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What Is the Online Equivalent of a "Boring But Stable" Offline Business?

MTF

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I agree that it can be done but wouldn't consider it. To put an arbitrary limit to it, I wouldn't do any location or role that isn't a typical salaried position. $500 for a listing is nothing compared to the $70k paid to the person. $100 a listing for someone you want to pay $1k for a quick project is hard to come to terms with.

Of course, that's coming from my perspective of American's looking to hire from an arbitrage position.

True, that makes a lot of sense.
 
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MTF

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Job boards.

Not sexy at all and there's room for more. If anyone's done any hiring using the big boys like Indeed, Monster, etc, you know that you have to sift through a lot of dog shit to find people to interview. People with 10 years of dishwashing experience applying to be a project manager for a healthcare architecture firm.

You create the source for healthcare architects, that only healthcare architects know about, you're in there like swimwear. Perkins + Will, HDR, HKS posting 10 roles a month each, the smaller firms posting because they see the big three there. Hyper niche so $300, $400, $500 per job post is hardly a dent in the hiring budget.

BTW, just a quick Google search showed healthcare architecture is a $1.5bn industry in the US. -> Healthcare Architecture Market Size, Share & Forecast 2025

I'm wondering how this could start from scratch. Because in essence it's a two-sided market. Job seekers won't come unless there are jobs. Employers won't offer jobs unless there are job seekers.
 

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I'm wondering how this could start from scratch. Because in essence it's a two-sided market. Job seekers won't come unless there are jobs. Employers won't offer jobs unless there are job seekers.
Job-seekers often signup to everything in the hope they can get a job.
 

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Job-seekers often signup to everything in the hope they can get a job.
And in the short term, hire some cheap VAs to scrape the existing job boards for relevant jobs, and repost them on to yours.
What business is going to complain that their job opening ended up on an additional site?
 
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G

Guest-5ty5s4

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I'm wondering how this could start from scratch. Because in essence it's a two-sided market. Job seekers won't come unless there are jobs. Employers won't offer jobs unless there are job seekers.
You make it work. Look at how MJ started this forum. He said he even “talked to himself.”

Post dummy listings. Make lots of accounts. Get things going on the site. Gotta think outta the box
 

Charnell

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I'm wondering how this could start from scratch. Because in essence it's a two-sided market. Job seekers won't come unless there are jobs. Employers won't offer jobs unless there are job seekers.
You go after employers first.

That's where the money's at. They're paying to post. Whether you draw them in with ads or outreach, you need that revenue coming in.

Then you take what they pay you and do whatever you can do to drive candidates to their listing. It's not like they're expecting results in a day. 30-90 days to fill a role.

You could initially scrape listings from other job boards to show it's populated for social proof, but I wouldn't do that indefinitely.
What business is going to complain that their job opening ended up on an additional site?
You'd be surprised, especially if you don't maintain them or put a shelf life on them like a week. SMB HR folks get upset when someone applies to their job listings that have already been filled, as though every applicant is doing deep research on the company and not just slangin' resumes.
 

Walter Hay

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I've thought a lot about selling niche products to businesses that resemble the one I've worked for all these years.
Trouble is, I know a lot about that business, but nill about ecommerce! Lol
Stick to offline.
While the majority of people are under the impression that you have to "be online" in order to run a successful and profitable businesses, that is simply not true.
Exactly! That very limiting tunnel vision is something that I have observed so often on the forum.
Sometimes websites and social media hurt a company more than they help. Like for a B2B company, having a Google listing where random people can leave reviews? Not good, because all of the reviews are nonsense.

And sometimes you’ll see photos posted by employees under the business, showing stuff from inside.

Just a headache. B2B customer marketing can be very different from consumer marketing, varying widely by industry, too.
In running my chemical business I found networking and referrals far more valuable than an online presence would have been.

When running my importing and B2B marketing business I used my online presence merely to serve as an online brochure. Marketing was done in person, via print Yellow Pages (Obsolete now) and Direct Mail. (Despite rumours to the contrary direct mail is alive and well.)

GENERAL OBSERVATION: Some of the B2B businesses suggested would gain almost nothing by being online.

Walter
 

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Anything to do with paralegal/legal stuff that's being done online right now. Heck, I was in law school for 2 years so I can sort of attest to the sheer boredom of legal jargon.

One friend of mine works purely with electronic signatures (e-sigs) as a fraud specialist. He works with an online business that basically does that; double-checking online contracts for any tampering with or fake e-sigs. He genuinely enjoys it but I personally find it way too monotonous lol.
 

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Themes for various platforms, like WP, Shopify, etc.
Web hosting.
And yea, ad management.
BUT ABOUT THE WEB HOSTING I THINK THERE ARE RETAILERS BUYING BULKS OF HOST FROM BIG WEB HOSTING COMPANIES THROUGH AFFLIATE MARKETING MAKING IT NOT OBEYING THE COMMANDMENT OF ENTRY
 
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MTF

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Bumping this as I've been thinking recently I'm just no longer fit for all these cool and sexy online businesses that require you to use social media, entertain people, and contribute to shortening society's already ridiculously short attention span.

