[geekchic9]

Originally Posted by New Every Day

$10 a month? That's really not a big deal. It's a paltry sum to start a business.

Yes, that's what I thought, too.

I'd be asking more about additional costs. For example, how are you going to advertise? What kind of marketing budget do you have?

My budget is quite small (only a few hundred dollars), but I don't think I need to be shelling up the big bucks with all the free/cheap resources around the Internet.

I am definitely going to have an affiliate store for the books I'm going to require for the courses. I was going to use Amazon, but a person I've discussed this with suggested www,booksamillion.com, because the books are often cheaper there. However, so are the profits I would make from it, so it's a tossup right now. Perhaps both? Or neither one? Any recommendations from people using affiliate programs would be great.

I am also thinking about using Google advertisements, such as Google search, AdSense, and so on, but I also want to respect the privacy of the people who will use this site, as Google tends to peek at information on the site to generate ads.

A lot of the financial aspects will be discussed next week with the person I've mentioned earlier. I respect his opinion because he's an experienced CPA, and if there's anything I need help with, it's accounting. We would have discussed this earlier today, but our meeting was canceled today because of bad weather.

I'd be a bit more ruthless about fleshing out the details of what you want the site to do, how you want it to work, etc.

You're right about that. I've seen subscription sites for these sort of courses: Take all of the courses individually for $2400, but instead you can save money by paying for this $300 yearly subscription. Make them think they're getting a good deal. That sort of thing. I'm leaning toward that. But does it make good business sense? That's another thing I will have to ask the accountant about next week.

I'd also propose this idea. Set a deadline for the "success" of the business. For example, if the business is not making $XXX by December 31, 2007, then my plan of action will be...

That way, he knows it's not an open-ended thing and that you are giving yourself a deadline for making a go of it.

I don't know if this helps or not, but it's just a couple of ideas.

I like this other idea, too. Perhaps I could make it so I make a certain amount a month. I'm thinking of being realistic here, but perhaps I should do like Steve did and hang up a sign in my room that says, "$5000 a month." If I made $5000 a month, I would be out of student loan debt in no time. *sigh* However, that may be too big of a stretch. I don't know. I need to think about this.

Thanks for the ideas.