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Why NOW is the best time to start or expand your small business on the Internet by Kevin Nunley Are the Internet's glory days over? Has the Web Wonder turned into a Net Recession? That could be correct for big corporate online businesses that rely on Wall Street investors, but just the opposite is true if you are one of 30 million small business owners. While the media crowed about 1998 and 1999 being a stellar age for starting an Internet business, it wasn't so easy for small businesses trying to get a foothold online. Investors poured billions into practically any corporate idea that came along, as long as it included a web site. Big web sites got fancier, automation got vastly more advanced, and big media advertising was dominated by dot-coms. The pace of innovation was mindboggling. A small one, two, or twenty person business usually felt like they were falling further and further behind. Then came the gradual crash of 2000. Investors began to realize not everything with a .com was gold. As the money flowed less freely, companies cut back and the pace of change began to slow. Recently analysts agree that 75 percent of corporate Internet businesses will go broke in the months to come. A terrible time to start or expand your small business online? Not at all. Even though Wall Street's cyber land rush may be over, the excitement of the past few years brought hundreds of millions of consumers and business users online. People worldwide learned they could get just about anything on the Net AND they learned it was OK to place their orders online. A growing mass of folks now say they prefer shopping online to getting in their car to drive to a store. Because the audience of potential customers is bigger than ever and the big corporate competition has cooled off, there has never been a better time to start or expand your small Internet business. Here are five things you can do to get yourself a solid footing in this "stage two" of the Internet: 1. If you haven't already, spend a few bucks to get a great looking website. A lot of belt tightening companies have laid off very good web designers who are now working for more affordable rates. Find several sites whose look you like and put a good underemployed designer to work (this is what we just did at DrNunley.com). 2. Now that the dot-com advertising din is dying down, find an affordable advertising method that zeroes in on your best potential customers. Run your ads over and over until people know them well. 3. Get in, grow, and stay for good. With so many companies failing and with the names and faces changing constantly, consumers and business users will give you bonus points for sticking around year after year. 4. Try not to borrow a lot of money or take on partners who don't share your vision. In more conservative business periods, you are better off to grow more slowly and fund your business on increasing sales. 5. Don't attempt to do everything by yourself, at least not for long. Despite all the automation options available to an Internet business, running your business properly takes lots of time. Twelve hour days are the norm. Plan on outsourcing and hiring help as soon as the stress of day-to-day operations starts to wear on you. Finally, there may not be any reason why you want to stay small. Currently there are investment funds with two BILLION dollars or more searching for start-ups that can succeed in these more challenging times. Your good idea or small business might be just what the next wave of big investment is looking for.
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