Today I read a fantastic article by Chris from DormRoomBiz asking “If you had $100, what business would you start?” He goes on to explain in the article how his business classes are mostly based around theory and are not focused on many practical experiments.
This is pretty much the same for me at school. Most of what we learn is based on theory and hypothetical situations. Whilst this can help us grasp a topic in its entirety and to examine different points of view, it lacks a practical element. Some level of personal experimentation in our opinion would really help concrete in the facts that we’ve learned, and to see how real-life situations differ from the whiteboard.
To answer Chris’ question, I replied that I would most probably start a service-based business. Something like blogLOUDER could work well if I was prepared to chase up a lot of contacts and ask to see whether they would like Blog Consulting. However, a problem I faced with this business, is that many of the blogging newcomers are not prepared to spend money on a domain name and hosting, let alone time with a consultant.
Therefore, I concluded that I would probably start a content creation service. Christine managed to do this and secured amazing contracts worth a whole load of money. In all honesty, you don’t even need a website to start this form of making money online - maybe only a simple portfolio .zip file which could be sent to prospective buyers.
If you wanted to generate quick cashflow, you could price your average 400 word article low, in order to sell in large quantities (and to make sure that you attract repeat customers). I stated that charging $10 an article and managing to write 10 articles in a day would net you an easy $100. Whilst it’s not as easy as that (you have to find your customers and have the time available to write great quality content), it made me start to realise how much money you can make online if you are determined.
So I wanted to open this thread up to comments. Recently, we’ve had some great discussion occurring in the comments section, and I hope this post really helps you to start thinking about what you’re doing wrong and how you could get yourself back on track in terms of earnings. How would you make money online if you only had $10 to invest?
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24 responses so far ↓
1 Rhys // Jan 17, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I’d start a blog - build it up, do a few sponsored posts and then expand, probably.
2 Website Translation // Jan 17, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I’m repeating my comment from Dorm Room Biz’s site because I think it’s still valid. If you wanted to take this a step further ask what would you do with $0? I would still do the same thing. If you are doing article writing you don’t even need a website to start. Start offering your service on webmaster forums until you’ve built up enough money to afford your own domain, hosting and site design. However, forums provide you with a reputation system and free advertising so you don’t even really need a site.
I would start a service business. Quick money, very little inventory or overhead costs and quick turn around for cash. Cash flow is one of the biggest reasons businesses fail. In service industries you get paid as soon as the service is completed so you aren’t really fronting any money. Once you build up that business and have positive cash flow you can afford to invest in other more front loaded businesses.
Additionally, service industries teach you about customer services, sales and management. Providing you with a strong foundation for future ventures.
3 Christine O'Kelly // Jan 17, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I agree! (but then again, I’m biased because this is the route I took!) If you are writer, writing content is something that you can start today and be paid for by next week. And you really could get that up and running for $10.
There are businesses willing to pay for all levels of expertise. About blog consulting - I agree - new bloggers probably don’t have the means to pay for consulting, but there are a lot of businesses that do have the means that really want to figure out how to use blogging for their businesses and have no idea how to do this! This could be a great way for bloggers to provide a very useful service.
Thanks for the mention and link!!
Christine
4 Jarkko Laine // Jan 17, 2008 at 9:03 pm
This is what I would do - and in a sense I’m already doing it (but with a bit more than $10)
1 - Start on the side - because $10 won’t support me for long.
2 - Get a blog (with only 10 bucks to use, I’d pick a free host -> this is where I already spent more than 10 myself)
3 - Make some name for yourself. This is free, but takes time.
4 - Start asking for writing / coding / design gigs from people you think would be interested (btw, if someone here is in a need for a paid blogger / freelance writer for a blog, website, I’m interested in hearing from you
5 - Make some money –> at this point I would have more room to invest (not tied to that $10 anymore)
6 - Use the new money to improve my business, write online software with subscription based billing…
7 - 8 - 9: Use the money to grow the business..
10 - Leave the day job and concentrate in these businesses.
And a question for you Adnan: Now that you mentioned blogLouder, what’s up with it?
5 Alan Johnson // Jan 17, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Being a freelancer is definitely not the best option since you are basically selling your time. You make money when you work and that’s that while, if you would be working for yourself and starting a few projects, you can even make money while you sleep. And while it’s not 100% passive income, it clearly beats selling your time.
Alan Johnson
6 Harry Noott // Jan 18, 2008 at 12:04 am
I actually did this. I bought a domain name, got some bannerless free hosting, started a blog, got rss readers, added ads and made some money. Then I was able t invest that money and so on.
7 Steven // Jan 18, 2008 at 1:16 am
Alan has a good point about selling your time, but on the other hand I wouldn’t say that any choice is clearly better. What is best for one person may not be best for another.
I would work on building a blog of my own (for the reasons that Alan mentioned) but I would also do some freelance writing to make some money while my blog was growing. Actually, this is what I’m doing so I guess I can stop saying “I would.”
8 Aaron // Jan 18, 2008 at 1:27 am
Selling your time is not the best option if you want to become a business owner but in the beginning it’s how you can get started. Especially if you only have $10 to start with then I would say that selling your time is the fastest way to double your money or more.
Once you establish yourself and start making sufficient money to sustain yourself you start outsourcing and building a team. All things are done in their season and take time to develop. Building a reputation selling your time is not a bad way to start.
Starting a blog could take more money than you have and can take time. Not everyone takes a long time to launch a blog and make money but it can be a long process. When you need money to eat and pay rent waiting one month may be too long. Providing a service you can make money in 24 hours or less.
