So, we’ve spoken about portable business here at Third Millennium Man. They’re referred to in several of our articles on our lovely website. We’ve even published a book on one that could earn you as much as twelve million a year.
So it’s high time we explained what they are.
For those of you that need it – we think it’s important to point out that a portable business is not the same as a mobile business. Third Millennium Man isn’t about to suggest that you drive a ice cream van for a living, become a local plumber or that it’s time you got yourself a paper round. Nothing wrong with those professions of course, but our plans for you are much bigger than that.
The definition of a portable business.
What we’re talking about is a portable business, as in a business you can run from anywhere. You don’t have a commute to a place of work – you don’t even have a place of work.
Your portable business is probably going to be a business that’s based online, simply because that’s the most convenient way to make it work. Not in every case – there were portable businesses long before computers were even invented. But the convenience afforded by modern mobile phones and laptops mean they are playing a greater role in the portable business world.
Think about this concept of a portable business for a second. Just think, a business that can be run from absolutely anywhere. If you have a portable business you can run from your laptop, you can conduct some business and put your laptop away into your bag. Grab that bag, jump on a plane with it, fly to a whole other part of the world. When you arrive in your hotel, you can get your laptop out of your bag and carry on with your business where you left off. Who even needs an office?
This has its advantages, inasmuch as you don’t have to have an office to go to. You don’t need one. If you don’t have a place of work, you no longer have to commute. Your commute is now from your bedroom, down to a beautiful shaded table down at the beach where there’s already a coffee waiting for you. You can do your work at a bar, or where you’ve got an excellent view to inspire you.
Use the tools.
To assist your portable business, you can have your documents and all the resources you need on a secure and encrypted server. And speaking of encryption, it would be a smart move to protect yourself as much as possible with the tools you have available. Forget Windows and iOS and all their spyware, upgrade your computer to a Linux operating system. We’ll talk more about this later, as it’s one of a range of sensible IT precautions that apply to any portable business.
It’s important that as much of your portable business is as automated as it can be. For example, if somebody places an order with your portable business, arrange things so that a ‘thank you for your order’ email goes out immediately and automatically. Make sure the order is processed automatically. The more of your business that’s automated, the less need there is for you to intervene. It lessens the potential for mistakes. And if you don’t need to be involved in the process, then the number of orders you can handle are unlimited and the earning potential of your business is unlimited. An automated portable business means less daily effort from you, yet a greater potential reward.
So let technology do the work for you. If you do the actual work (as a Writer, for example) and the most the people will pay you is £25 pounds per hour, then your earnings are capped. People will not pay you more than this if they can get the same work elsewhere. There have also only so many hours per week. Therefore the most you can ever earn is twenty five pounds, multiplied by the number of hours you’re prepared to work. That doesn’t sound like much fun. If your business is automatic and scalable however, your earnings are unlimited.
Examples of a Portable Business
Back in the old days, portable businesses were commonplace. Workmen such as thatchers and stonemasons would wander around with their tools, picking up work where they could find it. Preachers and holy men would roam and spread their word. Swordsmiths, milliners, healers and entertainers would go wherever the money is.
But that was then, this is now.
You can still do any of those if you wish. But here’s a few, we think better suggestions of what a portable business is capable of in the Third Millennium AD.