I've been thinking recently about businesses aimed at seniors. Many of them love boring and stable and they don't expect silly memes, TikToks, and all that BS.
 

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Bumping this as I've been thinking recently I'm just no longer fit for all these cool and sexy online businesses that require you to use social media, entertain people, and contribute to shortening society's already ridiculously short attention span.

I've been thinking recently about businesses aimed at seniors. Many of them love boring and stable and they don't expect silly memes, TikToks, and all that BS.
I think you think way too much about this stuff. If you want to open a restaurant, open one. If you want to be a YouTuber, just go do it. If you don’t want to use TikTok, don’t do it. Don’t let all that external stuff make you start a business you don’t want to.
 

MTF

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I think you think way too much about this stuff. If you want to open a restaurant, open one. If you want to be a YouTuber, just go do it. If you don’t want to use TikTok, don’t do it. Don’t let all that external stuff make you start a business you don’t want to.

Can't help it, my number one job the past couple of years has been professional overthinking. I guess a lot of free time does that to a person.
 
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Andy Black

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Can't help it, my number one job the past couple of years has been professional overthinking. I guess a lot of free time does that to a person.
You can help it, if you think it will be help you.

Do you think it will be helpful to stop overthinking and be less scathing of the world around you?
 

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Can't help it, my number one job the past couple of years has been professional overthinking. I guess a lot of free time does that to a person.
But what you are not thinking is of the other side.

There are plenty of businesses that do well using social media and probably even more that do just as well not using social media. There are plenty that email their list daily and plenty that don't. You are just bias in your research.
 

MTF

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Do you think it will be helpful to stop overthinking and be less scathing of the world around you?

Overthinking can be useful as it can help you avoid a lot of mistakes. I tend to be rash so overthinking is my way of course correction.

As for less scathing - could be useful. I tend to be extreme in some of my views.

But what you are not thinking is of the other side.

There are plenty of businesses that do well using social media and probably even more that do just as well not using social media. There are plenty that email their list daily and plenty that don't. You are just bias in your research.

I don't know why but you have this weird ability of writing a succinct observation in a way that clears my head. Thank you for that. You made me realize something very useful.
 
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Bumping this as I've been thinking recently I'm just no longer fit for all these cool and sexy online businesses that require you to use social media, entertain people, and contribute to shortening society's already ridiculously short attention span.

I've been thinking recently about businesses aimed at seniors. Many of them love boring and stable and they don't expect silly memes, TikToks, and all that BS.

For you, I think it's more about remaining true to yourself rather than not being fit for/capable of doing "sexy" online business.

Excluding Buddhist monks, I'm probably one of the least materialistic people you'd ever meet. I also have a deactivated Facebook account, a blank Instagram account, and I've only visited TikTok twice for work. And yet, my work often involves pushing products I'm not too fond of, to people who think they "need" them, and on those same platforms.

It's kind of like being a drug dealer while simultaneously being opposed to drugs and crime.

You can imagine I feel quite conflicted about the whole thing, but something that helps me is that I bring my own energy when marketing. I don't go with the exact "standard" that people expect on these platforms, but I also don't necessarily go against it. I just do my own spin on it, which helps me feel authentic and satisfied with my work.

Something to keep in mind is that a lot of people MUCH older than us regularly use TikTok, too:

"TikTok, a social video app launched in 2016 used for sharing and creating video content, continues to grow in popularity. As of 2021, TikTok had a total of 78.7 million users in the United States."

Screenshot_123.png
 
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MTF

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I feel like newsletters may be an online equivalent of a boring but stable offline business. They aren't subject to the same algorithm changes as SEO, YouTube, or social media. You can build a list of customers and keep a relationship for many years.

I've been subscribed to some newsletters that have been running for decades and they're still doing super well. For example, Sovereign Man: Financial Independence & Offshore Living.

Then there are also similar newsletter-related business models like International Living - #1 Resource for Retiring, Living and Investing Overseas

And as a fun fact, newsletters as a business model have been sort of around since the Middle Ages:

In ancient Rome, newsletters were exchanged between officials or friends.[2] By the Middle Ages, they were exchanged between merchant families.[2] Trader's newsletters covered various topics such as the availability and pricing of goods, political news, and other events that would influence trade.[2] These commercial newsletters were in effect, the first "serious" outlet for news publishing, from which evolved newspapers.[2]

The first full "newspaper" was Relation of Strasbourg, printed in 1609 by Johann Carolus. Many rivals soon followed, such as the German Avisa Relation oder Zeitung and the Dutch Nieuwe Tijdingen.[2] By the end of the 17th century, several newspapers were established all across Europe, and were often translated into other languages.
 