9 Melanie // Jan 18, 2008 at 1:58 am
Freelance writing is satisfactory if you want to get started (this is what I’m currently doing now) but starting a blog and eventually earning passive income is much more advantageous, I believe.
My question is, how do you start marketing the blog? I’m fairly new to this and have only recently come across a few marketing blogs, one of which is by someone named Brian T. Edmondson.
10 Eva White // Jan 18, 2008 at 10:53 am
It’s very difficult to make money online. I read the article in the link, very informative. Personally I feel practical information is learnt only when you start working.
11 Marc // Jan 18, 2008 at 8:30 pm
It is true that freelancing isn’t for everybody. Speaking for myself, however, I absolutely hate being bored, so freelancing isn’t too bad, as I am kept busy. It really depends on the type of freelancing you do. Top copywriters can make 1000’s per gig, while the rest of us might make a couple of hundred at the most.
No matter how much $$ you have to invest in your business, I think that the key is to choose something that you can keep doing, through good times and bad. Once you hit your income ceiling, then it may be time to start thinking about outsourcing, or hiring employees.
Another alternative is to choose something that you can sell repeatedly. Private Label Rights style articles can be good for this. PLR articles are typically sold for $10-$40, with the stipulation that they be rewritten before publication. I haven’t messed with them myself, but my understanding is that they essentially act as a template that the webmaster or blog owner can use to create original articles, without a duplicate content penalty. Beyond that, I don’t know much about it, but it may be worth investigation.
Cheers, Marc
12 Jarkko Laine // Jan 18, 2008 at 8:47 pm
@Aaron: I couldn’t agree more. To get your business really off the ground you’ll need more than 10 dollars. And to multiply the 10 dollars into something more than 10 bucks, selling your time can be a rather good tool. As long as you keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to be a business owner rather than just an employee who owns his job (I can’t remember who said that, but I think it was one of the top bloggers in the online business niche)
13 Joshua // Jan 19, 2008 at 5:37 am
That really is an interesting concept. There are a lot of tips and ideas and strategies to running a good, trusted, and profitable business. There are so many it can seem overwhelming with options to try. I guess the point is that you actually have to try it to see if it is what is going to work for you. Even if that means “failing” just to learn from what went wrong.
There are also a lot of programs designed to help streamline your online business and to help it run efficiently even if you aren’t always right there to manage it. One that comes to mind is the Freedom Business System. It’s like auto-pilot for your online business.
I really enjoy your blog, hope all continues to go well for you!
14 Alan Johnson // Jan 20, 2008 at 2:13 am
A lot of the freelancers I have worked with (extremely talented people) actually got accustomed to a certain lifestyle and ended up not wanting to take things to the next level, even if they knew that they have the potential of earning much more.
Sure, being a freelancer can help you secure a certain lifestyle if you know what you’re doing but a lot of times, it keeps you from wanting to tap your true potential and that’s just a shame.
Alan Johnson
15 Insanely Interesting Links -- Jarkko Laine - Insanely interested // Jan 20, 2008 at 5:01 pm
[...] How would you make money online if you would have only $10 to start with? That’s a great question posed by Adnan at the Blogtrepreneur blog. The discussion is still going on, so go ahead and leave your comments! [...]
16 Read Scott // Jan 21, 2008 at 5:28 am
- Not freelance. No immediate payment and not automatically sustainable without a massive portfolio.
- I’d start a maid service. Advertise on ten $1 signs to get clients. Spread word about the job opportunity by talking my head off. Charge $40/hour to clean. Pay the maids $15/hour. Keep the other $25 for growth and Ramen Noodles.
- BAM! You’re a millionaire!
17 Vlad - Small Business and Web Design // Jan 21, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I would start a small web design company to market to those who want to build their online presence… wait, I did just that few years ago
18 Nicholas James // Jan 22, 2008 at 7:16 am
I started originally with less then that, and I’m making a decent amount (not enough yet) online :).
19 printnpost // Jan 23, 2008 at 5:52 am
been there done that!….get a domain and a free host…wordpress is a good place to start..then grow and reinvest from there……
20 What business would you start if there was nothing holding you back? | Dorm Room Biz // Feb 12, 2008 at 2:05 pm
[...] business would you start? It even prompted a follow up post on Blogtrepreneur where Adnan asked what kind of online business you would start with just $10. Now, I am curious as to what business you would start if you had nothing holding you back. [...]
21 Mike Touch // Feb 27, 2008 at 10:56 pm
I’d start a blog on a particular niche. I’d then aim to get the word out and get subscribers to my blog. Once I had the subscribers I would begin to monetize the traffic by placing ads on my site.
It’s easy to make money on the internet. Just like it is easy to get a minimum wage job! You can write articles for money, but for it to be worth it you have to write a lot of articles in a small amount of time.
Time still equals money even if it internet work.
22 Flimjo // Mar 13, 2008 at 5:29 pm
It is interesting how our thinking changes when we’re told we have $10 or $100 to start a business. The mindset is so different than that of an employee. We’re forced to think creatively and outside-the-box.
23 Prosperity Writer // Mar 27, 2008 at 6:14 pm
You can actually start with just your PC, internet connection, and lots of creativity.
24 Alex // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:18 pm
I would do something online. You could easily get the domain for the $10 and then find free hosting. Set up a blog or forum and then see what happens.
-Alex
http://www.thestocktalk.net
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