Introduction
The lanes of the Information Superhighway are tangling and twisting, quickly mutating things. They are not going out to one place, like the common image of the road ahead; they are sprawling in every direction at once like suburban sprawl.
Ask any developer: Suburban sprawl is what the people want. And, best of all, it's where tremendous opportunity lies. It's where we all want to go; it's ten million destinations in the blink of an eye.
It's the Internet, and it's part of us now.
What is an ISP?
ISPs started as a way to get individuals access to the Internet.
Now, they do that and much more: Connect individuals and businesses to the net; design web pages; write custom software; consult with businesses; and much more.
It is my view that the conventional ISP market of individuals is unlikely to be profitable for most people entering at this time. Many people have started thriving businesses based on this idea; but now it's more the formerly auxillary efforts such as web pages and electronic commerce, which dominate the universe of small companies.
Why might you want to become an ISP?
A love for tinkering with computers; a desire to use your marketing skills in a growing market; or, better yet, a combination of the above.
Why might you not want to become an ISP?
Constant change can produce high and unacceptable levels of stress in many people; if you're one of them, you shouldn't be in this business.
Anyone who thinks this is a "get rich quick" scheme without the need for hard work definitely doesn't want to be involved. There's tons of hard work, and you'll be in the middle of it.