The Internet can be blamed for a lot of things, like the changing media landscape, SPAM, and that massive computer meltdown I had last week. But mostly, the Internet is to blame for the new way we are conducting business in the world today. Just think, a decade ago, everything was completely different in every marketplace! This has a lot to do with the modular way business can now be conducted with a combination of loose connections instead of a solid structure. Well-known blogger Chris Brogan said all this best in a recent post (see the link below), so I'm sharing a portion of his insight here.
Bottom line - We have all the infrastructure we need now to move quickly, grow and do things in a distributed and collaborative fashion.
Just think about it. I can set up Freshbooks to do all my invoicing, build a quick Blogger or WordPress site, use Google Docs for planning, use PayPal to take in money, and employ Twitter and Google Wave (or Socialcast) to do team planning. I can even use Batchbook to keep up with the metrics; and so it goes.
There are dozens of combinations of the above list, and it’s all there for any of us to use to achieve our dreams.
Now, let's back up a step. The web also allows us to find like minds much easier. The moment I wrote that I was thinking about the future of non-traditional college students, I had an in-box full of willing collaborators. If I told you I wanted to write a pop culture blog about women’s issues, any number of people would dive in, too. That’s the thing. We can issue a call to action much easier now.
Oh, and if you get stuck, you can find people who know the answers much more quickly. LinkedIn Answers, Twitter, and Facebook are bursting at the seams with people who would love to help.
Think. Plan. Execute. Revise.
To me, the new formula of business is: think, plan, execute, revise. It’s important to consider all the contingencies. It’s important to be prepared for what might go wrong. But the best way to find out what’s going to go wrong is to launch your new business and find the flaws through trial and error.
This is top of mind with me at the moment as I’ve just launched a new editing business in a marketplace that I don’t fully understand, with a product that I’m still developing, to a bunch of people I don’t necessarily have neatly in one place. Am I afraid? Not at all. I’ve got smart collaborators galore. We’ll figure it out as we go. Will we upset anyone along the way? Probably. Show me a business that hasn’t made a mistake, and well...you know the rest. The goal is not to make a fatal mistake.
Think. Plan. Execute. Revise.
What business are you in?
Where’s your passion right now? What business would you like to create? How will you go about building it?
Let’s talk about it. Maybe we can help each other.
Content attribution: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/how-we-make-businesses-these-days/
