A Small Business Has Never Been Easier to Launch

It’s a paradox, but this might be the best and worst time to start your own business. Customers are counting their pennies while banks and other financial institutions aren’t lending to small businesses like they were just a few years ago. It’s harder to find funding for capital expenses for new businesses and interest rates can be high. To the positive, commercial rents are down, vendors are more willing to negotiate, and operational costs are lower than they have been in years (relatively speaking). So while financing is hard to find, the cost of business has rarely been lower.

Certainly, the Web has figured strongly in lowering operational costs. Marketing costs are minimal with search engine marketing (SEM) and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, at least compared to the traditional advertising model centered on print, tv, and radio. Social media has made word-of-mouth recommendations instantaneous and far-reaching. Suffice it to say, it has never been easier to reach as many ears at such a low cost.

More recently, small business owners are realizing just how “virtual” their business can be. Again, at very low costs, you can outsource your data storage and software using a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, eliminating the need for an onsite IT department. The Web enables video conferencing, making it easy to support a distributed work force. You can hire the right talent regardless of their geographical location. Customer relationship management (CRM), the heart and soul of the small business, can now be administered using powerful but inexpensive software. Even small business accounting can be outsourced using the Web to a professional accounting service. It’s true—you can run an entire business using nothing but your laptop.

Got a business idea you’ve been kicking around for awhile? Now might be the time to make it a reality.