A New Boom Since the Baby Boomers

Have you noticed the influx of small businesses? There is a surge in entrepreneurship and small businesses, creating opportunities from people of all ages. Components that have contributed to this surge includes the internet’s innovation. It is now easier for entrepreneurs to start small from the comfort of their home. There are still costs involved, however, the investments needed years ago have decreased as technology has increased.

Selling online is a big business in itself. Dreamers create ideas for apparel lines, home accessories, fitness, and consulting services. These ideas can turn into reality through website creation and online marketing. Once the business plan is created, the start of setting up ecommerce commences. If the seller is not keen on website development, web gurus are hired to design their website which is another business created from the web.

Entrepreneurs also turn to social media profiles as their actual shop as a start to their business. These platforms allow ecommerce capabilities in which most directly connects to PayPal or other payment networks to handle secured transactions between the customer and the seller. With these social media shops, new businesses can operate and market on these platforms until they are able to have a complete web presence with a website.

There are also platforms available like Ebay and Etsy where individuals who are looking to sell items but do not have the capital to get a logo and website right away to begin generating revenue. These platforms can also serve as a gauge to test the market on new and existing items to determine what types of inventory would be worth the investment.

Online marketing is a great way to advertise brick and mortar businesses as well. Brick and mortar small businesses turns to social media to help spread the word and legitimize the business. With the constant updates in mobile apps and systems, business owners can creatively market and sell their products/services through videos, photos, and blogging. This extra push helps to reach the demand within local areas, with the utilization of keywords and hashtags, to gain more customers and visitors.

If a small business owner wishes to open a salon, it is impossible to create and run this business type completely online. This owner would turn to online and social media to increase website and on-site visitors by showing the results of their services and satisfied customers. To bring in more consumers and visitors, they would need to be creative with the social media presence offering posts that are engaging and provide a benefit to their followers, i.e. Flash sales with special discount codes only given out online. These company updates include renovations, grand openings, and the types of facilities available to its residents. All great marketing tools for those on the search for this style of facility.

The main drawback with this increase in entrepreneurship and new small businesses is that it gets hard for consumers to find legitimate businesses. Some will find online businesses offering the products or services they need and try it out, only to find that they may not have the resources and thrive to continue or even carry out what is promised on advertisements. This is why it is important for customers to look for small businesses with good reviews and a good reputation. Along with reputable small businesses to encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews and testimonials to validate the businesses’ integrity. The “here today, gone tomorrow” business types mixed in with the small business surge, shows that entrepreneurship is not for everyone, but for those who participate, the online world can open many doors to build a company from the ground up.