The World Is Flat

worldisflat

In his ground breaking work, The World Is Flat, Thomas Friedman delves into the powerful leverage available today through technology.

Whilst most of us where “sleeping” forces were converging that have made it now possible to free one’s life from the tyranny of a fixed location. These forces Friedman calls “the world flatteners.”

[A few of] The World Flatteners:

  • The web browser
  • Workflow software
  • Open Source
  • Outsourcing
  • Offshoring
  • Supply Chaining

If you are keen about web tech, the ideas in Flat World will be familiar to you.  My internet experiments and crash courses in web development and internet marketing have brought me face to face with these converging forces and the extraordinary leverage they offer.

What is really exciting is that it is now possible, through the convergence of forces like the ones listed below, to build a location-free business - a business that doesn’t tie you to one place.

  1. Outsourcing
  2. Insourcing
  3. Open source
  4. Software as a Service (SaaS)
  5. Original Design Manufacturing (ODM, also called “private labelling”)
  6. Digitisation

Here are some examples of these forces and how they empower:

Outsourcing: virtual assistants to handle tasks in your personal and business life

Insourcing: UPS business solutions/dropshippers to handle your logistics, inventory, etc.

Open source (my favourite): wordpress (and other CMS), linux, apache, mysql, and php have GREATLY levelled the playing field for success in business.

SaaS: Freshbooks, Outright, Google Apps. Web-based software is revolutionising business. It is possible to power the entire backend of a business on SaaS and run that business from anywhere with an internet connection. I have a whole website dedicated to this phenomena, backsaas.com

ODM: Cafepress, Spreadshirt, etc. ODM has been around for awhile but the web adds new ease and automation to the ODM game.

Digitisation: By this I mean (among other things) the increasing sophistication of devices/applications and the decreasing cost of capacity (Moore’s law) and bandwidth. For example, it is easier than ever to digitise one’s photos and other documents (to create a more mobilised and digital life) - flickr, picasa, shoeboxed. Also voip (voice over internet protocol), like skype and google voice, make keeping in touch from the other side of the world easy and cheap.

The end result, if one builds right, is a business requiring little money to start that can bring you income without tying you (as traditional business/work does) to a certain place.

There is so much more that can be said about this book and even more about the concepts it presents. I will definitely be touching on it more on this site.

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