Contributed post
Online businesses are wonderful. They’re cheap to run, you can build them on virtually anything and you don’t need to hire expensive staff members to help you run it. As great as online businesses are though, it’s essential that you focus on securing the funding needed to actually start and operate it. Running costs can get fairly high if you’re not watching your budget, and the cost of actually expanding your business or advertising it can be surprisingly high. If you’re serious about starting your own home-grown business, then here are some tips that we’ve put together that will assist you in finding the right funding for your online-based business.
Your Own Pocket
As obvious as it sounds, remember that you’re perfectly capable of funding a business with your own money as long as you have a sufficient amount. While it’s costly to fund your own business, it’s actually somewhat affordable depending on what you want to achieve. Purchasing a website isn’t exactly expensive and you’d be surprised at how cheap hiring freelancers can be if you’re willing to compromise a little on quality. There are plenty of free software packages and services available too if you’re willing to learn how to use a computer fluently, and advertising is usually fairly cheap if you utilize the right social media channels.
Crowdsourcing
Have a great idea that needs a lot of money? Don’t worry, there’s crowdsourcing! Crowdsourcing is like showing off your idea or concept to a crowd and letting them decide if it’s worth it. Check out these crowdsourcing websites at Quickbooks.intuit to see what the best option would be to you. In order to make money, these websites usually take a cut and there are some that are more suitable for different purposes. For instance, Kickstarter is fantastic for creative products and GoFundMe is more suitable for local businesses that are aiming to grow or launch.
Business Loans
We can’t forget about the humble business loan. Yes, you’ll have to pay it back with interest, but if you strongly believe in an idea then it’s most likely the best course of action to take if you want to secure the funding needed for a business. You can collect large sums of money from business loans, so it might be best to utilise a business loan when you’re confident in an idea. Just take a look at Businesslineof.credit or a similar service in order to get a feel for how much you can borrow and what the interest on a loan would be. Remember that you’ll likely need to pitch your idea to someone first before they give you money, so don’t take this step lightly!
Multiple Income Sources
If you’re feeling frugal and want to make money online with minimal investment, then you may want to consider several different sources of income. For example, you could make money from adverts on your website, you could consider a subscription-based service, or you could even allow early access to your services or products at a price. You may even be able to make money from an attached blog or look towards content creation as a way to make money. Selling your skills as a freelancer may also be enough to fund your business.