Breaking the Chains of Trading in Physical Products

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Business Models for Non-9-to-5'ers in the Modern Economy

A big part of the Say No! to the Office philosophy is that life-changing, freedom-giving small businesses are not only, or even mainly, about new ways to make money on the internet. We’re convinced that even the most ‘physical’ of enterprises can be brought into the digital age with the tools and services that are currently available. But what to do about moving those pesky boxes from A to B?

If you’re running a small business that buys, sells or manipulates physical goods, chances are that you’ve got your own warehouse (unless you’re using the dining room) and you’re doing a fair amount of the legwork (picking, packing, receiving incoming orders, cleaning, driving etc.) yourself. If you’ve got employees that do the physical work for you, you probably still spend a fair amount of time managing them.

Outsourcing warehousing and associated operations is a key part of freeing your business and yourself from the demands of being in a certain place at a certain time and is vital in the transformation of a traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ operation into a liberating lifestyle business.

Can you imagine setting off on a 6-month trip around the world with the worry of how your delicate wicker baskets are getting into your customers hands? Or getting an 8 am call on your VoIP phone from an angry trucker who is sitting outside your lock-up? Getting the pros to take care of your fulfilment chain, if managed right, can mean liberation from the limitations of trading in physical products.

Of course, you may choose not to trade in physical products in the first place. Online business gurus are now preaching the virtues of digital products and services - downloads that don’t require shipping; consultancy that can be done over the phone or email; freelance web design etc. The attraction of these virtual businesses in the technological era is the perceived freedom they bring. But for those of us stuck with a traditional business, dealing in buying and selling goods, ‘virtualisation’ is impossible without appropriate outsourcing.

Furthermore, with the fast approaching saturation of ‘digital markets’, the good, old-fashioned idea of selling a physical product might just be set for a comeback. Since just about every aspect of trading in physical products is more complex than a virtual business, the barriers to entry are much higher, so the long-term possibilities of overwhelming competition from emerging entrepreneurs are lower. Consider the challenges: product sourcing and financing, storage, transportation, packaging, distribution, faulty products, returns, customer service - the list is never ending and quite intimidating at first glance.

Far from a turn off to would-be virtual entrepreneurs though, this list is a call to arms. Set up your system and processes correctly, with the most appropriate third-party partners, and you can run a physical goods business from the Bahamas just as easily as any ‘make money online’ venture, only with the advantage of having a solid, traditional business model that is less easily swayed by the whims of the web and its constant innovation.