Starting an internet based business

[hard life]

Hey guys, I am in my final year of university majoring in Business admin.(double major in Marketing and Logistics/supply chain management) and I am thinking about starting a business after I graduate. Anyone have experience with how they went about creating a site or online business? How did you discover what you were going to do? More specifically I want to create a site that helps people in some way or fills some sort of unmet need(s), find a niche market. I want to work at home and get away from that 9-5, 5 days a week bull crap! Oh yeah I just bought my first investment property! Value 150K, bought it for 100k! Thanks to the couple who were going through a divorce!

 

[indyjones]

I have a friend who just started an internet diet company.

His researched basically centered around trying to find out what people were most interested in when doing internet searches. No suprise here, Sex, money and losing weight/getting in shape were among the most popular.


He then took one area and developed a product for it. hired programmers and now he's fully operational.


If you have any specific questions let ,me know.

 

[hard life]

His researched basically centered around trying to find out what people were most interested in when doing internet searches. No suprise here, Sex, money and losing weight/getting in shape were among the most popular.

Thanks for responding. How did he find out if his product was already out there or not? Did he have experience with the area he focused on?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Razorguns]

start an online casino. i have yet to know anyone who *isn't* making money.

I'd offer a longer-winded reply -- but i gotta bail.

 

[Illuminati]

Hey guys, I am in my final year of university majoring in Business admin.(double major in Marketing and Logistics/supply chain management) and I am thinking about starting a business after I graduate. Anyone have experience with how they went about creating a site or online business? How did you discover what you were going to do? More specifically I want to create a site that helps people in some way or fills some sort of unmet need(s), find a niche market. I want to work at home and get away from that 9-5, 5 days a week bull crap! Oh yeah I just bought my first investment property! Value 150K, bought it for 100k! Thanks to the couple who were going through a divorce!

the best way to make money is to do something around what you truly enjoy doing. so the answer to your question lies within yourself. think about it. what is something that you have enjoyed doing or have a nack for doing? then go full force with the idea, and dont look back. a lot of people might tell you what you are doing is a bad idea, and that you will "lose money" but they are the weak minded people who dont like to take risks.
a lot of people make money by starting blogging. they simply start a website that caters to something, and put a hit tracker on it. as the website starts to get lots of hits, big companies notice, and pay you to allow them to put a link to their site on your site. usually, you can work a deal where if someone goes to their site, and purchases something, you can make a percentage of the profits.
if you dont believe me, try to find a magazine called Business 2.0 in the recent edition (nov04) there is an article about a 19 year old kid (Jon Gales) who made $55k last year working 3 hours a day on his website.

also, bro, if you dont mind me asking, you mind sharing your real estate experience? i am more interested in how you went about getting financing. i am looking at purchasing my first investment property in the next couple months. i am looking at a piece of land that is 3.45 acres and has a 10ft wide right-of-way to a pond going for $70k. i feel that this is a good piece of property because the other lots in the subdivision are selling for $100k+ the only difference is that they are waterfront. this is, in all actuallity the best lot (minus the fact that it is not waterfront.) the other thing i like about the subdivision, is that the houses that are being built on the other lots, are going to be built in the range of $300k+. this only means that they $70k lot that i am looking at will do nothing but going up if i can manage to get financing, and hold on to the property for 5 years.

 

[indyjones]

well developed is probably too strong of a word. He found a diet product that was a good seller and found the manufacturer of that product. He worked a deal to do a limited private label run. he sold his entire inventory in a week. used his profit to buy more.

He did have any real experience with the product.... but he had a good marketing campaign

Thanks for responding. How did he find out if his product was already out there or not? Did he have experience with the area he focused on?

Thanks a lot!

 

[hard life]

also, bro, if you dont mind me asking, you mind sharing your real estate experience? i am more interested in how you went about getting financing.

Thanks everyone for the info! A casino would be good, but it is not something that I enjoy and I think I would like something that is currently not out there, so that I can get first mover advantage.

