Online entrepreneurs unite!

[Gonzosan]

I hope this is the right section I figured it was probably best in this section than any other. Is anyone here doing business online? Obviously Steve is but is anyone else? I have a few websites up myself, one is a blog which is an online journal of my successes and failures towards my own financial freedom and the other one is actually a game design site that I'm building up little by little. I'd like to start a thread where we can swap ideas and ways to grow our business online. I just recently hired my first freelancer to work on my site design although I'm learning a lot of this stuff on my own. So I'd like to share with others, and as well learn from others.

[Gonzosan]

No one at all? Even if you're just interested in starting an online business of some sort please chime in. Last night I was getting pretty down and I wanted to add something new to my site. I started looking at Pat Flynn's blog (smartpassiveincome.com) and looked at some resources, I figured I could learn something new that I could use on my site. I found Splasheo which is a unique site that creates custom animated intro sequences for videos. They do outros and similar quick things like that but I purchased an intro. I have a video site up and although I liked my intro it was basic and wasn't going to win any awards for creativity. I paid about $47 for an intro that was animated and had some basic sound effects (mine only had a fade in). I purchased this last night, around 9pm at that and I woke up this morning at 7am and found a link to the finished product! It was pretty awesome and something I'm really looking forward to using in my videos from now on. So for those of you who want a more professional looking intro/outro/ebook presentation I highly recommend them, it'll get done very quickly and it's cheap to boot.

[chaosgundam]

Yeah! I am. My friend and I are playing with the idea to sell ads online. My buddy is an animator/ graphic designer but he is currently unemployed. So he can run the website and do the ads while I manage the finances. We really have no idea how to start something like this so any help or advice would be great! I don't even know if its such a great idea to begin with.

[Anduril]

I have three websites right now. My main one is http://www.edible-landscape-design.com, which I started in October 2010. In January 2012 I started http://www.everything-cobalt-blue.com, and I just recently bought http://www.smart-hiking-and-camping-tips.com (like two weeks ago, so I'm getting all the affiliate links switched over and haven't done anything of substance on it yet).

 

My husband is less than ten years from retirement so my goal is to replace his income by that time or more.

[Gonzosan]

Yeah! I am. My friend and I are playing with the idea to sell ads online. My buddy is an animator/ graphic designer but he is currently unemployed. So he can run the website and do the ads while I manage the finances. We really have no idea how to start something like this so any help or advice would be great! I don't even know if its such a great idea to begin with.

 

My advice is to build a site that's dedicate to what he knows. I'm sure you can make money from ads, I can't really say much on that as I don't use them currently. I would suggest your friend to share what he knows with others online. He can host webinars online to teach people his skills or even step up a site where he can design custom work for people. Easier said than done I know, but being in a creative field means he can put his creative mind to use. Just for some inspiration, go look at thegnomonworkshop.com. Every time I visit that place I just want to start designing something. I don't think it would be too far of a stretch to start something like that site, obviously it'll come from small beginnings but it's very much possible with enough effort. Good luck!

 

I have three websites right now. My main one is http://www.edible-landscape-design.com, which I started in October 2010. In January 2012 I started http://www.everything-cobalt-blue.com, and I just recently bought http://www.smart-camping-and-hiking-tips.com (like two weeks ago, so I'm getting all the affiliate links switched over and haven't done anything of substance on it yet).

 

My husband is less than ten years from retirement so my goal is to replace his income by that time or more.

None of those links seem to work for me. Two of them redirect me to this thread and the hiking one says it cannot be found. Nonetheless ten years is more than enough time to get things going as long as you put in the effort. I plan on replacing my income within 6 months to a year. My enlistment is up in November and I don't plan on working for anyone else once I leave the military. It'll be hard work but there's plenty of people who have done amazing things when they really wanted it.

[chaosgundam]

All very good ideas especially the webinars one. I will have a chat with him to find out what he thinks about it. Sorry for asking but what type of custom work are you referring to? Maybe a better idea would be instead of just doing ads he do everything from custom drawings, to ads, to short vids (for birthdays maybe), anything that the customer would want.

[Gonzosan]

All very good ideas especially the webinars one. I will have a chat with him to find out what he thinks about it. Sorry for asking but what type of custom work are you referring to? Maybe a better idea would be instead of just doing ads he do everything from custom drawings, to ads, to short vids (for birthdays maybe), anything that the customer would want.

