The Internet is Still the Largest Single Opportunity for Small Business Owners - But Beware!

Workers all throughout the United States and Europe are witnessing the transformation of the entire economic landscape due to globalization. Pensions are either gone or soon will be.  They have been replaced by under-funded 401k plans that seem to take a nose-dive every few years and never really become substantial enough for comfortable retirement. Plus, we now see companies eliminating domestic jobs left and right by relocating operations and/or outsourcing whenever possible. Wages have stagnated in many Western nations in large part because corporations are increasingly tapping into the vast labor supply of cheap labor in Asia and South America. Is it even possible for the average person to get ahead in such a hostile environment? The answer is to take control of your own financial destiny by starting a small business.Companies won't be generous with salary increases for their Western workforce until they have fully tapped cheaper labor markets in the East.  When Eastern and Western wages have equalized and it is no longer more profitable to send operations overseas, only then will we again see significant income growth.  Of course by then, we may be living in huts! Indeed, globalization is not just some word on the evening news--it is here, it is inevitable, and it is already changing everything. With so many skilled and semi-skilled workers willing to work for a fraction of their Western counterparts, the corporations are scrambling to outsource and relocate operations to both contain labor costs and boost profits. It will be all but impossible to see double-digit annual wage increases without taking on another job or some additional revenue stream. Adding another revenue stream to the monthly budget using a work from home business has become a necessity in this new global marketplace.Believe it or not, small work from home businesses with a solid core and the capacity to rapidly adapt will thrive in the quick-paced, niche driven global market. Competition forces businesses to cut expenses and outsource even more jobs.  In turn, this also creates unprecedented opportunities for organized and professional work from home businesses. It is no coincidence that small businesses now account for the largest percentage of new job creation in most Western nations as globalization continues to intensify. Jobs that are eliminated internally still need to be filled, and this is where so many of the small business opportunities are coming from. Smaller work from home businesses will continue to thrive as competition intensifies.  But it is important to take advantage of these opportunities before they disappear.Capital investment is necessary to grow any small business. It is common for interest rates to be lowered during bad economic times in order to stimulate investment. Interest rates will be lowered to counter the effects of the US housing crisis and a weak economy, making 2008 a great year to secure cheap capital for a new business start-up.The fact remains that the Internet is still the largest single opportunity for small business owners. The real challenge, of course, is learning how to distinguish between the legitimate business opportunities and the "get rich" scams. Finding them is certainly difficult but there is no doubt that the world has never before seen so many legitimate small business opportunities in its entire history.Owning a small business was once a luxury of the ambitious, daring, or perhaps just those who hated corporate life.  Nowadays, having your own business is a practical necessity. In the end, we may all have to choose one day between starting a work from home business or working in some hotel or restaurant making low wages. However, as with any business, most work from home business opportunities will eventually fail. Hard work, long hours, dedication, and patience are all necessary ingredients to making a small business succeed. Ultimately, a business can still fail even when everything was done right.  Shifting market conditions and bad timing have undone even giants like Sears. And yet there has never been more legitimate work from home opportunities nor a better time to start one.  You just need to locate the legitimate opportunities and avoid those "get-rich-quick" scams!