I love Star Trek. Not the new ones, but rather the cheesy 70′s series. With Captain Kirk the chick magnet, Spock the unemotional man and Bones the wacky feeling touchy San Francisco hippy. What a time to live in this new brave frontier.
On reflection I realize that I already live in a new frontier. What is this new frontier … well social network marketing and e-commerce of course. It is a frontier surrounded in urban myths of rags to riches, and certainly lots of sex.
Story: “My friend Lorne told me about a guy in Saskatoon that started a web site just listing old junky tractors, trailers, bobcats and caterpillars. These were old pieces of equipment just sitting, rusting away in the back lots and yards of many businesses in town … just old equipment that no one wanted. The guy offered to publish the pictures of this equipment and if anything sold then he just took a small bite. Well the thing really took off. In less than a year the site was generating real cash and people noticed. In fact the right people noticed and he sold the site to e-bay for $750,000. Lorne can’t remember the web site address but he assured me that this was a true story that someone told him….”
I believe him. I want to believe him because I want it to be true.
I have a real small business, a micro business smaller than a SOHO or a SME, a real MicroBIZ. But it is all mine and it makes me an okay living. The things that keep me up at night are the big picture now. After twenty years I can handle the cash flow phone calls, the staffing worries and the client issues, but the future scares me.
The thing about the future is … if I do not see it coming then my business is over. There are some things about this future that I believe are true. And if anyone advises you that these truisms are wrong than twitter “beam me up Scotty”.
Truism #1
Social Network Marketing and more importantly, the visible web is THE most important business tool for my MicroBIZ this decade.
No fooling… Thanks Tips. This is not news – but micro businesses have not really understood the importance of web based business marketing models. I have worked with over 2,500 start up businesses over the last twenty-two years and the majority have not accepted that web based business models are more important than the telephone, more important than their computer, their cell phone, fax machine, photocopier all put together. The visible web is a fundamental change in the business model for small businesses.
Take the telephone. Do you know how wrong they were about it in the beginning? The first users of the telephone said it would have no effect or practical use for ordinary people or businesses. In fact the telegraph industry though it was a completely stupid idea that would never affect their business. When was the last time you sent a telegraph? I don’t even know how to send a telegraph. I am not sure if I can send a telegraph. How wrong did they get it ?
Just imagine running your business without a phone and a computer today. It could not be done. Well in three years the same will be true about social network marketing.
Truism #2
Over 99% of the current web based business models are completely wrong.
Here’s how I see it. The web is made up of three parts.
The visible web( WWW ) that we all use and most think this is the internet. The visible web has grown from 300,000,000 web pages in 1996 to over 1 trillion unique URLS indexed by Google in 2008, to “how many in 2010?” There are 255,000,000 web domains at December 2010 and how pages pages behind each domain.
There is also the invisible web that only professional data seekers know about. The invisible web consists of ever expanding public and private databases where information, rather data can be accessed or purchased for a fee or membership. This invisible web I’ll call the Professional Web will continue to grow and expand reaching a critical mass such that data can be purchased instantly at incredibly inexpensive costs. The professional web turns libraries into real searchable book banks where any documents you need is truly available. With a little tweaking of copyright laws, it is close.
The third internet is the community web. This part of the web has just started to mature beyond the erotica sites. It exists in pockets of fanatics that cluster around their keyboards, blogs and tweets swapping lies. The community web is a couple of years away but growing. It currently resides in the hands of erotica and conspiracy theorists that exchange hidden web sites with each other and whisper in the night but is the basis for social network marketing. FaceBook is just the very tip of the Social Network Iceberg.
The community web will dominate as it becomes mainstream and regulars Joes with regular common interests cluster into gatherings and exchange recipes and sci-fi stories.
The key to the community web is “the idea virus”. The “idea virus” is a brilliant articulation by Seth Godin from 2000 about the exchange of ideas in cyberspace. Combined with Gladwell’s Tipping Point and the community web is rocketing off the planet.
As the importance of the physical neighborhood evaporates and we become more and more connected not with the person across the street but rather the person across the globe. These relationships will develop based on our similar interests, personal values and related business ideas. The power of these communities is built upon the professional and personal needs of respectful interaction within our own value system.
The current web based business models use the visible web when what is at the Tipping Point is the explosion of the relationship focused Community Web.
Truism #3 The visible web is doomed. The big get bigger. The DOT COM craze crashed once and will crash again, and why? The reason is that the current web based business models for the visible web are wrong. It is fundamentally flawed with too much momentum to fix. The US Congress and law makers will continue to get involved as they re-address the freedom of information versus privacy versus tax-base.
The US congress will continue to try to limit free speech because no political organization can stand to not be the centre of the universe. Governments are going to be forced to control the shipping of goods through international boundaries and develop tax bases that are not regional or physical location based.
We are in for a mess.
Conclusion
So just watch … I challenge you … the WWW.COM world will crumble under its own weight. The signs already exist. With too many web pages to index, search engines now struggle to keep up. The very best access less than half the sites currently. As organizations struggle to develop business models that allow them to reside in tax havens and work and profit in downtown LA. The municipal, state and federal government has little choice but to react.
It is like the physical development of cities. As the inner core crumbled, the tax base dissolved and municipal governments struggled to provide services with declining tax bases.
Imagine your choice… you could live in Playa De Carman… watch the ocean and e-work in LA or …. you could live and work in LA. The choice is pretty easy especially with the consideration of spending US dollars at peso cost of living with tax free money. Remember you could always holiday in LA if you really want.
Three years from now, in 2015 the visible web will have caused the ghetto-ization of corporate US ( is that a real word ? ). The federal, provincial and state bodies will face an eroded tax base that will force their hand. Their reaction will be completely inappropriate as they try to grasp control. Their policies and actions will destroy the existing visible web.
As the visible web crumbles there will be a re-birth. An information exchange process of many levels. The central force will be the development of community or zaibatsu at an individual level ( look that up on your google ). Not regional or physical communities but rather communities based on interests, beliefs and values.
One of my friends and mentors, Rod Chapman of has been speaking of the power of the web based community for over a decade. I embrace his vision as the future business model for e-based organizations. These are the real changes that my MicroBiz faces. How can I be involved in the development of community zaibatsu within my business model ??? How will my business survive ???
Clifford L. Spyker, is the director of MK S Learning Centre in Calgary, Alberta, an Associate Professor of Accounting Bissett School of Business at Mount Royal University of Calgary and a chartered accountant who works with small businesses. Cliff’s passion is the start up process for developing a business idea to success. Since 1988 he has worked with over 2,500 entrepreneurs as they start their own businesses in Southern Alberta.
Cliff can be contacted at 403.253.8484 or spyker@mkslearn.com
Safe Journey and Have Fun
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