 

Well I'm not really sure what kind of designer he is so I was just using a general idea. For instance if he's really good at Illustrator or Photoshop he can design logos or even website templates for people. You can sell custom website layouts all done purely through Photoshop and sell the designs and those buying would slice it and code it. There are plenty of people who know how to code but aren't great at designing graphics. He can also make ebooks to teach people all this stuff by making a PDF and just putting it up online through ejunkie and even starting an affiliate program to increase his sales. Honestly there are probably at least a handful of ideas that can make money but you need to be creative with your skills and map out exactly what you know with a market.

[Anduril]

None of those links seem to work for me. Two of them redirect me to this thread and the hiking one says it cannot be found.

That's because I didn't link them right. They should be okay now.

[vagabondette]

I work online.  I have been suppporting myself with online earnings since 2005.  I purposely developed a business model that I could run from anywhere in the world so I could live/travel abroad full time.  I left the USA in late 2008 and have been on the road since then, most recently returning from 4 months in Europe and N. Africa.

 

I have a series of niche sites that I sell advertising/run affiliate programs on.  The income can fluctuate wildly depending on Google's whims so it's important to save for a rainy day.  I am to the point where I outsource pretty much everything now so I just get paid and do my thing. It's not a bad life.

[chaosgundam]

That sounds very interesting. Can you maybe give us a link to your site if possible? I would really like to start a business which can be run from the internet but I dont know how or where to start. can you maybe give me some advice?

[Gonzosan]

That's great Vagabondette. I've known plenty of people who had niche sites and it's very much possible to make some good money online. I'm in the process now of hiring a VA. I know a lot of people say they wish they could have done it earlier on so I'm taking their advice and I'm going to hire one this Friday. I figure it's cheaper than doing individual projects through Elance and at least this way I'll have someone I can trust working on my sites regularly. I just hope everything goes well, I'll be paying about $500 a month which is about average for a VA (Philippines) so hopefully it's worth it. It's not exactly a small amount for me, but I figure this is a good way to spend this money.

[vagabondette]

That's great Vagabondette. I've known plenty of people who had niche sites and it's very much possible to make some good money online. I'm in the process now of hiring a VA. I know a lot of people say they wish they could have done it earlier on so I'm taking their advice and I'm going to hire one this Friday. I figure it's cheaper than doing individual projects through Elance and at least this way I'll have someone I can trust working on my sites regularly. I just hope everything goes well, I'll be paying about $500 a month which is about average for a VA (Philippines) so hopefully it's worth it. It's not exactly a small amount for me, but I figure this is a good way to spend this money.

 

What are you going to have your VA do?  I personally haven't found a need for one - or one I would trust without it taking almost as much time to monitor them as it would to do it myself.  Make sure that they allow you to install a tracking program on their system so you can monitor their work.  There is one you can use that random takes and emails you a screenie of their desktop x times a day.  One of my partners on a project was spending about $2k a month on multiple VAs.  His best one got fired and when he asked her why it was because she protested the fact that her company made her work on multiple accounts at once even though she was supposed to just be dedicated to him.  So he was paying for 8 hours a day but really only getting about 4 hours of work.  He installed that software on their systems and found that all of his VAs were spending a large portion of the day working on other projects than his.  He ended up canceling his contract and hiring the first VA full-time and she only did his stuff for a fraction of what he was paying multiple people.  So, be careful!

[vagabondette]

That sounds very interesting. Can you maybe give us a link to your site if possible? I would really like to start a business which can be run from the internet but I dont know how or where to start. can you maybe give me some advice?

I never link to my money sites (and would recommend that anyone else who is making money from a site never give anyone the link either) so I can't give you an example, sorry.  Generally what I do is bulid informational sites around a topic I know well (usually finance related).  I write out the content then I outsource the SEO to get it ranking and the money coming in.  Check out forums like black hat world and traffic planet to learn more about site development and SEO.  Good luck!

[chaosgundam]

I see! Thank you so much. I'm going to go check out those forums now! thank you so much.

[Gonzosan]

What are you going to have your VA do?  I personally haven't found a need for one - or one I would trust without it taking almost as much time to monitor them as it would to do it myself.  Make sure that they allow you to install a tracking program on their system so you can monitor their work.  There is one you can use that random takes and emails you a screenie of their desktop x times a day.  One of my partners on a project was spending about $2k a month on multiple VAs.  His best one got fired and when he asked her why it was because she protested the fact that her company made her work on multiple accounts at once even though she was supposed to just be dedicated to him.  So he was paying for 8 hours a day but really only getting about 4 hours of work.  He installed that software on their systems and found that all of his VAs were spending a large portion of the day working on other projects than his.  He ended up canceling his contract and hiring the first VA full-time and she only did his stuff for a fraction of what he was paying multiple people.  So, be careful!

