By Laarni Balignasa
High gas prices are making everyone bend budgets. Less and less people are buying parking tickets while more and more are buying MRT cards.
With many worried about the economy and the relentless increase in gasoline prices, most people are searching for ways to make money at home, looking for home-based businesses that they could do while watching the kids.
No, I’m not talking about direct selling of Tupperware or Avon, or multilevel networking like Amway or Nu Skin, I’m talking about a network that has wider coverage. I’m talking about Online Selling. In online selling, you can still do direct selling by online networking. It is so much easier now with sites like Multiply, Friendster and MySpace.
To start online selling, you don’t need to be a tech-freak. All you need is a basic understanding of the computer and the Internet. A high-end professional camera is not even required. You can use built-in phone cameras with excellent pixel quality and image resolution to take photos of your merchandise. Actually, if you are selling popular items, you can simply use search engines to look for images on the worldwide web. It’s simple and practical.
Here are some reasons why online selling works: First, it makes globalization possible even for small businesses. Second, it is an inexpensive method of generating income because you won’t need to spend on advertising. If you’re selling quality products for instance, your social network will spread the word for you freely through positive feedbacks. Third, the number of your prospective customers will become virtually limitless as your carrier site continues to market aggressively.
Here are a few statistics profiling the viability of online selling:
· There will be 24 million internet users in the Philippines by the end of 2008
· 4,000 Filipinos are already using different online selling sites like Auction.ph as their primary or secondary source of income
· 7,000 Filipinos resort to online selling to supplement their income
· Multiply tags Filipinos as their no.1 user
· Friendster has a total of 12 million Filipino users
At the moment, online selling feels like a remote option. But look again at the numbers above and consider where the trend is heading.
Well, if it’s a choice between being your own boss and getting left behind, which would you choose? The time to choose is now.
