The Digital Economy & YOU
If you are a person who is interested with the World Wide Web, with digital media and writing, with social media, then you could not fail to have noticed the proliferation of ‘guru’ presentations, and claims being made for being able to earn an income from your online activity!
When we look at these claims we have to sift through a lot of rubbish, a lot of snake oil, a large quantity of hyperbole, misleading $7 eBooks that promise us some hack, or strategy that will enable us to become wealthy within a short period of time; this is so familiar that many people have become cynical, and skeptical about the whole idea, but this would be a mistake.
Like so many things in life, the reality of the ‘digital economy’ is very different to the hype; but we do know there is a digital economy!
Commerce, sales, services, these are of course what it all boils down to, and the WWW offers us a powerful medium on which to transact, it is the most powerful communication platform human beings have, so far, come up with.
Everything concerning business is about some type of Sale, we sell something that is in demand by a specific group of people, and we enable these people to buy from us; it all sounds so simple when you describe it like that, but we also know the devil is always in the details, right?
The true obstacle for many people is deciding on the precise area, or subject to pursue; the gurus call this ‘Niche Marketing’, and this is where most people fail.
Just what can you sell to people?
Identifying this is actually what so many of the courses, and training products address, because people are so overwhelmed with choices, and options, they become paralysed, stuck; overwhelmed by choice!
So this is the first problem confronting the web entrepreneur: What can I sell?
This can be a complex question, because people are also complicated, and subject to influences, and suggestion, and this is where the ancient wisdom comes in: Know Thyself.
The ones who seem to do the best are those who don’t even worry about it, they like selling things, and they just get stuck into flipping goods on eBay, or Amazon; they buy low, and sell high, make a profit and a living. There are many such people, not everyone who attempts this will succeed, but obviously there are many who do!
The ones who have the most trouble are those who overthink everything, it seems the more educated and analytical you are, the more you seek complex solutions and surety, you are more likely to want guarantees and assurances, the less likely you are to take risks; being an entrepreneur is all about balancing risk with potential outcomes.
Failure is inevitable, you will always fail when you are learning something new, you will always tend to be cocky at first when you discover something; experience teaches us refinement, and we discover better ways of doing things as we execute through trial and error.
Choosing, this is the main problem.
What Is Your Area Of Expertise?
I mentioned the main obstacle which confronts people when they come to look at translating their desire to transact in some way, and this is worthwhile exploring in some detail because it is so critical!
People allow themselves to be seduced by the many ‘experts’ online, the so-called Gurus of internet business because of their relative inexperience with web technology. The technology itself is not really important, because there are always solutions for problems, what is more important is choosing the right direction for themselves; by this I mean that the technology should be regarded as a means to an end, not an end in itself.
We can always find a technical solution, but what we need foremost is a meaningful, and profitable direction.
For example: if you intend to teach or instruct then online educational platforms can be built, or used ‘off the shelf’ which satisfy the presentation of your content. Or, if you intend to sell a specialist item then we can also either build a specific sales process, or employ a pre-existing one if that is most effective. Or, if you wish to connect with, and inform an audience ‘at scale’ then ‘Blogging’ offers us a cheap, immensely powerful means to reach such an audience.
You can see what I am getting at here, the more that we can fully define our ultimate objectives, the easier it is to refine specific pathways of solution.
The major problem of choosing this overall objective is truly the first one we need to define, and this is where the vast majority of people become stuck.
The Web As A Publishing Medium
I am involved with publishing, writing, communication, education and therefore for me the web offers a broad range of opportunity. For those who are more interested in pure sales, they view the web differently.
I can honestly put up my hand to selling in a purely eCommerce context also, I have definitely sold items on eBay, Amazon, but in general terms I have been more interested with specialist blogging, podcasting, and book publishing, along with video based education, and training. Being able to monetise high quality publication is a growing industry, and more people are discovering their area of interest and expertise can be successfully translated into the context of publishing on the web!
There are many competing voices these days who seek to influence, and direct people towards their way of viewing the world. The power of ideas, and how these can shape the world we all have to live in has never been more overtly on display than in our present times.
We do not have to look very far, the commencement of 2020 witnessed a major campaign to shift the way we see our world; seemingly based on science, on rational thought, we were presented with an object of terror: a virus of unknown qualities, and origin!
But, don’t panic your local government has the solution, close down businesses, shut everyone away, impose distance metrics, demand the wearing of masks, forbid gatherings and anything which requires mass gathering, demand obedience for curfews, present your I.D papers, do what you are told and we will all emerge without infection on the other side.
Protect the vulnerable, close down the age care facilities, restrict access to loved ones, control funerals, forbid entertainment outside, attending the beach; expect visits at night from creepy authoritarian officials if you have broken the rules.
We have been rapidly compelled to comply with severe restrictions, to obey authority, not question the measures taken otherwise you are wrong headed, selfish, a troublemaker.
How easily this has infiltrated our lives, how easily they were able to take our civil rights away on the basis of fear, how readily so many of you responded, even snitching on your neighbours if you suspected them of breaking the rules.
We have all been subjects in a vast psychological experiment.
I can hear people thinking, well those measures were needed, we have a deadly virus to deal with!
Well no actually, this specific virus is not especially deadly in macro terms, the true numbers have been coming out more recently, after corrections for comorbidities, age and other elements and variables; when tallied up, the mortality rate of the world has not been affected very much at all.
Death is with us each day all over this planet, and each day people are dying from a multiple range of causes, and the numbers from:
1. Suicide
2. Road Trauma
3. Cardiovascular Diseases
4. Cancer
5. Influenza
6. Old Age
All of these causes have numbers which vastly out strip this SARS-Cov-2 virus.
98% of people who become infected by this virus recover, do not even develop symptoms, but if a shred of Corona DNA is found, they are labelled as suffering from this illness.
By a great many, people who are over the age of 75, who also suffer from existing conditions represent those who are dying from this virus; it has been admitted that even if this virus is detected in a death, it will be defined as the root cause of that death, even if this is not the case.
Our fear, and reluctance to seek out alternative accounts have condemned us to becoming herded inmates in our own homes, to being compliant victims of a vast swindle.
Have you noticed the total reversals in the rules, like Masks were not considered necessary if you are symptom free, and then you have to wear one in your car even if alone, masks must be worn at all times in public and so on. There is little consistency in the draconian rules being trotted out, and there is precious little true science underpinning them!
These very strange, challenging days are an ideal time to be looking at the web in a different way. With so many of us being unable to work properly, or even losing our jobs, the WWW offers us new options for earning a living; this can be achieved honorably, we don’t have to sacrifice our values either!