Quote:
Originally Posted by Sliver
In the same way the Internet has made the world smaller for sellers, it has made the world smaller for buyers, though.
Twenty years ago, 15 years ago and even 10 years ago local people would buy from me all sorts of things you can just get off Amazon now. There are products I'd sell by the hundreds at $30 each in 2005 that I can't even get $8 for now. Every year I shrink my products because as soon as Amazon starts selling a competitive product I have to bail. There's no hope of competing and, frankly, how can you blame the customer? He's doing his shopping laying in bed watching his shows versus driving around Calgary to pay more for something that Amazon will deliver to his door for free.
For my financial planning I'm just valuing my business at $0 for when I want to retire. We still do fine as we manufacture a lot of custom products, but there are so many things that we used to make that people will now opt for a cheaper, less customized, worse quality version because they're saving 90%. I do the same thing, so I'm not upset. Just the way the world works.
But yeah, if you can sell all over the world then that means buyers can buy from all over the world. You need to have a very special niche to attract buyers and if your thing is that great then guaranteed somebody somewhere will eventually find a cheaper way to do it to undercut you, or at least be competitive enough that your margins start shrinking to the point where you need to question the effort you put forth to sell it.
There will be exceptions and there is always the opportunity for success, but your competitors are global now, no matter how small and weird your niche. This is relatively new territory for your average small business owner. I'm surprised you'd disagree with Fuzz. I don't know many small business owners who would agree with you.
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I think services are probably more sustainable on average than products for the reasons you mention. Or possibly products with a high service component. Something that comes with design or installation, or custom orders as you mention. If you manufacture streamers/confetti China ate your lunch like 30 years ago - but a high end wedding planner isn't subject to foreign competition.
I do think part of my opinion is that running a business has always required hard work, creativity, and smarts. That hasn't changed, it was hard work before and it's hard work now. The challenges are different than they were 50 years ago or even 10 years ago. It's sort of like the "kids these days" people - kids haven't changed, you're just old for thinking that.
I do agree that small businesses are less likely to have long term sale value, and I also assume $0 for my business for my retirement planning. Things are changing fast enough that probably something happens that nerfs it somehow in the next 20 years.