Working from Home? It's the Online Business future!

There is doom and gloom all round. The banking system has collapsed, house prices are falling, jobs are insecure, and it seems that a revolution in the way we earn our livings is long overdue.

It's an attractive thought, isn't it? Staggering out of bed in our pyjamas, sipping ourselves awake with a home brewed espresso, settling down in front of a computer screen and beginning the day's work without the hassle of commuting. But is it really possible to work at home and earn the kind of money you could expect by getting in your car or hopping on a train to spend those long hours in an office block in the city?

The world is changing. It seems we can no longer rely on a job for life. It seems that putting our faith in others to take care of us in our old-age would be a mistake. The downside of these changes is a feeling of insecurity about the future. But the upside is that for those people who are prepared to grab the opportunities that these changes present, a whole new world of work is opening up.

Is setting up a virtual business online so very different from starting up a business in the real world? You still need to sell something, or provide a service. You still need to find your customers. You need to communicate with your customers and find ways to solve their problems.

Perhaps the biggest change in recent years has been the power of the consumer to exercise his or her choice, which means the business environment has become more competitive. But it is in this area of customer contact and customer care that the one man or one woman business working from home via a broadband connection, can perform so much more effectively than a large organisation. Particularly a large company that uses general impersonal and formula driven communication, designed to deal with every customer situation, and in reality, failing to address individual customer needs.

When the Internet first developed, it was thought to be an organ of mass communication. And indeed it can be used to communicate one message to vast numbers of people, but for the small business person starting up on their own with a laptop from a kitchen table, the Internet provides the opportunity to find the exact customers you're looking for, and then to communicate with them on an individual basis. The Internet's most important function as a sales tool is that it enables you to establish trust, and to build up a rapport with targeted customs. The old adage is true. People buy from people, but the Internet enables you to contact more and more of the kind of people you want to do business with and allow you to communicate with them from the comfort of your own home.