By Dan Lenard
Buffalo, NY – Domo Arigato, Shukran, Sye sye, Toda Rabah. My, how exciting my E-mail has become. The Internet has completely changed the way I do business and whom I do it with.
When I was in elementary school in the 1960's, I remember clearly the lessons about the future and interactive television and how we would be able to shop with our TV. Little did we know how this concept would evolve into the Internet, Electronic mail, and now, to my amazement, a totally international, 24 hour a day marketplace.
The Internet is becoming perhaps the most powerful and popular tool for marketing. I surf corporate Internet sites to prospect for new clients. They search the Internet to find people like me. I e-mail them samples of my wares and I get responses at strange times of the morning, and in less than perfect English. They thank me for contacting them and ask more specific questions about how we can do business. When I notice that these potential clients are sometimes 9 or 10 hours ahead of me, I realize that they are in Hong Kong, Bejiing, Taiwan, or Calcutta. Practically anywhere! We're all in the same business. We have a great deal in common, except nationality. There have been some minor breakdowns because of how some things translate, but for the most part, fortunately, the international language of business is English.
When did this quantum leap in communication occur? How did the common guy like me suddenly get the opportunity to break outside of our tiny little corner of world and be a player in this global marketplace? It sort of snuck up on me. When I decided to try plying my trade via the Internet, I did some research. All I did was tap a few key words in a search engine and an entire new universe emerged. It was like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, opening the door on her black and white house to the Technicolor world of Munchkin land. There was listing after listing of companies all over the US and all over the world. I had found that applications of my talents and skills cross many boundaries, both business wise and internationally. When you take geographic limitations out of the equation, the potential market increases exponentially. The business is out there. You just have to go harvest it. For those of you complaining about the bad local economy, wake up and smell the fiber optics!
This is the ultimate expression of a free market, of personal choice, of personal freedom. The only thing I'm responsible to is my family and myself. With such a vast potential marketplace, I would only have myself to blame if I failed to capitalize on it.
Is it dangerous? There's risk in everything you do. When you get in your car every morning, you take a risk. However, it's mostly in your control. So it is with the digital marketplace. Everyone wants the same thing. They want what they want at a cost-effective price.
The success of E-Bay shows you what I'm talking about. It's an open market to anyone with access. And what does access take? Not much. A cheap little used computer and a modem is all you need to jump into this Alice's mirror of a virtual world.
What about those that can't afford it? Well, here's where a government can make a difference. Instead of trying to regulate that which can be seen and read on the Internet, our governments, in the interest of commerce and an increased tax base should be putting this technology into the hands of people. It's not for everyone, like those who can't read. We should be spending our resources to solve that too, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand buying and selling.
I watch, in awe of how our world is changing and getting smaller. The global village truly exists. If ever there was a way to truly empower people, this is it. With so much opportunity, all you have to do is find your niche. You find that by "Looking Outside the Box."
"Looking Outside the Box" with veteran Buffalo radio broadcaster Dan Lenard is a monthly feature of WBFO News.