Tiny Computing Startups

One of my favorite pastimes is scouring the Web to discover not only awesome start-ups, but also awesome start-up (and small business) resources. Here’s a few 6 if you have internet connection 24/7 and are interested in a computer , internet based business.

These six simple businesses that you can start today. The requirements: a computer and Internet connection.

Newsletter Writer: There’s never been a better time to get into the business of newsletter writing.

Professional Book Reviewer: If you love to read and have a knack for writing great book reviews, this just might be the business for you. Choose a niche (i.e. sci-fi, relationship’s, romance, etc.) or cater to a certain market (i.e. new authors).

Talent Scout: Spend a lot of your time social networking and hanging out in online communities?Pick a growing niche – and keep in mind that it doesn’t have to relate to sports or entertainment, the most populars.

Online Garage Sale Specialist: Okay. So you know how to use eBay, Craig’s List and Google Base to sell stuff you don’t want any more –

International Expansion Expert: Despite the economy, there are a lot of businesses looking to expand internationally – particularly those operating online. If you have experience in this area, start marketing your services.

Virtual Assistant: Consider marketing to general contracting and construction firms. Knowledgeable in accounting? Offer virtual bookkeeping service.

Touche, life begins with a 24/7 internet connection these days. As the saying goes, the internet changes everything and small guys can now play it big, however, most people are unaware of the extent of change it has brought. I can remember the surprise I felt the day I learnt Nokia, the popular phone maker consists of just 7 people. That particular year, they sold billions of dollars worth of handsets but made a profit of only 40million dollars; they were clearly not in for the profit, but rather the value of the brand, they know how and why they should dominate the world, using the same tools available to you and me today.

I also read about how the holding company of western union money transfer had just about 40+ employees. Now that shook me to my bones, (I kept asking myself one question day after day-how do they do that…, 7 people,nokia?) Being an undergraduate at university of Benin at that time, and knowing the fate of the typical Nigerian graduate, my only hope of satisfactory achievement in life was entrepreneurship. Not just entrepreneurship as the average man or woman might know it, but entrepreneurship in the way Nokia (and other idea savvy industry leaders) know it. That is what I often refer to as the “Nokia way”.

After plenty of self study and research, I began to recognize a pattern in the activities of these small but mighty companies. They all did what could be easily replicated by any body and easily transferred to any other industry or size of business, whether it’s a single website or a multi-national oil company.More than ever before, It has become extremely important for everyone to be able to achieve optimum impact with the minimal resources at our disposal. (If you’re born and bred in Nigeria, you’ll agree with me on this).It would interest you to know some of the phenomenal capabilities that exist in our world today and the opportunities created daily, especially for wealth and overall personal success. Most of us are already familiar with some of these opportunities (and even the technologies that make them possible, especially the internet) but to benefit from them, we all could use a little paradigm shift which of course is always pre-requisite to any major progress, yours and mine. Doesn’t it annoys me when I discuss the subject of e-business or internet business and people just only want to refer to selling egold, affiliate marketing, blogging, online Forex trading, e-books or some meager application of these systems as if that is all there is to it. Why make a cent when you can make a dollar at the same time? Why bring a cup to the stream when you can carry a bucket? I’d often ask them. Many of us may not have $20million to start a site like ‘2nd life’, or the financial and technical skills to configure virtual money like china’s ‘QQcent’. However with our little #20,000(twenty thousand naira) splendid opportunities abounds.In my humble opinion, the ultimate application of our present possibilities in term of global technology/human development is summed up in one word “e-minipreneuring”, which is a hybrid of e-enterpreneuring and e-micropreneuring.

Becoming an e-minipreneur is the modern day equivalent of learning to swim; i.e. it’s fun, it’s the best form of exercise, it’s chic and it’ll get you ahead when others are drowning in the sea (of information in this case) .Its not rocket science and you won’t find it being taught it in schools. E-Minipreneurs seek to monetize the modern day “manna from heaven” AKA “globalization”. They get their business up and running instantly usually on a small scale, relying on everything from rock-bottom priced laptops, printers and open source software, to broadband connections and free telephony (with tech giants battling it out who can bring the free-est of the free to savvy consumers- you and me).

