Build-Your-Virtual-Business.aspx

In this age of instant communications and Web-based business services, there’s more than one way to start and build a business. If your budget and time are limited, and potential partners or co-workers are widely dispersed, a good model to consider is to operate as a “virtual business” where most of the business structure exists online.

The virtual business movement has transformed how millions of small, successful firms operate in America. Under the virtual model, business owners outsource nearly everything—including people and partners who may be anywhere—to create their company. The technologies and Web-based services to tie it all together are becoming more sophisticated, but less expensive all the time, helping fuel the move to virtual existence.

But while the absence of a traditional office might change how you manage your business and the people who work for you, it doesn’t eliminate the need for doing so effectively. Staying connected and working in unison are vital to virtual success. Cell phones, e-mail, follow-me-anywhere messaging and shared workspaces on the Web can keep it all running smoothly.

With people interacting only electronically from remote locations and little if any face-to-face contact, you will need to make an extra effort to foster trust and bonding between individuals involved. Talk by phone, use Web conferencing and try to meet in person on occasion.

Leverage the strengths that a virtual business affords, including flexibility, such as offer short turnaround, low overhead to keep costs lower than the competition; and competence by touting the credentials of your virtual partners.

The Microsoft Small Business Center at www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness is a portal site that offers nearly everything you’ll need to get up and running. This site has been reinvented as a suite of small business tools and services such as Web marketing, payment processing, online catalog creation, shopping cart, list building, banner ads and search engine submission.

HotOffice.com, and several others specialize in offering virtual small businesses Web space and handy tools to communicate, collaborate and get things done, while Yahoo Small Business, http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com, and BigStep.com offer an extensive lineup of tools and services to help establish a virtual retail business quickly and inexpensively.

Whether you operate virtually or in the bricks-and-mortar world, the small business experts at SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" can help. SCORE is a nonprofit organization of more than 10,500 volunteer business counselors who provide free, confidential business counseling and training workshops to small business owners. Call the Greater Woodinville Chamber of Commerce at (425) 481-8300, or 1-800/634-0245 for the SCORE chapter nearest you, or find a counselor online at www.score.org.