“This summer challenge your preconceptions and experience a Cadillac for yourself.”
I heard that line on the tv last night.
Now I don’t have much interest in Cadillacs, so I don’t really have “preconceptions”. (Well, I don’t have much interest in Caddys unless you want to buy me that pink Cadillac from Pink Cadillac!!)
The advertisement did get me thinking, however, about all the preconceptions around having an online business.
The comments I get most center around money. When we don’t understand a medium we often assume it is going to be expensive. Take setting up a website for example: the average person believes it to be a complicated process that can be done only by a highly trained technician. Highly trained technicians = mega-dollars.
Not any more!
I was surprised to get asked if the businesses were legal! This is my business, and yours would be your business. I make a point of staying on the right side of the law; what you do with your business is entirely up to you but each and every one of my colleagues have reputations they care about and they do due diligence with every new venture.
Another preconception many people have is that online businesses are all multi-level marketing companies (MLMs). Most of the MLMs I am acquainted with are completely legal with high-quality products. A number of my colleagues have built online businesses around their MLM products. But there are many other businesses you can create online without finding an MLM.
Here’s another one: Do you believe that you will create a business and then have to harass your family and friends to be your first customers? If you are going to do that, why go online at all? Once online, you learn some basic marketing skills, and you have the entire world-wide web to advertise to! You don’t even need to mention your business to your family or friends until you are hugely successful!
Those are the 4 most prevalent preconceptions I bump into in my world.
Do you have any preconceptions about online businesses? Let me know and I’ll try to cover them in future posts!