There is nothing more true than the old belief that our society wants instant gratification with everything. The faster things move, the more we want it to move faster. Give us ‘quick’ or ‘instant’, and the fun wears off almost instantly and we want ‘ready-made’.
Some ‘pre-fab’ things actually work well and there is a lot to be said for saving time and money by buying something that is all put together. It really depends on the context. When it comes to a business, there are some things that are much too complicated for most of us and that is a good reason to find something that can give us a leg up, such as the proverbial ‘business in a box’.
If we were presented with the prospect of learning a programming language, well we just wouldn’t or couldn’t. It would prevent us from having a website or starting a business online – at least for a few years while we learned how to and then started in to actually build it. It is not that people are necessarily too lazy or ignorant at all – it is just that some people can relate to technical things and some don’t. Nothing wrong with that. It is just that we should realistically know our own limitations as well as we know our likes and dislikes and prepare accordingly.
In this case there are multiple resources we could utilize to accomplish what we need. We could pay a web design company to create a site and some pages for us which can be expensive. Don’t be fooled by the ‘really free’ ads on TV that are laughable because they make that point “really free not funny free”. Yes, really free, but don’t forget to mention that they charge a maintenance fee each month (which if you can afford it may be the perfect thing for you – average $100 a month) and this includes some basic marketing and content. (they actually do admit this at the end to give them credit).
Or we can go the truly free way and build a website on a blogging platform. All we need there is hosting and a domain name which really are very inexpensive – even for reliable companies (which is a critical point). The bloggers usually have a number of free themes you can choose from and then you start to tinker with it to customize it for your purposes. If you can’t even afford that, there is a blogging platform where you don’t even need a domain or host – but the drawback is that the design options are limited, and you will have a sub-domain which is not as professional as a top-level domain, and it screams ‘I am a flat-broke newbie’. To each his own.
Another basic thing that we need to start a business online is an autoresponder with a campaign – a series of messages that go out automatically to a list of prospects, for one example. While we certainly don’t need to build a machine and figure out how to get it online and use it, we do need to either have some talent for writing or be able to afford to pay someone else to provide the content for the messages. This may not sound like much but it can cost hundreds of dollars to have well-written, professional messages that are clear and compelling.
So now we have a few of the main necessities of an online business, a website or web page(s) for branding and advertising, and a way to efficiently and safely communicate with our prospects and customers. Add some real effort and persistence along with some time, and you really could have the start of a business that someday could pay you handsomely.
Of course it goes without saying we need to have something to sell – a product or service. This can be either really easy or really difficult. Really easy if you can see the ‘instant gratification’ of being an ‘affiliate’ or ‘independent distributor’ (sell somebody else’s stuff) – you can be doing it today. Develop and create something on your own and we are back to years unless you already have that piece put together or have big bucks.
So bottom line is the really good ‘business in a box’ would have all of those elements all put together for you at a price you can afford, be fully customizable so that you can make it your own, unique business, and include training so that you can learn what you need to do to promote a business online successfully.
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