Personally, I rather like the classic definition of business--" a usually commercial or mercantile activity engaged in as a means of livelihood."

I think it still plays as well today as it did centuries ago. It's timeless.

What does commercial or mercantile mean in this day and age? A good deal of business on the net is about knowledge--information--there's no product in the old sense, no manufacturing, and no objects that you can point to or hold in your hand. Much of it is ephemeral, and constantly in a process of change. Myspace may make its owners rich, but it has no real existence. Turn off the internet and it ceases to exist. Not only that, but sites like Myspace are becoming a way for people other than the owners and advertisers to make money from it. Does the old vocabulary prevent people from seeing how very different the world is now? Does it prevent them from making the best uses of it because they're tied to old concepts?

I agree with that definition, however, most people restrict their concept of a business by imposing physicality upon it.

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Upon reflection, 99.9999999 percent of this vast, virtually limitless, universe is 'unreal' by any stretch of the imagination. Contemporary physics is painfully aware of that. And yet, normally, we have no problem with that issue. But here, in cyber-space, right now, we are wrestling with the implications, are we not?

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At this very moment, a few brave individuals are producing sound-tracks, audio & video inhanced XHTML / CSS, motion pictures and by the grace of God, eBooks, eZines etc., etc., and by-passing, ignoring entirely the usual band of distributors. They are publishing directly in a completely digital or non-tangible forms.

( I wholeheartedly agree it's time to re-brand all these labels, If only because that motion-picture I just downloaded appears to be quite tangible to me, even though it is quite 'virtual' in nature )

This is quite within our grasp, and at this very moment, with the tools we have at hand.

See Links Here For Examples You Can Use

We just need to assemble the right team ...

" In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream."

Unusual,I am reminded of that quote from Wittgenstein, I believe, " Philosophy is the battle against bewitchment of the mind by means of language." Western language can be quite restrictive and I believe we must be quite vigilant with regard to our use, certainly our dependance upon it.

Miller's right. The classical definition imposes no particular form, physical or otherwise, on a business.

The Internet has not changed the need for balance sheets, business plans, management methods and the like. Ignore them and you go broke.

Lawyers and brokers, among others, have been selling intangibles for centuries, so that kills the Information-Age-is-so-unlike-anything-before-it line.

I like unusualsuspect's notion of lots of small passive income streams. Owning 10-12 driving ranges and car washes that throw off $70-80K/yr. until the land is sold for a higher use is a decidedly old-school example of that very idea. Part, or all, of his Ebook/blog/website combo could be sold years after it had provided him with loose change. Its value would depend on classical measures, of course. It's a business, remember?

Don't get snared by hype. The Internet is just a big billboard with a cashier's window beneath it and a warehouse behind it. It works, but it's just like Wal-Mart in all the important ways.

The IRS had a very simple answer as to how to determine if an endeavor was a business: If after 5 years there is no profit then it is considered a hobby.

It's really rather simple. Do you intend to make a profit? if yes, it's a business. if no, it's a hobby.