Category: Entrepreneurship

Analysis: Digital Businesses vs Brick & Mortal Businesses

As the digital world expands, the argument rages on. Online shopping against traditional shopping. Amazon vs the Highstreets. What is better and why? And everyone seemingly has their views and opinions. But both have their strengths, and both have their weaknesses. And it can be difficult, especially for someone trying to break into the world of business, to know which method is best for them. Below I will look at both forms of business, their strengths and weaknesses.

Digital

Digital business has many distinct advantages. Firstly it can be accessed from the comfort of the customers home. This opens up many businesses to those who might not be able to travel as easily. Accessibility is an important part of any business.

Secondly, most digital businesses are accessible all day, every day. People can go shopping whenever they feel like it without being restricted by opening and closing times.

Digital Businesses allow anymore to make money, with a variety of different methods. This url shortener allows anyone with a link to easily set themselves up in affiliate marketing and make some money. This is perhaps the biggest advantage of digital businesses.

Classic Brick & Mortar

The most obvious advantage to an old school physical shop is that you can see the product you are buying up close and personal. You can make sure it is exactly what you want and what you need. Especially for clothes shopping, this is a huge advantage.

Secondly, physical stores often provide jobs for the local communities and stimulate money back into the local economy effectively. In the current financial climate, this is an extremely important factor.

Thirdly, physical stores allow people to often create stores that wouldn’t work online. Restaurants or custom bear creating stores are great examples of things that work best with a physical location.

 

5 Key Skills Needed to run a Successful Digital Business

Hundreds of people try their hand at starting up and running a digital business. And a vast majority of them fail. Some through fault of their own, others due to bad luck. But what ever the cause, there are a few things that separate those that succeed from those that fail. These 5 skills will help give you an edge when running your digital business.

Know your Audience

This is one of the simplest, yet effective things you have to be aware of when running a digital business. Unlike a normal high-street store, you won’t have the luxury of seeing who is buying your product up close. You will have to look through the data and do market research. But it is worth it. Being aware of your target demographic is priceless when it comes to success.

Branding

Despite your business being digital, your branding needs to be everywhere. Online marketing is a powerful tool, but there is something to be said for physical marketing as well. Getting your business brand onto as many different things as possible will help immensely. Pamphlets and leaflets. Pens and bottles. Wristbands with a message. All of these things are great examples of tools you can use to get your brand out there.

Dedication

This is more a personal skill you need to develop rather than a business aspect. Those who aren’t dedicated to their business are doomed to fail. Dedication is a skill you can instil in your self and it will become invaluable to you. Train your self to stick to a set schedule and allot time to work on your business. It is easy to fall into bad habits when you only have yourself to answer to.

Money Management

This is a vital skill for any business. And it goes beyond simply knowing how to spend your money. You need to be able to keep track of your income and expenditure. Keep on top of taxes and making sure you are filing them correctly.

It is also about knowing what to spend the money on. What do you invest in and will that investment work for you and your business or is it superfluous? Keeping yourself grounded and focused is the key to this skill.

Confidence

The world of business is often cut-throat and harsh. You will face rejection and failure on a regular basis. Not every day will be a winner and there will come hard times. It is important to keep your head high and focus on the little victories and know, with hard work and dedication, there are better times ahead.

More than that, being confident will reflect in your business and marketing, which in turn will attract more customers and increase your profits. People are naturally attracted to confidence and it inspires something within them. Remind your self that you can do this and that you are worthy of success and it will come to you.

The Pros and Cons of Getting a Business Degree For Entrepreneurs.

Pros

Getting a business degree can seriously help your chances in the business world as it provides an insight into what you need to get started and how you can go about doing it. By going through the process of getting a business degree you are able to gain valuable skills towards your future and can learn about the importance of things like advertising, setting up websites, branding, control of funds and the consumer market. Becoming an entrepreneur by getting a degree first is a great way to go about the process as it ensures that you are clued up on everything that you need to be able to begin setting up a business.

 

A business degree also allows for some variation in your career prospects, if you start a course at university and change your mind about the direction you wish to go in the future then just the fact that you have a degree can open up a variety of other career options for you. I would definitely recommend a business degree as the way forward for someone who has an interest in becoming an entrepreneur but is maybe unsure about the direction they wish to go in, just going to uni can be a great way of getting initial experience and can help with deciding the path you would like to go down in your career.

 

Cons

Although going to university and getting a degree in business can be a very useful tool for the future, there is also the question as to whether it is worth the time and the debt. The employment rate for those who get a business degree is around 58% leaving close to half of graduates without jobs in this sector. Being successful in business doesn’t always rely on your qualifications and in fact more and more people are choosing to start a business without getting these qualifications in the first place.

 

Many would argue that to start up a successful business all you need is a great idea and a great plan. Yes, going to uni allows you to get valuable information on how to get started but this is no better than the help you can get by sourcing your own contacts and putting the work in yourself. Many choose to avoid getting into student debt and to go out and set up their businesses on their own, at the end of the day universities will only do so much to help and graduates will still be required to put the work in to get a business started independently. There is also the opinion that what you learn at university can also be learnt about through your own hard work and knowledge without the thousands of pounds worth of debt and three years of your life spent studying. Overall, I would argue that getting a business degree is a great choice for someone that is unsure about the route they want to go down, but if you choose not to get a degree you can be just as successful.