Thinking Digital
Here’s the point of this post, for those who are in a hurry… 
The people who are most successful online are those who use the advantages of the medium to the maximum extent.
What does that mean? Well, it means you can’t think like a business that runs offline with “bricks and mortar”. You need to see this as a digital environment, and take advantage of that. Consider the size of your potential audience… millions and millions… that’s a phenomenal advantage over almost any other business. Consider the ease of creating and selling a digital product… a totally new way to sell information and software. Consider the ease of publishing, like this blog.
Let me introduce you to someone Bill Gates called, “one of the most dynamic people I have met”.. Richard Duvall. He set up the online bank egg.com in 1998 and they now claim to be the world’s largest online bank. By cutting out the traditional bank’s overheads, and allowing people to access their accounts online, Egg became a massive success.
Fast forward several years and Richard has launched Zopa.com (it stands for Zone of Possible Agreement). Basically, this is an online lending exchange where regular people can lend money to other regular people through Zopa. The lenders say what rate of interest they want and Zopa tries to match their offer to borrowers. This is a truly innovative way of using the digital medium to achieve a better way of lending and borrowing money. The rates are usually better for both parties because the overheads of Zopa are lower than traditional banks but, more than that, nine out of ten people prefer to borrow from other people and not banks, so Zopa brings lenders and borrowers together with a “human” face.
Consider other online systems that bring people together… ”peer to peer” music exchanges, online auction services and Internet phone calls. They make maximum use of the Internet’s ability to connect millions of people.
Currently Zopa is a UK system, but they’ve secured funding for a US launch. Remember, you heard about it here first… I hope.
If you’re in the UK and want to sign up as a lender or borrower, please let me know and I can invite you… which will earn us both £30. Just post a comment to this thread saying “invite please” and I’ll contact you.
So, egg.com and zopa.com are great ideas from one person. They work well because they are using the best advantages of the digital medium… the Internet… to provide a service at a better cost, and in a more convenient way, than has been done traditionally.
How can you apply those concepts to your online business? Are you trying to shoehorn a physical business online without adapting? Can you see a potential way to do an offline business better online? Are you missing opportunities by not thinking “digitally” enough? Only by making maximum use of the medium will you be most successful.
