Posts Tagged ‘Make Money Online’

« Older Entries

The Shark Tank Formula For Startup Success

Monday, November 24th, 2014

Have you ever wondered what it takes to launch a successful startup? ABC’s reality TV show, Shark Tank, demonstrates what it’s like for entrepreneurs to go through the process of pitching their business ideas to investors (otherwise known as sharks).

Over the course of five seasons, there have been 337 pitches and only 186 deals. Out of these deals, only one-third them actually closed! You’re probably wondering, why is this such a low rate?

The reality is, it’s tough to keep your startup afloat after launching. Since 2012, only one in 17 business ventures have actually experienced a profit. Unfortunately, not every entrepreneur has the opportunity to become the next Mark Zuckerberg.

Despite the challenges of launching a startup, there are a few things entrepreneurs can do to increase their chances of success. First, it’s absolutely necessary to know your product inside and out. Regardless of how cool you think your idea is, it won’t be valuable to investors unless it serves a real purpose for your target audience.

When preparing to launch, it’s also important to perfect your pitch. Entrepreneurs need to approach investors with a goal, a business plan, and also know their numbers very well. Investors only care about how profitable your business will be in the future. Make sure you understand your numbers and can identify the information about your business that will important to investors.

Finally, it’s important to build a strong network of investors. Remember, you want these people to take interest in your business and provide you with the funding you need. Spend time building relationships with investors and learn about what they’re looking for in potential startups.

These are just a few of the takeaways you should know from ABC’s Shark Tank. To learn more about launching a startup and what it takes to be a startup success, check out the infographic below:

Shark Tank Formula

Shark Tank Formula

Your feedback will be appreciated. Cheers.

Author Bio – Ivan Serrano is a business and social media journalist living in the Bay Area of California.

Tags:, , , , , , ,
Posted in Entrepreneur, Financial Intelligence, Guest Post, Investing, small business | 1 Comment »

Starting a Business on Credit: The Forbidden Financier

Thursday, April 4th, 2013

If you search for entrepreneurship advice online, it won’t take long to find experts shouting to avoid credit cards. They may cite the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which found that every $1,000 of credit card debt increases the probability that a firm will fail by 2.2%, or financial radio show host Dave Ramsey, who claims credits cards are the scourge of American finance.

They probably won’t mention a pair of Stanford Ph.D. students that spread funding for their pet project across three credit cards or the designer that developed small plastic guitars while paying with small plastic credit cards. Those entrepreneurs went on to create Google and Guitar Hero, respectively, and if those companies’ successes are any indication, using credit cards to fund startups can’t be all bad.

Credit Cards

Experts aren’t foolish enough to advise against credit dependence, but if you use them responsibly, credit cards serve as a valuable tools for growth. Consider these advantages to taking out a credit card for business.

Rewards

Pessimists hear “credit card” and think of compounding interesting rates, late payment penalties and plummeting credit scores. All of these things are potential consequences when owning a credit card, but that’s not the whole story. Rewards are a consumer’s chance to gain from the credit card industry. From airline miles to supply store discounts to cash bonuses, you need not look far to find rewards that offer a significant boost to your bottom line if you make payments on time. Things go south when you get behind on your payments, but credit card rewards add value to your business.

Credit Score

It would be one thing if card cards only served as cash advancements, but using plastic responsibly contributes to an important financial statistic: credit score. According to a post in the American Express OPEN forum by financial consultant Mike Periu, personal credit is a major point of interest for investors and lenders. You’re probably savvy enough to know that financing a business solely on credit isn’t wise, but building credit could open opportunities for outside investors. Lenders expect owners to have a FICO score of at least 700, according to Openforum.com.

Using a card to start a business puts your credit score on the line. Miss a payment, and you’ll see the score drop. Stay current, on the other hand, and your rising score will open opportunities to new investors.

Potential

In the end, financing a small business or startup with a credit card isn’t about rewards or your credit score. It’s about your dream and the chance to create something of value. The experts are right. Credit cards aren’t the best way to finance a business. You don’t always have thousands of dollars saved up, and there aren’t always venture capitalists waiting to write you a check. Credit cards afford you the chance to gamble on yourself.

