In just five years entrepreneur Ryan Parker created an internet marketing empire that turns over in excess of $1 million a year.Ryan Parker still has the second-hand computer he was working on when he started his company five years – which is now kept in his new office as a reminder that he started this mega business from his bedroom.
You’ll also find new widescreen plasma TV’s hanging from the walls, the latest
computer technology, office equipment and the lively atmosphere of other young entrepreneurs that have joined his team. All of which now help him to amass a fortune through his various online ventures.
Improbably, that fortune is in online retail. Despite the global recession economic data has indicated that online retail sales have continued to rocket their way forward throughout 2010 and at the start of 2011.
The latest results from the IMRG e-Retail Sales Index reveal that British shoppers spent a total of £4.8 billion ($7.68 billion) online during September (year-on-year growth of 24%), equivalent to £79 ($126) per person and bucking the recent fall in sales on the high street.
With online shopping at an all time high, there has never been a better time to think about starting up an internet business. As the summer holiday period slowly comes to a close, it’s understandable that many office workers are feeling the strain of their current job and considering other options available to them.
Suddenly, the internet has changed all the rules. It gives ordinary people a way to make money without the overhead of a traditional bricks-and-mortar business. The internet is a global presence so it allows you to tap into customers from all over the world. This allows home run businesses the chance to tap into a global audience and Ryan Parker is not alone with his success.
A recent nationwide survey has found a growing number of teenagers are running successful online businesses from their bedrooms. 21,000 teenagers are earning in excess of £60,000 ($96,000) per annum – nearly three times the average UK salary.
Those numbers only just scratch the service and the world-wide-web has been responsible for creating more millionaires than any other business channel in recent years.
However, you don’t have to be rich to start an internet business. Due to the recession Ryan was struggling to find work whilst studying at university, so he looked for alternative methods of making a living by starting his own business online.
Ryan originally started his business selling items on the well known auction site eBay to boost his income.
“When I first started online I would just work a few hours a couple of nights a week”.
Ryan was just purchasing products from a local wholesale store and was listing the items on eBay. Yet he quickly realised that there was potential in the business.
“I would say the extra money probably contributed to about 25% towards my overall bills, so that got me thinking about scaling up what I was doing. However, I never thought I would be where I am today. I didn’t have any previous internet marketing experience. It was all just new to me”.
Ryan now uses his experience to help coach people new to the internet on how to get started making money online.
He says “Many would-be entrepreneurs can face a range of obstacles when trying to join the e-commerce revolution and many fall trap to what I call “information overload”. The internet is a fantastic resource. However, sometimes there is too much information for people to process, so it can often feel overwhelming, which discourages them from pursuing the venture.”
The course which Ryan has created called Online Income Solution breaks down starting an internet business into 6-Simple Parts and mainly focuses on making money via affiliate marketing.
Jason said “The internet itself is a wonderful resource packed full of valuable information on different ways to make money online. However, I believe people who are new to the internet can find all of the information out there a bit overwhelming, so using my past experiences of how I broke the stages down into a simple course. I also offer one-on-one coaching over the phone as part of my course. I wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to follow in my foot-steps and feel like I’m giving something back to the world.”
A recent article in the Guardian newspaper explored the benefits of the lucrative affiliate marketing business.
So it seems it’s not all bad news in the recession and with the broadband train running full steam ahead as government incentivised superfast services are rolled out across the country, surely there is only way direction internet businesses are headed and that’s up.