08.30.10
Virtual Business & Cottage Industry
My amazing wife and I had our super cool neighbors over for dinner Friday evening. We had a great time of laughing, sharing stories, and just "being" friends. Our lives are on similar tracks, which makes relatability very organic. They are dog lovers, younger married, and have a toddler daughter who is the cutest little girl you've ever seen. These guys are seriously the coolest, and we will be sad to see them move away some day.
We talked about anything that came to mind... A passer buy would have probably testified "white noise" reverberating through our open windows, as there were so many topics being discussed at the same time.
Ever find yourself at a cocktail party, with crowds of conversations happening, and through it all you hear...
... Your NAME
or
... a WORD
that totally cuts through the busy discussions, grabs your necktie (or necklace respectively), slaps you upside the cheek, and subsequently auto-tunes your RADAR-ear to that specific conversation?
When my neighbor mentioned starting a "virtual engineering company"... that happened to me.
When I "came-to" from the mind grabbing altercation... I inquired for further explanation.
He then began to tell me, very matter of factly, how the "virtual business" industry has become very popular, and how he and his partners have done some research to validate this.
Virtual Company
Is anyone else out there familiar with this concept?
Intriguing.
R
Comment
Comment by Nathan Logsdon 8 hours ago - Delete Comment Rob, NPR actually did a radio spot on this recently. We are starting to see a pendulum swing from out sourcing back to the "Cottage Industry" Rob Clinton just mentioned. I believe one of the fastest areas of growth are in the customer service departments. What businesses are finding is with the savings from not having a bricks and mortar location, they can hire here in the US and have less risk with some of the cultural and language barriers that many companies ran into through outsourcing.
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Comment by Rob Clinton 12 hours ago - Delete Comment Absolutley! The idea of holding onto office space for employees is being seen less and less in a lot of places. Telecommunting saves money, and gives alot gives alot more flexibility. There are many reasons to go this route, and mainly because its the way of the future... "The "Cottage Industry" is growing rapidly.
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Comment by Steven Deaton 1 day ago - Delete Comment Rob, I believe most of 48 Days is run virtually. There are books on the subject. There is The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. If you go to Amazon and search for this book a list will come up with some similar books. Most of the successful internet marketers run a virtual business. There are exceptions, but most like to stay away from hiring employees, leasing office space, etc. As Theresa said, more traditional companies are trying this model too. Steven 48Days.net Advisory Team www.DeatonMedia.com
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Comment by Rob Hughes 1 day ago - Delete Comment hmmm... any books/articles written on this that you are aware of? I'd love to get a better understanding... And hey, Thanks Theresa for your response!
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Comment by Theresa 1 day ago - Delete Comment Yes, Indeedy, Rob. The work models are changing and brick and mortar businesses are no exception. Telecommuting is becoming more commonplace along with RESULTS based compensation. Employers no longer want to pay someone to warm a chair for 8 hours a day and are shifting away from the time for dollars model. So yes....
- So I ask... is anyone ELSE out there familiar with this concept? Please comment! I'm very curious!!!
- I thank you in advance.
Wikipedia seems to think this concept is more relevant to manufacturing businesses... Any thoughts on that?
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