buying an established online business

[donaldbathe]

im interested in buying just about any type of lucrative established online business which i can only assume is recession proof. im new to online business industry and want to buy an established online business that deals particularly in united states dollars. i live all the way in argentina and although we dont officially use the u.s. dollar i dont think that, that should be an issue but this might be, The 5 Major Risks of Buying an Online Business | Inc.com (http://www.inc.com/curtis-kroeker/5-major-risks-of-buying-an-online-business.html) what kinds of established online businesses are truly lucrative and recession proof assuming we can even say that? how can i go about what kind of established online businesses are as recession proof as they come? can someone please help me because i have the capital but dont know what decision to make???????? rsvp. thank you.

[damienzero]

The truth is that no business is going to be 100% recession proof and lucrative. With every business there are going to be risks, ups and downs, and lots of struggle, its part of the game. After reading your post I got the impression that your focused on the money rather than creating a business out of passion. Which is fine there's nothing wrong with that but it will be 10x harder to manage a business that you have no interest in. The best advice I can give you is to gain some experience in the online business industry see if its something you want to get into first before spending your capital on an established business.

[Business Attorney]

I want to endorse everything damienzero said. There is NO risk-free business. No business is recession proof although some businesses do better in recessions than others. More importantly, recession is only one type of risk, and the article you cited names 5 other risks that are very real. The first risk identified in the article, unsustainable site traffic, is probably the most difficult to deal with, particularly if the site relies on organic search. Sites that have regular returning customers have less risk than those with purely transient customers, but even regular online customers often don't have the same degree of brand loyalty of brick and mortar customers. You have to know how to bring new customers to the site or you will eventually run out of customers.

[Harold Mansfield]

I concur with what has been said. Nothing is full proof or recession proof and there is nothing we can name that doesn't have challenges.
I can assume that you've never run an online business before or else you'd just build one.
A web based business and online marketing are the hardest types of business out there. It looks easy when you're only looking at successes, but it is not. If you really want a clear picture of just how hard it is, look at the graveyard.

Whatever business you decide to buy, if you don't know how to run it it will not make any money. If it's making money now, and you don't know how to keep it going and improve it, it will fail.

I suggest you get into a business that you know or at least have some experience in. "online" is not the business. It's the medium. You still need to know how to run the business. Fish don't just jump into your boat just because you finally got a boat.

[donaldbathe]

how do i gain online business experience even if i have capital in the millions? rsvp.

[Harold Mansfield]

how do i gain online business experience even if i have capital in the millions? rsvp.
You are free to contact anyone on the forum who has a sig and wants to be contacted. But I can't allow open solicitation or business on the forum.

You can't buy experience, but you can learn. I wouldn't suggest that you just hire someone to go out and find you an online business. That will just lose you a bunch of money. But it may not be a bad idea to speak with a consultant who can answer questions and guide you, maybe even help develop one of your ideas into an online business.

You still need to learn how to run it. You can pay all the people you want, but if you know nothing about the business and don't have your own ideas it will never work. Employees should follow your lead. Not come up with the entire business model.

[donaldbathe]

what do you think about lacoste online store by lacoste.com or the levis online store or maybe even nike online store too in your opinion? rsvp

[Harold Mansfield]

what do you think about lacoste online store by lacoste.com or the levis online store or maybe even nike online store too in your opinion? rsvp

What do you mean? Building an ecommerce site that sells these products? Or buying the companies? You're going to buy Nike?

[damienzero]

I agree with Harold Mansfield on this 100%, employees should follow your lead. Not come up with the entire business model. It seems like what you want is to buy an established online business, hire others with experience to run it, while you sit back and collect the riches gained from your recession proof and lucrative business. Even with your capital of "millions" you can't buy experience, passion, or leadership. The best advice I can give you is what I already said above, gain some experience in the online business industry see if its something you want to get into first before spending your capital on an established business.

[donaldbathe]

well, im not that lazy damienzero! i simply want someone with experience to help me run it because im putting away my pride and admitting that even i need help with this one! someone to show me the ropes and perhaps a bit of their leadership to make me a seasoned pro if you know what i mean. rsvp.

[donaldbathe]

but then damienzero, how do i gain that experience that youre telling me about then if you dont mind me asking? rsvp. thank you.

[damienzero]

I know what you mean donaldbathe, you want a mentor/partner, right? A mentor can help out a lot when it comes to sharing their knowledge in regards to experience and leadership. In order to gain your own experience look into an online business that doesn't require much capital or time to start. I can't help you out with much more since I deal with offline business. Nothing wrong with being lazy, most people are including me, the difference is how we choose to respond to it. By falling into temptation or choosing to fight it and get stuff done.

[Harold Mansfield]

You gain experience by working in an industry. Drawing on skills that you may have from other work that you have done.
Put up a couple of websites and get readers, or sell some products. If you can't figure out how to do it with one site on a small scale, or your own...you may at least learn enough about what it takes to succeed and have a better idea of where to put your resources.

But YOU need to understand it or else how will you know how to hire the right people to help you run it?

When I started as a web developer I didn't exactly know how to run a web design company. However, I'd worked in Hospitality for a number of years so I knew customer service, and I worked a brief time in a phone room for a time share company so I knew how to sell over the phone.

Those 2 things were half the battle. The business side was much easier to fine tune without having to also learn sales and customer service. And then I started learning about marketing. I know now that cause me to struggle more than I should have. I should have had a better understanding of marketing back then, but having sales and customer service experience allowed me to still get clients while I was learning.

Had I not had any of those skills, I would have failed.

Of course being able to do the work is important too. It's constant learning. Draw on the skills you have, and commit to learning the ones you don't. There is no such thing as sitting back and letting others run it.

This is why people around here always say that you don't go into a business that you know nothing about.

[donaldbathe]

in what way possible specifically can you help me out then? in what part of the world are you? rsvp.

[donaldbathe]

well lifes tough! whoever told you that it was gonna be easy? im putting away my pride and simply asking for help from other people, thats all....................... rsvp