If you really want to start a business you’ll probably get a lot of advice from friends and family
Who might well suggest that a
traditional type of business is a better bet than an online business.
I disagree and here’s why…
My partner runs a traditional business - she’s a driving instructor.
She’s not part of a franchise and owns her
own car so doesn’t have huge fees to pay to a franchisor or monthly car loan/lease payments to make.
Basically her only expenses are fuel and other car related costs
A great business model you might think and to be fair she usually does very well for the 4 days a week she chooses to
work.
BUT....
She is completely at the mercy of her customers, some of whom - as happened this morning - see no problem with cancelling their lessons at short notice
This means that she can suddenly have a gap to fill and has to spend hours trying to juggle her other pupils around to fill the gap
Or she can waste more time and petrol coming home or shopping needlessly to fill the time.
She does make it clear
that she will have to charge for lessons cancelled with less than 24 hour notice
Which most pupils understand and to be fair she does make exceptions for genuinely unavoidable circumstances.
But there are some who take exception to this - despite knowing the rules and even having been let off with one
short notice cancellation already.
I see first hand how upsetting, frustrating, inconvenient and annoying this is for her when it happens
- usually soon after the alarm clock goes off first thing in the morning.
Often those pupils will cancel lessons permanently and move on to another instructor who they think will be “more understanding”, (They won’t be!)
leaving her with a permanent space to fill.
This kind of stuff
affects a traditional business because generally they operate in a small, local area.
So the customer pool is limited. This is how the ancient phrase “The customer is always right” came about
(Even though we all know it’s not actually true) - much better to have the right sort of
customers.
On the other hand, an online business is not subject to the same pressures.
It’s a given that an online business can be run from anywhere - which is one of the main attractions
Better still though, with the right sort of products, an online business has a global, pretty much unlimited customer base.
So the impact of a customer not following through, or cancelling an order is negligible.
To be slightly crass
- there are millions more fish in the sea
Consider also that an online affiliate business selling other people's products or services has very few expenses.
The product owners do most of the work for you including dealing with customers, providing support and handling the financials.
Most of my partner’s customers are great. They realise that they are paying for a life enhancing skill, and that she is running a business - not a charity.
But as I say, a few rotten apples really can do some damage
So if you are serious
about starting a business but this sort of things puts you off
It really has to be an online business and like driving, learning how to do business online is a seriously life enhancing skill set
One which again, like driving, you want to learn from the best
My partner’s reputation in our area is very good so she has no difficulty in filling the gaps when they occur
SFM’s 7 year reputation as the best platform to start building your online lifestyle business is second to none and now extends to 109 countries
CLICK HERE to start learning to drive your online business in the best possible hands
Cheers!
Dave
