Internet....You Don't Know What You Are.

Hi Sandy:

Thanks for the links.. both of them.

: )
Linda


Your image - is my business

> That's the funny thing about statistics. It
> depends on which ones you read, because they
> almost always contradict each other.

The truth about statistics is that you can usually find statistics to back up any side of an argument. I've proven this true many times. Even for arguments that I fully believed I was WRONG about, I could go to the local library and find statistics that would support and justify my WRONG side of the argument.

Statistics can be pretty useless — although I don't have anything to back up that statement with :-)

> I would have to totally disagree. The
> companies that went under failed because
> they made stupid decisions.

Agreed.

> A big part of the problem is that the little
> guy (like you and me) often look to the big
> dogs to provide a role model.

True enough. But this shouldn't be the case!

> I predict that there will be a paradigm
> shift over time and eventually people will
> learn how the Internet works... the hard way
> - which is (sadly) the way many people need
> to learn most things.

Yes, and it's going to cost dearly, as we have already seen.

Here is my thoughts on all of this:

Pets.com, Framingham-based Furniture.com, and Concord-based MotherNature.com are among the companies that have gone under within the past month.

In the United States more than 130 dot-com companies have closed since January, snuffing out 8,000 jobs, and the pace is accelerating. So far in November, 21 dot-coms have shut their doors.

Margaret Heffernan, the iCAST chief executive, which just closed it's doors last Monday, has learned some lessons from all the hype and said the Internet will be about integration with real-world business practices and relationships with traditional companies.

"The winners will be the people who have those relationships," she said, " and the stamina to figure it all out."

Steve Lewis, president of Lewis & Mathews Investment Management Inc., a Menlo Park investment adviser had this to say recently:

"The Internet has made it so easy to jump in and out. Anytime you get a lot of momentum players, the slightest little hiccup tends to change the direction and, rather like lemmings, they tend to follow each other, exacerbating the movements of the markets."

Yet companies like Yahoo continue to profit. Yahoo posted pro forma earnings of $81.1 million, or 13 cents per share in the third quarter, beating analysts' predictions by a penny a share.

It is a well known fact that Yahoo began has a small business. It was started in 1994, by Jerry Yang and David Filo. It is proof today that small business can grow and prosper on the web.

CyberAtlas recently produced a report claiming 70% of all small business online IS showing a profit.

Recent trends have shown that the BIG business shake-up being experienced is affecting the way entrprenuers feel about starting their own web ventures. The BIG boys "hiccup" and everybody runs scared.

This is the exact opposite of what should be happening. If we have learned anything in the past year, we have learned that small business can profit by being on the web. Whether your site is geared towards customer service, lowering costs to stay in touch with your customer base, or selling you own goods and services, the time to be online has never been better.

Best Regards,
Steve MacLellan


homebusiness-websites.com