It's easier to start a business now than at any time in our history. And it's not just the fashionable, highly funded tech startups I see popping up across Asia, but also individuals selling their services and creations. From freelance designers and programmers to personal trainers, tutors and therapists; blog shops to artists and everything in between.
In 2014, e-commerce by one-man-bands, sole proprietors or "personal businesses" in SEA has grown by 60% and the growth rate is expected to continue into 2015 and beyond. It's clear that personal businesses are blossoming, but what's driving this revolution?
Getting Set Up is Now so Simple
Think back to the old days. Some time back, if a personal trainer wanted to leave his corporate gym and "go it alone," he needed to visit a government office to register his business, find a designer to make a logo, buy ads in a newspaper and put leaflets up around town. He needed to rely on clients like me to spread the word about him to their friends and colleagues. He got paid in cash or by check and sat down at the end of each month and manually handled his accounting.
Now you can register your business online, use a service like 99designs.com to get your logo designed, setup a website in minutes using a service like squarespace.com or simply create a Facebook page. To get clients you can run a highly targeted ad campaign on Facebook, and once you start getting satisfied customers, use social media to broadcast their recommendations to anyone with an internet connection.
Today, low startup costs combined with the ability to reach and engage with a large cross-border consumer base represent an unprecedented opportunity for personal businesses.
Small and Personal is Big with Consumers
When it comes to buying online, consumers are getting personal. They rely on reviews from people like themselves, they search for and buy unique products crafted or curated by individuals to better express their identity and they are using forums and communities to find recommendations and buy services direct from people rather than faceless companies. And as the internet has made this kind of buying behaviour easier, demand within the personal business economy is hotting up.
Best of Both Worlds
And the story gets better for personal businesses. Lately, there's been a democratization in the online marketing, business and eCommerce technology space. Affordable, cheap or even free services mean that now, one person can do things that a few years back were within reach of only the largest organisations. A single person can run a full fledged email marketing campaign complete with customized messaging to different audience segments, they can host large amounts of data in the cloud, automate their invoicing, set up a secure and robust payment gateway and choose from a large array of shopping carts and industry grade out-of-the-box eCommerce platforms. Personal businesses now have the advantage of a human face backed by the power of industrial-grade tools.
We are the People Economy
I believe that in today's People Economy, no business is too small to succeed. Capital is no longer an absolute requirement. Have a look at Freelancer.com to get a glimpse at some of the personal business out there. At PayPal we project that personal businesses will be the biggest players in the world of e-commerce for decades to come.