They also take advantage of new business to business service modelsThey combine recent concepts and strategies such as business process outsourcing, information technology outsourcing, strategic alliances, on-demand/turnkey services, co-opetition (rather than competition), internationalization, automation, mass customization (rather than mass production),flexibility, click- to- brick and mortal strategies, along side digital opportunity, globalization, e-business /internet etc; which were once exclusive to major corporations are widely and increasingly available to the average Joe. Unfortunately, Mr. & Mrs. “Average Joe” may never consider using these strategies as they slap together yet another Website or blog in the name of internet business (hoping to become the next ebay or google). No wonder recent research show that most online business owners have at least 5 websites and make an average monthly income of $57.Yes, perhaps Mr. & Mrs. average Joe didn’t have enough money to market their sites like the big names do, but what about the likes of Amazon.com, the giant book seller that never became profitable even with their $2million a pop super bowl adverts? They got it wrong from the start by putting old wine in new bottle. According to Jesus Christ, you will lose both the bottle and that sweet mature wine, hmmm;pity!. So for some people who are nursing the possibility of starting a Nigerian site like ebay, be sure to do it the “Nokia way”, or prepare to pick the broken pieces.

Use your imagination, add a little of your creativity and innovation to all these new possibilities, and as you do, remember the fact that they are within our reach, and then you’d have discovered the “Nokia way” as I mentioned earlier (there is really no better way!). Before your imagination begins to run too wide, you’d agree with me on the fact that there’s no limit to what can be achieved. You may not end up discovering the eleventh planet, but you will definitely make global or regional impact in just about any area of human endeavor, especially in Business.Here’s a classic example. Have you ever dreamed about offering your own wireless phone service? “Wanna” be MTN (laugh), well just incase you might not know, it can easily be done these days, just by becoming a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). This is a mobile telephone operator that does not own its own spectrum and usually does not have its own network infrastructure. Instead, MVNO's have business arrangements with traditional mobile operators to buy minutes of use (MOU) for sale to their own customers Many of us are familiar with simple resellers of telecom services such as long distance, local exchange, and mobile network services and I read in a recent issue of success digest extra of a new arrangement by Nigerian mobile carriers to offer such large scale reseller plans. In contrast, MVNO's typically add value such as brand appeal, distribution channels, and other affinities to the resale of mobile services. What if I told you that starting today you, yes you can be your very own mobile carrier in the US? You might be tempted to doubt it because we all know the business of providing cell phone services has mostly been limited to companies with deep, fat pockets, but a start-up Sonopia Corp. now enables anyone to launch their own wireless service even without up front payments?. The Sonopia website launched in the beginning of April this year and allows organizations and individuals to create their own branded mobile phone service in just a few minutes online, a feat which took existing virtual operators such as Richard Branson's Virgin mobile (which pioneered the provision of a branded phone service on rented network space) six months to accomplish. Starting your own mobile carrier through Sonopia, you will be able to upload and send exclusive content to your subscribers. You will receive a portion of the monthly proceeds, which can range from 3% to 8% per month based on the number of subscribers. Sonopia will handle all support and billing for your wireless customers .This is a slick way to get people to sign up for mobile phone solutions. It’s kind of amazing that you can start up your own branded mobile service online in 30 minutesSonopia allows individuals to create their own calling plans and then sell them to others. Your wireless carrier is just like any other with unique calling plans and allows you to send out messages to your subscribers.Your wireless network will run on Verizon and Vodaphone infrastructure. Sonopia takes care of passing out handsets, sending out your customized monthly bills, and basic customer service. You take care of getting the customers and raking in the cash. A percentage of the monthly revenue generate from your mobile carrier goes directly to you or your organization. If you can pull in enough subscribers you could stand to make a bundle pretty easily. How is this opportunity open to non us citizens, you might ask. Well my answer to that question is a simple another question. How is the internet open to non US citizens? Remember, the internet changes everything.Perhaps we should have nairaland mobile for nairalanders living in the US, or maybe all the Yoruba people in the US can start their own service and call it ‘GBEDU wireless’(please oh I don’t mean to be tribalistic. LOL). Your guess is as good as mine; I already started my own network. I named it the emosquitonet. A percentage of my monthly revenue goes to malaria research so that each time my subscribers make a call; they are spreading a tele-mosquitonet over the one million children who die from malaria each year in Africa. I bet you want to know how you can start a small but mighty online business(what to do with your internet connection, website or blogs), which will grow fast and dominate in the entertainment, fashion, media, publishing, manufacturing, wholesale /retail and advertising industry. So you want to join the “baby global business bubble”- a rebirth of the dotcom bubble of the late 90s? –well then, be ready to go straight to ridiculous success according to Pierre Omidya, founder of ebay. Feel free to email or call me (ps:day time only) and in exchange for a bottle of GOOD wine (no beer pls. HEHE.) I’ll send you great resources where you’d find all you need to get started as an e-micropreneur, NEW WINE, NEW BOTTLE! Cheers