Selling online

Once upon a time, setting up a business meant opening up a shop somewhere where you could be sure that customers would come to see you.

You needed to order stock and keep the shop tidy, well-heated or ventilated, and you needed to always be there.

All of this meant that starting to sell would be preceded by weeks, even months of extremely diligent work, and with no guarantee of success anyone looking to set up a business would often decide that, on balance, the risk was too big.

Now those problems are things of the past, and the potential businessperson can get things up and running very quickly.

The thing about “bricks and mortar” businesses is that they relied a lot on location and the other factors mentioned above. By going electronic, your sales room can be a small study under your stairs and your customers can be anybody.

There is plenty of technology available which allows you to process payments electronically from a customer’s credit card or online banking facility.

But even if you are not in a position to do this, you can set up a PayPal account and do your selling on eBay. Scarcely any initial outlay for you, and potential for the money to come flowing in with scarcely any delay.

And now you can do business in your pajamas at 1.30am. so many of the obstacles to someone hoping to make a way in the business world have been removed, and it is all thanks to the Internet.