 

Thanks for the advice. That is a worry of mine but honestly I'm not going to track hours. I'll be paying on a salary basis per month and as long as he/she can produce the content I'm asking of them that's all I'll want. I'm hiring a VA to work on web design work, primarily through my Wordpress sites. If it comes down to the point that I need to watch them like a hawk I'll just end up getting rid of them altogether. I wanted to hire a VA to do plenty of web work for me for the next few months so I need someone dependable so I know what kind of work to expect.

I'm going to be hiring one this Friday and give them a test run throughout the month. If it ends up being more work than I want then I'll just scrap the idea but I need to try it myself to see if it's worth it. I have plenty of work I want done on my sites so I see this as a better investment than risking it with other people or groups on a regular basis everytime I want new projects to be completed.

[Gonzosan]

I haven't got any experience in the field other than when I wrote for Hub Pages, and honestly I'd love to run an online business. I'm 20 years old, married, and have a child on the way. The medical field isn't cutting it for me, and working my own business has always been a big dream of mine. I will continue to read through all these and see what everyone is talking about I hope to learn a lot, and HEY maybe...just MAYBE I can make some good business partners through this? That would be AWESOME!

 

I'm sure you already have plenty of great ideas that can help you build a business online and it's always best to start early. Even if you only start off small little by little it'll grow. Find something you're really interested and find out what kind of market there is. I suggest listening to the Smart Passive Income Podcasts on itunes and through the website of the same name. I listen to them while in my car and it's really amazing how people are making money online. I like to listen to them because it gives you a better perspective on trying new things and since I've started listening to them I've learned quite a few different things that I can apply to build something great. I'm still in the early phases and I don't expect to make any money for about six months or so since I want to really build up a nice site but I'm slowly adding things often.

[Gonzosan]

Thank you for your recommendations, I will be sure to go and listen to them! My biggest thing right now, and it's not so big at the moment as I haven't been doing much related to it lately, is music. I used to give guitar lessons, and at one point was giving piano lessons, though I don't know if I could any more. From what I've been seeing, going online with these may be a good route, as I have not gotten much customers in person! I recently got a webcam, so that should make it much easier!

 

You'd be surprised how well you could do with that online. I'm sure there are multiple ways to make money online with that. You can create video tutorials, you can host webinars to teach others. I'm not familiar with that kind of stuff but I believe that whatever you're doing you can take on a global scale. I believe everyone has their own spin on things so just try it out. It's free to start a Youtube channel and you can do that yourself and see how good it does and go from there.

 

By the way the he has a podcast (#57) that is titled "What we can learn from the music industry" or something along those lines. I was listening to it today so it's worth listening to. There are a few others where he interviews some that deal with the music industry as well.

[Gonzosan]

That's really awesome, I'm going to be spending my day tomorrow researching all of that and listening to what you just mentioned. If all works out and I get back into the groove of music I will start working on getting something up for sure. Oh to be able to have my own business and not have to worry about resumes or doing things to the exact order of a boss...that would be great haha.

 

Good luck with it all. About 8 years ago I joined the military because I wanted to go to school to become a game designer and ended up doing a few different things in the military and finally come full circle. I decided that game design is something I'm still very much passionate about so I'm slowly building a business around that. Start off small but more importantly take that first step. It'll feel so much better knowing that you're building something around your passion.

[Gonzosan]

The military was kind of a spontaneous decision on my part. I've always been fairly independent growing up, hell I was applying to work when I was 15. I joined the military to get away from my home city and to learn some skills while traveling. It's because of the military that I've been able to accomplish a lot of my life goals, almost accidentally I'll add, but the military chapter in my life is pretty much done. I believe I've outgrown the military and I'm ready to tackle some big projects of mine.

 

On a side note I just hired a VA and had him work on a few tasks for me for my site, simple stuff like fixing a search bar and some navigation alignment issues that my previous freelancer put together and was impressed that within 30 minutes of writing the email he said it was done. I had to read the email twice to make sure he wasn't asking what I wanted done. I sent out an email with a wordpress login and FTP login and before I could create the Wordpress info he replied back saying "I think the Wordpress login is incorrect". So it's been a great experience thus far and I hope he keeps up this kind of work. Hell I don't mind paying good money to have a great VA on hand to develop content for me. I feel more confident now that I don't have to worry about my experience or skills to get what I want done, I just need to find the right person that's within my price range and I can leverage my money to make more money.