Online and Drone Businesses Offer Scalability Advantages During a Time When Marketing Dollars Go Further

Now Is The Time

I read an article from the founder of Nerd Wallet about why now is the best time to start a business. I feel like the one key point that he really missed was the fact that he did not focus specifically on online business.

Right now is one of the best times in history to really start an online business.

With social distance becoming the new norm, more and more people are learning to leverage the power of technology. With people reluctant to step into retail stores, eCommerce has simply exploded after the outbreak. And I suspect that this might change consumer behavior for good.

Niche drone applications are also witnessing skyrocketing demand due to the ongoing situation.

By using drones for roof inspections and 3D modeling, we can ensure that insurance agents, real estate brokers, and claim adjusters can completely eliminate human to human contact.

By leveraging drone technology, we can market real estate and process claims without violating social distancing norms.

Sounds like a drone pilot win to me….

But this is not the situation across the board. While some businesses and industries are down significantly, others are up. It just depends on the diversity of services that your business offers.

People Have Nowhere To Spend

70% of the United States economy is based on consumerism – which essentially means people spending money in restaurants, bars, and malls.

But right now, with all these services shut down, consumers have limited avenues to spend their money.

People are getting stimulus checks. And the only place where they spend money is for buying essentials from stores.

Easier to Start a New Business as Advertising Costs Plunge

On the one hand, while people have limited avenues to spend their money, on the other hand, the cost of doing business has drastically gone down.

Facebook ads are cheaper, domains are more affordable, good talent is easier to find.

If you want to build a business website, a blog or an online arbitrage store, NOW IS THE TIME.

Why build an online business? Why focus at least 80% of your business online? Is the coronavirus not teaching you why it’s important? Online businesses don’t only offer easy scalability but also offer mass numbers of people to consume the same product. Albeit, online businesses also offer unique flexibility so that people can easily pivot from one product or service to another.

This flexibility allows entrepreneurs to diversify and avoid catastrophic situations in the wake of the coronavirus. So frankly right now is the best time and best opportunity ever to start an online business.

Mantras for Building a Successful Online Business

Pursue Your Passion

Pick a job that you truly enjoy. Well, it’s a lot easier if we have a passion for our work and our work becomes easy if we enjoy what we do.

Relationships Are Everything

Focus on building relationships. Building solid work relationships can help you and your business in trying times. I think many businesses are learning this the hard way.

It’s All In Your Mindset

Cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset. Mind mastery is necessary to combat entrepreneurial problems. This requires a complete and total transformation of an ideological perspective. Frankly, to be an entrepreneur, you have to be rigid and structured yet open-minded and flexible.

Running a small business requires a unique mindset. Once you understand how powerful this mindset can be for your business, for your family and well for society as a whole, it’s going to help you gain a whole new perspective of the world.

Small business helps us understand responsibility, how hard work pays off, and the efforts of persistence. But it’s also very important to understand that no matter what business you start, your business is only going to be as good as you are.

Let me say that one more time.

Your business will only be as good as you…. I literally mean it. In order for your business to be the best it can be, you’re going to have to work on yourself tenaciously.

You’re will have to be open-minded and accept change. You must be willing to work persistently and tenaciously on yourself to be a better human being. The better person that you are, the more that you work on yourself, the more successful your business will be.

The better leader you are, the easier it will be to build a dream team.

Frankly, entrepreneurship is one of the most challenging and difficult opportunities that exist in the world. That’s also why it’s one of the best opportunities in the world… because so few people are willing to do it. So as long as you’ve got the right mindset, you’re going to be in great shape.

Scaling

When I read the article from the Nerd Wallet founder, I was honestly inspired and thought to myself, you know what? It really is a great time to start a business right now. But why not discuss how powerful it is to have an online business?

Online businesses offer a level of scalability that is not possible in a physical brick and mortar business. A brick and mortar business has sunk costs….these large fixed costs that have to be paid over and over again. And if you can’t meet a payment two or three months out, then you’re literally looking at losing your entire business.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you are running an online business and if you miss a month or two of revenues, is it really going to end your business? Not really. Some established online businesses have unfathomable profit margins….which makes it easier to tide over such difficult times.

Answering some basic questions can help you gauge the feasibility of an online business.

• What product/service are you planning to sell?

• How long will it take you to create this product?

• How many people will consume this product?

• How much can you charge for the product?

Once you start selling your info-products/services, you will have to build autonomous systems for client support as well as follow-up. Sure, such systems take time and money to build. But, once you build them, they will serve as a foundation for extreme long-term success.

Using such autonomous systems, you can even personalize the look and feel of your online business…and reach out, and say “Thank You” to your clients in a scalable manner that is simply not possible in a brick and mortar business.

Learn lessons from Others’ Failures

The Great Depression of 1929, the World Wars, the 2008 economic crisis, and now this virus outbreak…these are all black swan events that subject our financial systems to acute stress. Make no mistake…many businesses that are over-leveraged will never recover and end up shutting shop.

The biggest lesson for us, entrepreneurs is to always, always save for the proverbial rainy day. Your business needs to robust enough to tide over such steep downturns…or you will end up losing everything that you worked for.

Any “Genius” can Be Outsmarted by An Idiot With a Detailed Plan

What your business be relevant in the post-COVID era? Will this virus outbreak change consumer behavior forever?

So, think about how you can pivot and come up with a product and service that people truly need and care about. Learn from other people’s failures and come up with a plan so that you can emerge stronger in the post-COVID world. (The SBA website and Harvard Business Review have some great resources for setting up a business plan).

Figure out Your Ideal Client Avatar

Your clients are your North Star in every way. So understand that but also understand you should be willing to fire a client at any time if they no longer fall in the ideal client quadrant.

Amazing Business Opportunity for Drone Pilots

If you are reading this, there is a high likelihood that you are a drone pilot. And if you are worried about how the current situation is impacting your business, you must learn about the amazing drone business opportunities that have cropped up right now.

Because of social distance norms, realtors are literally clamoring to create virtual models in real-time. Drone pilots or drone mappers, should I say have a unique opportunity to cater to this demand.

If you are dynamic, willing to diversity, and ready to invest in your education, you can take full advantage of this opportunity that is only available in the short term. Drone U members can learn more about this amazing opportunity by checking out this instructional video.

If you enjoyed going through this post, you might want to check out our Drone Business Course where we cover the entire gamut of drone business operations – from forming an LLC to marketing.