Virtual Businesses - The New Frontier

Virtual businesses are the stuff of dreams. Pick asolutions is that you can hold meetings "on the
beach, any beach. Imagine yourself sitting on afly," even while people are literally scattered
tropical deserted island basking in the sun, listeningacross the world.
to the ocean and running a multi-million dollarSome terrific software is absolutely free. In fact,
company. Not just anybody's multi-million dollarthe software from the largest search engine in
company, but your own. Ask almost any businessthe world, allows you to share documents, such
owner in the world and you'll get the sameas spreadsheets, PDFs, files, and more. The best
answer.thing about this free service is that you can
The cool thing is that the possibilities exist for thiscollaborate on these documents in a shared
scenario to come to fruition for tens ofcapacity with your colleagues. No need to file
thousands of people. It may not be a multi-millionthem in some arcane place on your desktop. And,
dollar enterprise, but you can sure make a darnit literally works flawlessly.
good living, sitting on or near a beach. This is allWe've been using all of these technologies now
made possible through the advances offor a number of years. However, consumers are
technology. More specifically, the incredible arrayjust now coming into understanding how to use
of software that's now available to help you run athem. In fact, I believe that the economic
business is better, faster and downright cheap.downturn has really turned people's eyes toward
Virtual businesses are becoming the norm, ratherkeeping expenses low, while aggressively
than the exception. Let's take a simple exampleincreasing one's income through marketing.
of making and receiving a call. There are severalWhat are some great ideas for virtual businesses?
really good answering services / call answeringIf you think about the two biggest resources that
software available. Today, they operate in what ispeople and companies struggle with, they are time
being called "The Cloud." The cloud is nothing moreand money. You can never have enough of both.
than software that someone else manages andIn fact, not even the richest person in the world
supports for you. These services allow you to behas enough time, because eventually time runs
a SMALL company, but look like a BIG one.out for everyone.
Customers only need call one number to easilyOne of the fastest growing areas for virtual
find and communicate with you. These servicesbusinesses is providing virtual assistant services.
provide features like: "hunt", "rollover, "transfer",These types of services help others in areas,
"music on hold" and much, much more.such as answering calls, marketing, sales, or even
Other great software for virtual businessescreative writing. It just makes plain sense for
includes applications for virtual meetings andpeople to seek out others who can help them and
collaboration. With these software products youat a much lower cost than hiring a full time
can literally hold a board meeting, pointing to slides,person.
drawing on a "whiteboard", switching presentersCheck out my top 10 virtual businesses at my
and so much more. Traveling, as they say, is sowebsite.
old school. In fact, the beauty of these type of