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Black_Dragon43

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I feel like newsletters may be an online equivalent of a boring but stable offline business. They aren't subject to the same algorithm changes as SEO, YouTube, or social media. You can build a list of customers and keep a relationship for many years.

I've been subscribed to some newsletters that have been running for decades and they're still doing super well. For example, Sovereign Man: Financial Independence & Offshore Living.

Then there are also similar newsletter-related business models like International Living - #1 Resource for Retiring, Living and Investing Overseas

And as a fun fact, newsletters as a business model have been sort of around since the Middle Ages:
How do you know they’re doing super well?

I haven’t found email lists and newsletters to be as powerful as people claim, at least not for myself. I’ve run an email list this year, and I think maybe it led to 10 booked calls and 1 customer…

Compare this with social media that led to 1,000+ booked calls and 100+ customers.

I have around 1,000 subscribers, btw. Very niched, similar content to what’s pushed via social media. The issue seems to be that almost everyone ignores email nowadays. So with a newsletter / email list, it’s virtually impossible to stand out through the noise.

Yeah, you have more control… so what? If you can’t convert that control into attention, it’s useless. I almost NEVER open a newsletter. Always “mark as read” and be done with it.
 
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Project Management, you just find clients "Hey what do you need?", then you go and outsource an entire team to build the solution once you've secured a contract, and pocket the difference, anywhere you can play middleman, and use your sales skills its nothing but the difference in margin, your only job is to find and make deals.
 

Andy Black

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How do you know they’re doing super well?

I haven’t found email lists and newsletters to be as powerful as people claim, at least not for myself. I’ve run an email list this year, and I think maybe it led to 10 booked calls and 1 customer…

Compare this with social media that led to 1,000+ booked calls and 100+ customers.

I have around 1,000 subscribers, btw. Very niched, similar content to what’s pushed via social media. The issue seems to be that almost everyone ignores email nowadays. So with a newsletter / email list, it’s virtually impossible to stand out through the noise.

Yeah, you have more control… so what? If you can’t convert that control into attention, it’s useless. I almost NEVER open a newsletter. Always “mark as read” and be done with it.
I also do better on social media. I get quite a few DMs and some end up as Zoom calls.

I wouldn't want to push busy business owners to a newsletter when they might want to hire me.

I think newsletters can be good if your primary goal isn't to book calls though.

This was an interesting podcast:
 

MTF

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How do you know they’re doing super well?

I don't, I can only guess based on what I see on the outside.

I have around 1,000 subscribers, btw.

Well that's like spending $100 on Facebook Ads and saying it doesn't work.

1000 subscribers is very little to draw any conclusions. Also, you may be simply doing it wrong while your social media approach is more personalized.

I almost NEVER open a newsletter. Always “mark as read” and be done with it.

I'm surprised that out of all people you extrapolate your behaviors to the general public. You're very far from an average person so what you do has very little to do with what others do.

It's like a fitness and health junkie saying "I almost never eat fast food so fast food restaurants make absolutely no sense."
 
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I don't, I can only guess based on what I see on the outside.



Well that's like spending $100 on Facebook Ads and saying it doesn't work.

1000 subscribers is very little to draw any conclusions. Also, you may be simply doing it wrong while your social media approach is more personalized.



I'm surprised that out of all people you extrapolate your behaviors to the general public. You're very far from an average person so what you do has very little to do with what others do.

It's like a fitness and health junkie saying "I almost never eat fast food so fast food restaurants make absolutely no sense."
Well, I'm happy to learn and share my learning. If you want me to try a particular approach, let me know, I'll try it, and I'll update you on the results. And this goes for anyone else. If you have good ideas that you don't want to spend your time trying, give them to me, if I like them, I'll try them for you (in a way that's adapted to my biz), and let you know the results.

I'm just sharing my experience here, that's all. Didn't mean to attack you or anything, sorry if it came across like that.
 

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Well, I'm happy to learn and share my learning. If you want me to try a particular approach, let me know, I'll try it, and I'll update you on the results. And this goes for anyone else. If you have good ideas that you don't want to spend your time trying, give them to me, if I like them, I'll try them for you (in a way that's adapted to my biz), and let you know the results.

I'm just sharing my experience here, that's all. Didn't mean to attack you or anything, sorry if it came across like that.

No worries, I didn't feel attacked. Just wanted to provide a different perspective.

It's possible it doesn't work well for your particular use but it does work for others as evidenced by the companies I mentioned that have lasted 15+ years.

This Is Personal by Brennan Dunn may provide an approach that could work for you.
 

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Combining different (usually free) data sources and building a product on top of it. I will give an example in the energy / EV sector.

Use governmental data (demographics / income etc) with vehicle registrations (e.g. electric vehicles) combined with forecasted growth of EVs. Expose through platform with geospatial tool. Sell access to platform to local / regional government that are tasked with building infrastructure for EVs etc etc
 
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