Every day layoffs are in the news around the country. No one right now is feeling secure in their job. With the recession in full bloom and housing still in the tank, there will likely continue to be more layoffs. However, in contrast, Internet businesses are enjoying an uptick. The old fashion way of building a small business “brick by brick”, i.e. the brick and mortar way, requires sizable overhead investment. Starting a business online can be accomplished literally on a shoestring. If you’re struggling to make ends meet and unclear about your future, perhaps now is the time to think about building an online business.

It does take some time, understanding and work to get an online business going. However, it will pay off in spades if run correctly. In fact, it could be a profitable venture in a shorter time than trying to build an “offline” business. One way to fund your online business, if you’ve suddenly found yourself unemployed, is to use unemployment benefits to bridge your income shortfall. Of course, consider searching for a “traditional” job in parallel. Craft your strategy correctly, just like you would
if developing any business plan in the traditional world.

There are literally tens / hundreds of thousands of online business. So, it’s clear that you must think outside the box. If you’ve been an account in the past, consider offering online bookkeeping services or consulting with clients for on how to structure their accounting systems. What if you were an application developer in the past, perhaps you can offer your help through online bidding services such as Guru.com or RentACoder.com. These services are great for giving you a baseline of potentially unlimited short-term engagements.

Many people would just brush off building a business online as “too hard.” This is especially true if they’ve never done this before. But, the real question to ask yourself is “what do I have to lose, except time?” Let’s dissect a few of the components. Buy a domain name, build a website or use an existing site / blogging service such as WordPress, and start advertising. You should spend a few hours every night writing about what you enjoy most. Explain to your audience about certain techniques, what actions work best, where to get more information, etc. Once you start, you’ll find it amazing how much knowledge you really do have about the subject.

Of course, you have to realize that regardless of how small your business there will be competition on the Internet. The Internet has something approaching 400 million websites, give or take. But, the beauty of this is that you have the opportunity to check out your competition. You can figure out what they are doing right or wrong and create your own unique products and services.

On the flip side of the coin, if you are not a proficient web designer, you might hire one of these people off of the services listed above: Guru.com or RentACoder.com. These services provide ratings on the coders within their portfolio. It makes it much easier to pick a competent web developer.

Again, just like any business, be sure you know your objectives. The Internet should be a “one-action “model. Don’t confuse the issue with creating too many “personas” or themes about you or your offering. You will end up confusing the audience / paralyzing their thought process and they will end up not buying. Make sure you have quality content on your site, as well.

Marketing will be a key component to a successful launch of your business. I like to say that you can build a website, but if no one knows that it’s there, does it really exist? Remember you ARE competing with millions of other websites. At a minimum, you are competing with thousands of business in your category. How will you stand out? What are your unique selling points? Are you relevant?

Marketing your website is probably the most difficult aspect of starting a small business online. By the time you’re ready to launch your site, you need to be prepared to invest some bucks in bringing your small business to the attention of the world.

In the end; however, this small investment could be the biggest you’ve made to be in control of your own future. This is probably the best time to invest in your tomorrow’s future by developing your own business.

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Business development used to be one of those “Huh? What kind job is that?” jobs. Most people understand sales, marketing and finance. But, for some companies, business development is hard to quantify. There are companies which consider Alliances or partnerships as business development. Others consider business development as a group that raises venture or financing money. It’s also been described as a role for mergers and acquisition. And, in some cases, business development has also connoted a sales function.

It’s no wonder that many companies have a hard time quantifying business development results. My definition of business development includes aspects of art and science. In addition, it’s probably one of the most strategic functions within a company, large or small. If utilized correctly, business development can result in raising significant venture money and financing, build an ecosystem of partners who will increase your presence and drive sales to the “nth” degree.

I was privileged to have worked for Oracle back in the 90s. Those were heady days during which the enterprise software market boomed. Database companies competed for market share and application software companies grew by leaps and bounds. This was also the time that Alliances and partnerships were built to create an ecosystem around the core products. Oracle emerged the leader in its space due to a large part its incredibly strong Alliance program.

At Everypath business development was both a strategic and functional role. In the year 2000 with zero revenue, a cool mobile idea and only a handful of people, how does one raise money to further expansion? The answer was we built strategic alliances with companies such as Accenture, Sun, HP and others. Our premise was that the technology was integral to the businesses of each of the aforementioned companies. In addition, these companies would be able to develop product and service lines around mobility.

In this capacity at Everypath, my challenge was to figure out what the mobility “software stack” looked like. How could customers use our technology and what software, hardware and services company would complement our products. My team created the stack and complementary partners and was responsible for raising $20 million in venture funding and financing as a result of our effort. In addition, we had the most comprehensive partner ecosystem in the then young, but growing mobility space.

The above are just two examples of how business development was implemented in the past. The science of business development was to figure out which players to engage with and art was to create a convincing story for collaboration. Of course, there is a follow up to that phase, which is the science of following up on the execution of the partnership / alliance.

The new world of online marketing and profit systems has its own unique challenges and business development. It requires a much improved way of thinking about alliances, partnerships, employees, etc. In fact, it’s almost antithetical to how the business was thought of in the past. In this new world, less is more. To be continued …

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Read more articles from David Chan

How many times can you re-invent yourself? How many times do you need to? For all its wonder and technological advances, the 21st century has ushered in a new era of uncertainty and undeniable change. I’m not just talking about Obama-type “change”, but about the way in which we change ourselves to adapt to this new and continually evolving world.

I’ve had a decent run in my high tech career, working for global brand companies like Hewlett Packard and Oracle and a high flying mobile startup, Everypath. These companies forced me to adapt and learn new skills … quickly. Back then, there was also an undercurrent of contempt by the sales organization if you were in business development, alliances or marketing. The hypothesis was that the sales organization brought in the money and everyone else was simply an expense item.

The Internet and, increasingly, mobile technology, has switched this dynamic. Compounding this role reversal is our lousy economy and the fact that nobody’s buying … everybody’s selling. At least, you would think so, if you look through your old dusty lenses of the past.

A sea change is afoot. Some will miss the opportunity; others will catch the wave and ride it. Business development is the new sales. Marketing is the new sales. Alliances are the new sales. The Internet and “digital everything” has opened up new market opportunities across the globe.

Ponder this. At 1:01pm PST, a writer in San Francisco publishes a book online and at 1:02pm PST someone in the Philippines can buy it. A singer in Shanghai, China performs at an outdoor concert, while bar goers in London, England, students in their dorm rooms and couch potatoes at home tune in at lunchtime LIVE … over their broadband connections. Or, a nutrition company launches a new health bar and instantly it has over 10,000 new affiliates pushing its product across the globe.

This is the new business development model. In order to capitalize on this wave, you need to view the world through different lenses. It’s now about analyzing demographics and buying behaviors of the people on the Internet … MARKETING. It’s about building ALLINACES with companies that have products and services. And, it’s about developing new ways to connect and work with teams from around the globe … BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT.

There will be many who will bemoan the fact that the world has changed … that jobs are increasingly being shipped overseas … that they can’t adapt. But, there will also be a lucky few who take the leap and reap the benefits.

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