Small Businesses are the lifeblood of the U.S. Economy, and will be for years to come. With the sudden decline of job prospects, more and more small and home based businesses are starting up. Regardless of this trend, most small businesses eventually fold up and close shop because lack of capital, lack of customers or simply the lack of experience in running, and generating customers for their businesses.
The 2010 Midterm Election has just ended and new political representatives are in place “to protect?” our interests, so they say. But realistically we are and should be in control of our interests, destiny and success in todays market. This new business world has ushered in an unprecedented amount of tools for small businesses to use and succeed with, but only a small amount of businesses owners, or would be businesses owners even know what they are and how to use them to their advantage. Even existing businesses who have survived the turbulent times we have been facing over the past years will eventually fold if they are not able to equip themselves and take advantage of these new business tools.
The unfortunate part is that some business owners are to proud and are too stubborn to admit that the business world is changing, the ways to acquire and retain customers are changing right in front of them. To prove this point, think about this, within the past 30 Years, how many Fortune 500 companies have come and gone from the list, and how many small ideas, eventually made college drop outs into Billionaires. Does this mean that they had the same capital capacities as the Industrial age giants. Or did they utilize the same business tools and strategies. To the contrary, even the Big Boys are having to reinvent themselves to keep up with the newcomers of the business world.
Just a few years ago, EBay and Amazon were the benchmark of e-commerce, then along came Zappos who jumped up and gained momentum and now dominates the online shoe market. While Yahoo and Microsoft (MSN now BING) were trying to outsmart each other with their Internet Portals and Directories, a new comer just bursted on to the scene and now dominates the Internet Search space, a small company named GOOGLE. Last but not least ofcourse, there was MySpace who was the big boy in the Social Networking space and was in the news all the time especially when it was acquired by News Corp. But now all you hear about is Facebook this and Facebook that, the founders of Facebook are the youngest billionaires of our time.
If this is happening to those who are already equipped with these new business tools, what more to those who are still saying to themselves, I don’t need a website, I don’t need social media, I don’t need to position my business on the Internet. I paid a spread at my local Yellow Book, and my phone will ring off the hook. I hope that ring, if one comes in, wakes them up to the reality that they are about to become business fossils.
I do agree that not every business is the same, that not all tools apply to every business situation. But the basic theme still applies, discover, learn and apply any of the new business tools you can to avoid from being buried by your competitors who are wielding these new weapons and harnessing their power to their advantage.
