10 Amazing Reasons You Should Start an Online Business
The time has never been perfect to start an online business than today. Although you may love your job and this article isn’t to tell you to quit your day job, it would show you some amazing reasons why you should consider starting your online business.
I’ve been seeing comments like, “ If everybody worked for him or herself, how would the world be like…?”, “ If the police personnel all worked for themselves, what would have happened to our safety?” I believe that in order for the world to run smoothly, the universe wouldn’t even support the idea of everybody working for themselves.
Not everybody has the willpower to become an entrepreneur, besides entrepreneurs need workers to be successful most often. Therefore I support your decision to look for a job, but what I disagree with is your decision to not hop on vehicles that could give you financial freedom.
The pandemic in 2019 left many job sectors scrambling to the ground. We saw many people who were in a state of devastation because they had lost their day jobs.
But at the same time that other job sectors were unconscious, there we saw an unforeseen and unprecedented growth of the digital and e-commerce sector. People who have online businesses continued to see money all day!
Since we have no idea what the future has installed for the world, it’s imperative that you make sure your income source is secured and that no pandemic can suffocate it.
What I have experienced after starting my online business is what I have outlined below. I hope you get inspired and finally start your online business too!
Why Is Online Business Important?
1. Scalability
How far you can take an online business is beyond imagination! Let’s take it that you have a physical boutique where you sell kids’ clothing. The only time possible for you to receive money is during your working hours. If you go to work at 7 am and close at 7 pm, that’s the only time you can make a sale. When you’re asleep around 2 am, who’s going to give you money? No one!
Moreover, the number of people that pass by your shop on a particular day determines how likely you are to make sales. If it happens that on a chilly snowy day only ten people pass by your shop and only two of them are interested in what you’re selling – you make only two sales.
This is not the case with having an online business. For instance, if you have a blog which makes $2,000 from ads and you want to raise the ads money to $10,000 per month – it is possible. You just have to find ways to increase the traffic to your site and look for Ads network companies that pay high CPM. (eg. Mediavine)
Furthermore, websites never sleep. You can be asleep in your house in Seattle, WA but someone who’s awake in Sydney, Australia will jump onto your website and make a purchase of your product or course.
2. No Boss!
Do you know why every child wants to become an adult very fast? Why are most children happy when their parents are not at home? They’re happy because the house belongs to them for that short period!
If children even don’t want to be controlled, no matter how friendly your boss is and how much you like your boss; when you become mature enough with kids and a partner that you care about, you would wish to make decisions on your own at some point.
You will feel like you’re in control of everything until your boss calls you to stay behind for the night to complete a task – Maybe you had promised to take your kids out that evening – you don’t have anything to say, “ Stay behind!” says your boss.
But when you start an online business, no boss would call you – because you’re the CEO. Today when I wanted to write this article, I consulted nobody. The GIFs and images I have added to the article are all from my decision. I can stop posting articles for two weeks and I would have no trouble. But can you stay home for even a week without giving a tangible reason to your Boss?
This is why you have to consider starting your own online business.
3. Geographical Freedom
An online business gives you the freedom to live in any part of the world. If you have a website and then during the summers you want to visit Ibiza, you can do that. Or you want to go check out the beautiful beaches in Mauritius? It’s absolutely possible!
Normally when I’m at home I work on my blog from my desktop computer – when I’m away from home the only thing I do is to log in with my laptop and work has just started.
There are many online business owners who travel all the time and still get their business running.
This would continue to be a dream for someone who owns a physical store or has a job that requires physical presence – you can’t go and spend two months in Acapulco and still open your physical shop.
“I’ll leave it for my assistant.”
Well, if you leave it for your assistant to take care of everything while you’re away, buddy, you’re still not in charge. Similarly, if you work for a company and you finally decide to relocate to another country – you have lost your job for sure.
4. Time Is Yours
Even though in order to grow your online business exponentially, you have to put in more hours every day; but over time you’ll get leverage and be able to spend enough time doing what you like. This wouldn’t be possible for others.
I remember some time ago, I could put two alarm clocks beside my bed so that I could wake up early to go to work – but literally, these clocks could beep and I wouldn’t hear anything.
I guess because my body was tired and needed rest.
