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With the invention and boom of internet, digital businesses sound like a brilliant idea and by now, it is also proven that the digital industry holds high potential when it comes to starting and managing a business.

If you don’t believe, the examples are all around you. Previously in the last era, we only had companies like Linux who didn’t believe in the traditional way of operating a business. Linux didn’t even have an office as all the employees used to work online. Then social media happened.

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With the invention of companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, SnapChat, Twitter and Uber, it is no more a dream to establish a billion-dollar digital company on your own. The best part about planning a digital company is that you do not even need an office space for the business. You can simply operate it from your home using one single laptop.

This article is not about the benefits of starting a digital business. We believe, you already know that and that is why you are here reading this article.

However, we can sum it up in one short paragraph for the confused readers who are unsure of how beneficial digital businesses are. A digital business does not require heavy initial investments as it is more of an idea. Giant billion dollar companies which operate in the digital industry today started from as small as $100 and some companies run on donations even today such as Wikipedia. With low investment, you also have the opportunity to target people from all around the globe. It is the Internet that we are talking about here. You do not have to worry about a physical shop location that the people from another part of the city will not know about your business. You can target the whole world as your customers if you want to.

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Now, it is time to talk about the most important part of this article which is how you can source the idea to establish a digital business. Before going any further, we have to first understand what exactly a digital business is. A digital business is a business where your customers can order things digitally and you have the option to either serve them with a service or deliver them your product manually. So for example, Amazon is a digital company and so is Google. Where Amazon provides goods, Google offers services.

Now, how to actually source ideas for your digital business? It is a difficult task which you will have to understand and you need to give it enough time too. There are several steps but the first question you need to answer is whether you want to get into the product industry or the service industry.

An example of a product industry will be delivering cat food to people. On the other hand, a service business can be selling eBooks online for example. You have to figure out whether you want to deal with tangible goods or not. A tangible good will always cost you money in terms of product managing, inventory, shipping and so on. On the other hand, a service also has its trouble. For example, if you are a business that delivers logo for other companies then you have to deal with designers and clients at the same time. It is not an easy task to understand those abstract needs from your clients and then make your designers understand what the clients wanted in the first place.

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After you have decided whether you want to deal with tangible products or intangible services, it is time to fix the industry. Now, don’t be emotional when you are fixing an industry. You have to choose something that has potential and for which people will pay you digitally. So for example, if you want to sell real estate online then that might not be the best idea as people want to see and examine houses before they buy. Some people go one step further and hire people to do analysis and to find opportunities. We don’t recommend that though because starting a business at the end of the day is your decision and you have to do it on your own.

Select the industry that you want to get into. Don’t go too wide too soon but always keep the bigger picture in mind. Let’s assume you figured out that one out of six Americans own a dog and they all need dog foods. So you have decided to start an eCommerce website about dog food which is a pretty good strategy. Now, should you pick a domain name that only concentrates about dog food? The answer is no! You should always keep the bigger picture into consideration. May be you want to proceed towards dog toys next year. If you start with a brand name called Dog Food Maniac then you won’t be able to do so next year, right? So keep it general and try to create a brand out of it.

After you have figured out the industry, it is time to setup a plan. Remember, it is not possible to succeed with a business without a proper plan. Your plan should have a short term and a long term strategy. The long term will complement your vision statement where the short term strategy will try to solve your immediate needs.

Figure out a marketing plan. As you are going to operate in the digital industry, there is no point in going for analog marketing. If you are not familiar with marketing tools such as Facebook Advertisement, Google PPC, then hire a digital marketer to the tasks for you. Be creative and try to differentiate your business as much as you can.

From the very first day, try to gather leads for your business. Remember, the stronger data you have of customers, the more is the chance to do well in your business. From this step, everything is a lot like a traditional business. Try to focus on your operations to make sure that you don’t spend too much money for no reason. Try to be active in all social media and try to stay as close as possible to your potential consumers.

If you can do these things right, there is no reason that why you won’t be able to start and manage a successful digital business.