Cheapskate Entrepreneurs Start An On-line Business For Less
You don’t need $250,000 to start a business
I arrived in the United States from the Philippines for the first time on August 13, 2002.
I only have my big traveling bag — and it was enough
When I was in Jacksonville, I remember feeling groggy because of jet lag. I remember dragging a big Speedo traveling bag from Jacksonville International Airport.
My visa was a student visa. I was in the US to study. I got a partial scholarship at the University of Central Florida to study exercise science. Although I was in the US, the land of opportunity, I was broke.
It was a downgrade from my lifestyle back in the Philippines.
My stipend, to be honest, was not enough. The rent was $350 at that time, with a $900 stipend per month. Again, it wasn’t enough. Since I don’t have credit history, I don’t have a credit card yet. But I will extend that $900 stipend into the whole month.
Every Sunday, I’ll bike to Publix, since that was the closest grocery store from my apartment, and buy leg quarters and vegetables worth $10.00. It was basically what can fit in my backpack.
For $10, it was enough for me.
I will bike back to my apartment with a heavy backpack. Biking was a little challenging with this cargo. In addition, I have plastic bags in my hands while weaving the traffic of Alafaya trail in Orlando.
$10 a week worth of groceries, again, was enough for me.. No gas payment, no auto insurance to pay since I don’t own a car. And that probably a blessing in disguise because if I have a car, I’ll be picking up stuffs from the grocery that I don’t need. It will then be beyond my budget.
I approach my business with this mindset.
To start a business, you really don’t need anymore the help of Shark Tanks or Venture Capitalists.
I failed a lot of business start-up. I did eBay during the early days, put some money in options and stocks. I learned foreign exchange (forex) trading from a former co-worker, but nothing really worked out for me well.
I even lost money with Amazon Private Labeling. But currently, I am working on sales funnel. And if you’ve been following my posts, I learned from Michael Matheson that the best start-up is an information business.
The reason information product is cheap, is because you can have a product (digital, ebook, lectures) with only one upfront cost — the cost of producing the digital product.
It’s not like my Amazon Private Label model that I need to out source a product from China and then replenish it once depleted.
For a solopreneur and infopreneur like me, I don’t need to replenish the information that I am selling. So what’s coming it after the first few months is pure profit.
That’s the big secret.
You may ask what am I selling? I am selling chemistry eBooks and Tutorials. I taught general chemistry in a university setting, as a teaching assistant, and an adjunct chemistry professor in a community college.
I know where students struggle, and I offer tutorials on-line to help these students (isn’t that what entrepreneurs do, solve problems and help people?).
Honestly, I started this business with a shoestring budget. The internet made business start-up affordable to me. The internet made the business start-up game not only for the rich people anymore.
Join me in my journey to achieve financial freedom by starting a business.
