If you compare an internet business with a physical business, there are some basic principles that apply on both sides. Profit and return, effort versus reward, potential versus excitability, time management, etc.

However, although the same principles apply, the dynamics are entirely different…

A physical business costs a small fortune to set up. An internet business costs a fraction fo the price. Consider this:

For a physical business, you pay thousands just to get your premises – on the internet, it costs you a few hundred rand.

Those physical premises will cost you thousands every month – your website’s hosting could cost you less than a hundred rand a month.

To set up shop (physically), costs a lot – depending on the business, it could easily run into hundreds of thousands. To have a website built can cost you as little as R1000. Heck, a quarter page ad in a rural newspaper will cost more than that…

Your business closes its doors at five or six PM – your website never closes.

While it may be limited in its ability to conduct business, there are no staff salaries (unless your site is huge), no more “bad-for-business holidays”, and no constant supervision needed.

In fact – if you decide to start up a website for your business, it will be the cheapest “satellite branch” you could possibly create. It will (if set up correctly) take messages or orders around the clock – when you are not able to do so yourself.

True, some websites take up to a year before they perform at full capacity – so does many businesses (although you could typically expect results much sooner). But it costs a lot less to carry it until it does start producing – after all, $10 per month is hardly going to send you bankrupt…