In the 18th and 19th Centuries the Industrial revolution lasted for around 100 years and the effects of it weren’t fully felt for the first 40 or 50 years. The digital revolution is around 15 years old and the effects have already been felt around the world.

Millions of people are earning a fulltime income online,  from a poor community in Asia to a state of the art office complex in Silicon Valley being a Virtual Entrepreneur is now a viable career choice. Whether you have a college education or just basic reading and writing skills, whether you are 9 or 90 you can set up and run a business online and be sucessful.

15 years ago it was estimated that it would cost you $5,000,000 to set up a business, In 2012 you can have a fully functioning business online for under $100.

Here at Virtual Entrepreneurs we are going to bring you news, tips and advice about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

Lets Get Started With the Basics.

You need a few  things to get yourself started as an online entrepreneur.

1. A Plan

2. A Website & Hosting

3. Traffic & Conversions

4. An Exit Strategy

Those 4 Things are pretty much the same as an old fashioned bricks and mortar business, except all 4 are much easier to achieve.

Your plan doesn’t need to run to several pages, in fact if you can’t fit it on the back of a napkin then it’s too complicated.  In your plan cover your overall idea, how it will work and how you will make money, thats it, nothing more nothing less.  Then go and research and see if the plan will work.  You can build a $1,000,000 business in a weekend if you keep it simple.

Your website and hosting is just like the traditional bricks and mortar business premises except it’s much much cheaper. Keep your site as simple as possible to start with, your first 3 months should all be about proof of concept, when the money starts flowing in then it’s time to look at an all singing and dancing site. (A costly lesson I’ve recently learned myself)

Traffic will be where your site succeeds or fails, put simply if you get traffic and convert it to customers you’ll make money. If you don’t get traffic or can’t convert it you’ll fail. to this end you have 1 big advantage over B&M (bricks and mortar) businesses, you can create a list of customers and potential customers.

Imagine how much more successful your local store would be if they could collect the contact details of every customer or potential customer and then send them offers or tips and advice.  They would probably double or triple their income overnight.  (why do stores use loyalty cards?)

Finally you should start by having an exit strategy. This will help you plan your site and ensure you know what you want to achieve. One big problem that Virtual Entrepreneurs can have is they personalize a site too much, you could have a site making 20,000 a months that would easily sell for $500,000 but if it’s branded and build around you then it has little value to someone else.

By having your exit plan in place at the start you can avoid mistakes like this.  Consider what your exit strategy is, and when and how you want to exit.  Targets might include, subscriber numbers, income figures, % profit , unit sales etc. The methods of exiting a business are usually down to one of two, selling your business to a larger company, selling it to an individual, launching an IPO or selling to a partner.

Knowing your preferred options before you start will help you build the business the right way.