If you believe in your business idea, don’t ignore credit cards as a possible financing tool. Who knows? You could start the next Google or Guitar Hero.

Tags:, , , , , , ,
Posted in Entrepreneur, Financial Intelligence, Investing, small business | No Comments »

Small Business Ideas With No Financial Investment

Wednesday, August 15th, 2012

It has become natural that for launching any kind of business you need to invest a small amount of money, which depends upon the kind of field you’re going into. Do you want to increase your income by starting a small scale business? You don’t want to invest any money in starting up the business? Then here are some solutions listed below for your small business start-up ideas where you can earn profits without investing any cash in the business. The different small business ideas that can be turned into reality are:

  • Start earning online: Blogging, link building, freelancing and selling goods are different kinds of jobs that can earn you money online. This is one of the easiest ways that doesn’t need any capital to be invested in the process. You can directly start earning money with your deeds.Online Income
  • Establish a consultation: There may be some hidden talents in each one; it is time for you to notice them and bring them out. You can cash your talent within a very short span of time where you can establish a consultation where you provide necessary advices in the field that you expertise in. This is also known as expertise selling where you share your ideas for some amount.
  • Content writing: As there is an increase in the demand of content writers that produce quality content that is genuine and copyscape protected, you can take an advantage of it. Even in this instance you don’t need any initial amount where you can start off with your service as early as possible and get paid as per your talent.
  • Freelancing: You can start free lancing that includes music, journalism, screenwriting, editing, web designing, graphic designing, consulting and translating, where you are self-employed and there is no boss above you. You may require the client to sign written contracts or sometimes perform on verbal agreements. The pay for freelancing is high compared to other services.
  • Travel agency: This is the best option for the people who are mostly interested in travelling to different places, so that they can guide others with their experiences regarding the travelling options. You can have a franchise with a travel company and start offering exciting packages that tempt people. Even this earns you a good amount of money as there will be many people in the list who want to travel and explore many places.
  • Organising services: This is one of the interesting businesses that one can opt for. You can offer services such as organising parties, marriages and different occasions. This service is in huge demand at present as many people want to have things organised to reduce their burden and perform the ceremony free from stress.

However there may be some jobs that need a small initial amount to be invested in starting it. In such situations you can secure payday loans rather than a traditional loan that offer a short repayment period and instant approval with no credit check.

Author’s Bio

My name is Michelle. I am a tech writer from UK. I am into Finance. Catch me @financeport

Tags:, , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Entrepreneur, Guest Post, small business | 7 Comments »

3 Easy Steps to Make Money Blogging

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

Make a great living online by following these simple steps

Thousands of people around the world enjoy blogging, and most think of it as a small hobby that they couldn’t hope to live on; but it’s surprisingly easy to turn your blog into a modest, successful small business. There are already plenty of blogs that discuss Google Ads and affiliate marketing, so we’ll focus on how to make your monetization strategy (whichever you choose) more profitable. There are no “dirty tricks” here—these are all tips to make a blog that is both useful to your readers and attractive to legitimate advertisers.

1. Find a niche

For your blog to attract the attention of users, advertisers, and search engines, you need to select a theme; ideally, one that isn’t already populated with big-time sites. For instance, if you want to start a generic cooking blog, you’ll be competing with thousands of others, including giants like Betty Crocker and The Food Network, and your blog will never get past the twilight zone of page 8 on Google. If you select some specific, underserved niche, however, you’ve got a shot at reaching people.

Before you nail down your blog’s theme, do a bit of Googling on the topic. Check to see how many people are searching for key words related to that topic, and what pops up on Google’s front page. If very few people are searching for that specific niche, you’ll struggle to bring in traffic; but if the key words are bringing in a healthy amount of searches, and you’re competing with other small personal blogs, you’ve got a good shot at topping the Google rankings and becoming an important source of information on that topic.