One time I reported late at work, it was the first time I had done that – But you know, I had to explain to my boss and luckily for me he understood me.
Now with my online business, I choose when I want to wake up. At times I wake up around 3 am to research my next article – there are times I wake up at 8 am. There is no strict schedule or work hour I have to follow.
Online business makes you the master of your time – you can skip work to watch your favorite afternoon show anytime you want.
5. Control Over Your Income
As an online business owner, the amount of money your business makes per month goes to your pocket after the mandatory deductions.
When I was working at my job, there were days that I could work from 8 am to 7 pm, but my salary did not appreciate – my salary was still the same. In other words, it was my boss I was making rich.
There’s no way you can get a 100% raise – not even a 40% raise in salary no matter how hard you work. But there are many online business owners that get 200% raise in their income when they put in much effort in their business.
6. No Commute
It can be hectic when you have to drive for about an hour to work. In order to beat the traffic, you have to wake up early. What’s more excruciatingly painful is when you run into hours of traffic after a long hours of work.
This is not the case with online business since you work from home. My home office is like 5 steps from my bedroom. So I guess my commute time is 5 seconds. This is so amazing and I always thank myself for taking the bold step to start my online business.
7. Wear Anything
Always putting on a suit and tie or any formal cloth to work everyday can be annoying for many people. And truth be told, some clothes may feel too heavy on you but you have no option. It may be even worse if you have a prescribed job uniform. There are times that you feel like wearing your flip flops to work – and then you remember that you can’t always do what you like.
For online business, you wear anything. Come see me right now – the only thing I’m wearing is these tiny grey shorts.
Brian Cuban, the younger brother of Mark Cuban said in an interview that on the first day of work for Mark on his online business – There he was in this heavy suit and tie. As soon as Mark saw Brian he asked, “ Why are you wearing suit and tie? Go put on some crappy clothes and come let’s work!”
Online business gives you the freedom to wear any clothes.
8. Input Equals 10X Outcome
For instance, if you have a blog you can say for this month I’m going to post two articles every day. Even Though, you may grow weary by the end of the month – you have about 60 articles and if you wrote good articles; they’re definitely going to generate traffic for years to come. You just have to spend a few minutes once in a while updating them.
Imagine each article brings in 1,000 visitors each month; that’s 60,000 visitors! And you have no idea what that would mean for your business.
As a physical business owner or a company worker, the effort you put in today generates equal outcome the same day and that will be the end. There would be no way you can work hard for 2 weeks non stop and go to sleep for 3 months on a normal job or physical business. As soon as input ceases, output ceases.
9. Operation Can’t Be Halted
Online business can run forever if you pay for your hosting service and manage your website technically well. The unprecedented growth of the digital sector during the recent global pandemic makes it clear that if you have an online business, it can still flourish in times of difficulties.
Even if you’re in a warzone country where all companies are shut down, your website wouldn’t be affected.
Moreover, if you have a team of writers that work on your site – you just have to connect virtual in case you have a message for them – they would also be able to post content on your site no matter their location. This is the kind of work safety you have as an online business owner.
10. Affordable To Start
I started Dollars & Freedom with not more than $3 per month on Bluehost – I only paid for my hosting because the domain name is free for the first year on Bluehost.
So if you can start an online business that can give you freedom and has the potential of changing your life in the future with less than $3, then I think that’s pretty amazing.
You were always fond of giving excuses that you have insufficient capital to start your business – But now, you have no excuse, it’s now affordable.
I understand you – you had no money to hire an office for your business at first. But now, your office is going to be your bedroom. It has never been easy!
Final Words
This article isn’t here to discourage you from working at a 9-5 job. You may be profoundly in love with your work – if so then I’m glad for you.
But intuitively, if you feel like you’re not living the best life and because of that you want to put your creativity power to work, then come on – start!
Ten to twenty years from now, you would certainly look back and thank your guts for making that decision – because you would have a great online business to your name.
Manuelo is an entrepreneur and a personal finance nerd. He is the founder of Dollars And Freedom. An expert in side hustles, online gigs, and everything about making money. His works have been featured on major financial publications, such as Business Insider, GoBankingRates, Investopedia, Entrepreneur, and more. When he’s not busy with his blog or writing for others, you’ll catch him hanging out with loved ones or reading books on stoicism and self-development.