As for financing, it wasn't easy. For me I am a full-time student, have debt up to my eye-balls, have no assets and minimal income. So basically there is no way a bank or credit union would've approved me. So I convinced my girlfriend to purchase the house. She has a 35k job and the way the bank figures out your allowable mortgage is basically 35 x 3 = 105k. BUT she has a car loan and an old student loan. So she had to get her mom to co-sign. A down payment is definitely a bonus. We scraped together 10k, most of it was from my line of credit, since I am not technically applying for the mortgage, it doesn't matter if I go into debt. Also I have a student line of credit so I pay next to nothing for interest payments on the loan. All the bank or lender wants to know is whether or not you can make the payments. The more of a downpayment, the lower is the monthly payments and therefore easier to make payments. It will be tough financially until I am done school, but I saw an opportunity to make some money in the future so I am taking the risk.

I don't know where you live but interest rates are really good here in Canada right now. I got a fixed 5 year rate for 4%. We eventually went with a mortgage broker, they are usually the best for finding cheap rates. Credit unions are good as well, and banks are usually more expensive.

That was my experience, I don't know if that is what you wanted, feel free to ask me questions.

 

[Illuminati]

It will be tough financially until I am done school, but I saw an opportunity to make some money in the future so I am taking the risk.

I don't know where you live but interest rates are really good here in Canada right now. I got a fixed 5 year rate for 4%. We eventually went with a mortgage broker, they are usually the best for finding cheap rates. Credit unions are good as well, and banks are usually more expensive.

That was my experience, I don't know if that is what you wanted, feel free to ask me questions.

good luck bro. i hope it all works out for you and your girl on your first investment property. i am trying to do the same thing in the next month or so. mine is with a piece of land, and from what i have been told it is a little harder to get a loan for land, than it is to get a loan for a house. but hopefully i can get things to work out. i might have a little bit of an advantage though. im in the military, and the only bills that i have are my truck payment, and my insurance payment, which comes to $320 for the both. im going to be living on an island, and will have EVERYTHING paid for by the military when i get there. so i will have no bills at all. an i can also set it up so that i can make the payment straight out of my paycheck, that way the money never sees my bank account, and i have good credit. hopefully i can convince them that i am not a risk of not making a payment. ill keep ya updated on how things go.

 

[bran987]

little website on investing in land with lots of free articles:

http://www.investinginland.com/

 

[Synpax]

Try to actually create value rather than merely being a transaction player. Transaction players get squeezed out very easily. If you are studying supply chain stuff, you probably know all about value added.

Also, try to stay away from selling things that are easily transferable (knowledge) or immitable.

One final piece of advice - leave Canada for the US. Much better business environment here. I suggest a pro-business state like SC, AZ, FL, or ID.

And grats on the investment property.

 

[Illuminati]

little website on investing in land with lots of free articles:

http://www.investinginland.com/

thanks bro.

You must spread some Karma around before giving it to Bran987 again.

 

[hard life]

Try to actually create value rather than merely being a transaction player. Transaction players get squeezed out very easily. If you are studying supply chain stuff, you probably know all about value added.

Also, try to stay away from selling things that are easily transferable (knowledge) or immitable.

One final piece of advice - leave Canada for the US. Much better business environment here. I suggest a pro-business state like SC, AZ, FL, or ID.

And grats on the investment property.

Value is exactly what I want, I don't really care about turning a profit at day one, as long as I have something that people want or need. What that something is, I don't know, but I have lately focused my attention at observing those around me and trying to identify a unmet need.

As for leaving to the US, it is a possibility, but I think I want to try something here and then look south.

 

[OMEGA]

do what you believe in

 

[ZKaudio]

adult toy market... one of the profit margins of any business out there; that's how even morons are making millions (i.e. seymore butts)

 

[Crox]

Making the toys or marketing them? Online retail has got to be well covered, but then im not an expert on adult toys

 

[ZKaudio]

making the toys

 

[wizekidy]

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[wizekidy]

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