“A business is something that becomes an entity upon its own. Small or large, the businesses we grow, if successful, will continue whether we’re present or not. The best businesses are the ones that develop to the point where the people that operate them are interchangable. If a business depends on any one person, it will fail as soon as that one person is no longer available.”

My father has successfully run his own business for over 20 years as an Automotive Technician and salesperson, specializing in Toyota. When he moved his business from one location to another, he made attempts to keep the same phone number, as this made it easier for his customers to locate him.

I agree that — when we speak of blogs — the content itself is more important than the domain name because that is what attracts followers. The same is true of any business. Changing his phone number did not hurt his business because he created a band of followers that sought him out!

But I am straying from the topic. You allege that a business is not a business unless it can operate without us. To that I must disagree 100%. My Dad is an honest businessperson who has earned the trust of hundreds of people. It is his name that made Mortensen Motors, Inc. such a success in Howard County, Maryland. Unfortunately, the individual who purchased my Dad’s client list has not had the same success because you can’t sell individualism, honesty, and integrity. These are qualities that make a business successful, and they are not qualities that are interchangeable! Way too often in today’s society do we see businesses that completely ignore the human factor, and it is those large corporations who are more apt to stab us in the back!

When my Dad retires, Mortensen Motors will most likely be disbanded. But this isn’t because it wasn’t successful; instead, it is a result of the human factor, which consists of things that aren’t interchangeable. In a way, a professional blogger running his or her own business, and who follows those same principles of honesty and integrity, are no different than my Dad and the business that he built.

Yes, the owner of a company can also be an employee, but this is the subtle difference, can you take the owner/employee out and does the company still function?

Is the one a business, but not the other? Just curious on what you actually put in the word “business” (I know it’s not a cooperation og a firm, but in my books, it’s still business)

What is the difference between som of the niche blogs and a pure web based newspaper? Nothing. Sure, it may be a one man show, but so is many business around the world.

If you provide something that could generate revenue (and that revenue over time exceeds the costs) that the public want to read/be part of, it’s a business.

If I give people tax advice and get paid to for it, I’m doing business. If I write about the same advise in my blog, people comes to read, and click on some ads, and I’m making money – why is that not a business? Sure, the business will not go on if I go to the hospital (you argues above) – but hey, my live person consulting business would not either.