It is rare for an entrepreneur to make it big with their first project and while it isn’t impossible, almost all of them will tell you that it was their learning from their first venture or business that enabled them to become a huge success. Since it is very likely that your first business fails, it also means that you first business is the best learning platform for you to understand the world of business, service, and conversions. So what is the best business to start?
Based on everything we have learned and the fact that capital is often the biggest issue for up and coming entrepreneurs, the best first attempt at entrepreneurship should be online via a website or an app.
Here are 6 reasons why that holds true.
- You can test for free.
No matter how awesome you feel your business skills are, the word “testing” will become your best friend in the first 6 months of your business and you will quickly learn that regardless of what you read or know, its all out of the window when it comes to real business. While testing in a real brick and mortar business may cost you money in terms of printing, and local client base who may be turned off by your message, the online community will not be and changing your message or tweaking it is only a code away.
- You learn how to speak the way your customers understand.
Many business owners miss this important landmark about speaking the language of their clients rather than of their own. While in the world of retail businesses you will learn to speak the language of your clients after a while, you will learn how to do so in less than 90 days when online. The real difference is that web based businesses receive lots of feedback, while stores typically do not. The more feedback and criticism, the more you are able to choose how to attack the matter at hand.
- You understand how to make data driven decisions.
Data takes weeks if not months to collect in the real business world but only days online. Data online via analytics also enables you to read, analyze, and act on such data instantly. It would take you over a year to collect the data you receive weekly by simply visiting your analytics platform.
- Mistakes cost you way less than a traditional business.
A missed sale or disengaged visitor is lot cheaper than a local sale gone wrong that turns into a bad review. While there may not be money for the first few months of a web or app business, there is also no expectation from your viewer base until your name and brand becomes recognized giving you more leverage to make mistakes. Not only at the cost of losing clients but at the cost of actually losing money.
- You get unlimited revisions and can appeal to a worldwide audience.
While in a typical business, you are very limited to your immediate 5 mile radius or surroundings. However, your web idea can reach over 30 countries and can cater to people you have never met or even speak the same language of. The learning curve is longer but cheaper and allows you the luxury of reaching anyone you want.
- The word “location” doesn’t matter.
Location, location, location only matters in the real world. In the virtual world, the word domain becomes your friend but hardly holds as much weight as a real location. Your domain doesn’t define your reach and while its catchiness holds an impact on your business, its hard to compare it to the disaster a bad location holds on a retail store. A bad location results in a failed business but a bad domain results in a $10 loss.
There is really no comparing a real brick and mortar business to a web based platform but there is something to be said about the ease of learning via a web platform and the impact learning those simple things can have even on a real business. At the end of the day a business is about finding clients and solving their problems and there is no better place to learn than a cost effective online business. There is no such things as a great first business to start, but there is a great thing that can be said about your first learning experience.
