I just finished a post for one of my blogs and it inspired me to share part of it here. I'm presenting an offline workshop on Starting An Internet Home Business For Under $100. Here's the link if you want to read the whole thing.
Anyway, it got me thinking about why I'm marketing online. This is what I wrote:
"Most offline businesses don't see a profit for years, and if you decide you want to change the products or services you offer, it isn't easy. Not so with the Internet.
A number of years ago, I operated a small Internet Cafe. A lot of work for months before I opened. Finding a location, getting permits to renovate, renovating and furnishing, leasing computers, getting a vendors permit and a food permit, dealing with the health department, getting insurance, having a sign made and put up, and advertising to get people to come. Then when I opened, guess what happened? Within a month I realized I didn't like being in a shop and waiting for people to come in. So I started offering classes. That was better, but they weren't every day all day, so the shop was a waste of money. Plus I gained weight from drinking so much coffee and cream so it wouldn't be thrown out.
The end result - I closed up shop less than a year later and took my business home. Less overhead and more time for myself. Now the Internet has opened an even easier way for me to have my own business and help other people. It's no wonder that I'm so passionate about the opportunities available online!
Now tell me your story. Why are you marketing on the Internet? "
I went through several careers, in my early years. Each one had its very small successes and many failures. In my mid forties, I got very serious about changing my life from what it was to what I wanted. Although it is a process, like life itself, I have learned much!
I went into the ministry, thinking this was the way to help people change. I wound up in a town two blocks long and in a church so small they only pay me half time.
I started teaching yoga and meditation for the same reasons, but the small town is still a problem. I have a dozen or so students, but it is not enough!
My wife and I could move to a larger town, but given the housing market and the fact that two of our children and their families have moved to the same area, we are reluctant to move. The internet gives me access to millions of people. The methods, techniques, and ideas that I have used and that I have helped others use works! I want to reach more people.
Maybe I'm trying to save the world, but what's wrong with that?
I have a really, really simple reason for working online: I'm a wheelchair-disabled total shut-in, but I don't qualify for any sort of pension. So - since I needed to pay my mortgage, medication, utilities and college loan - and eat occasionally - I created my own "job" (online copywriter), using my years of experience as a magazine editor and newspaper general manager to help me learn the ropes and adapt to the internet quickly.
Since becoming disabled, it's taken me several years of hardship and a wasted stint at college (in a misguided attempt to "retrain") to realize this: Online work is perfect, if you're disabled.
And actually, on the internet, the ability to leave your house under your own steam doesn't matter - as long as you produce good results, you're 100% whole.
I started marketing my fitness business online for several reasons. #1 being that I wanted more freedom to spend time with my family.
#2 was because I only had so many hours in the day to train clients and I thought that moving my business online was the best way for me to clone myself and reach as many people as possible.
#3 Work that I do now will produce profits for years to come. Online marketing got me out of the linear thinking of trading hours for dollars.
I am in internet marketing definitely for the freedom that's possible. I love how free I can be in an online business by setting up the right systems to run and make me money even when I'm not there. Like you mentioned an offline business such as a cafe can be very time consuming and if you don't have the money to hire staff you are literally stuck there all day long.
It took me quite a while to really get the freedom in my own business though because at first I created a service business that didn't allow me the freedom I really wanted.
There are more reasons why I love an internet business though:
1. Cost - like you mention it can be very low cost to get started and also to try new things. I like variety so when I get bored my new interests don't end up costing me a fortune!
2. Connections - I love how you can connect with people of similar interests. When I had my son I just didn't have as much freedom to get out and meet a lot of people anymore but I love meeting new people. Online I get to meet new people online everyday.
I'm loving how this thread is going. When people ask me why they should bother learning modern technology, I appreciate having stories to tell them.
I think all of us are helping to change the world in our own little ways. And my passion to encourage people to use the Internet to do anything they set their minds to without being limited by health, age, mobility or any other challenge is fueled by entrepreneurs like you who show it can be a reality!
I got my start on the internet because I was looking for something to do at home. We have four sons - three of them have ADHD-Inattentive - and I couldn't keep up the boys' needs, a part time job, the house, the homework, the soccer, and everything else.
My husband and I decided for me to stay at home full-time (yay!), but I needed some income. I started a website about our life with ADHD, and stuck up some affiliate links. Then I developed and sold a product for a birthday party idea, the science project guides followed, and before long I had more than replaced my part time income.
While all of the above took a lot of work and time, it still allowed me flexibility. When the boys had away games or had major projects, I worked less. When they were asleep or at school, I worked more.
Eight years later, it's the flexibility that still keeps me. I've made sales while sitting on my front porch eating watermelon, and I've made sales while visiting family in Beirut. I've been able to take weeks off to deal with a family crisis, and I've been able to work 15 hour days when inspiration hit.
I started out with an offline business, first with a shop then with an office on the square. I had a dream of owning a family business, and was married at the time - a combination family with 4 children between us.
Business was good and growing until the unexpected divorce, which really threw me for a loop. I continued running my business locally for another year or so - until my son became ill. I was forced to homeschool him for a couple of years during that phase.
While I had been "marketing on the internet" for my local clients for years up to that point, it was those life circumstances that brought me home to a home office - and ultimately to marketing my own business strictly through the internet.
I can't imagine what I would have done as a single mother with a sick child, homeschooling two children, had it not been for the internet and all of the opportunities it provided...
I'm new here, thanks to Mark Mason's suggestion. Internet marketing is a natural fit for me because I've had a lot of career experience in radio/PR/marketing/fundraising copy writing.
I dabbled in IM 5 years ago but never got serious about it and am kicking myself for the opportunity I've wasted. But I've learned a lot of other good stuff in those years too (about myself, for sure, and also the niches I'm passionate about), which will help me now as I move forward.
My wife and I have 5 kids so far (ages 3-13) and we homeschool. My dream has always been to be home more, to have a family enterprise, to invest more of our time and resources in causes and people we believe in, to give our kids a world class and world wide educational experience, and to equip them for success in life and work.
We've been able to take significant steps toward that dream in the last few years, and I know that Internet marketing can help propel us farther ahead.
I'm really glad to be here and to learn from everyone else! I definitely need some help deciding which way to go with my first site, so I'll have to post a thread on that soon.
Why Are You Marketing On The Internet?
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