WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
In
this lesson, you will learn the three factors which assure us of
continued exponential
Internet growth. These three factors are: Moore's Law, acceptance of
digital environments,
and convergence. You will learn how these principles prove that Internet
marketing
will have exponential growth and exponential results for decades to
come. You
will learn how to best position yourself as a home-based entrepreneur to
take
advantage of the digital opportunities that lie ahead.
MOORE'S
LAW
Moore's Law describes the falling cost of digital
technology.
When my daughter was born in 1980, the price of the memory chip for a
home PC
was $1,000.00 (not the whole PC, mind you, just the memory). When my
daughter
was one year old, the same amount of memory cost only $500.00. When she
was three
years old, the price was $250.00. When she started the first grade, the
same amount
of memory cost only $62.50. When she graduated from high school in 1998,
the price
of that same amount of memory had fallen to less that $0.25. Now, as she
begins
her junior year in college, the cost for the same amount of memory as in
that
original PC is just pennies. I assure you that nothing else we have
purchased
over her lifetime has decreased in cost anything like that! We, of
course, upgraded
the amount of memory we used over the years. Each time we upgraded, we
spent about
the same amount of money but got more and more computing power. So, what
really
happened was that our computing power increased by four times every
three years
for the same cost.
Gordon Moore, one of the co-founders of Intel
Corporation,
made mathematical observations in the 1960's of the engineering
practices which
allowed miniaturization in semiconductor technology. This
miniaturization applies
to processors and other computer components as well as memory chips.
What he observed
mathematically is that computers can be made four times more powerful
every three
years for the same cost. Some argue that this same formula has held true
for a
full century, if you include the mechanical computers of the early
1900's and
the old-fashioned transistors that followed.
If you knew that you
could
get four times more raw materials every three years with no increase in
cost in
a given business, would you want to get into that business? The
overwhelming answer
everywhere is, of course, a resounding "yes!"
All businesses,
even traditional brick and mortar businesses, must market their goods
and services.
Because businesses look for the lowest cost to perform their processes,
more and
more marketing information and marketing processes, even for
brick-and-mortar
businesses, will become digital.
Moore's Law ensures that Internet
businesses,
especially Internet marketing, will continue to grow and flourish at an
astounding
rate. Will Moore's Law continue to hold true in the future? Can
engineers keep
making computer chips cheaper? Intel's engineers assure us that Moore's
Law will
continue to operate for several more device generations, if not
indefinitely.
(http://developer.intel.com/technology/itj/q41998/articles/art_1.htm)
ACCEPTANCE OF DIGITAL
ENVIRONMENTS
The
next factor that ensures continued growth for Internet businesses is the
acceptance
by consumers of digital environments. People have taken to Cyberspace.
Despite
the many predictions to the contrary, people have warmed up to digital
environments
with enthusiasm. Many Web communities have been formed and their
participants
report feeling all warm and cozy in those digital environments.
Participants have
developed a strong sense of identity with some of the digital
communities. As
Moore's Law continues to operate, our technology becomes more and more
capable
of producing engrossing digital environments in which even larger
numbers of people
will enthusiastically participate. Online communities are forming in
much the
same way that communities have formed in the physical world throughout
history—only
much faster. The success stories of Yahoo! and eBay and others make it
pure folly
to think that brick-and-mortar business will go on as usual, unaffected
by the
Internet.
CONVERGENCE
The
third factor assuring a prosperous future for Internet entrepreneurs is
convergence.
Simply defined, convergence is the coming together of separate things.
Convergence
is now occurring at both the industry level and the consumer level. On
the industry
level, computing, communications, and media companies are merging to
form such
multimedia ventures as MSNBC and Disney's Go Network. On the consumer
level, new
devices are being used to combine computing with phones and televisions.
In the
very near future, consumers will replace their phones, TVs, and PCs with
one central
media center (which may have several satellite devices for convenience
and portability).
Even our money is fast becoming digital, as we have automatic bank
deposits of
our earnings while we buy things with credit and debit cards. What this
means
is that digital products and processes become more and more important as
the Internet
gets closer and closer to people's everyday lives.
THE
POTENTIAL
These three factors—Moore's Law, acceptance of digital
environments, and convergence—assure us that the potential of the
Internet
for the home-based entrepreneur is nothing less than incredible. In
fact, the
belief in these three factors has been driving our economy for some time
now.
Venture capitalists are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into
purely digital
ventures. In the digital world, the large corporations have to compete,
not just
with each other but also with the home-based entrepreneurs. The large
conglomerates
no longer have the exclusive advantage. Given the low cost of computing
power,
individual entrepreneurs now have at their disposal the raw materials to
develop
digital products and processes and make them available to the world.
Even more
importantly, individual entrepreneurs can band together in digital
environments
(such as SFI's Full-Circle Success) to combine their skills and
knowledge and
use convergence to their advantage in a very efficient way, rivaling the
large
companies with the results.
HOW
TO POSITION
YOURSELF
To obtain convergence, you must bring together
computing
power, media content, and information processing. To obtain the
economies of scale,
you should position yourself within a digital community where resources
can be
shared. Despite the low cost of computing, there is still power in
numbers with
regard to media content and information processing. To position yourself
as a
marketer for one of the fastest growing digital communities in existence
is without
doubt the smartest move you could possibly make right now. Having done
that, you
can use your individual creativity, skills, and resources in an
environment of
freedom employing the low cost computing power at your disposal to
obtain your
financial goals. Due to the three factors discussed in this lesson,
there is an
unprecedented opportunity available to you right now as an SFI
affiliate. You
have but to take advantage of it.
WHAT'S
COMING NEXT
This lesson introduced you to the big
picture. True
success, however, is in the details. Beginning with our next lesson,
"Introduction
to Internet Traffic Patterns," we will begin to address the details you
need
to master in order to become a successful e-commerce entrepreneur. In
that lesson,
we will start you thinking about how traffic flows across the Internet.
Understanding
those traffic patterns is crucial to your ability to interact with
Internet traffic
in a successful way.
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