Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I actually started my business with 148.00!  SoCal Voice Solutions is an affiliate marketer for Freedom Voice Systems.  As an authorized distributor of FreedomVoice products, I earn residual income from customers as long as they stay with FreedomVoice.  This business can be worked in spare time until you build enough monthly income to do it full time, or not at all at that point.  I have read that some affiliate marketing structures only pay commissions on initial sales and not ongoing.  This model will require ongoing efforts to maintain income.

Regards,

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Jason Hite, President
SoCal Voice Solutions
Toll-Free Voice Fax Hosted PBX Services

Hi members,
I am a new member who is already getting a lot of ideas and topics to think about.  Starting with only $200 is definitely the range I am in right now, so this discussion is very interesting to me.

I need something that utilizes my skills as a researcher, information/genealogy/etc.  After I put pen to paper and do some planning, I will be putting my idea for a $200 business for others to look over and dissect so they can give me tips and guidance.
Thank you for giving me lots to think about.

http://www.getezurl.com/?AZwMrFj9CN



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Patzer`s Jewels-N-Gems

Fundraiser 1.0™ - Raise Up To $11 Million Dollars in Capital- Learn How!

Bchwlkr (Beach Walker?) :-) if you`re a researcher, you`ve got some nifty services and niche markets you can take advantage of. Finding and compiling information in "the information age" is definitely a solid business area.

What you might consider is investing brain time (free, to you) in whatever skills you may need where it comes to building a basic and simple web page. If you keep it very simple and clean, you can turn it over to a pro later, when you`ve got money coming in, and they won`t have such a problem getting it up to high standards.

From that site, you can begin advertising your services on things like a blog, Squidoo, or Craig`s List, and refer people to your site. There, you can explain things in detail, offer a rate sheet, and so forth. All of which is "free."

To set up a PayPal account you need only a checking account. Then you can accept payments for jobs. Get the account with a PayPal debit card, and you can easily access your payments without having to transfer money back and forth to the checking account unless you feel like it. You pay only when you get a payment, so there`s nothing eating into your initial capital.

Our thinking---Kathy and mine---is that, to an accountant, our time costs something. But when you`re broke, trying to bootstrap a new business on a shoestring, if you`ve got lots of time on your hands....consider it a capital investment or something.

Remember when Oprah Winfrey had a series on her show about "Debt Diet".  I figured since Oprah is talking about it, it will definitely be a hit.  Well, I started a site based on that.  It contains articles about credit management, credit repair, and get out of debt solutions.  The site cost less than $30 to start, less than $10 a month to maintain and now I make $300-$500 USD/Monthly from it. 


My $200 business idea:

Think or pick a niche topic (free).  Also, you can get ideas by watching a popular talk show and listen closely to what`s being talked about.  How about Rush Lambaughs "Operation Chaos".

Whatever topic you choose, Look it up on google, overture, yahoo, and all the major search engines (free)
Write a few articles on the niche topic (at least 10)
Buy a domain name with that topic in the name ($6.95/year with Godaddy coupon HASH3)
Get a host for your new domain name ($6.95/month with Hostgator)
Download Drupal CMS or wordpress (free)
Upload and install Drupal CMS or Wordpress to your Domain Host using FTP (free)
Post all your articles on your site one or two every other day (free)
Submit your website to web directories (free at forums.digitalpoint.com)
Signup as an affiliate at CJ.com, Linkshare, google.com/adsense or related sites (free)
Learn about SEO (priceless)
Tell others about your website.  Request others to review and critique (free)
Keepon Thinking... (priceless)








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Matt at pet-butler.com in Dallas, Texas is a six-figure, 5+ employee with company vehicles poop scooping business! I worked for him. Not a bad job. I had a Mazda 3300 pickup, lined a tub with a trash bag, got a kid`s 36" long plastic shovel and a janitor`s dust pan and off I went. He paid me $15 an hour. After gasoline I was bringing in $9. Pretty sad. But he was making a killing! He`s a great guy, and would probably talk to you if you called him. He used to (4 years ago) take all calls personally on his cell phone.

One very negative thing about the poop scooping: it placed me in a physical posture of bending slightly at the small of my back. I still have trouble today with my back because of that six months of scooping.

All the best,
John