Today I went to the local shops, to get a bracelet repaired.  There is a jeweller who makes her own stuff on the premises, using beads, pearls and silver.  The products range in price from £15 to £150.  The shop rent is probably £200 a week, and rates are £75 on top of that.  The electricity bill could be up to £30 a week, making the fixed outgoings at least £300 per week – say £50 per day.  Today, on a glorious sunny afternoon  in our tourist town, no customers came into the shop in the fifteen minutes I was there.  Other times I have been to the shop, I have always been the only customer.  To cover the outgoings the business needs sales of £200 a day and I saw no hint of any paying customers coming through the door. The business owner has invested time and money in the company, she is makiing the jewellery herself every day and paying the fixed business costs.  That business must be operating at a loss.

My online blogging business cost me $8 to set up, my fixed business overheads total about $5 a week for hosting and domain name registration.  Sure there are quiet days when I do not make many sales, but I am not mortgaged to the hilt so there is no financial downside to this internet marketing model.