. Even watching the latest healthy helping of Desperate Housewives won’t do a bit of good. The fact is, you hate your job. Sure, you invested thousands in earning a law degree from one of America’s finest party schools, and while shifting through deeds and copyright documents used to play the strings of your heart, contractual law, business suits and stuffy shoes have a way of getting losing their luster after about five minutes.

No matter what you’ve done in the past,  you can always get in on one of the booming online businesses that are revolutionizing the way that we look that professionals are doing business.

Online Business-The Pros

The greatest perk of starting up your own online business is the ability to finally do something you love. Just envision your days filled with moving and shaking in your pajamas from behind the comfort of your keyboard, rather than spending your time in court hoping that the baliff doesn’t catch you doodling during a deposition. Of course, between marketing  your service or product, creating a website, or paying a professional web designer to do it for you if you know about as much about computers as you do aerophysics, and depleting half of your life savings, breaking into the virtual world of online business is a tough nut to crack.

On the upside, for the first time ever someone besides your family will have the opportunity to compliment you on your variation on the old-fashioned butter cookie. And if knitting is where you passion lies, you will be able to start selling those cozy sweaters right from the comfort of your bedroom, Snoopy slippers and all.

Other benefits of starting an online business are:

• The ability to offer your service or product to potential clients continuously since the Internet is also up and open to market your business.

• Online businesses have the potential to bring in greater capital. See, with a more traditional storefront style business you wouldn’t likely have the means to attract a variety of different clients outside of your own backyard. The Internet allows online businesses to reach international audiences.

Online Business-The Downside

Body language. It’s the universal tell tale sign for determining whether or not you are working with a liar. One of the biggest challenges facing both online business owner and their clients is the difficulty in gaining trust. Since many online transactions are missing the ability to have a quiet business meeting over at the local coffeehouse, most owner-client relations are taking place in cyberspace. While virtual business meetings are quite accomodating, deciding whether or not to do business with someone via online relations alone can prove a pickle at times.

Not to mention that acts of online fraud are increasing, although not in high enough numbers to discourage the hoads of working professional investing in a laptop, a website and a dream.

Other cons of running a online business are:

• Not all consumers have Internet access, thus for every client you are successful in gaining, some may be simple out of reach.

• Webpages must be updated with regularity. Now this can be pricey if you haven’t mastered the art of web design yourself yet.

• Face it, no one like buying a pig in a blanket and you may run into some difficulty getting clients who will invest in your product or service based on a catchy website alone.

by Bert Seither
Home Office Master