What is Cyberpreneurship?
By: Ejaz Alam | Topic: Cyberpreneurship
Cyberpreneurship means any business or financial activity that takes place in cyber through a computer and internet and cyberpreneur is the person who earns through this mean. It is the new name given to the online business that is carried out by webmasters and affiliate marketers.
The term cyberpreneur is a neologism and portmanteau derived from the words "cyber" and "entrepreneur". A cyberpreneur is generally an entrepreneur who owns an online business that makes money selling software, hardware or advertising space on the internet through his website or blog.
Cyberpreneurship, also known as online entrepreneurship or digital entrepreneurship, refers to the practice of starting, managing, and growing a business using the internet and digital technologies.
It involves leveraging the power of technology, the internet, and online platforms to create, market, and sell products or services.
Cyberpreneurs utilize various online business models and strategies to establish their ventures. They may create and sell digital products like e-books, online courses, software, or apps.
Alternatively, they may engage in e-commerce by setting up online stores, dropshipping, or running a marketplace on platforms like Amazon or Shopify.
Cyberpreneurs also leverage digital marketing techniques to promote their businesses and reach a global audience. This can involve using social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, email marketing, and other online advertising methods.
The advantages of cyberpreneurship include the ability to reach a wide customer base, operate with lower overhead costs compared to traditional businesses, and have greater flexibility and scalability.
However, it's important to note that cyberpreneurship also comes with its own challenges, such as fierce competition, rapidly evolving technologies, and the need for continuous adaptation and innovation.
Successful cyberpreneurs often possess a combination of business acumen, digital literacy, creativity, and adaptability. They stay updated with the latest digital trends and technologies and are willing to take calculated risks in the online business landscape.
Overall, cyberpreneurship represents the entrepreneurial pursuit of leveraging the internet and digital tools to build and grow successful businesses in the digital age.
One of the biggest advantages of cyberpreneurship is that you can build a "real" company without fancy office space, mahogany furniture and slick corporate attire. Today there are number of successful bloggers and internet marketers making 6 figure incomes with the help of computer and internet.
To understand the concept of cyberpreneurship or online entrepreneurship lets see the definition of the two words from which this term is invented:
Entrepreneur Definition
Entrepreneur is an individual who, rather than working as an employee, runs a small business and assumes all the risk and reward of a given business venture, idea, or good or service offered for sale. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as a business leader and innovator of new ideas and business processes.
Source: Investopedia
Entrepreneur: Someone who exercises initiative by organizing a venture to take benefit of an opportunity and, as the decision maker, decides what, how, and how much of a good or service will be produced. An entrepreneur supplies risk capital as a risk taker, and monitors and controls the business activities. The entrepreneur is usually a sole proprietor, a partner, or the one who owns the majority of shares in an incorporated venture.
Source: Business Dictionary
Cyber: A prefix that means "computer" or "computer network," as in cyberspace, the electronic medium in which online communication takes place. A combining form meaning “computer,” “computer network,” or “virtual reality,” used in the formation of compound words ( cybertalk; cyberart; cyberspace)
Cyberspace: Imaginary, intangible, virtual-reality realm where (in general) computer-communications and simulations and (in particular) internet activity takes place. The electronic equivalent of human psyche (the 'mindspace' where thinking and dreaming occur), cyberspace is the domain where objects are neither physical nor representations of the physical world, but are made up entirely of data manipulation and information.
These were the two definitions from different sources, now if we analyze them closely we come to the following conclusions:
1. Cyberpreneur is a person who carries out business activity with the help of internet and computer that includes but not limited to website, e-commerce platform, blog, affiliate marketing, selling advertising space, selling e-books or other software, freelancing etc.
2. A business activity is commonly known as entrepreneurship and a business activity in the cyberspace is known as cyberpreneurship or online entrepreneurship. In other words it is a sort of dot com lifestyle as told by John Chow.
It is very attractive indeed because online business doesn’t require lot of infrastructure and expenditure as it is in conventional business. As more and more people are getting connected to the internet worldwide so the future of cyberpreneurship is extremely bright so if you are looking for a way out of your dead-end career, then declare yourself a an online entrepreneur or cyberpreneur.
Examples of Cyberpreneurship
If you read the definition of cyberpreneur closely, it says, ‘a person who carries out business activity online’, so the examples of cyberpreneurs are:
- Owners of e-commerce stores those sell products online.
- Pro-bloggers, mean the blog owners who earn their living from their blogs by using different income means. (More on it later)
- Affiliate marketers, who earn through marketing of products and services of other companies on commission.
- Online stock and forex traders, who work online and trade stocks, forex and commodities.
- Freelancers who provide services to others also fall in the category of a cyberpreneur.
- SEO consultant agencies, we hosting and domain registration companies, website designers can also be termed as cyberpreneurs or semi-cyberpreneurs. The word semi is added because they may also need some sort of offline infrastructure also for public dealing.
Since most of their business activities are online so we can add them to the list.
- Youtubers who own a YouTube channel that earns advertising/sponsorship revenue can also be called online entrepreneurs.
- People selling downloadable goods like software, e-books and applications etc. are also an example of a cyberpreneur.
* Companies like Amazon, Alibaba, Google, Facebook etc. are perfect examples of cyberpreneurship.