2. Create user-friendly content

This is more than just “writing well”, although that is important (and could be a blog post all to itself). People read online content differently than they read books and magazines, so you need to modify how you write to suit an online audience. Follow these tips:

  • Break up your content: Reading long blocks of uninterrupted text is harder online than it is in print, so you need to separate your content. Select the best funny videos or images related to your topic and use them to chop up your content into smaller, easy-to-read pieces.
  • Numbered Lists: You’ve probably seen a lot of “Top 10” lists on the web recently, and that’s because it really does draw more traffic than content posted in other formats. Numbered lists provide an easy way to organize and simplify your content so that busy readers know what they’re getting into before they click
  • Keep it brief: With few exceptions, most online readers lose interest after about 1000 words, so if your post is longer than that, you might consider a more focused topic, or breaking up your post into installments.

3. Get Connected!

This is by far the most important way to start pulling traffic and getting money from your advertisements. Find successful bloggers (or better yet, a blog network) that is related to your niche, and offer to guest post on their sites.  Don’t be afraid to submit high-quality content in guest posts; you might feel like you’re sacrificing good work, but it’s a small price to pay for the awareness it will create for you and your blog. At the bottom of each guest post, most bloggers will allow you to include a link to your blog; and that’s how you’ll bring in users and start earning real ad revenue.

As you cultivate relationships and continue creating trustworthy, quality content, other bloggers will begin linking to your site on their blogs, increasing traffic directly and improving your Google ranking. Keep expanding your network, reaching out to more and more blogs and establishing connections. It’s this growing network that will draw in ever-increasing traffic to read your posts, click your ads, and bring in revenue.

About the Author: Tiffany Ganttis a staff writer for ApronAddicts.com, a website dedicated to the love of cooking and looking good while you do it! You can often find her getting creative in the kitchen as she whips up something yummy in one of her flirty, color coordinated aprons.

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Entrepreneur, Guest Post, small business | 6 Comments »

Why Nigerians Suffer As Unemployed Internet Surfers

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

Why do many Nigerian internet users surf the internet endlessly without improving their economic condition. Why are there tales of woes among the Nigerian youth who desire to make money online. This is a guest post from a Nigerian blogger, Micheal Mcneri, who leaves in United States. He started his online adventure right here in Nigeria. I belief you will enjoy this piece – Naijaecash

McNeri

Why We Suffer As Unemployed Surfers

The Internet is for surfing not for suffering. The internet is for information gathering, knowledge building and application of such knowledge for making money! It is not for suffering! So why do Nigerians suffer online. There are numerous sites where you see us (Nigerians) gathered and all we do is complain of our suffering online. I feel there is no need for that. In fact, when you have pain and you gain access to the web, all your sufferings ought to go away as you receive knowledge and help from the online community. Often, such knowledge and help are given free of charge!

I am based in the United States and I have been involved with post-secondary education up to the highest levels since 1988. I have numerous interests even though I have a full time job which pays my bills. It has however fascinated me since my days at Ibadan, UCH to be precise when we first learned of Cybercafés (Internet Cafes). That was in the days of NITEL internet and calling booths. At that time in 2000/2001, I got a glimpse of what the world wide web had in stock for us. Seas of information and oceans of characters. We browsed in a very different way then.

How I discovered the World Wide Web

In those days, I had to apply for a NITEL land line so that I could use NITEL internet. To get the line cost 13,000 naira ($87) to NITEL and another 25,000naira ($167) ‘egunje’ (bribe) to the thugs (staff) of the cursed company. It was like bleeding, but we did it. This afforded me the opportunity to become a web user as I browsed the internet by dialup. I opened “FREE” email accounts and searched with this new search engine called GOOGLE! All was going fine and I was feeling cool but a few months into this new adventure, the line suddenly stopped working!

Then I received a bill of 102,000 naira ($680)! I thought I was dreaming! I contested the bill because the phone was not working and I had not made any international or local call to warrant such a monstrous bill. Well, I was simply told that that is my bill and I have to pay it if I ever want to use the line again! To me that was fraudulent and I was not willing to pay for what I did not use. Well, that was the end of browsing from home, but I had learned that there was a huge world out there and I was going to be part of it.

