They used to associate businesses with shop fronts, offices, factories, staff and rental. These are just way too intimating for an individual, without even considering yet foot work and admin work necessary in the preparation.



And what about money? The perceived lack of it is a major stumbling block to starting up.

The good news is that things are changing.

Today's entrepreneurs have business options that allow them head start into sales and marketing activities, bypassing all of those headaches and costs previous generation businessmen had to contend with even before the real efforts began.

That's the power of the internet today.

And since we are looking for a richer and more rewarding life, I pen my ideas of some features that ‘carefree' businesses should have. We want to be careful not to get out of one rat race only to find ourselves in another.

STARTING ON THE INTERNET

Selling over the internet is a very attractive solution to new entrepreneurs. If they don't want to, they can do away with setting up a company, and so too, an accountant and a secretary. Registrations to Ebay and Amazon.com are just a number of clicks away.

And while sourcing for serious products to sell, they can try ridding the attic of toys, clothes, wallets, magazines and gadgets. They can ‘test water' by posting wares on EBay and Amazon.com, allowing them to gauge demand, get online sales experience, explore marketing strategies and fine tune sales pitches. In the process, too, they learn what the demands and margins are for the different types of productc. Talk about killing many birds with one stone!

And very soon, with the first item sold on the net, the ball gets rolling. The item has to be delivered to the buyer as fulfillment of the transaction.

Ah, fulfillment. On a bigger scale, it includes inventory control, packaging and shipping. Logistics is costly, to say the least. It is expensive and complicated enough for an entire industry to spin out from.

This is not an exciting aspect of business. If you are marketing tangible products, I recommend that you negotiate drop-ship arrangements with the products' suppliers.

NON-TANGIBLE PRODUCTS

Alternatively, you can consider downloadable or web-based products (music, ring tones, wall papers, e-learning, to name a few).

Note that the cost and effort in driving traffic to your website (that's where the referrals or sales are made) is not significantly different whether you earn $2 or $200 for commissions. For a start, however, $10-$50 is a good range to target at.

Choose ‘branded products'. Hey, celebrity endorsement works. Better still if the celebrities are part of the product. What do I mean? To cite examples, Mariah Carey is ‘part of her music' being sold. Or, when Robert Kiyosaki speaks in a seminar, he is part of the product. Such products sell by themselves. You focus on bringing in the traffic.

Pay structures vary from one affiliate program to another. Look for those that compensate you for sales generated up to 6 to 7 levels of downline, at least.

AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

When shopping for an affiliate program, your checklist should include well established systems. They should have transparent reporting of your referrals, sales and/or genealogy of downlines. Some of them allow you control in placing downlines so you can strategize effort and revenue distribution for friends and relatives who come onboard.

As support to you, the content provider should make online and offline marketing materials available. These include training, video clips, audio recordings, brochures and name card templates.

LANGUAGE

In theory, with the internet, you have access to the entire world. But in reality, your product is exposed only to people who understand the language with which your pitch is delivered. It can be very beneficial to provide language options on your web site.

For e-learning products, the courses/ modules should come translated into major languages.

REALISTIC BUDGETING

Many online subscription based products come with the marketing rights. When you pay to enjoy a particular product, guess what, that is your start up cost already!

Add domain name registration and web hosting services – they hardly come close to $200.

Budget another $1000. You should have more than enough for the other tools you feel will come handy. But those come later.

Indeed, needing big capital to start a business is a thing of the past. The internet has changed the global business landscape. It may continue evolving, but internet marketing is here to stay. It is a good time to take that first small step.