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GO IT ALONE!

robust that it represents a quantum change in what was once available and in how entrepreneurs can go about starting new businesses. In part, this change levels the playing field between large companies and smaller ones. Amazingly, the business community has generally overlooked this huge change, effectively dismissing the idea of successful go-it-alone enterprises.

The Rise of the Application Service Provider (ASP)

The acronym ASP stands for application service provider. It’s important that you not be intimidated by this technical term. ASPs are essentially software transformed into easy-to-use on-demand services. For our purposes, an ASP can be simply defined as

A service of any kind (ranging from QuickBooks online to sales-force management systems such as Salesforce.com to automated credit-card authorization services to payroll management from companies such as ADP, to 401(k) management from companies such as Fidelity) that is available instantly via the Internet, where the user does not install or operate the underlying software and typically pays for the service on a subscription basis.

Several factors make ASPs significant. First, they are designed to be easy to use. Most ASPs are created for mainstream businesspeople who have neither the time nor the inclination to learn how to use difficult programs. Indeed, at the dawn of the Internet era, I wrote an award-winning newsletter that selected the best ASPs available for small businesses. I had one firm criterion for deciding on recommendations: Any ASP that took more than 10 minutes to learn was immediately disqualified!

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