It is chaos in the business world right now. Doing business online a couple of years ago was relatively easy and was the business catalyst for expansion of forward thinking entrepreneurs.

You would build a domain and drive traffic

If you’ve a brilliant idea or you were an existing business, then all you wished to do was to find someone to build you an internet site that would take payments.

After that you then required to promote your internet site; both offline and online. You would use any assortment of offline promotion. Advertising, shop window promotion, paper or trade magazine advertising or put your website address on your vehicles.

Then you would do search site optimization and PPC advertising on the internet.

But then there was a gentle shift that has again revolutionized the way that we work, communicate and do business.

Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook

Internet strategy experts call this the GAAF effect. Here’s what occurred.

With 3G technologies being built into mobile phones and devices it meant the purchaser could now access the Net wherever they were located. Apple started to capitalise on Wi-Fi with it being built into their iPhones. Then Apple expanded their hardware offerings by introducing tablet devices in addition to their portable gadgets.

Google started to target local search engine results. The appearance of Google Places delivered local economy results which were much more relevant to people. Then Google jumped onto the Android operating system for their mobile strategy and almost all of the mobile handset makers followed suit.

And Facebook grew out of its student heritage and reached a wider universal audience enabling people to join with buddies, family and work comrades unlike anything before.

Then Amazon expanded their offering by allowing independent businesses to sell their products thru the Amazon storefront.

And so we have these 4 large forces that have changed the Net for ever and ever. Actually it is yet to be seen if we should actually call this the Web. When a person uses their iPhone to use an App they purchased on the App store to find out train times, is this accessing the Internet?

So what is a business owner to do when faced with all this change and chaos?

Have a small ship. Focus on one problem

An entrepreneur needs to concentrate on one unique problem they can work out that nobody else can.

If you sell shoes and someone else sells them cheaper then get out that market. If you’re a reseller of somebody else’s products, your shelf life has limits.

And don’t think you need to invent the most recent gadget. Delve into your past company records or files or old products you used to sell. Today, there are retail shops prospering who only sell vinyl records. Whilst the world has moved towards digital music there’s still a small hard-core group of vinyl music fans who have to be served.

The key, though, is to be a small operator focusing on one problem or one group. Otherwise all this steady change will repeatedly appear chaotic to you.

Molly Jamieson writes for Adobe Business Catalyst partner Platonik. Their web site features examples of internet shops using Adobe Business Catalyst.