Journey to Cybercafés

A few cybercafés sprang up in Ibadan at that time, but many of them had lousy speeds. I was already spoiled with my home dialup (NITEL internet) which was so fast at 24kbps! Eventually I found one in Bodija, Ibadan. It cost 500 naira ($3.5) for 5 hours of moderate speed browsing. I was happy. Then I would go and buy a pack of floppy discs (do they still exist?). Each one was 1024kb. Armed with the 10 in a pack I would go to the cybercafe and pay for 5 hours. As I surfed, I downloaded materials, usually articles of interest in the medical field, or web pages. I would just be saving them to the diskettes (for the younger readers, that is what they were called). Then when I got home, in the comfort of my home, I would re-browse them, that is if Nigerian Electric Power Authority, NEPA (another sick company) permitted (the company had the monopoly of supplying electricity, but does a terrible job of servicing the masses, I learned they have been re-branded as Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN. In my humble opinion, Never Expect Power Always is better than Power Holding Company of Nigeria. Well, back to our main gist. It was at the cybercafés that I stumbled on my present career.

It was during my adventure in the cybercafés that I found out about the World Bank Scholarship and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. That was how I ended up having papers in Croatia at the 7th World Congress of Pediatric Surgery. That is how I ended up here in United States, owning a website development company and helping other less advantaged organizations get their feet online.

Why all this personal story?

My story may be a bit long winded, but I want you to take from this a little lesson. It is still challenging to get online in Nigeria 10 years later, I wouldn’t have guessed. I have had some couple of youth send me letters asking me to help their helpless situations in Nigeria relating to unemployment and struggles. One of them named Tunde, does landscaping, but has no official qualification. He has worked in a cybercafe before. I encouraged him to simply put pen to paper in 5-10 short essays of what he does which is landscaping. Then I offered to help him get a website on, optimize it for search engines and even purchase some adverts for him. Then all he has to do is register his business name in Nigeria and we can hunt for business online since he was disadvantaged on the ground in Nigeria. It has been almost one year now and I have not heard from him.

I guess Tunde lacked the motivation to follow through with my proposal because he probably think it is too big a dream. It was a mistake on my part too, because I was dreaming big “for Tunde”. So I have ceased to dream for people. The message here is DREAM BIG AND YOU CAN GET THERE. It does not matter how ridiculous your dream is. What matters is whether you believe you can achieve it or not. There are many roads out here and that is why it is called the WEB. Read, Learn, Dream, Achieve.

After Tunde, I had another cold caller who contacted me through facebook. He had a similar story. Patrick is a teacher, but wants more. He complained that his meager income as a teacher wasn’t sufficient to support his poor family and there are several other financial challenges that he was struggling with. I asked Patrick what he knows and can really write about. He said poverty. I said okay, write five short essays and I will set you up as an online writer. Maybe we can get you something to supplement your poor teacher’s salary.

Two months later, I asked Patrick how far? I am still waiting. Please tell me if it takes Patrick 2 months to write 5 short essays on this first offer, how will anyone be willing to contract him? He will not deliver and in this fast-paced world, nobody has that kind of time. So the second big lesson is “STRIKE YOUR IRON WHILE IT IS HOT“. We are too lukewarm in Nigeria. We feel overwhelmed by the huge problems facing us and the lean resources available to us. However, if you want to make it to Heaven, you have to live like you are in Heaven here on Earth. Righteous, Holy and Worshipping the only true God, like the angels do in Heaven.

My Suggestion to You

I believe you should gear up and face the invisible if you want to rise out of that quagmire limiting you. Hold onto your faith, but also focus on your dreams. Yes, dear to DREAM BIG DREAMS! If you have no dreams, then you are going nowhere. Can a Man make heaven if he has not dreamed of Heaven?  Also, start NOW! People in the developed world have blogged their ways out of poverty. You too can make money online from Nigeria if you take action now. Get a blog, send a guest post to well established bloggers and become the person of your dreams. You’ve got to STRIKE YOUR IRON WHILE IT IS HOT! Stop procrastinating, start acting out your DREAM!

Micheal Mcneri is an Internet Marketer and a blogger. You can visit his website at Finance Is Personal. He also has a new one at I Be Naija.

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Blogging, Entrepreneur, Nigerian, small business | 45 Comments »

« Older Entries