Brainstorming how to Make Money from Your Business

Everyone likes to make money. That’s likely at least part of your reason for wanting to start a business. It better not be your only reason or you are going to get tired of your business really quick. I can’t overemphasize the importance that you are passionate about your business. And if you don’t love it in the beginning, it’s certainly not going to get better later when all of the real work comes in. By the way, your reason to start a business also better not be because you want to work less hours, because that’s not going to happen either—at least not if you also want to make money.

How do you make money from this business idea about which you are passionate? There are two main ways to make money—products and advertising. So, to have a product based business, you’ll have to decide what your products will be. Will they be unique? Will you have to manufacture them? Or, will you buy them from someone else? Where will you store them? How much will you mark it up for the sell to customers? I hope what I am getting across is that there are many things to think about and it makes sense to think about all of them BEFORE you decide whether or not to start your business. If it’s not going to be profitable, it doesn’t really matter how much fun you’ll have—unless you have money to throw around. I don’t.

How about making money from advertisers? Basically you are making money off of getting eyes. In order to do well at this, you need a way to attract eyes to your site. The easiest way to do this is to offer free content, ideally tailored to a specific audience. Because, not only do you want eyes, you want the eyes of a specific audience. You can get a lot more from advertisers if you can convince them that your audience is more likely that the average bunch of people to buy their product. Keep in mind that it will take time to build the number of eyes looking at your site—maybe a lot of time. It’s likely to take at least 6 months to do this, including getting the content that will attract your eyes and to start getting the word out about your site. It will also take a little time to find the right advertisers for your site. However, if you can manage to do all of this and are OK with making no money for the first 6-12 months, the rewards can be large. You have no manufacturing to worry about, no inventory, perhaps not even an office space for rent. Theoretically, it can all be done at home.

You can always do both. If your product based site is getting a good amount of traffic, make some extra cash from advertising. Be careful what ads you put on your site. Having a bunch of annoying ads will just annoy your customers.

I will discuss a lot more about how to draw traffic to your site, the best ads, and the options for getting startup capital in future posts. For now, just take a little time to consider whether you can actually make any money from your business. Also consider how long it will take before you start making that money and if you can afford to wait that long. You don’t need to be an expert to figure out whether your business idea has merit. A little estimation will go a long way.

Choosing a Business Name and Domain Name

Choosing your business name is very important. It something you might want to spend days, maybe even a couple weeks, considering. You’ll want a domain name that is as close to your business name as possible, in order to help your customers recognize and remember your company better. That means, once you’ve thought of an awesome name, you have to make sure no one has taken it yet. You’ll also want to make sure no one has taken anything similar or a common misspelling of your name, which would cause confusion.

As far as names go, size matters. The best names are short, descriptive and easy to remember, spell and pronounce. That being said, a lot of great domain names have been taken already. It’s unlikely for you the one word descriptor of what you are selling available as a domain name. You might have better luck with two, but three is probably your best bet. For example, instead of shoes.com, you are more likely to find a free name if you combine words, like MickysFineShoes or HighEndFootwear. Consider the keywords that you expect would bring your customers to your site. These might be good words to consider having in your name.

I must say that I didn't take all of this fine advice while considering the name for WEBillions.com and it was a mistake. It's not very clear what our product is. It's not obvious how to pronounce it, WE Billions or WEB Billions (it's the later in case you wondered). It's also not the easiest thing in the world to spell, not to mention the possibility that someone forgets that it's plural. Again, the purpose of this blog is for you to learn from my mistakes and find out what works. Feel free to leave comments to this blog with your business name idea. I'll let you know what I think.

Once you’ve found a name that you like and is available on the net, license the domain name at GoDaddy.com or a similar service. Also buy variations on your name. You’ll definitely want yourname.com, but also consider .net, .us, and .org. If money allows, you may also want to consider buying any common misspellings of your domain name. You’ll understand the reason for this if you’ve ever mistyped Google.com or another popular site. You will find a confusing site, typically populated with a bunch of ads. This behavior is known as typo-squatting and it can make someone other than you a lot of money. It can also confuse and frustrate your potential consumer base. You don’t want them to get lost before they even get to your site because they can’t spell. If you are going to be that picky about your customers, you will lose a lot of business.

For how long should you get your domain name license? The longer, the better. If you can get a good deal, get a ten year lease. This will save you money in the long run, because you’ll be charged more to keep up a popular name later. People know you’ve put a lot of effort into publicizing that name and don’t want to change.

Picking Partners

Perhaps the most important thing you’ll do when starting a business is picking who you will have as partners. Sure, you could do it on your own. This would mean you wouldn’t need anyone’s approval on anything. However, having someone who cares to bounce ideas off of is very important. Your business’ decisions will be better thought out if there are multiple heads instead of just one. Diversity is key.

Another great thing about having partners is that it means you don’t have to do all of the work yourself. This may sound like laziness. It’s not. Starting a successful business is a lot of work even with multiple partners. Having partners means that you can specialize. There are many important aspects (well beyond the product) that go into a good business. I’ll go into this more in the future. If you have to spend all day figuring out how to make, get or store your merchandise, the last thing you want to do is also figure out how to sell it, or how to make sure you don’t go bankrupt. In fact, most businesses fail because there isn’t enough focus on one of these areas. If you have to do it all yourself, you are very likely to not have time to put the necessary amount of time into at least one these areas.

Another point when picking a partner is making sure you can get along with that person in the long run. You may be ready for long, hard hours, but what about your partner? Can your partner take care of projects on his/her own or is constant input required? Do you trust this person?

Deciding whether or not to partner with a friend or family member is a tricky question. Businesses are tough. Your business may not turn out to be successful. You don’t want to mess up your relationship. Consider if you think a serious dispute with your partner would affect your ability to be friends with them, both from your perspective and theirs. If they tend to get pretty emotional in a disagreement, you are probably better off choosing someone else. That doesn’t mean you can’t ask them for advice in the future.

On the plus side, it’s always nice to have some companionship when starting a business. There are going to be many days where you question whether you are doing the right thing and it’s always nice to have a friendly ear around when that happens.

The additional financial resources that a new partner may be able to bring to the table won’t hurt either. Though, partners don’t have to bring anything but their time. This all depends on the arrangement all of you decide on.

This brings me to my last point. Please, put the details of your partnership in writing. It’s not required by law, but it’s extremely important. Consider the following questions. Who gets paid how much and when? Who pays the costs and keeps the profits? How are decisions about hiring more people made? What happens in the event of a serious dispute or injury (hopefully not related)?