SSBs

The "Small-Small Business" ("SSB")... we use this term to include any 1-to-10-person small business. It is not the same as the "SME" space, which one tends to generally think of as "larger small businesses and up."

SSBs include an infinite variety of niches (from antique watch repair to zoological gardening). Much like the universe itself, the "niche-space" is forever expanding, with the number and variety of services and products growing geometrically. And it is the SSBs, the real backbone of our economy, that create and fill those niches.

While there are an infinite number of possible niches, the SSB space can be divided into a dozen types of businesses. Does your business (or concept for a business) fit into one of the following types of business? If so, SBI! is perfect for you...

Infopreneurs/Information-Publishing
Now you can publish what you know and love... and monetize it. Together with a blend of affiliate programs and referral deals and finder's fees, Google Ads (through their AdSense program) anchor the generation of income that can amount to thousands of dollars per month. You can be a "pure infopreneur" and never sell a product or service... or you can build upon this foundation of information with a mix of other business types below. Your choice, depending on your skills, inclination, and time availability.

SOHOs & Work-From-Home
Run a real business from home, full- or part-time. For example, the stay-at-home spouse or retired person (or teenager!), even the "downsized" (opportunity in disguise) can all become thriving SOHOs. Or do you have a 9-5 that you despise and want to become a SOHO? Start SBI! -- you're one year or less away from "quitting the day job." Go from NOHO to SOHO and achieve independence. No "biz opp" here -- this is real.

Service Businesses
Offer a service related to your particular niche. Build a client base, whether clients are local (ex., organizing children's birthday parties) or global (ex., assessing value of antiquarian books). Or start a completely new service business -- what do you know or do that is of value to others?

E-goods Creators/Sellers
Are you a programmer (or hire one!) with an idea for a needed niche-filling software? Or perhaps you have an idea for an e-book related to your niche? Maybe you're a photographer with collections of e-photos (the e-photo sales market is booming!). Even digital sounds, lectures or courses. Anything can be digitized nowadays-- what can you digitize and sell?

Hard Goods Creators/Sellers
Are you a small business or an artisan that creates/manufactures/retails your own hard goods (i.e., products that you can actually touch and that you ship -- non-digital products)? Put up (copy-and-paste HTML) your own store and sell direct to your end-user. What could be more rewarding... in so many more ways than just financial?

Sales and Rental Agents/Reps/Distributors
It's your traffic -- sell or rent what you want, how you want. Do you represent great products, either for sale (from medical equipment to ice cream makers) and/or for rent (from apartments and villas to heavy equipment)? SBI! can boost your sales by millions, your commissions by tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars (literally).

Affiliates
Refer visitors to high-quality online merchants in return for a commission. It's risk-free, the recommendations provide an additional service for your visitors, and there's no downside. Add hundreds-to-thousands of dollars per month to your diversified monetization plan, without having a product of your own -- no warehousing, packaging, shipping, etc. And if you do sell a product of your own, simply choose merchants that complement your product line.

Referrers/Finders
Another great "add-on" monetizer. This model is as classic as business itself... get paid a referrer or finder's fee by an offline business for finding a customer (or a "lead") for it... grow the concept into an alliance of self-referring, complementary businesses (offering both products and services). Your high volume Web site makes this a highly cost-effective income-generator.

Existing Online Businesses/E-commerce Sites
Already have an existing online business or e-commerce sites? Do you need an ongoing stream of free, targeted traffic... motivated, interested buyers? Use SBI! as a traffic-funnel, for a tiny fraction of the cost of your primary site.

Network Marketers/Multi-Level Marketers
Forget those spammy online lead-generators. Imagine if you could build your own unique site that attracted and PREsold warm leads to call YOU all day long? No more "you chasing them." A site that builds a mere 100 visitors per day (which is nothing for an SBI! site) is the equivalent of you making a daily presentation to 100 people offline! And your e-zine gives you an ongoing way to reach subscribers. That is exactly what you and SBI! can achieve together.

Net Auction Sellers
Put eBay to work for you, instead of vice-versa. Use them as a supplemental source of income to auction a product that relates to your theme. Especially useful for local businesses or vendors that sell hard goods, and even for service-sellers. And obviously, for those who want to start an online auction business. Regardless, the key here is that you own your business, not eBay, because you own your traffic.

Local Offline Businesses
If you own an offline business with local clientele, a Web site is a must. Use it to grow your business locally, build trust and deepen relationships with existing local customers, raise your local profile above that of competitors, stay top-of-mind through your e-zine, attract new clients, and, in many cases, to extend your market globally (yes, you!) Your world, your reach, your impact is now much, much bigger than a 4" x 2" Yellow Pages ad. Think of a Web site as a super-Yellow Pages ad... with 100 times the results... at 1/10 of the price.

And finally, there's a specialized kind of service business that is really catching on to SBI!...

Web Professionals
Your design work is sharp and creative. Your clients like your sites. But they ask... "So how do I get traffic?" It's time to convert your satisfied clients into raving fans, while simultaneously boosting productivity by 1000%. Webmasters who use SBI! (in conjunction with all their favorite tools and technologies like FrontPage or DreamWeaver, Flash, CSS, JS, etc.) do far more than build a site... they build business for their clients. Try SBI! for your next SSB client... once you see the results, the cost-effectiveness of all that SBI! delivers... you'll use it for every SSB client.

Does your situation match one of the above? If so, SBI! is for you. Now you can focus on doing business instead of fighting technology and mastering Search Engines. And that is all e-commerce really is... doing business online.