One reason for the huge rise in creation of the small office home office business (SOHO) was made clear to me today. After a couple of weeks of problems with my Internet connection the last straw came yesterday. Suddenly my Ipad refused to connect. Time for a new router says I! So I ventured out into the traditional world to find one. I could have (should have) just ordered one online. Being an Internet entrepreneur though, the idea of waiting a day or two was not appealing.
Joys of a portable SOHO
As an Internet based SOHO is portable I nipped into the Glad Café. It’s a nearby café that provides great coffee and free wi-fi. There I could check the problem wasn’t just with the Ipad. I logged in no problem and did a little work in my cool, temporary small office/home office. Then I headed for my local computer shop. I give my business to local stores whenever possible. It was closed, as in shut down.
Feeling a little sorry for another great little local business that had closed its doors, I headed to a retail park nearby which has a Curry’s branch. It was closed. As in – shut down. I wasn’t too surprised. The last couple of times I’d been in there had been more staff than customers. I was pounced on by desperate sales people every 2 minutes.
So I decided I’d have to head for the vast out of town retail park not too far from where I was. I decided to go via my local high street, which I know has several small computer repair businesses. They were all shut. As in – closed down. So I had to hit the motorway and head for the huge out of town PC world. It was open! So I got my router and headed back to revitalise my office’s lifeblood Internet connection.
The numbers of small office/home office style businesses are growing daily
What’s the moral of the story? Statistics have shown that small home businesses now produce a staggering $5471 TRILLION dollars. They also show that the numbers of small office/home office style businesses are growing daily. People are realising the importance of having additional income streams. Couple that with the incredibly rapid growth of the internet and its effect on traditional business. With it’s global marketing possibilities and price advantage traditional stores just cannot compete. This is the digital economy.
With a small home office business there are very few costs compared to those involved in keeping a shop open. More so with an online business where you are not physically handling stock. You don’t need staff andyour household expenses can be offset against tax. Aside from your computer, printer, and possibly some video making kit, you don’t need much. As I mentioned at the outset of my story today – I can run mine from a café on my Ipad. In fact I have done this all over Europe in the last couple of years.
Getting Out Of The SOHO
Again referring back to my router based adventure today. I could have ordered the thing from the comfort of my home office. Or I could have just worked from anywhere that I could get online. That would have saved me a couple of hours and some petrol. I’d probably have saved a few quid on the product itself as well. What the hell though it’s good to get out of the small office/home office sometimes. As it happened to be a nice day I was able to get the roof down in the Z3 and get some wind in my hair!
A few more stats to highlight the size of the market that is available to the Internet based small office/home office business.
There are.
2.4 billion social networking accounts (estimated and rising daily)
630 million websites (estimated and rising daily)
13 billion web pages (estimated… you get the picture!)
A SOHO business that deals in or is powered by Internet advertising has almost no running costs. Is 13 billion a big enough market for you? When you have ready made, tested systems in place which automates a lot of the sales process – would you accept that the digital economy and the small office/home office really is the way to go?
For more information please visit my website or sign up for a completely free 7 day video boot camp that will open your eyes to the possibilities at your finger tips right now.
