The Virtual Business -
Using the Net to Leverage Your Business

The mom and pop store of yesteryear is fast becoming today's small networked business with a hand full of employees which can get up to speed fast, ramp up quickly and succeed globally because of the reach, speed and efficiency of the Net and the exponentially expanding business resources on it.

Today a small, sharp and nimble business leveraging the Net, can compete on equal footing with big businesses in many areas. A new breed of Net companies give small business access to sophisticated management support and real time business processes which go a long way towards leveling the playing field. Most of the services you need to give your company big company muscle and an impressive public image can be found on the Net at small company prices.

Yes, you can order your paper clips from Staples or Home Depot, but did you know there are new Net companies which will change your light bulbs or maintain your buildings? And that's just the simple tasks. Consider the following:

Training Does your company have employees who need training? No need to search for an instructor or create an in-house program. Now you can turn to sites like Training Net, an electronic proposal exchange that connects buyers and sellers of custom training. Sites like these streamline the training selection and improve the speed and quality while lowering administrative costs. Employees can manage their own self development with training aligned to achieve specific business goals of the company. Performance and reporting is centralized so a company can continuously monitor and improve its training program.

Management At Tatum CFO, your company can fill a Chief Financial Officer slot with an experienced accountant with big company experience on a small company budget. Today on the net you can find shared business applications and software to help execute against objectives; an online marketplace for employee benefits for small business; teleworking tools and resources; customer experience solutions; strategic pricing intelligence and purchasing.

Workforce Need to trim your payroll but still get the job done? Sites like Digital Worklets you keep projects in-house but get online and perform your own public relations, marketing, direct mail and market research at a fraction of the cost of hiring an outside agency.

At Guru.com or Freelance.com, you can have your pick of independent professionals willing to take on your company's tasks on a moment's notice. Or go to a service marketplace like elance.com,below, and get competitive bids on your project.

Marketplaces End to end marketplaces bring buyers and sellers together in one spot, simultaneously expanding the market and driving down costs through competitive bidding. Elance.comis a global, online marketplace for services, with users from over 140 countries and services ranging from programming and graphic design to translation, web design or education, legal, accounting, medical and other services.

Another of the new breed,EqualFooting.com not only provides a construction and industrial marketplace with competitive pricing but offers complete financing solutions from lines of credit, term loans, equipment leasing, SBA loans, and receivable financing. EqualFooting.com even offers a shipping center with over 35 Truckload and Express carriers. It can't get much more convenient than that.

In fact, the mom and pop store of yesteryear is fast becoming today's small networked business with a hand full of employees which can get up to speed fast, ramp up quickly and succeed globally because of the reach, speed and efficiency of the Net and the exponentially expanding business resources on it. If your business needs something you can't find on the Net, just wait, it will soon be there. Or better yet, if you find a gap, fill it and the world will beat a path to your door.