Online business has become huge in a relatively short time. This is even more as more people get laid off due to COVID-19. Also, more people are getting online, especially on mobile devices. People in their thirties and late twenties can easily remember a time when the Internet existed only in their minds and laboratories of technological wizards. But this is not the case anymore.

With the advent of laptop computers and WiFi technology, you can surf the Internet from just about anywhere – even on a cell phone. The importance of the Internet to business has risen exponentially in recent years as a result of this. More and more people are shopping online and looking to search engines for solutions to their problems.

Starting an online business in 2020

When we first start out in business, there is a lot standing in the way of us being successful. It is the same with a brick-and-mortar business. You’ll have to trade a lot of time before you have anything resembling a steady income.

But if you want to realize the value of an asset quickly, the Internet is a major advantage, one you cannot afford to turn down. The advent of online downloading sites that allow you to sell items at the click of a mouse means that you can decide to sell something one day, and receive the money for it the next.

This ability to sell something and see the money instantly may not be anything new if one takes into account the existence of pawnshops. But the ability to reach a much wider marketplace, and potentially get a good deal more than you otherwise would have is impossible before the Internet. If you need working capital in order to take advantage of an opportunity, the Internet has made it a whole lot easier.

People sell all kinds of things on the Internet, from extremely small, cheap items to cars and even in some cases their houses. While selling your house is generally not a good idea in such a short space of time, it does show what is possible.

If your business is online, it opens up a whole new world to you – almost literally. At one point unless your business was a specific import-export business you could trade only in your home country or near neighbors – even in some cases only in your hometown. But with the advent of the Internet and the ready availability of mail orders, a small shop in a small town can without batting an eyelid sell to a customer thousands of miles away. That’s progress for you. And you can use it to your advantage. Having such a broad reach the businessman can set up a customer base that is colossally larger than it previously would have been.