I’ve noticed a slightly odd trend in the world of location independent and digital nomad businesses – it’s a reluctance or inability to discuss the business end of things.
By that I mean that, when asked, some digital nomads seem unable or unwilling to clearly articulate what their business actually does or is. They say they run one whilst travelling the world – but if they struggle to say what it is they actually do to earn their income, is it really a business or are they just kidding themselves?
The reason I’ve been pondering this question so much is that I’m deeply immersed in finishing off the location independent business course – due to launch next week (yes, I know it’s a bit last minute but I’m one of those people who works better under pressure!!).
I’ve been thinking about the definition of a business – and how that relates to the many online ventures that we digital nomads are involved in. Unsurprisingly, many of these ventures are web-based or website-based (there is a difference) and one of the conclusions I’ve come to is this…
Your venture (whether online or offline) is not a business if it doesn’t have the following properties:
- Commercial intent (i.e. the intent to receive monetary reward in exchange for the provision of a service/product)
- One or more clearly defined revenue streams
- A short, medium and long term strategic plan that is aimed at achieving an ultimate objective (usually focused around providing some sort of product/service to a set of customers)
If your project doesn’t have the above, then is it a business? Or is it a hobby? I think this is worth thinking about especially for bloggers – or more specifically those bloggers who are aiming to generate an income from their site.
There is a big difference between earning a bit of revenue from advertising, sponsorship & affiliate schemes on your site and running a blog-based business. Anyone can do the former, not everyone can do the latter.
The learning curve I’ve been on since focusing on turning the location independent blog into an actual business has been steep – and I’m still on it.
I’m learning that there’s a huge difference between running a blog as a hobby and running it as a business and it’s this distinction that I think many people still confuse – especially digital nomads and anyone who starts up a site hoping it’s going to be the business and revenue generator that will see them gallivanting around the world.
It won’t unless you run it like a real business.