Everyday people have ideas. Everyday people invest in their ideas in order to hopefully start profiting out of them and the Internet offers people more ways to do this than ever before.
But what about the real stay at home Moms? What about the real people out there with little or no extra income that they can put aside to actually invest in their ideas in the first place?
Well, the good news is that it is possible to start generating income online, even if you don’t have funds presently available to invest in your own website. In fact, it’s entirely possible to start a business online with absolutely zero funds. How? Well, that is when you must consider the idea of what is frequently called ‘passive income.’
Real Passive Income Vs Internet Marketing Make Believe
Don’t get me wrong. Yes, if you sell a bestselling book, you can count your weekly or monthly royalties as a passive kind of income. But how passive is that income really? How long after all, did it take to write your book? Likewise, for any service or product which you sell online, you need to be prepared to deal with customer inquiries, ship orders and market yourself. Online income if you like, is rarely is ever completely passive.
Shattering this illusion though is essential, especially if you are looking to start a business with zero startup funds. Why? Because you are going to have to be prepared to work for the funds you need, while getting a feel for what generating income online is really like in the first place.
How To Make Money Online
What can you do that you are especially good at? Writing, data entry, photo retouching via photoshop, there is a booming demand online for providers of all kinds of content creation and data related services. In this case, set yourself up as a freelancer and start providing whatever services you can at dirt cheap prices. Don’t have a particular skill? One thing which is a really big deal right now is video, specifically product and service testimonial video creation. Even better, product and service testimonial videos look more authentic when they are created by real people just like you and product sellers and marketers know this.
Where To Sell Your Services
Don’t know where to start? Online marketplaces like Fiverr.com, Elance.com and upwork.com are the best places online right now to start selling everything from article writing to homemade product testimonial videos. All of course, take commission from your sales, but the point here is not for you to give up your day job and start working on such platforms full time, the point is to start generating extra income ready for investing in your own online business. That and build up a portfolio and customer base which you can carry with you when you do.
Why Social Media Is Key
In this respect, social media is every aspiring Entrepreneur’s best friend. Linking everything you do to dedicated social media profiles and connecting with the people you work with through social media also, makes taking customers with you when you do move to your own platform (i.e.: your website) all the more easier. In fact, the bigger and better a profile you build, the more business you will actually draw through social media itself.
Investing Your New Capital
Of course, even with a lot of hard work, everyone is going to struggle to get started. All you really need though is $200 of online revenue and you have more than enough capital behind you to set up your own website and start branding your own business personality.
That said, if you are happy actually working online, stick with it and delay starting your own business until it feels like the right time to do so. In fact, in many ways this is ideally what everyone should do. As well after all, as better honing your own skill base, you can land even more clients.
However, although we have already established that passive income isn’t really passive, what most budding entrepreneurs are in search of, is a way to make money with as minimal effort as possible. In this case, when you do have enough funds, it’s perhaps time to start thinking about increasing your prices and reselling services rather than directly providing them yourself. Got your website up and running and looking super slick? Great, now is the time to spread the word on social media that your about to move to your very own platform.
Of course, your regular customers aren’t likely going to take to kindly to a sudden 50%- 100% price hike on your services. However, it’s easy to cushion that blow with things like special offers and perks such as faster product delivery and turnaround times. The key is to keep communicating. Keep up with your social media posts and keep clients engaged and continually engaging with you like never before.
Ok But Who Actually Does All The Work From Now On?
As for the services which your business provides, it’s really quite simple. All you have to do now is outsource work as it comes in to people still working for buttons on the same platforms where you have just amassed your customer base from in the first place. Moreover, because you yourself have become proficient at delivering the kind of quality work people want, you can check all the work you outsource for quality.
Sound like a con? It shouldn’t. Reselling is the oldest kind of business that there is. When you get a turkey at Thanksgiving, you don’t after all, buy it directly from the farmer do you. Moreover, yes, with $200 in your pocket there is no reason why you can’t jump straight in to the reselling game. However, your business will stand a much better chance of survival if you know how to create what you are selling yourself. Likewise, learning how to work online, engage with customers and build client bases is all part of an essential learning curve. The only question is, are you ready for the challenge of starting your own business with zero funds?
