Looking for future business ideas 2020 and beyond? What does the future hold for business? I was looking for an online based business back in 2000 when I stumbled upon what I thought was the future of business. I bought something online and it struck me how simple and efficient the internet was as a sales machine.
If only there was a way to harness this potential and turn it into a business model. The internet offered a means to set up automated sales, and sell to a global audience.
Future Business Ideas 2020
Back then I was working away on eBay trying to buy and sell. I decided the model I was using was too time heavy and that it had no future. I looked elsewhere but remembered that the eBay business model I was using was a strategy I learned after purchasing an eBook from eBay itself.
A simple eBook wasn’t the full story, but it did ignite a spark which never went out! I realised that future business ideas – 2020 and beyond, needed to be automated. Digital products, like the eBook I had purchased from eBay, were automated sales models which catered to a global audience. This was the future because automation meant freedom, and a global audience meant scale.
There was another major benefit to an internet based business. You didn’t need any business premises or staff. This meant costs were really low for a new startup business. Anyone can access the internet too. This meant that it was a business model anyone could use.
The Future Of Business – 2020 and Beyond!
Not to say all businesses can be automated, they can’t. But the internet has changed things. People can converse over the internet which means they don’t need to travel thousands of miles for a business meeting. People can buy things over the internet, and have them delivered to their homes, at a lower cost than in a high street store.
For a home based business too, the internet offers a massive potential. Sell other people’s products with a business model known as affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing lets anyone pick a product from the internet and then promote it for a commission through their own uniquely identifying affiliate link.
After I dropped my eBay strategy, I was looking to automate sales over the internet. I started by creating my own digital products in the form of eBooks. However, I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and was in for a bumpy ride. I didn’t sell any of my own products but soon realised that marketing was my main problem.
Marketing Online Products
What was the future of business 2020 and beyond? What did I need to learn? I threw myself into a number of online training courses, learning everything from website building to online marketing. Over the years, software and technology has made much of what I learned unnecessary!
Website building, for example, is now done through software which lets you put up a website in minutes. I spent years learning it! The main focus of my efforts was selling digital products in the first instance. For me, digital products had a future because you could earn 40% commissions from selling them and you could automate sales and scale up. Click the image below to see how far technology has come and how you can build a website in minutes.
To me, this was the future of business. Future business ideas 2020 and beyond had to have an element of freedom and lifestyle flexibility built in. An internet business had this. You could work as and when you wanted, automate sales and scale up to a global audience.
Future Business Ideas 2020 + Beyond
Automated systems allow the sale of digital products through:
- Automated advertising online (running 24/7)
- Websites which run 24/7
- Automated email delivery systems (auto-responders)
- Digital products which could be sold and accessed over the internet
Setting up a system like this which offers the end user value is the main problem for many online businesses. Then, finding a suitable audience who will find value in the products and content which you offer. Fortunately, technology and software has taken a massive leap over the last 10 years. Facebook, YouTube and Adwords (Google) can be used to super-target with a laser-like focus, the kind of people who are suitable for your business. You can target people by age, location, interests and search query, among a number of other demographics.
Business Models For The Future
I initially started advertising low cost digital products. The type you found on Clickbank.com for $100. There were a few problems with this. For starters if you sold a $100 product you earned $40 at 40% commission (standard for digital products). This didn’t leave a lot of margin for learning or error – particularly if you were wanting to use paid advertising. If you used content generation to promote these kinds of products online, you struggled to get the traffic to generate a reasonable income.
High ticket items on the other hand, allowed you to use paid advertising and get instant traffic straight to your products. Using an email list allows you to gain more traction too. By building a list of subscribers you extend the period of time from which you can potentially sell to a customer. Sending them straight to a sales page is much more precarious; you would only one chance to sell the product.
I later learned about internet business models after a lot of struggle and hardship. I learned to promote products which offered not only high ticket commissions but also offered:
- Multi- tier sales
- Up-sells (commissions for other products sold later from a range)
- Built in sales team (allow you to focus only on the front end of lead generation)
- Subscription/Membership products (pay you again and again for single referral)
What’s The Why?
A business model needs a ‘why?’ Future business ideas 2020 – and beyond should have a ‘why’ too! What should be the main ingredients of a business of the future? What is important to you? Is it the business or your life? Future business ideas 2020 and beyond should be future proof! Many people start businesses only to find later that they’re trapped by their business. They are ‘stuck’ in it without an escape route. A future business should have the ability to be automated in order to make life easier.
What is the use in all of our technology and automated products? They are supposed to make our lives easier. Dishwashers and clothes washers are supposed to free up our time so we can enjoy life more! Shouldn’t the business of the future also offer this?!
The problem is, technology is far ahead of most people’s mentality. We are still fighting inner battles which tell us “life should be hard”, “you must work hard for money”, “You need to work a __ hour week”, etc., etc. The reality is that many people have already used online business systems and tools to automate the sale of digital products and services online.
You can do the same! Learn how you can build an automated business model which runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.