Not every business is good to run on the internet. Some will cause you unnecessary stress, reduce your time, drain your energy, and provide little to no benefit in the end (despite your efforts).

Traditional businesses should undoubtedly move into the online space, and any company that isn’t already doing so will likely miss out on great opportunities.

However, starting a business online requires a completely different skill set, and acquiring the skills to work an online strategy (correctly) is another complex situation that needs a completely new set of skills to work.

To the reader, I would recommend learning about the different methods by which someone can sell products online. After 8+ years working online, I would highly recommend an automated business that does not require your active presence.

There is a huge difference between an Amazon Business where the owner packs & sends their own products, an Amazon Business where the owner works with FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon: this means Amazon stores & ships your products for you), and finally, a Merch by Amazon (MBA) business (100% automated, aside from designs & listings).

Same business, 3 different strategies:

1st Strategy: Highly active. Consumes most of your time. But product sales are automated by Amazon’s Marketplace (you don’t need to contact anyone to make sales because customers are coming to Amazon). There is a lot of work involved here, it’s basically like creating a full-time job for yourself, except you have to pay for it.

2nd Strategy: Mostly active. Consumes quite a lot of time. But product sales + postage is automated. However, you’ll still need to be active in order to send your products to Amazon’s warehouses. This likely includes labeling, packing, shipping, etc (to get your products in the warehouse). By negotiating with suppliers on Alibaba, a portion of this can be easier, but the workload is still highly active. This strategy is still very similar to the 1st strategy, but automating the product distribution phase is advantageous.

3rd Strategy: Not active, mostly passive. It will take a lot of work to set up this type of business, but once sales start coming through, it’s completely automated. You don’t need to continue doing much unless you intend on growing the business by adding more content/listings. I haven’t touched my MBA business in almost 2 years, and it’s still generating revenue. Sales are automated (organic traffic from Amazon’s Marketplaces), creation of the products is automated, shipping, postage, fulfillment, and distribution are automated, and payouts are automated as well.

Also, with the 3rd strategy, there are NO bills or liabilities. It’s a pure-profit business strategy, which means you don’t lose any money for setting it up.

In my opinion, from an investor's perspective, the 3rd strategy is very intelligent. Also, if you generate a decent amount of income, I would highly recommend buying more businesses (using the 3rd strategy) with the profits. It’s much easier to buy a business than it is to build one.